I occasionally post (or rant) about my experiences with software or hardware.
While there are many dedicated sites out there that do a commendable job of describing new features, I often discover things that I like or hate that were never mentioned anywhere.
Which is why I thought I’d mention my recent upgrades to Mac OS X 10.5.2 (Leopard) and to Parallels Desktop 3.0 (Parallels is the software that lets me run Windows XP on my Intel MacBook, which I sadly have to do for my day job).
As I’ve grown older, I’ve tired of jumping on the latest and greatest releases of the latest and greatest software. I tend to value stability over living on the edge (at least in the computing realm).
So I waited for two incremental updates of Leopard, and what seems like a dozen incremental updates of Parallels Desktop 3 before taking the plunge.
Despite much valid criticism about Leopard’s UI makeover, I have to say I like it quite a bit. It feels cleaner, crisper, more compact, less bright (and therefore easier on the eyes). Even the kitschy and misguided new Dock design has its crazy charm. And I like the new folder design and the Stacks feature that everyone else seems to hate.
I haven’t yet tried/activated Time Machine, universally touted as this release’s killer feature.
But for me, there are 2 other killer features, one of which I had never read about:
QuickLook which allows you to view and navigate the content of pretty much any file without opening said file. A HUGE timesaver for me since I handle dozens of new and strange and foreign files every day.
And the way the OS gracefully handles shared network volumes. My 2 Macs are always mounted on each other (so to speak). I used to have to remember to unmount my MacBook from the iMac before closing the MacBook. Failing to do so would freeze the Finder on the iMac for several minutes as it desperately tried to find the missing shared volume. Under Leopard, I can slam the MacBook shut without unmounting it first from the iMac, and the iMac doesn’t miss a beat. (OK, so technically, this could fall under bug-fixing, but let’s not split hairs…)
These two features alone are reasons enough to upgrade in my opinion, even though I oohed and aahed about a lot of other things as I discovered and explored my new cyberdigs.
As an aside to the dark side, I wasn’t worried about performance. Unlike other companies who shall remain nameless, Apple has consistently improved performance over time, while adding boatloads of spiffy new features to its OS. My iMac is 3 years old and is snappier under Leopard than it was under 10.4 Tiger. How stupid is that? Doesn’t Apple want to sell computers?!
As for Parallels Desktop 3.0, I couldn’t care less about its « experimental support » of accelerated graphics and PC-only 3D games.
Its main appeal to me is the SmartSelect feature. This allows you to define which applications open which file types, across operating systems. I can now open my Windows files (like my dreaded Trados ttx files) by double-clicking on them in the Mac Finder.
In previous versions of Parallels, I had already discovered that bypassing Windows Explorer eliminated systematic and repeatable (Windows) bugs and crashes. So as a multi-step workaround, I would first open an application in Windows, go back to the Finder and drag a file into the Windows window from there.
With SmartSelect, I don’t even need to display the Windows task bar anymore. The Finder is my fully functioning and integrated cross-platform file manager. My Windows apps and files launch like any other Mac app or file, and open in windows that behave like any other Mac window (even though they still host ugly and boneheaded Windows content). It just feels like Mac OS is running Windows apps on demand.
So I’m a much happier camper all around.
If you were hesitating as I was, I say go for it.