I've been using Panther for just a week now, and WOW does it suck going back to 10.2 (which, unfortunately, I must return to every time I use Pagemaker - it's somehow not compatible with 10.3).
It's like moving from quicksilver to molasses...
I have a G-4 yikes maxed out with a gig of ram and almost every app is significantly FASTER! Launching, scrolling, copying files is MUCH faster. Emptying the trash of tons of files has to be almost 10 times faster, maybe more! So it's much much more than just the more convenient Finder...
Jaguar seems downright primitive now.... Functional, kinda poky, and limited, though still effective. Amazing what a mere "upgrade" can do. There's gonna be a lot of happy mac folks out there when Panther stalks into town, rest assured...
Panther Is A Cat By Any Other Name