I know there are a few MAC users here - anyone installed Leopard yet?

I saw the demo, it looks great but would love some feedback if anyone has tried it.

I haven't gotten it yet, Margo. I have been reading the discussion support boards, and I may wait until things around here are less hectic and maybe there's an update or two. Also, my laptop still has the old-time "classic" OS on part of the hard drive, and Sarah plays some games that only play on Classic; Leopard stops that from opening up. I know that won't be fixed, but I may need to wait until she outgrows the "Princess Horse Show" or until we move and Mark gets a Windows machine.

as soon as the crowds die down, I'll probably stop by the Apple stire & take a look at it.
But I doubt I'll be installing until at least the first update.
I've sen Apple's descrition of what it will do, and while there are a few nice features, nothing is calling out to me. But maybe that'll change when I see it in action.

So I'm curious too to hear anyone's experience with it.

I bought a macbook three weeks ago, and they just sent me leopard. I am installing it now. It takes forever, but it should be done soon. I will be on a learning curve since I am so new at this.

Is it worth it to sign up for .mac?

Margo - my copy of Leopard is on its way. Should be getting it later this week - yes, I'm preparing for the 1.5 hour install. The new updated iChat by itself is worth the upgrade for me - I plan to do tech support on my mother's iMac using it. :)

I wouldn't worry about waiting for a service pack for Leopard - Apple is NOT Microsoft by a long shot.

Masaki

32 minutes, installed (yes, I timed it - such a geek). The ichat update is cool, as is time machine (be advised you DO need an external drive to activate this feature) and the coverflow feature in finder. Spaces is neat and handy. Mail has new features. The new dock and stacks are also pretty nifty. System seems to fun faster as well.

I agree with M's thoughts on waiting for an update - Leopard rips, right out of the box.

And I could not resist the new keyboard - uber thin and brushed chrome. Very nice.

EDIT to answer Diane's .mac question. Is it worth it? Kind of a subjective question, but to me, yes.

At first I signed up purely for the geek factor. I just liked the idea of saying "e-mail address @mac.com." Now I find that I really use the features included like web publishing and groups. They have recently upped the storage space to a much more meaningful 10GB (20GB for a family pack).

Are there other similar services out there that you can get for less money or for free? Absolutely. Do they make this Apple loyalist/fanboy all warm and fuzzy inside? Nope! :D

I'll invite you to one of my groups, Diane, so you can get a feel for what that's about.


EDIT AGAIN to add that there is no e-mail in your profile, Diane. PM me with it or e-mail it to me at robertatwb@mac.com (grin)and I can invite you to the group.

I second Diane's question about .mac. I recently signed up for the free trial and I really haven't found anything to like about it yet. I've tried to do the backup, but you really can't in the free trial because there's not enough space. SO I am just backing up a few folders, but I've been getting several error messages whenever it tries to backup.

Does the iChat allow you to chat via MSN's Messenger? That's the only chat I use, and I have the Mac version downloaded now.

Robert - can you send me group info for me to try out? Thanks

robert - 32 minutes! that's some sort of record from what I've heard so far. :)

(still waiting patiently for UPS to deliver)

I like .mac since it makes doing webpages mind numbingly simple. Build it in iWeb and push a button and voila! Instant web site! Yes, there are cheaper places to buy web space/storage ... but one of the major reasons why people buy Macs is for ease of use. .mac's integration with Mac software has that ease of use in bucket loads.

Masaki

Hi Robert - got the invite.
Thanks.

But a question about these Groups. How does one know what groups are available?
it seems like the only way to find a group is to have someone from somewhere else send you an invite to the group. I do not see a listing of Groups (like there would be, for example, in Yahoo Groups, or Delphi groups).
So if there are groups I'd be interested in, I'd have no way to know about them unless I chance to run across someone who would tell me about them.
If the purpose of a Group is to bring together people of common interests, this method of "finding" the group does not seem to serve that purpose.
What am I missing?

Gotta get myself to the apple store to see Leopard first hand.

Gil--I am trying to figure that out too.

I signed up for .mac so that I could back my pictures up into a storage area (after my desktop fried last year, and I learned a valuable lesson), and synch my bookmarks on both computers. I don't know anything about groups, but I haven't looked for them either.

I still haven't gotten to the Apple store, and don't know when I will. I bought iLife '08 when Rich was still here, I think, and it's still unopened. I'll catch up eventually.

Was just reading some USer groups re Leopard, and saw two items of concern.

One was that Leopard has some virus vulnerabilities that the earlier versions do not have.
Second, Adobe Lightroom may not be fully compatible with Leopard (e.g. Cannot Print from Lightroom using Leopard). Lightroom is my most used program.

There would not be a listing of groups for the general public. Groups are created by the end user for their circle of family and friends. I currently have 2 groups - a weekend getaway group and a recipe exchange group. The former is active, the latter I need to do more work on but will be active soon.

Save the trip to the store to look at Leopard and click here to watch the demo. This will tell you all you need to know.

Pam, I also use my .mac space for storage. I have over 10,000 pictures that were sucking my hard drive space up so keeping them on-line is safe and frees up my mac.

Gil - can you link me to the user groups you are referring to? I'll ask some mac hacker pals about the virus and Lightroom questions...

EDIT - sorry about the double post - got lazy.

Gil - have a look at the links below...

This one discusses Leopard compatibility. Note the link on the last post and look at the chart. Nutshell...lightroom - known issues but plans to fix are in the works.

More good info here...

Not able to find out much on a potential virus. Any more info Gil?

Here is what I've found.

An article discussing how Leopard will actually improve security on the Mac here .

And, an article talking about minor glitches noted to date in Leopard here

Masaki

Thanks for the links. They do confirm what I've read in some Photo Forums (e.g http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1017&message=25417862 ) that there Are problems right now with Lightroom & Leopard. And since Lightroom is my most used program, I guess I do need to wait until there is a fix before I'd go to Leopard.

"[I talked to Tom Hogarty, Lightroom PM, about this today. They're aware of the problem and are working on a fix. Tom plans to share more info on the team blog on Monday. Suffice it to say that a fix is do in fairly short order. --J.]"

Thanks for the input on Leopard - of course I ordered it, paid for a large part with my iphone credit - installed yesterday. While the initial install estimate was 2 hours, mine installed in a little more than an hour - I just kept walking by and checking it.

I love the time machine feature - bought an external drive today and I'm backing up right now - I wouldn't have done this so quickly, but last night in my excitement to check out Leopard I spilled a half cup of coffee on my wireless keyboard - so off to the Apple store this morning for a replace WITH a keyboard cover - you live, you learn.

R....would you invite me to one of your groups? It's a feature I'm not familiar with either.

I use mac.com - iweb makes creating a website easy enough for dummies like me, so it is very worth it!

I still have a lot to learn on the mac and Leopard!

What brand external HD is everybody using? And USB or Firewire?

I'll have all my ducks in a row when I manage to go buy it, just from this thread!

Pam...I got a Maxtor One Touch 4 Plus - firewire but it has both options.

Backup with Leopard was really simple but a bit lengthy - getting everything for the first time - obviously I have way to much on my macbook!

No problem, M! Be on the lookout for an e-mail...Sorry about the coffee - ouch, that hurts!

I have one of these...

Iomega 500GB Hi-Speed USB 2.0 Desktop Hard Drive

Well, ran into a slight snag. My copy of Leopard arrived on Friday and I tried installing it today. The caveat: Marika touched the underside of the Leopard DVD before I got a chance to slide it into my Macbook. It seemed to load up fine and I went through the reboot to start up under the DVD. I started the install and went off for a while. Came back to the installation screen and a rotating status bar but no progress noted (after about 20-30 minutes). More ominous, I didn't hear the DVD running/accessing at all. Pulled up the installation log to see where things were at - showed multiple read errors and inability to open files. Quit out of the installation program and ejected the DVD to take a look. A few fingerprint smudges from Marika but otherwise looked OK. Luckily, my Macbook booted back into Tiger without an issue. Cleaned the DVD and slid it back into the computer. OK, now, it won't read the disc. Tries reading it and spits it back out. Tried cleaning the DVD again, this time with a microfiber cloth. Carefully examine for any further fingerprints/smudges/dust. None seen - tried putting it back in - still doesn't work. Tried putting another software DVD in my Macbook - reads normally. Tried putting the Leopard DVD in Amanda's Powerbook - seems to load normally.

Totally confused at this point, I cleaned it for the umpteenth time again and tried putting it in again - wow, it loads! Start the installation process and my Macbook reboots to load from the DVD - ooops, no go again - drive spins and spits out the DVD.

I'm suspecting that I got a bad DVD that's incompatible with my Superdrive - the disc surface looks good (much better than some of my older DVD/CDs that I've used/abused and they all work fine). Talked to the Apple Store locally to see if they'll swap it out for me (I bought it online from Amazon) ... they say, no, you'll have to deal with them. So, contacted Amazon, they're sending me a replacement, I've printed out a return label and will be dropping it off at an UPS drop off location sometime this coming week. (sigh) Hopefully, the replacement disc will work better than this.

Masaki

Oh Masaki....how annoying! Hope next disc is better.

I love the little things like the stationery choices in mail - already have a favorite "look"!

Margo - send me email so I can see what it looks like! :D

Masaki

Masaki....email on the way!

Looks nice!! Hopefully I'll get a chance to play with it myself later this week!

Masaki