Hey folks,

I couldn’t help but talk about Leopard (Mac OS 10.5) today since it will be released at 18 o’clock local time in Austria. It is just another amazing system upgrade that Mac users will love. Several new features made me want to buy a new Mac (I might end up with a Macbook, yet I am waiting for the upgrade) in the run of the next couple of months.

Time Machine seems like a very useful feature that I’d rather not want to use (since whenever I lose a file I feel miserably). That new addition to the Mac makes backing up files and all sorts of preferences easier than ever.

Quick Look will make the preview of files even easier, since it can read most common files very quickly (hence the name) with the click of one button. The advantage of using it does NOT require opening an application. That should work instantly if your system requirements are high enough (now you see why I want a new Mac).

The rather consistent look of Mac OS X isn’t just about giving an eye candy to Mac users. Of course it has new glossy and transparent GUI elements, but yet, it still is a pain in the throat to see how Apply has messed around with the graphical user interface (GUI).

The new Dock for example has a mirroring transparent 3D effect. Not quite sure if that is useful, but heck it looks quite nice. Whoever doesn’t like it (and I might be one of those people) can use a hack to make it disappear. I will post the link later for that.

UPDATE: If you want to get rid of the reflective glass shelf look of the new Dock in Leo you can try this terminal command line. It works pretty easy, is reversible. Do not panik just because it is some command line. It looks way better in 2D than in 3D. Trust me on this one. Here the guide to remove the 3D look. (The unofficial Apple Weblog)

The new Finder and the new Spotlight search is supposed to be way faster and I can’t wait to use them more regularly. On my G4 it wasn’t that much of a party to wait for Spotlight to find the file and to browse network folders on my sister’s Mac, but that should be water under the bridge from now on. (Can’t wait for the next Lingo Bingo either.) I love the way Stacks (a dynamic “folder” placed in your dock) works. Will save plenty of time, I can ensure you.

Love the new Mail application. Now that Gmail offers IMAP. This is one piece of powerful and useful software. I hope that the new stationary HTML mail coding is proper HTML that is not just bound to Apple’s mail client. Let’s hope it looks pretty no matter what software/web interface you use. The iWeb HTML design misery was more than embarrassing.

Spaces will make it easier to de-clutter your desktop. I can’t wait to have my own space for Blogging and another one for Internet, Mail and iChat. Now that I think of it, I might use 2 Spaces.

I don’t know how to put this, but am I the only one who does the following when having installed a new Mac OS? I instantly check up on new screen-savers and wallpapers. Shallow you might think, but hey the new one looks pretty intense.

So with that entry I just touched the surface of changes, so if you’re into the new features read that list at Apple Mac OS 10.5 Leopard’s website: List of 300+ features.

Please check out the Guided Tour. It looks pretty amazing. I didn’t mention the iChat features, since I would love to test them first before I praise them. You know, it looks all cool in the guided tour, but hey, I don’t think this is live.

UPDATE: Now that Leopard is spreading in the Mac user community several issues are constantly popping up. Read this guide that deals with the question, whether or not to do the upgrade (The Unofficial Apple Weblog)