Leopard Preview Less Than A Month Away

[GodBless]

It's less than a month before Steve Jobs' Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) commencement speech in which Leopard will be previewed. This thread is for the purpose of discussing the ins and outs of what we expect to be in Leopard. Here are some of the things to talk about:

- Any newly revealed information about Leopard.
- New thoughts about hints regarding Leopard's features that we already know about.
- What you are hopeful for (in 10.5) even though there is no proof yet that Apple will include it in Leopard.
- How Leopard should compare to Tiger.
- How Leopard should compare to Windows Vista.
- Things about Leopard that Steve Jobs may fail to address in his short speech but are still important anyway.
- Those new and revolutionary features that surprise us all -- that we won't see until the OS X preview.
- Much much more...

 

[gwuMACaddict]

Thank God, I've been getting tired of waiting

 

[dmw007]

Looking forward to seeing what Leopard has to offer.

How Leopard should compare to Windows Vista.

Seeing how Mac OS X 10.3 is more advanced in ways that Vista (if it is ever released ) I am sure that Leopard will have no problem beating the heck out of M$'s latest OS.

 

[ipacmm]

Looks like I will hopefully be buying Leopard later this year if they start shipping it in the fall....lets hope.

 

[dmw007]

Looks like I will hopefully be buying Leopard later this year if they start shipping it in the fall....lets hope.

I thought that Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard was only slated for release in 2007? I believe that all that will happen this fall is the Leopard will be previewed.

 

[Lollypop]

From a personal perspective Im hoping for all the bling that the tiger underpinnings provide for. More animations, more fluid graphics, plain and simple bling! Improved Spotlight integration, improved finder, consistant gui...

From the perspective of a developer I really want apple to take a few pages out of microsofts book with visual studio, the key to creating a platform is application support, and thats the one place where M$ has a huge advantage over apple. Ive dabbled with XCode, and it is nowhere near as easy as even VB6.

From the perspective of a corporate customer I would like to see improved AD integration, and most improtantly of all Apples active involvement with companies that provide key corporate software such as SAP, Siebel, Oracle, Peoplesoft ect. in creating a mac version of their software. Apple couldnt go wrong by trying to get M$ to port some of their other software or at least provide support for the clients. We are investing a lot of money in products such as sharepoint and it will be a pitty if I cant use those features on my mac.

 

[Chundles]

I thought that Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard was only slated for release in 2007? I believe that all that will happen this fall is the Leopard will be previewed.

The official word is "late 2006, early 2007." It could come out towards Xmas but I'm putting my money on a Feb/March '07 release.

Mind you I'm drunk as a skunk right now so anything is possible.

 

[GodBless]

Looks like I will hopefully be buying Leopard later this year if they start shipping it in the fall....lets hope.

The latest rumors I've heard have pointed the Leopard release date for January (the same time Microsoft plans to release Windows Vista). Apple's Mac OS X will probably get a lot of press coverage this time due to their release date being so close to Microsoft's Vista OS (and other factors).

 

[GodBless]

Mind you I'm drunk as a skunk right now so anything is possible.

Your avatar wouldn't give us a hint would it?

 

[GodBless]

Ive dabbled with XCode, and it is nowhere near as easy as even VB6.

Easier programming isn't better programming. Take a look at the OS X application quality compared to the quality of Windows programs -- plus I don't think that it would be harder - it just takes getting used to (although I can't say for sure since I'm not a programmer).

Apples active involvement with companies that provide key corporate software such as SAP, Siebel, Oracle, Peoplesoft ect. in creating a mac version of their software. Apple couldnt go wrong by trying to get M$ to port some of their other software or at least provide support for the clients.

Macs can run Windows so why port software? The way I see it is that the latest and greatest programs right now are only available for the Mac anyway. Major companies will catch on to this, it is only a matter of time.

We are investing a lot of money in products such as sharepoint and it will be a pitty if I cant use those features on my mac.

That's what virtualization is for. (Check out the linked product for more information.) Hopefully Leopard will have seamless interface integration with Windows programs so that we won't have to mess with an OS emulator though. That would be the best.

 

[GodBless]

As I've said in other threads -- I hope Leopard will include this window switching feature in addition to the application switcher (which is activated with the "Command+tab" keystroke combination by default in Tiger):

 

[Patch^]

Something little that I think should be included in Leopard is the actual iLife Suite. You only get the iLife suite when you buy a new Mac or buy it separately. In Vista they have applications like iLife that are apart of the OS and I think Apple should do the same.

The mock-ups and rumors of tabbed browsing in the finder sounds good to. Other things like an update on Spotlight, get rid of brushed metal lol. Virtualization* would be nice, but it will only be on Intel Macs .

I can't really think of much more at the moment lol.

 

[GodBless]

Something little that I think should be included in Leopard is the actual iLife Suite. You only get the iLife suite when you buy a new Mac or buy it separately. In Vista they have applications like iLife that are apart of the OS and I think Apple should do the same.

Like what? It reminds me of the Mac commercial (linked here):
"PC: Calculator; Mac: That's cool; anything else?; PC: Clock."

Mac OS X is revenue for Apple and so is iLife. Try telling Microsoft to include Office with Vista.

This iLife/OS X integration has been discussed long ago when the Tiger release was around the corner (linked here).

 

[whooleytoo]

As I've said in other threads -- I hope Leopard will include this window switching feature in addition to the application switcher (which is activated with the "Command+tab" keystroke combination by default in Tiger):

You can do something close to that already - Hit F9 to activate Exposé, then Command-Tab to switch to the relevant app. You can even use it while dragging and dropping.


I'd also like to be able to customise Exposé; the window ordering is too random, it'd be better for me if I could customise the way the windows spread out so that I could sort by date modified, or application etc.

Also, Exposé is nearly useless for me, as I deal with mostly text files which are almost indistinguishable, it'd be great if all the windows could be named, not just the one with the mouse focus.

 

[GodBless]

You can do something close to that already - Hit F9 to activate Exposé, then Command-Tab to switch to the relevant app.

Yes even just hitting the tab key works when Exposé is activated -- F9 and F10 that is (and not F11). I'd like it better if the Command-tab menu stayed up while the windows did -- and that is where the solution that I presented in a previous post comes in handy. Although Exposé wouldn't be too bad with the menu if the menu moved to the top of the screen (instead of staying in the middle with Exposé) and also if each time the tab key is pressed the Exposé windows changed (not just when the Command key is released).

Also, Exposé is nearly useless for me, as I deal with mostly text files which are almost indistinguishable, it'd be great if all the windows could be named, not just the one with the mouse focus.

Good point. That should at least be an optional preference.

 

[Josh]

I'd like to see 2 new features, regarding preferences, and something I call "blocks."

Preferences
----------------
Rather than going to the menu and selecting 'Preferences,' I think it would be neat if each app had an icon similar to the one widgets have. This way, you could click it, and the app would rotate and show the reverse side where all the preference settings could be found.

"Blocks"
-----------------
I think it would be neat if apps were integrated into blocks, or "cubes."

For example, there could be an iWork 'cube' or block; opening the application would present you with the usual "what would you like to make: document, presentation, etc" options.

Clicking "presentation" would make the block rotate and expose the side which has the presentation software, Keynote, and all its features.

There would be a new icon that would let you go back to the selection side of the block, or browse to another side, such as the Pages side, in this example.

This could also work for iLife, having iTunes, iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD, iWeb all being "sides" of one cube. Still seperate apps, but the way you access them would change. Opening iTunes would not cause iPhoto and all other iApps to open as well - only browsing to that app's side of the cube would open the app.

Closing the app would cause it to rotate back to the orignal one you opened, or you could browse between sides without closing any that you've opened.

Even further, there could be a 'Create a block' feature, where you could select up to 6 apps and compose your own block and give it a title.

For example, I would like a "Most used" block, which would have Firefox on one side, iTunes on another.

There would be an additional feature which would let you spin and rotate blocks similar to expose' that so you can look at what is on them without accessing each side individualy. Expose' would be revamped to be "block-aware" to show all sides of all blocks when accessed.

It could go even further to introduce 'Smart Blocks' which automatically update to recognize the applications you access most, least, or are related (a photography apps block, a writing block, a web block, etc).

Combining 6 apps into 1 rotatable block would be huge for saving screen space and increasing productivity. Sides of blocks could be 'detached' or unfolded at any time,so you could see two sides next to each other at once.

The uses for this I think would be limitless.

 

[wms121]

128-bit server version of Leopard?

...here is what is currently 128-bit now:


Sun's Solaris ZFS operating system for the MAJC chip:

http://www.sun.com/2004-0914/feature/
http://www.sun.com/smi/Press/sunflash/1999-10/sunflash.991005.5.xml


IBM's AIX 4.1 code extender for its MMC packages:

http://www-306.ibm.com/chips/techlib/techlib.nsf/techdocs/852569B20050FF77852569910050C0FB

http://www-03.ibm.com/chips/photolibrary/photo10.nsf/WebViewNumber/86B837BBAF0441BD0025708F004A65DF

Could Apple get a "custom Intel server chip" with 64/128/256 bit capability?

Transmeta already has 256-bit chips..software and existing products:

http://www.transmeta.com


Apple "rumors" concerning HPC products:

http://www.absoft.com/Products/Clusters/hpcsdk_osx.html
http://www.terrasoftsolutions.com/
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/08/05/g5_linux/


...gee, hope Steve mentions "something".

ww

<---remembers a very nice Transmeta babe..at "Embedded 2002" Dallas ; )

 

[BlizzardBomb]

We're ready to be blown away Apple.

 

[dmw007]

We're ready to be blown away Apple.

And I think that we will- Apple is bound to have some great things up it's sleeve.

 

[bousozoku]

...
From the perspective of a developer I really want apple to take a few pages out of microsofts book with visual studio, the key to creating a platform is application support, and thats the one place where M$ has a huge advantage over apple. Ive dabbled with XCode, and it is nowhere near as easy as even VB6.
...

I think you're really missing something here. Visual BASIC is also much easier than Visual C++, if you're only dabbling. However, when it comes down to it, realistic developers don't use VB to develop serious applications--they use VC++. If they like the drag-and-drop way of doing things that VB made popular, they can use 3 different Borland environments, which aren't nearly as quirky.

I still find Windows tools to be better thought out because there is competition, but Xcode is a very good set of tools that's no more difficult than VC++ and provides some very interesting ways of doing things. It makes you do good design work so you don't have to fix things later in the code the way you often do in Windows.

For Leopard, I'm hoping that the Unified Look is everywhere--no more pinstripes and brushed metal, please.

I'm also hoping that the base of the system improves. It would be nice if Apple would support ZFS and some popular Linux-based file systems to make transitions easier. It would probably pull more developers their way.

I'm sure we'll see a huge performance increase for the Intel side. I'm hoping that, with Tevanian gone, they've gone with a new, radically improved kernel. It would be truly sweet to see 3 and 4 year old PowerPC machines running as fast on Leopard as the final PowerPC machines run on Tiger. Everytime I see a comparison on Linux vs. BSD vs. Darwin, I cringe because Apple's kernel is way too slow.

 

[GodBless]

We're ready to be blown away Apple.

You said it!

 

[Timepass]

Releasing it near the time of Vista is a bad idea on apples part. It will get little if any press covage at all. Reason being is apple OS releases have become very mandain and boring. It not anything new. Since Expose the "new feature" added in each OS have really not been that flashy or anything really new.

Dashboard was not a new thing. You already had Konfabulator out for a while.

Spotlight. Nope not a new thing. Google desktop and other programs had been out for a while.

Everything else not anything to care about.

Now Vista is huge. It going to take all the media attention because it been such a long time since something came out to replace XP.

And compared to XP vista is a huge improvement and bring a lot of new things out.
Each new verson of OSX does really bring that much new to the table compared to the one before it.

If apple wants a good realse time it be a month or more after Vista been realse to the general public. March is the eariliest to give Vista enough time to die out of press.

 

[GodBless]

Releasing it near the time of Vista is a bad idea on apples part. It will get little if any press covage at all. Reason being is apple OS releases have become very mandain and boring. It not anything new. Since Expose the "new feature" added in each OS have really not been that flashy or anything really new.

This much and more was new in Tiger and plus 10.5 will be a major release (since it is a ".5" release it as has got to be huge). Don't underestimate Apple's OS design ability. Microsoft won't be able to match it -- for sure.

 

[wmmk]

I'd like to see 2 new features, regarding preferences, and something I call "blocks."

Preferences
----------------
Rather than going to the menu and selecting 'Preferences,' I think it would be neat if each app had an icon similar to the one widgets have. This way, you could click it, and the app would rotate and show the reverse side where all the preference settings could be found.

"Blocks"
-----------------
I think it would be neat if apps were integrated into blocks, or "cubes."

For example, there could be an iWork 'cube' or block; opening the application would present you with the usual "what would you like to make: document, presentation, etc" options.

Clicking "presentation" would make the block rotate and expose the side which has the presentation software, Keynote, and all its features.

There would be a new icon that would let you go back to the selection side of the block, or browse to another side, such as the Pages side, in this example.

This could also work for iLife, having iTunes, iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD, iWeb all being "sides" of one cube. Still seperate apps, but the way you access them would change. Opening iTunes would not cause iPhoto and all other iApps to open as well - only browsing to that app's side of the cube would open the app.

Closing the app would cause it to rotate back to the orignal one you opened, or you could browse between sides without closing any that you've opened.

Even further, there could be a 'Create a block' feature, where you could select up to 6 apps and compose your own block and give it a title.

For example, I would like a "Most used" block, which would have Firefox on one side, iTunes on another.

There would be an additional feature which would let you spin and rotate blocks similar to expose' that so you can look at what is on them without accessing each side individualy. Expose' would be revamped to be "block-aware" to show all sides of all blocks when accessed.

It could go even further to introduce 'Smart Blocks' which automatically update to recognize the applications you access most, least, or are related (a photography apps block, a writing block, a web block, etc).

Combining 6 apps into 1 rotatable block would be huge for saving screen space and increasing productivity. Sides of blocks could be 'detached' or unfolded at any time,so you could see two sides next to each other at once.

The uses for this I think would be limitless.

Geez, that's a good idea! Someody needs to develop sething like that. Would you mind if I tried to?


On a totally different note, will WWDC be available in quicktime? I'm at camp during WWDC.

 

[wmmk]

As I've said in other threads -- I hope Leopard will include this window switching feature in addition to the application switcher (which is activated with the "Command+tab" keystroke combination by default in Tiger):

looks neat. i believe a program called witch can actually do that.