Mac OS X Leopard Is Coming. Where Are The Secrets?

By nearly all accounts, Mac OS X Tiger is the best Mac OS ever. OS X Leopard promises even more, widening the gap between the Mac and Windows.

But what about all those secret ingredients in Leopard? Where are they? What are they? Inquiring minds want to know what Apple will launch in Leopard that we haven’t heard about.

My guess is… Nothing. Zilch. Nada. Zero. Everything we’ve read about OS X Leopard is all we’re going to see. Why? Because Apple can get away with it.

Just over a year ago Steve Jobs presented OS X Leopard at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference, with the OS slated for release in Q2 2007. That release was delayed for four more months as Apple rolled out the iPhone. Why the delay in OS X Leopard’s release? Because Apple can get away with it.

Steve hyped 10 Features of Leopard. Here’s the quick reader version:

Time Machine
The backup utility that people may actually use. Buy a much bigger hard drive.

64-bit OS X
Fully 64-bit ready, end to end, top to bottom. Wait a few years for software to catch up to 64-bit.

Spaces
Multiple virtual desktops made easy for the Mac. You’ll need a road map to figure it out.

Next-Gen Spotlight
I can’t see why this is a big deal. It searches more; networked Macs, servers, etc. But it’s the same thing.

Front Row and Boot Camp
Along with a new generation of Photo Booth, we’ll get more features in Front Row, and Boot Camp gets built in for Windows users.

Core Animation
Another element to work alongside Core Video, Audio, Data, and friends. Great for Mac software developers. Wait awhile to see it show up.

Mail
Windows-like eye candy to the Mac’s aging Mail application. Think of iWeb for email.

Dashboard
More eye candy in the form of web clips—suck up pieces of a web page and create your own Dashboard Widget. Buy more RAM.

iChat
Video recording, multiple logins, iChat theater, effects, tabbed chats, backdrops. Mostly iCandy for iChat users. Where’s Skype?

What did I miss? Not much. Leopard has been floating around for over a year and we’ve yet to see or hear about any of the so-called “secrets” that Steve Jobs said Leopard would have. Top secret. So secret they couldn’t tell anyone for fear Microsoft would copy them.

Guess what? There are no secrets. We’ve been had. Again. The whole Mac Nation lives in the Reality Distortion Field™ these days. I discussed this topic with Kate and Ron. Both believe there won’t be anything basic and secret added to Leopard, though we may see some capabilities tied to iPhone and iPod touch. Like what? We’re short on speculation. Or imagination.

Hmmmm. Apple seems to have done a great job with “integration” in the iLife applications, so maybe we’ll be looking at even greater integration between the Mac, iPods, and iPhones.

That brings up yet another issue. Apple is handling accounting different for iPhone revenue, essentially spreading out the revenue and profits earned over 24 months? Why? Because they’ll be upgrading the iPhone with new features. What new features? So far, nearly three months into my iPhone life, and there’s not much new to report.

What else does Apple have ready for customers starting with OS X Leopard and leading to Macworld Appleworld 2008?