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What do you want in Mac OS X 10.5?
- Thread starter Doctor Q
- Start date
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Some of these have been said before...
1) Full vector display, 100% resolution independent. You should be able to run the display at its native resolution, have the GUI scale to whatever size you want, but still render all vector graphics at the native resolution of the display.
2) Make search folders / links part of the file system. See the widely linked Ars article.
3) GPU accelerated video decoding in QuickTime. Also, drop QuickTime Pro, come on, I dropped >$2000 on a brand new PowerBook, and I'm supposed to spend another $29 to be able to full screen video? Mplayer manages this just fine.
4) Like so many others have said, consistent UI. It seems like anymore Apple is completely ignoring its own human interface guidelines.
5) Just because I want it, a live multichannel in/out mixer.
99) Magic that will make my G4 PowerBook run like my G5 PowerMac, and clean my bedroom.
1) Full vector display, 100% resolution independent. You should be able to run the display at its native resolution, have the GUI scale to whatever size you want, but still render all vector graphics at the native resolution of the display.
2) Make search folders / links part of the file system. See the widely linked Ars article.
3) GPU accelerated video decoding in QuickTime. Also, drop QuickTime Pro, come on, I dropped >$2000 on a brand new PowerBook, and I'm supposed to spend another $29 to be able to full screen video? Mplayer manages this just fine.
4) Like so many others have said, consistent UI. It seems like anymore Apple is completely ignoring its own human interface guidelines.
5) Just because I want it, a live multichannel in/out mixer.
99) Magic that will make my G4 PowerBook run like my G5 PowerMac, and clean my bedroom.
Frankly with Tiger I think all the basics are in place, and although somebody will eventually think up some really clever new features, what I really want to see is a release that polishes the whole thing to a satisfactory "finished" state for the current OSX.
As such, my wishlist for 10.5 would be limited to:
A) A better Finder. Tiger helps, but it absolutely, positively should NOT be brushed metal--that should be for media apps ONLY.
What is should look like is the new Preferences/Mail look--you could easily combine the functionality of the "old-style" finder windows and the "new-style" ones while reducing the amount of the screen used to slightly more than the old style windows and a lot less than the new. Please, Apple?
B) A consistent user interface. There should really be two App looks, period: Brushed metal and Tiger Platinum (or whatever the Preferences/Mail look is called). The former for media apps, the latter for productivity. The old platinum look (evolved from the pinstripe one) should easily merge into the new one and offer a cleaner look.
C) Completely resolution-independant display--this is going to be necessary as monitors improve.
D) Stability and general polish (just work all the kinks out).
Really, if Apple refined the interface, fixed the finder, and polished the whole mess to keep it running smoothly, I'd be happy for quite a while, and I think business customers would be too.
That would allow 10.5 to be the last of the inital string of OSX releases, and pave the way for a big, fancy 10.6/11 release with experimental new fewtures a few years later. Apple's Longhorn, so to speak, except good.
Oh, and by the way, whether it's called 10.5 or 11 is almost academic now--Apple has apparently made up their mind to go with the names only, so even the retail box now just says "Mac OS X Tiger"--it only mentions "version 10.4" in the small print. Tiger is to the MacOS what "XP" is to Windows--that's its name now (nobody calls XP "NT6").
As such, my wishlist for 10.5 would be limited to:
A) A better Finder. Tiger helps, but it absolutely, positively should NOT be brushed metal--that should be for media apps ONLY.
What is should look like is the new Preferences/Mail look--you could easily combine the functionality of the "old-style" finder windows and the "new-style" ones while reducing the amount of the screen used to slightly more than the old style windows and a lot less than the new. Please, Apple?
B) A consistent user interface. There should really be two App looks, period: Brushed metal and Tiger Platinum (or whatever the Preferences/Mail look is called). The former for media apps, the latter for productivity. The old platinum look (evolved from the pinstripe one) should easily merge into the new one and offer a cleaner look.
C) Completely resolution-independant display--this is going to be necessary as monitors improve.
D) Stability and general polish (just work all the kinks out).
Really, if Apple refined the interface, fixed the finder, and polished the whole mess to keep it running smoothly, I'd be happy for quite a while, and I think business customers would be too.
That would allow 10.5 to be the last of the inital string of OSX releases, and pave the way for a big, fancy 10.6/11 release with experimental new fewtures a few years later. Apple's Longhorn, so to speak, except good.
Oh, and by the way, whether it's called 10.5 or 11 is almost academic now--Apple has apparently made up their mind to go with the names only, so even the retail box now just says "Mac OS X Tiger"--it only mentions "version 10.4" in the small print. Tiger is to the MacOS what "XP" is to Windows--that's its name now (nobody calls XP "NT6").
Some of my wishlist items:
- All apps: Open/Save dialog boxes that let you see folders as they look in the Finder, i.e., files and folders arranged in their windows.
- All apps: The ability to resize windows from all four corners and all four sides.
- Finder: Instead of making us pick either Get Info (command-I) to see one window per item or Show Inspector (option-command-I) to see one window for a collection of items, put a control in the Get Info window to let you split/combine the windows AFTER you pick Get Info, so you can switch from one view to the other.
- iChat: Tabs.
- iChat: Keep chat windows from moving up the screen if they are bottom aligned on the screen and you type a multi-line message. See thread.
Xanderxxx said:I feel like the only person in the world who likes brushed medal
I'm not saying I dislike it, just that now we have Aqua, Brushed Metal, and ?Plastic?. Brushed Metal seems to be mainly for media apps, but Finder is not a media app. One of Apple's key features used to be a consistent UI. We don't have that anymore. I think Apple really needs sit down with a copy of it's interface guidelines and review every single application that they write and fix all of the inconsistencies.
Realistically I'd say 10.5 should be a clean up release. Tidy up all of the loose ends. Add the few features that are missing, ie GPU assisted decoding of video codecs so PowerBooks stand a chance of decoding HDTV, this is possible in the Windows world, it's a shame it's not on Mac. Minor tweaks to increase speed and reduce memory consumption. And make it either free or cheap.
At the same time there should be a Mac OS 11 fork where they can go completely off the wall. This is probably where features like resolution independent displays belong. Also, I'd say this needs to be out in two years tops.
Actually, Carbon can't be killed very easily in its current form because parts of Cocoa depend on Carbon. Also, killing Carbon without providing some other way of programming for Mac OS X in C++ would significantly reduce the number of developers making software for Mac OS X (Objective-C isn't exactly well known; most software ported from Windows is written in C++).anonymous161 said:
I'd like to see a radical new idea implemented - window resizing from more than just the lower right corner. It's hard to describe, but I have to imagine that - just maybe - being able to resize from, say, all four corners and the edges might work. I wonder if that's ever been thought of before.
And I vote for resolution-independent displays as well.
And I vote for resolution-independent displays as well.
hehe...you guys are never happy!!
In all seriousness however, I entirely agree with the GUI situation. I am very supprised that a company who prides itself entirely on presentation, "sexy" designs, and a clear/clean marketing pattern (Think, everything has a consumer and pro version) has allowed the OS to get so mixed up. Somebody mentioned that 10.5 would be a cleanup approach - I tend not to think so. You see, for me, 10.2 was nice. We had the aqua feel pretty much everywhere, and brushed metal was in the minority. Really, iTunes (and much later, Safari) were the only metal apps, and then 10.3 came along and it all went wrong. Office was forced to change their icons into solid colours, mail stuck out as it was still in aqua land, and frankly it was all over the place. Now, with 10.4 we have dashboard which is an entire mish-mash and this new plastic effect in mail. Totally incoherant.
I honestly believe that this is a sign of changing times. Steve wants to go after the big fish now - and thats the windows users. I'm not sure that Apple's focus is on the "whole picture" but more like "yeh, thats neat, put that in!! That'l impress them" and this is how we've ended up with such a montage of visual effects (Which people moan about not being able to get due to hardware limitations and in reality are pointless and take up CPU instructions) and differing styles, colours and whatnot. It's also why we no longer have a firewire lead with our ipods (VERY inconvenient in terms of charging etc), why the powermacs have been left while we get the nice mini's out to the people who are potential switchers and why everything (including the displays and now they're talking about the OS) is becomming Windows compatible.
When I purchased my powerbook, then emac and ibook, I did so because I was investing in a brand that I believed had somthing different to offer me. The problem is that it's chaging fast. The iPod has led to a massive profit increase for Apple - and they need to be securing this long term. First rule of business for me is to look after existing customers. Why? Because they are the ones that give you your bread and butter. Secondly, and most crucially, they are the people who spread word of mouth and make others aware. As mac users, we should be the ones getting the benefits of belonging to this "group" that has been established - we should have free .mac subscription as it used to be in the old days, firewire (that apple pushed!) included in our ipods and we should be given the benefits of things like regular updates to our powermacs, and a "pro" book that is on a par with somthing better than an AMD duron processor of three years ago.
Just the other day I used my old Windows tower (Now three years old). It has an Athlon Thunderbird 1.33 Ghz processor and you know, compared to my emac (Which cost more to own than my tower did) it screamed. I brought my macs because of the OS. Becasue I could do things with music (in my case) that I couldn't do as productivly with windows. But I have to say, it pisses me off when Apple do stupid things like limit the firmware in my ibook so that I cant extend my monitor, and treat switchers like gods, but existing users like freaks. I've invested a lot of money in my various birthday gifts to relatives, numerous iPods and computers - not to mention the music store and yet, I rung the help centre just the other day for a quick hardware query ("Why is the battery jammed in my powerbook") for them to honour me with a load of rubbish about me being without a computer for four weeks while I sent it in at my OWN RISK!! Plus, my call was transferd to a third world country who clearly didn't have a clue about Apple hardware. I mean, thats what you want isn't it?
Don't get me wrong. I love apple. I tell anyone who will listen, and I still jump up excitedly when I see an old imac or powerbook in the movies - jabbering to anyone and everyone about the history behind the model. I have to be honest though, that my enthusiasm for the brand is failing. I think its partly due to all we've discussed here, partly due to cost (e.g. 1.4 mini = 400 but get anything above that, and apple want the bucks.) and partly because it's just nice to be able to get four small TFT's, line them up on my desk and have some REAL estate. I cant do that with my mini/ibook or emac...not even with my powerbook. And yet, they cost me more than my old tower. It's wrong isn't it? But it is somthing that Apple can change. Dell never lost money by making their machines upgradeable.
Motto? Pull your socks up apple, else I for one am switching back. Sort out all these issues in your next upgrade to the OS. I think Ill skip 10.4 for now...until you make me upgrade by making your software incompatible with 10.3. They've got me either way. I'm on the money train for them now. I can argue and put up with it, or I can jump off....
Plus, I miss windows. I miss randomly clicking EVERYWHERE in the hope that I might actually find what I'm looking for. Still, Apple have made the displays Windows compatible, itunes compatible and .mac compatible...plus the hardware is cheaper...*thinks* are they TRYING to make me switch back?
In all seriousness however, I entirely agree with the GUI situation. I am very supprised that a company who prides itself entirely on presentation, "sexy" designs, and a clear/clean marketing pattern (Think, everything has a consumer and pro version) has allowed the OS to get so mixed up. Somebody mentioned that 10.5 would be a cleanup approach - I tend not to think so. You see, for me, 10.2 was nice. We had the aqua feel pretty much everywhere, and brushed metal was in the minority. Really, iTunes (and much later, Safari) were the only metal apps, and then 10.3 came along and it all went wrong. Office was forced to change their icons into solid colours, mail stuck out as it was still in aqua land, and frankly it was all over the place. Now, with 10.4 we have dashboard which is an entire mish-mash and this new plastic effect in mail. Totally incoherant.
I honestly believe that this is a sign of changing times. Steve wants to go after the big fish now - and thats the windows users. I'm not sure that Apple's focus is on the "whole picture" but more like "yeh, thats neat, put that in!! That'l impress them" and this is how we've ended up with such a montage of visual effects (Which people moan about not being able to get due to hardware limitations and in reality are pointless and take up CPU instructions) and differing styles, colours and whatnot. It's also why we no longer have a firewire lead with our ipods (VERY inconvenient in terms of charging etc), why the powermacs have been left while we get the nice mini's out to the people who are potential switchers and why everything (including the displays and now they're talking about the OS) is becomming Windows compatible.
When I purchased my powerbook, then emac and ibook, I did so because I was investing in a brand that I believed had somthing different to offer me. The problem is that it's chaging fast. The iPod has led to a massive profit increase for Apple - and they need to be securing this long term. First rule of business for me is to look after existing customers. Why? Because they are the ones that give you your bread and butter. Secondly, and most crucially, they are the people who spread word of mouth and make others aware. As mac users, we should be the ones getting the benefits of belonging to this "group" that has been established - we should have free .mac subscription as it used to be in the old days, firewire (that apple pushed!) included in our ipods and we should be given the benefits of things like regular updates to our powermacs, and a "pro" book that is on a par with somthing better than an AMD duron processor of three years ago.
Just the other day I used my old Windows tower (Now three years old). It has an Athlon Thunderbird 1.33 Ghz processor and you know, compared to my emac (Which cost more to own than my tower did) it screamed. I brought my macs because of the OS. Becasue I could do things with music (in my case) that I couldn't do as productivly with windows. But I have to say, it pisses me off when Apple do stupid things like limit the firmware in my ibook so that I cant extend my monitor, and treat switchers like gods, but existing users like freaks. I've invested a lot of money in my various birthday gifts to relatives, numerous iPods and computers - not to mention the music store and yet, I rung the help centre just the other day for a quick hardware query ("Why is the battery jammed in my powerbook") for them to honour me with a load of rubbish about me being without a computer for four weeks while I sent it in at my OWN RISK!! Plus, my call was transferd to a third world country who clearly didn't have a clue about Apple hardware. I mean, thats what you want isn't it?
Don't get me wrong. I love apple. I tell anyone who will listen, and I still jump up excitedly when I see an old imac or powerbook in the movies - jabbering to anyone and everyone about the history behind the model. I have to be honest though, that my enthusiasm for the brand is failing. I think its partly due to all we've discussed here, partly due to cost (e.g. 1.4 mini = 400 but get anything above that, and apple want the bucks.) and partly because it's just nice to be able to get four small TFT's, line them up on my desk and have some REAL estate. I cant do that with my mini/ibook or emac...not even with my powerbook. And yet, they cost me more than my old tower. It's wrong isn't it? But it is somthing that Apple can change. Dell never lost money by making their machines upgradeable.
Motto? Pull your socks up apple, else I for one am switching back. Sort out all these issues in your next upgrade to the OS. I think Ill skip 10.4 for now...until you make me upgrade by making your software incompatible with 10.3. They've got me either way. I'm on the money train for them now. I can argue and put up with it, or I can jump off....
Plus, I miss windows. I miss randomly clicking EVERYWHERE in the hope that I might actually find what I'm looking for. Still, Apple have made the displays Windows compatible, itunes compatible and .mac compatible...plus the hardware is cheaper...*thinks* are they TRYING to make me switch back?
Next on my wishlist: Lyrics displays in iTunes.
I would like iTunes to handle the display of lyrics as a built-in feature. You'd select menu choice Windows -> Lyrics to open the Lyrics window, which would display the lyrics of the currently playing song (or the first-selected song if not playing). I'd settle for a static display, but if they want to have it highlight/scroll automatically as the song plays, that's even better.
Perhaps you could also select Edit -> Scroll Lyrics to have the lyrics scroll along the bottom of the iTunes window (or the Visualizer window if it is open).
The lyrics would be fetched from a central set of servers. I'm not sure how Apple would find the best source for lyrics. Maybe they would be supplied by record labels, maybe by the community, or maybe from existing lyric web sites. That's Apple's problem to figure out; I just want to use the feature once it's added to Mac OS X and iLife!
I would like iTunes to handle the display of lyrics as a built-in feature. You'd select menu choice Windows -> Lyrics to open the Lyrics window, which would display the lyrics of the currently playing song (or the first-selected song if not playing). I'd settle for a static display, but if they want to have it highlight/scroll automatically as the song plays, that's even better.
Perhaps you could also select Edit -> Scroll Lyrics to have the lyrics scroll along the bottom of the iTunes window (or the Visualizer window if it is open).
The lyrics would be fetched from a central set of servers. I'm not sure how Apple would find the best source for lyrics. Maybe they would be supplied by record labels, maybe by the community, or maybe from existing lyric web sites. That's Apple's problem to figure out; I just want to use the feature once it's added to Mac OS X and iLife!
Tabs in Finder
Full Preview functionality when viewing PDFs in Safari (zoom alone would be nice)
A Dashboard manager in System Prefs
A revamped, consistent GUI with more options
More flexibility in iCal -- preferences should give me much greater control over defaults like alarm repeat intervals and whether I want the End time to automatically change if I make a change to an event's Start time.
Full Preview functionality when viewing PDFs in Safari (zoom alone would be nice)
A Dashboard manager in System Prefs
A revamped, consistent GUI with more options
More flexibility in iCal -- preferences should give me much greater control over defaults like alarm repeat intervals and whether I want the End time to automatically change if I make a change to an event's Start time.
gimme a break
every OS release is going to have its few issues, thats why the first patch (10.4.1) comes out weeks afterward, i think the release of tiger was very timely and apple wont have any major problems after this first patch. So far the only probs ive heard are few and far between system issues, the widget security thing, and a few network apps not workin. Not bad if you ask me. I can wait to see all of the problems with Longhorn when it hits the fan.
grapes911 said:My one and only request to Apple would be to not rush 10.5. I hope Apple takes her (Apple is a woman right
I have one request for the user base ass well (This includes myself). I want people to not saying "when will they release 10.5???" We all couldn't understand why it took so long to anounce 10.4, but now I wish they held off a few months or so.
every OS release is going to have its few issues, thats why the first patch (10.4.1) comes out weeks afterward, i think the release of tiger was very timely and apple wont have any major problems after this first patch. So far the only probs ive heard are few and far between system issues, the widget security thing, and a few network apps not workin. Not bad if you ask me. I can wait to see all of the problems with Longhorn when it hits the fan.
It's all about Liquid...
I think they should adopt a new Liquid interface where certain objects and actions behave as if they were in water. (It's tough to explain, but I see it in my head!!) Of course, it would mostly be eye-candy...but it would be cool!! Think about it: You are moving an item from one window to another. When you drag the item out of the window, the edge of the window distorts..bulging outward. When you drag the item into the other window, the edge bulges in. Then, when you drop the item, there is a ripple that bounces all of the other icons around. There could even be a bubble or something around the icon when it is over the desktop. It sounds a little stupid I guess, but I came up with this idea (probably pre expose) when I was having trouble following where I was moving a file.
Also, I too would like to see resolution independent windows. I would like to be able to set Safari at it's own resolution, say 800x600 or whatever so that everything would appear larger (text AND images) without having to change the entire systems resolution.
I also agree with having more built-in thems. It would be nice to change the colors to something other than blue or grey...
I'm sure there are other things I would like to see, but that's all for now!
I think they should adopt a new Liquid interface where certain objects and actions behave as if they were in water. (It's tough to explain, but I see it in my head!!) Of course, it would mostly be eye-candy...but it would be cool!! Think about it: You are moving an item from one window to another. When you drag the item out of the window, the edge of the window distorts..bulging outward. When you drag the item into the other window, the edge bulges in. Then, when you drop the item, there is a ripple that bounces all of the other icons around. There could even be a bubble or something around the icon when it is over the desktop. It sounds a little stupid I guess, but I came up with this idea (probably pre expose) when I was having trouble following where I was moving a file.
Also, I too would like to see resolution independent windows. I would like to be able to set Safari at it's own resolution, say 800x600 or whatever so that everything would appear larger (text AND images) without having to change the entire systems resolution.
I also agree with having more built-in thems. It would be nice to change the colors to something other than blue or grey...
I'm sure there are other things I would like to see, but that's all for now!
You know what - I was just thinking about much the same thing, inspired (as I suspect you were) by the ripple effect in the dashboard. The great thing is that such an interface would be the perfect thing to include in 10.5 to really show off the power of Quartz, Quartz Extreme, Quartz 2D Extreme, Core Image, and any other acceleration technologies Apple adds in the meantime.daustin said:
Doctor Q said:
I too would like to see this....as well as a way for iTunes to grab album art without you having to spend tons of time with a 3rd party app.
I would like an integrated media library app:
iTunes + iPhoto + iVideo? + iLiterature? all in one application with tabs to switch back and forth. This way you can access whatever you want within one application. If you want to listen to songs or watch videos or see your list of books/dvds....it's all right there. If you need to do some editing then there would be a button that would open up the corresponding application.....iPhoto would pop up and you could start cropping. There could also be a Store/Shop tab which would take you to the iTunes store to buy music, movies, etc.
I would like to see dashboard updated so that you can have settings for leaving as many apps as you want going on the real desktop while you do other things.
I would like for Apple to go back into their archives and provide you with commercials as screensavers. I've downloaded a lot of them already. It's fun to watch these.
I would like the ability to defragment my hard drive with my install disk or in disk utilities b/c if you move lots of video/photos/music in and out the disk gets pretty fragmented over time.
10.5 should be 64-bit.......just because all of Apples computers should be 64-bit by then.
Faster start up when the Mac has been shut down or restarted.
Better and more innovative speech to Mac recognition/software.
Apple Mac OS X Wish List...
Have added this thread to our Apple Mac OS X Wish List and will add in items from this thread shortly.
Cheers Daniel
Have added this thread to our Apple Mac OS X Wish List and will add in items from this thread shortly.
Cheers Daniel
One want: in Quicktime, default keyboard shortcuts for navigating movies, like in MPlayerOSX and VLC. It irritates me every time I press the right arrow while a movie is playing in Quicktime, only to have the movie pause and move forward by one frame.
Of course, if this is already done somehow through the keyboard shortcuts preference pane, someone please tell me.
Apple can surprise me with whatever other awesome stuff they come up with.
Of course, if this is already done somehow through the keyboard shortcuts preference pane, someone please tell me.
Apple can surprise me with whatever other awesome stuff they come up with.
Actually, I'd rather the meaning of the right and left arrow keys stayed the way it is, and VLC gained the ability to navigate a movie frame-by-frame like QuickTime Player does - I like to play around with frame-by-frame navigation to study things like transitions between scenes.After G said:
Tabs in Finder
A better and faster GUI
Faster graphics
True 64Bit OS so we can take advantage of those G5's fully
Better stability
Better compability
Faster OS overall
Spotlight to be spotlight fast
And more eye candy like expose and other nice things like Dashboard....that all I have so far
Edit: What is the reason for apple slowing down their OS release cycle
Also Resolution independent GUI.....very important
Xsan and Xgrid built in
A better and faster GUI
Faster graphics
True 64Bit OS so we can take advantage of those G5's fully
Better stability
Better compability
Faster OS overall
Spotlight to be spotlight fast
And more eye candy like expose and other nice things like Dashboard....that all I have so far
Edit: What is the reason for apple slowing down their OS release cycle
Also Resolution independent GUI.....very important
Xsan and Xgrid built in
Platform said:
they have had two development teams for OSX so far, and they are now merging the two into one. up until now each team has prepared a new release bi-annually (10.0 / 10.2 / 10.4 coming from the primary team and 10.1 / 10.3 from the secondary) and given support for its previous release until their new version is out.
in the future, now that OSX has matured, there will only be one team preparing releases, and as you can think, the result should be better and last longer to release. expect one more 10.X release and then the next big thing.
innovation is not slowing down, only the release cycle. there's nothing to lose, but a lot to gain stability-wise.
(now i just wait eagerly to get a tiger-compatible protools version...)
