Apple
Leopard Build Screen-shots
21/12/06 17:06 |
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Apple released build 9A321 of the next version of
their operating system (OS-X) with the nifty build
number 9A321(cheeky little A there). So how's it
shaping up?
If you nip over to Think Secret and look at the images some of them reveal some major changes to the OS. The items that caught my attention were:
ZFS: There had been some rumors about its inclusion, and it would certainly make Time Machine work well. What is it? It's Apple managing to do something the Microsoft couldn't do in five years with Vista. Plug-in a radically enhanced file system into the next major release of their OS. How have they done in 18 months what the might Microsoft couldn't do in five years? Easy, don't do it yourself. ZFS is an open-source file system developed at Sun. I'm sure Apple are busy contributing to its development now, but until Microsoft start playing the open-source game, they are going to get gazumped again and again.
If you are a normal user, why does ZFS matter? It's your files dude, what do you store on your computer that ISN'T a file? OK, so it's important, what's special? It's incredibly robust due to the way it writes data (basically the disk is always in a "valid" state), it fixes up problems as it goes, and it can use the space very efficiently. That and some technical stuff like snap-shots etc but it's fast, scalable, and modern. Well done Apple.
New Screen-Savers: Really, are these news? Looks like Apple is making good use of its new Core Animation API, but these are not shaking my world. If the screen saver is on, I'm not in front of my computer and in 5 minutes. Hey ho.
Quick Look: Curious about this.. so what it does is show an uber-tool-tip previewing documents etc (one or more, videos et al). What I can see is how this is stimulated. I don't really want these popping up all the time, it's going to get in the way, but I don't want to have to do much to get one either. Anyone who has more information I would love to hear it!
.Mac Integration Improvements: Changed the price? No? Not much of an improvement then is it?
As you might expect, not much extra detail, but the ZFS change is genuinely a good thing and will make a huge difference to people's experience on a computer if it becomes the default format. I hope it does. I'm not sure what I want to see from Leopard to be honest, I love OS-X, Vista isn't making me hungry for new features... so it feels a lot like Tiger, I upgraded for one thing only and that was Java 1.5. This time it will probably be ZFS that lures me. Since the upgrade I've grow to adore Spotlight, and for me it's probably the killer Tiger feature. The lesson is probably that I don't know what I'm going to love about it yet, so come on Apple and release it!
If you nip over to Think Secret and look at the images some of them reveal some major changes to the OS. The items that caught my attention were:
ZFS: There had been some rumors about its inclusion, and it would certainly make Time Machine work well. What is it? It's Apple managing to do something the Microsoft couldn't do in five years with Vista. Plug-in a radically enhanced file system into the next major release of their OS. How have they done in 18 months what the might Microsoft couldn't do in five years? Easy, don't do it yourself. ZFS is an open-source file system developed at Sun. I'm sure Apple are busy contributing to its development now, but until Microsoft start playing the open-source game, they are going to get gazumped again and again.
If you are a normal user, why does ZFS matter? It's your files dude, what do you store on your computer that ISN'T a file? OK, so it's important, what's special? It's incredibly robust due to the way it writes data (basically the disk is always in a "valid" state), it fixes up problems as it goes, and it can use the space very efficiently. That and some technical stuff like snap-shots etc but it's fast, scalable, and modern. Well done Apple.
New Screen-Savers: Really, are these news? Looks like Apple is making good use of its new Core Animation API, but these are not shaking my world. If the screen saver is on, I'm not in front of my computer and in 5 minutes. Hey ho.
Quick Look: Curious about this.. so what it does is show an uber-tool-tip previewing documents etc (one or more, videos et al). What I can see is how this is stimulated. I don't really want these popping up all the time, it's going to get in the way, but I don't want to have to do much to get one either. Anyone who has more information I would love to hear it!
.Mac Integration Improvements: Changed the price? No? Not much of an improvement then is it?
As you might expect, not much extra detail, but the ZFS change is genuinely a good thing and will make a huge difference to people's experience on a computer if it becomes the default format. I hope it does. I'm not sure what I want to see from Leopard to be honest, I love OS-X, Vista isn't making me hungry for new features... so it feels a lot like Tiger, I upgraded for one thing only and that was Java 1.5. This time it will probably be ZFS that lures me. Since the upgrade I've grow to adore Spotlight, and for me it's probably the killer Tiger feature. The lesson is probably that I don't know what I'm going to love about it yet, so come on Apple and release it!
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