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Leopard

Entry 562, on 2007-06-26 at 18:52:59 (Rating 1, Computers)

I have recently been involved with the evaluation of Apple's next OS, Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard. The current version is fairly stable, although there are several bugs and other problems still. Most of the new features are working, and I've got to say that what I've seen is really useful. The changes in Leopard aren't just about the general appearance of the system - there are genuine improvements in functionality as well.

Maybe the best enhancement is the new Finder. It does much better multi-threading, with slower file servers opening in the background instead of stopping the Finder working. The new flow view is really nice for looking through photos and movies. Quick look enables viewing of documents like movies, pictures, text, Word and even Excel documents instantly without having to open a program. Networked computers appear in the side bar and can be connected to and even screen shared without extra software. Its very impressive and I think I would use Leopard for the new Finder alone.

Spaces is really useful. Its possible to set the different spaces (virtual screens) up for different purposes. I often work on programming projects but need to skip to a standard email and web browsing area so its logical to create these as two different spaces. I could also create spaces for reference information (manuals, dictionaries, etc), games, and general file processing.

Time Machine also looks useful and I think it might offer a useful alternative method for backups. I hope that I might be able to get rid of my expensive and problematic Retrospect installations once Time Machine is widely available.

Many system functions have been enhanced: web sharing now uses Apache 2; file sharing allows flexible configuration of share points with users and groups; Network settings are more logically set up, and are easier to use; Bluetooth setup from within the preference pane is much better, and Bluetooth devices can be shared; and security options are conveniently grouped in one place. There are many other changes too, which make configuring the computer easier and more flexible.

The standard applications have been significantly enhanced. They don't feel like completely new programs, so its easy to transition to them form older versions, but the new functions are worth having. There are useful enhancements in Preview, Mail, Safari, iCal, iChat, Address Book, Dictionary, and others. Terminal now supports multiple sessions in tabs so its no longer necessary to use alternative terminal programs like iTerm to get that functionality.

Some programs don't seem to be compatible with the current release of the OS. Three that would annoy me most are Photoshop, which sometimes hangs; the web browser OmniWeb, which seems to be occasionally unstable; and the game Redline, which is my current favourite but doesn't display correctly in Leopard. The new Finder is very nice but it is a bit unstable at the moment, especially when working with shared disks.

Overall, I can see that Leopard is going to be brilliant when it is finished. The progress on fixing bugs is quite impressive and I think the current version of Leopard could be used as an OS if the user could accept a few bugs and glitches. When Steve Jobs says there are three hundred new features I believe him, I'm sure they are all beautifully implemented and both look good and provide useful functionality. I just want October to come soon so I can use the real release version of Leopard.

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