Quick Update On Leopard

Okay, so the Spaces feature isn't what I expected and I'm disappointed.

I thought that each space would be a virtual system. I wanted to be able to have a custom dock and files associated with various tasks I do in different Spaces. For instance, one would be a Blog Space where I would have Firefox, Safari, and Photoshop only; other Spaces would be opened one per client so I could easily jump from client to client and have all the programs and documents associated with each.

But:

• The dock is the same across all Spaces and is not individually customizable.
• You cannot have multiple sessions of an application, such as a browser, running in separate Spaces. I wanted to have Yahoo open in multiple windows logged into different accounts so I could easily switch between screen names and mailboxes. However, if you log into Yahoo in one Space, you will be automatically logged out in another Space if it is using different account info. You can drag an open browser window from one Space to another and browse separately in each, but you can do that in two windows on a non-Leopard system. With Spaces, there is only one browser running with different windows/tabs open in different places.

The Time Machine feature is automatically backing up my hard disk without a problem.
*

Leopard Has Arrived

I just installed Leopard. I'm not normally one to run out and buy the latest, greatest. But this new version of Mac OSX has two prominent features that I will find particularly useful and worth the $129.

• Time Machine: This allows me to designate my external hard drive as a backup disk and a copy of my iMac hard drive will be kept there. All files will be saved as a background task. I bought the drive for work so that I would have all of my client's files on hand if my main drive bit the dust. It was a great idea, and I downloaded everything once I attached it, but I've only done backups once a month since then. This new utility will handle this for me.

• Spaces: As I can with my life in general, I can divide my computer usage along distinct lines. Now I will be able to keep the "Spaces" separate, with pertinent applications and folders in the dock.

This was not a quick install. It took about 2 hours although that could have been related to the amount of information on my hard drive. Not sure. However, I am pretty sure that it re-wrote the boot track which would involve some movement of data on the hard drive.

That's it for now. I put 'er in, now let's give 'er a whirl.
*