This will likely for the most part restate what every other review of Tiger has said… In short, it’s a great upgrade, well worth the price. On the evening of the 29th after I went to the FedEx shipping place since they wouldn’t leave it on my doorstep, I dutifully installed Tiger. The entire thing was pretty much a non-event just as installing any software on OS X. I did an archive reinstallation. This is pretty much where it backs up your /username directory, wipes out everything, installs the OS and then puts back your user directory. Nearly everything worked without a hitch. Yep, nearly. But we’ll get to that soon. So, what do I like? Well like I said in my last post, I love widgets. Sure, they’ve been around in different forms for years but the inclusion into the OS just really is icing on the cake. Spotlight which is akin to Google Desktop Search or the MSN Desktop Search, is likely the 8th wonder of th world. Why didn’t we think of this sooner? I’ll go into more detail on some of this soon but this is meant to be a quick overview. What don’t I like? Not much. There just isn’t much to not like about Tiger, however that doesn’t mean it’s not without it’s flaws. I use a Cisco VPN for my work and for many of my clients it’s the way I attach to their networks. The Cisco VPN client didn’t work with Tiger for nearly two weeks while Cisco scrambled to get a working version of the client out the door. Naturally, that would have been nice to know before I ran the upgrade. I use Firefox because it’s the greatest browser on the planet. Sure, OS X comes with Safari but I like Firefox and I’m going to stick with it. However, Java didn’t work out of the box either. Bummer. It seems like just a little more collaboration on each party’s end could have resulted in a better experience. Both the Cisco VPN Client and Java under Firefox have been fixed now. I understand that there are always growing pains with a new release of an OS, or any software for that matter. Doesn’t mean I have to like it.

Naturally, I’ll be sticking with Tiger. It has many merits I simply haven’t covered or don’t have enough time to cover yet. But I will get more into depth with coverage of Spotlight and naturally, my favorite widgets and anything else that comes to mind.

OK, it’s been a while I know but it’s been a crazy couple of week. I promise, I’ll be talking about Tiger and all of the things I love, and some of the things I don’t very soon. For now just let me say this… I am a widget junkie. I am constantly looking for the next great widget that will change my life.

Now, with that said, I have to talk about this and get it out there. This site is my therapy. On Friday the 13th I was given my two week notice at my current employer. I’d like to say I didn’t see it coming but I did. You see, I am a network and network-security constultant and a fairly high-level on at that. I have a couple of really good certificates under my belt and I’m working on a few others as time permits. Well, being high level is great when you’re working for a company that can find the kind of work you do in quantities enough to keep you ‘engaged’ but that has not been the case for my current employer or the sales team in charge of keeping me working. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t place the blame solely on the sales team or my managers. While I feel as though they have let me down I am sure that there is something more I could have done though honestly, I don’t know what. I did everything they asked me to do. “Get your CCNA again”… Done. “Get your Cisco Wireless Cert”… Done. “Get your Cisco PIX Cert”… Done. “Get your CISSP”… Done. “Get your CCSP”… Almost Done. You see, I had no problem pushing myself to improve but perhaps where I failed is pushing my managers to find me more work. Maybe I should have stayed more ‘in front’ of them about getting the kind of work that would have been a challenge and, in the end, certainly more rewarding.

Perhaps I should look at this as a positive, I am out looking for new and exciting positions with companies that hopefully will be in a better position to fully utilize my tallents and leverage my experience.

More on OS X soon.