Question:
Creating a "Why we should switch to Mac" Speech. Help Please?
1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Creating a "Why we should switch to Mac" Speech. Help Please?
Fourteen answers:
2007-10-26 15:56:29 UTC
+Macs dont get viruses

Actually they do. Since Microsoft Windows has more market share, virus writers tend to target Windows. They target the operating system with the most potential people to infect. A few months back an organization had what they called "the month of apple bugs." During that time several zero-day attacks were released. Here is a link so that you know your full of **** when you try to write your paper:

http://projects.info-pull.com/moab/



+Macs last longer than most Windows computers

This actually holds to be true.



+Macs have a suite of apps to stimulate my creativity

This is just a marketing term. I am glad to see that some ate it up. You honestly think that Mac OS X is the only platform with your so called "creativity suite."
2007-10-26 15:53:03 UTC
The MAC is not lessvulnerable to viruses. There are many out there that will effect them, just not as well publicized due to smaller user base. They don't last any longer than windows machines. It is how it is used and lifetime of the electronics. They are not anymore secure than the user. The apps are in many cases for the graphics world but many machines are loaded with the windows emulator so they can run those apps as well.
2007-10-26 15:47:19 UTC
+Macs don't have da gamoong
2007-10-26 15:47:27 UTC
dont be stupid your parents might not have enough money to buy one
Spaceman Spiff
2007-10-26 15:49:36 UTC
Macs are used in Hollywood for movie editing. They are the best in graphic design and stuff like that. Can basically do anything on a mac. Appl has awesome customer service. Only thing is, you should ask for a MacBook. Once you're in college, you'll love it!
5c0tt
2007-10-26 15:49:31 UTC
Why do you want a Mac? The answer to that is what you need to tell your parents. The world runs on Windows though, Mac is more of a novelty computer. You’d benefit in the long run if you just got the Windows machine. But if you really want a Mac, you should buy it yourself and appreciate your parent’s gift.
cmyk_chicago
2007-10-28 09:51:56 UTC
first of all to ninlar - if one of the main reasons for purchasing a computer is to "stimulate creativity" apple is the best way to go. I am a graphic designer and artist and have used both windows and macintosh computers. Sure the adobe creative suite runs on both platforms, but its far better on a mac mainly because of the graphics capability and the usability. Also, I am guessing that since someone who is trying to convince their parents to buy a mac, they won't be shelling out the $500 student price for adobe. Which is why a mac comes with a number of programs to stimulate creativity and prove to be useful in a classroom and work place environment, i.e iWeb, GarageBand, iMovie, Pages, Keynote, and even iPhoto. So it's much more than Paint and adding pictures and actions to Word and Powerpoint.



To everyone who is preaching the "macs are not immune to viruses." Right now they are practically immune. Of course when the number of macs in households and businesses is about equal to the number of windows based computers there will be viruses. But if you are to put the money in purchasing a mac right now, you'll be safe since you probably will only be using that computer for no more than five years - so for five years you probably will have nothing to worry about. If you bought a brand new windows computer today, it could be full of viruses and spyware tomorrow if you don't know the proper precautions. And it will take a long time for apple to catch up to the number of viruses/spyware that windows has.



+you can partition the apple hard drive so that you can save 5% for windows... i believe the apple application that allows you to do this is boot camp. To run windows, you get a program called virtual pc which is about $200 and will allow for a smooth transition for long time pc users.

+all the new features that leopard provides that austin mentioned. for example: if you mom loves sending out family christmas cards that includes family photos, iPhoto has a pretty cool feature that will allow you to create custom cards. And the the new Mail gives you the ability to send out customized invitations and such... have your folks watch the video... i am sure they will ooo and ahh

+an iMac also works great as a home entertainment system for your office. The display allows for a great quality dvd picture. Sure a sony monitor can probably do the same, but it will cost just as much or more and won't look as sleek.

+apple's system allows you to be more organized than that of windows. once you get the hang of it, it's much easier to find files and read up on the new application time machine... awesome.



thats all I can think of right now that would be good easy to understand arguments for your folks... take them on a trip to the apple store if there is one in your area... let them get a hands on experience.



p.s. i like how all the pro mac answers have more thumbs downs than thumbs ups. and vice versa for pro windows... shows you how obnoxious windows people can be and i'm sorry you couldn't get answers from the majority of them that pertained to your question.
fluffy
2007-10-27 17:04:49 UTC
This is for Leopard, but it's helping me convince my parents ( I'm working on the same thing you are)





everything below is copied and pasted ( it's all 300 new features) u can read them or follow this link



http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/300.html







Address BookGoogle 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.



Synchronize with Yahoo!

Synchronize Address Book on your Mac with your Yahoo! address book. Just enter your Yahoo! account information in Address Book preferences to get started.

Back to top AppleScriptFull Unicode Support for AppleScript

Combine strings from multiple languages, now that all text is fully Unicode.



Scripting Bridge for Objective-C

Query and control applications with integrated AppleScript support using other languages such as Ruby, Python, and Objective-C — thanks to the new Scripting Bridge architecture.



Enhanced Application Object Model

Easily create scripts that are both generic and portable, now that script statements can target applications by name, bundle identifier, creator code, or POSIX path. New application properties can be used to determine if an application is running and whether it is frontmost.

Read/Write Property Lists

Create and edit Mac OS X property lists. Support is built into Leopard.



Scriptable System Preferences & Applications

Do more with AppleScript. A number of system preferences in Leopard are now scriptable, including the Dock, Security, Exposé, Accounts, and Networking — as well as a number of features in iChat.

Updated Language Guide

Have examples and constructs of the AppleScript language at your fingertips. AppleScript Language Guide, updated for Leopard, is the essential guide for scripters and developers.



Descriptive Error Messages

Determine the cause of script errors more easily with improved descriptive error reporting.



Updated Folder Action Support

Enjoy greater reliability with folder actions, which are triggered by the file system instead of the Finder. Folder actions now have their own server, and each folder action now runs its own copy of the new Folder Actions Dispatcher application.

Back to top Automator Starting Points

Start creating workflows more easily than ever. Starting Points automatically displays a sheet in new workflow windows, from which you choose categories representing the things you want to do. Then select options from contextual pop-up menus.



Improved Automator Interface

Quickly create and edit workflows with new interface improvements. Choose actions from category groups, custom groups, and smart groups, view results of actions inline, view the workflow log with a single click, and access iLife content with the iLife media picker.

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.



Command-Line Utility for Automator

Gain access to other languages for running Automator workflows, as well as the ability to set the initial value of variables contained in the targeted workflow.

Workflow Variables

Automate more productively by creating workflows that can store and retrieve data during execution. Workflow Variables let you use the same information at different steps of the workflow, giving you added functionality and flexibility.



Workflow Looping

Repeat a workflow for a specified number of times or a specified time duration. No more need to save as an iCal plug-in or use the Automator Loop Utility.



New Automator Actions

Create more useful Automator workflows with actions for RSS feeds, iSight camera video snapshots, PDF manipulation, and much more.

Back to top Boot CampBoot Camp

Run Windows XP and Windows Vista on your Mac at native speed with full compatibility. (Windows not included.)



Boot Camp Assistant

Install Windows without affecting your existing files. Boot Camp Assistant carves out the necessary disk space required by Windows automatically.



Copy Files Between Mac OS X and Windows

Copy, open, modify, or delete files in Mac OS X that you saved to your Windows partition. Leopard understands the Windows FAT32 disk format.

Restore to Mac-Only Partition

Easily delete Windows and restore the disk space being used by the Windows partition back to Mac OS X.



Microsoft WHQL-Certified Windows Drivers

Enjoy the unique hardware features of your Mac including the iSight camera, trackpad scrolling, keyboard backlighting, and volume keys using fully compatible Windows drivers.

Automatic PC Key Remapping

Use whatever keyboard you wish. Boot Camp automatically detects Apple keyboards and remaps PC key commands to appropriate keys.



Convenient Boot Camp Task Bar Shortcut

Use the Windows task bar to restart your Mac into Mac OS X, change Boot Camp settings, and access Boot Camp-specific help.

Back to top Dashboard Web Clip

Clip out any portion of a web page and turn it into a Dashboard widget. Just click the new Web Clip icon in Safari and select the portion of the page you want, then click Add to see your Dashboard spring to life with a brand-new widget. The widget is “live” and will update as its page of origin does. You can even customize your widget’s frame.

Movies Widget in Dashboard

Watch movie trailers right in Dashboard, then click to buy tickets. A cool new movie widget puts movies and showtimes just a click away.

Sync Dashboard Widget Settings with .Mac

Use widgets the same way on all your computers. Just sync Dashboard to your .Mac account and the settings for your widgets can follow you from Mac to Mac.

Back to top DashcodeDashcode IDE

Quickly design, code, and deploy your Dashboard widget. Dashcode is a completely integrated development environment.



Code Snippets

Drag and drop commonly used blocks of source code into your project, giving you a head start implementing your custom widget.



Widget UI Layout Canvas

Drag and drop components from an included library of GUI controls to assemble a working widget that looks the same during design and runtime. No artistic ability required.

Instant-On JavaScript Debugger

Keep your development time creative, productive, and rewarding without interruption with Dashcode's instant-on JavaScript debugger.



Advanced Source Code Editor

Be more productive with professional features such as syntax highlighting for CSS, HTML, and JavaScript, as well as Code Sense code completion.

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.



Widget Templates

Hit the ground running by choosing one of Dashcode's included templates, each a fully functioning widget ready for customization. No need to write any code.

Back to top DesktopNew Look

Enjoy an elegant, distinctive new look across the entire system. The semitransparent menu bar and reflective Dock frame your desktop picture. The active application window stands out with a deeper drop shadow and a distinctive toolbar color. One look at Leopard and you’ll know you’re in for something special.



Stacks

Organize files in a neat stack on the Dock. One click and the stack springs open, revealing items in an elegant arc or an at-a-glance grid.

Downloads Stack

Find your downloads quickly in one dedicated stack. Downloads from Safari, iChat, and Mail are automatically saved to the Downloads stack. Say goodbye to desktop clutter.



Sorting Stacks

Order the files in your stacks any way you wish: by filename, date added, date modified, date created, or file type. Just Control-click the stack and pick an order.



.Mac Sync for Dock Items

Make your Dock look the same on all the Macs you use. Change the Dock on one and it will automatically be updated on the others.

Spring-Loaded Dock

Items in the Dock are spring-loaded. Just drag a file, hover over any application in the Dock, and press the Space bar — the application opens instantly. For example, to add a picture to your iPhoto library, just drag the image file and hover over the iPhoto icon in the Dock. Press the Space bar, and once iPhoto opens, you can drag the image into your iPhoto library. If you drag a file and hover over a stack, pressing the Space bar opens a Finder window showing the contents of the stack.

Back to top Dictionary Wikipedia in Dictionary

Harness the power of Wikipedia when you're connected to the Internet — it’s built right into Dictionary. You get a great Mac OS X user interface with super-fast searching and beautifully laid out-results.



Apple Dictionary

Get to know your Mac even better. A dictionary of Apple terms is built into Dictionary.

Front and Back Matter

Access a wealth of content found in the front and back matter for the New Oxford American Dictionary, such as grammar, spelling, and pronunciation guides. Or access reference materials such as the chemical elements, weights and measure, and conversions.



Japanese-English Dictionary

Translate English to Japanese and vice versa. This capability is now built into the Leopard Dictionary.

Japanese Language Support

In Leopard, the Dictionary application supports the Japanese language right out of the box, with an industry-leading Japanese dictionary and thesaurus provided by Shogakukan. The dictionary contains over 200,000 words with rich descriptions and examples, and the thesaurus contains 25,000 words covering 6,000 categories.







Back to top DVD PlayerImproved Full-Screen Interface

Enjoy DVD Player’s dramatic new full-screen interface, which puts all your DVD’s features right at your fingertips. Mouse over the top or bottom regions to access onscreen semitransparent displays for a wealth of controls and settings.



Image Bar

With the new Image Bar in DVD Player, you can watch a movie in full-screen mode and still have access to all your chapters and bookmarks. Just hover at the top of the screen and jump to a chapter, bookmark, or video clip of your choice.



Time Slider

Go exactly where you want to be in your DVD. Use your mouse to scrub forward or backward in the new Time Slider, or choose a specific point in the movie to start playing.

Auto Zoom

Fill the whole screen with a movie in DVD Player. Just turn on Video Zoom and click Auto Zoom to remove your media’s pillarbox or letterboxing.



Chapter Thumbnails

See dynamically generated thumbnail images representing each chapter of a DVD. You can even create your own chapter thumbnails as you watch, using any frame from the movie.



Time Skip

Skip ahead or skip back five seconds to replay that moment you missed or just see something one more time.



Scratched Disc Recovery

Smoothly play back even DVDs that may be damaged. New technology in Leopard can locate and avoid scratched areas of the disc.

Float Above Other Applications

Watch a DVD while working in another application. Leopard DVD Player lets you keep your movie at the front of your desktop no matter what else you need to do.



Parental Control

Protect children and other users from inappropriate content by requiring authorization to play movies.



Video Quality Improvements

Enjoy even higher-quality video with Adaptive Video Analyzation technology that applies deinterlacing and inverse 3:2 pulldown on demand.

Back to top FinderNew Sidebar

Use the sidebar to do even more. Now items are grouped into categories (places, devices, shared computers, and searches) just like the Source list in iTunes. Start finding what you want with a single click.



Cover Flow

Flip through your files in the Finder just like you flip through your album art in iTunes. Cover Flow displays the first page of every document. You can also click through multipage documents and play movies.



Back to My Mac

Connect to any of your Mac computers at home from any Mac on the Internet. Your home computers appear in the shared section of the sidebar. Just click and you’re in.

Instant Screen Sharing from the Finder

Start an interactive screen sharing session with other Macs on your network. Just select the Mac from your sidebar and (if authorized) you can see and control the Mac as if you were right in front of it. Change a system preference, publish an iPhoto library, or add a new playlist to iTunes.



Icon Preview

See files for what they really are. Leopard displays icons that are actual thumbnail previews of the documents themselves.

Path Bar

See the path of a file when you view it in the Finder. Just choose Show Path Bar from the View menu and the path is visible at the bottom of the Finder window. You can also drag files to any location in the Path Bar.



New Folder of Options

Take control your view options. Adjust the grid spacing to move icons closer together or further apart for the currently viewed folder, or with one click make this view the default for all your folders.



Folder Sharing

Turn any folder on your Mac into a shared folder. You can share any folder in your home directory from the Sharing system preference. You can customize access privileges and even authorize specific contacts in your Address Book.

Back to top Fonts Printable Font Book

Print out comprehensive previews of your fonts, including sample text in varying sizes or all available glyphs. Just select fonts in Font Book, choose Print from the File menu, and select any of the three built-in report types.

Language Collection

Quickly access the fonts you use most often. Fonts are grouped according to your default language preference.



System Font Protection

Never worry about accidentally deleting a system font. Leopard will warn you when you’re about to perform an action that will remove a required font.



New Fonts

Use new built-in fonts such as Arial Unicode, Microsoft Sans Serif, Tahoma, Papyrus Condensed, and Wingdings.

Font Auto-Activation

Automatically activate fonts as you need them. When an application requests an installed font that’s currently disabled, Leopard activates that font and keeps it active until the requesting application quits.



Braille Support

Take advantage of new Braille support for VoiceOver with Apple Braille Regular, Apple Braille Outline, and Apple Braille Pinpoint fonts.

Back to top Front RowFront Row

Sit back and enjoy all of your digital media full screen on your Mac with Front Row. Now built in to Mac OS X Leopard.



AppleTV like interface

Sit back and be amazed. Front Row works just like Apple TV. You control it from a distance using the elegant six-button Apple Remote that came with your Mac. Simple menus, elegant transitions, and beautiful content previews make your digital media shine.

DVD Playback in Front Row

Front Row works like Apple TV so you can enjoy all of your digital media on your Mac using the ultra simple Apple Remote. Front Row in Leopard includes playback of DVD movies as well. Just pop in a DVD and enjoy.



Streaming iTunes Content

Enjoy your iTunes library — and more. Front Row lets you play iTunes content located on other Macs and PCs in your house.

Movie Previews

Watch previews of Hollywood blockbusters directly from Front Row.

Back to top GraphicsCore Animation

Create incredible animated user experiences in your applications, combining 2D graphics, OpenGL rendering, and video.



Updated OpenGL

Run even the most up-to-date OpenGL-based applications that take the most of the latest technologies.

New Core Image Filters

Take advantage of over 20 new Core Image filters built right into Leopard, including Disc Blur, Linear Bump, Comic Effect, Hexagonal Pixellate, and Spot Color.



Multicore Enhanced

Get optimum performance from Core Image, Core Animation, and OpenGL, all tuned to tap the power of your Mac’s multicore processor.

EXIF Color Space Support

Enjoy improved color reproduction of digital photos, as ColorSync now recognizes the EXIF sRGB information embedded in image files by many popular digital cameras.

Back to top iCalImproved iCal Interface

Enjoy a cleaner look that gets out of your way so you can focus on your calendars. The new iCal toolbar has the Leopard look, running across the top of the application window. The search bar is where you’d expect it, in the upper right corner.



Inline Editing in iCal

Effortlessly add attendees or change an event's time directly on the event itself. The new Inline Inspector window appears when you double-click any event, making it faster and easier to change details on the fly.



Event Dropbox

Share the information you need for a successful meeting. Simply drag photos, video, or any kind of document into an event. Send email invitations to attendees and your attachments go along for the ride.



CalDAV Group Scheduling

Schedule a meeting with colleagues, check availability, and book conference rooms when using iCal with a compatible CalDAV server like iCal Server.

Auto Pick

Find the earliest time that everyone is available for your meeting — with a single click.



Availability Window

Check availabilities before you invite people to a meeting and find the best time for everyone. If your calendar is administered through a CalDAV server, just click Show Availability to open the Availability window.



Delegation

Put a colleague or assistant in charge of your calendar if you’re out of the office.



Offline Calendaring

View your calendar, modify events, and queue invitations even when you don’t have Internet access. iCal syncs your changes the next time you get online.



Office Hours

Specify your working hours for a given week so that others know when you're available for meetings.

Reserve Rooms and Equipment

Reserve meeting rooms and equipment as you create your meeting invitations. If your calendar is administered through a CalDAV server, iCal automatically displays availabilities when you add a room or resource to your meeting.



Default Alarms

Have iCal automatically create an alarm for each event that you create.



Turn Off All Alarms

Disable alarms for all your events with a single preference setting.

Back to top iChatPhoto Booth Effects

Transform your video chats using new Photo Booth effects. Choose among the dozens of effects built right into iChat — distortions such as Squeeze, Stretch, and Bulge, or other video effects like Sepia, Glow, and X-Ray.



Backdrop Effects

Drag an Apple-designed backdrop or your own photo or video into the video preview window to create an effect that will fool your buddies into thinking you’re chatting from your living room, the beach, or the moon.



Screen Sharing

Collaborate with a buddy via iChat. Work on a Keynote presentation together, surf the web as a team, or help each other with an iMovie project. iChat initiates the connection (asking permission first) with an audio chat so you can talk things through as you work or play. Trade views of each other’s desktops. Even drag files from one computer to the other.



New Message Views

See chats in new ways. In addition to the balloon and text-based views, Boxes allow you to view your chats as rectangular boxes stacked on top of one another. Compact view shrinks the text and buddy icon so you can see more text in your chat window.



Custom Buddy List Order

Customize the order of your buddy list with a drag and drop if you have groups enabled in your buddy list.



Disable Alerts

Turn off alerts for a particular chat by disabling “Use Alerts in this iChat” in the View menu. This is especially useful when you’re in a busy chat room.



AppleScript Alert

Automate iChat tasks using scripts. Use scripts to check the status of a buddy, select menu items, or set iChat properties.

Recording

Save your audio and video chats for posterity with iChat recording. iChat asks your buddies for recording permission before the chat starts, then stores completed audio chats as AAC files and video chats as MPEG-4 files — so you can share with others or sync to your iPod.



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.



Invisibility

Change your status to “invisible” in iChat, and you won’t be seen by anyone. But you can still see the status of anyone on your buddy list.



AAC-LD Codec

Enjoy crystal-clear audio with AAC-LD compression technology. It combines the advantages of perceptual audio coding with low delay that’s optimal for real-time audio and video conferences.



Animated Buddy Icons

Use an animated buddy icon in iChat. Select any animated GIF, or better yet, create one yourself using Photo Booth.



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.



iChat Theater

Show nearly any file on your system through an iChat video conference. Put on an entire photo slideshow, click through a Keynote presentation, play a movie, and more — in full screen, accompanied by a video feed of you hosting.



More Smileys

Have fun with the cool new collection of smileys built into iChat.



Watch for My Name...

Receive an alert when someone calls your name in a group chat. And never miss a comment directed to you.

Clear Transcript

Immediately clear the conversation in your iChat window. Just select the iChat conversation you want to clear, then choose Clear Transcript from the Edit menu. If iChat is saving your chat transcripts, your subsequent chats will be saved to a new file.



SMS Forwarding

Register for AOL’s Mobile Forwarding service and receive instant messages on your phone when you’re away from your computer.



Tabbed Chat

Consolidate your chat windows into a single tabbed window. Each chat is represented by a tab on the left side of the iChat window. Turning on tabbed chats is as easy as selecting “Collect chats into a single window” in iChat preferences.



File Transfer Manager

Manage your transferred files in one central place. Monitor transfer progress, locate transferred files in the Finder and open them, directly from the File Transfer Manager.



Hide Local Video

Remove the picture-in-picture view from your iChat video conference if you prefer not seeing yourself in the chat. Just select Hide Local Video from the Video menu.



iChat Hot Key

Bring your iChat window to the front anytime with a dedicated keyboard shortcut.



Auto-Start iChat

Set your iChat status to Available the moment your computer starts up. In iChat preferences, select “At user login, set my status to Available.”



Set Default IM Application

Set your default instant messaging application from within iChat.

Back to top ImagingImproved Tethered Camera Support

Control your camera directly from Image Capture, allowing you to take pictures and download them in a single, convenient step. More camera models from Canon and Nikon are now supported.

Enhanced Wireless Capture

Wirelessly import images from many 802.11-enabled digital cameras and Bluetooth devices.

Network Scanning Support

Take advantage of new Bonjour-based network scanners. Leopard leads the way with the technology required to allow scanning over a network.

Back to top InstrumentsAnalysis Templates

Select one of the built-in Instruments templates to perform specific analysis tasks, or choose your own collection of instruments and save your layout as a custom template you can use again later.



Record and Replay

Record your application user interface events to easily create an ad-hoc test harness you can replay over and over.

Create Instruments with DTrace

Monitor system activity from high-level application behavior down to the operating system kernel, all thanks to the power of DTrace and the instrument builder.

Visual Analysis

Improve the performance of your applications by viewing the relationships between UI events and performance metrics such as CPU load, network and file activity, and memory usage.

Back to top InternationalRussian Localization

Mac OS X Leopard is fully localized in the Russian language.



Polish Localization

Mac OS X Leopard is fully localized in Polish.



Portuguese (Portugal) Localization

Mac OS X Leopard is fully localized in Iberian (Portugal) Portuguese.



Enhanced International Font Support

Enjoy enhanced support for international fonts. Several fonts have improved Russian and Polish support; the Korean system font now supports the full set of modern Hangul; there are two new fonts in Tibetan; all built-in Arabic fonts now support Persian; and Leopard supports three additional Arabic-based scripts in Geeza Pro, Uyghur, Kurdish, and Jawi.

JIS2004 Support

Leopard is fully compliant with the JIS2004 standard, as UI elements in all applications are rendered using JIS2004 characters by default.



Expanded Font Set in Japanese

Put updated Japanese fonts to work. The included Japanese font families, Hiragino Gothic and Hiragino Mincho, are considered among the most beautiful of Japanese fonts, and they now support Hyogaiji, the new standard for Japanese character sets defined by the National Language Council and Japan Industry Standards.



Spotlight Language Support

Enjoy even more language support with Spotlight. A new Chinese tokenizer intelligently parses the search characters to factor in their relationship and meaning with one another, ensuring the most relevant results. Spotlight also has improved support for German and Thai and faster indexing in Japanese.

Expanded Keyboard Support

Take advantage of over fifteen new international keyboard layouts, including Tibetan, Kazakh, and Persian-QWERTY.



New Input Methods

Take advantage of new input methods for Chinese, Arabic, and Japanese languages. Leopard also offers two new input methods for Chinese — Pinyin and Zhuyin. Enable the Input menu in the International pane of System Preferences to bring up Character Palettes for several languages. Advanced predictive input for Japanese guesses characters based on context, with improved accuracy in Leopard. And localized help is provided for all of the CJK input methods, including English.



Russian Spell Checker



Danish Spell Checker

Back to top MailStationery

Choose from more than 30 professionally designed stationery templates that make a virtual keepsake out of every email you send. Templates feature coordinated layouts, fonts, colors, and drag-and-drop photo placement. Stationery uses standard HTML that can be read by popular email programs for Mac and PC.



Forward as Attachment

Forward an email as an attachment instead of an inline message. Select the message or group of messages you’d like to forward and choose “Forward as Attachment” from the Message menu. You can also drag and drop Mail messages into applications like iChat and they’ll be sent as attachments.



Duplicate a Smart Mailbox

Make a Smart Mailbox work even harder. Duplicate it if you want to access your Smart Mailbox from more than one Smart Mailbox folder or if you want to create a similar Smart Mailbox with slightly different criteria. Just hold down the Control key, click the Smart Mailbox you’d like to duplicate, and select Duplicate.



To-Dos

Create to-do items directly from email messages or notes in Mail. Simply highlight text in an email, then click the To Do button to create a to-do from a message.

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.



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.





Improved Search

Find the right email at the top of the search results list, thanks to smarter relevance ranking in Spotlight. And everything you create in Mail — to-dos, notes, and, of course, email messages — appears in a Spotlight search of your system.



Rich Formatting Options

Add style and layout to your email messages with richer formatting in Mail, such as bulleted and numbered lists, indentations, and background colors.



Photo Browser

Quickly and easily browse your entire iPhoto library to find the photo you need for your message.



Custom Stationery

Create your own stationery templates with graphics and attachments and reuse them to your heart’s content.

Simple Mail Setup

Automatically configure new email accounts. Just enter your email address and password. Mail knows the email settings for 30 leading email providers, including Yahoo!, AOL, Gmail, Verizon, AT&T, British Telecom, and Comcast.



Safari RSS Integration

Add news feeds to Mail directly from Safari. If you’ve already read an article in Safari, it will show up as read in Mail.



.Mac Sync for Notes

Access notes from anywhere, including your other computers, by syncing them with your .Mac account.



Notes

Write handy notes you can access from anywhere — including graphics, colored text, and attachments. Group notes into folders or create Smart Mailboxes that automatically group them. Your notes folder acts like an email mailbox, so you can retrieve notes from any Mac or PC.



Archive Mailbox

Create an archive of your mailbox to back up important messages or to transfer your mail to another computer.





Back to top NetworkingNew AirPort Menu

Get a clearer picture of your surrounding networks in the AirPort menu. Secure wireless networks are identified by a lock icon.

Self-Tuning TCP

Let Leopard adjust TCP buffer size automatically. Get optimum application performance, especially in high-bandwidth/high-latency environments.



Back to top Parental ControlsSimple Account Setup

Enable parental controls for any account and create a safe environment for your child to work, play, and communicate on the Mac.



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.

Dynamic Web Filter

Protect your children from websites with unsuitable content. Apple technology automatically trys to detect inappropriate content and prevents those web pages from appearing. You can override the filter by identifying sites you wish to explicitly allow or disallow certain websites.



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.

Remote Control & Monitoring

Easily set up and monitor parental controls on your child’s Mac from any Mac on your home network.



Web Filter Overrides

Override the dynamic web content filter to allow your children to view certain blocked sites or prevent them from viewing sites that normally aren’t blocked by the filter.



Wikipedia Content Filter

Limit access to profanity in Wikipedia.

Back to top Photo BoothControl Effects

Enjoy more control over some of the Photo Booth built-in video effects. Change the focus of the distortion with a click of the mouse. If you see a slider in live video, you can adjust distortion level as well.



Backdrops

Replace the background of your scene with a picture or video, making you appear somewhere you aren’t. Photo Booth includes photo and video backdrops that you can use, but feel free to use your own.



Proof Sheets

Select one of several proof sheets to use when printing a snapshot using Photo Booth’s built-in print layouts. Just choose the proof sheet in the Print dialog.

Video Recording

Use Photo Booth to make movie clips. Capture those precious moments and send them to your friends in an email message. You can even choose a frame from your movie to use as your account picture or iChat buddy icon.



Photo Booth with Burst Mode

Capture multiple shots during a brief moment in time with Photo Booth Burst. Four successive shots are taken and presented in a unique four-up layout that’s completely interactive.

Slideshow

Show off your Photo Booth pictures by viewing a full-screen slideshow. You can even view your photos as an index sheet so you can see them all at once.



Export Movies

Export your four-up photos or movie clips as an animated GIF to use on your website. Or use it as an animated iChat buddy icon.

Back to top PreviewNew User Interface for Preview

Enjoy powerful new features wrapped in a simple and elegant user interface — striking the perfect balance between simplicity and capability.



Smooth Zoom and Scroll

Smoothly zoom and scroll through even the largest image files. Preview uses the power of Core Animation.



Improved PDF Annotations

Take advantage of new PDF annotations in Preview. Add Stickies-style notes and links to websites or other pages within the PDF. Mark important areas in ovals or rectangles and highlight text. All annotations are saved with the PDF so you can share them with others.



Relevancy Ranked PDF Search

Harness the power of Spotlight. Preview now uses Spotlight to perform relevancy ranked searches on PDF documents, making it easier to find what you’re looking for.



Personalized Annotations

Facilitate collaboration by automatically including your name in annotations.

Improved Color Adjustment

Enhance your image files using several Core Image-powered adjustments for easy control over color, exposure, and sharpness. The semitransparent control panel is reorganized for ease of use and now includes Tint control.



More Image Manipulation Options

Edit your images in Preview. Crop, rotate, resize, and save images in a range of image formats. Selection tools make it a snap to cut and paste images from Preview directly into other applications.



Instant Alpha Background Removal

Easily remove the background from an image, leaving just the subject. Simply select Instant Alpha from the Tool Select button on the toolbar and click and drag in the area of the background you wish to remove. You can also use the Extract Shape tool to select a specific area of the image to keep, automatically excluding the rest.



More Image Printing Options

Enjoy more printing options in Preview. Print several different images on a single sheet of paper. Or print multiple copies of the same image to cut out and share with friends.



Auto Levels

See the best picture. Preview will intelligently analyze your image and apply the appropriate white and black level corrections.

PDF Manipulation in Preview

Re-create your PDF as you like. Move individual pages around, or remove pages altogether. You can even combine PDFs with a simple drag and drop.



Batch Image Operations

Save time when rotating or resizing a group of images in Preview. Just click the thumbnails in the sidebar and you can change multiple images simultaneously.



Send Images to iPhoto or Aperture

File away your photos directly from Preview. Use Preview to inspect an image, then send it to your iPhoto or Aperture library in one click.



GPS Metadata Support

Get real information from your photos. If your image has embedded GPS metadata, Preview will show you exactly where that perfect photo was taken. Open the Image inspector and select GPS. Preview pinpoints the location where you took the photo on a world map. From there you can even open the GPS location in Google Maps.

Back to top PrintingSimplified Printing

Get the best-quality printouts with the least effort. The Print dialog is preconfigured for the most common print settings, while powerful presets optimize your settings without cluttering the screen with unused options. For most documents, simply click Print to produce great output.



Quick Print Preview

Get a live preview of your document in the Print dialog so you know how it will look before you print it.



Printer Support

Just plug in your USB printer and you’re ready to print. Leopard now supports over 2,000 of the most popular models from vendors including Canon, Epson, HP, Lexmark, and more.

Authenticated Printing

Manage printer access with the Kerberos network authentication protocol.



Location-Aware Printing

Print in multiple locations with ease. Leopard detects when you’ve changed locations. So as you move your Mac between work, school, and home, Mac OS X figures out which printer to use and sets it as the default printer. You can choose another printer whenever you want.



Enhanced Precision Printing

Get the best quality from select Canon and Epson printers. Leopard can use enhanced numerical precision to unlock the printing potential of pro-level color ink jet printers, using up to 16bits per color channel.

CUPS v1.3

Tap the power of CUPS v1.3. It gives Mac OS X Leopard powerful print job spooling capabilities and enables CUPS-based printer driver development.



Printer Drivers via Software Update

Make sure you always have the latest printer drivers. Download directly to your system using the familiar capabilities of Software Update.

Back to top Quick LookQuick Look

Look inside any document without launching an application. Use Quick Look with documents, images, songs, and movies and get a large-size preview of the file. Flip through multipage documents, preview movies, even add images to iPhoto. You can use Quick Look in Finder, Mail, and Time Machine.

Full Screen Preview

Preview files full screen.



Multi-select

Quickly preview multiple files at once in a light table view or individually with slideshow controls.

Back to top SafariFastest Web Browser

Browse briskly. Safari is the fastest web browser on any platform.



Enhanced Find

Instantly 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.



Movable Tabs

Rearrange your tabs with just a drag and drop. Change the order in which they appear or separate them out by pulling them into a separate window.



Pull Tab into New Window

Separate a tab into its own window with a simple drag and drop.

Easily Create Tabbed Bookmarks

Set a bookmark for an entire set of tabs so that you can view them later, all at once.



Merge All Windows

Combine all your open browser windows into one single, tabbed window.



Full History Search

Easily find web pages you have visited. Safari indexes all of the text in websites that you browse. Even weeks later, Safari will be able to find a web page that matches your search.



Reopen Windows

Go back to a set of windows you were viewing after closing them or even after quitting Safari.



Resizable Text Fields

Resize any text field to the size you want because the original design was too small or you just have a lot to say. The contents of the web page will reflow to make room for the resized text field.

Preview Controls for PDFs

Gain new control over PDFs you see on the web. With Preview controls built into Safari, you can zoom in and out, navigate PDF pages with the sidebar, even open the PDF in a separate Preview window.



Remove History Items Periodically

Choose the time interval at which you’d like your browsing history to be automatically deleted.



Desktop Picture

Turn any photo you find on the web into your Desktop Picture with one click.



Warning Before Closing Tabbed Window

Have Safari warn you before closing a window with multiple tabs, just in case you meant to close a single tab.

Back to top Screen SaversArabesque Screen Saver

Fill your screen with a multicolored, never-ending work of Arabesque art with the new Arabesque screen saver.



Shell Screen Saver

Enjoy the display of colorful shell patterns with the Shell screen saver.

Word of the Day Screen Saver

Expand your vocabulary with the Word of the Day screen saver. Each day the screen saver will offer up five new words for you to learn.



Clock Overlay on any Screen Saver

Keep track of the time on any screen saver by overlaying a digital clock. Just select the "Show with clock" option in the Desktop & Screen Saver pane of System Preferences.

Collage for Picture Screen Savers

Make an amazing screen saver collage. Choose any picture screen saver or one of your iPhoto albums, and watch as the images gently fall on your desktop, one at a time, to form a stunning collage.



Mosaic Display for Picture Screen Savers

Create a screen saver mosaic. Choose any picture screen saver or one of your iPhoto albums and Leopard will turn it into a beautiful mosaic on the fly.

Back to top SecurityTagging 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.



Signed Applications

Feel safe with your applications. A digital signature on an application verifies its identity and ensures its integrity. All applications shipped with Leopard are signed by Apple, and third-party software developers can also sign their applications.



Application-Based Firewall

Gain more control over the built-in firewall. Specify the behavior of specific applications to either allow or block incoming connections.



Stronger Encryption for Disk Images

Give your data even more security. Disk Utility now allows you to create encrypted disk images using 256-bit AES encryption.





Enhanced VPN Client Compatibility

Connect to a broader range of VPN clients. Leopard supports Cisco Group Filtering as well as DHCP over PPP, which allows you to dynamically acquire additional configuration options such as static routes and search domains.



Sharing and Collaboration Configuration

Share any folder on your Mac by setting it up as a shared folder in the Get Info window or in the Sharing pane of System Preferences. You can also create and edit access control lists, share with individuals in your network directory, or contacts in Address Book.



Sandboxing

Enjoy a higher level of protection. Sandboxing prevents hackers from hijacking applications to run their own code by making sure applications only do what they’re intended to do. It restricts an application’s file access, network access, and ability to launch other applications. Many Leopard applications — such as Bonjour, Quick Look, and the Spotlight indexer — are sandboxed so hackers can’t exploit them.

Multiple User Certificates

Have more flexibility in choosing a digital certificate for encrypting email messages. With support for multiple user certificates, you can use the Keychain application to associate your certificates with various email addresses.



Enhanced Smart Card Capabilities

Let your smart card do more. Now you can use a smart card to unlock FileVault volumes and your keychain, and configure your Mac to lock the screen when a smart card is removed. Leopard supports the PIV standard for Federal employees and contractors.



Library Randomization

Defend against attackers with no effort at all. One of the most common security breaches occurs when a hacker’s code calls a known memory address to have a system function execute malicious code. Leopard frustrates this plan by relocating system libraries to one of several thousand possible randomly assigned addresses.



Windows SMB Packet Signing

Enjoy improved compatibility and security with Windows-based servers.

Back to top SpacesSpaces

Organize your activities into separate spaces and easily switch from one to another. Make a space for work or play. Choose from a number of convenient options that make moving from space to space fast and easy.



Bird’s-Eye View

View all of your spaces onscreen at the same time. With a drag and drop you can move an application window from one space to another or reorder your spaces.

Add and Remove Spaces

Easily add or remove spaces in the Spaces pane of System Preferences.



Application Binding

Assign an application to a specific space. Anytime you run that application, it will open in its assigned space.

Bump Over to Adjacent Space

Move a window to another space by dragging it to the edge of your screen. Spaces will switch to the new space and take your window with it.

Back to top SpotlightSearch Shared Macs

Search any Mac on your network. Use Spotlight to find files just like you do on your Mac — by name, contents, or even metadata. You can search any connected Mac with Personal File Sharing enabled or a file server that’s sharing its files.



Advanced Searches

Use a richer search vocabulary. The Spotlight search field now supports Boolean logic with AND/NOT/OR and parenthesis syntax. Search category labels such as “author” or “width.” Use ranges in your search including “greater than” and “less than.” Spotlight also understands quoted phrases and dates.



Dictionary Definitions in Spotlight

Quickly find the definition of any word by entering it in the Spotlight search field.

Calculations in Spotlight

Find answers fast. Just activate Spotlight and type in a simple or sophisticated equation, and Spotlight will instantly show you the result. Enjoy support for over 40 functions ranging from simple math to logarithms to trigonometry.



Spotlight Application Launching

Launch applications quicker. The Spotlight default item is now the Top Hit, so if you search for an application, all you have to do is press Return to launch it.

Web History Search

Search your recently visited web pages with Spotlight. Spotlight indexes the names of the websites you have visited as well as the content in the sites themselves. Search any attribute of a recently visited web page and you can go right back to it in Safari.



Search by Filename

Find files faster. If you know the filename you’re looking for, narrow your search results so that Spotlight searches only filenames.



Search System Files

Use Spotlight to search system files.

Back to top SystemIcon Mode in Open and Save Panels

View your files as icons in the Open and Save panels, just as you would in the Finder.



iLife Media Browser in Open Panel

Access iLife content from any Mac OS X application. Now the iLife Media Browser is integrated into the Open panel.



Live Partition Resizing in Disk Utility

You may be able to gain disk space without losing data. If a volume is running out of space, simply delete the volume that comes after it on the disk and move the volume’s end point into the freed space.

Help Menu Search

Enjoy more helpful Help. A new search field in the Help menu displays all relevant menu items in the active application. Highlight one and Leopard opens the menu and highlights the command.



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.

Grammar Check

Let your grammar set a shining example. A built-in English language grammar checker helps ensure that you don’t make errors in grammar.



Scroll Non-Active Windows

Scroll any open window, even if it’s not active. Simply position your mouse over the target window and scroll.



Empty Trash Button

Empty the Trash from the Trash itself with the Empty Trash button.



Eject All Partitions

Enjoy greater flexibility when ejecting a partitioned USB or FireWire volume. You can eject just one of the volumes or all the volumes at once.

Back to top System PreferencesNew Parental Controls Preferences

Configure all aspects of parental controls — content filters, curfews, and remote control — in one central place.



Improved Network Preferences Interface

Enjoy a simpler, more elegant view of your network preferences. Network status and configuration details are combined into a single, easy-to-understand view.



.Mac Sync for System Preferences

Get yourself a .Mac account and your System Preferences can stay in sync across all your Macs. No matter what Mac you use, you’ll feel right at home.

Advanced Account Options

Make changes to the user ID, login shell, and home directory for any account. Just hold down the Control key and click an account in the Accounts pane of System Preferences.



Hot Corner for Sleep Display

Get more use out of those hot corners. In addition to launching Exposé or starting a screen saver, you can now use hot corners to put your display to sleep.

Mouse Controls for Exposé

Control Exposé with any button on your mouse. Specify the mouse controls in the Exposé and Spaces pane in System Preferences.



Mouse Controls for Dashboard

Launch your Dashboard widgets with any button on your mouse. Specify the mouse controls in the Exposé and Spaces pane in System Preferences.

Back to top TerminalImproved International Support

Get more out of Terminal. The Core Text API for text layout reduces setup time and makes Terminal behave flawlessly for international users, with an increased character set.



Inspector

Enjoy convenient access to window information, display settings, and advanced options with the Inspector window.



Merge All Windows

Combine all your open Terminal windows into a single window with multiple tabs.

Movable Tabs

Rearrange your tabs with just a drag and drop. Change the order in which they appear or separate them out by pulling them into a separate window.



Window Settings

Save the window settings and shell configurations to a profile that you can reuse later.



Pull Tab into New Window

Separate a tab into its own window with a simple drag and drop.

Tabbed Windows

Keep multiple Terminal sessions going in a single, tabbed window.



Adjusting Window Settings

Customize the look and feel of Terminal with new window settings. You can set the background color, text color, and opacity of your windows.



Window Groups

Save the configuration of all your open windows as a window group. The location, window settings, and shell configurations of multiple windows can then be recalled instantly.

Back to top Text EditAutosave

Ensure that your edits aren’t lost. Have TextEdit automatically save copies of your document at a specified time interval.



OpenDocument and Word 2007 Formats

Take advantage of TextEdit support for the Word 2007 and OpenDocument formats for reading and writing.



Smart Links

Have TextEdit automatically turn Internet addresses in your document into clickable links.

Select Line Panel

Jump to a specific line in your document if you know its number. Or jump forward or backward by a specified number of lines.



Print Header and Footer

Print page numbers, the date, and the document title on each page of a TextEdit document.

Smart Quotes

Make your document look more professional with curly (“smart”) quotes. TextEdit can automatically substitute smart quotation marks for straight quotation marks as you type.



Smart Copy and Paste

Preserve proper spacing around copied text.

Back to top Time MachineBack Up Everything

Automatic backup, built right into your Mac. Never worry about losing a file again. Time Machine stores an up-to-date copy of all your Mac’s files on an external hard drive, personal file sharing volume, or Mac OS X Server. That includes system files, applications, accounts, preferences, music, photos, movies, and documents.



Automatic Backup

Enjoy effortless setup. The first time you attach an external drive to your Mac, Time Machine asks if you’d like to use that drive as your backup. Say yes and Time Machine takes care of everything else. Automatically. In the background. You’ll never have to worry about backing up again.



Go Back In Time

See what your computer looked like in the past. Select a specific date and let Time Machine find your most recent changes, or do a Spotlight search to find exactly the file you’re looking for. Once you do, click Restore and Time Machine brings it back to the present.

Automatic Stop and Resume

Never skip a beat. If your Time Machine backup is interrupted — because you took your portable on the road or put your Mac to sleep — Time Machine will simply stop backing up. When you reconnect to your backup drive again, TIme Machine automatically picks up where it left off.



Do Not Back Up List

Be selective. By default, Time Machine backs up your entire system. But you can also select items to exclude from a Time Machine backup to save space on your backup disk.



Browse Other Time Machine Disks

Browse other Time Machine disks with your Mac. Just plug in the drive and your Mac will recognize the Time Machine backup volume, even if it has backed up a different Mac.



Migration Assistant Support

Migrate easier. Move individual users and folders from an existing Time Machine backup to set up new systems with ease. Then just start up the new Mac and you’ll be right where you left off on the previous one.

Manual Backup

Create a new incremental backup at any time. Hold down the Control key and click the Time Machine icon in the Dock.



Quick Look Before Restoring

Quickly preview your files before you restore them to make sure those documents are really the ones you want.



Restore Your Mac

Restore everything on your Mac. Time Machine will put all the files right back where the originals were — as if nothing ever happened. You can even restore your files to set up a brand-new Mac.



Preserve Access Privileges

Back up the entire system and all users at once, while maintaining the access privileges associated with your files.

Back to top Universal AccessAlex — A New Voice

Give yourself a new voice. Meet Alex — a new English male voice that uses advanced, patented Apple technologies to deliver natural breathing and intonation, even at fast speaking rates.



Plug-and-Play Refreshable Braille Display Support

Quickly set up popular, refreshable Braille displays. VoiceOver detects and configures as soon as you plug them in. No additional software or setup is required.



Braille Output During OS Installation

For the first time ever on a desktop computer, you can use a Braille display while installing or upgrading your operating system.



The Braille Panel

See a virtual Braille display — a visual representation of VoiceOver Braille output onscreen along with an English text translation.



Customizable Braille Display Input Keys

Customize a Braille display more easily than ever before. Just choose a VoiceOver command, then press and hold the input keys. A tone sounds to let you know the command has been assigned successfully.

Contracted and Non-Contracted Braille

Output Braille in standard contracted format or non-contracted “computer Braille.” VoiceOver automatically converts contracted Braille under the cursor so it’s easier to edit, then contracts it again when the cursor moves.



NumPad Commander

Control VoiceOver using only the numeric keypad just like JAWS and Windows-Eyes. This makes it easier for screen reader users to switch from a PC to a Mac and provides easy access to your favorite VoiceOver commands.



Portable VoiceOver Preferences

Instantly reconfigure your VoiceOver preferences. Just plug in a flash drive containing your preferences and Leopard instantly reconfigures to work and act just like your Mac — without leaving a trace when you leave.



Faster Web and Page Navigation

Quickly navigate long documents or web pages. Jump to key elements like headers, tables, and links and by text attributes like underlining, bold, italics, and color — even text phrases.



Hot Spots

Monitor up to ten different areas onscreen and be alerted when there’s a change. Then jump directly to any hot spot to investigate or take action.

Drag-and-Drop Support

Use drag-and-drop actions by keyboard only, in accessible applications.



Integrated Interactive Tutorial

Learn VoiceOver unassisted in a safe environment. A built-in tutorial lets you practice as you learn.



Misspelled Word Detection

Hear when a word is misspelled while reading text. Choose a tone or a spoken description.



Positional Audio Effects

Benefit from many new sound effects in VoiceOver. Audio cues provide an improved sense of location.



Highlight by Word or Sentence

Set the VoiceOver cursor to highlight each word or sentence being read as it is spoken.



New VoiceOver Utility

Customize VoiceOver more easily. A new VoiceOver Utility layout includes many new options and preferences for customizing VoiceOver.



Improved Application Accessibility

Do more with VoiceOver. Bundled Leopard applications and utilities have been enhanced for improved accessibility.

Back to top UNIXUNIX® Certification

Mac OS X is now a fully certified UNIX operating system, conforming to both the Single UNIX Specification (SUSv3) and POSIX 1003.1. Deploy Leopard in environments that demand full UNIX conformance and enjoy expanded support for open standards popular in the UNIX community such as the OASIS Open Document Format (ODF) or ECMA’s Office XML.



DTrace

Monitor virtually any aspect of your application with DTrace, integrated into the Darwin kernel. Ruby, Python, and Perl have also been extended to support DTrace, providing unprecedented access for monitoring the performance characteristics of those languages.



Cocoa Bridges

Use Ruby and Python as first-class languages for building Cocoa applications, thanks to Objective-C bridges as well as full Xcode and Interface Builder support.

AutoFS

Automatically mount and dismount network filesystems on separate threads to improve responsiveness and reliability.



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.



Kerberized NFS

Securely connect NFS clients and servers using MIT’s Kerberos, rather than trusting system-reported IDs.



Directory Utility

Graphically manage all local and remote directory entries and services in one place. You don’t have to rely on complicated command-line operations.



Streaming IO

Set up high-bandwidth data transfers in your applications, without having to worry about different hardware architectures and optimal caching strategies.

Multicore Optimized

Take full advantage of modern architectures with multiple processor cores with improved scheduling, memory management, and processor affinity algorithms.



Scripting Bridge

Use Objective-C, Ruby, and Python programs to automate Mac applications. The new Scripting Bridge enables them to easily generate AppleEvents using a concise, AppleScript-like syntax.



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.



64-Bit Applications

Make use of all your existing devices. Leopard is the first mainstream operating system to completely and seamlessly support both 32-bit and 64-bit applications on the same platform.

Back to top Xcode 3Code Focus

Easily visualize your code's structure as you type with a unique highlighting effect, or use your mouse to select a code block to fold out of the way.



Improved Performance Editor

Get work done quickly with the improved editor in Xcode with snappier searching and the ability to load large files at least four times faster.



Instant-On Debugging

Eliminate the jarring transition from coding to testing with the instant-on debugger, moving smoothly from writing your code to running to pausing at any point to start debugging.

Interface Builder with Animations

Create powerful user interfaces and add great effects to your applications.



Message Bubbles

View your build errors, breakpoint definitions, and debug values right alongside the relevant source code.



Objective-C 2.0

Take advantage of Objective-C 2.0 — easier to read, faster to code, and more secure than ever.



Organizer Window

Develop your next project more easily, regardless of language and without a project. Just drag a folder into the Xcode Organizer window and click Build.

Project Snapshots

Experiment without fear. Record all the files of your project at any point in time as a safety net. Experiment with the confidence that you can always restore your project to a past working state.



Refactoring

Safely restructure or rename components of your source code with a single operation that affects your entire project, without risk of changing application behavior.



Research Assistant

View context-sensitive documentation that appears just as you need it. Research Assistant provides API overviews, source code references, related APIs, and more.

Back to top
Kahless
2007-10-26 17:27:45 UTC
A bit of clarification about Mac Viruses since there seem to be so many PC people here who think they know what they are talking about. There are no released MacOs X viruses. Check the Symantec website, or any other reliable anti-virus software maker. Can a Mac get a virus? Probably. Someone would have to write one, the Mac owner would have to disable the firewall, open the ports closed by default and agree to allow the virus on his/her computer by putting in his/her password. There are over 115,000 Windows viruses, Macs currently own 5 to 6 % of the computer market. One could then assume there should be at least 7000 Mac viruses out there, there aren't. I did computer tech for a school district for 10 years, never had a Mac with MacOs X get a virus. Had over 250 Windows computers running XP get one in just one year!



The iMac is a great computer, I have one. It doubles as a nice DVD player, you get a remote included. You also as a student get a discount at the Apple education store. It has wifi built in, no cables cluttering your desk. I have a power cord, that's it. You can get the wireless keyboard and mouse. You can work from anywhere in your room.
Mary
2007-10-26 15:55:21 UTC
I'm sorry, but there is one point in there you can't rely on, "Macs don't get viruses."



This is not entirely true. The reason, right now, that Macs don't get viruses is not because they are immune, but because the Mac population is a minority and thus people who write viruses don't bother writing them for Macs. The purpose of a virus is to infect as many computers as possible, so PCs are targeted because they're more common. However, if more and more people switch to Macs, people WILL start to write more viruses for them. So that argument isn't reliable.
Jim M
2007-10-26 18:45:09 UTC
On behalf of all the above PC doofuses - who totally ignored your request that they stay out of this ... I apologize.



If you could cut through the dross, there were a couple of positives mentioned (Kahless is always good!).

Not that you and I have the time to waste on such drivel, but someday see if you can find anyone in the entire world who can prove that there has ever been a virus on a Mac. And that silly argument that there aren't enough Mac around for the hackers to care is simply hogwash.



Meanwhile here are a couple of other positives you might use: (and if you need a little maturity on your side, tell your parents that these came from a really old guy - I'm 64!)



1. TCO (Total cost of ownership) If your parents are in business I'm sure they'll understand this! - Over the expected lifetime of a computer the additional costs involved in Mac ownership are tiny when compared to the costs of owning a PC. Why? No viruses, better and more stable operating system (have you noticed how many people are having problems with MSs latest gem - Vista?) Getting the software you can actually use is less expensive too. Of course you already know about the assortment of programs that are included in iLife. But did you also know that the iWork suite (Pages, Keynote and Numbers) runs circles around comparable pieces of MS Office - Word, PowerPoint and whatever they call their spreadsheet ?



iWork costs $79. MS Office is at least twice, and probably three or four times that.



2. Having a computer should be all about getting productive work done (and, of course, a little play too!) without having to worry about the next virus, or OS fix, or crash. That's what Macs do - they get the work done.



Tell your parents that the old guy has three Macs right now. The oldest is more than eight years old, gets used hard every day, and has NEVER crashed - not once!



I hope this has been helpful. I wish you luck ... and enjoy your new Mac!



Oh, and one last point: As of September 30, Apple is the MOST VALUABLE COMPUTER MANUFACTURER IN THE WORLD - worth $162 billion!
silencetheevil8
2007-10-26 16:04:33 UTC
Well perhaps you shoudl have the info and run with that so I will give you all the positives and the negatives in one big ball of goodness.



Macs DO get viruses just a whole lot less because programmers don't care about Mac users.



There is little to no real open source community for Mac computers and most of the existant community spends their time making windows run on them.



I still have a working 386SX in my basement



Macs are awsome at multimedia editing and creativity



So are PC's (and a lot of the software is free)



Macs aren't very scalable (upgrade)



Neither are most Store bought PCs anymore



Macs offer little to no customizing and the OS is bland and lacks a lot of function.



Windows is the opposite of bland and offers everything under the sun, all of which will eventually crash leaving you and your unfinished work destroyed.
scottclear
2007-10-26 16:00:00 UTC
+Macs dont get viruses -- they do, but not as much as PCs

+Macs are more secure

+Macs last longer than most Windows computers

+Macs have a suite of apps to stimulate my creativity



I have both, and prefer my Mac for the following reasons:

1. It seems like it takes my PC forever to open and close, but the Mac opens and shuts down almost instantly.

2. I love the interface on the Mac--think it's much cooler than the PC.

3. The Mac almost never crashes, the PC crashes almost every time I have it open. PC fails the stability test.

4. The biggest argument against Macs used to be that there were no apps for them. Now most apps have PC and Mac versions, and their data is transferable between them seamlessly, especially in Office products.

5. You can get student version of Office for a minimal amount of money.



One thing I don't like: I haven't been able to put Windows Media on my Mac, even though you're supposed to be able to. That leaves me with just Quicktime, which is OK, but not universal.
Pixie
2007-10-26 15:53:14 UTC
Sounds like you are well on your way...



+Macs have wireless built in, no need to purchase cards

+They look better and are more user friendly

+Built in camera, use to send photos home ;)

+User opinions, everyone who has one loves it. (I do)

+Able to run Windows as well, don't need to re-purchase software (not sure about the software)

+Compact, easier to transport back and forth during summer



You could watch those "I'm a mac, I'm a PC" commercials on apple.com for some ideas.


This content was originally posted on Y! Answers, a Q&A website that shut down in 2021.
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