Apple's Mac OS X Leopard fully unveiled
By Paul Miller 
posted June 11th 2007 11:11AM
posted June 11th 2007 11:11AM
1. New Desktop - First off is the new desktop, featuring a new menu bar, a snazzed up dock and "Stacks" to help you keep your desktop clean. For instance, there's a default Stack that collects all your downloads in one place on the dock.
2. New Finder - More on the aesthetics side, Apple is going with a unified look for apps, which nixes the brushed metal style and instead mimics the current iTunes theme -- surprise, surprise. In fact, the new Finder looks and performs almost exactly like iTunes, all the way down to integrated Cover Flow for shuffling through your files. You can also save smart searches in the "playlists" side of the interface. On the back end of things, Leopard includes "Back to my Mac," which keeps track of your home Mac's IP address through various (and secure!) magicks, letting you browse your files remotely as if they were on a local network. Spotlight search also works over networks now, as expected.
3. Quick Look - Another new Finder integrated function, Quick Look lets you open up previews of most common document types without opening the respective app, and unsupported doc types can be added through extensions.
Keep reading for the rest!
4. 64-bit top to bottom - Apple is supporting 64-bit in Leopard from apps to drivers (and presumably beyond). Leopard should run on most Tiger-supporting Macs, just in case you were wondering if the lack of a 64-bit processor in your current Mac (i.e. Core Duo or Core Solo) would lock you out of using the new OS. So don't chuck that first-gen MacBook just yet.
5. Core Animation - Same song as last year, but enough crowd pleasing effects to make it worth a second gander.
6. Boot Camp - Sadly, there aren't any surprise Parallels-killing functions here, but the lack of need to burn a drivers CD should take this one out of the hax0rs' court and see more users taking advantage of it. Also, it will supposedly feature faster switching between from OS X by using the hibernate / safe-sleep feature to keep "open" running apps when jumping over to Windows.
7. Spaces - Once again, not much new here, but it does turn out that you can have more than four Spaces, the number of 'em is user configurable.
8. Dashboard - Yeah, 10 new features? Not so much. Web Clip still sounds fun.
9. iChat - Now features tabbed chats and uses AAC for audio, along with those other fancy features like Photo Booth effects mentioned last year. You can also show off any Quick Look-supported document over a chat, movies included.
10. Time Machine - Backup for noobs, and previews in Quick Look
So no multi-touch interfacing or anything fancy like that, but still a crowd-pleasing offering. $129 and she's yours, come October.
And that is just a silly Apple fanboy remark. Brian Cooley hit the nail on the head with the latest Buzz report with regards to how lame Apple fans are.
Wow, I feel my productivity rising already... It does SOooooOOOooOoo much more than my current OS with only a 25% price premium! Not only that, it locks me into a hardware platform that ensures I will have to buy a new computer when it comes time to upgrade, rather than just..you know..upgrade...factor in all the software and games I'll be able to run and this is a slam dunk!
how about non freezing stability? Just today I had to reboot my XP machine twice.
You can rant all you want. Leopard kicks MS behind anytime.
It looks like someone needs to go back and study a bit of stats. Someone who thinks he's smart is confusing the average with the median. Of course you may have 98% below average! It's like saying 98% of world population earns less than the average salary. It is probably true too! It's called skewness ;-) And of course IQ distribution does not follow a normal distribution (which would make that comment reasonable). I do not have proof but I guess is just common sense. So lesson number one: get the free R statistical software on your Apple and start learning statistics before you post silly comments ;-)
Cheers and have fun with the new OS. Though I generally like Mac OSes (at least when compared to Windows), I still prefer Linux... I'm one of those outliers just distorting the distribution of OS users ;-)
wow, are you dense or what? i said assuming a normal distribution in *asterisks*, which would imply mean = median. common sense and no proof that IQ doesn't follow a Guasian distribution, eh? check out the figure in wiki (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IQ). i even mentioned the skewness on the implied distribution would be weird. you probably know stats too (and a thing or too about Gini Coefficients), but i recommend you go get Reader Rabbit for your Mac before you post any more of your silly comments.
So where did those 'top secret leopard features' go, oh they're so secret Jobs wont even announce them, (s)Mac'ers will have to find them, after they spend how ever much it costs for something not even worth the title of 'Service Pack'. At least Windows users get services packs with 'real' features for free. And, does anyone really know why it this was delayed so much, when it doesn't even offer anything 'new', as in all the features how-ever debatable they may be (is improved gui really a feature, neither is boot camp, not a feature of the OS, I mean, that's like Microsoft used XBOX 360 as a feature of Vista), were demoed much much earlier.
don't get me wrong, Vista kind of sucks (though at least it has 'new' features), my mate has it, and I'm glad I've stayed with XP for now. The best OS ever made.
Good Artists copy, but great artists steal = Jobs, OS X + whatever flavour of 'nix its based, too true.
I prefer apple's slow but straightforward approach. the features on Leopard look useful, as opposed to Vista.
i've had vista for a while, and I never use ANY of the new features (the gadgets sidebar is to small to be useful, the 3D rollodex function is nice looking but too slow compared to alt-tabbing, the windows defender is as annoying as ever). After 2 weeks, you realize it really is just XP with slightly better memory management (which mac already had).
but as big of a mac fan as I am, the greatest OS is DEFINITELY windows 98. That thing never crashed on me ever, simply because it did EXACTLY what I wanted it to do. It wasn't user friendly at all, meaning you could do anything, as long as you were smart enough. ahh...those were the days...
how can someone compare 129 dollars to having a windows machine rebooted at work at least once a day everyday? Its clear to me... I value my time and the costs of headaches... sorry
I hate to do it, but .....
Wheres the compelling reaon to upgrade? I dont care about feature's xyz. Its just Tiger with some eyecandy.
Turnabout is fairplay. Not every release is world changing, sometimes they just do some basic improvements. This goes for Apple and MS.
I agree that there's a ton of eye candy, but Time Machine will be hawt.
If I buy a new MBP now, how much will it cost to upgrade to leopard when it is out?
$129.
yeah, that sucks. At least with Microsoft I could get a free upgrade to Vista if I bought a new PC in those final months before shipping. If Apple would do that then I would go out and buy a MBP right now.
They did an upgrade scheme with Tiger - I imagine it'll be the same with Leopard. It just won't kick in yet; you'll only have a couple of months before release.
Firstly apple, fix these damn "bugs".
1: Make windows resizable from ALL corners and edges!
2: STOP the stupid bug where copying a folder into a directory that contains a folder with the same name, deleting the previous folder and then copying the new one over... MERGE THEM for Christs sake!
If you don't know what I am on about try using OS X and Windows, the difference is clear. Windows wins hands down!
If I didn't have to use OS X at work, I would never use OS X again.
3. get rid of that defaulting ICON view. do I have to push the button to switch it to my preferred view every time, can't I just press it ONCE and keep it on that mode no matter where I go.
4. get rid of that ICON view entirely {isn't the nostalgia of the 80's user interfaces gone yet}.
Those aren't bugs, just differences with Windows. 1 is a feature and 2, apparently, is a training issue.
To merge folders: Open the destination folder and drag the contents of the source folder into it. You'll be prompted to replace duplicates, while the other files will be moved/copied over. Windows handles it differently--unintuitively IMO.
hmmm... isn't the stacks and quicklook like xp's and vista's group thingy in the taskbar (stacks) and the file preview view as thumbnail(quicklook)? albeit a better UI and somewhat functional executed one? so i guess apple has its own photocopying department as well eh? anyhoo ui-wise and and ease of use, i'd have to give a hefty bravo to apple. i sure hope microsoft can get more elegant designers into their fray. the other features for me are just a tad to similar to a lot of offerings from ms, even xp had them in some way. vista-killer? not so. i agree with paul thurrotts assessment that ms safari will be the true killer app and not this new iteration of osx. its just another lovely and updated facelift of osx. can't wait for os 11 if ever they do come out with that. maybe then i'll switch to the mac. but man is it purty.
Both of these features have been available to linux users for years. As any KDE or GNOME would easily recognize. You're right, these ideas are not new, but please give credit where credit is due. You could point to the majority of features in Vista and I could show you their (slightly more ugly) linux counter-parts.
you're right gianni. sorry bout that. just making a point at how apple always seem to put down microsoft. just used vista and xp as a comparison as that's who apple always attacks. but yeah you're right. and ms doesn't necessarily say we invented this or that. they are a company who admittingly innovates on others' ideas. that's what i like about them actually. they may not be so snazzy but they do get the job done. but yeah as a developer, they should at least flesh out every product they have cleanly before they even bother with the snazzy facade before they go for the niceties of image. but hey it's nice that they are trying to at least now focus on the experience. a lot of commentaries about microsoft do hit the nail right on the head, ms needs to focus, they do so many things, plan so many features. good to dream but they have difficulty implementing. anyhoo kudos to them trying even with the success they have and also the humility of it all in the way they run everything. like you said, i am giving credit where credit is due. and yes, apple is really pretty.
My university course starts in the first week of October, I need/want to buy a Macbook but I'm not buying a laptop whose OS will be succeeded within a couple of weeks. Are there any options for me here?
Do Apple offer any sort of policy where if you buy a computer within a month or so of a new OS, you can get the new OS for free or discounted rate? Or will I be limited to the 14 day returns policy?
Hopefully Leopard will be released within the first week of october, I can't see myself living without a PC for a month.
one can easily apply that correlation between percentage of of people with below average iq with the percentage of people out there owning macs and pcs...
98% of the population are dimwits... 98% use win pcs... mmmm...
bout the stacks - apple patented this and was a rumoured release for panther fortunately they had good sense to rename it from "piles"
Where's my A2DP Bluetooth stereo?
Can anyone answer this question..
in the beginning of the apple speech with the "Get a Mac" ads they stated that vista only sold tens of dozens...
yet later said that there are an active 20 million apple leopard users...
well, vista sold 20 million its FIRST month
so... tens of dozens = vista's first month users = apples entire operating users
is this just a marketing scheme or is apple just arrogant?
Spaces!?!?!! Come on! and "You can have more than four of Spaces, the number of 'em is user configurable." Imagine that! Oh wait..... I think a number of linux distros did, several years ago. Except you don't need to hit (+) or (-) to change the number.... you type it in like an intelligent person. I don't know. While Web Clips are cool, I would rather they make the widgets permanently populated, a la Vista, rather tahn having to wait for them to pop in. My friends iBook G4 takes a long time to populate, thus destroying the point of widgets. Do the right thing for the widgets, apple... I think it's in your heart.
the only thing holding me back from getting a mac are those get a mac commercials. they are so embarassing. especially the one at the last WWDC (woohoooo, they are in sf, my hometown). "vista has sold tens of dozens...." they are either stupid, or are in desperate need for customers with their constant vista bashing. dont get me wrong i thing leopard is STUNNING! but denny it or accept it, vista is BEAUTIFULLY stunning. and i really dont see what all the complaining is about. mac isnt perfect either.
Tiger already blows vista out of the water and yet Apple has yet to release Leopard. Because its mac os x it won't be as buggy and would be more compatable than vista will ever be. One thing to note as each version of mac os x is released there is a performance increase on the same machine.