Leopard reviews spotted; lost weekends ahoy! (and Boston travel)

It's IT Blogwatch: in which we look at the first reviews of Apple's latest big cat: Mac OS 10.5. Not to mention how to walk and/or drive in Boston...

Ken Mingis and Michael DeAgonia report:

It's been two years, five months and 26 days since Apple Inc. last released a new operating system -- the longest gap between releases since the company first released Mac OS X six years ago. Mac OS X 10.5, better known as "Leopard," hits store shelves Oct. 26 at 6 p.m. local time, six months after it was initially expected and more than a year and a half after Apple CEO Steve Jobs first showed it off in mid-2006. So, is it worth the wait? And, more important, is it worth the $129 price tag? ... What's new in Leopard? A lot. [more and don't miss the many pics]

David Pogue asks:

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 ... So Apple’s mission in Leopard was to make us aware of needs we never knew we had — something Apple is usually good at ... The one Apple extols the most, with reason, is called Time Machine ... That’s not the only routine-changing feature. Quick Look lets you tap the Space bar to view the contents of a document’s icon at full size ... and it’s fantastic. [more]

And Walt Mossberg channels Darwin:

while it is an evolutionary, not a revolutionary, release, I believe it builds on Apple’s quality advantage over Windows ... better and faster than Vista ... Leopard felt about as fast as Tiger, and it started up much faster than Vista in my tests. I compared a MacBook Pro laptop with Leopard preinstalled to a Sony Vaio laptop with Vista preinstalled. Even though I had cleared out all of the useless trial software Sony had placed on the Vaio, it still started up painfully slowly compared with the Leopard laptop ... Leopard isn’t a must-have for current Mac owners, but it adds a lot of value. For new Mac buyers, it makes switching even more attractive. [more]

Scott McNulty notes what's missing:

This Apple tech doc is making the rounds on the Mac blogs today. That's right folks, more than 5 years after Steve declared OS 9 dead (that's Classic to those of you who have only known OS X) it seems that Classic really is dead. Leopard will no longer run Classic apps, and Apple suggests you upgrade to OS X compatible applications. [more]

Carl Howe runs the numbers:

Leopard upgrade Family Packs ... allow customers to install Leopard on up to five machines ... being a geeky numbers guy, I'm curious. These family packs are a huge success, but how huge? I'd like to know if we can actually make a business case that Apple Family pack strategy actually benefits Apple and its shareholders ... By providing its customers the option of buying multiple licenses in a family pack, Apple reaps about $103 million more in revenue than if it went with a "We only sell single license units with no quantity discounts" strategy ... Not using copy protection (which tends to offend loyal customers while doing little to combat actual piracy) and providing reasonable upgrade options is not only good marketing; it's good business. [more]

Slashdotters gossip:

• Anonymous Coward: Of all of the new features of Leopard, I really cannot appreciate the addition of translucency to the menu bar. As a long time Mac user this really seems like one of those "because we can" features rather than it making any sense. [more]
• wodgy7: Microsoft's philosophy [is] that others will put up with things that they wouldn't personally put up with. For instance, internal to Office, Clippy is known as TFC_* in function names... based on a comment from Bill Gates that "I don't want to have to deal with That F***ing Clip every time I want to print." Bill hates it, but he nevertheless still shipped it. In contrast, Jobs would never ship a feature he hated; he'd view it as a personal affront. [more]
• TheNetAvenger: When you see Time Machine think Vista 'Previous Versions' with a prettier UI, and no ability to track or keep file changes on the volume. Vista does both on volume backup copies of changes and external backups automatically, and presents them in the same 'previuos versions' UI timeline list ... Time Machine's UI is much prettier, but ... the pretty UI doesn't make up for the lack of features ... strange how something gets accolades when Apple does it, and is dismissed when Microsoft does it and even technically does it better. [more]

And finally...

• How to be a Boston pedestrian
• How to be a Boston driver
  

Buffer overflow:

• Ron Bowes: How Secure is your Email?
• Carlo Longino: Stat to Chew On
• Valleywag: Intel CEO not impressed with Facebook
• Mike Masnick: ICANN Investigating Sites That Buy The Available Domain You Just Searched For
• Groklaw - The NetApp-Sun Patent Litigation Is On: Anyone Know of Any Prior Art? - Updated 2Xs
• Matt Ford: Simple Turing machine shown capable of solving any computational problem
• Technology Bites: GIMP 2.4 Released

Other Computerworld bloggers:

• Heather Havenstein: IT recruiting in Second Life and Web 2.0 round up
• Shark Tank: Lockdown means walk down
• Shark Bait: Email is looping

Richi Jennings is an independent analyst/adviser/consultant, specializing in blogging, email, and spam. A 20 year, cross-functional IT veteran, he is also an analyst at Ferris Research. You too can pretend to be Richi's friend on Facebook, or just use boring old email: blogwatch@richi.co.uk.

Previously in IT Blogwatch:

• California wildfires: new tech helps victims (and don't read this)
• Gmail IMAP emerges, makes our day (and ninja milking)
• Microsoft settles Euro-anti-trust malarkey (and major-translator)