The existing AppleScript system as provided in the beta will be familiar to many users, and Apple still provides a Script Editor. Most of the basic commands are similar, with changes in the way files are handled. A new addition, though, is the Script Runner. The Script Runner is a globally floating window provided to launch any scripts included in the user's script folder. This provides a sort of similar functionality to OSA Menu, since, of course, it won't work under OS X.

Probably one of the most impressive examples of scriptability under OS X is Create by Stone Design. They've extended the scriptability of their application to the point where an entire document can be saved as and recreated from a script. The license is free until 2001, so it's an excellent chance to check out the possibilities of scripting under OS X.

An intruiging possibility for the release version of OS X is the news that Apple's scripting team is looking into providing Javascript and Perl with the same hooks into the system as AppleScript, so we may see even more scripting possibilites as the system advances. All in all, it appears that scripting has an exciting future, and will play an even more important role under OS X.