M
Mr. Vista
"October 17th, 2007
OK, I admit it, Leopard has more "Wow!" than Vista . in theory anyway
Now that I've given in and decided that the PC Doc HQ is to get at least one
Mac (what exactly I'm going to do with it remains a mystery, but that's not
the point) I've been spending some time checking out what new features I can
expect from Leopard. Apple has conveniently listed 300+ new Mac OS X
Leopard features on a single page, and I have to say, Leopard sounds
compelling . in theory anyway.
Browsing through the 300+ new feature (well, OK, let's first admit that "new
features" is marketing hyperbole, some of the features have just been
re-tweaked and modified a little) I have to admit that I went "Wow!" more
than once. In fact, I might as well come clean and admit that Leopard looks
like it beats Vista in the "Wow!" department.
In case you missed that, let me repeat it again:
"Leopard looks like it beats Vista in the "Wow!" department."
There, I said it again.
Here are just some of the features from the listing that caught my eye:
a.. Google Map Addresses
View a detailed map of any address in Address Book. Just hold down the
Control key while clicking any address and select "Map of" and Safari will
show you its location in Google Maps.
[Note that this is one of those re-tweaked features - I believe that this
is already in OS X Address Book but uses MapQuest instead of Google Maps.
But yeah, it's cool. Why can't Outlook Express/Windows Mail have this?]
b.. Scriptable System Preferences & Applications
Do more with AppleScript. A number of system preferences in Leopard are
now scriptable, including the Dock, Security, Exposé, Accounts, and
Networking - as well as a number of features in iChat.
c.. Updated Folder Action Support
Enjoy greater reliability with folder actions, which are triggered by the
file system instead of the Finder. Folder actions now have their own server,
and each folder action now runs its own copy of the new Folder Actions
Dispatcher application.
[This sounds like a really awesome and highly useful feature.]
d.. UI Recording and Playback
Add even more capabilities to your workflows. Use a new action called
Watch Me Do that lets you record a user action (like pressing a button or
controlling an application without built-in Automator support) and replay as
an action in a workflow.
e.. Copy Files Between Mac OS X and Windows
Copy, open, modify, or delete files in Mac OS X that you saved to your
Windows partition. Leopard understands the Windows FAT32 disk format.
[I was hoping that this feature would appear because otherwise having two
OSes was pretty useless.]
f.. Microsoft WHCL-Certified Windows Drivers
Enjoy the unique hardware features of your Mac including the iSight
camera, trackpad scrolling, keyboard backlighting, and volume keys using
fully compatible Windows drivers.
[When I last used Boot Camp, the Windows drivers for the Mac hardware
were, well, putting it kindly, execrable. Also, as ShadeTree points out,
Apple has made a mistake here - the drivers are WHQL-certified, not WHCL.
Hey, don't blame me, I didn't write the marketing material! ;-)]
g.. Improved Full-Screen Interface
Enjoy DVD Player's dramatic new full-screen interface, which puts all your
DVD's features right at your fingertips. Mouse over the top or bottom
regions to access onscreen semitransparent displays for a wealth of controls
and settings.
[Sounds like this hands-down beats Vista.]
h.. Time Skip
Skip ahead or skip back five seconds to replay that moment you missed or
just see something one more time.
[Nice, very nice!]
i.. Scratched Disc Recovery
Smoothly play back even DVDs that may be damaged. New technology in
Leopard can locate and avoid scratched areas of the disc.
[Another cool feature.]
j.. Icon Preview
See files for what they really are. Leopard displays icons that are actual
thumbnail previews of the documents themselves.
[Believe it or not, this sounds like a really useful feature, especially
if you're like me and don't always give files meaningful names.]
I've limited myself to ten features here but I could have easily picked a
couple of dozen more features that sound interesting and useful and that
made me utter a low "Wow!" It seems that being in a distant second place in
the OS market is actually making Apple work hard to come up with new ideas
and innovative features.
Sure, I'm reading a web page here and I've been exposed to enough marketing
material to know that there can be a huge gulf between what something says
it will do in theory and how it behaves in practice and that there's a good
chance that while these features will exist in Leopard that not all will
operate or behave the way I expect them to. I'd be a total bozo if I didn't
expect some level of compromise or disappointment (*cough* . Safari .
*cough*). But at least these features are there and I feel that Apple is
trying to build an all-inclusive OS and that in order to get what I want I
don't have to choose from a bouquet of OS options."
http://blogs.zdnet.com/hardware/?p=861
OK, I admit it, Leopard has more "Wow!" than Vista . in theory anyway
Now that I've given in and decided that the PC Doc HQ is to get at least one
Mac (what exactly I'm going to do with it remains a mystery, but that's not
the point) I've been spending some time checking out what new features I can
expect from Leopard. Apple has conveniently listed 300+ new Mac OS X
Leopard features on a single page, and I have to say, Leopard sounds
compelling . in theory anyway.
Browsing through the 300+ new feature (well, OK, let's first admit that "new
features" is marketing hyperbole, some of the features have just been
re-tweaked and modified a little) I have to admit that I went "Wow!" more
than once. In fact, I might as well come clean and admit that Leopard looks
like it beats Vista in the "Wow!" department.
In case you missed that, let me repeat it again:
"Leopard looks like it beats Vista in the "Wow!" department."
There, I said it again.
Here are just some of the features from the listing that caught my eye:
a.. Google Map Addresses
View a detailed map of any address in Address Book. Just hold down the
Control key while clicking any address and select "Map of" and Safari will
show you its location in Google Maps.
[Note that this is one of those re-tweaked features - I believe that this
is already in OS X Address Book but uses MapQuest instead of Google Maps.
But yeah, it's cool. Why can't Outlook Express/Windows Mail have this?]
b.. Scriptable System Preferences & Applications
Do more with AppleScript. A number of system preferences in Leopard are
now scriptable, including the Dock, Security, Exposé, Accounts, and
Networking - as well as a number of features in iChat.
c.. Updated Folder Action Support
Enjoy greater reliability with folder actions, which are triggered by the
file system instead of the Finder. Folder actions now have their own server,
and each folder action now runs its own copy of the new Folder Actions
Dispatcher application.
[This sounds like a really awesome and highly useful feature.]
d.. UI Recording and Playback
Add even more capabilities to your workflows. Use a new action called
Watch Me Do that lets you record a user action (like pressing a button or
controlling an application without built-in Automator support) and replay as
an action in a workflow.
e.. Copy Files Between Mac OS X and Windows
Copy, open, modify, or delete files in Mac OS X that you saved to your
Windows partition. Leopard understands the Windows FAT32 disk format.
[I was hoping that this feature would appear because otherwise having two
OSes was pretty useless.]
f.. Microsoft WHCL-Certified Windows Drivers
Enjoy the unique hardware features of your Mac including the iSight
camera, trackpad scrolling, keyboard backlighting, and volume keys using
fully compatible Windows drivers.
[When I last used Boot Camp, the Windows drivers for the Mac hardware
were, well, putting it kindly, execrable. Also, as ShadeTree points out,
Apple has made a mistake here - the drivers are WHQL-certified, not WHCL.
Hey, don't blame me, I didn't write the marketing material! ;-)]
g.. Improved Full-Screen Interface
Enjoy DVD Player's dramatic new full-screen interface, which puts all your
DVD's features right at your fingertips. Mouse over the top or bottom
regions to access onscreen semitransparent displays for a wealth of controls
and settings.
[Sounds like this hands-down beats Vista.]
h.. Time Skip
Skip ahead or skip back five seconds to replay that moment you missed or
just see something one more time.
[Nice, very nice!]
i.. Scratched Disc Recovery
Smoothly play back even DVDs that may be damaged. New technology in
Leopard can locate and avoid scratched areas of the disc.
[Another cool feature.]
j.. Icon Preview
See files for what they really are. Leopard displays icons that are actual
thumbnail previews of the documents themselves.
[Believe it or not, this sounds like a really useful feature, especially
if you're like me and don't always give files meaningful names.]
I've limited myself to ten features here but I could have easily picked a
couple of dozen more features that sound interesting and useful and that
made me utter a low "Wow!" It seems that being in a distant second place in
the OS market is actually making Apple work hard to come up with new ideas
and innovative features.
Sure, I'm reading a web page here and I've been exposed to enough marketing
material to know that there can be a huge gulf between what something says
it will do in theory and how it behaves in practice and that there's a good
chance that while these features will exist in Leopard that not all will
operate or behave the way I expect them to. I'd be a total bozo if I didn't
expect some level of compromise or disappointment (*cough* . Safari .
*cough*). But at least these features are there and I feel that Apple is
trying to build an all-inclusive OS and that in order to get what I want I
don't have to choose from a bouquet of OS options."
http://blogs.zdnet.com/hardware/?p=861