As promised, Apple launched Friday the last version of the Mac operating system, Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger.

This version, which is the fifth, is the most important upgrade of the operating system, because aside from 200 new features, Mac OS X Tiger also benefits from revolutionary desktop technologies.

Obviously, the most important is Spotlight, a search program integrated into the operating system, which allows finding any document on the hard disk: e-mails, audio/video files or images etc. Spotlight is for desktop what Google is for Internet.

Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger was enthusiastically received by fans, and everyone who tested the operating system wrote only favorable reviews.

But what's really important is that until Microsoft's Longhorn, users have to wait for another year, giving Mac OS X Tiger enough time to make even more fans.

Although it currently owns 4% of the desktop market, Apple has no problem going against Microsoft, and the feline operating system already includes revolutionary features which are still tested by the Redmond giant.

Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger has a price tag of 129 dollars and is already available at all authorized retailers.

It remains to be seen how much this operating system will influence the battle between Apple and Microsoft.