Mac OS X Panther (version 10.3) is the fourth major release of Mac OS X (now named macOS), Apple’s desktop and server operating system. It followed Mac OS X 10.2 and preceded Mac OS X Tiger. Apple released Panther on October 24, 2003.
Since a New World ROM was required for Mac OS X Panther, certain older computers (such as beige Power Mac G3s and ‘Wall Street’ PowerBook G3s) were unable to run Panther by default. Third-party software (such as XPostFacto) can, however, override checks made during the install process; otherwise, installation or upgrades from Jaguar will fail on these older machines.
The system requirements are:
PowerPC G3, G4, or G5 processor (at least 233 MHz)
Built-in USB (indicative of a New World ROM being present)
At least 128 MB of RAM (512 MB recommended, minimum of 96 MB supported unofficially)
At least 1.5 GB of available hard disk space
CD drive
Internet access requires a compatible service provider; iDisk requires a .Mac account
Video conferencing requires:
333 MHz or faster PowerPC G3, G4, or G5 processor
Broadband internet access (100 kbit/s or faster)
Compatible FireWire DV camera or web camera
Panther still supported the Classic environment fully for running older Mac OS 9 applications but made Classic application windows double-buffered, which interfered with some applications expecting to directly draw to the screen.
Apple advertised that Mac OS X Panther had over 150 new features, including:
Finder: Updated with a brushed-metal interface, a new live search engine, customizable Sidebar, secure deletion, File labels and Zip support built in. The Finder icon was also changed.
Fast User Switching: Allows a user to remain logged in while another user logs in
Exposé: Helps the user manage windows by showing them all as thumbnails.
TextEdit: TextEdit now is also compatible with Microsoft Word (.doc) documents.
Xcode developer tools: Faster compile times with gcc 3.3.
Preview: Increased speed with PDF rendering
QuickTime: Now supports the Pixlet high definition video codec
Font Book: Font Book, Apple's font manager, simplifies viewing character maps and installing fonts. It also allows the user to sort fonts into categories.
FileVault: On the fly encryption and decryption of a user’s home folder
iChat AV: The new version of iChat. Now with built-in Audio- and video-conferencing.
X11: X11 is built into Panther
Safari: New browser made to replace Internet Explorer for Mac, developed when the contract between Apple and Microsoft ended. Internet Explorer for Mac was still available. Safari 1.0 was included in an update in Jaguar but was used as the default browser in Panther.
Microsoft Windows interoperability improvements, including out-of-the-box support for Active Directory and SecurID-based VPNs.
Built-in fax support.
