Mac OS X Leopard
Mac OS X Leopard
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Mac OS X Leopard

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Mac OS X Leopard

Mac OS X Leopard (version 10.5) is the sixth major release of macOS, Apple's desktop and server operating system for Macintosh computers. Leopard was released on October 26, 2007, as the successor of Mac OS X Tiger, and is available in two editions: a desktop version suitable for personal computers, and a server version, Mac OS X Server. It retailed for $129 for the desktop version and $499 for Server. Leopard was superseded by Mac OS X Snow Leopard (version 10.6) in 2009. Mac OS X Leopard is the last version of macOS that supports the PowerPC architecture as its successor, Mac OS X Snow Leopard, functions solely on Intel based Macs. It is also the first version of Mac OS X not to support the G3 family of PowerPC processors.

According to Apple, Leopard contains over 300 changes and enhancements compared to its predecessor, Mac OS X Tiger, covering core operating system components as well as included applications and developer tools. Leopard introduces a significantly revised desktop, with a redesigned Dock, Stacks, a semitransparent menu bar, and an updated Finder that incorporates the Cover Flow visual navigation interface first seen in iTunes. Other notable features include support for writing 64-bit graphical user interface applications, an automated backup utility called Time Machine, support for Spotlight searches across multiple machines, and the inclusion of Front Row and Photo Booth, which were previously included with only some Mac models.

Apple missed Leopard's release time frame as originally announced by Apple's CEO Steve Jobs. When first discussed in June 2005, Jobs had stated that Apple intended to release Leopard at the end of 2006 or early 2007. A year later, this was amended to Spring 2007; however, on April 12, 2007, Apple issued a statement that its release would be delayed until October 2007 because of the development of the iPhone.

Mac OS X Leopard made many changes to the user interface. This includes a more detailed, transparent menu bar, skeuomorphic system icons, and a glossy, reflective, 3D Dock. Windows lost their metallic, lined look they had previously. As well as this, the Apple icon is now black instead of blue. This is notably very similar to IPhone OS 1's user interface. Rory Prior, on the ThinkMac blog, criticized a number of changes to Leopard's user interface, including the transparent menu bar and the new folder icons. Decreased transparency of the menu bar, along with the ability to disable the menu bar transparency were added with the 10.5.2 release on February 11, 2008.

Apple advertised that Mac OS X Leopard has 300+ new features, including:

New security features intend to provide better internal resiliency to successful attacks, in addition to preventing attacks from being successful in the first place.

Security features in Leopard have been criticized as weak or ineffective, with the publisher Heise Security documenting that the Leopard installer downgraded firewall protection and exposed services to attack even when the firewall was re-enabled. Several researchers noted that the Library Randomization feature added to Leopard was ineffective compared to mature implementations on other platforms, and that the new "secure Guest account" could be abused by Guests to retain access to the system even after the Leopard log out process erased their home directory.

Apple states the following basic Leopard system requirements, although, for some specific applications and features (such as iChat backdrops) an Intel processor is required:

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