“Earlier this month, Apple Computer Inc. CEO Steve Jobs unveiled new hardware at the company’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) — and more importantly, offered an early look at Mac OS X 10.5, code-named Leopard. Although Jobs noted that some features of the company’s next operating system, which is due out sometime early in 2007, would remain secret for now, he did take developers through a tour of some of the software’s new features,” Yuval Kossovsky reports for Computerworld.
“Apple, unlike Microsoft, keeps its operating systems tightly veiled in secrecy until they are formally launched. That means real hands-on experiences are far and few between,” Kossovsky reports. “Lucky me: I got a chance to see it up close and personal. What I saw proved again that Apple has the most sophisticated user interface (UI) for an operating system out there — and at the same time is always looking for ways to make computing even more practical, simple and fun.”
Kossovsky reports, “In Leopard, the operating system, comand-line interface and even the application interface are 64-bit. This means all applications will have access to the full amount of installed RAM and will not be limited to 4GB. Imagine 16GB of RAM allocated to image rendering or genome sequencing. This should have the science, technology and creative folks salivating. Moreover, unlike some other operating systems [like Windows], the 64-bit version is fully 32-bit compatible. So there is only a single flavor of Apple’s next Mac OS, which is fully native on Intel and PowerPC machines and offers one master install.”
“The first close-up view I had of Leopard told me this is going to be a great release,” Kossovsky reports.
Full article here.
Related MacDailyNews articles:
Leaked Apple Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard screenshots – August 22, 2006
Apple’s Mac OS X Leopard is 64-bit done right, unlike Microsoft’s Windows Vista kludge – August 14, 2006
First boot with Mac OS X Leopard visual tour – August 13, 2006
Mac OS X Leopard developer features leaked – August 09, 2006
Mac OS X Leopard sneak peek highlights – August 09, 2006
Analyst: Apple’s new Mac OS X Leopard sets new bar, leaves Microsoft’s Vista in the dust – August 08, 2006
Inside Apple Mac OS X Leopard’s ‘Spaces’ – August 07, 2006
Take a ride in Apple Mac OS X Leopard’s ‘Time Machine’ – August 07, 2006
Apple previews Mac OS X Leopard featuring Time Machine, Spaces, enhanced Mail & iChat, and more – August 07, 2006
Apple previews Mac OS X Server Leopard; to ship in spring 2007 – August 07, 2006
“This should have the science, technology and creative folks salivating.”
Salivating over what, exactly? A 7% performance improvement?
Nothing much to see here folks. Let’s move on.
OS X has gotten more functional and useable for me. I love it.
As such, OS X and I are getting married a la schoolyard taunts.
Don’t judge me.
MDN word “John” as in “There are so many synonyms.”
One nice feature of Time Machine I haven’t noticed anyone mention is…
Let’s say you for whatever reason change a contact’s address or phone number, and then later on find out that the old one is really what you need. With Time Machine we can go back to not only the last time a person existed in the address book, but also to any revisions we’ve made along the way.
That’s excellent, another one is for laptop users it’s an easy way to dump extra files off on the external and then copy them back when needed. Just make sure it’s backed up, then delete. Later when you need that photo or movie back, use Time Machine.
There is of course a danger of forgetting to plug in the HD, or putting the computer to sleep and not getting a backup made, then assuming it’s there and deleting your only copy. Ouch.
It will have the science, tech and creative folks who AREN’T ALREADY USING Macs salivating.
I work in the Creative field (Hollywood) and every PC AVID editor I speak with wants to talk about the new Mac Pro hardware. They are especially curious to see how the Windows version of AVID runs on a Mac Pro Boot Camp vs. the OS X native version. The Windows version crashes so often, hope is they can reboot into OS X. The Mac AVID editors all want to know what I think about Final Cut Pro.
My family (2 members) work for national science labs. The computer scientists all used to have Macs on their desks (for Word, Excel) and terminals to the big UNIX iron. Then they took away their Macs and standardized on Windows PCs for the desktop applications (they still have their unix terminals, though some are using Linux PCs in addition to their Windows PCs. Anyway, ever since OS X matured, they all want to go back to the Mac. They figure one machine can replace all the others – and now they can even hang on to Windows (but why bother?)
My spouse’s parents work in Biotech. Their company is a BIG Apple customer. Sure, most of the administrative staff are still using Windows – with all the various problems, but the scientists are using OS X on the desktop, and clustering xServes.
I hear the buzz – it’s been going on for a long time and it is getting LOUDER!
Computer World is the king of magazines for the IT world. They previously raved about the Mac Pro. And now Leopard gets the big thumbs up. This can’t hurt. Apple has a shot with corporate America, as beleguered Microsoft stumbles around with Vista.
This week I used iDVD and iMovie to make some DVDs of photos and vids for my family. I haven’t used them for a while but it took so little time to get to grips with it.
iMovie did crash once which taught me a lesson to save more often despite the fact that most of the time the iLife software is super stable.
Compared to OS 9, OS X is so superior in every aspect. This make it very enjoyable to produce something on my mac even if the machine is over 6 years old!!
I think some of the secret things that weren’t revelaed are going to be features that developers can not use. Things like photobooth, and programs that the Mac uses but third party developers can’t incorperate into code. New finder windows is another thing that it could be. Or something new on the Dock, user accounts, things like that. Everything that we saw was all stuff that developers can use to better their products. There is probably some stuff not in the developer OS X that they got to keep it secret. Just my 20 year old two cents.
MDN magic word: “moving” as in lots of Windows users “moving”
Men,
My company has agreed specified allocations for a new MacBook to replace this old G4 500. Does anyone have experience installing the ram on these new books? Is it under the batter bay like on my 17″?
The new iPod should be ALL screen on the front face with All of the controls operated on the back surface of the iPod. That way the screen doesn’t get scratched or oily and mucky. The mind soon gets used to using the fingers on the back surface while looking at the front. Not my idea, but a great one….Use it Apple.
LinuxGuy and…:
You are correct. The strategy of a closed loop for hardware and OS is paying off for Apple. Think about it. When Apple makes an announcement, it could be about the OS, a new hardware product or a new or upgraded software product.
When Microsoft makes an announcement, it is about Vista or Office (XBOX doesn’t count – it is a game console). They have to rely on 3rd party PC manufacturers to build machines based on their product They cannot ship the OS with the hardware without a 3 to 6 month window for the OEMs to be ready for it.
Most of the time this hurts them because they ship the OS to the OEM to be bundled, and Dell most certainly does not want some unstable piece of crap like Vista on their machines. And Microsoft can’t sell the products to consumers ahead of the OEMs.
Apple on the other hand can sell the OS separately AND be shipping the OS on their hardware AT THE SAME TIME.
I think the top secret features are just not ready to be demoed yet. Stealing ideas from leopard to integrate into Vista would cause it to be delayed even longer. When you are already 3 years late and facing another delay, adding features is simply not an option. Apple might have something interesting that they aren’t showing us but I think it has little to do with MS and more to do with the projects’ infancy. One of the benefits of keeping their cards to their vest is that they can chop off features and no one knows. If they demo the feature at WWDC and then chop it off they have to deal with the embarrassment that is slowly becoming MS’s middle name.
“This should have the science, technology and creative folks salivating.”
Salivating over what, exactly? A 7% performance improvement?
Nothing much to see here folks. Let’s move on.”
Um, no, Pete. I think they’re referring to accessing 16gb of data in ram instead of having to read and write to disk which is probably more like a 1000% performance increase.
So, actually, lots to see here folks. Let’s stay awhile.
m
Key Word: “western” — As in, “We play both kinds of music, country AND western.”
that finally no one is replying to trolls like Pete Peterson. This as well is a sign of changing times. Trolls are becoming totally irrelevant. Who cares about the idiocy they percolate from their orifices? They are as relevant to Mac world as a fart from a Polar Bear.
ahh too bad. Mudflapper felt for it again.
Oh well, still not mature times it seems. Mudflapper: you are wasting your time with trolls. Pete Peterson does not care about what your arguments will be.
Trolls are dead horses. It is time we stop beating on them. Ignore trolls, they’ll disappear.
Would you try explaining Pete that the world is not flat? Would you care replying someone here stating the Mac is a pricey and slow toy. At most the regular answer should simply be: Shut up idiot.
Here, I help you.
Pete: shut up idiot.
AG Pennypacker…
I’ve put memory into the macbooks.. it’s real easy.
get yourself a small, “work on your eyeglasses” phillips screwdriver.
Take the battery out, there is a pannel with three screws on it, take those out. Flip up the two levers to release the ram you wanna replace… replace it reinstall the pannel, the battery, and you’re done.
It will take you only about 5 min. I got $22 ea for the old ram chips that I took out on ebay.
Also… the instructions are on the base of the battery when you take it off. With pictures even! lol.
AG Pennypacker…
I’ve put memory into the macbooks.. it’s real easy.
get yourself a small, “work on your eyeglasses” phillips screwdriver.
Take the battery out, there is a panel with three screws on it, take those out. Flip up the two levers to release the ram you wanna replace… replace it reinstall the panel, the battery, and you’re done.
It will take you only about 5 min. I got $22 ea. for the old ram chips that I took out on ebay.
Also… the instructions are on the base of the battery when you take it off. With pictures even! lol.
wow.. dejavue all over again
Pete Peterson wrote:
“”This should have the science, technology and creative folks salivating.”
Salivating over what, exactly? A 7% performance improvement?
Nothing much to see here folks. Let’s move on.”
Clearly you have no idea how much computing power (and hence time) goes into genome sequencing etc, and also how memory needy those sorts of tasks are. This is no word document mate – give the task more memory to access and you see better than incremental improvements.
Whilst it seems your figure of 7% has been plucked from your colon, even if this was true, when you are spending days/weeks on some of these tasks – 7% is a VERY real and noticable improvement.
My 2 cents
Luke
Pete Peterson is an idiot!
Optimist: The glass is half full.
Pessimist: The glass is half empty.
Pete Peterson: Are you crazy? Forget the glass. It could shatter and leave you cut and bleeding. Forget a plastic cup too. It could melt. Drink from the hose? Are you nuts? You could hang yourself. Just go thirsty. Eventually, the right solution wil come along. Or not. So far, everything sucks.
“We’re doomed. We’ll never make it.”
– Glum, The Adventures of Gulliver, Hanna-Barbera Productions
“which is due out sometime early in 2007”
I remember, I remember when M$ announced the delay of Windoze past the holiday season, 2006. I remember how giddy the Mac world seemed to be that Leopard would trump M$ by being in time for the holiday season. I remember. Well? What the hell happened?
..is not related to Pete Peterson.
Leopard is set to storm the computerworld and make Vista look like a complete amateur mess.
Nell,
My story mirrors yours in my experience with iMovie and iDVD.
iMovie also crashed on me, but I was able to find all the clips I thought I had lost inside of the trash which saved me from having to re-create them.
Like you, I was reminded to save more often…have gotten so used to the stability of OS X that saving is just not “normal” anymore.
” . . . make Vista look like a complete amateur mess.”
There’s nothing complete about it.
Pete Peterson has a point! 7% performance increase is lame compared to what Tiger offered over Panther! Big deal!
But maybe it means that Apple devoted more time in effort into other areas. Or maybe it means that a lot of R&D went into the Intel Switch.