“The iPhone might have grabbed all of this year’s headlines, but Leopard may well prove to be Apple’s most revolutionary product release of 2007,” Scott Gilbertson reports for Wired. “The next version of the Macintosh operating system, Mac OS X 10.5, nicknamed Leopard, will be made available to retail customers around the world Friday.”
“Leopard isn’t necessarily all about radical new tricks. Rather, its real potency lies in its ability, through technical enhancements and subtle usability refinements, to turn ordinary users into power users,” Gilbertson reports.
“Leopard does have some standout ‘big features’ — the Time Machine automated data backup system and the Spaces desktop manager come to mind — but along with those additions, many of the smaller, oft-neglected features of OS X have new life breathed into them,” Gilbertson reports.
“Another change in Leopard that may not be grabbing headlines are the host of new security features, including memory randomization. Called by ‘Library Randomization,’ it protects against buffer-overflow attacks, all too common in the Windows world, by which hackers can inject malicious code into your system,” Gilbertson reports.
“Other protections against intruders include application sandboxing, which tightens controls over what applications can and can’t do so hackers can’t exploit them, and application signing, which provides a way for both Apple and third-party apps to verify their validity,” Gilbertson reports.
“Not only is Leopard fully of eye candy, it’s perhaps the most thoroughly thought-out OS release from Apple yet,” Gilbertson reports.
Full article here.
i agree first post
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“Library Randomization”
I use to shuffle the books around in the library too. I felt obligated to keep bored librarians challenged. Dewey unto others, right?
No it’s not. The iPhone is the most ‘revolutionary’ product of 2007. Leopard, while an awesome product, is still just an evolutionary enhancement of Mac OS X.
Wow. A review from Wired, devoid of any backhanded slander?!! I’m truly surprised.
I would have to agree. Leopard is vastly more revolutionary than what people will perceive as differences. Time Machine and improvements to OS X’s suite of applications are what people will see.
But the real value of Leopard is in the underpinnings. Apple has a 32- / 64-bit operating system that will support 32-bit PPC applications, 64-bit PPC applications, 32-bit Intel applications and 64-bit Intel applications. All seamlessly from the user’s perspective. With Windows Vista, you have to buy a separate 64-bit version of the OS, install separate 64-bit drivers for all your hardware, and install separate 64-bit versions of your applications.
This is HUGE. This will put Apple way ahead in the 64-bit arena. All currently shipping Macs, including the Mac mini, have 64-bit processors. Leopard will allow developers to transition to 64-bit applications without having to say, “I could develop 64-bit stuff, but how many customers out there have a 64-bit OS installed?” With Leopard, we all do!
The security improvements are also HUGE. As the Mac OS market share increases, FUDmeisters won’t be able to point to “security via obscurity”. The OS will remain bullet-proof by design, not patched and hacked in a vain effort to close the bard door once the cows are out.
The foundation of Leopard is a MASSIVE improvement to the OS. It’s this new foundation that leads Jobs to say that Leopard will be the OS foundation of OS X for the next 10 years.
Balmer and company should be shitting Zune bricks.
Where is ZuneTang?
I miss him…
“Where is ZuneTang?
I miss him…”
I’m here.
I’m just getting really, really tired of coming up with stuff against this onslaught of positive press.
I’m tired. Sleepy now.™
Agreed. I understand that Mossberg and Pogue are writing for the general public, but they really should have given more space to Leopard’s under-the-hood changes.
Apple customers should insist on perfection (especially in the UI sphere) but I’ve heard way too much discussion of the new Dock and way too little discussion of what the changes to the Finder and app security, for instance, will mean.
@ Zune Tang
We love you dude!
Go ahead. Take a nap. You deserve it. Set your alarm for Tuesday or so.
“The iPhone is the most ‘revolutionary’ product of 2007. Leopard, while an awesome product, is still just an evolutionary enhancement of Mac OS X.”
Dude…the iPhone is also *just* an evolutionary enhancement of Mac OS X!
That’s it, Kirk. Now you die…
Think there is a typo in the MDN headline:
The letter “r” should be removed from the word revolutionary so it reads;
“Wired: Mac OS X Leopard may be Apple’s most evolutionary product release of 2007”
It always amuses me whenever a product update is said to be the “best ever.”
Has anyone ever heard of a product intro that went like this:
The all new, 2008 Ford Festiva–It was better last year, but we’re hoping you’ll buy it anyway!
Although, the above Zune Tang seems to be a fake, Zune Tang needs his/her own website, ZT is almost as good as MDN.
the iPhone owes its “revolutionary” status to OS X Leopard. Without it life ain’t so pretty.
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My iBook is already starting to feel snappier in anticipation.
Last I saw him zuney was queuing up expectantly at his local Apple store for his copy of Leopard apparently desperately anxious to get one of the complementary T shirts to show his friends down at the soup kitchen. Poor love looked cold but stoic, one has to admire his fanboy loyalty, though I am not entirely sure if the scarf was for warmth or to hide his identity.
@TheConfuzed1
I know of one product update that is borderline “worst ever”, and it starts with a “V”.
Agreed. The above entry is NOT by Zune Tang.
i don’ agree, leopard is an evolution, and the almost perfect incarnation of a 21 year old idea.
we still have to deal with separate applications, file formats.
in many aspects BE OS, and the Newton OS were more advanced.
hey zune tang…
‘the wow starts now’
Yes Zune Tang-create your own website and take the idiot groupies who fawn over your tired, beaten to death schtick with you.
I got Leopard about 6 hours ago (12pm EST, australia, free delivery from Apple!)-> the verdict: installed easily, no drama and took about 75 minutes. As for leopard -> it RULES!!!!!!!
Go buy it now!
Neither of them looks “revolutionary” but iPhone seems to be more revolutionary than Leopard. Many nice improvements but not a single must-have wow feature.
FWIW, Vista also has “library randomization” (they call it Address Space Layout Randomization).
I read an article though that indicated library randomization was basically useless within a 32-bit address space; malware can still find the right library address in seconds. Supposedly it only becomes really useful in a 64-bit address space. The question is, which do Leopard’s libraries live in?