Tiger is finally here. It is Apple's third major upgrade to the OS X system and the features keep getting better. With Spotlight, smart folders everywhere, Widgets, and a decent upgrade to Mail the new OS is well worth the $129 price tag.

The initial install went smoothly. The first thing I did was back up any important data to an external hard drive. Then I ran the install program from the DVD. After the install was complete I installed the 10.4.1 update to help keep any bugs at bay.

After the initial install of Tiger I noticed that it took a little longer than usual to boot the system. I also noticed the system was a little slow for the first couple of hours. This was because Spotlight was creating an index of my entire hard drive. Once this was complete, however, my system was back to normal speed. Spotlight is accessible by the ever-present blue icon in the far right of the menu bar. Click once on the icon and begin typing and you will immediately see a list of any files on your hard drive that contain your search terms. The results are then sorted by file type (i.e. emails, documents, pdfs, etc..) Not only does spotlight search by file names but also by file content.

Piggybacking on the technology behind Spotlight is a new feature known as Smart Folders. Smart folders are a great way to keep your stuff organized. By going to the file menu and selecting New Smart Folder, a window opens that lets you choose various different criteria for what type of files you want to appear in your new folder. The files will remain in their original location and the Smart Folder will contain an alias to that file. Once you make your choices you can save your Smart Folder any where on your hard drive. The Smart Folder will also update itself as new files are added to the system.

Another of the new features included in Tiger are the Widgets. Widgets are accessible through an icon in the Dock or by pressing the F12 key. Once activated the background of your screen dims and a pallet of small java based "widgets" appears. They can be moved around the screen and positioned wherever you like. There are over 1200 Widgets available for download from Apple's website alone. They range anywhere from Calendars and Stock Tickers to Web Cams and Video Games. You can even design your own Widgets with a little bit of Java and HTML programming knowledge.

Apple's mail program has grown up quite a bit since it's initial release in OS X. Many of the first adopters of OS X steered clear of using Mail for email access, myself included. It lacked many features necessary for it to be very productive. Fortunately, those days are long past and the most recent version of Mail included with Tiger is packed with features that have made it my main email program. Besides the new sleeker, look finding specific emails has never been easier. Mail uses smart folders similar to the Finder and all of your emails are accessible to Spotlight as well. Another new feature of Mail is the Connection Doctor, it will help you troubleshoot problems connecting to your mail servers by giving you a detailed description of the problem then taking you to a network diagnostics tool to help remedy the issue. Like the previous version of Mail it has seamless integration with the Address Book and .Mac.

Overall I have found that the upgrade to Tiger is well worth the price of admission. It has many new features that help you to be more productive, have more fun, and leave your PC friends asking "Do they make that for Windows?"