Last Friday I got the latest version of Apple’s operating system product: Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard. Luckily, I got it without having to make the lines up that were in some Apple Stores, and with a price discount of 10% thanks to having previously reserved it in my nearest Fnac store.

First thing you realize when you get it is the packing. As usual in Apple’s products, the box is impressive, especially the 3D hologram printed on it. The box, about the size of a double disc CD, contains a single installation DVD, a “Welcome to Leopard” booklet and two apple stickers.

As I don’t have any backup unit, I decided to upgrade my Tiger instance, rather than erasing Tiger and installing Leopard from scratch. The upgrade process was very easy, although it took me longer than expected, about an hour and a half, but it completed without any problems (I hear that some people are reporting problems). In the first hours I noticed more spinning pinwheels than usual, but now everything in general is running much faster than it did on Tiger, something that worried me at first. Most of the applications I use work fine with this new version, or in most cases, simply updating the version is enough, except for OnyX, which doesn’t run on Leopard.

I won’t list all the new features, you could find them at the Apple website, but I want to mention some of them:

• Cover Flow: presents files as horizontally scrolling images of their contents. There is a pretty funny easter egg when you try to display a Windows network computer: it shows a BSOD.
  
• Spaces: multiple workspaces, each of which can contain particular applications or file windows.
  
• Stacks: lets you view the contents of a folder rapidly from the Dock.
  
• Time Machine: an automatic backup system that allows you to easily go back in time to recover anything. Unfortunately, I don’t have an external drive, so I’m not able to test it.

And that’s all for the moment. I’m sure there will be more exciting features that I will discover in the future. If you find some features useful, don’t hesitate to comment them in this blog.

Haven’t had time to write about it, still, better late than never.

I have always heard positive experiences from people switching to Mac. Last month, forced by the slowing down of my Acer TravelMate 290 laptop and encouraged by Andy Piper and Eneko Alonso, who had blogged their recent switching experiences, I finally bought a 15” MacBook Pro and a Mighty Mouse from Apple.

Despite there is always a bit of a learning curve involved (I have had some minor issues due to Windows-Mac equivalent keys, as the Print Screen, Control and Command, and Alt and Options keys), I found the move very easy. Setting up Mac OS X is really simple, and the user interface behavior is terrific. I have also found the blogosphere as a very valuable aid for switchers, as it is plenty of useful tips and hints. I recommend you How to Switch to the Mac and Andy Piper’s Mac posts.

After playing with some applications that I have found at some Mac specialized web sites as MacUpdate, here is the list of them that I have installed so far:

• Adium (free): instant messaging application for Mac OS X that can connect to AIM, MSN, Jabber, Yahoo, and more.
• Eclipse (free): the essential IDE.
• Firefox (free): the essential open-source browser.
• Flickr Uploadr (free): to upload your photos to Flickr.
• Flip4mac WMC Player (free): a collection of QuickTime components that allow you to play, import, and export Windows Media video and audio files on your Mac using your favorite QuickTime-based applications.
• Growl (free): a notification system for Mac OS X.
• iTerm (free): a full featured terminal emulation program.
• NeoOffice (free): a free software port of OpenOffice to the MacOS X platform.
• OnyX (free): it allows you to run misc tasks of system maintenance, to configure some hidden parameters of the Finder, Dock, Dashboard, Exposé, Safari, Login window and of some of Apple’s own applications, to delete caches, to remove a certain number of files and folders that may become cumbersome, to see the detailed info of your configuration, to preview various logs and CrashReporter-reports, to check the Preferences files and more.
• Parallels (79.99$): enables you to run Windows, Linux, and more side-by-side with Mac OS X on any Intel-powered Mac, without rebooting (coherence mode is terrific!).
• Plazer (free): a little piece of software that will help you make the most out of Plazes.
• PocketMac for Blackberry (free): to sync BlackBerry device with Entourage, Address Book, iCal, Now Contact, Now Up-To-Date, and even Stickies.
• QuickSilver (free): a unified, extensible interface for working with applications, contacts, music, and other data.
• Skype (free): free calls over the Internet.
• Textmate (39$): a powerful tool for programmers, web designers, and anyone else who regularly needs to work with text files on Mac OS X.
• Transmit (29.95$): FTP, SFTP, or TLS/SSL.
• Twitterrific (free): a fun little application that lets you both read and publish posts or “tweets” to the Twitter community website.
• Visionary Saver (free): Twittervision/Flickrvision and Twittervision 3D screen saver.
• VLC (free): a highly portable multimedia player for various audio and video formats (MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, DivX, mp3, ogg, …) as well as DVDs, VCDs, and various streaming protocols.
• XCode (free): to create Mac OS X applications (It is bundled free with Mac OS X v10.4, though is not installed by default).

Anyway, as a Mac beginner user, your tips will be welcomed.