I remember after I saw the new features in Tiger I was pretty excited. Spotlight, Dashboard and Automator seemed like great features. However, after using Tiger, I found Spotlight to be slow, Dashboard marginally helpful and Automator something I just didn't need. I have very high expectations for Apple OS releases as do others and sometimes what looks good in a keynote doesn't work well, for me, at home.
So with this year's Leopard preview I was anxious as always, but cautiously optimistic. At first glance, the Leopard standouts are Finder, Quick Look and Spaces. With the 300 or so enhancements to the OS, with many features yet to be announced, it's hard to say what other features will be of value. You may have noticed I didn't mention Time Machine. While I think Time Machine is revolutionary for a desktop OS product (and free), I don't know quite yet how it will fit in my backup strategy. I'm glad to see that Spotlight will see a performance boost (badly needed). The features in Leopard are more practical in nature. I'm looking forward to seeing the final product list.