TUAW rounds up Leopard reviews around the net

The Unofficial Apple Weblog gathered some of the noteworthy reviews of Leopard found roaming the interweb; reviews from PC Mag, Laptop Magazine, CNet, and Macworld.

Fun with iChat: Star Wars Hologram effect part deux

The Unofficial Apple Weblog has a different way in achieving the Star Wars Hologram effect I mentioned in an earlier blog post. This method uses Quartz Composer to pull off the effect.

Apple luminary gives his ten tips in upgrading to Leopard

Guy Kawasaki, Mac evangelist extraordinaire, has ten tips for those thinking of upgrading to Leopard. First on the list, of course, is back up, back up, back up. If you don't have an external drive to back up your previous files to, you should go out and buy one. Backing up is not an obscure process that requires prayers and rituals. Backing up should always be foremost in the minds of any computer user no matter what the platform. Please learn to back up. It will be worth your time and effort. Losing files is not fun at all.

Other tips include upgrading your third-party apps, not installing the additional fonts included in the new OS, learn to appreciate and use Spotlight, and make your Mac more friendly to your friends. More tips from Guy Kawasaki in the link provided.

Apple sells two million copies of Leopard

Apple has announced that the latest version of the Mac operating system, Mac OS 10.5 Leopard has sold more than 2 million copies during the weekend of its release.

Time to bury some of your third-party apps with Leopard [UPDATE]

I mentioned in one of my posts that some reviews have the Spotlight so improved that it no longer does file or folder searches, it doubles as an application launcher and calculator. I was curious about the application launcher bit because I am using Quicksilver as my app launcher. An application launcher, by the way, is a program that lets you launch apps by evoking the app with a key combo and type out the name of the app and pressing enter to launch it. As far as I know, most Windows users are even unaware that you can do such a thing. Spotlight in Tiger already had this capability but, darn it, Spotlight was really slow and the application launcher bit was one key press too many.

With Leopard, I've Spotlight has vastly improved. So improved, that Dan Frakes of Macworld says Spotlight 2.0 has the potential to replace application launchers like Quicksilver and Launchbar. Though these application launchers do more than launching software, like run scripts and control iTunes, Spotlight may just replace these third-party software in launching applications. I guess it's bye-bye Quicksilver for me.

Dan Frakes cites some more examples of third-party applications that Leopard may partially or fully replace.

Update:
Part two of the Leopard's Gem replacements is up.

Fastest Windows Vista notebook

What's PC World's fastest Windows Vista notebook?

Dude, it's the Macbook Pro.

Ah, I love the smell of sweet irony early in the morning.

Microsoft's having a swell time in Europe

Last week, Microsoft decided they will no longer appeal the 497 million Euros fine levied against them by the European Commission back in 2004. The EC has found Microsoft guilty of anti-competitive practices and ordered the company to open up access to its server protocols and sell the Windows operating system without Windows Media Player.

However, there seems to be no end in sight for Microsoft's woes. Macworld reported that a UK government watchdog have urged schools to stop making licensing deals with Microsoft because of anti-competitive practices.

Across the pond, a Texas SMU-Cox School of Business have done away with Windows PCs and instead installed Macs in some of their classrooms and labs. "By installing Intel Macs, we're enhancing and diversifying our computer platforms by keeping Windows XP while adding OS X," said Allen Gwinn, senior director of technology for the Cox School.

Mail and iCal: AppleInsider and Macworld reviews

I've been a Mac user for about 4 years now but I must say that i've probably used less than 50% of the features in Tiger. Some apps I've used sparingly. Two of these apps are Mail and iCal. I've used Mail before as my email client. I have several Google account and using POP mail I configured Mail to get my email from my different accounts. You can't do that with Yahoo Mail of course. But it took longer for me to get my email using Mail as compared to just going to GMail directly. So I abandoned Mail altogether.

Regarding iCal, I don't think I have the need to schedule anything though at the back of my mind I know I must. I guess it's an acquired habit. But I have tried using iCal before and I found it... unsettling. There seems to be something in iCal that's unMac-like. Everytime I use iCal I always say to myself, "Hey, this isn't right. This application doesn't belong here." I struggle every time I use iCal. Maybe it's just my brain refusing to be structured.

So these two applications, Mail and iCal, are the black sheep of my Mac apps.

I am a little lukewarm to these two apps. I mean, why bother with Mail when I have GMail. Sure, Mail has some new features such as new Smart mailboxes, an RSS reader, and Reminders as Prince McLean mentioned but what use do I have of Smart mailboxes when I can barely tolerate using Mail app itself. RSS Reader? Bah. I have Google Reader for that. Reminders? Well, perhaps To Dos and Notes are interesting but these are two features that are not blowing me away. Stationary and Photo Browser do not excite me at all. Mail is a no go for me at this point.

One of the things that makes the Leopard iCal different from Tiger iCal as Dan Miller of Macworld has pointed out is that the new iCal is complaint with the CalDAV standard.

Hrm.

Nothing mind blowing for me. This is a feature I really don't give a damn about.

What else is new? Oh, it has a new look and a few design tweaks. Also, according to McLean, iCal is now faster and quite usable. Okay.

So I don't care if Apple uses this version of iCal as their corporate calendar, I still don't see myself using this because the new features do not mean much to me. Maybe my brain also needs an upgrade so I can appreciate using this.

Mail and iCal: two apps that has underwhelmed me and still continue to undewhelm me. Maybe once I get Leopard running I'll change my mind. Maybe not. We'll see.

Another comprehensive Leopard review

What I like most about ARS Technica is that when they do reviews, they do reviews. John Siracusa really took a lot of time and effort to give us one of the most comprehensive, if not THE most comprehensive, review of Leopard ever. I really cannot give a summary of each of the points he makes. Some parts had my eyes glazing over. I'll just get a snippet of his conclusion:

"Leopard is absolutely packed with improvements. It seems that not a corner of the OS has gone untouched. Perhaps that's not as clear to the casual user who just sees the surface changes and the major new features in Leopard. But even in that case, there's more than enough to recommend it. if you're wondering whether you should upgrade to Leopard, the answer, as it's been for every major revision of Mac OS X, is yes.

I'm most excited about Leopard's internals. They're the star of this release, even if they don't get top billing. There's a good reason we've already seen so many prominent Leopard-only software announcements. This is where developers want to be.

I'm hard pressed to think of a single Mac user I know who wouldn't benefit from Time Machine's hassle-free backup magic. If you're looking for one reason to upgrade, this is it. Yeah, backups are boring, which is why you're probably not doing them regularly right now. No more excuses.

In many ways, Leopard feels like a new beginning. Leopard charges bravely forward, choosing one particular new look and mandating it everywhere, redesigning all of the most prominent visual elements of the interface, and shedding old technologies like cat fur.

What's emerged is quite a strange beast: beautiful on the inside and, well, a bit unlovely on the outside.

It's the Mac development community's opportunity to shine. Whether it reigns for two and a half years, like Tiger, or even longer, I'm looking forward to my time aboard starship Leopard."

Siracusa's review of Leopard is a must read.

Unsanity cries foul in being blamed for BSODs

In one of my posts I said that Apple has already acknowledged that some users were encountering problems with their upgrade and it's been attributed application enhancers. Though Apple didn't specify a single software, most agree that the software would most probably be APE or Application Enhancer from Unsanity. However, according to a Macworld UK article, Unsanity has denied that their application-enhancement framework were the ones behind the blue screens of death. Unsanity calls the fix by a user named of Chris Mcculloh as "bunk." Unsanity is seething to say the least. Rosyna Keller of Unsanity said:

"No one, not even the original poster from the Apple thread, bothered to check if the commands did anything. So I'm not really sure how anyone originally attached this problem to APE other than the standard 'blame APE for everything' mantra."

Aside from the blue screen of death issue, some other less severe issues were encountered by some users. These include problems with Wi-Fi connection and user logins, and password changes in FileVault.

It's not only the software or applications that are having issues. There are reports of iMacs freezing or the screen shutting down. These video problems seem to have been traced to the ATI Radeon graphics chips found in newer iMacs. Apple has acknowledged this problem.

Cat's out of the bag. Should you grab it?

We've already have first looks, reviews, and testimonials from Mac users who like to be the first kid on the block to have Leopard. There were some problems but as a whole Leopard has been well received.

But does that mean you should upgrade now?

Erica Sadun of The Unofficial Apple Weblog has some advice for those who have yet taken the leap to Leopard:

• If you use your only Mac as your means of livelihood, don't just yet. It's still too early and bugs may chew your files up.
  
• You depend on Adobe to work well. That's another sign for you to get your hands off the cat.
• Working with Windows computers on a network? Uh-uh. No 10.5 for you.
• You got your Mac looking like Windows or did some other customization. Better think twice or do a clean install.
  

New Macbooks this Tuesday? [UPDATE]

I've posted about drivers found in Leopard that hints at a refresh of the Macbook line. The drivers are said fo be for the integrated graphics chip in the Santa Rosa chipset from Intel. The Santa Rosa chip are the ones being used in the Macbook Pros.

Mac Rumors is now saying that the new Macbooks can hit stores as early as Tuesday. This is what I've been waiting for. If Wednesday (here in the Philippines) really is the day, I'm going to really flip out.

Update:
Switch To My Mac does an analysis of the releases dates of Macbooks and predicts that there will be a new Macbook by November 6.

Leopard first looks and quick reviews

Tanner Godarzi of Apple Matters had this to say when he installed Leopard into his Mac mini 1.25 GHz:

While you may enjoy the newly overhauled interface, Leopard doesn’t sport many new features that will shock you, not in the way Spotlight did when Tiger launched. But you’ll appreciate Leopard’s swiftness; it’s very fast, faster than Tiger on my Mac Mini.

He promises a full review of Leopard on Friday.

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BBC gives Leopard a thumbs up for the painless installation, speed improvements, Time Machine (of course), Quick Look, iChat and Cover Flow.

Speaking of Time Machine, ZDNet's Adrian Kingsley-Hughes calls it "the best backup tool that I’ve ever used" and wishes "there was a tool that was as good for Windows (there isn’t, I know, because I’ve tested dozens)."

Software updates for Leopard

Apple and third-party developers have released several software updates for Mac OS 10.5.

Macworld UK reports of updates for Backup, Server Admin Tools, Login & Keychain, and Aperture.

Third-party software developers also have updated their apps for Leopard. MacNN lists a few of them such as ConceptDraw Business Suite, PandoraJam, and Interarchty. Other apps that got an upgrade are Check Off, Chronos Apps, Speed Download, and PhoneAgent. Macworld includes VMWare Fusion, Phlink, Geophoto, iDive and PulpMotion to the list of updated apps.

I'd like to highlight an application that would bring glee to those who are hating their translucent menu bar. OpaqueMenuBar from Eternal Storms Software will render the menu bar non-translucent. It's donationware.

Fun with iChat: Invisible (Man) effect

Mac Rumors has another cool iChat effect called the Invisible effect. Head to the Mac Rumors Forum and download the file. Have fun!

Update:
As I read the forum it would seem that this effect works only in Leopard.

New Macbooks soon?

MacNN reports that drivers in Leopard maybe hinting new Macbooks in the horizon. According to MacNN:

The company [Apple] has included a full set of recent drivers for Intel's GMA X3100 integrated graphics chipset, which is only built into the semiconductor firm's mainboards for notebooks based on the Santa Rosa platform. Apple currently uses Santa Rosa for its most recent MacBook Pro line but equips these higher-end systems exclusively with dedicated graphics chipsets from non-Intel providers like NVIDIA, leaving the regular MacBooks with slower but lower-cost Intel offerings.

So when will we see new Macbooks?

According to Mactactic the Macbook line is going to see a refresh in less than two weeks. Mactactic, by the way, is a website that gives a possible time frame when new models of Macs, iPods, and iPhones coming. The website does not claim that the figures are exact or a guarantee. They are at best estimates and advices potential buyers to listen in to other websites for rumors of new releases.

Leopard's on the way

My brother's just placed his order for a 20-inch iMac with Leopard, of course. The problem is, it's going to take approximately two weeks for it to get here. I think that's too long a wait for me. Maybe, I'll get my own copy of Leopard for my Macs rather than wait to have a go at using my brother's Mac. I'll be asking my source for info on getting the Leopard family pack. I should start looking for a hard drive for backing up my old data on my iMac and Powerbook.

Apple responds to blue screen issues

MacMerc reports that Apple has released a support article that confirms that "application enhancement" softwares are to be blame for reports of "blue screens" during the process of upgrading to Leopard.

Mac OS X 10.5: "Blue screen" appears after installing Leopard and restarting

Issue or symptom
After completing an upgrade installation of Leopard and restarting the computer, a "blue screen" may appear for an extended period of time.

Products affected
Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard

Solution
You may have third-party "enhancement" software installed that does not work with Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard. Use one of these solutions...

Reports of 'blue screens' came in as soon as Leopard was released last Friday. You can read the rest of the support article here.

Fun with iChat: Star Wars Hologram effect

I can't wait to play with Photobooth and iChat when I get my hands on Leopard. Mac Rumors has posted an update on how to make the Star Wars Hologram effect work in Mac OS 10.5.

Mac OS 10.5 reviews

IT Business (Jason Snell)

So are 300-plus new features worth $129? That answer will vary, because no single user will ever take advantage of all -- or maybe even half -- of those 300 features. But given the impressive value of Time Machine and improvements to existing programs such as iCal, iChat, Mail, and the Finder, most active Mac users will find more than enough reasons to consider that upgrade cost money well spent. Despite a few interface missteps, particularly when it comes the menu bar and the Dock, Leopard is an upgrade that roars.

Guardian Unlimited (Fraser Speirs)

Leopard is going to be a great release. In my opinion, Time Machine is going to be a great stealth hit. Milllions of users will turn it on, forget it and one day be very grateful that it has been sitting in the background keeping their files safe all the while.

I love the improvements to the Finder and predict that I'll be addicted to Quick Look within an hour of switching to Leopard.

As a Mac programmer, though, I can tell you that there are a ton of things built in to Leopard for programmers to play with; Core Animation is just the start. You won't notice these improvements today, but in the long run, you'll start to see great things happening on your Leopard-running Mac.

CNet (Elsa Wenzel)

Elegant backup via Time Machine; Finder offers powerful navigation tweaks; novel workspace customization through Spaces' virtual desktops; integration with Web data and applications; Cover Flow visualizes file browsing; iChat Theater offers green-screen backgrounds and lets users access each others' desktops; Bootcamp included.

The grace of Leopard's interface enhancements makes productivity more pleasurable with a Mac, as more than 300 functional and fun features top off this update.

USA Today (Edward C. Baig)

Automatic Time Machine backups (with optional hard drive), Cover Flow view in Finder. Dressed-up e-mail. Cool iChat effects and ability to share slide shows and presentations. Boot Camp. Spaces and Stacks keep desktop tidy. These and other features should satisfy new and old Mac fans. Leopard is one cool cat.

InfoWorld (Tom Yager)

Leopard is beautiful, not merely in appearance but in design, all the way down to its certified Unix core. Apple has reworked OS X to jump the many hurdles required to bear the Unix trademark.

Leopard is a legitimately big deal. Leopard is a genuine triumph of customer-focused engineering. It's a pleasure and a relief to see that Apple remembers how to deliver open, affordable, standards-based products.

Dallas News (Jim Rossman)

Leopard is a nice improvement on the Mac environment. It's got enough stuff to almost make you feel as though you have a new computer.

Wired installation of Leopard

Wired magazine posted their Leopard installation experience. Two tips to take note:

1. If you are going to repartition your Mac's hard drive, you can only use Disk Utility on the first screen during the install.


2. You can whittle down the size of the installation by removing unnecessary printer drivers and fonts. Epson has 1.5GB worth of printer drivers.

The whole installation process took 35 minutes to complete. Screenshots during and after installing Leopard are available.

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To note, Quicksilver's website, that nifty application launcher, was down last Friday according to Wired. It's still down when I checked it today.

iPhone is Stuff's Gadget of the Year

The Earth's best-selling gadget magazine has named Apple's iPhone as the coolest gadget of the year.

Apple’s iPhone took top place in Stuff’s Cool List 2007. The mobile to end all mobiles pipped all the other top-name entries to earn the planet’s biggest gadget accolade.
The touchscreen device redefined how humans interact with their phones as well as offering almost every feature no self-respecting mobile should be without.

Apple's iPod nano was the 10th on the list.

New security features on Leopard

Scott McNulty over at The Unofficial Apple Weblog listed what's new with security under Leopard.

What's new and improved?

• Tagging downloaded Apps: This feature seems to be what Microsoft was trying to do with Vista. The first time you launch a downloaded app Leopard will ask you if you really want to run this app and display from whence this app came.

• Application specific firewall: You can set the firewall to allow or refuse connections per app.

• Library Randomization: Places system libraries in randomly assigned memory addresses.

• Custom access privileges for shared folders: Leopard lets you share folders, which you can do now, but also makes it easy to assign differing levels of access per shared folder. You can also use your contacts in Address Book to control access.

• Airport Menu: The Airport Menu now tells you if the WiFi networks you're connecting to is secured. The more you know, kids, the more you know.

• Activity Logging: This feature is both a little creepy, and secure! The best kind, if you ask me. Part of the new set of Parental Controls, though I assume you can use this to track folks other than kids, Activity Logging will log what websites a user visits, who chats with them, what apps are used, and saves a transcript of any chats.

• Guest Log-In Accounts: Right at this moment you can create a guest account with limited permissions, so any of your friends can use your Mac without having unfettered access to your documents. Leopard has a built in feature that allows you to create Guest Accounts which purge their contents when your guest logs out. The Desktop won't be cluttered with files, Mail won't have someone else's setting waiting, and people won't come to think of the Guest Account as 'their account.'

Leopard upgrade problems [SOLVED]

Another report of a problem affecting users who have upgraded to Leopard. According to the MacRumors forum, a user had the beachball of death when he used Finder. He already knew about the Unsanity Application Enhancer issue so he uninstalled it beforehand. His Mac, however, ran into troubles. Luckily, he found a solution over at the Apple Discussions forum and it consisted off renaming the DivX folder. Problem solved.

At this very moment (10:40AM) I am witnessing an upgrade process that has gone wrong. I woke up this morning to iJustine's Twitter message, got curious and I went over to her Justin.tv page. What was happening when I started view the cam live was Justine ran into issues when she tried to upgrade to Leopard.  Been watching for 1 hour now and as far as I can tell Justine tried to do a archive and install and things just went haywire. I'll try to watch this entire saga to its end.

[Update 10:45AM] She brought in Scott, who I think is a regular, and he's trying to have Justine remove her... Macbook's battery. She doesn't like the idea.

[Update 10:59AM] Just found out that the Leopard startup screen keeps looping. 

[Update 11:30PM] Looks like everything is all right now. Wasn't there to witness it though. Man, that's 12 hours before resolution. I'd be pulling my hair out if that happened to me. Crossing my fingers that I won't have any problems with my upgrade to Leopard.

AppleInsider's introductory review of Leopard

AppleInsider probably has the most Leopard related content than any other Mac-sites. Prince McLean's "An Introductory Mac OS X Leopard Review" is aimed primarily at those who are thinking of upgrading from Tiger. The first of the series is an introduction to the operating system's new features and an introduction to the desktop. Things to note are:

• The Menu Bar has been a point of contention for some because of its translucency. The translucent effect is also seen in the drop down menus which, according to some, may affect readability of the the menu items.

• Spotlight is more useful. Aside from finding files, it's easier to use as an application launcher and it can now do simple mathematical equations.

• The Dock can be made to assume the old plain strip look rather than the 3D appearance.

• Finder's sidebar has items grouped by category: Devices, Shared, Places, and Search For.

• I still can't wait to use Cover Flow in Finder and Quick Look.

Coming up next from AppleInsider: a look at the Desktop applications.

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Update:
Macmerc's got tips for those who don't like the translucent menu bar.

More Leopard screenshots and Apple's guided tour

For those, who like me, are waiting to upgrade to Leopard, AppleInsider posted some screenshots of Leopard five pages long. For more Leopard eye candy, MacNN also has posted
their own screenshots of the latest cat from Apple's bag. My favorite is Finder's Cover Flow.

For something that has more drool factor, head on over to Apple's guided tour of Leopard. You can watch the video online or just download to your computer. You can download the iPod version (108 MB) or the Large version (379 MB).

Leopard installation problems: blue screen [SOLVED]

I've been anticipating stories about Leopard install problems because I am thinking of upgrading my 4 year old Powerbook to Mac OS 10.5 soon. The first story I ran across with installation issues was from itsALLmac.com which was quickly resolved. Another issue is now being reported. This happens after a no-frills installation and after the Mac reboots, it would get stuck with a blue screen. Rebooting the Mac doesn't help. It sound very much like what happened at itsALLmac.com. However, Silver Mac, who reported this issue has traced the problem back to applications that load on start-up and then freezes the system. In most cases, the culprit is Unsanity's Application Enhancer (specifically Clear Dock).

Silver Mac's advice for those who are about to upgrade to Leopard is to remove Clear Dock (why not just remove the entire Application Enhancer just to be sure). With those who weren't able to uninstall Clear Dock and already are in the frozen blue screen, Silver Mac's posted a solution. This is assuming that the poor guy has another Mac to use to find the solution.

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Update:
Unsanity issued an advisory urging their users to upgrade Application Enhancer or APE to 2.0.3 or later before installing Leopard. If you don't upgrade APE you might experience the following after booting your Mac:

• Your goldfish may die.
• A strange dog might bite you on the street.
• A friend may punch you.
• Your computer may catch fire.
• Your loved one may leave you.

Backup vs Clone

With the attention Time Machine is getting from all the reviews of Leopard, you might have encounter the terms "backup" and "cloning". Just what is the difference between backing up and cloning? The Mac Observer's Jeff Gamet explains:

When you clone a hard drive, you are making an exact duplicate. Since this new duplicate is like the original in every way, you can use it just like the original.

backing up involves duplicating critical files so that if the originals are lost or damaged, the copies are available to take their place. If you aren't following a regular and reliable backup routine, you will lose important files.

Jeff Gamet offers some advice on making sure you don't lose any of your important data.

Take Control of Leopard books with excerpts for free download

Take Control Books has released five books on Leopard and is offering free samples to download. The titles are:

• Take Control of Upgrading to Leopard (Free 26-page download)

• Take Control of Customizing Leopard (Free 26-page download)

• Take Control of Users and Accounts in Leopard (Free 23-page download)

• Take Control of Sharing Files in Leopard (Free 20-page download)

• Take Control of Fonts in Leopard (Free 37-page download)

Discounts are available when buying two books together or buying the entire series in one go.

Mac OS 10.5 upgrade guides

Here's a list of the sites that have a guide on upgrading to Leopard.

• MacFixIt

• Macworld

• The Unofficial Apple Weblog

• The Mac Observer

• Apple Matters

• Switch To A Mac

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Scott McNulty of The Unofficial Apple Weblog liveblogged his upgrade to Leopard. Choosing to do a clean install the upgrade went smoothly, only taking 27 minutes to complete (Here's from a guide from TUAW's Cristina Warren on how to do a clean install).

However, not all installs ran as smoothly as McNulty's. itsALLmac.com has a story of an upgrade that didn't go so well. Though the story did have a happy ending, I'm wondering how many of these scares or horror stories are out there.

TUAW's 24 Hours of Leopard

The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) counted down to Leopard's release by posting a Leopard feature almost every hour starting 6 PM on October 25. Contributors include Scott McNulty, Erica Sadun, Mike Schramm, Mat Lu, and Michael Rose. The list is only 20 features long. 4 hours are unaccounted for.

24 Hours of Leopard

1. Tabbed Terminal
2. Ruby on Rails
3. Hot Spots
4. Core Animation
5. Improved DVD Player
6. Stacks
7. Unix Certification
8. Cover Flow
9. Back to My Mac
10. Automator
11. Quick Look
12. Alex
13. Finder
14. Spotlight
15. Safari 3
16. Guest User Account
17. Front Row
18. iChat Recording
19. AutoFS
20. Dictionary

Macworld's preview [UPDATE]

For those who are itching to get their hands on Leopard but can't, head on over to Macworld for a sneak peek. Macworld's writers looks at the new features and improvements in Mac OS 10.5 from the user's perspective. "Inside Leopard" previews Safari, Spotlight, Time Machine, Finder and Dock, Spaces and more.

Aside from looking at the main features in Leopard, Macworld also looks at ten other features than might have been overlooked. These include Quick Look (can't imagine overlooking that), creating and resizing partitions on the fly, smarter dismounts, print preview, and more.

Update
Macworld's put out a video podcast with four of its editors highlights the cool new stuffs in Leopard. You can download the video here.

MacInTouch's first look at Leopard.

MacInTouch has posted an extensive first look of Leopard by Robert Mohns. An overview looks at what's new and improved, visually and under the hood. The overview also looks at the box, pricing and compatibility with older hardware and software. The article then discusses with more detail the improvements made in Finder, Spotlight, and Desktop. It also looks at the underlying technology such as Core Animation and multiprocessor support. Finally, this first look article delves into the beefed up security features in Leopard.

This article is just part 1 of a series that will take a closer look into the changes made in Mac OS 10.5.

(Thanks to Dave Winer via Twitter.)

Leopard is out!

It's official. Apple's latest operating system is out. Mac OS 10.5 Leopard is now available for purchase.