Being as it’s been a week and a bit since I installed Leopard, I thought I’d share my thoughts.
As an ex-Windows user, upgrades in OS X tend to be less visually different than the ones for their Microsoft counterparts. Rather than re-skinning the whole interface, they instead have a more evolutionary approach to the process.
I’m not overly excited by the new translucent menu bar, the rounded corners and gradients on the context menus, the new screensaver features, the shiny dock or the black Apple button, but it does add enough to make you feel like you have upgraded; at least a little bit.
Apple touts version 10.5 as including 300 new features, but you won’t realistically notice most of these on a day to day basis. That said, there are some very nice additions, and one or two annoying ones.
Time Machine
Time Machine, like most reviewers have reported, is bliss. Backup is a nightmare for me and to be able to just whizz back through a collection of files until I get the one I want is far superior to my current methods (running tailored Windows BAT files, and on my MacBook, occasionally copying the contents over when I remember). I probably would have liked a little more control over the setup, the ability to publish to a wireless drive (apparently this feature was originally to be included, but then pulled for the final release) and also a way to change the regularity of the backups on certain folders.
Terminal
Terminal can now be made a lot prettier, and I think it’s possible to load up custom windows at startup, but so far I haven’t been able to figure it out. If I do, I will be very happy.
Coverflow, Quicklook & Network Access
Coverflow for files – now that is awesome. Speed-wise it’s like greased lightening and to be able to visually go through several hundred web files in realtime and pick the correct one is ridiculously nice. I also absolutely love the fact this is not restricted to the machine I am using. Machine-sharing has become ludicrously easy and I can use Coverflow on not only the contents of the other Macs on my network, but also the Windows machines too.
The new networking benefits improve screen sharing (Remote Desktop style) too, and it’s much nicer than using VNC. Super speedy too over my wireless network.
Although Quicklook is sold as a feature of it’s own, it’s just another implementation of the technology used in Coverflow, but again is super quick and very nice to use, although I did have to customise my toolbar in order to get the icon to appear.
Finder
I always used to read that people hated the default Finder application, but my only problem with it was the lack of a working ‘Cut’ function. Well, that still appears to be missing, so no happier there, but the newly laid out views and search tools are fantastic and a much welcome upgrade to the old one.
Speed
I can’t really tell much how much speed improvement I have over my old installation, but it does seem quicker, and I don’t think I could ever have said that about my previous Windows upgrade experiences. That said, boot up seems to take about the same amount of time, but as my Macbook stays on sleep mostly, that’s not really a problem – actually if anything I think it wakes faster now.
iTunes
Of course, since I didn’t overly praise the visual elements above, I’ll have to make some sickening applause of something eye-candyish, so it’ll be the new iTunes visualisations. There are a handful to choose from, and they are stunning. I mean really stunning.
iCal
iCal has received a nice refresh that hasn’t alienated me too much (which is just as well as it is one of my most frequently used apps) and now has a more sensible use of screen real-estate – allowing the changes to events to be made ‘inline’ rather than occupying a drawer that used to take up a quarter of the screen. I’m also enjoying publishing my calendars to the web, although I’m unsure if that is a new feature, or just something that became more obviously labelled in Leopard.
Stacks
I’ve not found much use for the Stacks feature yet, but I have a feeling it will come in more use as I start using my iMac for major development work. I can see potential for dropping current project folders down there for ease of access.
Lots of Mail users appear very happy, but it’s not an app I use at the moment, mainly because Yahoo! don’t yet offer IMAP (and they better do soon because these GMail types are making me weep now). I will use it as soon as the doors are opened (I could use POP, but it’s just too limiting).
Issues – Skype, Firewall, Dock, Quicksilver & Growl
I have fallen foul of a few compatibility problems however. Skype hasn’t been working and I found out that is because I had turned on the OS’s firewall. Leopard’s firewall is controversially off by default, but setting it to anything other than ‘allow all incoming connections’ makes the Skype icon bounce twice before quitting automatically. No explanation given. A reinstall solves it, but then a restart means you have to reinstall again. It’s a rubbish situation. Turning off the firewall and a reinstall apparently solves this, but it’s not ideal.
Another minor issue for me is that Quicksilver now appears in the dock permanently and there doesn’t appear to be anyway of removing it (I really don’t need anything else clogging it up). If you are using Quicksilver, make sure you upgrade to the newest version now, as there has been some issue in the old one pinging the author’s server so much that it has taken the site down. You will need to download the new version from the link posted here.
In the old dock, running applications used to be marked with a very obvious little black arrow. Initially I though this had been totally removed, but it turns out it has been replaced with a thoroughly wimpy glowing puddle. If there is one thing I really want back, it’s an obvious way of telling which apps are running.
I had an issue with the Candybar theme in Growl not displaying any text, but switching to any other theme seemed to solve that. Apart from these handful of irritations, I have been genuinely impressed with the upgrade and yet to discover anything truly horrible.
So far, loving it.