Apple Mac OS X Leopard: Who's the Copycat Now?
Steve Jobs announced ten new features for Leopard, the next version of OS X, most of which will seem more than vaguely familiar to Windows users...
64-bit application support
Thanks to the 64-bit Xeon chip that will be shipping in the new Mac Pro systems, Leopard will be fully 64-bit enabled (unlike Tiger, which is only partially 64-bit and then only on certain Power PC systems). That means that OS X will finally do what Windows XP x64 Edition did last year: Run 32-bit and 64-bit applications natively, side-by-side. Good for them.
Time Machine
Time Machine is a truly good idea: It helps you automatically back up everything on your system and restore earlier versions of files at any time. But this was a great idea over three years ago when Microsoft first added it to Windows Server 2003 as Volume Shadow Copy (VSC, or "Previous Versions" to end users). In fact, VSC is such a good idea, Microsoft is adding it as a purely client-side service in Windows Vista as well.
The Complete Package
Apple is integrating applications like Boot Camp, Photo Booth, and Front Row into Leopard. Previously, these applications were only available with new Macs, or in the case of Boot Camp, as a free public beta download. Sorry, but this is hardly impressive.
Spaces
Another truly major new feature, Spaces lets you utilize multiple desktops, each of which can contain its own set of application. Multiple desktops have been around for decades, and even the earliest Linux versions had this feature. Microsoft even implemented it in NT-based versions of Windows, though the company curiously never made it easy to access this functionality until it shipped a free PowerToy for Windows, called Virtual Desktop Manager, in 2001. It works an awful lot like Spaces, frankly, though Apple's version is obviously more polished and, well, Apple-like.
Spotlight
Apple's version of Windows Search will now search other Mac clients and workgroup servers, functionality that Microsoft will add to Windows Vista with the release of Vista SP1 and Longhorn Server in late 2007. It will also support advanced search features, like better search syntax, just like Windows Search. And, as with Windows Vista, you'll be able to launch applications and find recent items with Spotlight. Gee, Spotlight still seems an awful lot like Windows Search.
Core Animation
A low-level graphics technology aimed at developers, Core Animation will usher in a new generation of graphically animated application. Time Machine's hokey effects were designed with Core Animation, but I'm hopeful that other developers will do something cool with it (Apple did show off a gorgeous screensaver it created with the library). The end result is that Core Animation will not directly effect end users in Leopard until developers take advantage of it. Clearly, it was thrown out as a bone to the developer-heavy crowd.
Accessibility improvements
Apple is working to dramatically improve how well Leopard will work for people with disabilities, and they certainly deserve some credit for this work. Leopard will new voice technologies, Braille support, positional audio cues, and extended keyboard capability, in addition to closed captioning. The voice feature seems like a decent improvement, but didn't sound any better than Vista's voice synthesis.
Mail
Apple's Mail application (often called Mail.app in reference to its beginnings on the NeXT platform) is being updated with some truly lame features: Stationary, notes, to-do notes, and RSS. Ugh. These aren't major features, and they're certainly not worthy of the time Jobs gave them during the keynote. Outlook Express users have been clogging the Internet with Stationary-based HTML email for a decade, and it's as unwelcome now as ever.
Dashcode and Dashboard improvements
Hoo-boy. Destined for the same thrash heap as Automator and Sherlock on most user's Macs, Dashcode lets developers build Dashboard widgets with templates, debugging tools, a visual editor for CSS, and other tools. For Dashboard itself, Apple is allowing users to sync Dashboard widget preferences to two or more Macs, but only when you pony up $69.99 a year for the .Mac service.
iChat
Leopard will include an enhanced version of iChat that includes multiple-logon support, invisibility, animated buddy icons, video chat recording, and tabbed chats. These are the types of features many free IM applications already include, so it doesn't sound particularly compelling.
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