On October 24, 2003 Apple Computer released Mac OS 10.3, which carries the codename Panther. It's the 4th major OS upgrade offered by Apple in the past three years, and like previous major OS upgrades, it offers important new features. They include:
- A new Finder that runs faster than earlier versions of the Finder, and is designed to be "people-centric." The most obvious people-centric feature is the sidebar on the left-hand side of directory windows. It contains all the currently available system disks plus shortcuts to various folders. The sidebar can be customized, permitting users to add files, folders, or applications.
- Expose allows users to show all the open windows on the computer, all the open windows for an application, or move all the windows out to the edge of the screen to expose the desktop. Passing the cursor across windows in the first two cases will reveal the name of the window.
- FileVault which allows users to encrypt the contents of their Home directory. It protects files in aHome directory by encrypting them with 128 bit encryption.
- Font Book which allows users to control which fonts are available to the system and applications.
- Mail now allows mail to be threaded, features better junk mail filtering, and slightly easier creation and modification of filtering rules.
- Activity Monitor allows users to monitor the activity of applications and kill applications as need.
- Networking offers support for VPN, IP6, and advanced network configuration features such as speed, duplex, and MTU.
- FAXing is now built into the system and is available to any application via the Print menu item.
- Fast user switching which allows people who share the same computer to switch from one user account to another in a matter of a couple of seconds without logging out other users.
The current version of Mac OS 10.3 is 10.3.9.
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