On 30 Oct 2003, at 6:22 PM, Lara wrote:
<SNIP>
Speaking of responsiveness, and apart from Mail.app, did you notice
much of a change in the general speed of things on your iBook
post-Panther?
I think so. The most noticeable difference is definitely in Mail. But
in
general I think I'm having fewer of those teeny toe-tapping moments.
Lara
<SNIP>
I just purchased Panther this morning from Digilife.
Panther installation (clean install on a blank 12.29GB partition) took,
if I remember correctly, about 45 minutes. This surprised me as I had
heard that people were taking up to two hours or so to do this. It
might be that I am comfortable with the system installation process ...
I hose my hard drive and reinstall the system for FUN at least once
every month ... hell, last week I did it 5 times on the same day while
I was on sick leave from work with the flu (no TV so you've got to do
something) ... but in that instance (i) I just wanted to see how fast I
could do it, and (ii) I was chasing down a QuickTime bug.
My thoughts on Panther (I have a 14 inch dual USB iBook with 16MB VRAM)
are as follows: (i) installation a breeze; (ii) the system loads a hell
of a lot faster now from startup; (iii) the new finder window is very
good, although it took me about an hour or so to rely on it rather than
the traditional desktop approach (I guess old habits die hard); (iv) on
my iBook EVERYTHING appears to be happening about 40% to 50% FASTER
than under 10.2.8 and before ... maybe it is the iBook's 16MB VRAM and
Quartz Extreme, I'm not sure; (v) the overall look of Panther is
refined, subdued and integrated (if that makes sense) but don't expect
to be blown away by a sudden and dramatic visual change to your desktop
experience over and above 10.2.X (like when System 7 came out to
replace System 6) or else you will be DISAPPOINTED; (vi) Expose is cool
and very useful; (vii) the additional security that FileVault affords
is pretty neat (it allows you to encrypt the information in your Home
Folder using the Advanced Encryption Standard with 128-bit keys
(AES-128)); and (vii) the Secure Empty Trash feature looks cool (no-one
can access your deleted files) which appeals to someone like me who
likes to keep secrets.
But enough from me ... what do other Panther users think?
R.K.
---
Richard Kay
Hermitage of Enlightenment
Fremantle, Western Australia
