Naja, mich hauen die Features ehrlich gesagt (auch?) nicht so wirklich vom Hocker… Auf html-Mails kann ich gerne verzichten und die Funktionalitäten von iChat konnte (leider) ich mangels Kamera noch nicht testen — von daher weiß ich noch nicht so genau. Enttäuscht bin ich ein bisschen von Time Machine. Die Idee an sich finde ich recht gut, jedoch finde ich das Interfacedesign nicht wirklich glungen. Da ist mir zu viel Effekthascherei dabei. Gleich wie bei Mail, wo ein neues Fenster auf einmal einfadet — ich möchte, wenn ich wo klicke, gleich und ‘instantly’, wie Jobs so gerne sagt, mein Fenster oder ähnliches haben… Was Spaces betrifft bin ich mir auch noch nicht so recht sicher, dass müsste man einmal live testen. Ich bin der Meinung, dass sich noch etwas am Interface ändern muss — inzwischen ist das ja wirklich ein Mischmasch aus verschiedensten Styles. Ob das eines der Features sein wird, dass Apple aus meiner Meinung nach Zeitmangel noch nicht gezeigt hat, wird man sehen… Ich denke aber schon, dass da noch mehr kommt. Ich bin mit Tiger aber auch zufrieden :)

Daniel

Well, Jobs specifically said that there were a lot of things they didn’t want to share just yet, as MS may be able to mimic them in time for a Vista launch. I expect quite a few interface tweaks, although nothing so drastic as the transition from OS9, nor even the change from DP4 to 10.0. The Time Machine interface is interesting, although I don’t often overwrite, nor accidentally trash (and empty) files. I do however, worry about disk failure. It has yet to be determined if TM is a solution to that. Also, when I do delete files, I would really like them to be gone. The new voice is great. Finally, a voice that isn’t 20 years old. Can we have more than just 1 new voice? Perhaps something not american? Mail still has those ugly icons that violate the HIG. (I expect this to change) The transition to a fully 64bit environment is a good one, as these chips are then able to use many more registers than the traditional 8, allowing apps to run faster (assuming they’re recompiled). Really digging the new iChat. It’s now a NetMeeting/WebEX replacement (hopefully). I am really looking forward to the new Spotlight. Currently I use it so rarely as it’s so painful to use (stuff doesn’t show up sometimes, or you’re flooded with choice, and you can’t easily just go by filename, etc.) Really digging the new Mac Pros. I think they wanted to put a Blue Ray drive in there, but that was axed. Otherwise, there is no reason to have two optical drives. Blue Ray doesn’t read CDs at all, so you’d require two drives for all your burning needs.

CM Harrington

I bet there are going to be changes to the UI that may be shown at the Keynote in January. It’s just easier to show features first because they don’t require as much polish as the UI to look good in a demo. As for the actual features; I think they’re awesome. My parents consider getting a Mac just to keep in touch with me because everything’s so easy and simple (integrated camera, iChat …)—I bet when they see the new things there’s no way they’re not buying one. The possibility to see someone’s pictures and having him telling you stories about them in iChat alone is ace. I image it will make things much easier when you’ve got friends or family abroad.

Julian Stahnke

Another thing I’m interested in is the countdown to PPC Doomsday. Apple has finally made the transition to an all-Intel line-up. When does Apple, known for shutting out old hardware with new OS revisions, stop making a PPC version of the OS? I suspect we’ll see Leopard, and two more (10.6 and 10.7) before they stop supporting the PPC.

CM Harrington

Well, they did say that they were holding some of the really top-secret things “close to the vest”. Hopefully the things we’ve seen so far are just little upgrades compared to the rest of Leopard. That having been said, I think that these are good ideas. I think Time Machine looks pretty cool and useful, Spaces is a much-needed addition (I use Linux, and I always wish I had virtual desktops when I use Windows or OS X), and iChat finally has tabs. As for Mail, I’m underwhelmed. The notes and to-do are cool, but it seems like they should be their own application that integrates with Mail.app, instead of being bolted onto an email client.

Justin Voss

ich denke, was gui und finder angeht, hat apple mit absicht noch nicht viel gezeigt. schließlich kommt bald auch vista raus. und da sind die jungs sehr berühmt dafür, zu kopieren. ist gut so, wie es heute verlief. es sind noch ca. 6-7 monate, bis leopard kommt. bis dahin wird noch was passieren.

newmacer

I’m of the idea that some things are yet to come. TimeMachine is one of the most interesting features… and also scary (interface? permanent delete?). We’ll see. I’m also quite confident that Leopard will have a Finder improvement and a graphic redesign… let’s see :D

Folletto Malefico

Apple doesn’t show major UI changes until it releases it. Also I disagree. Adium is a poor IM client to use since it doesn’t support DC which I use very frequently, IE showing someone a quick screenshot/capture of what im working one etc.. by a CMD SHIFT CTRL 4 and then pasting it in the window. I don’t like Time Machine for the fact it will require another HD with at least the capacity of yours… Also if I don’t want a file on my system, I don’t want to go back in time to get that file [if you know what I mean ;)]

Pat

iChat has a nice new interface and there is some new icons for somethings.

ZicklePop

Yes I’m also convinced that there is still more to come — however I’m a bit skeptic because I already expected subtle UI changes for Tiger after seeing first screenshots of Apple Mail 2.0. And in the end there was nothing. By the way there is a great UI study on the Finder that can be found here: Link Interesting approach.

Wolfgang

Here are my reflections on Leopard’s UI: There’s a LOT to be done UI-wise. For example, Apple changed iChat’s UI to unified toolbar (aka Plastic), but didn’t change the icons at the bottom of the window. They looked okay in a Brushed Metal window, but they look like crap in a Plastic window. I’m a bit worried they won’t take the trouble to revamp the buttons. When they introduced a unified toolbar theme in System Preferences, Help Viewer and Dictionary back when Tiger was previewed, they used Safari-style buttons with it, which, again, look good with a Brushed Metal window, but look out of place in a unified toolbar window. I was really disappointed when Tiger was finally released to see they were still there. The new glossy Spolight icon (Link looks awfully Vista-like. Time Machines’s UI is just plain cheesy. Finder, Address Book and iCal look dated, because of Brushed Metal and window borders, which started to look like a joke the day iTunes 5 was introduced. The “Open in Dashboard” Safari button sticks out like a sore thumb. In general, Leopard looks very Tiger-like. Too Tiger-like, I’d say, which leds me to believe Apple is postponing the UI overhaul. If they aren’t, I’ll be greatly disappointed.

Koyder

Keep in mind that WWDC is about developers not consumers. Most of the new features were just announced to show developers the new possibilities they now have with Leopard. Look at the Core Animation framework, it’s so impressive how easy it is now to create stunning 3D user interfaces. I guess Core Animation is a good hint of what Apple currently tries to hide from Microsoft.

Sophia

Just wanted to say that apple have stated to developers that the finder is one of those “Top Secret” things that they cant show. So expect to see some wicked new stuff. There is also a small hint if you look at the new mail section of Leopard sneak peek. Check out the scroll bar for the stationarys in mail. No more blue candybars.

Frippe

Yeah right the Time machine’s looking really good! But don’t how would that be in the real world. looking forward to it, and, besides, I might not replace my current backup solution with that. And, why would Apple add such RSS & todo list features to Mail?

m.Sharp

Yeah, the Core Animation is reeeeeally incredible. Definitely will have an impact to the graphic market in the future! looking forward to new apps with Core Animation!!

m.Sharp

Yes Core Animation sounds promising. Would be interesting to use the backside of windows for preferences etc — just as it is already done in case of widgets.

Wolfgang

I was really surprised when Steve came to the end and the “one more thing” missed. The most features can’t convince me. As you Wolfgang I’m not a friend of HTML mails and the ToDos sound to complicated. I would have improved the old note application and linked it to all other applications. To the contrary Spaces could be really helpful especially in connection with parallels.

Bernd

Well, … I had lots of trouble packing all my preferences on the back of my Link iTunes Artwork widget. So I believe the current preference windows are easier to use and to code than a window’s backside. Most settings are applied to your app instantly when you change them. Now think about that in the context of flipping pref windows: You have to flip back to the frontside to actually see your settings altered, and then backwards and forwards again if you want to alter your settings again … not very pleasant. On the other hand, those frequently changed settings should be accessable in a floating palette anyway.

Sophia Teutschler

That’s true — but what about managing for example your bookmarks on the backside of Safari? The current tab like approach has room for improvement — from a usability point of view.

Wolfgang

Putting the bookmarks on the back of the window would work, but I think that it would nothing more than eye candy compared to the current approach. Personally I like the idea of having metadata on the back of document based applications. Preview, for example, could reveal metadata of a photo on it’s flipside. Additionally you could add your own metadata attributes, which are then indexed by Spotlight. As I alread said this would work great for windows which represents single documents, like a text document or a quicktime movie, or even for a finder window that represents a single folder. Using this approach for iTunes or iPhoto don’t seems to make much sense, well except for bookmarks ;).

Sophia Teutschler

I was thinking at a better bookmark management in Safari. Maybe… star ratings, keywords… iPhoto style. I think that would be great, since I visit a lot of good sites per day, and sometimes I forget why I bookmarked them in the first place.

Alex Buga

As a recent convert to the mac platform, which I like pretty well, I have one word to describe the latest update: weak. This is the lamest mac os update in ages — nothing of note actually. Blah blah mail, blah blah time machine, blah blah ichat (who cares? Adium and Skype solved IM on the mac ages ago), and virtual desktop is already taken care of with Desktop Manager. All Apple did was rip off some of their more innovative products in the developer community and built it into the os — there is absolutely NOTHING innovate or interesting in the latest release. Really: weak. Or perhaps a better word: lame.

Jonathan

“Does Apple “hold back” the UI related changes so that Redmond won’t start copying again?” Sorta like how Microsoft announced their plans for Vista features and Apple implemented them first? Most of Apple’s supposedly innovative features are pretty generic (accelerated graphics, file search, version control) and Microsoft have been working on the same things except they’re too slow at releasing software to keep up.

Luke Shingles

I am hoping beyond hope that Apple ditches the brushed metal, at the very least. I’m unimpressed with Leopard: a lot fewer improvements than Panther >> Tiger, even though they were spending a lot more time :(. Thank goodness for small blessings: Link

Sean Hayford O'Leary

The preview leaked online at mini nova’s torrent site. I’m not suggesting anyone downloads it, that would be ‘bad.’ But in the event anyone wanted to dissuade others from doing so. :)

A. Nonymous

“Does Apple “hold back” the UI related changes so that Redmond won’t start copying again?” I think the features are simply not ready to be shown yet. The release date is “Spring 2007”, so that’s quite some time left. I guess most of the “user” features will be shown at MWSF in January. The whole “MS vs Apple copying” thing is taken much too seriously, imo. From what I hear from developer websites, though, there are plenty new features that will make the whole experience even better.

Samo

I would not be too surprised to see something like this… Link in the new Finder and Apple claiming they “invented” it. Those cheap bastards. Sorry, but sometimes I don’t know which company-policy is worse… Microsoft’s or Apple’s. Best regards… MacSlow -----

MacSlow