Don’t act surprised that this post is about Leopard. I mean, everything about Leopard, alright? I close my eyes at night and I see spots. The constant ringing in my ears has been replaced by a growl. I tried to seek professional Help, but all I saw was a giant blue floating arrow.
If there’s a person who’s sheer thoroughness matches that of Ars Technica’s John Siracusa, I would like to meet the—you know what? Cancel that; that person is probably thorough about something creepy, like chopping people up or, I dunno, sea turtles. But when it comes to OS X, Siracusa is the man to beat. His extensive review of Leopard went up last night; I started reading it this morning, in between other tasks, and I’m still working on it now (about halfway through).
The entirety of John’s review certainly isn’t for everyone: if your eyes glaze over at the mention of kernel programming, Core Animation, or FSEvents, you may want to skip the relevant sections. But the rest of the review is certainly worth a close read, especially with John’s snarky asides:
Seriously, pseudo-3D? Really? If a compulsion for gaudiness must be quenched, at least try to confine such exercises to more obscure features. Don’t scribble all over the second-most visible interface element in the entire OS like a nine year-old girl putting make-up on her dollie.Sources tell me that the UI department at Apple now features a picture of Siracusa with a black handlebar mustache, crossed out in pink crayon. I hope he’s hired security.
Wow. Now, that's a review. I like the fact that he went all out on the "hidden" features of Leopard.
On another note, I don't know why people are giving it so much beef with the look changes of the OS. First they complain about the inconsistent windows, then the dock is not efficient (it is to me, and I welcome the change). The way I see it, when it comes to "looks", beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I know some people that are in love with XP's visual style. I'm not, but to each it's own. You will never please anyone.
This is the only review I care to read. No Mossberg, no Pogue, just plain Siracusa.
What a great guy.