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6 Problems With Mac OS X Leopard

informationweek.com — IPhone users, database developers, people still running Classic Mac apps and folks who are obsessive about backing up will find some disappointments. Read on for a roundup of six Leopard problems.

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  • FknGoAway, on 10/30/2007, -3/+11I have had no problems with Time Machine. I did the first backup with the drive connected directly to a MacBook Pro. Once that was done I installed Leopard on a G4 PowerBook and hooked the external to that, Time Machine found it and continued to do backups. I tested this by deleting and seeing if it was definitely doing the backups. Today (Monday) I arrive at work and tried out the "back to my mac" thing. Once I connected, I saw a lot of network activity, low and behold, Time Machine saw the attached drive, mounted it on my desktop, and backed up again. It took almost 10 minutes and it was only a 4.4MB upload, slow but I am pleased it worked.

    Incidentally, the G4 (1GHz 1MB RAM) PowerBook is much faster with Leopard and working very well as a little backup/media server.
    • MtheoryX, on 10/30/2007, -2/+3I've already used Time Machine a couple of times to get a previous version of a Motion document restored. Works perfectly.
      Time Machine is no replacement for a full, bootable backup, but it's a lifesaver for intermediate stuff.
      • DaffyDuck, on 10/30/2007, -2/+3"Time Machine is no replacement for a full, bootable backup"

        I'm pretty sure it is. You can't boot directly from it but you can completely recreate your drive if it fails.
        • MtheoryX, on 10/30/2007, -0/+1But having an external bootable backup is what you would use in the meantime while you get a new drive put in your machine.
  • mattledger, on 10/30/2007, -4/+36Those are the six most minor "problems" I have ever heard
  • MtheoryX, on 10/30/2007, -6/+451.) Is there a reason you can't connect your main backup drive directly to your machine? Seems like less of a problem, and more of an inconvenience to just you.
    2.) Lack of support for SuperDuper! is not Apple's problem. Talk to SuperDuper! if you have questions: dnanian@shirt-pocket.com
    3.) You don't "need" third party apps to do a bootable backup. Read here: http://homepage.mac.com/geerlingguy/mac_support/ma ... Again, you're just pimping SuperDuper! So contact them with your concerns.
    4.) Lack of features in Leopard have nothing to do with the iPhone. There was none of this syncing in Tiger, so this isn't a Leopard-specific issue. Save this gripe for another ***** blog post on the iPhone subject.
    5.) Filemaker is not made by Apple. Again, if you have issues with Filemaker, contact Filemaker: http://www.filemaker.com/support/phone.html Don't bitch about their ***** support in Leopard. As a side-note, serious database developers don't consider Filemaker to be a serious database development platform, just so you know.
    6.) You're running Classic still, and you're bitching it's not supported in Leopard? Great, you can get together the other, maybe, 20 people that this seriously affects and bitch about it together. Other than that, you'll find that there are a large majority of people who don't care.
    In general, I'm burying this because it's pointless, stupid, subjective blog spam.
    You, Mitch Wagner, are a douche, and a hack.
    • adroit, on 10/30/2007, -2/+1 I like how he doesnt even know if you can backup via airdisk. he just refers to appleinsider (the most credible source!! OMG). Maybe you should try doing some real reporting mitch.
      • Firehed, on 10/30/2007, -0/+1Well he's right - for the moment, you can't back up via Time Machine to an AirDisk. At least, not without a hack.
    • iDiggIt42, on 10/30/2007, -1/+4I love you.

      ...in the manly kind of way.
    • Socram, on 10/30/2007, -1/+2I agree with you on all points but the Filemaker... Apple actually make it, as FileMaker is a subsidiary of Apple. http://www.filemaker.com/company/index.html
  • MCMookie, on 10/30/2007, -2/+11This is just a list of this poor fat *****'s minor, nit-picky frustrations. If these are the only things wrong with 10.5 (haha, not even a solid list of ten!) then I will certainly be updating.
  • JoH0e, on 10/30/2007, -5/+2What about connecting to a PC with the network? I'm having this major problem and I know a lot of other people are also.
    • 04TL, on 10/30/2007, -0/+0um...Leopard found my PC the instant I joined the same workgroup as it...and vice-versa...
    • agilligan, on 10/30/2007, -0/+0No problems here at all. In fact it's a hell of a lot better than Tiger at connecting to network drives.
      • Firehed, on 10/30/2007, -0/+1I agree, although IMO, network shares are the one area where OS X really is outshined by any version of Windows made in the last decade and a half. Why the hell can't I map/mount a network drive and have it reconnect at logon/startup/resume from standby? Shame on you, Apple.
        • meatmcguffin, on 10/30/2007, -0/+1You could always make an automator action and set it as a login item

          A bit hacky but it works
    • DaffyDuck, on 10/30/2007, -0/+1You probably need to change the permissions on your shared folders, specifically, add access for Guest and give guess the proper permissions.
  • Happy_Phantom, on 10/30/2007, -10/+4Watching all these posts about Leopard leaves me to believe that Leopard, like Windows Vista, is a largely features-less upgrade. Sure, both have delicious eye-candy and improved home media apps, but where are the whiz-bang, oh, I gotta have that! killer features (e.g. Spotlight or Expose)?

    Most discussions about Leopard revolve around Time Machine. How often will a typical laptop user be persuaded to connect an external hard drive to avail his or herself of this feature? How often will it ever be needed? Time Machine seems pretty weak as a major feature of an OS upgrade and hardly worth touting at all.
    • autoy, on 10/30/2007, -1/+5Nah, just read siracusa's review to see what's new under the hood. Those are the fundamental changes in Leopard, the innards.
      Regarding your second point, backing up is important but making this easy and appealing to the masses is genious. Time Machine is a mjaor feature, GUI and functionality-wise.
    • deadbaby, on 10/30/2007, -1/+2I think you're under estimating how popular external hard drives have become. Just about everyone I know owns one.
    • Zero2aHero, on 10/30/2007, -0/+2While just about everybody you know owns one, I know nobody who owns one.

      Isn't the stat something like 2/3 of Apple computers sold are laptops? If 2/3 of their computers sold are laptops, how many laptop users have a USB hard drive hooked up to their laptops at all times? I would say not many...

      I hadn't thought about using Time Machine over a network drive, but after someone mentioned that feature I actually got really excited for it. Now that it's not there, it is a letdown because having a constant backup solution over a network where I don't ever need to worry about it would just be amazing. I'm sure it just wasn't ready yet, and they will patch it in later. I hope...
    • iFungus, on 10/30/2007, -2/+2I use Spotlight and Exposé a lot. Please stop talking about something you don't know about.
      • Happy_Phantom, on 10/30/2007, -0/+1Please stop replying to text you don't understand. I was pointing out that Spotlight and Expose were killer, and that Time Machine pales by comparison.
  • deadbaby, on 10/30/2007, -1/+2Bootable backups using Time Machine: SuperDuper's developers note that, even with free backup built into Leopard, their software still has a role: With SuperDuper, you can boot your Mac directly from an external backup hard disk,

    When you do a fresh OSX install it will look for a TimeMachine volume and let you restore it.
  • wetmetalthong, on 10/30/2007, -3/+2I think the world "problem" is too subjective and apparently very offensive to the fanboys out there. Otherwise, I happen to agreed with wireless backups. Otherwise, who cares?
  • KrayzieKyd, on 10/30/2007, -13/+4Oh yea, it's also a ***** Mac.
  • Ascendancy5, on 10/30/2007, -2/+3It's been out for like 3 days...
  • D3koy, on 10/30/2007, -3/+1obligatory anti-mac comment suggestions:
    "It runs on macs"
    "It's not Vista-Compatible"
    "Steve Jobs was involved"
  • rdeal1, on 10/30/2007, -3/+2this guy suggests a few more reasons why macs might suck... http://collegepork.com/node/247
    • jasongdx, on 10/30/2007, -0/+2Old Macs, maybe. New Macs, nah.
      • gordeaoux, on 10/30/2007, -0/+1No kidding. He's holding a candy-colored G3 iMac.
  • zioxide, on 10/30/2007, -2/+4If you still run software that needs Classic, then I think it's time to upgrade that software.
  • totorototoro, on 10/30/2007, -3/+1I'm guessing people still running "Classic" apps are not the same people running to upgrade to Leopard :p
    • potterboy, on 10/30/2007, -1/+1I run Leopard and I am missing the OS9 support. Time to pull our sheepsaver.
  • sabarsky, on 10/30/2007, -4/+3and you are a ***** douche. don't like macs? stay the ***** out of the apple section dumbass. so tired of you ***** trolls.
  • codywalton, on 10/30/2007, -2/+2to the author of the article... "Would you like some cheese with that whine?"
  • max1574, on 10/30/2007, -3/+6Someone should write a counter article.

    1000 Problems With Microsoft Vista
    • Firehed, on 10/30/2007, -2/+2If you want to go that route, I can find dozens of things that Vista (and Windows in general) does better than a Mac does, and numerous other issues with Leopard. Of course, the difference is that Apple tends to actually FIX those issues. While Leopard is leaps and bounds ahead of Vista in terms of compatibility and usability at day one, it's got several oddities that make me look forward to 10.5.1.
      • max1574, on 10/30/2007, -1/+3im getting mixed messages...
        • HolyChimp, on 10/30/2007, -1/+1Someone likes both, but can find flaws with either? My god that sounds like a balanced argument! Get off the Interwebs!
  • dechah, on 10/30/2007, -6/+1Leopard has been totally underwhelming for me. Hardly worth $129 IMHO. Leopard's reliance on an external hard disk when all I want to use it for is to keep previous versions of my documents, photos and media files makes it useless to me. Vista Business and Ultimate does this better. The transparency effects on the desktop are horrible and diminish usability by making the menu bar harder to read with a significant proportion of my desktop backgrounds as I randomly cycle through my 2,000 quality desktop images every coulpe of minutes. It is now harder to see what apps are running in the Dock. Why replace a well contrasted black triangle with a pale blue smudge? Finally they have replaced the cheerfull appearance of Tiger with the drab and cheerless dark appearance of Leopard. My Folder icons now look like dull blue/grey blobs on my desktop.
    • gordeaoux, on 10/30/2007, -0/+1I agree with the transparency, there's no reason not to have that controllable. Otherwise I like the updated UI.
  • doublem9876, on 10/30/2007, -1/+3This is stupid
  • hungerf3, on 10/30/2007, -1/+1The biggest problem I've seen is that it wipes the crontab files for all users when you upgrade.
    Annoying, and inexcusable that it's not documented, as it's deleting user data which the upgrade has no reason to touch.
  • skyshark88, on 10/30/2007, -3/+1How much does he get from MICROSOFT.........
  • agilligan, on 10/30/2007, -2/+2With the exception of wireless backup, not one of those is a problem with Leopard.
    Even at that, it's not something to cry about - just connect a disk like you're supposed to.

    Buried.
  • ramsinks.com, on 10/30/2007, -3/+2classic.
    nice man.
  • llamapalooza87, on 10/30/2007, -3/+5Absolutely none of these problems have affected me.

    I can see why some wouldn't like Leopard; some people don't value Spaces, Quick Look, Cover Flow, and the redesigned UI as much as I do, but for me they're HUGE improvements worth every penny.
  • harryterry, on 10/30/2007, -2/+3buried for being ***** retarded
  • ramsinks.com, on 10/30/2007, -2/+1"Hypercard user groups and the three printshops still running QuarkXPress 4."
    Yes, and we haven't heard of them.
  • WaterMedia, on 10/30/2007, -0/+4There are many legitimate issues with Leopard:
    - The menu bar being hard to read
    - The trapper keeper dock
    - The "improved" running application blue dot
    - The hard to read folders at small resolutions

    But SuperDuper support? Notes? Wired hard drive support? All of these WILL be updated, except for wireless hard drive support which proves he is missing the point. Give everyone more than 4 days to program their new apps, okay pal? Oh - and none of these are Leopard issues. These are choices mixed with wishes for third-party developers.
    • jasongdx, on 10/30/2007, -1/+1Even then, those "issues" are mainly UI annoyances that can and will most likely be taken care of a bit in the future (hopefully; but of course, I'm not complaining, it is still more usable than a Linux GUI, dig me down)
    • Firehed, on 10/30/2007, -1/+1I only think your first point is really valid (I won't excuse it with "and only on some backgrounds at that", as it's a stupid issue; there should definitely be an option for a solid menubar). I greatly prefer the new dock and open app indicator, and have had no issues with being able to read folders. You can't make points that revolve around subjectivity.

      I'd argue that SuperDuper not working yet is a bigger issue than any of those, but like you said, the OS has barely been out 100 hours if that, and given the nature of SD!, I want them to make sure it works perfectly with the final, shipping code.
  • AZooYorkMystery, on 10/30/2007, -1/+3"Super Duper support?" WTF? How can you even classify this as a problem without an open AND closing sarcasm tag? Buried as blog spam.
  • skyshark88, on 10/30/2007, -3/+2Dude 129 for so much goodness and 350 for ***** I just wish they sold the OS for PCs....
    • Firehed, on 10/30/2007, -1/+1Just buy a copy and download the OSx86 kernel patch off of Bit-torrent. Apple will NEVER release their OS to run on any hardware, and for good reason. Or just buy a Mac Mini - they're pretty cheap, even more so if you were going to buy the software anyways.
  • eibrahim, on 11/02/2007, -0/+1This is scary... If you still think this is a fluke, there is another scary story at http://www.thetechbrief.com/2007/11/02/leopard-let ...
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