Leopard's hits and misses: A spotty record

Computerworld - Macintosh fans can be a peculiar lot. They may follow Apple's every move with rapt attention, but they're not shy about sharing their thoughts when they think the company has fallen short.

That even applies to such feverishly anticipated developments as the release of a new version of OS X: Just check out almost any Apple OS forum these days for a sampling of Leopard-related snark, mere days after it shipped.

	In Depth: Leopard leaps to new heights Leopard's hits and misses: A spotty record Inside Time Machine: Backups for the rest of us Leopard apps, system tools offer subtle, yet powerful, changes User accounts and file sharing in Leopard What's new in Leopard Server The verdict: Leopard spanks Vista Opinion: Leopard redefines what personal computing looks like Opinion: Apple's Leopard is a developer's delight Opinion: Leopard Server vs. Windows Server Five reasons not to make the jump to Leopard -- yet FAQ: Getting ready for the leap to Leopard Image gallery: First look at Leopard

So here's where we point to a few of the things we think Apple missed on the way to its Leopard launch, or things that weren't missed but simply could have been done better. (There are surely others we haven't found yet, so feel free to propose your own candidates in our Comments section below.) Of course, it wouldn't be fair not to offer a few thoughts on what Apple did extremely well, so those are included as well.

For demonstration purposes, we're including some screenshots and videos that we ran with previous Leopard stories and collected in our Leopard image gallery. If you click through to the image gallery from this story, you'll need to use your Back button to get back here.

First up: The Leopard misses.

Misses

Time Machine
Time Machine is the coolest app included in Leopard, but that doesn't mean it's perfect. In fact, it can be a tad confusing when you're first setting it up using the System Preferences pane.

By default, Time Machine backs up everything on your computer, and is even smart enough to know not to copy files on the external hard drive you're using as your backup.

So far, so good. But let's say you have more data on your computer than there's room for on your backup drive. That means you're going to have to pick some things for Time Machine not to back up. Here's where things get dicey.

To exclude files in Time Machine, press the + button -- not exactly the intuitive choice. (Click for larger view.)

No doubt Apple intends Time Machine to back up everything by default, which is why it's set up this way. Just make sure you buy a large enough hard drive, and this won't be an issue.

The Dock
Before Apple released the final version of Leopard last Friday, some of those with access to prerelease builds had complained about the Dock; in particular, the way looked when it was placed on the left or right side of the screen.

Running it up the side seems natural in this era of widescreen monitors, as that's where the extra screen real estate is. Why force windows to be smaller than they need to be by sticking the Dock along the bottom of the screen? And yet, that's where Apple seems to naturally think it should be.