Leopard Pics

[giza]

And I'm talking about OS/X Leopard, due out next Spring. Here are some pictures of their banners from the WWDC. (Originally seen at http://www.engadget.com/2006/08/07/apple-mac-pro-hands-on/ and http://www.engadget.com/2006/08/07/live-from-wwdc-2006-steve-jobs-keynote/)













One new feature of Leopard is "Time Machine", also known as "rsync with a graphical front end". It offers version control, the ability to "go back in time", and the ability to automatically store data offsite on a central server. It looks pretty cool, and I'm glad that there's finally going to be version control integrated with the OS.





"Spaces", also known as "virtual desktops" for those who have used X Windows is another UNIX tradition that I'm glad to see in OS/X.




Woo!

Comments

[kellic.livejournal.com]

Meh. I'm actually somewhat disappointed with Leopard. the gap between XP and OS X is pretty much being bridged with Vista once SP1 and 2 are released over the year or so after Vista ships. My money is on SP1 within 4 months of launch then SP2 sometime in Spring '08.

Leopard vs. Vista has just a little to much in common. The gap that was there before is gone. I was really hoping for a major revamp in the GUI. Something that takes things to the next level. Instead were are treated to more minor updates with some new features slapped into the OS to make it seem fresh and new. Nothing, IMHO, that is worthy of a .5 update to the OS. The halfway mark if you will.
That isn't to say that I don't see Apple building towards something big in the GUI. Time Machine + Core Animation proves this. They are starting to play around with 3D interfaces but either they haven't gotten it done yet or don't know how to implement it on a 2D surface. I don't buy the crap about the top secret crap and not wanting to give the "copy cats" too much of a lead time. Unless whatever they are planning is so minor that MS could implement it within 7 months there is simply no reason to not let the proverbial cat out of the bag. Which makes me think Apple simply didn't have X and Y feature ready to demo.
All in all unless the top secret stuff is major I'm going to give Leopard a score of meh. Oh I'll buy it simply because I want a better Boot Camp implementation but still it seems like OS 10.4.999 more then anything worthy of a 10.5 moniker. We'll see though.

[giza.livejournal.com]

The cynical side of me says that there are plenty of security holes in Vista that will widen the gap. :-(

[kellic.livejournal.com]

True enough however keep in mind several things that have changed with the move from XP SP1.
First off the firewall is enabled by default. This is big simply from the standpoint that it slaps down many common worms. After SP2 was released the overall number of zombie machines has dropped pretty significantly. Not to the point that MS could ever brang about it because the reality is that every other Dell computer I visit to do warantee work is still on SP1.

Secondly Windows Updates are on by default. This is almost as big as the firewall. One of the biggest methods that virus writers have depended on is having the end user not run Windows Update on their system. this is exactly how MS Blaster took the net by storm a few years ago. Blaster was released in the wild in early September. . .The patch for blaster was released in July . With every system having Windows Update automatically enabled and set to download the updates with no user intervention this should help out .

Tird is adware/spyware. MS is bundling an anti-adware\spyware (with free def updates.) scanner into the OS. Again this will be huge. We all know how much a PITA for the average user spy/adware is.

IE7? Who knows. Supposedly more of the browser is going to be sandboxed from the OS. *shrugs* Personally I don't care. I use FF.

Finally there is restricted privilege user accounts that if MS can ever get right should neuter most viruses. Hell I was playing with an earlier beta and you can't even do an ipconfig release/renew without it bitching about rights. Right now MS has the thing too locked down.


All in all I think MS is heading in the right direction. The core of the OS is based on Windows Server 2003 and if you look at the major security holes over the last 2 years you will see that many apply only to Windows XP, 2000 Pro/Server, and NT. Server 2003 is missing in those patches which tells me MS really went to town on their code for the server. Now if they refined it even further with Vista? Who knows. Personally I hate Vista's interface. Their file browser looks like it was designed by someone who was throwing darts at a dartboard.

[rustitobuck.livejournal.com]

I think the top secret stuff is major. Probably, the features that were introduced today were introduced for two reasons:

1. There's interest in seeing some of Leopard, and it keeps the hype ball rolling. Of course the features aren't all ready. It's too early in the cycle to beta some of the cutting edge stuff.

2. I haven't seen anything yet, but I'll bet TimeMachine integration with apps (like iPhoto) requires an SDK. (As opposed to the simple file retrieval in the Finder.) If so, Apple will put that SDK in the hands of the developers with their Leopard Preview disks. That's so applications can support those features at OS launch.