Speaking at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference at Moscone West, company co-founder and CEO Steve Jobs detailed features that would be included in the next version of the Macintosh operating system, known as Leopard: a new data and file recovery feature called Time Machine; upgrades to the Apple Mail program; new animation and conferencing software; Spaces, a new way to group and view applications and Boot Camp, a program that allows users to run Windows on a Macintosh, but not simultaneously with the Macintosh operating system.
"You guys have done a phenomenal job," Jobs said in praising his engineers for their work on the new system, code-named Leopard. "What has our competitor been doing the last five years?"
"My guess is that Vista is going to pale beside Tiger, much less Leopard," Jobs said. He said Leopard would be released next spring.
Analysts said Jobs' presentation was an effort to show that Apple already offers many features that Microsoft is promising when Vista OS hits the market next year, following a string of high-profile delays.
"It reminds the marketplace that much of what Microsoft is promising for Vista is available today at your local Apple store," said Michael Gartenberg, an analyst with Jupiter Research in New York.
Apple executives also showed off the newest versions of their largest workstation and server, both containing Intel microprocessors, completing the company's transition to an all-Intel product line first announced 14 months ago.
Hoping to dispel the Mac's expensive reputation, Apple officials said the new Mac Pro computer and Xserve are hundreds of dollars cheaper than similarly equipped models from Dell. The Mac Pro began shipping last week and the server will be available in October.
During his hour long presentation to an audience of several thousand wildly cheering software developers, Jobs — wearing his trademark blue jeans and black turtleneck — did not mention the controversy over Apple's mishandling of stock options, which the company last week said could mean its earnings reports were inaccurate as far back as 2002.
No price was set for the new OS, but Apple executives said it will run on Macs equipped with either the new Intel or older Power PC chips.
Perhaps the new Leopard's most interesting feature is Time Machine, which automatically backs up all the computer's data to an external hard drive or server. With a futuristic screen display resembling a trip through outer space, Time Machine also allows users to search and recover any data changes.
If, for example, an important photo is deleted, the software will automatically search for earlier versions of the program until it finds the missing photo.
In addition to enabling photo presentations during video chat sessions, the new Leopard includes a feature that turns any portion of an e-mail message into a to-do list.
It also has the ability to turn a piece of a Web page into a "widget," a small program that can pop up on a user's screen. For example, a computer user could turn an eBay auction page into a small window that can be checked for updates without actually logging on to the site.
A function called Searchlight has been expanded to allow one Mac to quickly search the entire contents of another Mac on a network where both are connected.
Apple machines and software already deliver what Vista only promises. That could help Apple increase its tiny market share, currently at about 4.6% of US computer sales, according to Gartner Inc.Microsoft officials could not be reached for comment.
According to Gartner Inc "Apple is winning mind share, which leads to market share."
Microsoft officials could not be reached for comment.
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