An Independent Look at Leopard
An Independent Look at Leopard
by , 4:25 PM EST, December 6th, 2007
Thom Holwerda, who came late to Mac OS S X scene, took an independent, studied look at Leopard for OS News on Thursday in his review of Mac OS X 10.5.
The keenest insights in OS reviews come from someone who has been exposed to a lot of different OSes and used them for a long time. "I came from a BeOS, Windows, and Linux world, and back then, I had the feeling that OS X truly was the end-all-be-all of operating systems," Mr. Holwerda wrote. "I could not help but think, if people can get this, than why on earth are they still chugging along on their Windows and Linux boxes? What is wrong with these people?"
In time, however, the blemishes in Mac OS X were evident. "Of course, it did not take me long to realise that the Mac OS was far from the end-all-be-all operating system I thought it to be during the first few days of using it," Mr. Holwerda observed. "It had its fair share of flaws, limitations, and oddities that made me understand that OS X was 'just like everybody else'; it is good at some things, it sucks at a whole lot of other things."
The long and detailed review has five chapters:
- Introduction; The appearance
- The Finder, Quick Look, Stacks, Spaces, and Spotlight
- Time Machine
- Safari, Mail.app, iChat; Misc.
- A few notes on the MacBook; Conclusion
The author digs deep and finds oddities and nuances that many reviewers, too accustomed to Mac OS X, or not experienced enough with OSes overlook. The final verdict, however, is that Leopard carries a serious punch and QuickLook was rated as Leopard's killer app -- with Time Machine a close second.
After beating up Leopard for its bugs and UI oddities, the author was nevertheless balanced and gave Leopard a positive rating. "Leopard is a great release, despite its bugs and annoyances. It certainly is not as big an improvement as Tiger or Panther, but definitely worth your money," he concluded.
Observer Comments
tiger left me thoroughly underwhelmed on initial release. it wasn't bad-- it just had two features worth writing home about.
leopard is buggy, but it's at least innovative, and adds a ton of value without disrupting the feel of the os. i find more and more stuff i like about it every day.
Quoteburrito wrote:
tiger left me thoroughly underwhelmed on initial release. it wasn't bad-- it just had two features worth writing home about.
leopard is buggy, but it's at least innovative, and adds a ton of value without disrupting the feel of the os. i find more and more stuff i like about it every day.
Many of Tiger's added capabilities were not obvious, like Core Image, Core Video, and Core Audio. Developers have been able to do quite amazing things with these functions.
Fri Dec 07, 2007 1:09 pm Subject:
Comments are currently closed. Please email the author instead.
Recent Headlines - Updated November 9th
- Mon, 8:14 AM
- Product News - Client Folder Maker 3.5 Adds Snow Leopard Support
- Sun, 11:59 AM
- Mac Geek Gab Podcast - MGG 226: Magic Mouse, Apple Battery Secrets, Q&A
- Sat, 7:58 PM
- News - Apple TV 3.0.1 Update Fixes Missing Content Bug
- Fri, 7:45 PM
- Rumor - Taiwan Leak Shows Verizon UTMS/CDMA iPhone for Q3 2010
- 6:40 PM
- News - iPhone Moves Into RadioShack
- 6:30 PM
- News - Apple to Open Stunning Paris Apple Store in Le Louvre on Saturday
- 5:43 PM
- Free on iTunes - Dictionary, Dictionary, Dictionary, And More
- 4:09 PM
- John Martellaro's Blog - Particle Debris (week ending 11/6) Failure IS an Option
- 3:32 PM
- Games - The Latest App Store Games: Gravity Sling, RocketBird, Ground Effect, Checkers!
- 2:25 PM
- Games - Star Soccer 2010 for Mac Puts Gamers in Role of Up-and-Coming Player
- 2:15 PM
- How-To - The Mysteries of Rosetta Housekeeping
- 1:33 PM
- News - iPhone Game Developer Sued for Collecting User’s Cell Numbers
The Mac Observer Reader Specials
- TypeStyler For Mac OS X is Now Shipping! Download The Free Fully Functional 60 Day Tryout at www.typestyler.com
RamJet Memory: Mac Pro 8-core 8GB Kit $199.99, 4GB Kits $109.99! Sale on MacBook and MacBook Pro 8GB kits $549.99! New MacBook DDR3 2GB for $49.99. iMac and Mac mini 4GB Kits for $79.99! 1TB SATA Hard Drives for $109.99! Click here
OWC: We Make DIY Upgrading Easy! Maximize your Apple MacBook / MacBook Pro. Up to 8.0GB Memory, up to 1.0TB HD & More. Easy Guide + Free, Detailed Installation Videos. Click here
If you're using a Mac, then you've gotta check out Full Tilt Poker for Mac. This Full Tilt Poker bonus code does the unthinkable, it actually rewards!For the latest Apple products use Ciao, a price comparison website, to find laptops like MacBook Air. Then find the best prices on MP3 players and use our comparison tool to evaluate mobile phones like the Apple iPhone.
Laptop Hardware Provided by TechRestore - Overnight Mac & iPod Repairs.

