Apple CEO Steve Jobs used this week's Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco to offer an early look at the company’s Mac OS X 10.4 platform, which Apple says will become available sometime next year.

Code-named "Tiger," the release promises to leave Microsoft's upcoming Windows OS, code-named "Longhorn," in the dust, primarily due to its searching and scripting capabilities.

The new search capability is called "Spotlight," and according to Jobs, it enables users to quickly and easily find anything resident on their Mac. It provides one, simple way to find every kind of file, including e-mail messages, calendars and contacts, documents, movies and images— all at once. Plus, Spotlight results are displayed in easy-to-understand categories that help you browse, pick and click, he said.

The new scripting development application is called "Automator." Automator enhances the Mac’s current scripting capabilities through a new UI for building workflow scripts. It helps users eliminate time-consuming, repetitive manual tasks by creating custom workflows. Users simply drag items, and point and click – with virtually no coding knowledge required.

Other key features of OS X 10.4 include a bundled videoconferencing capability called iChatAV, a new Dashboard and integrated RSS functionality. Overall, Tiger sports 150 new features and functions, Jobs said.