Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard: What works, what doesn’t

There’s a handy Mac OS X application list & summary over at graphic designer James Dempsey’s Creative Guy blog about which software applications seem to be working and which seem not to be working on his Intel MacPro.

I made a quick comment on the post that while he mentions backup software Super Duper! is working fine, the developer still hasn’t released an official 10.5 Leopard-friendly version just yet. As paranoid as I am about backing up, it’s just another reason for me to hold off on upgrading for a bit.

I spent a bit of time over at the Adobe forums trying to piece together what exactly needs to be fixed in Acrobat Professional, which Adobe says needs updating for 10.5. Adobe itself is completely vague about this, which frustrates me because if the bugs don’t affect me, then I am not going to wait until Adobe’s late January 2008 update schedule to go Leopard.

I haven’t actually sat down to check on all the software I use as to their 10.5 compatibility due to an extremely busy project calendar for the past few months and upcoming months as well. I just can’t afford to have some obscure upgrade glitch or software hiccup bring me down, even for a day or so.

Apple just recently released the 10.5.1 update, and per my Ã¼ber-cautious upgrade methodology, most likely I will be upgrading on 10.5.2 — and hopefully that is related to a new MacPro purchase as well. I am betting that by the time 10.5.2 is out, Adobe and most every other developer will all be ready for 10.5 - some software I use is already going Leopard-only with the new feature sets. From chats with some shareware devs, it seems there are lots of new code goodies in Leopard that should be reflected in lots of cool new stuff in the upcoming months.

Foe a Mac geek like myself, it’s painful to check Mac RSS feeds and read all the Leopard ‘tweets going around without joining in on the fun. Hey, I guess I don’t have an iPhone yet either, and I survived that geek festival.

by George Coghill -
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