Leopard: final features and further upgrade details

We got a chance this morning to pose a few queries to Brian Croll, Senior Director of Mac OS X Product Marketing, about today's Leopard release announcement. Here's some of what he had to say, as well as some of the new features we're looking forward to in the next release.

• Users who bought Apple machines from October 1st on can participate in Apple's Up-To-Date Program, which provides free Leopard upgrades (for $10 shipping).
• Boot Camp's beta Assistant software expires at the end of 2007, meaning Tiger users that want to continue editing / creating Windows partitions on their Macs need to do so before January, or upgrade to Leopard. Post-January you'll still be able to boot to the partitions you've created, though.
• Users shouldn't expect expanded sync capabilities between Mail.app and the iPhone, although it looks like you'll be able to read iPhone notes on your desktop machine now.
• File system is, indeed, still HFS+; OS X now supports read-only ZFS, as we'd heard.
• Don't forget to peep the new features / changes list on Apple's site.
• Call us crazy, but with a 6:00PM Friday launch we think you should expect lines -- but not for Apple to sell out.

A few features we're looking forward to (besides the obvious ones):

• Google Maps integration with Address Book.
• Tricked out AppleScript.
• Automator UI recording / playback.
• Japanese dictionary support.
• New, easily-printable font books.
• Front Row now looks more like "Back Row" (the Apple TV interface) -- too bad it's still not more like Media Center.
• New AirPort menus that show WiFi encryption.
• Disk encryption now supports 256 bit AES.
• Built-in grammar checker. Lord knows we need it 'round these parts.
• Tabbed terminal.

[jilie @ Oct 16th 2007 11:03AM]

not much exciting

[Trevor @ Oct 16th 2007 4:08PM]

errr...let me guess, you're not a fanboy.


Anyone know where I can get that wallpaper?

[derek @ Oct 16th 2007 4:56PM]

"not much exciting"

Looks like you should buy it. You might benefit from the Grammar check...

[lordofthedirectrix @ Oct 16th 2007 6:18PM]

@derek:

...says the guy who capitalized "grammar" in the middle of a sentence. GG.

[chris @ Oct 16th 2007 10:16PM]

purple space background = http://appleology.com/images/space-desktop.png

[jilie @ Oct 16th 2007 11:27PM]

@derek
english is not my native language, btw you got what i meant!
and... it's Grammar Check on the apple's site, not Grammar check.. you may know why they capitalize almost any word in the titles? so it looks more important?
http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/300.html#dictionary
obey

[mentalsticks @ Oct 17th 2007 8:55AM]

@Jille
I don't know why I'm getting into this, but...
You won my sympathy when you said that English is not your maternal language. I do get sick and tired of all those comments on bad english aimed at people who do their best to participate in discussions in a language that is not their own, but which happens to be the internet's lingua franca.
However, you spoiled it when you started about capitalization. While it is true that Apple writes 'Grammar Check' and not 'Grammar check', that has nothing to do with their arrogance or domination, but with English grammar/capitalization rules, i.e. it's not Apple specific at all,
Next time you're expecting leniency for your imperfections in the English language, don't try to correct sombody else's.
dixi.

[Korokotta @ Oct 16th 2007 11:10AM]

Anybody knows what's the build number?

Cheers.

[Joseph @ Oct 16th 2007 7:26PM]

10.5 - where have you been?








j/k, im messing with you. I dont know the build number.

[Korokotta @ Oct 17th 2007 8:37AM]

:-))

[BobTurbo @ Oct 16th 2007 11:12AM]

Cute little toy.

[Ireland @ Oct 21st 2007 8:24PM]

Put your Wii away.

[Martin Trautmann @ Oct 16th 2007 11:12AM]

"Tricked out Apple Script"? What's this?

[Joe @ Oct 16th 2007 2:26PM]

You can code in Ruby etc within AppleScript now. It has bridges to several other scripting languages. Which is nice, because AppleScript is all touchy-feely, but it's a real pain to do in-depth coding in it.

[BlahBlah @ Oct 16th 2007 11:13AM]

Cant wait to torrent this. I refuse to pay for service packs. Buying Tiger to upgrade from Jaguar was the biggest waste of money. Next purchase will be for XI.

[Yoshi Likes Boys @ Oct 16th 2007 11:17AM]

Degenerate.

[arthur barnhouse @ Oct 16th 2007 11:23AM]

I'm an asshole who refuses to pay for things. Why should I pay for something that took two years to make. Similarly, I don't pay for games I download ($60 is just too much for 40 hours of entertainment) or songs I download (I'm not paying 99 cents for a lossy download I could buy from the store. . . except, you know, I don't buy it from the store either). Until Apple releases an OS update as big as Vista I'm not paying a dime! Well, I didn't really pay for Vista either, but it's bullshit that Ultimate is so expensive.

[BlahBlah @ Oct 16th 2007 11:40AM]

I buy all my games (For XBOX360, PS2, PC, my current consoles). I order imported CD's for my music, and do not download, ever. I buy the software i need, and trial the ones that i only need once. I bought XP and Vista, as well as Tiger.

I buy movies and TV show DVD's because i care about quality.

I will not pay 99 for this patch. Until Apple puts something substantial into their scheduled OS "updates", they wont see a dime from me.

[arthur barnhouse @ Oct 16th 2007 11:38AM]

Here's a crazy thought. DON'T BUY IT! If the feature's don't communicate to you the purchasing price, do the grown-up thing.

[BlahBlah @ Oct 16th 2007 11:40AM]

No Problem, i wont.

[arthur barnhouse @ Oct 16th 2007 11:43AM]

Don't buy it AND don't pirate it asshole.

[Le Master @ Oct 16th 2007 11:58AM]

Arthur's pissed because he thinks BlahBlah's going to hurt Apple's market share in the OS department. Not until Apple ports Mac OS for the PC will it gain any more ground.

How about this, I vow to purchase Leopard when I'm able to install it on my rad PC.

Until then, it's OSx86 project for me.

[arthur barnhouse @ Oct 16th 2007 12:16PM]

"Arthur's pissed because he thinks BlahBlah's going to hurt Apple's market share in the OS department. Not until Apple ports Mac OS for the PC will it gain any more ground."

I couldn't give a damn about Market Share for apple. I just think it's bullshit to say, "They're charging too much for this, so I'm going to download a cracked version of it and install it for free." Either you should buy it or you should not buy it AND not use it.

[Joachim Bengtsson @ Oct 16th 2007 12:56PM]

10.3 > 10.4 might *seem* like a small update, if you just look at the most obvious user features added. However, each system updates adds *massive* updates to the developer frameworks that come with the OS. There's tons of apps you just can't run on 10.3 because the system doesn't support it, or it got a quadrillion times easier writing some kind of app for 10.4 (Core Data, anyone? Core Image?).

10.4 > 10.5 is an even bigger transition than 10.3 > 10.4, and I'm sure we're going to see some /amazing/ third party apps for 10.5 very shortly.

Oh, and Time Machine is (going to) kick *so much ass*. Finally an incremental backup solution that actually works, is fast *and* easy.

[Brad @ Oct 16th 2007 2:16PM]

How many kids running bootcamp you think bought Vista / XP at $300 a pop or more?

[Ben @ Oct 16th 2007 9:20PM]

It *is* difficult to generate huge enthusiasm for this; all the emphasis on huge icons for resolution independence, the chance to have an advanced filesystem (read-only... what that means is you can't write to it, and so the use is limited to attaching drives created on systems that CAN write it... I'm sure that'll help a lot of people out. Not.) Resolution independence would have been awesome. Time machine is good and I'll probably buy it just for that, and as someone just above mentioned, the developer frameworks will be changed, and so if you want new sw - like the new Delicious Library - you'll either go to Leopard or you'll do without. Still, I can't help looking at all the fumbling about with the iPhone and think they could have paid better attention to the OS. They overpriced the phone, limited the market by locking it to ATT, stumbled with that store credit refund, made it a closed platform... and all the time, the OS is languishing in the background... now here we have release, and two of the bigger features didn't make it. Sigh.

[A.D. Money @ Oct 17th 2007 10:53AM]

@ arthur barnhouse

get a fucking job.

[Rian @ Oct 20th 2007 5:52PM]

"I order imported CD's for my music, and do not download, ever."

More Japanese techno/trance worming its way out of their borders to the delight of self-righteous, trench-coat-wearing software piraters everywhere.

Cheers!

[BlahBlah @ Oct 20th 2007 6:47PM]

@Rian:

WTF? I order black metal and death metal CD's from sites that import from Finland, Germany, Sweeden, etc.

[The ZeroCorpse @ Oct 16th 2007 11:21AM]

I love my 24" iMac, but damn it all! I had to purchase it in MID SEPTEMBER. If I had just waited half a month, I'd have Leopard for $10.

Oh well. At least there's education pricing . . .

[Eric @ Oct 16th 2007 12:06PM]

And you didn't know that apple was releasing a new OS in October? New here?

[The ZeroCorpse @ Oct 16th 2007 12:15PM]

I knew it was coming in October, but I didn't know how far the policy would reach for upgrades.

I was hoping they might cover computers sold in the month prior to release. That would be- y'know- nice.

No big deal. I was going to get it either way.

[phi @ Oct 16th 2007 11:24AM]

any news on resolution independence?

[sean.boots @ Oct 21st 2007 1:07AM]

Alas, resolution independence didn't seem to make it.
http://forums.macnn.com/90/mac-os-x/350984/resolution-independent-gui-not-leopard-after/

Bummer... that would have been absolutely amazing. The forum thread above is very depressing... no one thinks it'll make it anytime soon.

[L. Gordon @ Oct 16th 2007 11:26AM]

Anyone know if Classic will still work on 10.5 powerpc macs? I have a few biology programs that only run in classic.

[myheaditches @ Oct 16th 2007 8:41PM]

They will not, 10.5 is the death of Classic.

[Taylor Ross @ Oct 16th 2007 11:37AM]

Does anyone know if iLife 08 comes with Leopard or do you have to buy that too?

[gfar @ Oct 16th 2007 11:46AM]

iLife comes with a new mac purchase, but not with Leopard. You'll need to download it separately. =]

[BlahBlah @ Oct 16th 2007 11:48AM]

That "patch" will cost $79.

But theres a ton of websites that carry apples "patches".

[R @ Oct 22nd 2007 4:25AM]

"That "patch" will cost $79.

But theres a ton of websites that carry apples "patches"."

BlaBlah strikes again! Burning time while traded bad porn for pirated anime divxs on leached wifi while you wait for you mom to pick you up?

haha

[marcbon @ Oct 16th 2007 11:37AM]

Does anyone know if Leopard will support Bluetooth A2DP?

[emil @ Oct 17th 2007 6:48AM]

I'm wondering too, I've heard it will but I have never got it confirmed...

[derek @ Oct 17th 2007 10:51PM]

Yeah it does. My friend, who is a beta tester, confirmed this.

[ne3k @ Oct 26th 2007 12:32AM]

Thank god...I (stupidly) bought bluetooth headphones and figured they would work on my iphone. Strike one. Then, I hoped they would work on my MacBook. Strike two. My last hope was my Vista desktop that I built. Strike three. Nothing had native support for A2DP. That is one of the biggest drawbacks of my iPhone. I will be happy to have it working on my laptop soon. :-D

[BlahBlah @ Oct 16th 2007 11:47AM]

That "patch" will cost $79.

But theres a ton of websites that carry apples "patches".

[jesse @ Oct 16th 2007 11:50AM]

Wow a Vista catchup patch that costs 120 bucks and screws older users. Why are people so loyal to Apple?

[newgalactic @ Oct 16th 2007 11:58AM]

Look, I'm not an Apple or MS fanboy. But are you serious with the "Vista catchup patch" remark? Seriously, MS and most PC manufacturers are back porting to XP because of Vista's issues. If you're going to sling "rocks" at Apple fanboys, find some better "ammo" then Vista. Even MS isn't standing totally behind that OS.

[Mike Botros @ Oct 16th 2007 12:24PM]

@newgalactic

of course MS is standing totally behind vista. Why do you think they keep releasing performance, compatability, and security patches, beta testing SP1. Wait until SP1 or SP2 and vista will be as compatible as XP is today.

[AK Mac @ Oct 16th 2007 1:32PM]

"Wow a Vista catchup patch"

Are you stupid!? Vista was a "Catchup patch" to Tiger!?

Leopard is a "Rip Vista A New Butt Hole....Again Patch"! Obviously you haven't used OS X to make qualified statements....I love how MS lemmings love to point out that the Apple fans are "too loyal"....how lame can people get!

*Newsflash.....Apple makes good products! Turn on the news once in a while and do some research!

[jesse @ Oct 16th 2007 1:54PM]

I have to use OSX every f#$*ing day (at work). I crashes all the time. I have to open an image to even see what it looks like. It's animations are goofy. It looks boring as hell, who is the beige box again? The finder is broken (pannel mode sucks), Vista's is much nicer. All the software I use on it is better on a PC (squeeze, primire over FCP, the entire office package, I even like the DVD builder better on Vista). I'm always getting bizzare errors when switching mobile disks. I junks up the file system on fat32 drives with all the hidden files. Your joking me OSX is not the god on high OS you think it is. It had some great improvements on XP but Vista is a much better OS. I supposed IF I used the UNIX shell it might be better but there is nothing that makes me want to install it at home. Nothing in this update should cost anything. And apple has suckered you all again.