1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
|
Although Apple's new operating system, Mac OS X 10.5, better known as Leopard, won't be released until October, Steve Jobs is bound to give a sneak peek at Apple's annual Worldwide Developer's Conference on June 11.
He's promised some top secret features, but here's what we know so far.
Leopard's New Apps
Time Machine One of Leopard's most anticipated new features is Time Machine, a data archiving system that makes periodic automated hard drive backups. Unlike most backup solutions which restore a hard disk to a fixed state, Time Machine can be used to pick and choose specific files to restore.
Time Machine is essentially a dressed up version control system, something programmers have long relied on for tracking changes to files. However, thanks to Apple's penchant for visual flair, it looks totally unique. Time Machine has a stunning 3-D interface that lets users move forward and backward through time visually. The effect of travelling through a virtual "time tunnel" is straight out of a Doctor Who title sequence.
Spaces Another brand new feature for Leopard is Spaces, Apple's take on virtual desktops. With Spaces, users can swap between dedicated virtual workspaces. You can keep your web browser, e-mail client and iTunes on one desktop, then flip to a work desktop containing Photoshop and Illustrator documents. As with Time Machine, Spaces' animated navigation is pure eye-candy.
These new apps showcase Apple's Core Animation, a new Leopard feature. The graphics rendering engine enables software developers to build animated 3-D user interfaces for their applications. Expect the apps built with Core Animation' eye-popping graphics power to cause the biggest splash.
But the move to Core Animation will also require developers to drop support for earlier version of OS X, so the transition may take time. **90% sure that's true, but we should confirm, I'll ask some of the developers**
Austin Sarner, a mac developer with Madebysofa, an interface design and software company, says the new features are more than just eye candy. "Animation in general creates continuity and more direct feedback to a user experience."
As an example he points to the navigation interface in AppleTV, "your selection glides into place as opposed to immediately snapping to the next item. Midway through the split second animation, you can neatly cancel out and go in the other direction."
Wil Shipley, the developer behind Delicious Library, says the next version of his cataloguing app will require Leopard so that it can take advantage of the Core Animation features. "Delicious Library 2 is based entirely around Core Animation and other key Leopard technologies, so our customers are going to have to upgrade their OS if they want to upgrade our program."
Shipley believes that not only will developers embrace Core Animation, but that it will revolutionize the user experience as we know it. "The revolution coming with Core Animation is akin to the one that came from the original Mac in 1984 -- Apple said 'here's a relatively easy way to add graphics to your user interface' and Core Animation says, 'Here's a very easy way to add composited layers and motion to your interface.'"
"We're going to see a whole new world of user interface metaphors with Core Animation"
There is already speculation that interfaces like that of Time Machine, which relies heavily on the Core Animation features, may lead to the end of the traditional "window" metaphor for desktop applications.
Already small screen devices like the iPhone have forced designers to abandon traditional UI elements associated with the window metaphor, such as pull-down menus, in favor of more innovative designs.
But will that translate back to the desktop as a whole new UI paradigm?
Shipley thinks some things will change. "I think the (new) paradigm is direct manipulation -- just grab your document and 'throw' it upwards to get it to scroll, for example, instead of fumbling about for the scroller."
However he also believes that the old forms will remain. "I don't think we'll abandon the old way as much as supplement our armory with a whole new arsenal of tools."
After all, even experimental interfaces like the iPhone revert back to a windowed application when it comes to traditional tasks like browsing the web.
And while Core Animation may end up revolutionizing the way you interact with your Mac, Apple isn't abandoning the traditional Windowed application just yet.
In fact many of the most anticipated enhancements in Leopard are improvements to existing Apple applications.
Tidy Up Around the Office
Apple's desktop Mail program will be greatly enhanced by the addition of Notes, To-do lists, an RSS reader and new templates for sending e- mail with embedded images.
While Apple claims the revamped Mail has "breakthrough new features that have never been seen before in a Mail application," that's really stretching it. Nearly everything "new" in Apple Mail is already available to Outlook and Entourage users, and to users of specialty applications like EverNote. But Mail users should be happy that their favorite client is now up to speed with the competition.
The Notes feature allows users to store personal reminders in the form of text, graphics, photos, web clippings and attachments. According to Apple, Notes can be stored in mailboxes accessible from any computer, but the company hasn't provided any details about how that connectivity will work. It may be limited only to users with .Mac accounts.
To-dos can be created on the fly from Notes or in an e-mail. Newly created lists automatically sync with Apple's iCal calendar app. Lists will also be accessible system-wide, much like Mac Address Book data. They will theoretically be available to any app that wishes to leverage them, a boon for third party developers.
Mail for Leopard will ship with rich HTML templates for e-mail and newsletters called "Stationary." Mail will also get its own embedded media browser for quick access to iPhoto libraries, making it easy for users to drag snapshots into e-mails.
The last new feature for Mail in Leopard is a built-in RSS feed reader. Apple's Safari browser already handles RSS feeds, and so far Apple hasn't given any hint as to how the two will work together, if at all.
OMG! New iChat!
The video and sharing features in Apple's iChat instant messenger client will get a boost when Leopard is released. While video chatting, users will be able to add custom background images or tweak the feed with effects like Photo Booth's ever-popular "funhouse mirror" treatment. Additionally, iChat users will be able to stream videos, photo slideshows and Keynote presentations to each other. There's also a new collaboration feature that lets users give each other remote desktop access during chats. Turn it on and let your friend at the other end of the line "take the wheel" to show you how to perform a specific task on your machine.
Browsable Widgets
Mac OS X's Dashboard widget manager is rumored to be receiving a major overhaul, but details remain largely unknown. The only official new feature Apple has revealed is Web Clip, a Dashboard tool that allows users to clip any part of a Web page and turn it into a "live widget" -- really just a browser window embedded on the Mac OS X Dashboard.
More Power Under the Hood
Leopard will be the first version of OS X to fully support 64-bit systems. For the time being, this will really only help users with the latest Intel hardware -- namely the XServe, Mac Pro and the most recent Core 2 Duo notebooks.
Spotlight gets more powerful, too. Apple's system-wide search mechanism will gain the ability to show previews of documents inside searches. Spotlight will also support common Boolean search operators like NOT and OR.
One More Thing...
Steve Jobs has promised that Leopard has a few more tricks up its sleeve, and the Apple rumor mills continue to speculate wildly. While no one knows for sure which rumors are true, some developments do seem more likely than others.
One notable rumor is that Apple's Bootcamp (which will ship with Leopard) may include some virtualization features and will offer full support for running Windows Vista on Intel-based Mac hardware. If true, this will be a tough blow to current virtualization offerings from VMWare and Parallels.
Others claim that Safari and Mail will gain phishing protection and greater Ajax support for webapps like Gmail. This is likely, as these features are already available in nightly builds of WebKit, Apple's open-source code base for web-enabled applications.
Finally, media-hoarding geeks are abuzz about Leopard's rumored support for Sun Microsystems' Zettabyte File system (ZFS) which eliminates file size limits and improves hard drive reliability.
Whatever Jobs ends up revealing at the WWDC, one thing is for sure, as Wil Shipley says, "It's an awesome time to be a Mac developer, and, by extension, a Mac user."
|
