Mac OS X Version 10.5.4 Leopard

Basically beware. You WILL have 2 do a complete clean install. Once you do so, many applications that formally worked fine, will no longer. Some will not even work with the new system. Many apps will need 2 you re-install, others will ask you again 4 serial numbers & activations. Make sure you have all those numbers handy. Sorry 4 those who have "borrowed" applications, chances are, you'll never be able 2 use them again.
I had gotten Leopard as a door prize at a motion graphics event. It took me a year 2 have a free weekend where I thought why not. Why not turned into about three weeks of trouble-shooting, borrowing wired keyboards from work & having 2 turn down freelance projects because I had 2 re-install apps, re-install the plug ins & even at this point there are two 3D applications I use that I now have 2 pay 4 the upgrade on in order 2 use them.
In the end, not only wasn't it worth it 2 upgrade, but the bells & whistles are more of a gimmick than something that would help me in my daily workflow. Time Machine became so annoying I turned it off, yeah great, it's there, but it eats up all the space on your external drives until you chose 2 delete older saves. Spaces? Why? Full screen iChat? I don't like 2 talk on the phone let alone see someone on my screen & have them see me, yuck. So in a word, yuck!

Leopard still has a number of bugs which can be limiting in its use compared 2 the very stable & bug free 10.4. Wish I had waited. So frustrating 2 go from trouble free 2 a number of issues which limit my computer use & are difficult if not possible at this time 2 resolve with Apple.

Like Tiger before it, Leopard is worth every penny. Time machine works seamlessly (if you don't make the same mistake I did & use a LaCie drive 4 backup - it will fail sooner rather than later). Most new features are excellent. Unfortunately, the new X11 that ships with Leopard is badly messed up (at least when I installed it a while ago). Luckily, you can download the latest build from http://xquartz.macosforge.org is you need 2 use X11 professionally. Overall, Leopard is great & worth the upgrade!

buying Leopard was easy. saved a little money too, so that's always nice. upgrading 2 Leopard... why does it have 2 take up so much memory!!!! it's not that different enough from my old OS, but takes up so many Gigs! i was on 10.2 before the upgrade. oh well, it's done now.

My work requires me 2 set up folders that hold hundreds & sometimes thousands of archived files. Therefore, I always use the simple list mode 2 scroll up & down in a narrow Finder window & open folders in the same window & without the need 2 having a sidebar, I never used the sidebar before anyway. something which worked great with Tiger.
When I upgraded 2 Leopard I couldn't have the simple list Finder window anymore. I found that in order 2 do that, I need 2 get a rid of the sidebar by clicking on the oval top right button on the Finder window which also get a rid of the top menu which includes the "back" & "forward" arrow buttons that are essential 2 going back & forth between folders. Although the arrow buttons can be substituted by activating the Path Bar at the bottom of the window by checking "Show Path Bar" in the "View" pulldown menu in top of the screen, which I don't find as fast & easy 2 use as the arrow buttons. I also shockingly found out that when I get a rid of the sidebar (and the top menu), folders always open in a new window no matter what, even if the "Always open folders in a new window" left unchecked in the "Finder" pull down menu in the top left corner of the screen.
So now I'm stuck with having 2 have the useless sidebar that takes much room on my little 15.4 screen of my MacBook Pro in every window I open in order just 2 make folders open in the same window.
The other thing is that Leopard does not memorize the Finder's window settings & location, I must go through resetting my windows 2 my specifications every time.
This may sounds like a simple issue but it is a very important one because most of us use the same window settings from start 2 end, we rarely change 2 different settings or location.
Apple, I hope you issue correction 2 this important problem soon.

Mac OS X v.10.5 Leopard is the newest release of Apple's innovative, stable & compatible operating system 4 Macintosh computers. This new release includes an elegant new interface & over 300 new innovations designed 2 help customers accomplish any task. Improvements have been included 4 all your favorite Mac programs like iChat & Mail, as well as all-new features such as Quick Look, which lets you peruse the contents of a multiple-page document or video without opening the whole file, & Time Machine, which can recover files in seconds. OS X 10.5 has all this, as well as the exceptional search technology, stunning graphics, rapid connectivity & solid stability you've come 2 expect from the OSX family of operating systems. iChat now lets you present movies, presentations & virtually any document during your chtas with iChat Theater. You can even save your audio & video chats 4 sharing or synching with an iPod 2 play on the go. Communicate with 30 professionally designed stationary template, keep important notes & track to-do items in Mail You can now group applications into Spaces & move between each Space with keyboard shortcuts 2 organize your windows & reduce clutter

Hello, tomorrow. The biggest Mac OS X upgrade ever, Leopard features 300+ innovations. Explore the Mac of the future today.

Create Stacks from anything 2 access quickly in one place.

Enjoy a gorgeous new look & organize your files in Stacks.

Desktop. A neat place 2 work.
From the menu bar 2 the stunning new Dock, the Leopard desktop isn't just about design. It's about enjoying the time you spend on your computer & getting more out of it.

An eye-opening experience.
Start from the top. The menu bar hovers transparently above your workspace, letting the desktop image--perhaps a favorite from your iPhoto library--take center stage. Dock icons rest on a reflective floor with a bright active application signal. And the look of Leopard extends 2 all applications: Every window has a consistent design theme, & active applications are even more distinct, casting deeper shadows.

Stacked in your favor.
Take a look at your desktop. Is it cluttered with files you downloaded or saved there (somewhat less than) temporarily? You're not alone. Everybody does it. Time 2 clean house with Stacks--a brand-new feature in Leopard. Create Stacks from anything you want 2 access quickly from one place: a handful of documents, a group of applications, an entire folder. Files you download in Safari or save from an email are automatically directed 2 a Stack in the Dock, & when the download is complete, the Stack signals that a new item has arrived. When you want 2 see the files in a Stack, all you have 2 do is click--Stacks spring open from the Dock in an elegant arc 4 a few items, or in an at-a-glance grid 4 more. Pretty neat.

Browse your files like you browse your music with Cover Flow.

Finder. Give your files the rock star treatment.
Imagine if browsing the files on your Mac was as easy as browsing music in iTunes. That's the idea behind the new Finder in Leopard. Now you can access everything on your system from an iTunes-style sidebar & flip through your files using Cover Flow.

Grouped sidebar items help you find what you need fast.

The sidebar steps up.
Leopard brings new power 2 your old friend, the sidebar. Now items are grouped into categories: places, devices, shared computers, & searches--just like the Source list in iTunes. So with a single click, you're on your way 2 finding what you need.

See what you seek.
Bring your files 2 life with Cover Flow in the Finder. Just as you use Cover Flow 2 flip through album art in iTunes, now you can use it 2 flip through your files. Cover Flow displays each file as a large preview of its first page. And you can page through multipage documents or play movies.

Search party.
Stop looking & start finding with Cover Flow & Spotlight. Click a prebuilt search like "yesterday" or "all images" in the sidebar & Cover Flow displays your search results in the perfect at-a-glance format. Leopard comes with a number of helpful prebuilt searches, but it's easy 2 create your own customized searches as well.

Closer connections.
With shared computers automatically displayed in the sidebar, it's far easier 2 find or access files on any computer in your house, whether Mac or PC. All it takes is a click. But here's where things get really interesting. By clicking on a connected Mac, you can see & control that computer (if authorized, of course) as if you were sitting in front of it. You can even search all the computers in the house 2 find what you're looking for.

And now, back 2 my Mac.
Ever need something on your Mac when you were thousands of miles from home? With Back 2 My Mac & a .Mac account, you can connect 2 any of your Macs at home from any Mac on the Internet. Your home computers will appear in the shared section of the sidebar just as they do when you're in the living room.

Improved spotlight searches.

Look deeper.
From the Finder or the menu bar, Spotlight in Leopard lets you search 4 more specific sets of things. Use Boolean logic 2 narrow search results by entering "AND," "OR," or "NOT" into a search request. You can also search 4 exact phrases (using quotation marks), dates, ranges (using greater than [>] & less than [<] symbols), absolute dates, & simple calculations.

View, play, & read files without even opening them.

Quick Look. Look before you launch. Using Quick Look in Leopard, you can view the contents of a file without even opening it. Flip through multiple-page documents. Watch full-screen video. See entire Keynote presentations. With a single click. Opening files is so 2006. So you're flipping through files in the Finder. But you're looking 4 something specific & you don't have time 2 open lots of files 2 find it. Enter Quick Look. It gives you a sneak peek of entire files--even multiple-page documents & video--without opening them. See everything. Quick Look works with nearly every file on your system, including images, text files, PDFs, movies, Keynote presentations, & Microsoft Word & Excel files. Click the Quick Look icon or tap the Space bar 2 see a file in Quick Look. Then click the arrow icon 2 see the same file full screen--even video as it plays.

Time Machine. A giant leap backward.
More than a mere backup, Time Machine makes an up-to-date copy of everything on your Mac--digital photos, music, movies, TV shows, & documents--so you can go back in time 2 recover anything.

Set it, then forget it.
You can start using Time Machine in seconds. The first time you attach an external drive 2 your Mac, Time Machine asks if you'd like 2 use that drive as your backup. Say yes & Time Machine takes care of everything else. Automatically. In the background. You'll never have 2 worry about backing up again.

Back up everything.
Time Machine keeps an up-to-date copy of everything on your Mac. That includes system files, applications, accounts, preferences, music, photos, movies, & documents. But what makes Time Machine different from other backup applications is that it not only keeps a spare copy of every file, it remembers how your system looked on any given day--so you can revisit your Mac as it appeared in the past.

Go back in time 2 restore any file on your system.

Go back in time.
Enter the Time Machine browser in search of your long-lost files & you see exactly how your computer looked on the dates you're browsing. Select a specific date, let Time Machine find your most recent changes, or do a Spotlight search 2 find exactly what you're looking for. Once you do, click Restore & Time Machine brings it back 2 the present. Time Machine restores individual files, complete folders, or your entire computer--putting everything back the way it was & where it should be.

Preferential treatment.
Customize Time Machine by modifying the following behaviors in System Preferences:

• Backup disk. Change the drive or volume you're backing up to. Or back up 2 a Mac OS X Server computer.
• Do not back up. By default, Time Machine backs up your entire system. But you can also select items you'd rather not back up.
• Encrypt backup data. Turn on encryption 2 store your backup securely.
• Backup storage time limits. Manage older backups so your backup drive doesn't fill up.

Drag windows 2 different workspaces & unclutter your Mac.

Spaces. Room 4 everything. You do a lot on your Mac. So what happens when projects pile up? Easy. Use Spaces 2 group your windows & banish clutter completely. Leopard gives you a Space 4 everything & puts everything in its Space. Rearrange the rooms. Create a Space 4 work. Create a Space 4 play. Organize each Space the way you want it just by dragging in windows. Keep all your work projects in one Space & that fun flick you made in iMovie in another. Create a communication Space 4 iChat & Mail. You can even rearrange your Spaces with drag-and-drop ease--shift a Space & every window in it comes along 4 the ride. Make yourself at home. Moving from Space 2 Space is easy. Get a bird's-eye view & select the Space you want or toggle between Spaces using the arrow keys. Even the Dock is down with Spaces: When you click a Dock icon, Leopard whisks you 2 the Space (or Spaces) where you have that application open. Pick your patterns. Configure your Spaces by visiting the Expose Spaces pane in System Preferences. Add rows & columns until you have all the real estate you need. Arrange your Spaces as you see fit, then choose the function keys you want 2 control them. You can also assign applications 2 specific Spaces, so you'll always know where, say, Safari or Keynote is.

Email personalized stationery, write to-dos, & take notes.

Mail. Think outside the inbox.
Leopard transforms email into personalized stationery. Notes you can access anywhere. To-dos that change as your errands do. For everything you do with email--and some things you haven't thought of yet--there's Mail.

Sincerely yours.
Mail 4 Leopard features more than 30 professionally designed stationery templates that make a virtual keepsake out of every email you send. Mail Stationary From invitations 2 birthday greetings, stationery templates feature coordinated layouts, fonts, colors, & drag-and-drop photo placement--everything 2 help you get your point across. You can even create personalized templates. And messages created using stationery in Mail use standard HTML that can be read by every popular email program on the market--for both Mac & PC.

Notes & tasks help you stay organized.

Noteworthy indeed.
Ever email yourself a reminder that gets lost in your inbox? Mail lets you write handy notes you can access from anywhere. Brainstorm ideas, jot down meeting notes, scribble a phone number--notes can include graphics, colored text, & attachments. Group notes into folders or create Smart Mailboxes that group them 4 you. Since your notes folder acts like an email mailbox, you can retrieve notes from any Mac or PC.

Much ado about to-dos.
Forget manually entering a new item 2 your to-do list every time an email hits your inbox. Mail Tasks Simply highlight text in an email, then click the To-do icon 2 create a to-do from a message. Include a due date, set an alarm, or assign priorities. Every to-do you create includes a link 2 the original email or note, & to-dos automatically appear in iCal, complete with any edits or additions you make. And since to-dos are stored with your email, you can access them from Mail on any Mac.

Spotlight on Mail.
With smarter relevance ranking in Spotlight, you'll find the right email at the top of the search results list. And everything you create in Leopard Mail--to-dos, notes, and, of course, email messages--appears in a Spotlight search of your system.

Stop the presses.
Subscribe 2 an RSS feed in Mail & you'll know the moment an article or blog post hits the wire. Even better, you can choose 2 have new articles emailed 2 you. Sorting your news is easy, too. Use Smart Mailboxes 2 organize incoming news articles according 2 search terms that pique your interest. Mail shares its unread RSS feed count with Safari, so your reading list always stays in sync.

Data, detected.
Say you get an email invitation 2 dinner. What if Mail recognized the address of the restaurant & let you map directions on the web? Or let you click once 2 add the date 2 your iCal calendar? With Leopard, it does. Mail even recognizes combinations of data in phrases like "lunch tomorrow at 12 p.m. at 701 Baltic Ave, San Francisco, CA," making it easy 2 make plans.

Setup made simple.
Now you can set up a new Mail account in one easy step. Just enter your current email address & password & let Mail do the rest. Mail works with the most popular email providers 2 automatically configure all those cryptic server settings 4 you.

Add effects 2 video chats & make remote presentations.

iChat. Not being there is half the fun.
Filled with fun new features, iChat turns any video chat into an event. Video backdrops, Photo Booth effects, photo slideshows, Keynote presentations, even movies on your Mac--you can share it all using iChat.

Transform your video chats using Photo booth effects.

Share your files with friends using iChat Theater.

Chat 4 effect.
Transform your video chats using new Photo Booth effects. Choose an effect & your image changes instantly--iChat detects your background & adds the effect only 2 your image. And the reverse is true 4 iChat backdrops: Drag an Apple-designed backdrop or your own photo or video into the video preview window 2 create an effect that will fool your buddies into thinking you're chatting from your living room, the beach, or the moon.

Show off (without showing up).
Why wait 4 a darkened room & a projector 2 present vacation photos or Keynote slides? Now you can do it all remotely, right in iChat. Put on an entire photo slideshow, click through a Keynote presentation, or play a movie--in full screen, accompanied by a video feed of you hosting--while your buddy looks on. In fact, you can show any file on your system that works with Quick Look.

Chatting 4 the record.
Now you can save your audio & video chats 4 posterity with iChat recording. Before recording starts, iChat notifies your buddies & asks 4 their permission 2 record. When you're done chatting, iChat stores your audio chats as AAC files & video chats as MPEG-4 files so you can play them in iTunes or QuickTime. Share them with colleagues, friends, & family or sync them 2 your iPod & play on the go.

Crystal-clear audio.
iChat uses the AAC-LD audio codec 2 deliver the clearest possible sound during audio chats. A wideband codec that samples a full range of vocal frequencies, AAC-LD sounds great with any voice.

Still the best 4 text.
Sure, iChat has a lot 2 offer 4 video & audio chats, but text messaging also gets a boost in Leopard, thanks 2 these additions:

• Tabbed chats
• Multiple logins
• Invisibility
• Animated buddy icons
• SMS forwarding
• Custom buddy list order
• File transfer manager
• Space-efficient views

AIM 2 please.
iChat works with AIM, the largest instant messaging community in the U.S. You & your buddies can be either AIM or .Mac users. Text, audio, & video chat whether your buddies use a Mac or PC. Sign in with your AIM account & all your buddies appear in your iChat buddy list.

	iCal. Your schedule is clear. Leopard introduces a new look 2 iCal, along with an easier-to-use interface that makes scheduling & rescheduling a breeze. Add new group calendaring features, & iCal works better 4 business or pleasure.
	Photo Booth. Say cheese. Come on. You know you want to. Your built-in iSight or USB camera just begs 2 take your snapshot. Open Photo Booth--now built into Leopard--and have a little fun.
	Dashboard. Where there's a will, there's a widget. Leopard lets you create your very own Dashboard widget from any website. And new .Mac syncing keeps all of your widgets on all of your Macs.
	Front Row. Put on a show. Looking 4 a great way 2 enjoy all the cool stuff on your Mac? Front Row in Leopard works like Apple TV 2 play digital music, movies, TV shows, & photos on your Mac using the ultra-simple Apple Remote.
	Safari. Still the world's best web browser. Now your favorite web browser is also the fastest on the planet. With page load speeds 2 rival every other major browser, Safari 4 Leopard also introduces a few new features 2 the mix.
	DVD Player. Very entertaining. DVD Player in Leopard probably boasts more features than the DVD player in your home entertainment system. And you don't have 2 leave your Mac 2 enjoy it.
	Parental Controls Give your kids a safer, happier Mac experience.
	Accessibility. More user friendly. Leopard offers new features destined 2 make it the most accessible Mac OS yet. New voice technology in VoiceOver, along with Braille support, Breakthrough Browsing, & extended keyboard capability, give users with visual disabilities more control over the Mac than ever.
	Boot Camp. Run Windows on your Mac. Leopard is the world's most advanced operating system. So advanced, it even lets you run Windows if there's a PC application you need 2 use. Just get a copy of Windows & start up Boot Camp, now included with Leopard. Setup is simple & straightforward--just as you'd expect with a Mac.
	Automator. Your personal automation assistant. Automator brings remarkable speed 2 any task that's often repeated on your computer. Leopard adds even more muscle 2 Automator, making it easy 2 automate more kinds of tasks.

A host of new features that make life easier 4 every developer.

Rock-solid foundations.
Explore the core technologies that power Leaopard.

64-Bit. Advanced precision in one OS.
Leopard delivers 64-bit power in one, universal OS. Now the Cocoa application frameworks, as well as graphics, scripting, & the UNIX foundations of the Mac, are all 64-bit. And since you get full performance & compatibility 4 your 32-bit applications & drivers, you don't need 2 update everything on your system just 2 run a single 64-bit application.

Multicore. Fire on all cylinders.
Today's Mac computers offer astounding performance with up 2 eight cores of processing power. So how do you take full advantage? Simple. With Leopard. A rearchitected system, finely tuned key applications, & powerful new tools 4 developers make Leopard the perfect OS 4 your multicore Mac.

Security. Safer by design.
Every Mac is secure--right out of the box--thanks 2 the proven foundation of Mac OS X. Apple engineers have designed Leopard with more security 2 protect your personal data & make your online life safer.

Core Animation. Drag-and-drop-dead gorgeous.
Welcome 2 the next level in computer animation. No, it's not a feature film--it's your desktop. Core Animation is an API that makes it simple 4 Mac developers 2 add visually stunning graphics & animations 2 applications. Without any esoteric graphics & math techniques, you can create fluid, stutter-free effects & experiences as groundbreaking as Spaces & Time Machine.

UNIX. The UNIX you know. The Mac you love.
What can the fully UNIX-compliant Leopard do? It can run any POSIX-compliant source code. Help you make the most of multicore systems. Put a new, tabbed-interface Terminal at your fingertips. Introduce a whole host of new features that make life easier 4 every developer. So, really, what can't it do?

Create stunning Mac applications more quickly.

 

Ready. Set. Code.
Discover developer tools you can build on.

Xcode. Build fast. Work smart.
Xcode 3.0 delivers better performance, as well as innovations that let you create stunning Mac applications more quickly. Enjoy a graphical IDE in which form focuses your functions. Delight in a debugger so groundbreaking, you'll make mistakes just 2 see it in action.

Xray. Apps, the developer will see you now.
When you need help debugging, Xcode 3.0 offers an extraordinary new program: Xray. Taking interface cues from timeline editors such as GarageBand, Xray lets you visualize application performance like never before.

Dashcode. Widgets without the wait.
Ever wish you could make your very own Dashboard widget? A handy RSS feed of your favorite blog, maybe. Or a miniature photocast of your iPhoto library. Something uniquely useful, uniquely you. Say hello 2 Dashcode. Now you can get a widget up & running in minutes, even if you've never written a line of code in your life.