Mac OS X Leopard
Mac OS X Leopard (version 10.5) is the sixth major release of macOS, Apple's desktop and server operating system for Macintosh computers. Leopard was released on October 26, 2007 as the successor of Mac OS X Tiger, and is available in two editions: a desktop version suitable for personal computers, and a server version, Mac OS X Server. It retailed for $129[2] for the desktop version and $499 for Server.[8] Leopard was superseded by Mac OS X Snow Leopard (version 10.6) in 2009. Mac OS X Leopard is the last version of macOS that supports the PowerPC architecture as its successor, Mac OS X Snow Leopard, functions solely on Intel based Macs.
Not to be confused with Mac OS X Snow Leopard.Developer
Closed, with open source components
October 26, 2007[2]
Apple - Mac OS X Leopard at the Wayback Machine (archived May 28, 2009)
Add a new Mac to your Mac.
According to Apple, Leopard contains over 300 changes and enhancements compared to its predecessor, Mac OS X Tiger,[9] covering core operating system components as well as included applications and developer tools. Leopard introduces a significantly revised desktop, with a redesigned Dock, Stacks, a semitransparent menu bar, and an updated Finder that incorporates the Cover Flow visual navigation interface first seen in iTunes. Other notable features include support for writing 64-bit graphical user interface applications, an automated backup utility called Time Machine, support for Spotlight searches across multiple machines, and the inclusion of Front Row and Photo Booth, which were previously included with only some Mac models.
Apple missed Leopard's release time frame as originally announced by Apple's CEO Steve Jobs. When first discussed in June 2005, Jobs had stated that Apple intended to release Leopard at the end of 2006 or early 2007.[10] A year later, this was amended to Spring 2007;[11] however, on April 12, 2007, Apple issued a statement that its release would be delayed until October 2007 because of the development of the iPhone.[12]
Mac OS X Leopard is the first version of Mac OS X to run on the MacBook Air.
New and changed features[edit]
User interface[edit]
Mac OS X Leopard made many changes to the user interface. This includes a more detailed, transparent menu bar, skeuomorphic system icons, and a glossy, reflective, 3D Dock. Windows lost their metallic, lined look they had previously. As well as this, the Apple icon is now black instead of blue. This is notably very similar to IPhone OS 1's user interface. Rory Prior, on the ThinkMac blog, criticized a number of changes to Leopard's user interface, including the transparent menu bar and the new folder icons.[13] Decreased transparency of the menu bar, along with the ability to disable the menu bar transparency were added with the 10.5.2 release on February 11, 2008.[14]
Packaging[edit]
The retail packaging for Leopard is significantly smaller than it was for previous versions of Mac OS X (although later copies of OS X 10.4 Tiger also came in a similar small box). It also includes a lenticular cover, making the X appear to float above a purple galaxy, somewhat resembling the default Leopard desktop wallpaper.[61]
Compatibility[edit]
After Leopard’s release, there were widely reported incidents of new Leopard installs hanging during boot on the blue screen that appears just before the login process starts.[64] Apple attributed these problems to an outdated version of an unsupported add-on extension called Application Enhancer (APE), from Unsanity which had been incompatible with Leopard. Some users were unaware that APE had been silently installed during installation of Logitech mouse drivers. However, only the users who did not have the latest version of APE installed (2.0.3 at that time) were affected.[65] Apple published a knowledge base article on how to solve this problem.[66]
Google announced that the Chrome browser will be dropping support for Leopard starting with Chrome 21. By that time Chrome will no longer auto-update, and new Chrome installations are not allowed. Their rationale for removal of support is that Leopard is an "OS X version also no longer being updated by Apple."[67]
Firefox also dropped support for Leopard after it shipped Firefox 16 in October 2012.[68] TenFourFox is a port of Firefox for the PPC architecture, released after Firefox dropped support for Leopard.