Mac OS X Tiger

Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger
Version of the macOS operating system
Screenshot of Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger. Note that the Apple logo on the menu bar has been changed to one with a less glossy appearance.
DeveloperApple Inc.
OS family
Source modelClosed, with open source components
General
availability		April 29, 2005; 19 years ago (2005-04-29)[1]
Latest release10.4.11 / November 14, 2007; 17 years ago (2007-11-14)
Update methodApple Software Update
PlatformsIA-32, x86-64, PowerPC
Kernel typeHybrid (XNU)
LicenseCommercial proprietary software[2]
Preceded byMac OS X 10.3 Panther
Succeeded byMac OS X 10.5 Leopard
Official websiteApple - Mac OS X at the Wayback Machine (archived July 28, 2006)
TaglineTiger unleashed.
Support status
Historical, unsupported as of September 4, 2009. Safari support ended November 2010 and iTunes support terminated as well.[3]
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Mac OS X Tiger (version 10.4) is the 5th major release of macOS, Apple's desktop and server operating system for Mac computers. Tiger was released to the public on April 29, 2005 for US$129.95 as the successor to Mac OS X 10.3 Panther. Included features were a fast searching system called Spotlight, a new version of the Safari web browser, Dashboard, a new 'Unified' theme, and improved support for 64-bit addressing on Power Mac G5s. Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger also had a number of additional features that Microsoft had spent several years struggling to add to Windows with acceptable performance, such as fast file search and improved graphics processing.[4]

Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger was included with all new Macs, and was also available as an upgrade for existing Mac OS X users, or users of supported pre-Mac OS X systems. The server edition, Mac OS X Server 10.4, was also available for some Macintosh product lines. Six weeks after the official release, Apple had delivered 2 million copies of Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger, representing 16% of all Mac OS X users. Apple claimed that Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger was the most successful Apple OS release in the company's history.[5] On June 11, 2007, at WWDC 2007, Apple's CEO, Steve Jobs, announced that more than 67% of the 22 million Mac OS X users were using Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger.[6]

Apple announced a transition to Intel x86 processors during Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger's lifetime, making it the first Apple operating system to work on Apple–Intel architecture machines. The original Apple TV, released in March of 2007, shipped with a customized version of Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger branded "Apple TV OS" that replaced the usual GUI with an updated version of Front Row.[7]

Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger was succeeded by Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard on October 26, 2007, after 30 months, making Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger the longest-running version of Mac OS X.[8] The last security update released for Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger users was the 2009-005 update.[9][10] The latest supported version of QuickTime is 7.6.4. The latest version of iTunes that can run on Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger is 9.2.1.[11] Safari 4.1.3 is the final version for Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger.[12]

Despite not having received security updates since 2009, Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger remains popular with Power Mac users and retrocomputing enthusiasts due to its wide software and hardware compatibility, as it is the last Mac OS X version to support the Classic Environment – a Mac OS 9 compatibility layer – and PowerPC G3 processors.[13]

  1. ^ "Apple Unleashes "Tiger" Friday at 6:00 p.m." (Press release). Apple Inc. April 28, 2005. Archived from the original on January 3, 2018. Retrieved January 11, 2018.
  2. ^ "SOFTWARE LICENSE AGREEMENT FOR MAC OS X Single Use License" (PDF). apple.com. Apple Inc. Archived (PDF) from the original on August 4, 2016. Retrieved March 19, 2015.
  3. ^ Gregg Keizer (December 17, 2013). "Apple signals end to OS X Snow Leopard support". Computerworld. Archived from the original on April 7, 2014. Retrieved June 23, 2014. The company did the same for OS X Tiger, officially known as OS X 10.4, which was retired from support in September 2009, more than four years after its introduction.
  4. ^ Gregg Keizer (January 29, 2007). "Microsoft's Vista Had Major Mac Envy, Company E-Mails Reveal". Information Week. Archived from the original on August 10, 2017. Retrieved August 9, 2017.
  5. ^ Cohen, Peter; Snell, Jason (June 5, 2005). "WWDC 2005 Keynote Live Update". Macworld. Archived from the original on December 28, 2021. Retrieved December 28, 2021.
  6. ^ Apple Inc. (June 11, 2007). "WWDC 2007 Keynote". Archived from the original on June 14, 2007. Retrieved June 13, 2007.
  7. ^ "Apple TV OS successfully booted on Macs". MacNN. March 27, 2007. Archived from the original on April 1, 2007. Retrieved April 15, 2007.
  8. ^ Knight, Dan (April 13, 2007). "Leopard Delayed to October. And the Bad Thing Is?". LowEnd Mac. Cobweb Publishing, Inc. Archived from the original on January 16, 2008. Retrieved December 9, 2007.
  9. ^ Apple Inc. (September 10, 2009). "Security Update 2009-005 (Tiger PPC)". Retrieved October 1, 2023.
  10. ^ Apple Inc. (September 10, 2009). "Security Update 2009-005 (Tiger Intel)". Retrieved October 1, 2023.
  11. ^ Apple Inc. (September 1, 2010). "iTunes 10". Archived from the original on September 5, 2010.
  12. ^ Apple Inc. (August 18, 2023). "Apple security updates (2010)". Retrieved October 1, 2023.
  13. ^ Low End Mac (April 29, 2011). "6 Years With Tiger". Archived from the original on May 10, 2012. Retrieved January 26, 2012.