Over the past few weeks I have compiled the following from publicly available (and generally reliable) sources. Some of these data have even been provided by my local VAR in his newsletter. Still, His Steveness has yet to confirm the information, so to call it “speculative” is not far off the mark. Changes and corrections are likely, but, for FWIW:

Panther Factoids:

Cost (est.) US$ 129.00 (Educators, Students and Gov’t employees will probably be eligible for a discount).

Supported computers are the following:

• All G5s
• PowerMac G4
• PowerMac G3 (Blue & White)
• PowerBook G4
• PowerBook G3 with built-in USB
• iMac and eMac
• iBook

Note: Panther probably won't run on Beige G3s and PowerBook G3s without USB. That said, Ryan Rempel has stated that his XPostFacto program does not yet work with Panther, but he is working on the issue.

“Features” Of Panther—

In theory, if a program/application works with Jaguar, it will (or is supposed to) work with Panther. (yeah, right!)

The Finder

• Displays a new brushed metal look
• A sidebar on the left of the finder window shows all available volumes and allows for adding your favorite icons below them (just like the old Apple menu in OS 9)
• A new contextual “Action” button at the top left of the window allows you to do such things as make aliases, print and send files to the trash

Exposé

• By using keyboard shortcuts and hot corners, you can find any window you need quickly by executing one of three different modes:
1. Mode one shrinks every window so that they all fit on the screen without overlapping
2. Mode two brings only the windows of the current application to the front, while graying out the other windows
3. Mode three hides all open windows, so that you can see your desktop

Mail

• Tracks email threads (i.e. messages with similar subject lines)
• Performs faster, especially in displaying HTML messages
• Affords better Spam filtering
• Introduces “Safe addressing” — highlights unfamiliar domains before you send a message out
• Affords stronger address management-email addresses are now objects that you can drag between fields

Font Book

• Classifies fonts in different ways, such as by project, kind or end destination
• Controls availability of fonts by application
• Previews typefaces and provides a font search function
• Allows for easy font enabling/disabling with corresponding buttons

Fast User Switching

• You no longer have to log out to switch users
• The new user’s desktop appears automatically when you choose its name from a list on the far right of the menu bar

Additional enhancements

Preview — Faster with more PDF conversions
Filevault — 128 bit advanced encryption and secure delete trash function
Faxing — Fax directly from any application with a print command and store fax numbers in Apple’s Address Book
iChat AV — enables audio and video chat using a firewire webcam, such as Apple's iSight
Applescript — can now perform a series of commands
Printing — supports drag and drop desktop printers, Windows printer sharing and the ability to print postscript from any bit map printer

Suspected Conflicts with Panther:

• Toast 5.x probably works, but may have limitations. Reviews/reports are mixed. I dunno if Roxio will publish an updater (if required) or require Toast v6. Stay tuned.
• Dreamweaver will launch, but you can't resize windows or attach style sheets (freeze, crash). This may be resolved by GM.
• Virtual PC v6.1 apparently won’t work (at all) with the G5 processor. (Don’t ya think that if Connectix still owned it, it would be updated? Though it’s hardly a surprise, given that M$ now owns it. M$ says they will update it, but no target date has yet been provided.)

No longer (or may not be) required (desired) by Panther:

• LiteSwitch
• Addressix
• FaxSTF
• Labels X
• Default Folder
• Stuffit Expander
• RBrowser Lite
• Suitcase

Questions & Answers re Panther:

Q. Will Panther be faster than Jaguar?

A. Yes. Panther's start-up time and overall system performance has shown to be significantly faster than Mac OS X 10.2.6.

Q. How do processes behave when the current user is switched “to the background?” Are these processes put on hold or do they continue functioning?

A. They continue functioning. All programs remain running and the progress bars continue to process. Screen names remain active and mail can be received, all while hearing the sounds in the "background."

Q, Does Panther have Appearance sounds?

A. No. At least not yet.

Q. How does Faxing work? Do you need a dedicated line?

A. Faxing works the same way that FaxSTF worked for years. The Print dialog box now offers an option to Fax. Fax numbers can be retrieved from your Address Book. You will need a dedicated line if you wish to receive Faxes, but sending a Fax is like placing a phone call.

Q. Is it true that TextEdit now reads/writes files in a Microsoft Word format?

A. Yes. And it does it quite well.

Q. Does Panther's Exposé function update and refreshes the scaled windows in real-time? Or are they like the icons in the Dock that do not refresh until restored.

A. It's all in real-time.

Q. Can we now (finally) click on a file in the save dialog to copy the name of that file to the one we are saving, instead of re-typing it?

A. Yes.

Q. Is Sherlock any faster?

A. Yes. The new version 3.6 is considerably faster than previous releases.

Q. Can one drag and drop a file from one window of Exposé to another?

A. I dunno. Stay tuned.

Q. Has the Dock seen any changes? Is it more configurable?

Yes. If you press Command - Tab, you can now cycle through the open Applications on a pop-up navigation menu rather than seeing an enlarged icon in the Dock.

Q. Does Panther have the ability to print a finder window?

A. In 10.2 if you have the Print Center in the dock just drag a folder on top of it. You will get a print out of the contents of that folder on your default printer.

In 10.3 it's exactly the same except that you put the printer queue in the dock. This is a bit nicer as you can have multiple printers in the dock and choose which one to print to. Kind of like desktop printing.

Q. Will Panther support scheduled startups and shutdowns?

A. Yes.

Q. Will DVDs play in the dock when minimized?

A. Yes.

HTH
Harv

You can also compact files through the Finder...

Woooooooow, impressiveeee...

If that is the case (and if i'm not in Boston yet) this iMac might run Panther after all
I just hope iChat will work on the European continent though... it would be a disaster for me if it wasn't

Thanks Harv....good post.

Yeah, thanks Harv!

The more I hear about Panther, the harder it is waiting for it's release! B)

You can get a lot of info on Panther BETA from people using it HERE

thanks Harv! For your labor of love

Harv,

Thanks for your great post. Unfortuanately, I may never be able to buy a G5 + Panther because:

1) I have a lot invested a lot of money in older version hard drives that will not work with the G5 which apparantly has a new, non-compatible ATA drive system. And, I have serious concerns about how well one will be able to xfer files from a G4+Jagaur to a G5 (I had a bad experience with FireWire Target Disk mode which clobberd my Ti Laptop harddrive.).

2) I use Virtual PC to load my Garmin GPS system and without that software, I have a $450 white elephant (Garmin says they will never support the Mac). Frankly, I do not expect Microsoft to ever upgrade Virtual PC for the G5 + Panther. The reason is I think, it bought Virtual PC to kill it, hence separating itself further from Apple.

MamaMoose

Thanks Harv.

Maybe more.

http://www.macintouch.com/mosxpantherpre01.html

Tom. Your old Drives can just go in Firewire cases.

Also. Gigabit Ethernet is a good way to transfer files.

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=43107

I expect MS will update sooner or later.

Sometimes they do care about the income.

An alternative to VPC.

No Virtual PC for the G5? Try WinTel

http://new.lowendmac.com/archive/03/0905.html

And you can always get a PC Laptop or Desktop to make that work.

I think the 64 Bit Future of the G5 may help your kind of work a lot.

pendragon, I am eager to buy Panther for my iMac G4 700 mhz.

Thanks Harv, very informative.....

I am pleased to see that this thread has been helpful (or at least informative) to some.

One feature (and I'm certain there are more) that I omitted is that Panther will scroll smoothly, rather than one line at a time.

Now if Santa will just bring me a new 15" PB with a Panther inside...Nah, I haven't been that good.

Harv