A bit peculiar it may be to celebrate the passing of an operating system (OS), but for me Jaguar has been a loyal aide, though often abused by having its guts hacked about.
Mac OS X 10.2 marked the coming of age of Apple's 21st century operating system, in my eyes, no longer the beta that reluctant "Classic" die-hards still like to claim it is.
It became the first version of the solid and dependable Unix-based OS X where I've found that excursions into Mac OS 9, last of Apple's classic systems, were more for the pleasure of working in another much-liked environment than out of necessity.
Hence a gallery -- where the pictures are far from of the best possible quality, so they won't take an afternoon to "load" -- starting with one of my few Desktop layouts to meet the Kid's total approval, as a long-time sharer of my Macs who this summer graduated to her own.

With a new OS, the first and easiest thing to change is the icons. I like my desktops tidy, with plenty of "hidden" accesses to programmes.
The more I used Jag, the fewer items went into Apple's Dock as a "launchpad", till it was down to e-mail and other Web applications. Today, most folders and programmes can be opened from DragThing (bottom left).

The Dock remains useful all the same, since I often use two or three internet browsers at once. Here, it is one means of access to the functions of the admirable DEVONAgent Net search and page storage application

With Jag, Apple gave us more and more brushed metal, to the liking of some and the annoyance of others, who swiftly worked to restore the original interface.
You can hack it out, but Panther will have the metal look, which I like. The Finder box will be even more sophisticated in the latest cat.

Life goes better if I talk to the plants and kiss the Mac from time to time.
Beneath the lips in a tweaked desktop picture of fond fancy, a close-up on DragThing shows that 13's my lucky number when it comes to how many launch-panels I've needed for my work.

Most of us to make the transition from Classic to X had a hard time when the familiar old "Apple Menu" disappeared. Unsanity software stepped into the gap with FruitMenu, which many find indispensable. It takes a while to customize it to your liking, but this programme will almost certainly follow me into Panther, once compatible.

Since I don't need to see my hard disk partitions all the time, they went into a drop-down menu, another DragThing feature (top right).
At bottom right, Matt Neuberg's MemoryStick is one of many applications to keep an eye on the system itself. Nice and small, it's a simple guide to my memory use. At a glance, I know when I'm demanding too much of the engine-room ... or when a programme, especially a beta I'm testing, springs a memory "leak".

Panther will run more swiftly than Jaguar, but working in OS 10.2 can be very fast with the help of "contextual menus": ones opened by a simple control-click.
Ittec, the X mother of all CMs, tucked away behind and below the pic of my first Mac, is made by Balance Software and can host whole sets of baby CMs, depending on what programme you're using.

When Steve Jobs announced X, he was hand-in-glove with brother enemy Bill Gates. But the days when Micro$oft's Internet Explorer almost had to be the OS 10 browser by default are gone.
This year saw Apple's own Safari grow up. Alongside Camino, formerly Chimera, I use it the most. But the German iCab is lean, swift and better with each upgrade. All Micro$oft products are now banished from my main operating system. OmniWeb, shown here, is the browser that still most faithfully renders this 'blog as it "should" be seen. It's one of the cases where I put my money where my mouth is when it comes to supporting independent developers.

Music is back at the core of my life: 'Metal Cat' is the name of the iPod. With 'FAST CLAWS AHEAD!' -- that name being the only trace, with all systems go, of a much-hacked "start-up" routine I can't take shots of without accessing the 'Big Cat' from the Kid's computer -- something will have to give way. Oh dear. I'm going to need more disk space. Ah well. It won't be the music files, that's for sure. So. Sigh... It'll have to be all but the best of the Porn Collection, introduced to loyal 'blog readers back in May when the sap was rising.

It may not be the biggest in town. And nobody in the blogosphere could compete with the late Reverse Cowboy, she who had the richest and funniest of all. I lamented her passing in entry #272 -- 'Dead meat, etc.' -- the day the virtual world taught me that lesbianism would be the key to my survival. The future belongs to the female of the species. As with almost everything on my Mac, sophistication and excellent taste are the hallmarks of these doomed galleries of fame. No silicon here, but celebration of those who always knew they had the upper hand. (Anybody got a spare hard drive? A mere 60 GB should do the trick...)

As to the remarkable biker lady above, she was my favourite wildcat out of Playboy in the 1980s. Today, I'm not sure whether to be miffed or pleased that a girl long since gone on to live a life out of the media is apparently now tipped to be the all-time favourite Playmate of the magazine's existence. I wonder how Sondra Greenberg feels about that kind of renewed exposure...

When Panther takes charge, one of its many new features, the Exposé programme, will put an end to the kind of clutter that a desktop soon assumes with several applications open. In the last pic, there are only six visible programmes on active duty, and not even any music, but this gives you an insight into the Jaguar performing its highest service.

Farewell, Mac feline mark three. It's been nice knowing you. Unless I decide on a stay of execution until I come out of hibernation next spring.

November 2, 2003.