It seems odd to think that a publication such as PC Magazine, that seeming bulwark of all things Windows and PC, would even deign to review Mac OS X, much less give it the highest accolade and praise they’ve ever given an operating system.

(It’s an unfair and misguided notion of what PC Magazine is, whose “PC” is really plain-vanilla, non-partisan “personal computer” - meaning everything is fair game, including Apple products. It’s a prejudice I fought against when I was Editor-in-Chief of PC Magazine Philippines, but it was like asking the tide not to come in.)

Well, don’t be too shocked - PC Magazine, in a PCMag.com review by Edward Mendelson gives Leopard a near-perfect rating, and says the new version of Mac OS X is…

…by far the best operating system ever written for the vast majority of consumers, with dozens of new features that have real practical value—like truly automated backups, preview images in folders, and notes and to-do lists integrated into the mail program. Propeller-heads with IT know-how will no doubt hold up Linux as the better choice, and Vista has its devotees as well (and will probably have more when SP1 is widely available), but, for the average user, Leopard is the most polished and easiest to use OS I’ve tested.

…I found Leopard to be startlingly fast, brilliantly streamlined, and packed with conveniences and innovations. Leopard’s rich set of built-in software runs faster than I imagined possible”

To be fair, Mendelson has some pointed criticisms about Leopard as well, but generally seems almost shocked at how good Leopard is. I feel a sea change coming on.

Read the full PCMag.com review here.

I have fond memories of Sherlock, Apple’s old and venerable search utility. He has saved me in many a time of need, and has himself survived many an OS update. But it seems he has finally outlived his usefulness, eclipsed by the upstart 21st century detective Spotlight, who has come into his own with Leopard. The King is dead! Long live the King!

With the introduction of the new OS, Sherlock seems to have completely and totally disappeared, spirited away into the ether unceremoniously, without fuss or French horns, although there hasn’t really been any official announcement one way or the other.

Never mind a clean install; if you upgrade from Tiger to Leopard, Sherlock is simply erased from your system. Searching for him on the Apple site leads nowhere; he’s just vanished from sight, erased from memory. Sniff.

A moment of silence, please, for our dear, good, dependable friend Sherlock. May flights of angels sing thee to thy rest…

It’s hard not to talk about Apple and Steve Jobs without mentioning the other Steve - Steve Wozniak.

Long since parted ways from Apple, Woz was instrumental in the creation of the first Apple Computers and the Mac (and that’s putting it mildly: Jobs was just the sales guy, really; all the tech magic came from Wozniak), and he’s largely the well from which originally sprung the Apple mythos and ethic. Today the Apple co-founder does his own thing, but remains a big influence on the industry.

On the eve of the Leopard release, Laptop Magazine’s website posted a lengthy interview with Steve Wozniak on how he views all things Apple today, 30 years since he left, and is an interesting read. One great nugget, re iPhone hijinks:

From a business point of view, Apple owns what they have done. They have a right to lock it. But I am really for the unlockers, the rebels trying to make it free. I’d really like it to be open to new applications. I’d like to install some nice games. Why in the world can I not install a ringtone that I’ve made? How would that hurt AT&T’s network? Here is Steve Jobs sending letters to the record companies saying [they] should provide music that’s unprotected, but here he is taking the opposite approach with the iPhone. I don’t know to what extent AT&T is involved in the thinking and direction.”

Took the words right outta my mouth. Read more of Woz’s Words here.

Apple Inc. says over two million people have purchased a copy of Mac OS X Leopard, or OS 10.5, since its official release 6pm of October 26. The figure includes retail, reseller, online, new Mac sales, voluntary arrangements and agreements.

It’s shaping to be the fastest and hottest selling Apple OS so far, even surpassing Tiger sales.

And to mention an unmentionable, the over-6GB install is the hottest download on torrents and the net in the past 48 hours, making a large and incalculable leap over and above the 2M legal acquisitions. (You know who you are. Tsk. Tsk.)

At an Apple Store, you can now buy anything you want, as much as you want, except if they’re iPhones.

Apple feels bad about the quarter million iPhones people have bought, but have not activated. (Guess what happened to those.) It seems people have been buying in bulk, with the precise intention of reselling them, for eventual unlocking and use with different carriers, or for use outside of the continental United States.

Hoping there won’t be more of that kind of Think Different business this Christmas season, Apple is now limiting over-the-counter purchases to just two iPhones per customer - and you’ll need to use a credit card; your cash is no good to Steve Jobs.

Hoooookay…

In fact, they’re so serious about it they aren’t even allowing iPhone purchases using Apple Gift Cards, even if the gift cards themselves were bought using credit cards.

It’s one of the rare times a company Thinks Different and deliberately refuses perfectly good business.

Feh! All this Thinking Different is giving me a headache.