Along with
today's announcement of Leopard's release date, Apple has also now updated the
Mac OS X site to reflect all the enhancements you can find in the latest release of OS X. So, what's new?
Apple, clearly keen to show what they've been working on in the last few months (what with the delay n'all), have
listed all 316 features, categorised them and allowed you to peruse them at your leisure. Here's just a few that caught my eye:
- AppleScript can now read and write plist files (whilst a little thing, and a niche feature at best, this is promising if you're wanting to backup items such as serial numbers for applications from the application plist files, and do it in AppleScript)
- .Mac syncing of more system items (Dock items, Dahsboard widgets, Mail notes and, it appears, even the entire System Preferences)
- TextEdit now support Open Document and Word 2007 files.
- Open panels now have a Media Browser tab, allowing you to open items directly from the relevant location.
- Library Randomization - identical to Windows Vista's Address Space Layout Randomization, meaning that people looking to exploit Mac OS X can't rely on system code being at a specific memory address (i.e. it's harder to persuade an OS X system process to execute malicious code). Whilst Apple has always touted the more robust security of Mac vs Windows, it's good to see they're not sitting on their laurels and becoming complacent with OS X. Also of note is the digital signature technology in all the Leopard applications (and third-party developers can sign applications too). I've always believed this to be a technology that would be used in any iPhone SDK, so seeing it within XCode is a promising move - even if the possible use of Digital Signing in an iPhone SDK is pure conjecture on my part.
- Front Row now sports the Apple TV interface,
and the integration with the Apple Movie Trailer site.
- iChat has seen a smorgasbord of new features added - Photo Booth effects, new media codecs, video and audio chat recording, tabbed chats, the ability to hide your own local video from a chat window, and screen sharing.
The list goes on. After a somewhat disappointing WWDC Keynote this year, the '300+ feature' proclamation has reassured me that Apple hasn't necessarily lost its way as a desktop OS and computer company. 26th October just cannot come quick enough.
With all the hysteria of the Macworld taking precedence last week, it appears that Apple slipped out a not-so-insignificant update to the OS X Human Interface Guidelines. After a fairly stagnant revision history in the last few years, the much-discussed 'UI Bible' (and I use the term loosely) has been updated to encompass OS X 10.5 Leopard.
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