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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][4] for a single user and US$199[4] for a five user, family license.
| 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. | |
| Developer | Apple Inc. |
| OS family | |
| Source model | Closed, with open source components |
| General availability | October 24, 2003[1] |
| Latest release | 10.3.9 / April 15, 2005[2] |
| Supported platforms | PowerPC |
| Kernel type | Hybrid (XNU) |
| License | Apple Public Source License (APSL) and Apple end-user license agreement (EULA) |
| Preceded by | Mac OS X 10.2 Jaguar |
| Succeeded by | Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger |
| Official website | Apple - Mac OS X at the Wayback Machine (archived January 11, 2005) |
| Tagline | The evolution of the species. |
| Support status | |
| Historical, unsupported as of March 4, 2007 | |
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.[5]
System requirements
editPanther's system requirements are:
- PowerPC G3, G4, or G5 processor (at least 233 MHz)
- Built-in USB
- At least 128 MB of RAM
- At least 1.5 GB of available hard disk space
- A CD Drive for installation
Macs that are compatible with Panther:
- Power Mac G5--all models except Power Mac G5 (Early 2005), Power Mac G5 (Late 2005) which use Mac OS X 10.4[6]
- Power Mac G4 or Macintosh Server G4--all models
- Power Macintosh G3 or Macintosh Server G3 that have built-in USB ports
- iMac--all models released in 2004 or earlier
- iBook--all models except iBook G4 (Mid 2005) which uses Mac OS X 10.4[6]
- PowerBook G4--all models except PowerBook G4 (Double-Layer SD) which uses Mac OS X 10.4[6]
- PowerBook G3--Bronze Keyboard models only[6]
New and changed features
editApple advertised that Mac OS X Panther had over 150 new features, including:
- Finder was updated with a brushed-metal interface, and given a new live search engine, a customizable Sidebar, secure deletion, colored labels (resurrected from classic Mac OS[7]) in the filesystem and Zip support built in. The Finder icon was also changed.
- Fast user switching was introduced; it allows a user to remain logged in while another user logs in, and supports quickly switching among several sessions.
- Exposé is a new feature that helps the user manage windows by showing them all as thumbnails.
- TextEdit is now compatible with Microsoft Word (.doc) documents.
- Xcode developer tools have faster compile times with gcc 3.3.
- Preview has increased speed of PDF rendering.[8]
- QuickTime now supports the Pixlet high-definition video codec.[8]
- Font Book is a font manager which simplifies viewing character maps, and adding new fonts that can be used systemwide.[8] The app also allows the user to organize fonts into collections.
- FileVault is a new app that has on-the-fly encryption and decryption of a user's home folder.[8]
- iChat AV now has built-in audio- and video conferencing.[8]
- X11: Compatibility[8] 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[9] and is based on the XFree86 implementation[10] of X Window System.
- Safari is 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[4] in Panther.
- Microsoft Windows interoperability improvements were made, including out-of-the-box support for Active Directory and SecurID-based VPNs.
- Built-in fax support.[11]: 1 Sending a fax can be done using the native Print dialog.[11]: 2 To receive faxes, users must pre-configure in System Preferences on how the system should handle an incoming fax, with options[11]: 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 is a feature added in Mac OS X Panther[12] to ensure, through the use of data erasure techniques, that deleted files cannot be recovered.[13]
- Panther added support for WPA and WPA2 level security on wireless networks (with the AirPort 4.2 software update).
Release history
edit| 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 | |
| 10.3.2 | 7D24 | December 17, 2003 | 7.2 | |
| 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.[14] |
| 10.3.4 | 7H63 | May 26, 2004 | 7.4 | |
| 10.3.5 | 7M34 | August 9, 2004 | 7.5 | Updated retail release set |
| 10.3.6 | 7R28 | November 5, 2004 | 7.6 | |
| 10.3.7 | 7S215 | December 15, 2004 | 7.7 | |
| 10.3.8 | 7U16 | February 9, 2005 | 7.8 | |
| 10.3.9 | 7W98 | April 15, 2005 | 7.9 |
Timeline
edit| Timeline of Mac operating systems |
|---|
 |
References
edit- ^ ""Night of the Panther" Kicks Off at 8:00 p.m. Tomorrow" (Press release). Apple Inc. October 23, 2003. Archived from the original on December 4, 2019. Retrieved December 4, 2019.
- ^ "Mac OS X Combined Update 10.3.9". Apple Inc. Archived from the original on April 19, 2005.
- ^ Siracusa, John (November 9, 2003). "Mac OS X 10.3 Panther". Ars Technica. Retrieved September 13, 2025.
- ^ a b c "Apple Announces Mac OS X "Panther"". Apple Newsroom (Press release). October 8, 2003. Archived from the original on May 4, 2021. Retrieved January 10, 2023.
- ^ "Mac OS X Panther Version 10.3 - Software - Computing History". www.computinghistory.org.uk. Retrieved September 13, 2025.
- ^ a b c d "Mac OS: Versions, builds included with PowerPC Macs (since 1998)". support.apple.com. Archived from the original on October 19, 2014. Retrieved September 13, 2025.
- ^ "One more cool cat". The Baltimore Sun. October 30, 2003. Archived from the original on October 8, 2021. Retrieved October 8, 2021.
Those nostalgic for Mac OS 9 will celebrate the return of colored file labels in this menu.
- ^ a b c d e f "Apple Previews Mac OS X "Panther"" (Press release). Apple. June 23, 2003. Archived from the original on January 3, 2018. Retrieved January 9, 2023.
- ^ Sellers, Dennis (October 27, 2003). "X11 for Panther available". Macworld. Archived from the original on January 10, 2023. Retrieved January 10, 2023.
- ^ "X11 for Mac OS X 1.0". Apple. October 28, 2003. Archived from the original on January 10, 2023. Retrieved January 10, 2023.
Based on the open source XFree86 project — the most common implementation of X11...
- ^ a b c "Faxing with Mac OS X Panther". Peachpit. November 24, 2004. Archived from the original on January 10, 2023. Retrieved January 10, 2023.
- ^ Latour, Frédéric (2003). "Panther : Finder". Frédéric Latour's web site. Archived from the original on July 20, 2008. Retrieved January 10, 2023.
- ^ Tognazzini, Bruce (January 2004). "Panther: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly". AskTog. Archived from the original on August 14, 2022. Retrieved January 10, 2023.
...overwrites the sectors on the disk seven times...
- ^ "Mac OS X (10.3.3) Combined Update 10.3.3".