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Anybody else worried about Leopard?

MacBoobsPro

MacBoobsPro

macrumors 603
Original poster
Jan 10, 2006
5,114
6
Is anybody else getting a little concerned about the lack of further info regarding 'top secret features' in Leopard?

I would of expected a few more beeps and farts from Apple to keep Leopard in the publics mind while whetting our appetites. Im worried that these 'secret features' maybe dont really exist and they are scrambling for ideas.

The lack of a new GUI is a bit of a concern. I know its been discussed quite alot since the preview but just providing a GUI would of done alot to build up anticipation.

I can understand not wanting to release stuff to keep MS' copiers quiet but the Vista code has gone gold (or is it green; its that old) so there is no chance they can put anything from Leopard into Vista.

Come on Apple, show us your bits!
 
I don't see a new GUI happening. But maybe the graphite theme will be more dominant, like the new iTunes.

I highly doubt that Apple is scrambling for ideas. Even if they're still coming up with new ideas, I'm sure they have at least one big thing that they haven't told us yet.

I'm more anxious to know exactly when Leopard will be released rather than what's in Leopard. That little piece of info could alter my buying time for a mac.
 
MacboobsPro said:
The lack of a new GUI is a bit of a concern. I know its been discussed quite alot since the preview but just providing a GUI would of done alot to build up anticipation.
Click to expand...

I don't kow how much Apple is concerned about the public perception of what they haven't released yet.

I think a new GUI will be a comin'. I think the radical (relatively) change in iTunes 7 is a clear signal of that. And I think the change will be tied to a new Finder.

But you're right that the longer they wait, the less likely the "secret feature" will be significant (or at least depend on the deep hooks into the code that developers would need advance notice of).
 
psycoswimmer said:
I don't see a new GUI happening. But maybe the graphite theme will be more dominant, like the new iTunes.

I highly doubt that Apple is scrambling for ideas. Even if they're still coming up with new ideas, I'm sure they have at least one big thing that they haven't told us yet.

I'm more anxious to know exactly when Leopard will be released rather than what's in Leopard. That little piece of info could alter my buying time for a mac.
Click to expand...

Time will be April at the very latest unless something goes tits up.

lord patton said:
But you're right that the longer they wait, the less likely the "secret feature" will be significant (or at least depend on the deep hooks into the code that developers would need advance notice of).
Click to expand...

Exactly. The developers need time to develop these new features in their apps.
 
MacboobsPro said:
Time will be April at the very latest unless something goes tits up.
Click to expand...

So if you were in my position...

I'll be buying an iMac after MWSF in case there are any updates. (Unlikely, but I'm not getting an iMac and seeing an update 2 weeks later :)).

I should probably wait to upgrade to Leopard, right? I can't wait another 4 months to get my mac. I've heard that the first installment of Leopard or any OS will be a little problamatic at first. At what point should I upgrade?
 
Although our main productivity apps should be OK (QuarkXpress & soon-to-be CS3) I'm concerned that many of our supporting work apps will have problems running on it; things like the printer RIP, ISDN software, disk cataloguing, etc.

We're slated for an OS upgrade sometime in Apr-June (still running Panther) but I'll keep an eye on things here and on Macintouch.com

Not too concerned about bells and whistles but want to see better networking and a better Finder.
 
psycoswimmer said:
So if you were in my position...

I'll be buying an iMac after MWSF in case there are any updates. (Unlikely, but I'm not getting an iMac and seeing an update 2 weeks later :)).

I should probably wait to upgrade to Leopard, right? I can't wait another 4 months to get my mac. I've heard that the first installment of Leopard or any OS will be a little problamatic at first. At what point should I upgrade?
Click to expand...

If you cant wait 4 months, buy now. If you decide not too and buy after MWSF I would wait until Leopard does come out as there is a possibility they may release it around February. Then again if you are worried about it being 'buggy' buy a mac now and upgrade to Leopard when you feel its best to. Only you can decide really. ;)

Blue Velvet said:
Although our main productivity apps should be OK (QuarkXpress & soon-to-be CS3) I'm concerned that many of our supporting work apps will have problems running on it; things like the printer RIP, ISDN software, disk cataloguing, etc.
Click to expand...

Leopard isnt a total rewrite of the OS though (is it?) so I cant see there being any major problems with support apps. Yes there may be a few niggles. I never noticed any going from 10.3 to 10.4.
 
MacboobsPro said:
Leopard isnt a total rewrite of the OS though (is it?) so I cant see there being any major problems with support apps. Yes there may be a few niggles. I never noticed any going from 10.3 to 10.4.
Click to expand...

A careful reading of Macintouch and prepressforums revealed many things that didn't work correctly with Tiger. TechTool Pro and Retrospect are the first things that come immediately to mind; patches had to be written after Tiger's release. We can't afford for anything to be down for too long. For want of a nail etc.
 
lord patton said:
I think a new GUI will be a comin'. I think the radical (relatively) change in iTunes 7 is a clear signal of that. And I think the change will be tied to a new Finder.

But you're right that the longer they wait, the less likely the "secret feature" will be significant (or at least depend on the deep hooks into the code that developers would need advance notice of).
Click to expand...
I agree, and actually think the secret feature, or at least one of them, will be the new GUI. I don't think it'll be a huge departure from Aqua but will just be the resolution independent equivalent of it (as shown so far by some naughty devs).
 
QuarterSwede said:
I agree, and actually think the secret feature, or at least one of them, will be the new GUI. I don't think it'll be a huge departure from Aqua but will just be the resolution independent equivalent of it (as shown so far by some naughty devs).
Click to expand...

Oh yeh i forgot about the res independence screenies that managed to squeeze through the butt cheeks. But like you said it didnt officially come from Apple.
 
The one thing from Panther to Tiger was a total rewrite of the operating system foundation. They switched from initd to launchd for process management, for example. That might have been the reason why some apps stopped working
 
i CAN see at least some gui differences in leopard, OSX is so 'modular' it is easy for apple ship some features on top of tiger for the dfevelopers, therefore dropping leopard with even more of a bomb due to noone having seen the final 'look & feel' of it.
 
speakerwizard said:
i CAN see at least some gui differences in leopard, OSX is so 'modular' it is easy for apple ship some features on top of tiger for the dfevelopers, therefore dropping leopard with even more of a bomb due to noone having seen the final 'look & feel' of it.
Click to expand...

Well thats good news. But I still think Apple should of offered the GUI in the preview to show brainwashed PC users that Apple is actually doing something as well. And that there is an option other than Vista.
 
Looking at the current features in Leopard I don't think we need to worry much. It is already on par if not better than the Tiger over Panther upgrade. Now if they implement even more features this will be the best upgrade ever.

- Time Machine
- New Mail
- New iChat
- Spaces
- New Dashboard
- New Spotlight
- New iCal
- Lots of accessibility features
- 64-bit support
- Core Animation
- New Safari
- Resolution independence
- Huge OpenGL improvements
- File Recovery
- Quicklook

They seem to be showing more and more things and if they, as expected, reveal some key features at MWSF then good bye Vista.
I'm still betting on a complete new look.
 
Diatribe said:
Looking at the current features in Leopard I don't think we need to worry much. It is already on par if not better than the Tiger over Panther upgrade. Now if they implement even more features this will be the best upgrade ever.

- Time Machine
- New Mail
- New iChat
- Spaces
- New Dashboard
- New Spotlight
- New iCal
- Lots of accessibility features
- 64-bit support
- Core Animation
- New Safari
- Resolution independence
- Huge OpenGL improvements
- File Recovery
- Quicklook

They seem to be showing more and more things and if they, as expected, reveal more features at MWSF then good bye Vista.
Click to expand...

Ok what is new about Dashboard? I havent heard anything on that.

What is Quicklook?

Whats new about spotlight?

:eek:

New mail and iChat were a given anyway.
 
MacboobsPro said:
What is Quicklook?

Whats new about spotlight?
Click to expand...

I think what we know about Dashboard is that it is getting some enhancements to help people make widgets easily out of any web content that they access through Safari.

With respect to Spotlight, there have been some leaks concerning Leopard Spotlight's ability to do "operations" using some applications, sort of like Google. Like you can type a math formula in, such as ( 2 + 4.5 ) / 6.7 and you will get an answer from Spotlight, or you can type a word in and get a definitiion.

I think Leopard will be interesting next year, but I am in a dilemma because I *really* am wanting a notebook when Leopard and Vista are out, and yet I really want something smaller than the MacBook... Mmm, so my primary worry about Leopard is my geek lust. :eek:
 
When you said Dashboard I thought you meant there was a new implementation of it. :p

Quicklook looks interesting.

But Boolean searches? What the giant giraffe turd is a boolean search? :rolleyes: :D
 
MacboobsPro said:
When you said Dashboard I thought you meant there was a new implementation of it. :p

Quicklook looks interesting.

But Boolean searches? What the giant giraffe turd is a boolean search? :rolleyes: :D
Click to expand...

A boolean search arranges the content alphabetically or numerically and then starts in the middle and figures out which side it should go, then goes to the middle of that side, etc. until it gets to the item. This is opposed to a linear search (which I assume Apple uses now) that just checks all the items one at a time. Boolean searches find content (with the exception of a few results in the beginning of the alphabet) much faster than linear searches.
 
I don't think the majority of folks are really concerned about what new bells and whistles Leopard is going to have.. just a few existing Mac people.

Let's face it.. the average, everyday computer consumer isn't worried about what new feature MacOS is going to have, any more than they're worried about what new feature Vista is going to have. Most folks are content to wait until the respective OS's are released and then they'll have a look.

To be honest, as a daily Mac user, who uses OSX as their primary platform, I have yet to see any real significant reason for a person to upgrade from 10.3.9 to 10.4.x

In what i've seen and read about 10.5, so far, I see very little to compel me to upgrade. The calculator functions in spotlight? No. The ability to add cutesy little graphical headers in my eMail w/ my own pictures? No. Making a Widget out of a webpage? No.

64 bit support interests me.. but to be honest, i'm a little disappointed that wasn't included in 10.4.

In fact, as I think about what i'd change to make 10.4 'perfect' I can't think of much at all.

Ease of use, stability, and secure. That's why I like OSX over Windows, and why OSX is my primary OS. The only thing that would make me upgrade to 10.5 is 64 bit support.. but i'd have to see a significant speed increase on my exsisting system for that to be worth my while.

Apple is smart to play their cards close to the vest at this point. Let Vista be released, stand back and see what the common complaint/weakness of Microsoft's NextGen OS is, then release 10.5 and tout Vistas weaknesses as 10.5's strengths.
 
0010101 said:
To be honest, as a daily Mac user, who uses OSX as their primary platform, I have yet to see any real significant reason for a person to upgrade from 10.3.9 to 10.4.x
Click to expand...

Spotlight is the only thing I personally would describe as indispensable. Boots much faster too.
 
0010101 said:
I don't think the majority of folks are really concerned about what new bells and whistles Leopard is going to have.. just a few existing Mac people.

Let's face it.. the average, everyday computer consumer isn't worried about what new feature MacOS is going to have, any more than they're worried about what new feature Vista is going to have. Most folks are content to wait until the respective OS's are released and then they'll have a look.

To be honest, as a daily Mac user, who uses OSX as their primary platform, I have yet to see any real significant reason for a person to upgrade from 10.3.9 to 10.4.x

In what i've seen and read about 10.5, so far, I see very little to compel me to upgrade. The calculator functions in spotlight? No. The ability to add cutesy little graphical headers in my eMail w/ my own pictures? No. Making a Widget out of a webpage? No.

64 bit support interests me.. but to be honest, i'm a little disappointed that wasn't included in 10.4.

In fact, as I think about what i'd change to make 10.4 'perfect' I can't think of much at all.

Ease of use, stability, and secure. That's why I like OSX over Windows, and why OSX is my primary OS. The only thing that would make me upgrade to 10.5 is 64 bit support.. but i'd have to see a significant speed increase on my exsisting system for that to be worth my while.

Apple is smart to play their cards close to the vest at this point. Let Vista be released, stand back and see what the common complaint/weakness of Microsoft's NextGen OS is, then release 10.5 and tout Vistas weaknesses as 10.5's strengths.
Click to expand...

Dont knock all the bells and whistles of Tiger :p Dashboard is a great timesaver and the ability to 'web clip' will make it even more so. When Leopard is released I can webclip ForumSpy then just tap a button to see the latest posts. Spaces again will provide a great productivity boost, while TimeMachine may prove invaluable to quite a few people.

Blue Velvet said:
Spotlight is the only thing I personally would describe as indispensable. Boots much faster too.
Click to expand...

Spotlight is a bit of a letdown for myself. It seems quite slow and then brings up an cluttered box that requires even more searching to find what you want.
 
0010101 said:
...Let Vista be released, stand back and see what the common complaint/weakness of Microsoft's NextGen OS is, then release 10.5 and tout Vistas weaknesses as 10.5's strengths.
Click to expand...

I really hope so. I am fine with Tiger, but it it would be nice to see some really good and new features in 10.5.

I'm looking forward to the new management of tabs in Safari.
 
Leopard is fine at the moment and the only thing im worries about in Leopand is the lack of any G3 support.

In a way its good that Apple are not publicly telling anyone of the secret stuff, we dont want the Microsoft photocopyers to print out Vista from OS X now, do we?
 
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