We’ve had Jaguar, Panther, and Tiger. Now Apple has announced at its World Wide Developer Conference that it’s again delving into the world of big cats with OS X 10.5, which is also going to be known as Leopard. Here are just some of the hot new features.
- It’s 64-bit! This is huge! OS X 10.5 will be 64-bit head-to-toe, but it will also be seamlessly compatible with all our 32-bit applications. While Windows XP x64 is already here, Cakewalk is one of the only audio developers that has jumped on the bandwagon — though they’ve been getting great results.
- Automated Backup! Apple’s new Time Machine is part of OS X 10.5 and it provides automated backup of everything you do. Let’s face it, most of us are guilty of not backing up all our data. In fact, according to Apple, only 26% of us say we faithfully back everything up. (And how many of us are lying?) Time Machine will let you restore everything locally from a hard drive or server. No more excuses!
- Cool New Software! Leopard will come right out of the box with Boot Camp (for Intel Mac owners who might want to boot from Windows), Front Row (their super multimedia application) and Photo Booth. There will also be Spaces, a virtual desktop app. We’ll tell you more once we actually see it in action.
- Enhanced Version of Spotlight. Now you’ll be able to search all computers and servers locally or on your network using advanced protocols. You’ll never lose another file because you forgot where you saved it.
- Core Animation. Apple-style animation based on OpenGL. Should do for animation what Audio Units did for audio.
You can bet Apple has more up its corpoprate sleeve (in fact, see the item below). As we get more details, we’ll share them with you!