Is Leopard Going to Be Worth the Upgrade?
So Leopard is most likely coming out soon, and its all the new rage, and everyone cannot wait to buy leopard. But if you think about it... is it actually going to be needed. Sure Time Machine will be cool and all, but what if u are on a laptop, or you dont have much space...anyways you are suppose to dedicate a complete hard drive to it, which could cost you about $200 to buy. Next is Spaces...are you actually going to use that? just wondering...cause I dont think I would. and the last main thing is Mail...i mean...is it worth upgrading your operating system just for a little bit newer mail program that doesn't have that many more features?? Please let me know your thoughts...
Comments
Spaces: Since I've been using virtual desktops in one form or another, on various OSs since about 1994.... uh, yes, yes, a thousand times yes. I use CodeTek's VirtualDesktop Pro at the moment, and while pretty darned good, I'm looking forward to see how Spaces works for me.
Speaking as a developer, I think you're going to be STUNNED at what new apps are made possible by Leopard. I know I already am.
Will it be worth the upgrade? Well, you have to judge that for yourself, but IMO it's an easy decision.
And to echo Kickaha's first statement - Ouch!
You just cannot get away without backing up your data and Time Machine looks like the best way to do it. Time Machine itself would make the upgrade to Leopard worth it, IMHO.
Speaking as a developer, I think you're going to be STUNNED at what new apps are made possible by Leopard. I know I already am.
Are you referring to something covered by a NDA? Or something more public info (or rumor)?
In other words, care to elaborate? I'm excited already
yes, you should already have a backup drive. i've got a very cheap 60gig 3.5" drive (was about $50) in an equally cheap enclosure ($20?) and try to keep it as a fairly accurate clone of my pb's internal drive. can't be sure yet, but i hope time machine will be a more elegant way of doing this. so in short, you should already have backup provisions and time machine might be slicker
spaces: i've just got into using virutal desktops and so far i think i like it (espcially on only a 12" screen!) and a more tight integration into the operating system would probably mean it worked better than 3rd party version
and that's even before you factor in "secret" features, which surely will include an enhanced UI
i have to say though, do other people think OS x is a bit going microsoft's way - ie, when they decide to include a feature in the os (backup, drive compression, etc.) they effective kill off 3rd party products...
EDIT: also, apart from automator, i use all of tiger's major new features on a daily basis. i can't imagine living without spotlight and dashboard now even though in the beginning i wasn't sure if i'd use them
Based off of what we've seen: No, I don't think Leopard is a must-have. I just think a lot of those "top secret" features are going to be heavy hitters.
Time Machine: I love this idea because I'm way too lazy to backup myself.
Spaces: I use a little app called Desktop Manager, and I have six virtual desktops - 1 for Mail, 1 for Safari, 1 for iTunes, and the other 3 get used for random projects. I'm excited because it will be tightly integrated and work better with the OS (I've been dreaming about something like "bird's eye view").
Mail: Though it wouldn't be worth upgrading for just this, I think Stationary will be nice.
You're also forgetting a few key features. Resolution Independence is going to be very nice. I'm constantly zooming in on things (text, video), so it will be nice for them to be clearer. Core Animation, though I'm no developer I'm pretty sure this will make apps run faster (less code) and look cooler.
Plus there are the super-secret features that will hopefully give us the "Wow" (heh).
I think it'll be worth it
Mine too.
And to echo Kickaha's first statement - Ouch!
You just cannot get away without backing up your data and Time Machine looks like the best way to do it. Time Machine itself would make the upgrade to Leopard worth it, IMHO.
And a good backup volume really should be mirrored, IMO. And I hope Time Machine has an interface to easily customize it.
What about encrypted remote offsite backups? Time machine should be made to to that. Say I live in Hawaii and I have a friend with his Mac in New York. Say we both have 500GB drives for backup so I set my Time Machine to backup and/or archive data to his drive, and he does the same with his data to my drive. All data would be encrypted in transit and on the drive so only the owner could access it. Data is transferred at set off-peak times (late at night), or it just runs slowly continuously in the background or at idle time. Then a volcano erupts in Hawii, destroys the islands along with my computer, but I'm able to swim to California, buy a new Mac, log into his drive over the net and restore my data! Bingo! Life's good again!
I worked for a credit union where we had to design disaster recovery systems and I just don't understand why regular people don't think about this kind of need. And I really don't understand why it's taken Apple so long to build into their OS a backup feature.
Oh, and, Leopard BETTER be worth it after waiting this long! And it better have more things than just fluffy sherlock/mail-type apps.
Are you referring to something covered by a NDA?
I think this is obvious and he is not going to tell you more than teasing you.
Or something more public info (or rumor)?
There are perhaps some hints but as far as I can tell not much.
I'm constantly zooming in on things (text, video), so it will be nice for them to be clearer.
Resolution Independence won't affect video, would it? I mean, if you watch a 640x480 video on a 17-inch 1680x1050 screen and then on a 17-inch 1920x1440 screen, the video will look smaller on the latter, wouldn't it? Assuming both machines are running on Leopard.
From what I have understood till now, text and interface elements of the operating system will look the same on both screens, isn't it so?
Has this really happened?
I'm not trolling. I'm just curious as I haven't read anything about concrete examples of developers using these new features.
Speaking as a developer, I think you're going to be STUNNED at what new apps are made possible by Leopard. I know I already am.
Bindings-based apps have become a lot more common, even though that feature is from all the way back in 10.3.
I'm not sure if anyone was very excited about CoreData as anything but a great internal tool for developers, though. CoreAnimation is very different. It's a toolkit that allow developers to allow for some potentially groundbreaking applications that will be *very* noticable from a user's point of view.
By the way, I don't mean to read too much into tea leaves and see things that aren't there, but it seemed painfully obvious to me that everything that was revealed about Leopard at WWDC was all the stuff that Apple didn't much care that Microsoft knew about. IOW, that "Top Secret" moment in the keynote wasn't an excuse and wasn't a bluff. They've had two years (and very possibly longer, in preparation for Longhorn/Vista) to work on Leopard. There is going to be so much more than Time Machine (nifty as it is), virtual desktops, and nice but evolutionary improvements to apps like Mail, Safari and iChat.
Not to mention that CoreData applications will work on 10.4+ only. So it takes time for these features to really get used.
I'm not sure if anyone was very excited about CoreData as anything but a great internal tool for developers, though. CoreAnimation is very different. It's a toolkit that allow developers to allow for some potentially groundbreaking applications that will be *very* noticable from a user's point of view.
By the way, I don't mean to read too much into tea leaves and see things that aren't there, but it seemed painfully obvious to me that everything that was revealed about Leopard at WWDC was all the stuff that Apple didn't much care that Microsoft knew about. IOW, that "Top Secret" moment in the keynote wasn't an excuse and wasn't a bluff. They've had two years (and very possibly longer, in preparation for Longhorn/Vista) to work on Leopard. There is going to be so much more than Time Machine (nifty as it is), virtual desktops, and nice but evolutionary improvements to apps like Mail, Safari and iChat.
Any speculation as to when Apple will unveil the "Top Secret" features, and how much time they'll take to QA before Leopard goes gold?
I think they will leave the top secret features until the day of release
WWDC - June 2007
People said this about Tiger. They said the new APIs in Tiger (ex Core Data) would allow third party to create great new apps.
Has this really happened?
I'm not trolling. I'm just curious as I haven't read anything about concrete examples of developers using these new features.
Well, things like CoreData are very much under the covers. If the developer has done their job correctly, you'll never know they're using it. Hobbes is right in that some of the 10.5 only technologies are very much user-level, and you'll see them the first time you launch the app. I think this is going to spur a 'gotta have it' feel that the 10.4 upgraded apps never really generated. But yes, much of this is under NDA. I don't have any info on 'secret' features, but just the deeper info on the techs publicly displayed has been enough to spur my imagination into some really neat directions. Don't be surprised if a number of smaller dev houses make their next major version of their apps 10.5 only.