nosewheelie

I managed to get hold of Leopard on Friday, and I must say it’s quite nice, here’s some initial impressions. Overall it’s not a single new feature that nails it, it’s the combination and maturation that makes it worthwhile.

Update: Sanjiv has posted photos!.

Here’s the good bits I’ve noticed so far:

• It’s fast, damn fast.
• Software update has received a nice facelift, it even warned me to plug in to a power source before running it. After installation, it finally lets me dismiss the “restart now” dialog. There’s also some Windows Vista-ish pre-shutdown messages.
• Menus look a lot better and have rounded corners.
• PPC apps run under Rosetta now work again after being broken in 10.4.10.
• Font rendering is much better, which I find amazing.
• Spaces rocks, only problem I have is running apps in multiple workspaces, I’ve heard you can do it, but not looked. It also doesn’t do more than four horizontal workspaces (I usually use five).
• I don’t mind the much maligned dock. Using QuickSilver, I don’t keep any apps there permanently, and it’s auto-hidden, so it’s not too much of a worry.

And some gripes…

• The Finder does not re-sort icons when you enlarge or shrink a window in icon mode. This is really annoying.
• FrontRow no longer supports streaming to an AirPort express. iTune provides a similar UI so it’s not too much of a pain.
• The transparent menu bar sucks, lucky there’s a fix.

If you want an in-depth review there’s always Ars’ John Siracusa.