Glossy cat
My upgrade story starts with pre-ordering Leopard for the office two weeks ago.
An unnamed massive online store promised delivery some time between Monday and Thursday. As of noon on Thursday, no box, so I picked up a copy at the local computer box store. Time since release: 6 days.
First step: clone the drive to an external hard drive. Time: ~2 hrs.
Second step: install. Options: Archive and Install. A few minutes into the install, the process seems to hang, so I opened the log window (new addition!). Oh, it’s repairing the drive volume, another good addition to the process. Just wish there was a status message about it. Ok, there it goes. Time: ~1 hr.
Third step: reboot. Software Update to check for anything that’s come out in the last week. A few patches for my older versions of iLife. Now for the fun part - exploring!
Mail is snappier. Finder seems faster. Time Machine is easy to set up, but it’s going to take awhile to do the initial backup. The new Drive Utility is very sharp - I love the ability to partition on the fly, and the way it shows the current capacity and usage of the partitions. Spaces is awesome! I love being able to set up distinct workspaces, so I can focus on specific apps for the project at hand.
The changes are quite deep. I’ll be spending a week or so getting all the tweaks in place, so it’s “my system”. I *love* new systems, and am usually surprising pleased with the interface changes Apple makes. I’m not too fond of the translucent menu bar - just no point. It still takes up pixel space, and is harder to read, depending on your desktop. May have to hack that one.