Headline Feeds
There's the official version of the Leopard sneak peek on Apple's (Nasdaq: AAPL) Web site, and there's the unofficial version, already leaking out all over the Internet.
At least two BitTorrent file-sharing sites were showing a 4.27 GB torrent for "Apple Mac OS X Leopard v10.5 WWDC Preview Beta," as of Monday evening. One can assume that Apple's legal team, which went after bloggers who published inside details about the company last year, will be all over this.
Apple sued bloggers for publishing details of the Tiger OS last year in what attorney Karna Berg told MacNewsWorld was anything but a "run of the mill trade secrets case." Some considered Apple's reaction a threat to First Amendment rights.
Apple's other legal woes -- including the long-shot possibility that it could be delisted from the Nasdaq market -- are even more troubling. The company is embroiled in a controversial case related to alleged backdating of stock options for key employees.
Not So Secret
Leopard won't be officially available to customers until 2007, though Apple handed out preview copies to developers last week at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in San Francisco. It was there that Apple chief Steve Jobs introduced the Mac Pro -- the desktop computer that replaces the Power Mac G5 -- and provided a first look at the next generation of Mac OS X, version 10.5, known to the public as "Leopard."Jobs claimed Leopard is "advancing the world's most advanced operating system."
Since last week's conference, though, details of the new OS have leaked to many more people than those who were in attendance.
One Web site, AeroXperience, frequented by Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) Windows Vista developers, listed the significant improvements it has previewed, though not as smugly as Jobs.
Among Leopard's poorly kept "secret" features are a resolution-independent user interface that lets users zoom into and out of the display without changing the resolution settings, and a new Automator interface that records one's activities, workflow variables and embedded workflows in other applications.
There's also system-wide grammar checking support for copying and pasting multiple selections, system-level raw image support, the ability to create shared accounts, and a new RSS publishing and subscription framework.
Most of the "secrets" about the OS, however, are anything but secrets, as Jobs revealed details on the dais during his talk last week.
Stepping Into the Time Machine
The most compelling new feature is something called "Time Machine," which backs up everything -- before you even ask it to -- on the desktop.
Simply attach an external hard drive to a Mac running Leopard, and the Time Machine immediately asks if you want to back up your startup disk to the new drive.
Then, Time Machine handles your backup needs automatically in the background. With Time Machine, you don't have to worry about losing those important files again.
Another feature that looks promising is called "Spaces."
With this new feature, you will be able to create virtual desktops that organize your windows into groups.
You may create a space for communications, with iChat and Mail windows; another space for writing, with your word processor, dictionary and thesaurus windows; and a third for movie-producing, with Finder windows that contain movies, plus iMovie and iDVD windows.
Switching from program to program is easy, and Spaces lets you show and hide whole groups of windows all at once.
Many Improvements
Leopard will also include improved versions of Mail, iChat, Dashboard, Spotlight and iCal.
Mail for Leopard includes professionally designed stationery templates, note and to-do list document types and support for RSS feeds.
The iChat feature lets you use photos or videos as backdrops for your video chats, apply Photo Booth effects to your video chats, and observe and control your counterpart's screen.
The iCal also has shared group calendars, automatic scheduling and event dropboxes.
Talkback: 
