Category Archives: Mac OS X Leopard

Apple has unveiled a near final version of Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, a fully 64-bit operating system.

“Scheduled to ship in October, Leopard introduces over 300 new features, including a new Desktop and Dock with Stacks, an intuitive new way to organize files; an updated Finder featuring Cover Flow™ and a new way to easily browse and share files between multiple Macs; Quick Look, a new way to rapidly preview most files without opening an application; Time Machine, a new way to easily and automatically back up and restore lost files or a complete Mac®; Spaces, a powerful new feature to create groups of applications and instantly switch between them; and enhanced iChat and Mail applications, which easily allow users to communicate even more creatively,” according to Apple.

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Apple has announced today that it will not be able to release its Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard operating system in early June as planned. The forthcoming 64-bit operating system will be launched new OS in October instead.

The company says the Leopard’s launch is delayed, because it had to borrow engineering and QA resources from its operating system team in order to finish software for iPhone device on time.

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Apple has denied any rumored delays for the forthcoming Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard release. Also, Shaw Wu of American Technology Research says that developer builds of the Leopard operating system indicates that Apple is on track to ship it in the spring release time frame. This runs from March 20th through June 20th.

“Analysts, however, are concerned that Apple has yet to publicize the promised “secret features” of Leopard. Apple is expected to highlight Mac OS X Leopard at ths year’s annual developer conference in June,” Associated Content reports.

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The release of Apple’s Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard will be postponed to October 2007 to allow Apple to make new 64-bit operating system support Windows Vista OS through an integrated version of Boot Camp software, Digi Times reports.

“The sources pointed out that the launch delay is not due to software design problems with Leopard but instead is attributed to Apple’s plan to have its new OS support Windows Vista through an integrated version of Boot Camp. Boot Camp is an Apple software application that currently assists in the installation of Windows XP on computers using Apple’s latest OS. The company hopes with support for Vista, Mac computers using the new OS can grab more market share,” Digi Times has learned at industry sources.

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The upcoming CS3 version of Adobe Photoshop will not include 64-bit version of this popular image-editing software. According to Photoshop co-architect Scott Byer, “at some point it will make sense to do a 64-bit version”.

“It’s definitely a ‘when’ question, not an ‘if’, and there are a lot of factors involved,” Byer said in his blog.

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A first-hand evaluation of the latest Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard 9A321 build shows that the new Apple’s operating system is unlikely to be released for public at or around Macworld Expo San Francisco which begins January 9, 2007, the Think Secret reports.

“Overall, performance feels improved with the latest build of Leopard but stability remains a significant issue, even with such basic items as System Preferences or Preview. Apple has also curiously removed keyboard navigation from Spaces in 9A321, suggesting bugs remain to be ironed out with that feature, as well,” according to the report.

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Although both 32-bit and 64-bit Windows Vista versions are released to manufacturing, there is still no 64-bit Flash Player, making it impossible to view Flash content in 64-bit web browsers. Adobe says its developers are working on Flash Player support for 64-bit platforms as part of company’s “ongoing commitment to the cross-platform compatibility of Flash Player”. But, Adobe hasn’t yet announced timing or release dates.

The company says users currently must use 32-bit Flash Player in 32-bit browser to view Flash content on a 64-bit operating system. In 64-bit Windows Vista both 64-bit and emulated 32-bit Internet Explorer are installed by default. Linux users must install 32-bit browser and 32-bit Flash Player plug-in on their 64-bit operating systems.

Since 64-bit Linux users downgrade their browsers for years in order to use Flash, and since Microsoft’s 64-bit Vista (retail) and Apple’s 64-bit Mac OS X Leopard operating systems are scheduled to ship in January and spring 2007 respectively, we hope that 64-bit Flash will be released by then.

While the 64-bit Windows Vista installation will come with a 32-bit emulation layer called Window on Windows (WOW) which will allow you to run your old 32-bit apps on your 64-bit Vista via emulation, the 32-bit hardware drivers will not work on new Microsoft’s operating system. Opposite to that, recently previewed Mac OS X Leopard will come with 64-bit and full non-emulated 32-bit support.

Dean Pullen in his article for The Inquirer sees Leopard’s non-emulated support for 32-bit applications and drivers as a great advantage compared to 64-bit version of Windows Vista.

“Note that the non-emulated support in OSX is for applications and drivers. 32-bit programs on Vista 64 need to work on WOW emulation to run in Vista, and 32-bit drivers are a no-no. Lack of driver support is the main reason Windows XP x64 hasn’t been widely adopted, and why the Vista fudge will ensure hardware incompatibilities between the two Windows versions remain for sometime to come.

This is quite a boon for OSX, and one that should be highlighted frequently and often,” says Pullen.

64-bit Leopard knocks spots off Vista

Apple previewed Mac OS X version 10.5 Leopard, the sixth major version of Mac OS X, to its third party developers. The new Leopard offers 64-bit computing along with 32-bit legacy support without emulation.

Apple’s pointed new features of Mac Leopard operating system includes Time Machine, a new way to automatically back up and restore everything on Mac, and Spaces to instantly switch between groups of applications required for various tasks. There are also improvement to Spotlight, a search feature, and improved iChat, as well as a new Dashboard feature that will contain around 2,500 Widgets. So called Core Animation developer tool, which will be part of the updated Mac OS X, can be used to create motion graphics with only little coding.

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