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The Apple CEO introduced new software for recovering and restoring date and managing desktops and applications, a significantly enhanced Mail and iCal, improved support for 64-bit hardware and a new desktop animation technology.

Time Machine [pictured] is perhaps the standout new feature in Leopard. An extension of the Backup software that Apple previously made available only to .Mac subscriber, Time Machine wakes up as soon as an external drive is attached to a Mac. Once configured it makes a complete backup of all the files on your system and thereafter backs up any changes, while maintaining a comprehensive layout of your system. The user is given the option of excluding certain files from the backup and of setting the time of day when the back up will be made. Since backups are stored on your device by date, you can browse through your entire system as it appeared on any date and restore data from any point in time.

The other major new feature is Spaces, a configurable version of the Exposé technology introduced in OS

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X 10.3 Panther. It lets the user organise open applications into separate Spaces, which you can tab between, or, Exposé style, select from a bird's eye view. In that same view, you can drag application windows from one Space to another. Should be handy for anyone doing something they shouldn't at work.

Mail has acquired notes and to-do sections. Mail notes can include graphics, coloured text, Web links attachments and can be grouped folders or Smart Mailboxes. To-Do reminders include a due date and an alarm and can be assigned a priority and any created in Mail are automatically copied to iCal. Mail also has support for RSS feeds.

Leopard builds on the support for 64-bit computing first provided in Tiger, while maintaining full performance and compatibility for existing 32-bit applications and drivers. Developers can build and users run a new generation of 64-bit applications that address massive amounts of memory.

The Cocoa and Carbon application frameworks, as well as graphics, scripting and the rest of the system are all 64-bit on both Intel- and PowerPC-based Macs. Crucially, software can take full advantage of the 64-bit Xeon chips in the new Mac Pro and Xserve.

Developers also get access to a new graphics environment, Core Animation, designed to enable Mac developers create applications such as Spaces and Time Machine, without needing to know esoteric graphics and maths techniques.

For more information, including videos of the Leopard Sneak Peek, go to apple.com/uk/macosx/leopard.