What Happened To Mac OS X Leopard’s “Secrets?”

Steve Jobs announced Mac OS X Leopard last summer. He also said some new features in OS X would be secrets kept from Microsoft.

Since Vista is already out, where are the secret features in Leopard? Here’s one I want to see.

I can’t say I’m surprised that Apple is keeping some of their Leopard features a big secret. Apple is a secretive company.

On the other hand, Microsoft is known to steal any idea they can get their digits on. Just look at Vista. It’s as good as Mac OS X Panther. Almost.

During Steve Jobs’ keynote to Apple developers in August he promised that some features in Leopard would be kept secret, ostensibly so Microsoft wouldn’t copy some and put them in Vista.

Vista is shipping and there wasn’t a digit of OS X Leopard show-n-tell at Macworld San Francisco in early January. Where’s Leopard?

The official Apple stance is that Leopard will ship in “spring 2007.” Fair enough. But that’s from late March to late June.

Worse, so far there’s not much more than eye candy in OS X Leopard, judging from the details on the Apple web site, and news leaked from developers working on Leopard’s pre-releases.

So, where are the “secrets” that Apple promised?

Doesn’t it stand to reason that Mac developers who are working on applications for Leopard would know? They’re not talking, so the “secrets” haven’t been leaked. Yet.

What do you expect Apple to add to Leopard that was so unique, so cool, so ultra-hip and dramatic that developers and Macophiles had to wait six months?

Here’s what’s on my list. Eye candy notwithstanding, I want to see my Mac’s desktop and screen stream to AppleTV and straight into my widescreen TV and controlled by the Apple Remote.

I’m not asking for much, huh? The technology is already there. Apple Remote Desktop already manages a Mac from a remote Mac. How hard can it be to extend that to AppleTV and my TV screen?

I would like to check email and browse from the comfort of my living room sofa and my MacBook’s Apple Remote.

If it’s OK to check mail and browse the internet on the tiny iPhone screen, then it’s OK to do the same on my widescreen TV.

Now, assume that Apple will do just that. Leopard will stream the video from my Mac to AppleTV to my TV. What else is inside Leopard that we don’t know about?

What else could Apple be holding back? Got any ideas? What do you want Apple to put into Leopard that’s not there or announced already?

Yes, Time Machine is cool. So is Spaces. Eye candy and more eye candy? Where’s the good stuff?

What’s on your list? It’s time to share.

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