That pretty much is what iPhone OS is. The question is which OS would be easier to extend for the new tablet.
This is semantics. It doesn't even remotely approach even the basic functionality of Mac OS X.
You can do that today if the app supports it. By they way I'm agreeing with you here, for me it would be very important to have a more feature complete Safari for example. Saving files, like on the desktop, is one of those features that is missing. But remember these are nothing but apps and as apps it is up to the programmer to give us the required features.
This is a terrible idea. Downloading files should not be handled by an app but by the OS itself. It is creating more complexity where there shouldn't be. Give me a Downloads, Documents, Movies & Music folder and I'll be fine.
I actually like app store so I'm mixed on this one. Given that alternatives are always good. One alternative I'd like to see is an Apple supported scripting environment beyound Javascript. In this regards I'm talking about Python or Ruby. A good scripting language would lead to an explosion in what i call micro apps.
I like the App Store too but it rejects too many apps that exists in a gray area. If Apple allowed this, most people would still use the App Store as their sole place for getting apps. This would just provide some level of openness and freedom.
Unfortunately this is one of the primary reasons that I would see implementing Mac OS/X would lead to failure. The menu bar will not work in a Touch or tablet environment. History is pretty clear here.
I'm not asking for the menu bar just rethinking of it. I don't think there should literally be a menu bar for the tablet. Apple has been thinking of this themselves. There's an in-depth patent they have of a dictionary of gestures. Gestures can accomplish this task for the most part instead of having to rely on keyboard shortcuts which are far less natural.
Desiring iWork on a tablet is falling off the deep end. Sorry to be so blunt but how would you use iWork apps productively on a tablet. Also why disk utility? My fear here is that you are setting your self up for a device that amounts to a flat laptop. I don't believe Apple has the least bit of interest in delivering such a device.
Why is having iWork going overboard? There are document creating and editing apps for the iPhone. Apple is being rumored to be moving things to the cloud. If a tablet can't even handle this basic feature, then what is the point of this thing at all?
The reason I ask for Disk Utility is for the ability to format an external hard drive. The apps that I mentioned would give it the ability to act as a standalone device and it wouldn't be dependant on Mac for the most basic of things.
The ability to mount an external drive would be huge. But this needs to be knocked down to simply supporting a couple of USB ports. While external is good I'd like to see a couple of internal ports supporting the latest SD standard. The ability to expand storage internally would be huge in my mind as it means that portable unit grows with your needs.
Nice we agree on this point. I just would like the ability to format the hard drive as well.
Actually I don't care to much about those two. Rather i'd like to see Blutooth support for other devices like port adapters, network adapters and the like. In fact it should be easy for developers to add new drivers for innovative hardware. My guess is that Blutooth might be the only I/O available with no USB support.
I don't care about this too much either but I would like to see it there for other users who may need it. Maybe it doesn't need a mouse but something like stylus support would be better.
First off don't speak for every body here. We may or may not buy based on any number of consideration.
Most people would use the standard set of features which I've mentioned. This is the reason such things as netbooks have taken off. It's not a wild assumption to believe that most would choose this tablet over a netbook or a Macbook if a basic feature set is provided that most use on daily basis.
As to implementation I'm not sure you grasp the human factors issues. They could easily port over the menu bar for example, but it would be very stupid to do so.
The tablet will get an "OS" that is targetted at the consumer devices business. Mac OS/X will take a different route to the future. There may be Touch in that future Mac OS but it will be implemented in a way to solve different problems.
I understand enough about this. Just because the menubar wouldn't fit a touch based OS doesn't mean you just strip out all the functionality it provided. To me it can be rethought as something for a tablet.