Mac OS X Panther (version 10.3) is the fourth major release of macOS, Apple's desktop and server operating system. It followed Mac OS X Jaguar and preceded Mac OS X Tiger. It was released on October 24, 2003, with the retail price of US$129[3] for a single user and US$199[3] for a five user, family license.

Quick Facts Developer, OS family ...
Mac OS X 10.3 Panther
Version of the macOS operating system
Screenshot of Mac OS X Panther. Notice how the Finder icon in the Dock has been changed and Internet Explorer has been replaced by Safari.
DeveloperApple Computer, Inc.
OS family
Source modelClosed, with open source components
General
availability
October 24, 2003; 21 years ago (2003-10-24)[1]
Latest release10.3.9 / April 15, 2005; 19 years ago (2005-04-15)[2]
PlatformsPowerPC
Kernel typeHybrid (XNU)
LicenseApple Public Source License (APSL) and Apple end-user license agreement (EULA)
Preceded byMac OS X 10.2 Jaguar
Succeeded byMac OS X 10.4 Tiger
Official websiteApple - Mac OS X at the Wayback Machine (archived January 11, 2005)
TaglineThe evolution of the species.
Support status
Historical, unsupported as of March 4, 2007
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The main features of Panther included a refined Aqua theme, Exposé, Fast user switching, and a new Finder. Panther also included Safari as its default browser, as a change from Internet Explorer in Jaguar.

System requirements

Panther's system requirements are:[4]

  • PowerPC G3, G4, or G5 processor (at least 233 MHz)
  • Built-in USB
  • At least 128 MB of RAM (256 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

Because 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 fails on these older machines.

Panther still fully supported the Classic environment for running older Mac OS 9 applications, but made Classic application windows double-buffered, interfering with some applications written to draw directly to screen.

New and changed features

End-user features

Apple advertised that Mac OS X Panther had over 150 new features, including:

New applications in Panther

  • Font Book: A font manager which simplifies viewing character maps, and adding new fonts that can be used systemwide.[6] The app also allows the user to organize fonts into collections.
  • FileVault: On-the-fly encryption and decryption of a user's home folder.[6]
  • iChat AV: The new version of iChat. Now with built-in audio- and video conferencing.[6]
  • X11: Compatibility[6] for applications based on the X Window System, commonly used for UNIX applications, is available through an optional install, found in the install disk. Mac OS X Panther is the first macOS version to officially support X11. It utilizes Quartz to provide hardware accelerated graphics[7] and is based on the XFree86 implementation[8] of X Window System.
  • Safari: A new web browser that was developed to replace Internet Explorer for Mac when the contract between Apple and Microsoft ended, although Internet Explorer for Mac was still available. Safari 1.0 was included in an update in Jaguar but was used as the default browser[3] in Panther.

Other

  • Microsoft Windows interoperability improvements, including out-of-the-box support for Active Directory and SecurID-based VPNs.
  • Built-in fax support, with Address Book integration.[9]:1 Sending a fax can be done using the native Print dialog.[9]:2 To receive faxes, users must pre-configure in System Preferences on how the system should handle an incoming fax, with options[9]:4 including selecting a folder to save the incoming faxes, to automatically email to an address or to print via a selected printer, upon receiving of the fax.
  • Secure Empty Trash, was a feature added in Mac OS X Panther[10] to ensure files that are deleted cannot be recovered, through the use of data erasure techniques.[11]

Additional

Panther was Apple's earliest version of Mac OS X that supported WPA and WPA2 security for wireless networks (with the AirPort 4.2 software update).

Release history

More information Version, Build ...
Version Build Date Darwin version Notes
10.3 7B85 October 24, 2003 7.0 Original retail release set
7B86 Server Edition
10.3.1 7C107 November 10, 2003 7.1 Mac OS X Update 10.3.1: Information and Download
10.3.2 7D24 December 17, 2003 7.2 Mac OS X: About the Mac OS X 10.3.2 Update
7D28 Updated retail release
10.3.3 7F44 March 15, 2004 7.3 Added network volumes available on the finder sidebar and the desktop; updated applications.[12]
10.3.4 7H63 May 26, 2004 7.4 About the Mac OS X 10.3.4 Update
10.3.5 7M34 August 9, 2004 7.5 About the Mac OS X 10.3.5 Update (Delta); Updated retail release set
10.3.6 7R28 November 5, 2004 7.6 About the Mac OS X 10.3.6 Update (Delta)
10.3.7 7S215 December 15, 2004 7.7 About the Mac OS X 10.3.7 Update (Delta)
10.3.8 7U16 February 9, 2005 7.8 About the Mac OS X 10.3.8 Update (Delta)
10.3.9 7W98 April 15, 2005 7.9 About the Mac OS X 10.3.9 Update (Delta)
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Timeline

Timeline of Mac operating systems
ARM architecture familyx86PowerPC68kMacBook Air (Apple silicon)iMac ProRetina MacBook ProMacBook AirApple–Intel architecturePower Mac G5Power Mac G4iMac G3Power MacintoshMacintosh QuadraMacintosh PortableMacintosh SE/30Macintosh IIMacintosh PlusMacintosh 128KmacOS SequoiamacOS SonomamacOS VenturamacOS MontereymacOS Big SurmacOS CatalinamacOS MojavemacOS High SierramacOS SierraOS X El CapitanOS X YosemiteOS X MavericksOS X Mountain LionMac OS X LionMac OS X Snow LeopardMac OS X LeopardMac OS X TigerMac OS X PantherMac OS X 10.2Mac OS X 10.1Mac OS X 10.0Mac OS X Server 1.0Mac OS X Public BetaA/UXA/UXA/UXMacWorks XLMacWorks XLSun RemarketingMacWorks XLMac OS 9Mac OS 9Mac OS 9Mac OS 8Mac OS 8Mac OS 8Mac OS 8System 7System 7System 7System 7System 6Classic Mac OSClassic Mac OSClassic Mac OSClassic Mac OSSystem 1Finder (software)Finder (software)Finder (software)Finder (software)Finder (software)Finder (software)Finder (software)

References

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