Leopard Preview Gives Clue to Top Secret New Feature

Apple showed us some of the new features in Leopard but also provided clues to what the “Top Secret” feature might be.

It’s interesting what a different perspective you get reading an Apple keynote compared to watching one. You pick up things others haven’t noted and some things are much more impressive, while others make you wonder what the fuss is about.

After perusing the internet about the WWDC06 keynote, I started this piece and called it “No Big Bang in Leopard Yet.” But after watching the keynote, I’d have to say there are some significant and impressive things showing up already. Including a big clue to an upcoming feature.

If the good stuff is yet to come—“Top Secret” as Steve called it—then prepare to be blown away when all of Leopard is revealed. Especially you, Vista.

Here’s a few of the things that impressed me:

Voice Over
Of all the things Apple showed us, this one was the most amazing. I confess, after Steve demonstrated it and the audience whooped and hollered, I was about to clap too.

iChat
An excellent mix of extraordinary eye candy, and potentially really useful features. To be able to show photos, videos and Keynotes through iChat, should be a big winner with businesses all over the world.

And the Background feature? Total eye candy, but wow! For people who like eye candy, the Background feature will sell a few Macs. Imagine seeing that demoed in your local Apple store with a video of say a beach scene for the background…
Customer: “Who’s the guy at the beach?”
Salesperson: “That’s Fred. But he’s not at the beach, he’s over there.”
Fred waves from across the room. Customer’s jaw gets carpet burn.

System wide To Dos
A great idea. It’s a whole new way of managing your work and files. I expect there are a few more secrets up Steve’s sleeve with this one.

iCal goes multi-user
Finally Apple is lifting calendaring up a notch. With the new multi-user iCal and it’s group calendaring, combined with iWork 07 and enhanced Mail, many small business will find no need at all for Microsoft Office.

Add to this list improvments, Parental Controls enhancments, Spotlight enhancements, and Dashcode and WebClip, there is a lot to look forward to in Leopard.

But not everything Steve and Scott Forstall (VP of Platform Experience) showed got me excited. Here’s a couple:

Time Machine
One of the keys to a successful backup is not storing the backup in the same room or building as the original system. With the exponential growth of backed up data, Time Machine looks like it will require a hefty external hard drive, and with files constantly changing, it will always need to be connected. So Time Machine only becomes useful for rollbacks as Scott demonstrated.

Time Machine is going to be extremely useful for one-off file or folder restores, but as a replacement for a proper backup regime? You’re going to get burnt if you rely on Time Machine only. Defintely keep using SuperDuper (or whatever your backup preference) for removable media backups.

Spaces
This one is for the geeks. It is good implementation but hardly too inspiring. VirtueDesktops can do all this in one form or another except for the drag and drop of apps between desktops. It’s nice that it’s included in Leopard but hardly revolutionary or as Steve described it “a big one”.

The only way the average user will use Spaces is if it gets some intelligence built-in. For instance, apps of the same type launch on a specified desktop. Or if it remember which desktop you last had the apps on. Or if you can designate which space an app launches in.

Overall
I’m impressed.

Leopard is probably on par at this stage with Tiger as far as bang-for-buck, maybe a little ahead. And that will only get better. This OS X will be definitely be worth the upgrade price.

One more thing… Core Animation
Oh yeah, did I forget to mention what I think the big secret of Leopard is? I believe it’s to do with Core Animation. By the time you read this, I probably won’t be the only one suggesting it, but I think this really is the real big one.

Steve called some other features “the big one”, but he was probably just trying to keeping a lid on the truth. Core Animation is going to totally change the interface, and Time Machine was a sampler. For a long time people have been hoping to see a “3D” interface on computers and some concepts do exist - even Vista has something. But when you see Time Machine in action you can see OS X kicking those other guys back into the second dimension. (Note: I say “3D” because it is only a simulation of a 3D look. Until we get 3D monitors, it’s really just fancy 2D.)

Imagine, for instance, a file viewer that would let you flick through your files like you would flick through a book. You saw a hint of that already in Time Machine. And with Core Animation, even if Apple don’t do it, any third party developer could. Or Imagine flicking through your photos in iPhoto; your albums in iTunes; your DVD collection in Delicious Monster.

And that’s just one way of implementing Core Animation. Imagine what Apple will do with it when it meets Finder.

As Apple are giving away Leopard now so developers can starting building apps for it, that strongly indicates no more significant under-the-hood changes are slated. But it also mean Apple has a lot more time for overhauling of the interface. Finder had no apparent changes; it didn’t get a mention at all. For example, don’t you think if Apple was going to implement a tabbed Finder, Steve would have showed it?

But he didn’t because Core Animation will meet Finder. That will be the revolution in Leopard. My money says a 3D Finder and other 3D interfaces are what Apple is trying to keep “Top Secret”.