Mac OS X Leopard: 300+ New Features. Listed out like this, it can seem like most of the new stuff is insignificant, but there are some great game-changers in here. AutoFS and Kerberized NFS will be big where I work. Safari 3.0 may win me away from Firefox (I've enjoyed the beta). Screen sharing and presentations over the Internet in iChat. Screen sharing (VNC-like?) from Finder. Remote file access over the Internet built into Finder (not sure if this was built in before, other than FTP). The Dock Stacks feature. The AppleScript scripting bridge for Python, Ruby and others. UI recording in Automator. Major new features in Mail, iCal, Preview, DVD Player, and Spotlight. Possibly sufficient improvements to the Finder (?).

From past press releases, I had thought Time Machine was being spun as a layperson's version control system built into the OS. This feature list puts much more emphasis on Time Machine as a backup mechanism. Before, I didn't even know Time Machine could keep its data on an external hard drive. From this, I can't even tell if Time Machine can store data on the same disk.

Leopard ships October 26. If you bought a new Mac in the month of October, you can get a free (+ shipping) upgrade to Leopard via Apple's Up-to-Date program. I ordered my new iMac on September 29th, but it didn't ship until October 3rd. My request for the free upgrade appears to have succeeded anyway.