Leopard (10.5)

[Heradel]

So —  Half a league onward, All in the valley of Death Rode the six hundred three hundred.

———

Obviously a fair number of us are Mac-based, and the delayed (though nowhere near so delayed as Vista) upgrade to our operating system is coming down the pipeline in 4 days, 18 hours, and 30 minutes or so. Now it's not a fairly complete rebuild like Vista was (though it seems to have failed pretty horribly in the marketplace), but it does have some new features like Time Machine (which may be too much eyecandy) and UI recording and playback in Automator which seems like it'll come in handy. And it's US$129 to the general consumer, US$116 to the student.

I'm probably going to get it because of the Time Machine backup feature, even though it'll mean a week of rather more Ramen than usual (and as a quick aside, what crap is it that the student pricing is only 13 bucks off?). I know I don't backup as nearly often as I should, and having it done automatically, especially as I've got some things on here now that are getting more than $116 dollars in worth to myself. I have enough on here that a hard drive crash and burn would be almost as catastrophic to certain classes of my personal effects as a fire would be.

So thoughts?

I know that what I'm about say won't work, but I'd prefer this didn't become a Windows vs. Linux vs. Mac vs. Solaris vs. BeOS vs. I don't know, Command Line, battle royale.

[lowky]

I don't know how to vote.  I want it, but I am currently running windows.  I am considering a mac as a future purchase, but since I don't have a job currently, a new computer is out of the question right now anyways.  If I do get a new computer it will probably be a mac book not sure on flavor.  I have wanted a lap top for a while now, and the mac books look really nice.  If I had the hard drive space on my current computer I would buy it and dual boot but my drive is almost full actually both of them are, I think I am down to about 10 gig between my two 160 hard drives.  I may be backing up some of my older podcasts to dvd to free up space, as i am worried before long that I won't be able to download my escape/pseudopod episodes.

[Ocicat]

I have a Mac, and probably won't get it.  My laptop is still fairly new, so I probably won't get it on a new machine either.  If I'm still using my current machine when 10.6 comes out, I will probably pay for that one.  That's my pattern - buy every other upgrade.

[Russell Nash]

The hamster inside my powerbook can't run fast enough for another OS upgrade.  I'm running 10.3.9 right now and that has it slowed down as much as I can stand.  I just bought a new battery (new one every three years), so I don't think I'll be buying a computer anytime soon.  It'll be 10.9 or 11 before I finally shell out the cash for something newer.

[DDog]

Couple of my friends want to get a copy to share--I guess you get five installs?

[Heradel]

If you get the family pack.

[Planish]

My wife just got a Mac Mini last week, which shipped with OS X v 10.4.10, and a friend of ours brought this to our attention:
http://www.apple.com/macosx/uptodate/

Customers who purchase a qualifying new Macintosh computer or an Apple Certified Refurbished computer from the Apple Online Store on or after October 1, 2007 that does not have Mac OS X v10.5 Leopard included can upgrade to Leopard.

If you purchased your system directly from the Apple Online Store, follow one of these links to participate in the program. Subject to terms and conditions.

U.S customers
Canadian customers (English)
Canadian customers (French)
[snip]
The program ends on December 29, 2007. Your order must be postmarked or faxed by January 4, 2008, so order your upgrade now.

The price is US$9.95

While we generally avoid the first version of a major OS upgrade, US$9.95 is still an attractive price. So, our plan is to buy it now, but not install it until at least 10.5.1 or 10.5.2 is available. Then we could install it from our discount disk and immediately download all the upgrades and bugfixes.

[Heradel]

Having bitten of the forbidden fruit, I'll say that coverflow in folders is cool, spaces is useful, but I'm used to virtual desktops because of linux, and I miss the brushed metal and sharp corners on menus. The fact the menus are semi-transparent isn't horrible, but I don't love it either. And the fact that the bar at the top tries to blend in with the desktop image is a little aggravating (see below). Haven't had a chance to use Time Machine yet, so~.

I'll note that while this copy was gotten by, er, naughtiness, I am still going to buy a legit copy tomorrow.

[Russell Nash]

NPR: Pluses and Minuses of Apple's Leopard

All Things Considered, November 20, 2007 · Apple's latest version of its operating system, Leopard, has been on the market for only a few weeks, but that's plenty of time to deduce its strengths and weaknesses. Michele Norris takes a closer look at Apple's latest with help from Omar Gallaga, who writes about technology culture for the Austin American-Statesman.