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August 14, 2006

software

Leopard first looks: Spaces

Posted Aug. 14, ’06, 11:03 AM PT by Cyrus Farivar
Category | Software

Macworld’s own Senior Editor, Dan Frakes, brings us a first look at Spaces, which will be a new feature in Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard.

Spaces is a feature that’s unlikely to appeal to users at the extremes: If you spend most of your time browsing the Web and reading and composing e-mail, you won’t get much benefit from Spaces; if you’re an advanced user who’s already a fan of virtual desktops, you’ll likely want something with a bit more functionality. But for the millions of people in the middle—those who use their Macs for many different tasks throughout the day and who often find themselves wishing there was a better solution to window clutter—Spaces will be, at the least, a welcome option.

Spaces should also be popular among those who use virtualization applications such as Parallels to run Windows or other operating systems on their Intel Macs: One workspace can be dedicated to running Windows, one for Linux, and the rest for Mac OS X; you can then easily switch between operating systems with the press of a key.

Frakes also points out no less than five other alternatives beyond VirtueDesktops, the one I previously mentioned last week.

The other type, and the one used by Spaces, creates multiple workspaces, each the same size as your Mac’s current display area, and lets you easily switch between them. Within each workspace, you place whatever application windows you desire. (Examples of third-party virtual desktop solutions for Mac OS X include DesktopManager, Space.app, VirtualDesktop Pro, VirtueDesktops, and You Control: Desktops.)


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