Apple's Mac OS 'Tiger' ready to pounce
Apple Computer Inc. chief executive Steve Jobs says the 2005 launch of the next Mac OS X operating system will have features "way ahead" of Microsoft Corp.'s next Windows release due out in 2006.
"It's going to drive the copycats crazy," Jobs said Monday before an enthusiastic audience at the opening keynote of Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference at San Francisco's Moscone Center.
Code-named "Tiger," the upgrade will be the fifth version of Mac OS X in its four-year history.
Among 150 planned new features will be an advanced new searching tool called "Spotlight" that can instantly search for keywords across different types of files in the machine -- whether they're in an e-mail, image, or text document.
Finding data on a single, bulging desktop often is more challenging than using Google to search billions of Web sites. That won't be the case anymore with "Spotlight," Jobs said, demonstrating how typing the words "Half Dome" into his computer instantly found the right information, even a digital map of Yosemite National Park with the famous mountain marked.
Microsoft's impending "Longhorn" Windows release also will include a more sophisticated searching method.
