Today Alex led us on a great whirlwind tour of MacOSX.5 system preferences. Many panes remain the same as in OSX.4, but several have been updated.

OSX.5 adds spaces (multiple desktops) to the OSX.4 Expose pane. Jeff recommends leaving your email etc. running on one space while concentrating on your work on another space; you can then easily switch back and forth, while concentrating on what's in front of you, free from distraction. Jeff colors his various desktop backgrounds (e.g., red, blue, green) to make it obvious when and where he's switched.

Printers are easier to set up; Printer and Fax pane is more logically laid out.

.Mac pane adds Dock synchronization, iDisc fuel gauge.

Completely new is the parental controls big brother pane. Alex uses it as a temporary User, to reduce his capabilities when he steps out of the office. e.g., you can limit who you (or your kids, your staff) can send mail too. You can hide all the "rude words" in Dictionary.app.

Speech adds new voice choice "Alex" (!) which sounds much smoother than OSX.4 voices. Quite comprehensible (even over my 32 kbps aac link)!

OSX.5's sexiest feature, the brand new Time Machine, automatically backs everything up to an external hard disc. You can restore any file to its state on any day! Ernie recommends dedicating a separate disc to Time Machine.

Universal Access adds Text Expander keyboard macros.

The NMUG also continued experimenting with meeting technology. Today we tried our first remote presentation and discussion: Alex ran iChat, and turned his camera to face the screen, so that I could enjoy the presentation from 10,000 kilometers away! Similarly, meeting attendees in Nagoya were able to see my talking head. Further, we IMed (text chatted) during the live and video presentations, making our own Group Support System. Very cool.