You are somewhat confused about CoreAnimation, BootCamp, and Spaces, but whatever.

To determine whether switching makes sense, you have to consider the whole OS, not just the new stuff :-)

But TimeMachine is the killer application. Unless you already have an automatic backup in place that works as great as TimeMachine does ;-) If you do a lot of writing on your computer, I sure hope you do...

Dashboard is not a new feature. Creating widgets so easy is new.

I look forward to spaces. Will be a great feature.

I have gone back and forth over the years. PC then Mac then back to mostly PC and occasionally my old Mac. But, when the PC went to XP, I had several situations that were very difficult to diagnose and fix. As you said, in dos I never had something like that. I finally switched to the mac with OS 10.3 and now am mac only. I have been super happy with OS X as it has run flawlessly. Hopefully Leopard will be just as good.

Is funny how people that writes info-blogs about computers can be so ignorant.

The main thing with MacOS (not only Leopard) is that you don't need to know anything about computer codes, etcetera to have a really great experience... I think your determination to stick to i-have-to-do-it-all-vista (all the hard work) is a little anticipated... buy a Mac, and you will see how much Windows suck

Dear Lord. PLEASE tell me that no one paid for you to attend this event, for which it is utterly obvious you didn't even do any basic research.

Core Animation is an API, not a set of indexing tools.

"Boot Camp now runs Windows XP and Vista in VMware or Parallel."

Wrong. Boot Camp allows you to run either OS X or Windows, one or the other. Parallels and WMware allow you to run Windows within OS X.

How about renamimg it "Leopard, to confusing for me to consider switching" or something. Were you there with a gaggle of PC users, that you were instapolling?

If you love Vista, then the moneyhat Microsoft sent you fits nicely.

Editor,

I promise to you, I used to think just like you. However, I went and bought a MAC, and it changed my life completely. I will never go back to a PC.

Try it, then talk about it. Not the old Mac OS X, but the recent ones. (Tiger, Leopard).

Saying you miss DOS is like saying you miss your IBM selectric . Go ahead, stay in the past, I'm going to do a lot more than type and Leopard is great.

I gotta admit, the title of this article is misleading...

Its funny part of apple. Now after crackdown to Intel based OS, they really don't have any thing left except to enter in Microsoft market. Only thing will get affected here is open source Firefox and Mozilla, which is widely used by the Linux user. What is new in leopard, which you can not get in Linux? i love my Linux box and will continue to support its development. But sill no comments on microsoft product, at least they are trying to fix everything daily. Good for OS future.

Every once in while, there comes a article which is not only plain and boring, but also misleading and false. This article qualifies for that genre, as many above me have pointed out rightly so. The author does not have the clue about the technology and is given a green signal by the website to upload plain journalistic trash.

Well please donot dimiss my cooments as a peeved off Mac user, but consider it as a helpful hint to the website to relpenish their writers. Comparing DOS favourably to MAC OS is hilarious attempt to camouflage the intellectual of the author and hopefully not this website.

What a great and refreshing attitude Apple brings into the IT world. What a wealth of innovation which can only be offered from a non monopolist. However, the title of this article is not surprising from an author who is still riding the technology, or say better 'attitude' of a non Mac user. Go Apple - Go!

This article is misleading and clearly demonstrates a near-complete lack of understanding of basic computer use. I don't know how much simpler steve could've made it for you. Whether you like the new features or not is up to you, but to misrepresent them by saying such downright stupid things about the topics of the keynote today is disrespectful to your readers.

You should be ashamed.

Heh, Spaces sounds like a yawn but once you use this type of organization of your desktop you can't believe how incredibly handy it is.

I first used this on a Linux Desktop and missed it terribly as a Mac user. I think that this is actually one of the more useful and impactful interface enhancements.

BTW, you really should do some justice and do the one month trial to see what it's all about - especially if you're gonna write about the topic. I think you'd be pleasantly surprised and if you want the DOS prompt - it's there for you play with too. It's called Terminal and WAY more powerful than DOS ever was.

Hello!!!

Who the hell is this guy, has he ever used a computer before???

Sounds like the rambling of an incoherent retard. Is this tit the weblog equivalent of a shock jock? Coming out with his bullshit twisted version of reality to get people visiting his shit column.

Frikkin dumbass, stay away from macs, you will do yourself an injury

^ I concur.

Umm, do you work with computers in any way?

On eBay you might be able to find a Brother Word Processor. I think you'd be happier.

You got paid for this? I want in on that scam.

Perhaps we need to expand that H1-B visa program in order to bring some technically competent computer journalists to this country.

"As long as I can get my work done somewhat efficiently, I think I'll pass."

Yes, Mr. Schwartz. I do have a hard time imagining you striving beyond "somewhat efficiently" when it comes to your work.

Beyond writing about things you seem not to have studied, have you considered that modern journalism is a multimedia experience encompassing video, audio, photography, graphics, and all of the other tools that Macs reign supreme in producing?

Words are still core, but when you can illustrate them and animate them to add nuance and character, they mean so much more. Try doing that in DOS.

There is a strange fascination among Windoze users with preserving the virtual monopoly that Gates built. I can only imagine how primitive our world would be without Apple's contributions and continual pot-stirring inventions.

Let's just see where the iPhone and Leopard take Apple in a year.

I won't deny that some of what was featured was very nice and flashy. But several of the "New" features have been around for some time on linux: Stacks, spaces, scheduled backups. IMO, none of those should of been highlighted, they are all things that a real computer user already has.

Though I will admit, the improvement to spaces is very nice, as well as the search for timecapsule. But these are not revolutionary, and as such should not of been staples of the key note.

As for the Schwartz: All I can say is wow, did you even see the conference? Did you fall asleep? I think my cat grasped more of what was said then you.

I'd like to point out that although it is obvious that this guy doesn't fully grasp the new additions in Leopard, most of the poster's don't seem to grasp the whole computer thing at all.

There is such a wide array of uses people have for computers it' makes very little sense to quibble over which OS is better. If you're a tinkerer and enjoy doing wierd and unorthodox things with your computer, then you should probly be on linux, or some form there of.
If your looking for a computer as nothing more then a system to manage your digital life in an organized and easy to use way, Mac is the OS to have.
If you enjoy playing a wide veriety of games, or have a deep seated fascination with knowing exactly what your doing when your doing something Windows is your best bet.
Yes thousands of shades of grey devide these but my point is simply your OS should reflect your particular use of the machine, it should not be based on how others feel about there own usage.

First, Dashboard isn't a new featuer... it's just been updated with new functions.

Second, anyone who wants to go back to DOS has lost all credibility. DOS was a more or less useless interface to a computer. Seriously, it is so lacking in comparison to the UNIX command line I literally have to laugh at the thought of using DOS for anything. If you want to work in a text-input fashion with your computer, use OS X and work in the Terminal.

OH, wow, er maybe thats WOW!! Lets not beat up this guy. He likes to dig into the bowels of DOS to make things work but he likes to keep it simple.

Errr, not sure hot that works but it seems to keep him happy.

But how does running XP or VISTA tie in with simple. You have to run updates all the time, and the latest ones mess up the machine (CPU tie ups, etc). Maybe there is some addiction here, an MS high that we are missing.

I use a PC at work and a Mac on the road and at home. It takes a department to keep my PC running but I keep the two Macs running. And I am no expert when it comes to computers. :-)

"One Last Thing", (sorry I had to :-) ) if this guy keeps thinking Apple is so bad, why does he keep saying that he things he needs to upgrade to a new Apple?????

Hey, you don't think this guy is some kind of MS shill? Do you?? :-)

Microsoft: All things wonderful . . . . for Redmond. !! LOL

You don't seem very familiar with OS X.
Also, you wrote:
change the config.sys file and the EXE file.
The EXE file?
Somehow I don't think you were terribly familiar with DOS, either.

He meant AutoEXEc.bat.

Yeah DOS was very good. Did it do video? Multitasking? Was it secure? Ahhh the charm of writing "cd programs\civ" and then type "civ" and a program would run! Oh the charisma of looking like a programmer who knows how to work in a PC!

Peuh!

And you don't even make basic investigation. Are you a newbie? Seems strange but I can't find a good report on new Leopard. They all are so... dumb and ignorant.

I think this paragraph is money quote:

"Core Animation was another of the top 10, but I'm not sure I understood it well enough to explain. What I took away from it is that you can tag video and pictures to make searching easier."

WTF? Doesn't the name "CORE ANIMATION" hints anything? Don't you have a GOOGLE in your office? Oh I forgot, you rather work with DOS. It's an API tech to make 3D apps easier than ever. think OpenGL. DirectX (Ok, not exactly, but you get the point). Hey, I'll give you an extra hint: go to Apple's website and they explain core animation to you as if you're 2 years old. If that ain't enough for you, you're hopeless.

"Boot Camp now runs Windows XP and Vista in VMware or Parallel."

OMG. This guy is a friggin retard. Were you even listening?? I'll explain 2 u as if you were 2 years old. Now there's three programs you see? They are useful if you want to use windows programs, ok? But they work differently, ok?

Boot camp let's you BOOT either windows or Mac OS. You know what's boot?

Parallels and VMWare are other useful programs that virtualize windows inside Mac OS.

Get it? I never used a Mac, but Pah-lease! Not so hard to find things out, now is it? How come are people like me ever going to find useful information with journalists like you? I am also checking if I'm gonna "change" or not. But this is no help at all.

(My problems are others. Called "extension formats". AutoCAD doesn't work in MAC natively. I'd have to use VMware and I don't like that option. I like native stuff. Less chance of having problems.)

"I'm still waiting for that killer Mac capability that will make me switch."

Sure you do. But you know, the Mac that changes your diapers is still far in the future.

"Leopard is beautiful to look at, but I spend about 80 percent of my time writing on my PC."

Sounds like what you need is a good typerwriter.

"As long as I can get my work done somewhat efficiently, I think I'll pass. At this point, I'm still waiting for that killer Mac capability that will make me switch."

What capability is that? A Mac OS X app that allows you to write reviews with insight and forethought? That's up to you.

thank god this article was free or I would be demanding my money back. It was like asking my 10 month old grand daughter what the square root of pi is........no clue but she spit something up.....I agree with the earlier post....get an IBM Selectric and leave the computers to the people that know how to do more than just type.

My God, I have read some bad articles in my time, and this one is up there with the best of them. Sorry, but it's not even worth a comment (oh no, I just did anyway...)

This article severely compromises the quality of infoworld. Is is full of mistakes and utterly stupid remarks. It lacks in-depth knowledge of the Mac OS and is clearly biased towards Windows.
I run a business; the day I would start running it "somewhat efficently" it would go down. Do you even realise that as you are staring at your Word document, there's an OS running behind it. Or worse, another application? Back, when I was editing autoexec.bat and config.sys files a pc had 16 mb ram and a 10 gig harddisk. Now it is 2 gigs ram and 400 gig harddisk. There's 45 applications in my dock, 13 (...) of which are active, a dvd is toasting in the background and yeah I'm typing, too. on my computer...

Wow. Now I can recall why I discontinued my subscription to the print edition of InfoWorld many years ago...a lack of substance.

Actually, that's a reasonable summary. I think that for many people, particularly the ones that spend 95% of their time writing on the computer, Time Machine IS the killer app. They can buy a second HD, attach it and never worry about whether they have a copy of that one file they just threw away or not. The less skilled at general OS duties they are, the more they are going to like a simple-to-use data backup and recovery system.

As a Mac owner since 1985, that's going to be the one that makes me upgrade. The other rumored "killer app" may be Boot Camp's ability to switch osen on the fly. Boot OSX, sleep it and boot Windows *without rebooting*. Now you can toggle back and forth between fully-booted/logged-in copies of either OS in the time it takes one to sleep and the other to wake. Well, that's the rumor anyway...

Leopard is a seven-course dinner and the article says "Thanks for the snack", like it's no big deal. DOS? Maybe you would recommend EDLIN as a text editor?

I'm not saying I love DOS. It was an off hand, funny comment, or so I thought, that seems to have sparked a great deal of nasty emails. I'm not sure why.

In fact, I'm not sure why people seem love any operating system, but that seems to be the case with Apple's OS. I guess different things turn different people on.

I like old motorcycles. However, I wouldn't get bent out of shape if someone insulted my old Triumph TR6R.

I have a 1970 Triumph that you have to kick start. No push button electric start. I suppose that is illogical, too. Well if it is there are about a half dozen motorcycle magazines that make a nice living from us crazies.

Not everything is about efficiency. Yes, I don't want my doctor to be living in the past but sometimes something old generates more love than the super-efficient, souless newest thing.

Hey Ephraim, I'll tell you exactly why. Someone presents a next level OS that has proven reliability and a bunch of (unproven) new features, and you kvetch about how romantic Windows is? Please. If I had the CHOICE to ride a Triumph, great! Mr Gates gave me no choice to deal with his inferior product, and now there's a way out? If you think not everything is about efficiency, you might want to check whether your 401K is ready to be ladled and retire.
Mac Leopard it is!

The advancement of technology was always to make things more efficient. If typing is all you do, then perhaps a cheap 386 computer should be sufficient for you to use. They run what.. 10$ these days? The improvements on Leopard are equivalent to the improvements on Vista. (Please, don't misunderstand, I'm not saying that the improvements on Leopard are the same as that of Vista).

I find that the Vista operating system was a great step in the appropriate direction for Microsoft. A step however, that Mac, and Linux users took a long time ago. As much as Vista is eye candy for Windows XP, the same can be said about Leopard for Tigre. But, you must realize that as much as the eye candy is laid out in the beginning, its the developers that make up the sugar and delicious layers of chocolate.

So, as much as Leopard does have great improvements, it'll be up to the developers to really make it the go to OS.

(Personally, I am a Tiger user, and am damn loyal to my Mac)

Ephraim, to trivialize our responses to your useless article and characterize them as simple loyalty or love for Mac OS further illustrates your lack of understanding for this topic.

We object to your article because you failed to deliver a report with any substance and flatly reported errors.

I know Mac OS X is the best OS on the planet, but that doesn't mean I love it. As far as I'm concerned, I think Mac OS X sets the standard for the minimum in efficiency and capability. All other operating systems fall below the bar and are not worth my time.

I stumbled across this article through a series of random clicks. Thankfully, I don't find your work in the mainstream. Stay here. Write poorly about technology and don't aspire to pontificate on other topics. I'm glad you don't write about politics or you might destroy nations and get people killed.

Mistakes in this column:

List view, icon view, and column view are already in the current Mac OS X, 10.4, not new as you describe, so the only new view is CoverFlow, which I agree is pretty useless for most files, but it does show off graphics capabilities.

You shouldn't reverse the "separate 32-bit OS" since every machine Apple ships has a 64-bit processor and the UNIX core is running in 64-bit anyway. The main point here is apps can run in either mode with no hassle, which appeals more to developers than anyone, hence the discussion at the developers conference.

Core Animation has nothing to do with tagging and searching, it is a tool for software developers to create high-quality animation in their applications with minimal coding. Again, this is a feature for developers, which translates into better software for consumers, and the main reason it is discussed at WWDC rather than MacWorld.

Boot Camp is completely distinct from VMWare and Parallels. The improvement to Boot Camp in 10.5 is that it is coming out of Beta status and is built into the OS rather than a separate, tedious process.

Not sure what the confusion around Dashboard is all about, it's been in the OS since 10.4 and the use of it was clearly demonstrated. More details were given about the 10.5 Dashboard improvements at WWDC 2006. The difference between Dashboard and RSS is that most RSS feeds don't do graphics very well. Plus making your own widgets gives you freedom in case there is no RSS feed on the site you want or if the feed isn't set up the way you want it, like how CNN RSS feeds never give you more than the headline.

My opinion:

If you want the simplicity of DOS, why don't you learn some UNIX shell commands and get away from the crippled command line utility that comes with Windows. Mac OS X has a fully functional Terminal emulator that runs most UNIX shells and comes pre-installed with all the major UNIX text editors, like emacs, vim, nano, and much, much more. I know people who own a Mac, but live in Terminal and X11. Then, when they want to make a home m ovie/DVD, they can learn the bundled software in no-time.

Frankly, I'm disappointed in an column like this from InfoWorld, where the author clearly has no clue about the technologies he is writing about.