WWDC: Leopard Details

[MacRumors]

At WWDC today, Apple CEO Steve Jobs dedicated most of his keynote address to overviewing Mac OS X 10.5 "Leopard" and detailing some of its top-secret features, including a new desktop user interface and a new Finder.

Desktop
Leopard's new desktop will feature a variety of enhancements, including:
- Enhanced, 3D Dock. Slimmer and more functional.
- Stacks (organization tool similar to a stack of paper). Can fan out or pop up in a grid.
- No more brushed metal. Consistent look.

Readers with keen memories may recall that Stacks (aka "Piles") was originally rumored to be included in OS 10.3 "Panther".

Finder
Leopard's revised Finder has a new sidebar and numerous improvements to searching, including the ability to search shared computers. Also added was a Finder feature called Back To My Mac for connecting to Macs not on the same LAN, using .Mac to identify the computer's IP address automatically, so remote connections can be created more easily. Cover Flow has also been incorporated into the new Finder.

Other
While Mr. Jobs spent a considerable amount of time reviewing features previewed at last year's conference, he did note that iChat would include AAC-LD (AAC low delay), which promises enhanced audio quality in iChat conversations.

Leopard will be available in October for $129 USD.

MacRumors would like to thank our sponsors, who made live coverage of the WWDC keynote possible.
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[killr_b]

FFTFF! HA!

I want a copy of leopard now…

[law guy]

And it seemed great - I was expecting more "wow" perhaps from the secret features.

[dartzorichalcos]

I like the new user interface, definetly the time for a replacement to Aqua.

[steve_hill4]

Nothing so far has impressed me that much. I'll reserve full judgement to later, but where were the secret features?

Also, can that transparency be switched off? It almost seems a bit child like to me. OS X has grown up now.

[dvdiva]

If it's 64 bit I guess the g4 powerbooks are 10.4 only now. Oh well.

[Mike Teezie]

I was more blown away by the non-Aqua desktop image than anything.

[dpaanlka]

Everything looks pretty good, except for that atrocious Menu Bar.

[Simba Cub]

I like it!



Rich::

[nagromme]

"Cover"flow looks more fun than productive, but nobody's forced to use it.

The rest of the new UI sounds great!

(But I'm sad to see the classic wavy blue default background change to... grass? Ah, well, I guess Microsoft copycatted the wavy blue wallpaper one too many times.)

PS, before anyone says Apple stole transparent top-bars from Vista... Vista stole them from OS X. OS X had transparent window titles in 2000 but removed them in later versions since it's a bad idea for things that stack. Luckily the OS X menu bar will not suffer that problem.

But do pick a low-detail backdrop for menu readability. A nice soft wavy blue might work nicely. (Grass? Really? OK, I'm past it )

Originally Posted by law guy

And it seemed great - I was expecting more "wow" perhaps from the secret features.

No reality could EVER equal the hype of rumor-fueled imagination. The new UI was secret. Now it's not.

[Dynamyk]

I still think there's more to come but I like what I'm seeing.

[~Shard~]

Overall I'm pretty satisfied with what we've seen regarding Leopard today. I will refrain from making any final judgments until I actually see the keynote to see these features in action, but in principle, they all seem pretty solid. I really like the idea of essentially expanding coverflow to the entire OS as well, as it's such an intuitive way to manage and navigate things. This gets a big thumbs up from me. Finder as well - it looks like the updates to it are pretty decent. So, nothing really "top secret" IMO, which is a bit of a letdown, but a solid display nonetheless. Needless to say I'll be picking up a copy in October - pre-installed on my new iMac that is...

[MIDI_EVIL]

Originally Posted by dvdiva

If it's 64 bit I guess the g4 powerbooks are 10.4 only now. Oh well.

No no no.

You can run 32-Bit apps inside Leopard.

You can surely run Leopard on a 32-Bit chip?

Rich.

[uncle_sam_ie]

Ya, I like the new menu bar aswell.

[dukeblue91]

Originally Posted by dvdiva

If it's 64 bit I guess the g4 powerbooks are 10.4 only now. Oh well.

Not true, it will run on the G4 in 32 bit mode.

[r-sparks]

Check out the videos at Apple's site. It all looks pretty good, although I'm not sure about the transparent menu. And that 3D dock looks like it might eat a lot of desktop space. But then I guess nearly all Macs have high resolutions nowadays.

[kenzbud]

Originally Posted by dvdiva

If it's 64 bit I guess the g4 powerbooks are 10.4 only now. Oh well.

10.5 will support both 32 & 64 bit according to the keynote. No need to buy separate versions like Vista users :-)

[tpmidd]

Leopard looks great and all, but couldn't we have seen it running on some new hardware? More than half of the "ten features" Steve talked about we've already seen in some form from the first Leopard preview. Full 64 bit is slick and all, but why not announce some new products for it to run on? Basically nothing had any wow at all. Count me unimpressed.

[Evangelion]

Originally Posted by dvdiva

If it's 64 bit I guess the g4 powerbooks are 10.4 only now. Oh well.

G4 will work with Leopard

[darwen]

So the secret feature(s?) was the new desktop. Lets be honest, there wasn't much else that was ground breaking.

I don't really care, I haven't been one of the ones complaining that Apple needs to focus back on the Mac. I like the mobile improvements.

This is why. The iPhone is cool. Lepoard is not. It is an OS, it will not fill some void I currently have in my life. An tv, iPhone, or other new product on the other hand may fill that gap.

To all the OS loving iPhone hating people: Please just be happy with this. I am sick of all the complaints about not enough Mac focus. Ya know why Steve hasn't been talking about his precious new OS. There isn't much to talk about. He likes his iPhone more.

[zioxide]

Front Row now has the AppleTV interface

http://www.apple.com/macosx/leopard/.../frontrow.html

[BornAgainMac]

What happened to the iChat feature that allows you to control a desktop remotely? I needed that feature.

Secret Features = Missing Features

[dashiel]

[sarcasm]don't worry, apple has a super-secret build that they'll release to developers in late september, it will have loads of cool stuff[/sarcasm]

actually i think leopard is shaping up very nicely. stacks are going to be great... a long time coming/missing but they look to be better than their spiritual ancestor the pop-up folder.

new finder is minor, but a nice upgrade... though does anyone else think all this coverflow stuff is the calm before the proverbial multi-touch display storm?

i love mail's to do lists, can't wait to buy or write a plug-in for basecamp integration.

overall i think it's going to be fantastic. can't wait. of course i'll have to as i'll be in india all of october.

[verniesgarden]

first: the things i like

coverflow in finder
the safari 3 beta is pretty slick (tabs finally work how i want them)
stacks i'm indifferent with i'll have to play with them to see if i like them... but probably only use the grid view (the curved column looks very windows to me)
unified look


now things i don't like

where's my finder tabs?
the menubar and dock are just god awful ugly to me goes with the column view for stacks they just make me shudder as how much they resemble vista, heck my friend even teased me about buying "OS X Vista"

[aLoC]

I wouldn't call it a 3D dock, it's more like a floor dock. And the stacks - weren't they rumored for 10.4 originally?