Not just any computer, of course, but a Macintosh. The company says OS X 10.1 is its most sweeping upgrade yet, a claim also being made by Microsoft over its much-hyped Windows XP upgrade set to officially go on sale Oct. 25. OS X 10.1 uses a new interface dubbed Aqua, which uses color, transparency and animation to control the way screen windows open and close. Apple says most applications will open two to three times faster with OS X 10.1. Apple programs and applications are accessed from a tray of icons called the Dock, which is located by default on the bottom but can be moved to either side.
Users add programs to the Dock by just dragging their icons into position on it.
Windows users have had a similar feature called the Quick Launch bar since Windows 98. But Apple s Dock offers much more control. All this is nice, but where Apple really has made OS X 10.1 shine is in its ability to connect to digital devices easily. Plug a digital camera into a USB port and the pictures are displayed quickly in thumbnails on the screen. Select the images you want and transfer them to the computer hard drive quickly.