So I installed , like many other people, the WWDC 2007 Leopard preview. I am still amazed by it, its a beauty and it runs on my latest , but lowest-in-class, generation Macbook Pro like a dream (2.2ghz Core 2 Duo).

I am more then impressed by Spaces and by the new Finder. Time Machine I haven’t tested really but I started to check things that are not mentioned a lot on other sites. Applications that , within a company or even for the individual, will look very appealing and are used quite frequently.

The Terminal
Personally it was the utility I wanted the most but used the least in Tiger. Simply because it did not have tabs. I used iTerm in Tiger and it works like a dream. Terminal in Leopard finally has tabs. Apple listened to all the sour *nix faces and added tabs to the terminal. As you can see from the screenshot below, you can even choose quick color schemes of the tabs when you make them.

X11!
The included X11 is now X.org v 7.2, which is a nice development. It loads very fast on this machine and lets you get into X forwarding or other X based work really quickly.

Directory
This is a new application which I am not sure yet how usefull it is, but in the large enterprise I think it could come in quite handy. Of course you can bind your Mac to a directory service, like Active Directory. With Directory Access you can access then the data, such as users etc. from a single small application. Very handy if you need a phone number or such I guess.

Directory Utility
This is the application you use in order to bind to a directory service. Compared to the old Directory Access this looks much smoother and nicer as you can see.

Preview
Preview also got a facelift as shown below. Some functionality was added. I personally like the new preview.

Network Utility
Though nothing radical, the version number increased as you can see in the screenshot below. There are no real differences in the Interface though I have to say that a portscan on one of my machines went far faster with Leopard then with Tiger.

Finder
The application that needed the most development and finally got it. The new Finder with it’s cover flow feature and the new sidebar just rocks. I find myself enjoying finding finder again. Its fast, much faster then the old Finder and it looks nice. Has a very smooth feel to it and is a beauty to work with.

Contradictions:
I noticed some people mentioned that you can change the transparency of the new menu bar. Personally I have yet to find where. I went thru the system preferences but didn’t find anything.

Also I read that some people really had issues with speed and instability. I have found no such issues. The installation was straight forward and the system is really stable. I have not installed iLife or anything but I do use Safari on a daily basis as well as the Terminal and other applications. Adium worked just fine, for example.

Conclusion:
Vista, you are in trouble. With Leopards launch looming for October the much heralded OS of Microsoft will yet again get a kick. Leopard is smooth and impressive to say the least. On the surface it is just a facelift with some fancy new gui and Applications. however under the hood it brings things that Vista doesn’t.
With recent games such as Prey, X3 etc. OS X is not quite that far lagging behind with great games and with the announcement at the WDC that there willb e more Mac games coming, Leopard might just be THE Os you are looking for.
Granted, Vista can do waht Time Machine can do, but can it do in a way that you and all your family members can understand it within a few moments?

I really think Leopard will arrive like a bomb and spread like wildfire. With things like the CORE interfaces and development for OS X gaining all the time, my bet is on the new big cat.

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