In what is a rarity, I didn’t upgrade to Leopard right off the bat on my main machine. I went to the launch party and picked up a shirt (which is quite nice, by the way), but after all the anticipation, I didn’t do much with it. I had a few critical programs that needed updates before I could migrate:

1. •Missing Sync - Required to sync my Treo, and it had been grounded by major changes to SyncServices in Leopard.
   

2. •SuperDuper - As much as I was looking forward to Time Machine, SuperDuper is and always has been a rock - solid and completely dependable.
   

3. •Photoshop Elements - Reports were coming in that various versions of Photoshop and Elements had issues with Leopard.
   

4. •VMWare Fusion - When I travel, I copy my work PC into a VM so I can carry a single computer with me on the road. Works like a charm.
   

As the weeks passed and my needed updates trickled out, I used the Mini as a testbed for Leopard. The upgrade went smoothly, although I figured this might be because I didn’t have much installed on it to begin with. The new Front Row was welcome, although certain aspects simply don’t work as well as the old one (previewing movies and third-party component compatibility especially).

Finally, Missing Sync and VMWare Fusion were updated, I upgraded Photoshop Elements to version 4.0 (at the time, the Intel-native version 6 had not been announced), and 10.5.1 came out to boot. I took the plunge and did an Archive and Install of Leopard.

After using Leopard for a while, my take on its new features:

1. •Time Machine - Definitely the standout feature. Backup is made dead simple, keeps multiple revisions, and backs up everything without thought. Upgrade is worth it for this alone. If you have Leopard and aren’t using it, run out and buy a drive now.
   

2. •Networking - Now fully multithreaded, the Finder and other programs can use network volumes without hiccups. Screen sharing integration into server browsing is sublime.
   

3. •Quicklook - Not as useful as I’d hoped it would be - I can’t get used to the key commands, and all I can do is view - can’t even copy data from it.
   

4. •Spaces - Also not as useful as I’d hoped it would be, mostly because of ingrained habits. I don’t have enough applications open to really make good use of it.
   

5. •Stacks - A disaster from top to bottom. No more hierarchical navigation, the “stack” view on the dock is useless and confusing, and it’s needlessly difficult to simply open the folder in question. Luckily, all of this is rumored to be fixed in 10.5.2.
   

6. •Finder - Significantly improved. Browser view is actually useful with the revised places sidebar, cover flow is useful, networking is great. Much better view settings and Applescript support. Sadly, spatial view is completely boned by the new “Always open in <x> view” checkbox. Unless you set this on every single folder, kiss spatiality goodbye. Oh, and it’s not scriptable.
   

7. •Dock/Menubar - I like them. Seems I’m in the minority though.
   

8. •Unified window style - About damn time.