It's time for you to start getting excited about Mac OS 10.4 (Tiger) which will be released in 2005.
The OS will offer all sorts of goodies for people that deal with digital images - including stuff like OS-level image manipulation tools that can transform pixels at speeds that you won't believe. Apple have released the first bit of detailed information about Spotlight, the new system search facility: <http://developer.apple.com/macosx/tiger/spotlight.html> The page is aimed at developers, so some might find it a little dull - but, it's worth making note of the fact that Spotlight will search and retrieve your information using file metadata. So, if you wanted to do a system-wide search of all images shot using "Flash" then you need do no more than type the word "Flash" in the search box. Not only that, it'll also list every file on your system that contains the word "Flash", every email that has "Flash" in the message body, and every address book contact containing the same word. Now, you might think that this sort of thing takes time and you have to sit and watch a progress bar? You don't. Search results are returned instantly and important data can be located in seconds. You can also build complex queries with multiple search criteria and save them like the "smart playlists" in iTunes. Then, every time you add a file that matches the search criteria it'll be added to the search folder automatically (as a reference. And for those who don't fear the *command line* - you get shell tools that can parse metadata and locate files using metadata queries. For more information, keep looking for updates at: <http://developer.apple.com/macosx/tiger/> For those who are used to M$ BS about "Longhorn" - these features aren't a figment of Steve Job's imagination. They've been written, work as advertised and are available to developers right now. Regards -- Martin Orpen Idea Digital Imaging Ltd -- The Image Specialists http://www.idea-digital.com =============================================================== GO TO http://www.prodig.org for ~ GUIDELINES ~ un/SUBSCRIBING ~ ITEMS for SALE
