Posts from — October 2007

Daniel Eran Dilger
Myth 2 in the Ten Myths of Leopard.

Ten Myths of Leopard: 1 Graphics Must Be Slow!
Ten Myths of Leopard: 2 It’s Only a Service Pack!

Ten Myths of Apple iPhone
Ten Myths of the Apple TV

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Beyond the desktop and main applications in Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, its most obvious advancements are related to graphics and the underlying performance improvements that speed up everything being displayed on the screen. There are a number of aspects to why Leopard’s graphics feels faster, and some interesting notes on how the graphical user interface is changing in Leopard. Here’s a look at how everything works.

AppleInsider | An Introductory Mac OS X Leopard Review: Core Graphics and the New UI.

Technorati Tags: Apple, Development, History, Mac

Daniel Eran Dilger
Are you ready for an all out assault on Mac OS X Leopard by Windows Enthusiasts? Earlier this year, I compiled a listing of complaints related to the iPhone before they could even think them up, although self-styled analysts kept trying to perpetuate them for months after I debunked them. I later outlined a similar series exposing some reality related to Apple TV. Before the trolls really get going on Leopard, let’s clear the air there, too. Of course, there are also real issues related to Leopard users should take into consideration. Here’s an honest look at Mac OS X 10.5 against the myths being reported.

Ten Myths of Apple iPhone
Ten Myths of the Apple TV

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Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard comes with a selection of entirely new or greatly improved applications. The new system is designed to be flexible to fit your needs, so you can import the data from existing apps you currently use into Leopard’s, or alternatively continue to use your own preferred alternative apps on the new OS. It also exposes new functionality for developers to allow them to extend upon, replace, or collaborate with Apple’s supplied applications. Here’s a look at how the new versions of Address Book and iChat work.

AppleInsider | An Introductory Mac OS X Leopard Review: Address Book and iChat.

Technorati Tags: Apple, Mac, Review, Software

Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard comes with a selection of entirely new or greatly improved applications. The new system is designed to be flexible to fit your needs, so you can import the data from existing apps you currently use into Leopard’s, or alternatively continue to use your own preferred alternative apps on the new OS. It also exposes new functionality for developers to allow them to extend upon, replace, or collaborate with Apple’s supplied applications. Here’s a look at how the new versions of Mail and iCal work.

AppleInsider | An Introductory Mac OS X Leopard Review: Mail and iCal.

Technorati Tags: Apple, Software

What You Expected:

Daniel Eran Dilger
What You Expected, What You Got: Apple and Microsoft in Consumer Electronics.
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Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard has two audiences: those who already own a Mac and are interested in upgrading their experience, and new buyers investigating a Mac purchase. This review series is designed primarily toward Mac users looking to upgrade but includes notes of interest to new Mac buyers as well. This segment provides a 2-page introduction to Leopard’s overall features and an introduction of the desktop, with real world usage notes about its peculiarities so you can decide if Leopard (and the Mac) is right for you.

AppleInsider | An Introductory Mac OS X Leopard Review: Meet Your New Desktop

Technorati Tags: Apple, iPhone, Mac, Review, Software

In addition to the new searching, browsing and back up features for office documents (Finder, Dock, Quick Look, Cover Flow, Spotlight, Time Machine) and new support for collaborative information sharing (Mail, iChat, iCal, Server), Mac OS X Leopard also advances support for audio and video media in QuickTime, iTunes, Photo Booth, Front Row, and other applications. Here’s what’s new in Leopard and where the ideas behind rich media on the desktop came from.

AppleInsider | Road to Mac OS X Leopard: QuickTime, iTunes, and Media Features.

Technorati Tags: Apple, DRM, History, iPhone, iPod, Mac, Microsoft, Software

Many functions in Mac OS X are only exposed to the user via System Preferences, so as you might guess, a lot of new things in Leopard show up there. Among them are a few of the “secret new features” that have never been previously announced in demonstrations of Leopard, laying to rest the hopes of certain critics that Steve Jobs somehow failed to deliver upon his assurance that the new system would deliver a variety of other new features Apple was keeping under wraps so that competitors wouldn’t copy them before they were released. Here’s a look at where System Preferences came from, and what’s new.

AppleInsider | Road to Mac OS X Leopard: System Preferences

Technorati Tags: Apple, Development, History, Mac, Microsoft, Software

The “300 new features” of Leopard immediately brought to mind a certain movie, but Alf of the Spanish Mac site www.faq-mac.com put together graphics that were even better than I had in mind. Above is Steve Jobs as “300” King Leonidas. Alf also portrayed a certain other executive playing the role of the Persian Über Immortal. Visit:

¿Preparados para Leopard? | www.faq-mac.com

Daniel Eran Dilger
Writing for Wired, Kim Zetter published an article that attempts to portray the iPhone as a security boondoggle on the order of Windows 95, due to fundamental mistake Apple made in designing it. Fortunately, Zetter is wrong, here’s why.

Updated: Kevin Poulsen Attacks Ron Paul, iPhone, Mac Users In a Single Broad Brush of Wired Incompetence.
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Mac OS X Leopard not only makes it easy to do new things, it also allows you to restrict functions based on permissions. In home settings, this feature is presented as Parental Controls. In business settings, the same technology is used to provide Managed Preferences, essentially setting up controls and guidelines for employees rather than children. This is another example of applying technologies in both the client and server side of the product, and how Apple is leveraging its strength in its core markets to expand into new areas. Here’s how the features work in Leopard and Leopard Server, what you can do with them, and where the ideas behind managed preferences — and the underlying directory services supporting them — came from.

AppleInsider | Road to Mac OS X Leopard: Parental Controls and Directory Services

Technorati Tags: Apple, Development, History, Mac, Microsoft, Software

Leopard sports a series of changes both under the hood and in its user interface that improve the performance and usability of the Mac desktop for individual users, and combine to deliver new collaborative server features for networked machines in office settings. Servers and shared services are also moving into the home; here’s a look at what’s new in Leopard and Leopard Server related to file sharing and collaborative information services, and where the plumbing inside Mac OS X comes from.

AppleInsider | Road to Mac OS X Leopard Server: Collaborative Info Sharing Services

Technorati Tags: Apple, Bloggers, Development, History, Mac, Microsoft, Software

What You Expected:



Daniel Eran Dilger
What You Expected, What You Got: Windows Vista vs Mac OS X Leopard.

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Daniel Eran Dilger
Pundits have seized upon rumors of a new mobile phone product from Google as their golden ticket for bashing the iPhone. The “gPhone” is the perfect foil for fear-based rumormongers because it’s a secret Google hasn’t said much about publicly. That lets the wags blow it out of proportion and stretch it into an iPhone Killer. They’re wrong, here’s why.

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