Rumors galore! Even if the Mac Leopard would have a late 2006 or early 2007 release date, the backfence talks have not stopped. If rumors are to be believed, iChat 4.0 (to be included with the Leopard) will include the capability to call traditional phone lines, which is like existing VoIP big shot Skype and betas from Microsoft and Google.

Apparently, the site who featured this reiterated the rumor recently since their "sources" had gave them an in-depth preview of the Leopard. With regards to the iChat 4.0, if it's able to call a landline or a cell phone, then that's awesome, but if it could only make PC-to-PC calls, then they don't have nothing new to offer to the table because people had been doing that for a long time already.

Aside from the iChat gossip, there is also the rumor about more transparency, dashboard speed improvements, remote control access, tabbed iChat and whiteboarding among many others.

Well, maybe these rumors could be trashed or verified when it will be previewed in the upcoming Worldwide Developers Conference this coming August 7-11, 2006. Until nothing concrete and official is presented or written, then these will remain rumors.

After Trinity Rubicon has let the cat out of the bag about the convincingly real Leopard screens that he made, we thought that it will put an end to all the commotion it has caused and that the whole Apple community will move on to new things. But lo and behold, it has only opened a Pandora's Box of requests on what features the Leopard ought to have from eagerly waiting enthusiasts.
 
Eric Schwarz from SchwarzTech is one of the legions with their wishlist for the Leopard. His list seems to resound of other loyal followers' thoughts like PowerPC support, updating Finder, Safari fixes and the likes. But the best thing that I though he wished for was a surprise from Apple. If anybody can give us something to go Whoa about, it'll be Steve Jobs and the brilliant Apple team. If you want to read his full list, just head on over to his site. Maybe it will also inspire you to put up a wish list of your own.

Are you familiar with these supposed Mas OS X 10.5 Leopard screens?

Three days ago we featured these screens here at QJ to submit to the scrutinizing eyes of Mac users. There were skeptics and there were believers. Finally, the blogger who was the source of the screens, under the name of Trinity Rubicon, has come out with the truth to set the records straight. They are all nothing more but fakes.

In his defense, I could vouch that he did keep us entertained at the very least and that this could probably be the most earnest blog entry I have seen in a very, very long time. He tells us in depth what inspired him to make these fake screens and how he did it. After reading the post it turned out to be a very good Photoshop tutorial.

Here's an excerpt from his public apology/confession:

I'm going to be honest here: When I posted those Leopard screenshots on Blogger, I was never expecting quite the popularity it ended up achieving. For it to get on the front page of Digg is one thing, but to have it get commented on 200 times is pretty surprising to me. I had no idea it would cause such a debate, and I really enjoyed reading all of your comments, whether you thought it was real or not (mostly the latter, though). But, seeing as my third screenshot didn't fool anybody, I think it's about time I just give it up.

Maybe inspired by the comments of people that frequent the site, he decided to continue posting fake screens for the Leopard. His future plans include Finder, Desktop Switching and Virtualization. But this time we are no longer being fooled. We are just being treated to a faux fur extravaganza.

Apple Computer is looking to outshine rival Microsoft Corp. yet again. Same company, different scenarios. This time, it is for the inevitable battle between the two companies' software operating systems -- Leopard and Vista.

With over a month to go before Apple releases their latest software operating system, Leopard - the next version of Mac OS X, rumors have been sprouting like mushrooms. Apparently there are a couple of screens that depict some features of the software.

With Leopard hitting the market about the same time as Microsoft's Vista, it isn't surprising if there are backfence talks that says Apple has been keeping a close watch on the Bill Gates camp. Allegedly, Apple has been developing a handful of features for Leopard that will specifically rival those available to Vista users.

Heard through the grapevine that one of Leopard's features is OS-level integration of a geographical mapping technology, similar to Microsoft's Virtual Earth. The technology will presumably allow Leopard users to scour the globe through satellite imagery and whisk up driving directions on the drop of a dime. Another rumored feature of Leopard is the unification of Apple's Address Book and iCal applications into a single app. This is coupled with the absence of the traditional iCal icon in the Mac OS X Dock.

But the juiciest morsel of rumors surround Apple's Boot Camp and where the company may or may not take the technology. It seems that some sources are saying that the technology is being groomed as a rival to Microsoft's Virtual PC Express. The similarities do not end there it seems that Apple is also rumored to be contemplating for a "more marketable" name for its next-generation OS just like what Windows did for the Vista (it was formerly known as Longhorn, if you don't remember).

Apple plans to unveil Leopard for the first time at its World Wide Developers Conference, which runs from August 7-11 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, Calif. By that time, these rumors would either have been confirmed or trashed, we'll see.

Genuine skin shots or faux fur? That is the question! We're talking about the Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard screenshots that have been making net appearances. The highly anticipated Mac OS X v10.5 Leopard is the upcoming sixth major release of Mac OS X for Apple's Macintosh computers. And it's no stranger to rumors - mostly based on Apple People's wishful thinking of what they want from their spanking new OS.

The screenshot on the left features the Finder and Internet Explorer. The breathtaking screen on the right is supposedly Leopard's desktop switcher. Of course, the best antidote for rumors is the truth. And we won't find out till Apple officially releases what appears to be the coolest cat so far either late this year or early next year.

A survey of 2,092 people showed that 4.3% of them would switch to Mac even if they can't run Windows applications on it. When asked if they would change their allegiance with the Mac Intel, 8% of them said "yes". But the response of the iPod users in the survey group was described as "stunning."

The survey showed 7.6% iPod users are willing to switch to Mac if it can't run Windows. That figure shoots up to 20% if the choice included Mac-Windows Hybrid. Known as the Halo Effect (where the iPod makes other Apple products look better to consumers) the mega-successful iPod could help fuel Mac sales in 2008.

Many Windows PC users have resisted making the switch to Mac mainly because they won't be able to use many Windows-based  business apps. However, the wall of resistance appears to be showing cracks. Insiders say Apple could make a major dent on the PC market in the next few years with the upcoming Mac Intel in 2007. Boot Camp, the software that lets Mac toggle to Windows, could deliver another blow to the resistance. The software is expected to become a standard feature in Leopard, the next Mac OS X version scheduled to be released early next year. 

When all these elements are put together, Charles Wolf of Needham and Co. says Apple could end up with about 5% share of the global market by 2011 (the 2005 figure is 1.9%). Wolf estimates 17% of the 4.3 million units expected to be sold this year will be Macs. That's about 772,000 Macs to be bought by people moving away from Windows.

Apple's ability to run the Windows operating system may wind up increasing its share of the U.S. personal computer market by 300%, according to a stock analyst at the Needham Company.

Upgrading Apple's stock from "hold" to "buy" status, Charles Wolf issued a price target of 90$ per share, stating the reason for the upgrade as "...the prospect that a significant number of Windows users will switch to a Mac once it's able to run Windows applications."  A recent survey of Windows users in the U.S. indicates that 8% would switch to an Apple if it could run Windows. This would triple Apple's U.S. market share, and increase its global share 75%.

Last April, Apple introduced a beta version of Boot Camp, which allows the Mac to boot up from either OSX or Windows. Apple plans to bundle Boot Camp with its next version of OS X, called "Leopard," scheduled for release early next year.

After announcing the upcoming Leopard, reports have it that the next Mac OS X release will feature a redesigned Finder making extensive use of Spotlight.  Another speculative feature is the inclusion of virtualization software. Now comes a third rumor which claims Leopard will feature easy collaborative work throughout the OS.

Leopard's collaborative document feature allows users to work simultaneously on a single document over a network or Internet. The modifications made by each user will be updated in real time for all connected users. Sources also claim that Apple is already integrating support of collaborative documents into iWork and iCal.  There's more insider buzz that Apple decided to restart the development of its calendar application. The new version, which ships with Leopard, will bring collaborative features and a new widget along with many other enhancements. But all those are rumors the fell off the netvine and into our ears. 

One thing we do know is that Mac OS X Leopard and iWork Â?07 will probably be launched during the annual Macworld SF opening in January next year. Coincidentally, MicrosoftÂ?s Windows Vista will be launched at about the same time.

The Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard is not quite ready to pounce but eager prey are restless as to what this cat can and cannot do. The grapevine flows with speculations that it it'll include a system-level, encrypted BitTorrent client for iTunes Store, a Windows virtualization software and full screen applications. But these are well inside the territory of tech-gossip.

One developer thinks resolution independence is one of those rumoured features that could turn fact based on little clues he picked up here and there. According to Dustin MacDonald, "this stuff (referring to resolution scaling) is actually in the OS already. It showed that this "resolution independent" stuff won't necessarily be all vector. Yes, NSBezierPaths and fonts automatically scale correctly, but what about graphics? Although Apple hasn't said anything yet, it only makes sense that they would further the use of .icns files, letting you have different graphics for multiple sizes, scaling near perfectly. This is already the case with all application icons in Mac OS X."

Then he cited talks regarding scaling websites. "And we're not just talking about good CSS manners here, these guys are talking about implementing Adobe's vector-based SVG as a first-class image format in WebKit, and most likely OS X. Holy shitz. Obviously, no one is simply joking around here. This is going to happen."

And finally some graphic designer spilled the beans that they were contracted by Apple to make icons for the system. "Except, these icons weren't 128x128px, no, they were a whopping 512x512px. I'd say that these kinds of icons would be big enough to be scaled down a fair bit. With larger resolutions on new Macs lately, it makes sense that Apple would do something like this. Even I find myself squinting sometimes when using my 23" Cinema Display at a far distance. Mark my words, this is going to be huge - WWDC can't come soon enough." 

Until the OS X 10.5 makes it debut at  AppleÂ?s Worldwide Developer Conference in August  this year,  it's going remain as elusive and mysterious as the cat it was named after.