The Zeitgeist

In just a little under 96 hours, Apple will loose OS X v 10.5 a.k.a. “Leopard” on the world. As a long time devotée of Apple’s stuff (I was writing software professionally back on my Apple ][ in high-school) I think this is the most exciting release yet.

Apple posted a very nice “guided tour“to the most visible new parts of 10.5, as well as a list of the 300 new features coming out on Friday.

Personally, as a developer, I am looking forward to the new version of Apple’s XCode development environment and Objective-C 2. As a general user, the enhancements to Mail, iCal, and NFS access will make my life a lot easier. Apple’s NDA doesn’t allow any ADC member of to disclose details about unreleased/seeded software, but suffice it to say that it’s really clear Apple’s engineers are simply among the best in the businesses. The sheer depth of the features they’ve added into 10.5, and the supporting APIs and tools they’ve made available to 3rd party developers are amazing.

My 7yr old daughter is a Mac fan too, and to enjoy the day of Leopard’s release, we’re going to camp out at the Apple store and enjoy the festivities along with all the other Leopard-smitten Apple aficionados, pick up a couple of Leopard “Family Packs” (yes, we have that many Macs…), and then scurry home and play with our new toys.