Apple previews Mac OS X Leopard
Apple on Monday previewed Mac OS X version 10.5 Leopard, the sixth major version of Mac OS X, to its third party developers.
Scheduled to ship in spring 2007, Leopard extends Apple's leadership in software innovation with new features, such as Time Machine, a new way to automatically back up and restore everything on your Mac, and Spaces, an entirely new way to instantly switch between groups of applications required for various tasks.
Leopard also includes advancements in Mail and iChat, including Stationery, Notes and To Dos in Mail; and Photo Booth-style effects, the ability to 'place' yourself in any photo or video as the backdrop for your chat, and live presentations of iPhoto slideshows, Keynote presentations and videos in iChat.
"Breakthrough features like Time Machine and Spaces are good examples of how Mac OS X leads the industry in operating system innovation," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "While Microsoft tries to copy the version of OS X we shipped a few years ago, we're leaping ahead again with Leopard."
With its unique ability to let users travel back in time to find deleted files, applications, photos or other digital media, Time Machine represents a way to protect a consumer's digital life. The software automatically backs up everything on the Mac to an external hard drive or Mac OS X Server. In the event a file is lost, users can search back through time using a time-based visual display to find and then instantly restore the file. With one click, Time Machine can restore anything from a single file or photo to everything on a Mac.
Spaces (or virtual desktops) is a new way to group applications required for a given task into a 'space,' then instantly switch between different spaces to bring up the specific applications required for that given task. Users can get a bird's eye view of all their Spaces and choose where they want to go next with just one keystroke or click of a mouse.
With Leopard's iChat, Apple is taking communicating with friends, family and colleagues to an entirely new level. iChat now makes video chats more fun with the ability to use Photo Booth effects and put images and videos in the background. iChat Screen Sharing enables users to share their desktops with others to work together in real time on an activity, such as editing an iPhoto book, or helping a buddy get the most out of their Mac. With iChat Theater, users can share an iPhoto slide show, a QuickTime movie or a Keynote presentation within an iChat window.
Meanwhile, Leopard's Mail includes new features that have never been seen before in a Mail application. Mail Stationery includes more than 30 customizable stationery designs to create emails enriched with photos and graphics. Templates include photo collections, invitations, birthday cards and other greetings that look great when received on either a Mac or a PC. With Mail Notes, users can quickly jot down thoughts and ideas, add graphics and attachments and use the familiar Mail application to manage them like an email message. In addition, To Dos can be created from any email message or note and viewed in iCal or sent to friends and colleagues. RSS news feeds now appear in Mail, allowing users to receive news in their inboxes, receive notifications when new stories appear and use Smart Mailboxes to organize news about the same topic in one place.
Additional features in Leopard include:
full native 64-bit support that allows applications to take complete advantage of 64-bit processing while maintaining full performance and compatibility for existing 32-bit Mac OS X applications and drivers;
enhancements to Boot Camp, Apple's innovative technology that was previewed as a public beta in April 2006, making it possible to run Windows natively on Intel-based Macs;
Front Row, now available with all new Macs to play back digital content, including video Podcasts using the simple Apple remote;
Photo Booth, Apple's fun-to-use application that lets users take quick snapshots with an iSight video camera, add entertaining visual effects with the touch of a button, and share them via email;
iCal 3 with group calendaring capabilities, event drop box, and standards-based CalDAV support;
improved Spotlight searching that's even faster, provides richer previews, and lets users search across network mounted folders on other machines;
a new Movies Dashboard widget for movie times and Web Clip for clipping any part of a web page as a live widget;
new parental controls including curfews, time limits and remote administration;
Core Animation, a new graphics technology that makes it easy to create stunning visual effects and animations;
major enhancements in Universal Access, including improvements in VoiceOver, Apple's built-in screen reader;
security enhancements including anti-phishing protection in Mail and Safari, and an automatic firewall that limits network resources available to an application; and
new development tools, including Xcode 3 with full 64-bit support, DashCode, an easy way to create new Dashboard widgets without writing a line of code, and Xray, for optimizing application performance.
Scheduled to ship in spring 2007, Leopard extends Apple's leadership in software innovation with new features, such as Time Machine, a new way to automatically back up and restore everything on your Mac, and Spaces, an entirely new way to instantly switch between groups of applications required for various tasks.
Leopard also includes advancements in Mail and iChat, including Stationery, Notes and To Dos in Mail; and Photo Booth-style effects, the ability to 'place' yourself in any photo or video as the backdrop for your chat, and live presentations of iPhoto slideshows, Keynote presentations and videos in iChat.
"Breakthrough features like Time Machine and Spaces are good examples of how Mac OS X leads the industry in operating system innovation," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "While Microsoft tries to copy the version of OS X we shipped a few years ago, we're leaping ahead again with Leopard."
With its unique ability to let users travel back in time to find deleted files, applications, photos or other digital media, Time Machine represents a way to protect a consumer's digital life. The software automatically backs up everything on the Mac to an external hard drive or Mac OS X Server. In the event a file is lost, users can search back through time using a time-based visual display to find and then instantly restore the file. With one click, Time Machine can restore anything from a single file or photo to everything on a Mac.
Spaces (or virtual desktops) is a new way to group applications required for a given task into a 'space,' then instantly switch between different spaces to bring up the specific applications required for that given task. Users can get a bird's eye view of all their Spaces and choose where they want to go next with just one keystroke or click of a mouse.
With Leopard's iChat, Apple is taking communicating with friends, family and colleagues to an entirely new level. iChat now makes video chats more fun with the ability to use Photo Booth effects and put images and videos in the background. iChat Screen Sharing enables users to share their desktops with others to work together in real time on an activity, such as editing an iPhoto book, or helping a buddy get the most out of their Mac. With iChat Theater, users can share an iPhoto slide show, a QuickTime movie or a Keynote presentation within an iChat window.
Meanwhile, Leopard's Mail includes new features that have never been seen before in a Mail application. Mail Stationery includes more than 30 customizable stationery designs to create emails enriched with photos and graphics. Templates include photo collections, invitations, birthday cards and other greetings that look great when received on either a Mac or a PC. With Mail Notes, users can quickly jot down thoughts and ideas, add graphics and attachments and use the familiar Mail application to manage them like an email message. In addition, To Dos can be created from any email message or note and viewed in iCal or sent to friends and colleagues. RSS news feeds now appear in Mail, allowing users to receive news in their inboxes, receive notifications when new stories appear and use Smart Mailboxes to organize news about the same topic in one place.
Additional features in Leopard include:
full native 64-bit support that allows applications to take complete advantage of 64-bit processing while maintaining full performance and compatibility for existing 32-bit Mac OS X applications and drivers;
enhancements to Boot Camp, Apple's innovative technology that was previewed as a public beta in April 2006, making it possible to run Windows natively on Intel-based Macs;
Front Row, now available with all new Macs to play back digital content, including video Podcasts using the simple Apple remote;
Photo Booth, Apple's fun-to-use application that lets users take quick snapshots with an iSight video camera, add entertaining visual effects with the touch of a button, and share them via email;
iCal 3 with group calendaring capabilities, event drop box, and standards-based CalDAV support;
improved Spotlight searching that's even faster, provides richer previews, and lets users search across network mounted folders on other machines;
a new Movies Dashboard widget for movie times and Web Clip for clipping any part of a web page as a live widget;
new parental controls including curfews, time limits and remote administration;
Core Animation, a new graphics technology that makes it easy to create stunning visual effects and animations;
major enhancements in Universal Access, including improvements in VoiceOver, Apple's built-in screen reader;
security enhancements including anti-phishing protection in Mail and Safari, and an automatic firewall that limits network resources available to an application; and
new development tools, including Xcode 3 with full 64-bit support, DashCode, an easy way to create new Dashboard widgets without writing a line of code, and Xray, for optimizing application performance.
Comments
What I loved was Time Machine.
• Brushed Metal still alive in Leopard
• Finder relatively unchanged
Brushed metal is outta' here.
Leopard won't be launched until Spring 07
Only exception would be Mail Stationery. Apple could stick that one where the sun don't shine. The fonts/styles people stick in HTML are annoying enough without Apple's "help". Just send plain text with standard attachments please, and let me choose what I want your mail to look like..
Lots of debugging tools too.
http://www.apple.com/macosx/leopard/xcode.html
The iCal page has some freaky links. I think they meant to link to http://www.calconnect.org/ not http://www.calconnect.com/ :-)
Apple on Monday previewed Mac OS X version 10.5 Leopard, the sixth major version of Mac OS X, to its third party developers.
Scheduled to ship in spring 2007, Leopard extends Apple's leadership in software innovation with new features, such as Time Machine, a new way to automatically back up and restore everything on your Mac, and Spaces, an entirely new way to instantly switch between groups of applications required for various tasks.
Leopard also includes advancements in Mail and iChat, including Stationery, Notes and To Dos in Mail; and Photo Booth-style effects, the ability to 'place' yourself in any photo or video as the backdrop for your chat, and live presentations of iPhoto slideshows, Keynote presentations and videos in iChat.
"Breakthrough features like Time Machine and Spaces are good examples of how Mac OS X leads the industry in operating system innovation," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "While Microsoft tries to copy the version of OS X we shipped a few years ago, we're leaping ahead again with Leopard."
With its unique ability to let users travel back in time to find deleted files, applications, photos or other digital media, Time Machine represents a way to protect a consumer's digital life. The software automatically backs up everything on the Mac to an external hard drive or Mac OS X Server. In the event a file is lost, users can search back through time using a time-based visual display to find and then instantly restore the file. With one click, Time Machine can restore anything from a single file or photo to everything on a Mac.
Spaces (or virtual desktops) is a new way to group applications required for a given task into a 'space,' then instantly switch between different spaces to bring up the specific applications required for that given task. Users can get a bird's eye view of all their Spaces and choose where they want to go next with just one keystroke or click of a mouse.
With Leopard's iChat, Apple is taking communicating with friends, family and colleagues to an entirely new level. iChat now makes video chats more fun with the ability to use Photo Booth effects and put images and videos in the background. iChat Screen Sharing enables users to share their desktops with others to work together in real time on an activity, such as editing an iPhoto book, or helping a buddy get the most out of their Mac. With iChat Theater, users can share an iPhoto slide show, a QuickTime movie or a Keynote presentation within an iChat window.
Meanwhile, Leopard's Mail includes new features that have never been seen before in a Mail application. Mail Stationery includes more than 30 customizable stationery designs to create emails enriched with photos and graphics. Templates include photo collections, invitations, birthday cards and other greetings that look great when received on either a Mac or a PC. With Mail Notes, users can quickly jot down thoughts and ideas, add graphics and attachments and use the familiar Mail application to manage them like an email message. In addition, To Dos can be created from any email message or note and viewed in iCal or sent to friends and colleagues. RSS news feeds now appear in Mail, allowing users to receive news in their inboxes, receive notifications when new stories appear and use Smart Mailboxes to organize news about the same topic in one place.
Additional features in Leopard include:
full native 64-bit support that allows applications to take complete advantage of 64-bit processing while maintaining full performance and compatibility for existing 32-bit Mac OS X applications and drivers;
enhancements to Boot Camp, Apple's innovative technology that was previewed as a public beta in April 2006, making it possible to run Windows natively on Intel-based Macs;
Front Row, now available with all new Macs to play back digital content, including video Podcasts using the simple Apple remote;
Photo Booth, Apple's fun-to-use application that lets users take quick snapshots with an iSight video camera, add entertaining visual effects with the touch of a button, and share them via email;
iCal 3 with group calendaring capabilities, event drop box, and standards-based CalDAV support;
improved Spotlight searching that's even faster, provides richer previews, and lets users search across network mounted folders on other machines;
a new Movies Dashboard widget for movie times and Web Clip for clipping any part of a web page as a live widget;
new parental controls including curfews, time limits and remote administration;
Core Animation, a new graphics technology that makes it easy to create stunning visual effects and animations;
major enhancements in Universal Access, including improvements in VoiceOver, Apple's built-in screen reader;
security enhancements including anti-phishing protection in Mail and Safari, and an automatic firewall that limits network resources available to an application; and
new development tools, including Xcode 3 with full 64-bit support, DashCode, an easy way to create new Dashboard widgets without writing a line of code, and Xray, for optimizing application performance.
[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]
I wanted a baby Leopard for Christmas.
I would have loved to see more of 10.5!
I know (from a friend at Apple) that Leopard has many under the hood changes. Some really major ones. Even things like native 64-bit support and Time Machine require major under the hood changes. I too am quite disappointed by Spring release, but I guess its best for them to work on making these features bug free as possible.
I'm sure the only reason for the delay was so MS wouldn't steal features at the last minute. MS has no problem delaying their OS, and they know it takes them half a decade to release a new one. Therefore, if leopard came out at xmas, MS would rush to copy anything it could during spring.
I love Apple. I wonder if Justin is responsible for that one.
Everybody is forgetting the fact that the Intel transtition is over, paving the way for upgrades and even improved Macs. More focus on getting all apps "universal" is what i would be worried about now, i.e. Adobe.. will it wait 6 more months.. 1 year?
Meanwhile all PowerPC & Intel based Macs are just doing fine running Tiger.
And we're still in early august...
There's still plenty of time for Leopard...
While a PC user is yet to see an OS like Tiger in Vista for @least 6 more months, if M$ makes Vista work in time, Mac users are enjoying a great OS that will very soon get even better...
It's all good !
P.S. Where is that 23" iMac?
Overall, I think that the Keynote went well. It got the developers pumped up and presented sufficient consumer level innovations to get that group excited as well.
We might have to wait until next spring for Leopard, but Apple has shown that they will release a product when it's ready - might come soon after Vista . . .
Yeah, it was obvious some of what was being displayed was Tiger bits and Leopard bits mixed together.
Very true.
The actual look will be something pretty special I imagine. As in do not underestimate the influence of the cosmetic. I have the public beta of Vista and have spent some time using it, and although it is indeed still a true son of a bitch when it comes to using it, I still find the first thing people say when they see it for the first time is that it's prettier than ever before. That Aero Glass makeover was a sly trick. Making things look shiny is the essential first step to selling them. MS did this very literally with Vista, and although I prefer my Mac any day, I think Apple may have something up their sleeves for a visual make over so that our Leopard comes out with all the visual goodness it needs to keep the eyes of the average buyer that 5 seconds long enough to bother trying out any of its apps.
Also, I expect Leopard can beat its Spring deadline in just the same way as we saw the offical DEATH OF POWERPC today a full year ahead of schedule. Could just be wishful thinking on my part though.
Bring on Snow Leopard