Wow, along with this article, it looks like Tiger's development is slowing down a bit, which may indicate a Gold Master, (GM), isn't too far away. Heck, we already know what the packging looks like, which may indicate that boxes, user manuals, etc. are in production, ready for Tiger's GM status.

Still don't know what to think about 10.3.9 supposedly being developed, though. There just may be important fixes that Panther needs, or perhaps some people may not go up to Tiger, and stay with Panther for a little longer, so 10.3.9 keeps these people up to date for a little longer... Just a thought.

I'm guessing an April or May Tiger release, based on this information. But late March would be nice...

the later the better
lets get a polished product
id be fine with late 05

I agree with nathan22t, we already have a kick ass OS, so there is no harm in waiting a extra bit longer to get something better

Yes, Tiger appears to be shaping up to provide a lot of new features and improvements on current ones. The only thing I am hoping they work on is reducing the first initial indexing time of Spotlight. I have heard that it is unusually long.

I am curious though. I have read elsewhere that Google's and Microsoft's desktop search programs have fast indexing periods. Is this because these program's aren't indexing as much as Spotlight is or something else?

Note: I am already aware that Spotlight is a lot more advanced than these two programs because of its tight integration with the OS and its ability to be integrated nicely into other applications. I also am aware that after the first index, everything is indexed automatically as files are changed. I am just curious what is the difference between intital indexing methods?

Mike

I don't know.

I have just read many threads that say Spotlight's first time indexing takes a very long time.

Since the only searching program I use on my iBook is Quicksilver and the fact that I have never used Spotlight, I can't compare the times to anything.

main features in any software or OS are determined then frozen. Anything else that wants/has to be added has to be a major change that requires approval from everyone involved.

All these things like sounds and extra screen savers are icing on the cake that dont really require much time. They are just released at a later time with later and later betas.

I'd think March/April is still doable.

Also, a major issue is Quicktime 7. Until it is 110% complete, I doubt Tiger will ship.

It could be that the OSX team is done and finshed and just waiting around for QT and so in the meantime they're doing a lot of nitty gritty testing and adding the "icing".