With the release of Apple’s latest major operating system version, this week’s issue focuses on Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, about which we’ve also published five Take Control ebooks. Joe Kissell leads off with a look at the installation process and then climbs into Time Machine to note what ended up in the final version compared to what was promised earlier this year. Glenn Fleishman digs into the major changes in Leopard’s file sharing, and shows how screen sharing can work between Macs running Leopard and those running Tiger. Matt Neuburg introduces Spaces and explains why Apple’s virtual desktop implementation may be the most important feature of Leopard. As much as he likes Spaces, Matt also finds numerous frustrations with Leopard to share. We also note some important early updates, such as Login and Keychain Update 1.0, an installation problem with Unsanity’s Application Enhancer, a problem with Time Machine and Aperture, a possible security vulnerability in the Back to My Mac feature, and a slew of Leopard compatibility updates in iLife and other components.
You'll be reading about Leopard in TidBITS for some time, but for significantly more detail about Apple's new operating system, check out the five ebooks we've just published - over 650 pages all told!
Now that Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard is released, we're starting to see an expected set of updates and incompatibilities. Login and Keychain Update 1.0 corrects issues with accounts created in early versions of Mac OS X; the new Back to My Mac feature could allow someone with access to your .Mac account to take control of your machine; Apple warns Aperture users not to run the software while Time Machine is performing a backup; and a slew of compatibility updates are also available.
The Leopard installer is even better than the Tiger installer was. That's good news, but some oddities and frustrations remain. Perhaps I can interest you in a little book I wrote on the subject.
Leopard lets you share and share alike, offering your system up for remote viewing and control, as well as letting you take control of others' systems (with their permission). But Tiger can play nice, too, through built-in Mac OS X support and Chicken of the VNC.
Leopard's new backup feature finally brings easy backups to the masses. But is it really all that? And when is that backups book of Joe's going to be updated, anyway?
Leopard overhauls file sharing for services like AFP (remembered fondly as AppleShare), Samba, and FTP, while bringing back the long-missed shared folders options. The new approach makes it much easier for any user to share files over a network or the Internet.
Six things about Leopard I just can't stand. I've been dying to talk about these, and now I'm going to.
What is (or are) Spaces? Will it actually make your life better? Could it be the coolest thing since unsliced bread? Could it be a major reason for upgrading to Leopard? This article introduces the concepts behind Spaces and gets you started using it.
This week's discussions largely center on... wait for it... Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard! We also cover the latest crop of iPod speakers, access for the disabled, IMAP for Gmail, suggestions for replacing a PDA, and a Mac conference presence in London.