Apple’s new beast: Leopard hopes to rival Microsoft
Virgil:
October 27th, 2007
Yesterday saw the release of Apple’s latest operating system, codenamed “Leopard“ and more formally known as Mac OS X Version 10.5. The sixth major release of Apple’s flagship core product, and successor to the widely acclaimed “Tiger” (Version 10.4), the £85 piece of software hopes to rival the much-slated arch enemy Windows Vista.
With over 300 improvements on its predecessors (but most of them merely enhancements and improvements on the familiar) it is understandable why veteran technology writer Walt Mossberg dubbed the operating system “evolutionary, not revolutionary.” He goes on to say:
“I believe it builds on Apple’s quality advantage over Windows. In my view, Leopard is better and faster than Vista, with a set of new features that make Macs even easier to use.”
Apple has sold 2.2 million of its desktop computers (Macs) in the last 3 months, and hopes that this new release will boost sales even further. Nik Rawlinson, editor of MacUser magazine, optimistically writes that “when Tiger was launched it earned Apple $120m very quickly and all the expectations are that sales will be double that.” Nevertheless, one Mac user interviewed at the MacLiveExpo, held in London, commented that:
“I never buy any operating system when it first comes out. I normally wait until it has been out for six months or a year. Tiger does what I need it to do right now. I’ve not seen anything in Leopard to make me want to buy it immediately.”
Whether Leopard will have what it takes to outdo rival operating system Windows Vista from Microsoft remains to be seen. Whilst the market for Macs is still far below that of desktop PCs, 99% of which come pre-installed with Windows software, the abundance of handy features that Apple’s new super-user-friendly system provides may begin to tip the balance. As Rawlinson writes:
“Vista has been quite a disappointment for many people and Leopard could be the reason many people make the switch to Macs.”
Unfortunately, if only the “switch to Macs” didn’t necessitate switching so very much more too, Apple might have more luck - but as usual they uphold a silent policy of making sure that if one thing you own is from Apple, so is everything else too.