Host of minor Leopard features revealed?

Unidentified sources point to a variety of small but important features being included in the next version of the Mac OS. According to contacts, Leopard will introduce a fullscreen mode for QuickTime that does not require QuickTime Pro; this is an extension of earlier changes made to iTunes. Media emphasis is said to be further enhanced in the form of DVD Player, which should have an HD options pane designed around Blu-Ray and HD DVD drives. The ability to quickly change cover art and region support is mentioned as well.

As confirmed, Sun's ZFS is tapped to make a limited appearance. Newly suggested though is that despite being read-only and non-default, ZFS will still support trademark abilities, such as instant, low-size "snapshots" of a volume. Cloned copies, meanwhile, will be modifiable with little penalty.

One of the most significant changes may be to iChat, which is being altered with the iPhone in mind to send SMS texts to contacts with mobile phone numbers. Likewise, Google Talk accounts will be visible alongside the likes of AIM and .Mac. In spite of this, however, users will be able to switch the default IM program to something of their preference, in the same way that Safari can be used to toggle the default web browser.

This choice motif will extend to Dictionary, where users will be able to select Wikipedia instead of Oxford if so desired. Finally, there will be no need to share exclusively through the Public folder on a network, though how sharing will work has not been specified.

Filed under: Apple