If I were you, I wouldn't leap right on the new Tiger OS. Programs will
probably take a little while to be compatible with it--you may find yourself
with a beautiful powerbook that will only run the stuff that came with it
(which is plenty, for sure) for several months. However, that's just me, I
don't trust apple (or anyone) to make major changes and get it right off the
bat the first time, and Tiger seems to be a pretty big change.
In addition, if you are new to Mac, it may take a while for all the
Mac-introductory info (aside from what's in MacHelp) to catch up to Tiger,
in terms of getting good help on newsgroups, etc--there'll be plenty of
early adopters but probably also a lot of holdovers.
Again, this is just me--I was years behind in going from old Mac OS 9 to OS
X, and I'll probably be behind on Tiger as well. But Panther is going to be
stable and supported for a while, I should think, and if you are
student/faculty, Tiger should be available discounted. Switching over later
would be extra time and trouble, plus some expense, but possibly less
trouble than learning a whole new OS while that OS is undergoing its final
shakedown.
My two cents.
DM
