Leopard, one week on
November 12th, 2007 • Technology
I spent (too) much of my working life staring at the 15in screen of a MacBook Pro, preying for anything approaching an idea to come into my head.So while a new OS to the rest of the world may be as thrilling as paint thinner, in my world it’s Major News.
OK, so maybe it isn’t, but at least I get something new to stare at for nine hours a day. Accepting those figures as roughly accurate, I have now been staring at Leopard for 72 hours. And if you’re even remotely interested, here’s what I think.
Stacks is Good, but could be so much better. I now have a completely file-free desktop (everything sits within a Stack folder called Inbox in my dock), and I’m reaping the karmic benefits that come from such a spring clean. But I cannot understand why Apple wouldn’t let us create Stack dock folders on the fly - drag an attachment down there, for example, and it creates a folder.
The dock itself is Good. I couldn’t care less for those who find it fussy and ugly - after 72 hours, I no longer think about it because I’m too busy using it. That has to be a good thing.
The new finder is a peach, and the arrival of Quick Look has transformed the way I work. I can get through more in less time - filing stuff away is now a matter of hitting the spacebar, checking the content, changing the filename and filing away. No more wasted hours waiting for Office to open Word or PowerPoint.
The new, turbo-charged Spotlight is amazing, both as a launcher (just type an application’s name, then hit return) and as a magnifying glass (find that supposedly lost file by typing an extra-long query).
But after a week or so, I’ve decided that Leopard’s real party tricks are hidden from view. Launch the finder. See how quick it is? Now switch view from list to Coverflow. Snappy, huh? For reasons that I can’t fully explain, Leopard feels solid, as in Built. I suspect that I’m staring at the product of a team that will probably never enjoy the headlines stolen by the guys behind the revamped Spotlight or Finder. Shame.
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