# Panther is on the Loose. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 4, 2003, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/panther-is-on-the-loose/211322 "2003-11-04T12:08:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![spingears](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@spingears](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spingears)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2003, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/panther-is-on-the-loose/211322/1 "2003-11-04T12:08:20Z")
There is a new “Panther” on the loose. AP article in Monday’s (11/03/03) paper describes the latest OS upgrade for the MAC. Touted as being far superior to “Windows” by comparison of all features it may be the new bench mark for PC’s to attain. Microsoft will not have anything approaching comparable features until 2006, three years from now. What? Microsoft can’t seem to get it right with each new version. Still security issues, etc. etc. Will the Mac supplant PC’s? Lots of issues involved in making a switch, but performance all around could make the transition attractive. ---
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2003, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/panther-is-on-the-loose/211322/2 "2003-11-04T12:12:54Z")
Once something like Lycoris starts winning market shares, we’ve hopefully seen the last of both Windows and MacOS. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2003, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/panther-is-on-the-loose/211322/3 "2003-11-04T12:29:36Z")
Want. ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2003, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/panther-is-on-the-loose/211322/4 "2003-11-04T14:13:58Z")
Eh, as long as the OS is tied to the hardware, the switch just ain’t going to happen in the numbers that Apple needs. Besides, its hardly fair to compare an incremental upgrade from 10.2 to 10.3 as the same thing as the jump from XP to Longhorn. Longhorn involves a major system overhaul whereas panther just adds some incremental 64 bit support and a few new apps. ---
**Author:** ![Triss](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Triss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Triss)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2003, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/panther-is-on-the-loose/211322/5 "2003-11-04T14:23:51Z")
[http://www.wired.com/news/mac/0,2125,61031,00.html](http://www.wired.com/news/mac/0,2125,61031,00.html) Is this the same version of Panther of which you’re speaking? ---
**Author:** ![spingears](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@spingears](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spingears)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2003, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/panther-is-on-the-loose/211322/6 "2003-11-04T19:16:35Z")
Shalmanese: Triss: Just reporting what was in local paper. Never have used a Mac. Not aware of all the issues therein. If Lycoris is what Priceguy intimates we all might be able to lookforward to a system that is what it should be. Chris Gibson of Gibson Research writes all his programs in machine language. They run fast and don’t crash. BG should have been so smart! Micromush has been warned about security problems and since they know it all they have always seen fit to ignore good advice and go their own way, so they can release patches when the holes are found. ---
**Author:** ![Bruce\_Daddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85f322/32.png) [@Bruce\_Daddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bruce_Daddy)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2003, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/panther-is-on-the-loose/211322/7 "2003-11-04T21:13:24Z")
Crap. I thought you were talking about [this](http://greenvilleonline.com/news/2003/10/20/2003102017268.htm) > [@](#): > > Eight people called Mauldin Police over the weekend saying they’d seen a black cat — much larger than a house cat — prowling the wooded areas just behind their homes, said Capt. Steve Moore, police spokesman. Last week, a Ricelan resident and two policemen said they had seen the cat. > > Moore said his 6-year-old son donned camouflage to go “panther hunting” in a field near his house Saturday. He has never seen anything like it in 15 years with the department. > > “We are trying to confirm what is happening here,” he said. " It is one of those things like a UFO. You don’t believe until you get a picture of it. So far it’s like a ghost." ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2003, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/panther-is-on-the-loose/211322/8 "2003-11-04T21:28:55Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Shalmanese \* > Besides, its hardly fair to compare an incremental upgrade from 10.2 to 10.3 as the same thing as the jump from XP to Longhorn. Longhorn involves a major system overhaul whereas panther just adds some incremental 64 bit support and a few new apps. You _do_ realize that the “incremental upgrade” from 0.2 to 0.3 is just a name for marketing purposes, right? While I agree that not [all 100+ new features](http://www.apple.com/macosx/newfeatures/) are earth-shaking revolutions, dismissing Panther as a minor upgrade is selling it a bit short. And at least Panther is available _now,_ which leads one to wonder how many more features Apple will have added to MacOS X by the time Longhorn finally arrives. (Now, Windows 95 → Windows 98, _that_ was an inconsequental upgrade… 😉 ) ---
**Author:** ![Amp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Amp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amp)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2003, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/panther-is-on-the-loose/211322/9 "2003-11-04T21:33:23Z")
No, Windows 98 --\> Windows Me was an inconsequential upgrade. ---
**Author:** ![Bad\_News\_Baboon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5fc32e/32.png) [@Bad\_News\_Baboon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bad_News_Baboon)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2003, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/panther-is-on-the-loose/211322/10 "2003-11-04T22:34:46Z")
We have Panther and I do like it more than the previous OS. The thing that miffed me off, and its a minor rant, is the distribution of Panther tags. They were passing them out the night of the opening. By the time we got there, they were ‘all gone’. Now I have a mopey husband to deal with. Granted, it might be true, but they should have saved them for buying customers, which they didn’t do (at least in our location). I also think it’s pretty fascinating how they are turning up on e-bay, many different auctions being sold…by the same people. One had the gall to ask $60.00 for them. I had to laugh when no one bid. ---
**Author:** ![Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2003, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/panther-is-on-the-loose/211322/11 "2003-11-04T23:05:07Z")
**Bad News Baboon** et al, is it worth upgrading to Panther from 10.2.8? ---
**Author:** ![Spacegirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47774/32.png) [@Spacegirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spacegirl)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2003, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/panther-is-on-the-loose/211322/12 "2003-11-04T23:53:42Z")
I have Panther tags bwahahaaaa!! I think Panther is great! Preview opens amazingly fast now, and expose is awesome. Finder is different now, and a lot of the screens (like system preferences) have a new interface. My computer also shuts down and restarts much faster. ---
**Author:** ![modro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@modro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/modro)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2003, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/panther-is-on-the-loose/211322/13 "2003-11-05T00:10:19Z")
It seems like a worthwhile upgrade to me. I used to consider 10.2 one of the most polished OS’es I’ve used, and now, after having had panther installed on both of my macs for a while, 10.2 seems kludgy in comparison. The gui has been refined, the applications have been refined (the new mail, help center, and preview for instance, are immensely faster). The new features, like Expose’ work well, and after having adjusted to their use, I find myself yearning for them on other computers.