Well, it's been almost a year since I've had my MacBook, and already I've started my OS X Leopard fund to purchase the new version of the Mac OS when it's released this October (unless of course Apple decides to pull a Bill Gates and push the release date back a few years).

I've already visited the Apple website numerous times to salivate over the cutting edge features promised in the new operating system. Among the most exciting to me is the Time Machine feature, which provides the user with a graphical means of going back in the computer's timeline to retrieve files backed up on an external hard drive. And the Time Machine feature also allows for wirelessly backing up to a hard disk connected to an AirPort Extreme Base Station.

What confuses me the most is the Spaces feature, which creates separate virtual workspaces on which the user can better organize windows. What's confusing is why this wasn't available on previous versions of the Mac OS. Every distro of Linux I've used has had a feature like Spaces, and being a Unix-based OS it seems odd that this was never available before on Macs.

Among these are other minor GUI innovations, such as a revamped 3D dock with little indicator lights replacing the black triangles under active applications, and a translucent menu bar. The new dock allows for the creation of stacks which are, well, stacks of documents and applications created by the user. Simply click on a stack and the files spring open into an icon list for easy navigation.

You can see all the new Leopard features in action with demo videos and screenshots at apple.com/macosx/leopard.