The Mac Observer

Skip navigational links

Featured Article: Review - Bento 2

InfoWorld: Leopard is a Beautiful Upgrade, a Triumph

by , 2:00 PM EDT, October 17th, 2007

Mac OS X 10.5, Leopard, is a triumph of customer-focused engineering, according to Tom Yager at InfoWorld on Wednesday. One of the key elements of Mac OS X's design and success is the concept of frameworks.

"Windows and Linux are designed from the core out, which is to say that they are all about layered kernels, system calls, and APIs, with each layer's purpose being to abstract the layers below it. The layers grow thicker; when a layer gets unmanageably thick, a pretty new abstraction layer is created so that people don't have to deal with the ugly one," Mr. Yager explained.

"Programmers end up having endless entry points with identical purpose and having heated debates about which ones are best. But each way of doing the same thing involves varying dependencies, deprecations, and peculiarities."

In contrast, Mac OS X uses the concept of frameworks. Below the framework remains a simple, stable Unix core. "When developers write to Apple's frameworks, they inherit cross-application integration and operational and interface consistency with no effort. For example, E-Mail, the Address Book, and QuickTime are smart, autonomous objects available to all Mac apps regardless of language and requiring no optional software," Mr. Yager noted.

Best of all, this version of Mac OS X is fully Unix certified. [(SUSv3) and POSIX 1003.1.] Mr. Yager wrote, with obvious glee, "Finally, there's a PC Unix that everyone can love."

In the end, it takes someone deeply familar with the internals of Unix to appreciate what Apple has achieved. "Leopard is a legitimately big deal. It's underhyped compared to iPhone, and yet unlike iPhone, Leopard is a genuine triumph of customer-focused engineering. It's a pleasure and a relief to see that Apple remembers how to deliver open, affordable, standards-based products," the InfoWorld editor and Macintosh expert concluded.

Thanks to TMO reader Orlando Smith for the news tip.

Observer Comments

Show: Subjects Only | Full Comments
Close Name:Guest
Subject: haha

I was wondering who had kidnapped Yager and replaced him with a smarter, more reasonable version (*cough*SecretAppleNinjas*cough*LedBySteveJobsHimself*cough*) until he took that dig at the iPhone.

That's right, Yager, the iPhone was designed to make sure it was as consumer-unfriendly as possible.

<rolls eyes>

Close Name:davebarnes Posts: 129 Joined: 12 Jan 2005
Subject: Effusive

Talk about gushing.
Apple could not ask for a better review.

Close Name:iJack Posts: 310 Joined: 13 Jun 2001
Subject: Expectations

I expect this to be the best OS ever. No, not just the best OS on a Mac, but the best OS ever, period. Leopard may turn out to be a greater leap than the one from OS 9.

Close Name:Mikuro Posts: 457 Joined: 15 Jun 2002
Subject:

Quote
iJack wrote:
No, not just the best OS on a Mac, but the best OS ever, period.

Oh c'mon; like there's a difference?

I haven't used Leopard, but I've been looking over the new features list on Apple's site, and I'm impressed. No, not with the big things like Time Machine and Spaces — these are things that can be easily bungled and made unusable (which Apple did with Spotlight in Tiger, in my not-so-humble opinion). Rather, I'm impressed with the amount of small improvements that show that Apple is finally polishing things up. Some of the little things that give me hope for this update:

Icon Mode in Open and Save Panels
Scroll Non-Active Windows
Spring-Loaded Dock
New Folder of Options (er, that's not a very descriptive title; it includes the ability to adjust the icon grid spacing in the Finder and setting default views for new folders)

These aren't sexy things, but I've at one time or another I've wished for every single one. Apple's let me down in the past few years with the lack of attention to detail in their interface design (especially the Finder). It seemed like they wanted to focus more on demoes and eye-candy. So it's reassuring to see such progress in simple areas that really affect usability.

The geekier part of my finds Apple's embracement of Ruby and Python for both AppleScript and Cocoa similarly reassuring.

I'm officially getting psyched. I tried not to, since I was badly disappointed by Tiger, but I can't help it.

Close Name:Fairly Posts: 25 Joined: 02 Aug 2007
Subject: Incorrect; Misleading

This business about layers - that's simply not true. As a systems engineer working on all those platforms all I can say is it sounds like some more talking head column filler. It's definitely misleading.

Close Name:Fairly Posts: 25 Joined: 02 Aug 2007
Subject: Icon Mode Useful?

"Icon Mode in Open and Save Panels"

Exactly how is this useful?

Close Name:gslusher Posts: 2088 Joined: 13 Nov 2002
Subject: Re: Icon Mode Useful?

Quote
Fairly wrote:
"Icon Mode in Open and Save Panels"

Exactly how is this useful?


Talk to someone who is not a systems engineer, i.e., a normal user. It's often easier and faster to recognize a particular folder by icon than name--or don't you believe in using custom icons?

Close Name:Mikuro Posts: 457 Joined: 15 Jun 2002
Subject: Re: Icon Mode Useful?

Quote
Fairly wrote:
&quot;Icon Mode in Open and Save Panels&quot;

Exactly how is this useful?

Ah, allow me to explain in more detail than you ever really wanted:

First of all, it lets me navigate my files in the same way I do in the Finder. That alone is enough reason to have it in open/save dialogs.

Aside from that, icon view is what I choose for many folders, because it's efficient. It's even more suited to open/save dialogs than it is to the Finder, because in open/save dialogs you rarely need all the extra data in list view anyway.

The whole idea of a dedicated file browser for open/save dialogs is outdated. It's so inefficient that I normally navigate to the folder I want in the Finder and use drag-n-drop to bring it up in save dialogs anyway. Navigating through lists is a pain.

As for exactly why icon view is efficient, there are several main factors:

• Item density is better. You can fit WAY more items on screen in icon view than any other view. Think I'm crazy? Try small icons with the name on the side. You can easily fit 200 items on a typical screen. Scrolling is for chumps.

• Arbitrary (read: customized) item placement makes things easier to access. Again I imagine some people will think I'm crazy, but this is true, especially for frequently-used folders. With icon view, everything stays exactly where you put it, which lets you use motion memory to access them. Plus, you can arrange the items based on your usage habits. I never have to hunt for what I want, because accessing it is second nature. Nothing moves around as I add, remove, or modify items.

• Icon previews are just must-haves when dealing with folders of images. From what I've seen, this will be even more useful in Leopard, since all sorts of file types will have meaningful dynamic icons, not just images.

That said, there are ways Apple can bungle this. The great thing about the Finder is that I can set my views on a folder-by-folder basis. If I had to view ALL my folders in icon mode I'd go mad (quickly). Icon view is certainly not efficient in all (or even most) cases. I hope Apple respects my preferences on a folder-by-folder basis in open/save dialogs. If they don't, it won't be so useful and I won't use it.


The big problems with icon view are mostly due to bugs or omissions in OS X that have been around since 10.0. One of those problems is the ridiculously large icon grid, which is being fixed in Leopard. That will finally make large icon view as useful as it was in OS 9.

Close Name:Guest
Subject: Leopard forces upgrades to apps

Frameworks are great during development, but what about the fragile base class problem?

When Tiger came out, we upgraded our boss's Mac with it. Unfortunately she didn't like the new Mail app, but the Panther version won't run on Tiger because the frameworks were replaced. Panther's mail relies on the previous version, so my boss had no choice but to upgrade her Mail as well. She was not happy with our IT staff.

Comment on this Article


You cannot edit your comments.   You cannot delete your comments.
Log in | Register | Having Problems? Reset TMO Cookies & Try Again
Username:   Password:   Log me on automatically each visit   

You are not logged in, and this post will appear as "Guest." Log in with your username and password from the TMO forums. If you do not have a username, you can register here.
Please note that guests are limited to including a maximum of two URLs per post.


Post A Comment
  Subject


  Your Comments



Please enter the word exactly as you see it in the image above. Registered users aren't prompted for this. Having trouble reading the image get a new one.


Recent Headlines - Updated Thursday, November 20th, 2008

Thu., 5:40 PM
iPodObserver - Safari Exploit Allows Hacker to Call 1-900 Numbers
4:55 PM
User Friendly Blog by Ted Landau - Deal or No Deal: Apple Edition
2:55 PM
Mac Gaming News - Blizzard Sets a New 1-Day Sales Record With Lich King
2:35 PM
iPodObserver - Man Sends Naughty Pics to Mistress, Blames iPhone
2:05 PM
Gaming News - GameRanger Adds PC Support
2:00 PM
Editorial - Times Are Tough Apple, How About Feeding Some Kids
1:45 PM
TMO's DealsOnTheWeb.com - Logitech V550 Nano Cordless Laser Mouse for Notebooks: $42.29 Delivered
1:30 PM
TMO Contest - Get Into Macworld Expo with Your Inner Bard
1:00 PM
Review - Bento 2
11:50 AM
Freeway 5.3 Converts Flash to QuickTime for iPhone
11:10 AM
iPodObserver - Rumor: More Labels to Go DRM-free at iTunes Store
10:30 AM
Hot Forum Topic - Mac Security and Drive Encryption
9:55 AM
OmniGraffle 5.1 Beefs Up Visio Compatibility
9:35 AM
iPodObserver - Microsoft Lets Zune Subscribers Keep Some Music
8:45 AM
DiscLabel 5.4 Adds Holiday, Business Templates
8:15 AM
OmniFocus 1.5 Adds Multi-Mac Syncing, More
7:35 AM
Apple TV Software Update 2.3 Adds AirTunes Support, More
 

The Mac Observer Reader Specials

  • Special Report: iPhone
  • __________
  • Help TMO Grow
  • Macworld Expo - Hotel Deal
  • Podcast: Mac Geek Gab
  • Podcast: Apple Weekly Report
  • TMO on Twitter!

Apple Stock Quote

  • AAPL: $80.49. Change Today: -5.80.
  • (Prices delayed up to 20 minutes.)
  • Discuss in our Apple Finance Board

Hot Topics

Top Deals From DealsOnTheWeb