Hands on Guide to Mac OS X 10.5

Mac OS X 10.5 tries to set a new standard in operating systems with an elegant user interface and 300 new features.

For most Mac users, the new operating system, codenamed Leopard, will not offer a revolutionary new way for them to work. But key features like Time Machine and Boot Camp will entice users to go ahead and upgrade.

A face lift for the Finder
The first thing after upgrading to the new operating system that a user will notice is the new 3D Dock with a semi-translucent bar rather than the traditional 2D Dock present in Mac OS X 10.4. The new dock allows for stacking Dock icons, which allows a user to group icons together. When you click on a stack of icons, the remaining icons stream upwards and allow you to select one. This addresses a traditional user complaint for Mac OS X that you could not organize your Dock icons and that you needed a really large screen just to fit all of the dock icons that you want.

Cover Flow and Quick Look
The Finder is what most people consider to be their Desktop on a Mac. It's how users access applications and files on their computers and Apple has added an entirely new view called Cover Flow. In addition to View by List or view by Icon, Cover Flow essentially gives you an iTunes-like interface into everything on your computer. Next comes Quick Look. Just like you can see album art for the music in your iTunes library, this feature shows you a graphical preview of documents on your computer whether they are word documents or digital videos. Quick Look allows a user to flip through a document or preview a video right from the Finder without taking the time to open a program. Apple asserts that Cover Flow and Quick Look will enable users to find their files more quickly and integrates with Spotlight,MacOS X's built in search tool that already allows you to search file contents.

Time Machine
Mac OS X has never shipped with a backup utility built in without a .Mac subscription, until Time Machine. Some reviewers have compared Time Machine to Windows restore point but that is not accurate because Time Machine backs up the Mac's System Files and the Data files in one spot. Restoring a file is a simple process that gives the user a 3D view of the backups. Users can click on the version that they want. Time Machine does require an external hard drive and will not backup to computers on a network. Additionally, Time Machine will let you restore your files to a a shiny new Mac. Backups have always been difficult for many users, but this new features tries to make keeping digital memories simple enough for the average user.

Please note that Apple's Time Machine makes use of the entire external hard drive, so you cannot use the hard drive for other purposes at the same time. It does allow you exclude folders from Time Machine so that you do not take up space backing up the things that you don't want to.

Boot Camp
Apple finally takes its Windows on Mac hardware out of beta and makes it an official part of Leopard. Many have been relying on Boot Camp beta for months. The version of Boot Camp that runs on 10.4 expired on the day that 10.5 shipped. Users can still boot into Windows, but they can no longer launch the Boot Camp Assistant and create new Windows installs or resize their Windows partition. The drivers needed for running Windows on a Mac are right on the 10.5 install DVD.

The ability to run Windows natively on a Mac seems to be drawing Mac users to the new Intel-powered Macs. Now that Apple has legitimized Boot Camp, it is sure to entice even first time Macintosh owners

Spaces
Linux based computers have long had a virtual desktop feature that allows you run minimize desktop clutter and Apple brings this feature to OS X and adds their twist by allowing a user to drag documents and programs back and forth between the virtual spaces. Presenters and educators will enjoy being able to jump back and forth between spaces during an event in order to keep screen clutter from being a distraction.

Other Features
Most of Apple's 300 new features actually are in the programs that come with Leopard rather than the operating system itself. New versions of Safari,iChat and Mail are included in 10.5 and each has cool new features. While the new features in Safari and Mail are mainly just the continued evolution of a web browser and mail program,iChat makes a significant leap offering file sharing and screen control during a chat. And teenagers will enjoy the iChat feature where you can apply PhotoBooth's fun effects during a chat or use any photo to replace the background behind you during a chat.

Parental Controls are one the overlooked features in Leopard. Parents can now filter web content right on the Mac without additional software. Parents can also set very specific time limits and times for computer usage. And unlike 10.4, Leopard keeps a log of websites that kids visit and the people that they chat with.

Installation
The minimum requirements for 10.5 are a minimum processor of 867 MHz, 512MB of RAM; a built in firewire port and 7GB of free space on your hard drive, but if you want Leopard to run as quickly as it does in the commercial, you will probably want at least a G5 processor and 1GB of RAM.

Always have a backup of your data before installing anything major like a new operating system. The install process can take quite some time. In fact it can take a couple of hours on older Macs. The 10.5 installer offers the same installation options that previous versions of Mac OS X offered: Upgrade, Archive and Install, and Erase and Install. Upgrade or Install Mac OS X will either install Mac OS X to a new hard drive or upgrade your current system installation. Archive and Install moves over the System and Users directories and installs a clean copy of Leopard rather than just upgrading. Erase and install will erase your hard drive, thus deleting all of the data on the drive before installing the new operating system.

Upgrading everything else
Many Mac applications will need to be upgraded to a new version in order to be compatible with Leopard. If the software is from Apple, the necessary updates will come to your computer automatically through software update. But other programs may also need upgrading in order to work correctly with Leopard. In most cases, you can go to the developer site to see if an update is needed. Sites like Macupdate and Versiontracker offer databases of program versions that you can search to simplify upgrading.

The 10.5 upgrade shows that Apple is trying to address users' pain points and improve the way people actually use their computers. And after more than two years since Apple's last major operating upgrade, many Mac users are ready for some new features.