The next update to Apple’s Mac OS X operating system, codenamed Leopard, will improve a number of components already integrated in the current edition, but also introduces some new features. Leopard is the sixth major renewal of Mac OS X and should be released only in spring 2007, integrating Boot Camp, Front Row and Photo Booth from scratch.
Among the ten main features in the new version of the operating system, the new Time Machine stands out, a backups that can back up hard drives to a server, making it easy to recover a specific file or the entire system at a certain point.
Another novelty is Core Animation, a new feature that allows the joint rendering of different layers of media documents, such as text, video and images. Still in the multimedia area, the integration of Front Row and Photo Booth, which facilitates self-portraits, are two additions to note.
In the field of improvements to current features, Apple guarantees to have made parental control simpler and more flexible, adding new features to Mail and iChat.
For the management of the system, the new Spaces should facilitate the creation and customization of virtual desktops, which improve the management of different work and leisure environments.
Steve Jobs also pointed out in his presentation that Leopard has full support for 64-bit applications, not limited to the Unix layer. Native 64-bit support will allow you to take advantage of the processing power of the new processors while ensuring compatibility with 32-bit applications.
Complete transition
Apple also took advantage of this conference to present the Mac Pro and Xeon Xserver, completing the transition of its product line to «Intel inside», a year after announcing its move to Intel processors.
Mac Pro is the first desktop Intel processor and will start shipping immediately at a cost of $ 2,499 in standard configuration.
The new server with Xeon processors, which will be on sale only in October, supports two 3.0 GHz Dual-core Xeon processors, which improves the performance of its predecessors by five times, the company said in a statement. Servers include even more disk capacity in addition to other possibilities in dozens of possible configurations.
Apple did not say whether it could soon adopt the new Core 2 Duo processors that Intel recently introduced, although some PC makers are already working on it.
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