In the Wild

The official release of Mac OS X 10.5 (aka “Leopard”) is still two days away, but reviews have begun appearing throughout the InterTubes over the last day or so. Some of them are official, others not so much, but the overall response has been pretty positive, if not euphoric.

• “Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard First Impressions”: Despite Apple’s efforts to restrict seeding to select individuals, it appears that the final build of Leopard has made its way outside of Apple. One individual who has claimed to have installed the final version of Leopard on their iMac posted his experience.
• “Apple Offers New Goodies in Leopard System”: Leopard is powerful, polished and carefully conceived. Happy surprises, and very few disappointments, lie around every corner. This Leopard has more than 300 new spots — and most of them are bright ones.
• “Leopard: Faster, Easier Than Vista”: Leopard isn’t a must-have for current Mac owners, but it adds a lot of value. For new Mac buyers, it makes switching even more attractive.
• “Apple OS X Leopard: A beautiful upgrade”: Leopard is a legitimately big deal. It’s underhyped compared to iPhone, and yet unlike iPhone, Leopard is a genuine triumph of customer-focused engineering. It’s a pleasure and a relief to see that Apple remembers how to deliver open, affordable, standards-based products.

Personally, I’ll probably be upgrading to 10.4.11 before making the jump to Leopard. As much as I love Apple, I prefer to let the early adopters work out the kinks and glitches. Once those have been patched via an update or two, then I’ll drop the $129 (and maybe even more, so I can get an external hard drive to use with Time Machine).