Date: Friday, October 26, 2007

Apple Unleash their Leopard

It’s an exciting week for Apple, as they prepare to unleash Leopard. Mac fans have anticipated the release of Leopard, an update of the Apple Mac operating system, for many months. The initial release date of June was pushed back, so Apple could spend more time on the iPhone. However, on October 26th, Apple lovers will be able to get their hands on the software.

Leopard boasts 300 new features, although some of them are minor tweaks to the previous operator system, which was named Tiger. Among the inventions and improvements are Time Machine - an automatic file backup facility, Spaces – a tool allowing you to keep separate desktops for different uses and Stacks – a function that automatically groups together related files and folders.

Early reviews of the operating system have been positive so far. David Pogue, technology columnist for the New York Times, said: “Happy surprises, and very few disappointments, lie around every corner.” Walt Mossberg, technology journalist with the Wall Street Journal, echoes this sentiment by calling the software “evolutionary, not revolutionary.” Indeed, rather than make Leopard radically different to Tiger, Apple seem to have focused on making the system more user-friendly than ever.

Apple is thought to be marketing Leopard as an antidote to Microsoft Vista, which received a cold reception on its release. Mossberg said: “In my view, Leopard is better and faster than Vista, with a set of new features that make Macs even easier to use.” In fact, it is thought that the Mac’s increasing ease of use will lead some people to abandon their PCs and invest in a Mac instead. Ben Rudolph, director of communications at SWSoft, a software manufacturer, believes this too and feels Leopard “would continue to drive sales of Macs.”

It is thought Leopard will provide yet another boost for Apple’s rapidly increasing profits. On Tiger’s release, sales reached $120 million and it is expected that Leopard will prove to be even more successful.

Sources

BBC

Times