Apple takes wraps off next-generation OS

Apple CEO Steve Jobs outlined the major features in the next release of the company's OS X operating system at the 2002 Worldwide Developers Conference yesterday.

OS X 10.2, code-named Jaguar, will ship later this summer.

Top of the new features is iChat, an instant messaging application that comes bundled at operating system level. The application integrates with OS X's now-enhanced mail application.

Jobs said Apple has secured a deal with AOL to allow users access to its 140 million subscribers - the first third-party to gain access to the network, he claimed.

Jobs said that while iChat is "AOL blessed", users won't be required to subscribe to the ISP.

iChat features dynamic buddy lists and automatically generates a list based on users connected via wired and wireless networks.

The application also features a P2P file-swapping feature that allows users to send files to other people by dragging and dropping documents onto the relevant buddy icon.

Jobs also unveiled Inkwell, a handwriting recognition application that can be used to input text into any application. In his demo he added text to a Photoshop layer and entered Unix commands via an OS X terminal.

Referring to the innovative handheld computer he unceremoniously axed when he started his second tenure as CEO, Jobs quipped: "You'd think that hundreds of millions of dollars on Newton technology would get us something."

Jaguar will also feature Sherlock 3, the next generation of the company's search tool, as well as Quicktime 6 and an updated Address Book. Jaguar will also contain a number of other system enhancements and improve the way Macs communicate with Windows networks.

Finally, Mac users will be relieved to see the return of spring-loaded folders, one of the most missed features of OS 9.

In a bizarre ceremony with a coffin, lots of dry ice and Bach's Tocatta and Fugue, Jobs "buried" OS 9 and told the crowd that development on the operating system was over.

After a short eulogy, Jobs said: "Mac isn't dead to our customers yet, but it's dead for you... We will focus all our efforts on OS X."

He said that Apple entered 2002 with around one million "active" OS X users, and predicted this will rise to five million by the end of the year.