Today Apple announced Leopard would be pouncing onto computers in 10 days, on Friday, October 26, 2007. Even though I solely use Windows on my home and work computers, I decided to check out the list of features added since the prior Tiger release. After reading these, I’ve realized I’m 75% excited for the features and 25% convinced simply by Apple’s first-rate marketing and design choices. Here are some of the enhancements that caught my eye:
Google Map Addresses
View a detailed map of any address in Address Book. Just hold down the Control key while clicking any address and select “Map of” and Safari will show you its location in Google Maps.
Everything I own should give me one click access to a map; ala iPhone.
UI Recording and Playback
Add even more capabilities to your workflows. Use a new action called Watch Me Do that lets you record a user action (like pressing a button or controlling an application without built-in Automator support) and replay as an action in a workflow.
Imagine an OS that packages in macros. I can finally level up my fishing skill in WoW.
Dashcode IDE
Quickly design, code, and deploy your Dashboard widget. Dashcode is a completely integrated development environment.
A visual IDE built specifically so I can create little widgets that make my life easier; yes, please.
Automatic Packaging and Deployment
Deploy your widget in one click. Dashcode organizes all the files that make up your widget, including images, stylesheets, and JavaScript. Adding new files is handled automatically by the project manager.
Automagic packaging and deployment so I don’t have to spend 4 days figuring out I forgot to make a __config.xml file.
Wikipedia in Dictionary
Harness the power of Wikipedia when you’re connected to the Internet — built right into it’s Dictionary. You get a great Mac OS X user interface with super-fast searching and beautifully laid out-results.
Easy access to information from Wikipedia. I wonder if they could have optionally stored a copy on disk and update periodically so it didn’t require an internet connection. I can’t wait until they forget to renew the domain and a search for book reports on Abe Lincoln(NSFW) returns TMI.
Multiple Logins
In Leopard, iChat allows you to log in to all your chat accounts simultaneously, whether you use .Mac, AOL, Google Talk, or Jabber.
Later Trillian, I didn’t want to pay for you anyways.
Persistent Chat Windows
Pick up right where you left off by choosing to have iChat remember open chat windows and their contents even if you quit and restart.
I’m obsessive about keeping open chat windows and I am easily annoyed by people that close them after each response and forget what the hell we were talking about. I have them on a group list called ‘assclowns’.
More Smileys
Have fun with the cool new collection of smileys built into iChat.
Fuck. 
Watch for My Name…
Receive an alert when someone calls your name in a group chat. And never miss a comment directed to you.
I always need this in IRC, and for some reason I can’t figure out how to do it in Trillian 3.free.
RSS
Subscribe to an RSS feed in Mail and you’ll know the moment an article or blog post hits the wire. Even better, you can choose to have new articles appear in your inbox.
I’ve never used an RSS reader, but I would love to get feeds as email.
Data Detectors
Act on information in Mail immediately. Mail automatically detects text fragments like appointments and addresses, and lets you choose smart actions with a click: create a new contact, map an address, or create an iCal event.
I want my entire life to be context sensitive. I want to right click ctrl-click on my bug queue at work and select the ‘fix’ option.
Time Limits and Bedtimes
Control exactly how much time your children spend with the computer each day. Limit total daily usage and define hours the computer can or can’t be used (set differently for weekdays and weekends). Built-in flexibility allows you to make adjustments on the fly as schedules and schoolwork change.
I would probably just set these for myself so I don’t stay up all night reading Digg and come into work late every morning.
Activity Logging
Keep an eye on your children’s computer activities. Leopard logs websites visited and applications used. It also maintains a list of people who have chatted with your child using iChat and a transcript of each text chat session.
I don’t have any kids, but this would probably be great for spying on your girlfriend/secretly gay brother.
Enhanced FindInstantly and graphically locate any text on the current web page. Safari highlights every instance of the word you’re searching for and even dims the rest of the page so you can focus on the results of your find.
This is great until the style overlap starts changing the context:
Merge All Windows
Combine all your open browser windows into one single, tabbed window.
Finally I can stop copy/pasting URLs to merge all those damn windows my IM and Email clients spawn.
Arabesque Screen Saver
Fill your screen with a multicolored, never-ending work of Arabesque art with the new Arabesque screen saver
I have no clue what this means, but it sounds sooooo sexy. Like a belly-dancer.
Tagging Downloaded Applications
Protect yourself from potential threats. Any application downloaded to your Mac is tagged. Before it runs for the first time, the system asks for your consent — telling you when it was downloaded, what application was used to download it, and, if applicable, what URL it came from.
Why didn’t I think of this shit (although to be fair, I’m sure Apple didn’t either)!
Guest Log-In Accounts
Allow anyone to surf the web and check email as a guest on your Mac. When they log out of the guest account, Mac OS X purges the account, removing any trace of their activity. So each time someone logs in as a guest, he or she gets a fresh, unused account.
“No mom, you can’t use my computer.”
Tabbed Windows
Keep multiple Terminal sessions going in a single, tabbed window.
I use PuTTY and sometimes I want just a few more features to make my life easier.
Wide Area Bonjour
Access your Macs, at home or on the road, with a single consistent host name. Use this host name whether you’re behind a NAT gateway or hopping across DHCP servers.
You mean I don’t have to use those random-ass dynamic IP services to connect to my home server anymore?
Ruby on Rails
Work in a developer’s dreamland. Leopard is the perfect platform for Ruby on Rails development, with Rails, Mongrel, and Capistrano built in.
The only reason I haven’t learned Ruby/RoR yet is because I’ve been too lazy to install it. Until then, PHP rulez.
Almost two months of using my Mac and one of the few things I explicitly like is Finder. Changing the GUI was much easier than it was in XP, though.
Wow reference noted and appreciated. we are people too.
Robert, I dream about Leopard…(hope to get one macbook pro soon)
Hey-o, just found your site on google. You have a bunch of great posts