Apple Unveiled Near-Final Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard

Apple today unveiled the near-final version of Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard operating system at the World Wide Developers Conference in San Francisco.

This fully 64-bit OS introduces over 300 new features, according to Apple.

“They include a new Desktop and Dock with Stacks; an updated Finder featuring Cover Flow and a new way to easily browse and share files between multiple Macs; Quick Look, a new way to rapidly preview most files without opening an application; Time Machine, a new way to easily and automatically back up and restore lost files or a complete Mac; Spaces, a powerful new feature to create groups of applications and instantly switch between them; and enhanced iChat and Mail applications, which easily allow users to communicate even more creatively,” the Company says.

Although Leopard is a native 64-bit operating system, it supports the existing 32-bit Mac OS X software and drivers. It also has “easy multi-core optimization and scheduling to take advantage of the latest Intel hardware; and Core Animation, helping developers easily create animated user experiences as amazing as Leopard’s Spaces and Time Machine in their own applications”.

Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard is scheduled to ship in October 2007 and will be priced at $129 for a single user license.

Press Release