Mac's Tiger Gives Panther Owners Little Reason to Pounce

Mail works outstandingly well with IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol) accounts, but remains clumsy at managing more widely used POP (Post Office Protocol) inboxes. It also lacks the screening for fake "phishing" messages now offered by the Eudora and, soon, Thunderbird mail programs. Finally, the space-wasting, pointlessly quirky toolbar slapped onto Mail's windows needs to go.

Safari's major addition is support for the "news feeds" many Web sites publish; it usually finds them automatically, allowing you to subscribe to one with two clicks then easily sort through its headlines. A "Private Browsing" option ensures Safari will store no records of your use, handy if you're borrowing a stranger's computer.

But other parts of Safari now look a bit creaky. Although this browser will block pop-up ad windows, that option is turned off by default. Its notification of the secure encryption used at real financial sites (but not at the fakes set up by phishers) is way too subtle, compared with the obvious cues offered by Firefox and Opera.

Apple's iChat instant messenger now allows group video conferencing, but you'll need a high-end Power Mac desktop to host one. A more consumer-relevant feature, support for the MSN and Yahoo IM networks, goes missing.

Tiger expands Panther's limited parental-use controls with options to restrict a child's online use to designated Web sites, e-mail addresses and IM chatters.

One of Tiger's most promising components is easy to overlook. Its Automator program makes it drag-and-drop simple to instruct your programs to perform repetitive tasks. Not having to master programming syntax makes this a huge advance, although many programs can't yet be orchestrated by Automator.

Tiger is prey to as many viruses and spyware attacks as Panther -- none. But Apple missed a chance to augment OS X's already strong defenses: When a program's installer asks for an administrator's password, Tiger still provides no details about what will happen next, leaving users to hope for the best.

Stability has always been a core virtue in OS X, but I did see one serious system crash in five days of testing on three Macs. I also spotted several bugs, some merely cosmetic (overlapping controls in a Mail window) and others more serious (a new .Mac synchronization utility failed to copy all of the e-mail settings to a second Mac that it said it would). And Apple neglected to address such long-standing OS X issues as the runaround needed to erase rewritable CDs and DVDs and the painfully slow Finder performance when copying large sets of files.

Flaws and all, Tiger still beats Windows soundly, from its smooth, nag-free installation (save a brief but heavy-handed promotion of Apple's $100-per-year .Mac online service) to its sleek, shimmering graphical interface. But it's not such a huge leap past Panther to merit upgrading today. Some cleanup work from Apple could fix that. If the management there can hold off on starting the next big OS X project, there should be plenty of time to do the job right.

Living with technology, or trying to? E-mail Rob Pegoraro at rob@twp.com.