It maybe difficult to count the number of features present in his operating system, Apple says more than 300. Yes, I am talking about Mac OS X Leopard- the new version of Macintosh which is going to be launched by Apple on 26 October 2007. This volume 10.5 is successfully succeeding volume 10.4, or 'tiger' in the markets. Avery affordable cost for the people who are software freaks- US$ 129 or Rs. 5900.
According to Apple, Leopard contains over 300 changes and enhancements, covering core operating system components as well as included applications and developer tools. Leopard introduces a significantly revised desktop, with a redesigned Dock, Stacks, a semitransparent menu bar, and an updated Finder that incorporates the Cover Flow visual navigation interface first seen in iTunes. Other notable features include support for writing 64-bit graphical user interface applications, an automated backup utility called Time Machine, support for Spotlight searches across multiple machines, and the inclusion of Front Row and Photo Booth, which were previously only included with some Mac models.
End- User Features
Let us have a look at its few features-
* Time Machine, an automated backup utility which allows the user to restore files that have been deleted or replaced by another version of a file.
* Front Row and Photo Booth are currently only available with the purchase of a new Mac, but will be included with Leopard. Front Row has been reworked to closely resemble the interface used by the Apple TV, and Photo Booth includes video recording with real-time filters.
* Spaces, an implementation of "virtual desktops" (individually called "spaces"), allows multiple desktops per user, with certain applications and windows in each desktop. Users can organize certain Spaces for certain applications (e.g., one for work-related tasks and one for entertainment) and switch between them. Exposé will work inside Spaces, allowing the user to see at a glance all desktops on one screen.
* Spotlight incorporates additional search capabilities such as Boolean operators, as well as the ability to search other computers (with permissions).
* Redesigned Finder with features similar to those seen in iTunes 7, including Cover Flow and a Source list-like sidebar.
* New Desktop, comprised of a redesigned 3-D dock with a new grouping feature called Stacks.
* Quick Look, a framework allowing documents to be viewed without opening them in an external application.
* Enhancements in Universal Access: significant improvements to applications including VoiceOver, along with increased support for Braille, closed captioning and a new high‐quality Speech synthesis voice.
* Enhancements to Mail including the additions of RSS feeds, Stationery, Notes, and to-dos. To-dos use a system-wide service that is available to all applications.
* Dashboard enhancements, including Webclip, a feature that allows users to turn a part of any web page into a live Dashboard widget, and Dashcode to help developers code widgets.
* iChat enhancements, including multiple logins, animated icons, and tabbed chats, similar to features present in Pidgin, Adium and the iChat plugin Chax; iChat Theater, allowing users to incorporate images from iPhoto, presentations from Keynote, videos from QuickTime, and other Quick Look features into video chats; and Backdrops, which are similar to chroma keys, but use a real-time difference matte technique which does not require a green or blue screen. iChat will also implement desktop sharing, a feature previously available with Apple Remote Desktop.
* Parental controls now include the ability to place restrictions on use of the Internet and to set parental controls from anywhere using remote setup.
* iCal calendar sharing and group scheduling as well as syncing event invitations from Mail. The icon will also now reflect the current date even when the application is not running. In previous versions, the icon would remain at July 17th until the application was run.
* Boot Camp will be included. It is a software assistant which has been available as a beta release download for Mac OS X v10.4 from Apple’s website since April 5, 2006. It assists in the installation of Windows XP or Windows Vista to a separate partition (or separate internal drive) on Intel-based Macs.
* Safari 3 will be included.
* Back to My Mac, a new feature for .Mac users that allows users to access files on their home computer while away from home via the internet.
* Dictionary now searches in Wikipedia as well. Also included is a 200,000-word dictionary and 25,000-word thesaurus for the Japanese language, provided by the Japanese publisher Shogakukan.
* Preview has new and improved features, including annotation, graphics, extraction, search, markup, and size adjustment tools.
* Removed Sherlock from Leopard beta, a search software included in Mac OS since OS 8.5.
Developers Technologies
Thinking of developing some code projects, macros or databases? Here are a few Developer Technologies of Leopard-
* Native support by many libraries and frameworks for 64-bit applications, allowing 64-bit Cocoa applications. Existing 32-bit applications using those libraries and frameworks should continue to run without the need for emulation or translation.
* Leopard will offer the Objective-C 2.0 runtime, which includes new features such as garbage collection. Xcode 3.0 will support the updated language and was itself rewritten with it.
* A new framework, Core Animation, allows a developer to create complex animations while specifying only a "start" and a "goal" space. The main goal of Core Animation is to enable the creation of complex animations with small amounts of program code.
* Apple has integrated DTrace from Sun’s OpenSolaris and added a graphical interface called Instruments (previously Xray). DTrace provides tools that users, administrators and developers can use to tune the performance of the operating system and the applications that run on it.
* The new Scripting Bridge allows programmers to use Python and Ruby to interface with the Cocoa frameworks.
* Leopard supports resolution independence, the ability to size system graphics in physical units such as centimeters or inches instead of pixels. This feature results in standard size graphics independent of the device on which they are viewed. Preliminary support was added in Mac OS X v10.4 to prepare developers for a "future release of Mac OS X."
* Leopard’s OpenGL stack has been updated to version 2.1, and will use LLVM to increase its vertex processing speed. Apple has been working to get LLVM integrated into GCC; LLVM's use within other operating system facilities has not been announced.
* Leopard’s security frameworks support Mandatory Access Control, sandboxes and code signing.
* The Graphics and Media State of the Union address confirmed many other features are possible because of Core Animation, such as live desktops, improvements to Quartz Composer with custom patches, a new PDF Kit for developers, and improvements to QuickTime APIs.
Comapatibility and System Requirements
Like Mac OS X v10.4, Leopard will support both PowerPC and Intel Macintosh computers. However, Leopard will not be released in separate versions, but instead will comprise one universal release that will run on either processor. Leopard will support any Mac with a PowerPC G4 processor running at 867 MHz or higher, any G5 processor, and any Intel processor, dropping support for slower G4 and all G3 processors.[38] In the past, each new major release of Mac OS X has dropped support for at least some older Macs; v10.3 dropped support for Macs without built-in USB ports, and v10.4 dropped support for computers without FireWire ports.
Documentation contained with the Developer Preview DVD states that a PowerPC G4 or G5, or Intel processor is a minimum requirement. Despite this, some users have managed to install Leopard's developer preview version on Macs with G3 processors by editing a particular file and then creating a new installation DVD with this edited file. However, even though these hacked Leopard installations can be installed on G3-based Macs, some applications (for example Safari and iChat) will not function. It is not known whether this will be possible with Leopard's final shipping version.
Leopard is certified as fully UNIX compliant. Certification means that software following the Single UNIX Specification can be compiled and run on Leopard without the need for any code modification. The certification only applies to Leopard when run on Intel processors.
System Requirements-
Apple states the following basic Leopard system requirements, however for some specific applications and actions (such as iChat backdrops) an Intel Processor is required:
* Processor must be an Intel, or a PowerPC G5 or G4 (at 867 MHz or faster)
* DVD drive (for installation of the operating system)
* Built-in FireWire
* At least 512 MB of RAM (additional RAM is recommended for development purposes)
* A built-in display or a display connected to an Apple-supplied video card
* At least 9 GB of disk space available
Hope you enjoy the feature- full Leopard!
