Apple Offers New Goodies in Leopard System

If you’re a computer company, what on earth do you add to the sixth annual version of your operating system? It’s not as though there are any glaring holes left. Nobody is still crying out for a better way to organize photos.

That’s the challenge that Apple faced in developing Mac OS X 10.5, code-named Leopard, which goes on sale tomorrow after a four-month delay. Price: $110 online, $190 for a family pack, or free on a new Mac. As Steve Jobs points out, for that money, “everyone gets the Ultimate version.” (That’s a swipe at Microsoft, which sells Windows Vista in at least five versions costing as much as $330 for the Ultimate).

Microsoft had it a little easier with Vista, because everybody knew what Windows needed: better security. Maybe Mac OS X is harder to hack, or maybe the virus writers consider the Mac’s 8 percent market share too piddling to bother with. But in its six years, Mac OS X hasn’t experienced a single virus outbreak or spyware infestation.

So Apple’s mission in Leopard was to make us aware of needs we never knew we had — something Apple is usually good at. Apple’s Web site lists 300 new features in Leopard. They’re not all earth-shattering; they include a Braille font, a “Word of the Day” screen saver and a Danish spelling checker. (Settle down, folks.) Fortunately, others really do make you slap your head and say, “Of course!”

The one Apple extols the most, with reason, is called Time Machine. It’s a backup program. Of course, the world is full of backup programs. But almost nobody uses them. Chances are extremely good that you, at this moment, do not have an automated, regular backup of your entire computer.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/25/technology/circuits/25pogue.
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