# Your guesses on Secret Leopard functionality



## jcart12 (Feb 28, 2007)

Well we are still waiting to know what secret functionality will be added to Leopard. My guesses

1. Aqua replaced with 3D interface. i.e. instead of window, we will have cubes. Finder will be replaced with an app that manages files in stacks based on spotlight meta-tags (Good bye to folders forever!).

2. Hand gestures incorporated into OS. Apple will release a new range of touch sensitive cinema displays at the same time.

What do you think?


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## jcart12 (Feb 28, 2007)

Just a caveat,
Don't want to know about supporting apps. Yeah we know about iChat etc. However that aint part of the OS. In addition yeah I'm a geek like you, but I can't imagine Jobs announcing to the general public, wee geez we have now incorporated Sun ZFS into the the underlying file system! It's too geeky and most people wouldn't have a clue what he was talking about.

Of course there could be nothing new and he was just pulling out collective leg. However I doubt it......


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## Tommo (Feb 28, 2007)

I'd settle for backwards compatibility with all existing OSX applications, now that really would be a first.


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## Damrod (Feb 28, 2007)

ZFS would be a nice feature though, the specs and features of the FS read very interesting


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## ora (Feb 28, 2007)

Tommo, I can't imagine 10.5 would be incompatible with 10.4, instead I'll get worries about that when we get to Mac OS XI.

Jcart, those features sounds fun but i can't believe they wouldn't have been seen in the developer betas, I'd guess the extra features will be more discrete, like built in bootcamp, etc etc.


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## asinclair (Feb 28, 2007)

For one, I agree that the Finder is overdue for an overhaul, and I would be interested in seeing a file system that's entirely search-based, although the implications would be quite severe...

On the other side, I get the feeling that touch screen technology might be getting quite mature. We've seen what Apple has done on the iPhone, and I could well imagine working on an OS that's mostly touchscreen.

Some of you may have seen the following demo of that technology: http://www.ted.com/tedtalks/tedtalksplayer.cfm?key=j_han
My impression is that it is maturing nicely, and it is quite likely Apple will be the first to bring it to the masses.

However, unless we foresee a complete overhaul of their computer lines, I expect that the technology will be built into the OS, but only available on future high-end Macs.

I will go out on a limb, and actually raise the question as to whether the current line of Mac might maybe _already _have built-in touchscreens...
Apple, with its skill in secrecy, would be quite capable to ship computers for years with that kind of hardware and not let it slip.
But probably that's just wishful thinking on my part. It would pain me greatly to find out the MacBook I bought two months ago would not be able to run Leopard to its full potential...


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## Tommo (Feb 28, 2007)

Ora, I can well imagine applications not running under 10.5 that ran under 10.4. There have been cases of this on all previous upgrades, which have either been patched or the software discontinued for Mac. In the earlier days it would occasionally occur on point releases as well.


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## Mikuro (Feb 28, 2007)

jcart12 said:


> Finder will be replaced with an app that manages files in stacks based on spotlight meta-tags (Good bye to folders forever!).


I agree with this except for the _replaced_ part. Stacks will make a great _addition_ to the Finder. Folders aren't going anywhere. Ever. The user's reliance on them, however, most likely will.

Along those lines, I expect Leopard to let you assign your own tags to files arbitrarily. This should not be at the Spotlight level, but rather the file system level. HFS+ has support for this, and even Tiger has the ability to do it, although it's not used. I hope Apple will use file system metadata more and the Spotlight database less, because the Spotlight database is a nightmare in many ways. Ideally, Spotlight should only be used for caching data that can be re-created whenever needed (basically, as a time-saving measure). For instance, you can re-determine the size of a JPEG based on the file alone if the Spotlight database is damaged/erase, but you CANNOT re-determine the URL of a downloaded file, which Safari currently stores with Spotlight. This leads to unexpected data loss in many circumstances. Spotlight is not resilient enough to be the SOLE source of any information. That's why I expect Apple to make great use file system tags. (Microsoft was going to do something like this in Vista, but it got cut.)

As I've said before, I expect Leopard to have a scalable UI. Again, this almost made it into Tiger, and in early versions (10.4.0 - 10.4.3, IIRC) you could even play around with it if you installed the developer tools (using the Quartz Debug app). It worked decently, but had a lot of rough edges and no decent way to control it. If it makes it into Leopard, I suspect that A) Many of the UI elements (like close boxes, buttons and scroll bars) will be vector-based so they'll never look blocky, and B) An interface for controlling this will be present on every window; e.g., in addition to the resize box in the bottom-right corner of every window, there could be a scale box.

I expect higher-quality visual effects. Exposé is great, but it uses a very ugly scaling method. With the power of Core Image and Core Animation, enabling smooth scaling animations should be easy.

I do NOT expect a Finder that Doesn't Suck. I hope and I dream, but I do not expect...


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## ora (Feb 28, 2007)

I guess so with 3rd part software, though for the biggies you tend to get fixes. I thought you were referring to changes on the scale of OS 9-->X and PPC to Intel though, my bad!


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## fryke (Feb 28, 2007)

They already have stuff active in recent Leopard builds that will be bigger than most people out there anticipate. With resolution-independence _in place_ now, they can "simply" release 200ppi+ displays and they make sense (with Leopard).


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## andyhargreaves (Feb 28, 2007)

Would be nice if network printing, especially to Windows-shared printers, was working properly.  And static IP routes.

I guess this counts as too geeky for the main announcements, though!!

Andy


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## Satcomer (Feb 28, 2007)

andyhargreaves said:


> Would be nice if network printing, especially to Windows-shared printers, was working properly.  And static IP routes.
> 
> I guess this counts as too geeky for the main announcements, though!!
> 
> Andy



It works properly when third party developers develop something other then just USB printer drivers. Plus are you setting up the XP right? How to Use a Printer Attached to a Windows XP Computer in Mac OS X has always worked for me.


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## Yesurbius (Feb 28, 2007)

You guys think too small.  This is Apple we're talking about.   Their Voice recognition and synthesis software has gotten so good, that I think Leopard's secret functionality could very well be "keyboard optional"

Imagine his keynote speech when he unveils Leopard on the big screen and says, "Now normally, I go and sit down and show you all the wonderful new features ... but not today.  Today I am going to do it from where I stand."

Then he starts opening applications and showing everything in a very intuitive voice-controlled manner....   Then he says, "Now lets go into KeyNote ..."  and KeyNote opens back up to the slide that he was previously giving.  He turns to the crowd .. grins with a smirk and says, "keyboard is optional" .. at that point keynote switches to the next frame ... and he introduces keynotes new voice cue feature 

Not to mention that all the new Macs that he's going to be introducing will be Leopard ready - they'll have this special voice chip that can make it flawless.


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## Lt Major Burns (Feb 28, 2007)

i'd hate to have talk to/shout at my computer.  'nerd!'  

i want some GUI additions to make those Vista fanboys go 'damn, that's cool!'

i want the meta-finder.  the finder could be more like itunes, iphoto etc, remove the need for folder trees, just stack files.  make a GUI for the terminal for the times when you need total control, but for every day, and iTunes/Spotlight-based style finder would be so nice.

full-Postscript GUI would be good, and the advancement of LCD definition to get closer to the 300dpi desktop environment.  print graphics would be so nice to work on in 300dpi real-time.

and of course, Multitouch.  that would be the biggest shift in computing.  i'd like a computer that sits flat, not vertical, that i can interact with properly.  sod the one cursor mpuse driven gui, grab an image and play with it properly, get type and page layout back to how it used to be, moving the elements around on a piece of paper with your hands, tangible design.  that would be so nice.  it's pretty much wasted on the iPhnoe, it's only really used on photos there anyway...


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## andyhargreaves (Mar 1, 2007)

Multitouch could also be applied to the trackpads on notebook range.  That would be nice.  I've also just decided that it would be nice if Leopard has proper read/write FTP support built in, having spent an hour fighting with third-party apps.

Andy


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## Yesurbius (Mar 1, 2007)

I wasn't referring to lame voice recognition that you see now - I'm talking about smart interpretation.  Name your mac, ie. "Fred".  Then you say, "Fred lets see what's on Digg" ..  computer recognizes Digg as a website and takes you there ..  "Fred, just the RSS feed" ..  boom you are looking at the RSS feed ...  "Next Page Fred" ...  "Fred, Show Me Apple Unveils Speaking Computer"

k ..  I'm starting to realize how lame that would be.  My wife sleeping in the next room and I'm trying to surf   Yeah ...  okay - I withdraw that idea ..  Lt. Major Burns has some good ideas ..  I'd definately like to see finder reworked to be a lot  more customizable / controllable.


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## Ferdinand (Mar 2, 2007)

I don't get whats wrong with the finder. Every1 is saying that it needs to be revised, reworked and more controlable and bla bla bla.
I don't see any problems with the finder. If you say it needs to be reworked, what do you mean? Are you talking about folder management, or finder prefs, or being more integrated with Spotlight?


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## Damrod (Mar 2, 2007)

For example:

Finder "forgets" that it has folders and mounts every now and then. You have two choices then: reboot, or touch the folder in question with the terminal. Only then Finder gets the folder again. Though it NEVER was gone, as you can get it via the Terminal just fine all the time.

The Finder has some of these "treats", it would be nice if Apple would *finally* work on it. And they know about it, trust me.


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## Mikuro (Mar 2, 2007)

There's already a separate thread for it: http://macosx.com/forums/switchers-windows-mac-converts/292180-why-does-finder-suck.html


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## ApeintheShell (Mar 2, 2007)

Well you can always switch back to the keyboard when your wife is asleep or use the multi touch like some have suggested. I don't think we have to get rid of the keyboard because obviously people need it for writing and programming. Eventually Apple will adopt this multi touch surface in its Mac line and the keyboard will slowly fade away.

I emailed the Apple team back when Mac OS X 10.2 came out about a bug where the system could not remember the view settings after you closed the Finder window and opened a new one. In Mac OS X 10.4 it is fixed. Hooray!

Don't quote me on that.


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## chemistry_geek (Mar 3, 2007)

I think that touch screen LCD displays for desktop/laptop could be useful for some things, but not as a primary user interface - it's great for iPhone.  I couldn't imaging reaching for my display as the primary user interface - the shoulder strain, arm fatigue, and the time required to constantly be reaching, especially with large displays.  People see science fiction with actors interacting with displays - that takes a lot of work to flail your arms about to get work done - NOT FUN!


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## fryke (Mar 3, 2007)

Voice recognition doesn't make sense in _so_ many places... Basically, it *only* makes sense when you're alone in your room. And even _then_, a keyboard simply is the better data-entry device.

In the past, Apple also has a history of only implementing these things (handwriting recognition and voice recognition) half-arsedly, i.e. only with English (and only American-English at that) speaking/writing people.

So *if* Apple's really still working at that concept, I seriously doubt they could simply "do it right". It would take a lot of - and a lot of _international_ - work that would tend to leak out information. I'm almost certain we would know about _such_ a feature more in advance.

But again: For 99.9% of all situations, voice recog simply makes no sense at all.


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## Lt Major Burns (Mar 3, 2007)

chemistry_geek said:


> I think that touch screen LCD displays for desktop/laptop could be useful for some things, but not as a primary user interface - it's great for iPhone.  I couldn't imaging reaching for my display as the primary user interface - the shoulder strain, arm fatigue, and the time required to constantly be reaching, especially with large displays.  People see science fiction with actors interacting with displays - that takes a lot of work to flail your arms about to get work done - NOT FUN!




as a creative, it pains to have to be so precise working with a computer, i love using paper and stuff becuase i can use my hands so much more, and i can be far more expressive with them.  i'd love a 24" multitouch display with full support in Leopard.  Illustrator Muiltitouch-style would be amazing, as would something like Cinema4D.


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## Natobasso (Mar 3, 2007)

I think the touch-screen concept is really going to work in an all-in-one digital entertainment system.


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## Qion (Mar 3, 2007)

I believe it's been said previously in this thread, but it would be great if Apple could implement all of these user interface mechanism at once. I agree with Fryke that controlling your computer with voice recognition is really only good for 1% of your life, IE "turn on the lights" or "play this video"; not something you'd use to input a short story.

However, Leopard should be about the next-gen. How will I communicate with my computer when Intel comes out with that 80-core chip? Let's start paving the way to AI, shall we?


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## Lt Major Burns (Mar 4, 2007)

i've seen too much sci-fi to endorse AI.


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## Veljo (Mar 4, 2007)

I'd like to see a few graphical enhancements &#8212; get rid of the brushed metal and get some kind of nice new look. I'd also like to see windows fade open and closed like they do on Vista, I think it makes the system look a lot nicer.


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## chemistry_geek (Mar 5, 2007)

Veljo said:


> I'd like to see a few graphical enhancements &#8212; get rid of the brushed metal and get some kind of nice new look. I'd also like to see windows fade open and closed like they do on Vista, I think it makes the system look a lot nicer.



The eye candy looks nice for about 10 minutes, but when one is working hard and trying to get things done to meet a dead line, I don't like WAITING for the GUI to 'get with the program' just to look _COOL_.  I wouldn't mind the eye candy, as long as I have control over it and can disable it in a control panel.  As fast as computers are today, the user interface has actually been slowing down with useless 'cool' visual effects such as windows and menus fading in and out.  Well, I suppose I should mention that I'm a pharmaceutical scientist, and I understand that Corporate America always requires its employees to think creatively and differently to meet the managers' question of 'what have you done lately?'  I actually wait for Microsoft Windows XP's user interface even though my IBM Thinkpad has a Core Duo processor in it.  There's absolutely no reason for me to wait on a GUI for 'coolness' when I'm busting hind end to bring medicines to benefit people.

I use my Mac at home for some of the work because it's faster and has dual displays.  I don't take proprietary stuff to the Mac via a USB jumpdrive, but I use Spotlight to search through scientific literature - WOW it is FAST for using keywords for sifting through scientific literature - helps me significantly with research.  I even do some graphical editing in GIMP and place the pictures in PowerPoint just because I know the Mac better.


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## Natobasso (Mar 5, 2007)

Linux? Ubuntu?


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## Yesurbius (Mar 5, 2007)

New "Secret" Leopard Functionality??  

Thin Client Support!!!

Leopard Server will include a 'Terminal Services' of sorts - Apple will either reuse RDP (probable) or come up with their own display protocol, and allow Macs to run apps remotely off Mac servers.  A user will be able to login to the corporate server and run Mac, Windows and Unix apps simultaneously on the same display.  And of course Apple will have its own innovations / additions for it.

When they came out with the Intel, they told everyone to move to XCode - I bet that XCode will make the transition to thin-client capable apps relatively seamless.

For Leopard Client, it will be a remote admin tool - similar to what came out in XP .. l

And of course Leopard will nicely coincide with Apple's release of the Mac Station, a Thin Client Terminal Device.


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## icemanjc (Mar 19, 2007)

I just wanna see something for the mac, that will make third party game developers switch to mac, thats all I want right now.


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## symphonix (Mar 19, 2007)

Damrod said:


> ZFS would be a nice feature though, the specs and features of the FS read very interesting



There are plenty of rumours that ZFS will be a part of Leopard.

Also, since resolution independence is already working nicely in the dev builds, I wouldn't be surprised to see SVG / Vector based icons, buttons and GUI elements. This would make the new interface the sweetest, smoothest, slickest and most lickable GUI they've ever done.

I expect metadata and tags to become a bigger part of the system, with a serious rethink of Spotlight and the Finder - though I doubt we've seen the last of the traditional things-in-folders file system just yet.

One feature-name that has turned up in Apple's press that hasn't really been explained yet is "Live Preview".  Whatever it is, it justifies an entire session stream at the next WWDC conference!


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## fryke (Mar 20, 2007)

Isn't "Live Preview" simply the Finder's new ability to show media (pictures, movies) in one of those dark-transparent containers in full-size and fullscreen? At least that's what I remember about it. It's nice. Certainly much more useful than previewing movies in column view (too small).


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## Ferdinand (Mar 20, 2007)

How do you do that? I never knew about it, except for the column-view preview.


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## Qion (Mar 20, 2007)

Ferdinand said:


> How do you do that? I never knew about it, except for the column-view preview.



Are you a developer? If you are, it's a simple right-click on a picture/video/etc and choosing to quick view it. The media will come up in a nice little black box. 

Tiger, of course, doesn't do this.


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## rubaiyat (Mar 20, 2007)

What is it with people who want the demise of the Folder system?

Given the erratic and tedious behaviour of Spotlight's searching function, I feel much more comfortable in just knowing a file is where I left it last.

What needs fixing in Finder is exactly those things that simply don't work, or work badly, like Spotlight and smart folders, not abandoning the option for maintaining your own personal organisational methods. Whatever that may be to satisfy needs that Apple and its programers simply can't anticipate.

As anyone who does research knows, nothing beats a browse of the actual bookshelves to find all the material mislabled, or simply omitted or misplaced in the index.

Since the inception of OSX there has been a drive to put the simple to understand real world model of the original Mac in a coffin and return computing to its "rightful" place as an elite activity of the IT priestly class.


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## rubaiyat (Mar 20, 2007)

To get back on topic.

What I *expect* from Leopard, is exactly what you have been shown. 

Any "secret" features will be of the trivial 5 minute "gee whiz" kind that will be turned off or ignored when reality finally rears its ugly head.

What I would *like* from Leopard is a return to the spit & polish and responsiveness of the classic Mac OS. Apple should put a lot of effort into eliminating every one of the remaining GUI bugs and OS nasties that get in the way of productivity and getting the job done.

Now that there are virtually no hardware differences between PCs and Macs it really comes down to which OS does a better job. 

Hanging spinning disco balls off the rear vision mirror might distract you from the gas guzzling habits of your SUV and its tendency to reverse over your smaller children, but it does not make it a better means of transport.


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## mindbend (Mar 20, 2007)

I'm thinking the secrets will by primarily AppleTV and iPhone related. Some of the "secrets" have started slipping nowthings like AppleTV export from Quicktime Pro.


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## powermac (Mar 21, 2007)

I would like to see the GUI get a make over, the brush metal look is getting out dated. Also, I would like Apple to add the ability to change more elements of the interface. 
Finder, hopefully will get re-worked. And being able to add your own meta-data, as everyone as mentioned is a function all ready in Vista. I would also like to see, although they would be accused of stealing from Windows, but being able to put small previews on the folder icons. This is very handy when you have many folders with similar contents (music, photos).  
The features they have all ready mentioned during the keynote sound sweet.


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## Timotheos (Mar 24, 2007)

Lt Major Burns said:


> as a creative, it pains to have to be so precise working with a computer, i love using paper and stuff becuase i can use my hands so much more, and i can be far more expressive with them.  i'd love a 24" multitouch display with full support in Leopard.  Illustrator Muiltitouch-style would be amazing, as would something like Cinema4D.



I was just thinking about this if apple can pull this off and pull it off really well, then it could give creatives a real reason to use the mac. 

I have read a few threads withen the last year or so about why the mac is best for design and to be honest, theres not that many reasons as to why you would want to pick a mac over a windows based PC.

Yeah, sure theres the loyalty thing with apple design industry history, and the fact that your using a computer that has good design. Apart from those points one of the only real tangible software or hardware advantage is that the mac osx is a more professional and work based OS I guess, nothing specializing in design.

If they get this hands on thing working (someone was talking about a Cinema display layed down on a table which I liked a idea of) Then it could give apple a more physical and 'real' advantage over using mac over a PC for design. maybe win abit more support back from the Design industry.


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