First impressions from Leopard

I was waiting for Leopard with anxiety and I was expecting what was very good to become even better. I couldn’t focus on any specific feature since I am pretty new to this game. All in all, the new operating system did my life easier but I wasn’t impressed.

The good part

I decided to have a clean installation of Leopard. After backing up, the new operating system deleted every single file. Half an hour later I had a new system. The whole procedure was pretty fast and easy. If you are about to jump to the Leopard train do have a clean installation. That’s my advice.

Everything works better than before. All applications require less CPU and less memory. I can’t explain this magic and I don’t care to. There must be some kind of magic though.

Stacks is a good enhancement. It lets you create shortcuts of files and folders in one place. This way you can have access to practically anything with just one click. At the same time you keep your desktop clean and tidy (I can’t have my desktop nothing but empty). Stacks is great for people who use a lot of tiny folders, files and applications all the time. It can be life saving in cases of hurrying. I use it from the very first day and I find it very useful.

Spaces is what I like most in Leopard. With spaces you can create virtual rooms and run specific applications in specific rooms. For example, when I use Coda, Photoshop and InDesign I don’t want to be distracted by let’s say Mail. At the same time I don’t want to close Mail. So I created a space dedicated to all development applications and a second one for all the other. This way I have reduced working time and most of all I remain concentrated to what I need to do each time.

Wanna back up your system easily in no time? Try Time Machine. It only requires an external hard disc. Of course it lets you back up only what you want to. Just like everything else in MacOS Time Machine works intuitively so you only need to think what you are going to save not how.

The not so good part

I was expecting a more beautiful environment. Having my Dock and my menus semitransparent is something I don’t like. It doesn’t have to do with personal taste, it has to do with communication and usage. For example I can’t see which applications are running since the tiny triangle underneath an icon has been replaced by an obscured dot. This not good design.

I am all for the protection of the environment and the recycled paper but I also want my folders to be seen clearly. Apple, by leaving behind the shiny look (only for the folders though), is politically correct but it confuses us. I want back the beautiful old icons which helped Apple become so famous for its interface design. Who ‘s going to bring them back for us?

To conclude, Leopard is even easier to work with but not better designed. I think in the future Apple will work on the design part and will produce a better interface. At least this is what I am hoping…