After a long string of delays, Apple's latest operating system, known as "Leopard", is only a few hours away from the official launch. There are a lot of people that expect it to become a "Vista killer", but that's what remains to be seen. Anyway, before talking about the close future, I think we should take a look into the past, first, so let's have a short history lesson, shall we?


In Apple's history, there are two different ages to talk about, when it comes to the operating systems built into their computers. The first one starts with the first OS that shipped with the first Macintosh, back in 1984, and lasts until 2001, when the last "Classic" Mac OS was released. The last period started in 2000, with the release of Mac OS X, and continues with the release that's going to occur in just a few hours...The "Classic" Era: 1984 - 1999As you can see in the screenshot below, the first Mac OS looked pretty advanced for a period when most people using computers were using only the command line. Even more, the classic Mac OS doesn't have any command line at all.

While its ease of use was the most important strong point, Mac OS was also heavily criticized for its limited memory management capabilities, cooperative multitasking and various conflicts among its own extensions.The file system used by Mac OS was first the Macintosh File System (MFS), later replaced by the Hierarchical File System(HFS).During its "classic era", Mac OS moved from 1-bit black and white grapohics to color, Apple's Color QuickDraw improved drawing routines laying the foundation of one of the most advanced graphical user interfaces of its time. A last thing that I will mention before moving on to Mac OS X is that way back in 1989, Apple's 32-bit QuickDraw was able to handle 16M color graphics, two years before Microsoft launched Windows 3.0!

The Mac OS X Era: 1999 - present day

Based on a core with roots in the UNIX world, known as Darwin, Mac OS X was first released in 1999, when Mac OS X Server 1.0 has seen the light of day, and all its versions got "names from the jungle", as I like to call them, from Cheetah and Puma, to Tiger and Leopard. It would be really interesting to see how are they going to call the next release...maybe "Lion"?

Since all eyes are on Leopard now, it's enough to mention that Mac OS X achieved the unique performance of increasing its speed with each new release, on the same hardware, while other operating systems require more and more resources (it's enough to mention Windows here, and most Linux distros also need more and more resources as time goes by, but that depends a lot on the desktop manager used).

One of the most notorious features of Mac OS X, when talking about the eye candy, is the Aqua theme, with soft edges, translucent colors and pinstripes, just like the hardware design of firs iMacs, but this is on the outside...

...on the inside, pre-emptive multitasking and memory protection improved the system's ability to simultaneously run a bunch of programs, without the fear that these applications would corrupt each other or suffer a serious performance hit, as it happens when using cooperative multitasking.

Now, let's move on and talk about what should we expect to become officially available in a couple of hours...

Prepare for the Leopard!

With over 300 new features, one of the first things that jumps up in Leopard is the new desktop, with a very nice 3D-dock that introduces a new feature called "stacks", which is practically a hierarchy of items that opens up when you click an icon from the dock.

I won't tell you anything else now about the new features, because we'll talk a lot about them in the coming days. Now, I hardly wait to see what happens and I expect to see the first impressions of the users, as they start using the new system from Apple.Available on one disc, Leopard supports both PowerPC and Intel-based Macs, being priced at $129, a single pack. Since the price doesn't look bad at all, all we need to see is how the world will react to the new Finder and all the other goodies available in the system.There are less than 3 hours remaining, and the clock is ticking... If you are really in a hurry, you can check the guided tour available on Apple's site, here. In the meantime, I'll do the same, and prepare to get back with the latest updates on the subject tomorrow, so stay tuned!

As soon as you start using Windows Vista, it's impossible not to see how many confirmations are required to perform even the most basic operations, like creating a new folder. Anyway, there's no need to worry - this is not a bug, it's a feature!

User Account Control, or simply UAC, is a new technology that was introduced by Microsoft in Vista for the first time. While its purpose is to improve the security of the operating system, for most people, the only noticeable effect is a headache, after having to go through no less than 4 confirmations for creating a folder, over and over again.

Since I just setup Vista on my new computer and I don't want to lose my patience, one of the first things I will do to customize my shiny, 3D, transparent Windows is to disable UAC. Because I am sure a lot of people also need this information, as I was saying earlier, I will share this with you... so here we go:

<-234x60 Half Banner - left->- Tap the Windows key+R to bring up the Run menu, and type in "msconfig". Press OK, and then "Continue".


- Open the Tools tab, and locate the option called "Disable UAC". To sort the items alphabetically, press on the "Tool Name" tab.

- Select the "Disable UAC" line and press the "Launch" button.- A command window like the one below should appear, since the task is accomplished in an instant, so simply close this window.
- Close the configuration utility, and reboot the computer so that the changes are applied.

That's it, you have successfully disabled User Account Control! To enable this feature again, simply open the configuration utility and look for the option called "Enable UAC"...

Many of us have already used various software to transcode the music from audio CDs into MP3 files so that we can listen to them on our computers. Today I’m going to present to you the MP3 Producer, one of the most recommended Audio CD-Rippers that can offer advanced options of MP3 tagging and bitrate setting.

A friend of mine prefers some other piece of software because that one has a special method of ripping the songs by extracting WAV files and then converting them into the desired format. What he didn’t know is that MP3 producer not only that it does this in a professional way, but also offers a lot of tweaking options for the encoding process and the tags of the files that are being obtained.

The file formats that are supported by the application are the following: MP3, WAV, OGG and WMA. Not only does the program rip CDs, but it also encodes files, from WAV to MP3, OGG, WMA, and decodes MP3, OGG and WMA into the WAV format. The format range with the values for the bitrates are: MP3 - MPEG1 and MPEG2, constant (CBR) and variable bitrates (8-320 kbps), WAV - 22050/44100 Mono/Stereo, OGG - constant, variable bitrates and average (ABR) bitrates (8-320 kbps), WMA - constant and variable bitrates (5-320 kbps) using the Windows Media Audio 9.1 Voice, Professional, Lossless codecs.

 

Applicability: Put all your old CDs to rest – you can take all the songs from them into your computer. I would suggest though that the ripping must be done at a higher bitrate as possible in order to keep the quality levels.

Pro(s): The interface is very user-friendly and quite intuitive. It has been translated in very many languages as well, so you can understand and work with it much better.

Con(s): Apparently a friend who tested the program just like I did used an Audio CD with some sort of protection and thus the program could not extract the files! I think the developers should look into this as there is software out there capable of creating digital back-ups even for copy-protected Audio CDs.

Website

Buy: $25

Download Trial

 

Finding a multi-purpose program is not something you stumble upon every day. Especially if you work with a lot of images and you may wish to publish them on web. With StudioLine Photo Classic 3 you can manage you photos, enhance them, correct the errors or just simply create a photo/image gallery and you can even upload it on your server as soon as you finish editing it.

   

The interface tends to look a bit complicated at first, but after having a closer look at the buttons and the menus, you will get used to it within minutes. First you would have to use the “browse and load” wizard menu in order to load images in the program window. After that, feel free to explore and play with each image editing option or tool in order to fix and restore or just adjust the contrast/brightness.

  

Once you’re done with the editing and tweaking, you can explore the possibilities of the Slide Show. You can have a look at the pictures in slideshow mode and then you can try also the printing options. On the left side, in the lower area of the program you have access to the image toolbox, the timeline options, image archive filter and the Web Gallery button. If you’re interested to publish your photos on a web page that you own and know the ftp access details, you can upload the gallery after you have finished personalizing it.

  

Applicability: Beginner web-designers and photographers could use the StudioLine Photo Classic software to manage and improve the hundreds or thousands of photos from their collections within minutes after installation of the program.

Pro(s): I liked the smooth integration of the interface with the Vista’s shell. Although it takes a bit of time to get used to the way in which this program works, it does offer a lot of functions meant to stimulate the creativity of the user.

Con(s): I wish there were more templates to choose from in the web gallery wizard. Although the software does have some of the features of other image file managers, it does not really give too many options of exporting the projects created with it.

Website

Buy: $29

Download Trial

Since Windows Vista came with a lot of new features, it's normal to have more useful keyboard shortcuts that you'll have to remember. Obviously, I can't tell you about all of them in a single article, and nobody can acquire so much information at once, so I'll start with the basic things, like opening the Computer window, showing the desktop or cycling through open programs by using the new Flip 3D mode. Are you ready?

<-120x240 Vertical Banner - left->Some of the following shortcuts are the same as in Windows XP, while some have changed, but I am sure you'll be able to handle things right, so let's start our tour...

1. To open or close the Start menu, there are two shortcuts, and they are not new to the Windows environment - Ctrl+Esc or just the Windows key.

2. If you want to display the desktop and take a look at that beautiful wallpaper you got from the Web yesterday, simply tap the Windows key+D.

3. To minimize all open windows and achieve the same effect as before, you can use the Windows key+M.

4. Unlike displaying the desktop, where the same combination can be used to bring back your windows, you need to press the Windows key+Shift+M to restore all minimized windows.

5. To open the Computer window, the keyboard shortcut to use is Windows key+E.

6. Alt+Tab has the same part in the play as always, helping you to switch before open programs, but...

7. ... to browse open programs using the new Flip 3D mode, you have to press the Windows key+Tab. Why would you use this mode instead of the classic one? Well, take a look below to find out!

8. To browse through the open applications, in the same order as they were started up, use Alt+Esc.

9. Good bye, old Ctrl+Alt+Del! To open Vista's task manager in a snap, you have to use Ctrl+Shift+Esc now. Don't ask why, just try to remember it, all right?

These being said, I'll leave you practice what I have just shown you, but prepare for more tips and tricks tomorrow!