Possible 10.7 suggestions

[zeemeerman2]

Say, if 10.7 had to ship with no exciting new features above Snow Leopard, but it had tons of little features requested by users that make it bit by bit more comfortable to use, then should you buy it?

And what little features would you like to be had in 10.7? This may be new features or changes to existing ones. Please discuss..

And yes, also the Apple-like ones, like the Leopard's reflecting 3D dock may be suggested. It adds no real worth to a 2D transparent one, except for the looks. And this is something that can be used in the marketing of the product.

 

[roadbloc]

I think these would be nice:

• Social Networking Integration
• Labels in Stacks
• CD/DVD/Blu-ray buring software inbuilt (disk utility sucks)
• Application uninstaller (that gets rid of the preference files and other stuff) inbult
• Growl (or something similar) inbult
• The ability to uncompress more compressed file formats
• A few themes?
• Better Gaming/graphics support. Get up to speed with OpenGL.
• Old Expose back please.
• Cube effect with spaces
• Wine (or something similar) inbult, just for the occasional simple windows program.
• More formats please Quicktime

And something really cool that will be really useful and will totally show up Windows 7.

No pressure Apple. 😉

 

[iBunny]

ZFS Native File system
Native NTFS write capabilities
Better/Faster Open GL support
Trim support for SSDs
Better/Faster HD Video Decoding

I really believe that 10.7 will be the last OSX... there really isnt much more to work on or add or perfect on.

I think that OS 11 will be a OSX + iPhone OS Hybrid, and that will debut after 10.7

 

[kasakka]

• Fixed mouse acceleration curves so you don't need Steermouse or USB Overdrive
• Support for limited color range for HDTVs (16-235 instead of 0-255 to prevent black crush)
• Dock - indicators for selected app, show number of windows open in an app, ability to group apps
• Expose - ability to close windows (for example a X button in the corner)
• Safari - loads more features, like what Glims etc brings, better address bar search etc, proper addon support
• iTunes - better syncing: it should not try to erase your iPod/iPhone all the time if any sync option is set but you still have manually manage music selected; remember where you had scrolled in the library after restart, support for additional formats via plugins, needs major speed improvements, syncing should not hide the position bar (the one that shows what point of a song you're listening)
• Finder - just replace the damn thing with Path Finder

 

[Burning Radio]

Finder - just replace the damn thing with Path Finder

Would love that. A more polished version of Path Finder (as a replacement for Finder) would be very welcomed on my mac.

Also, MORE features for Safari. (better animated .gif support anybody? I hate when I open a page with one on it and Safari crashes)

And The system needs a few options for themes. I know it's a really windows-centric thing, but I miss having the option of using 3rd party themes.

I'd be happy if they polished the current Snow Leopard theme and then had alternate Dark version of the theme to choose from as well.

 

[elppa]

The “old” expose I certainly wouldn't like back.

I much prefer the 10.6 version: integrates well with the Dock, shows minimised windows, allows for zooming of windows and most important the window NAME is always shown for all windows by default.

Maybe add an option to sort by Date Added for all folders, not just stacks.

Adding an X button to close many open windows quickly is a good suggestion though.

Safari improvements aren't tied to the OS. I may be wrong, but I suspect we will see Safari 5 @ WWDC in under a week.

System rollback and uninstalls are a good call.

I agree the disc burning needs looking at. I've never felt this burn folder nonsense was particularly well thought out. Also if you write click on an ISO and say “Burn to Disc…” in Finder. I don't think Mac OS X comes up with a particular elegant solution.

The terrible support/performance for network shares is an area that could be greatly improved. WebDAV performance lol. Also the connect to network dialog could do with an overhaul.

 

[bocomo]

Would love that. A more polished version of Path Finder (as a replacement for Finder) would be very welcomed on my mac.


I'd be happy if they polished the current Snow Leopard theme and then had alternate Dark version of the theme to choose from as well.

for Finder improvements, i would do something like Default Folder X (love that program)

i could see an alternate Dark theme, but i really don't care too much about that stuff

 

[MartiNZ]

• Fixing nested sorting in dock stacks, which was fine in Leopard but got broken in Snow Leopard.

• Full GUI implementation of some of the hidden defaults write preferences, for instance the very useful recent items stack, the 'new list view' mode for stacks and quicklook xray folders in Finder.

• Decent SMB browsing straight out of the box rather than 10 months later as it was with Leopard and is hopefully going to not be longer than in SL.

• Feature parity with Finder in open/save dialogs - sort options for column view mode, ability to rename files, etc., and options more obviously visible, like the options for icon view that are -only- available by click and hold, not right-click or anything, and not obvious at all given that those appear to be just buttons.

• Ability to set default size & position for all new Finder windows regardless of path - Windows 7 got this done and it's really nice there and something I've wanted since 10.1.

• Expanded Dock options - the MS Office apps have 'recent items' accessible right from the dock icon; Apple should implement that for all appropriate apps and make it accessible even when the apps are not open, à la Windows 7 superbar, which does a good job of this except that it puts the most recent item furthest away in the list!

• Dashboard overhaul - or indeed just removing it altogether. Get rid of the iTunes widget crashes that have survived almost 6 years of updates; make more built-in widgets useful outside the US; upskill the calculator, calendar and clock ... or, again, just remove it altogether.

• QuickTime overhaul #2 - give us back the old 'pro' features without needing two versions installed. Better video screen capture including of an external display.

• Ongoing improvement in Preview - it has come a long way especially with annotations but could really benefit from just straight up MS Paint like capabilities; this is still a big part of the picture (no pun) missing from OS X, and again something I've wanted since 10.1.

• Improvements in Boot camp so that you can turn off keyboard backlighting, and so that the time sets correctly between restarts, and better support for mighty/magic mouse in Windows especially with horizontal scrolling.

• Better syncing between Mail.app and Mail on iPhone, so that Mail.app correctly shows that I replied to messages from my iPhone.

• Stopping the bluetooth menu extra appearing and sticking around when a device hits low battery - just a warning will do thanks.

• Support for saving plain text with Windows line-endings from TextEdit. Yet another thing I've wanted since 10.1! AppleScript editor can do it happily and has less need to as far as I can see.

• Ongoing improvements in networking, security, firewall settings, etc. Vista made networking 'just work' and OS X should be able to do the same.

And yep, I'd buy that 🙂.

 

[celticpride678]

I think these would be nice:

• Social Networking Integration
• Application uninstaller (that gets rid of the preference files and other stuff) inbult

I don't see these things happening...but I would love the idea of Path Finder on my Mac.

 

[PsudoPowerPoint]

• Ability to close or change docked status of windows from Expose
• Option for automatic file version numbering as an alternative to overwritting the existing file on save
• When dragging a file to folder, if a file of the same name exists, and the user chooses to replace it, transfer the replaced file to the trash
• In Spaces, an option for an alternate desktop image, desktop folder, finder options, and Dock contents in each Spaces window
• Option to display creation and modification dates in Spotlight searches
• GREP Spotlight searches
• In Safari, have the time and date of the download recorded in the Finder modification date, and have the link to the page I was browsing recorded in the finder comments
• In Safari, allow me to attach a note or comments to a webpage that I can use in history searches
• In the Finder Info windows, allow the user to copy the file name and path
• Have a shortcut key for "Bring all windows to front" from any application
• In Mail, more filtering options, including the ability to filter outgoing e-mail
• In Activity Monitor, a method of identifing programs responsible for network or disk activity
• In Address Book, better options for copying information to the clipboard for use in other applications
• Ability to run iPhone or iPad apps as widgets in Dashboard
• Encrypted backups in Time Machine
• Network boot from Time Capsule
• Ability to keep my iTunes library on my Time Capsule to share with authorized computers on my wireless network
• Wireless sync of my iPhone or iPad

 

[ThE.MeSsEnGeR]

• When dragging a file to folder, if a file of the same name exists, and the user chooses to replace it, transfer the replaced file to the trash

somewhat similar to what u said, I would like when there's a folder with some files inside it; and I have another folder with the same name but different files... If i chose to "replace", a good option would be to chose whether you want to merge the files or replace them.

• Have a shortcut key for "Bring all windows to front" from any application

you can actually do that now, do this:
1. Go to "System Preferences"
2. Go to "Keyboard"
3. Go to the "Keyboard Shortcuts" tab
4. in the list on the left, choose "Application Shortcuts"
5. then click on the small plus button below the blank area next to the list
6. leave the option "All Applications"
7. in Menu Title, write exactly as it is shown, "Bring All to Front" [w/o quotes]
8. choose the shortcut you want
9. that's it!

you can actually do shortcuts for any or all applications, the important thing is that you have to write the Menu Title for the option you're doing a shortcut to exactly as it is written in the application, it's case sensitive. Hope it helps! 😀

 

[PJohnson]

Fix Airport so it doesn't constantly drop wireless connections.

 

[bocomo]

• Ability to close or change docked status of windows from Expose
• Option for automatic file version numbering as an alternative to overwritting the existing file on save
• When dragging a file to folder, if a file of the same name exists, and the user chooses to replace it, transfer the replaced file to the trash
• In Spaces, an option for an alternate desktop image, desktop folder, finder options, and Dock contents in each Spaces window
• Option to display creation and modification dates in Spotlight searches
• GREP Spotlight searches
• In Safari, have the time and date of the download recorded in the Finder modification date, and have the link to the page I was browsing recorded in the finder comments
• In Safari, allow me to attach a note or comments to a webpage that I can use in history searches
• In the Finder Info windows, allow the user to copy the file name and path
• Have a shortcut key for "Bring all windows to front" from any application
• In Mail, more filtering options, including the ability to filter outgoing e-mail
• In Activity Monitor, a method of identifing programs responsible for network or disk activity
• In Address Book, better options for copying information to the clipboard for use in other applications
• Ability to run iPhone or iPad apps as widgets in Dashboard
• Encrypted backups in Time Machine
• Network boot from Time Capsule
• Ability to keep my iTunes library on my Time Capsule to share with authorized computers on my wireless network
• Wireless sync of my iPhone or iPad

very good ideas!

i've always wanted functionality in overwriting/replacing/appending files when moving them just like adobe bridge. that would make my life MUCH easier

 

[MikhailT]

ZFS Native File system
Native NTFS write capabilities
Better/Faster Open GL support
Trim support for SSDs
Better/Faster HD Video Decoding

I really believe that 10.7 will be the last OSX... there really isnt much more to work on or add or perfect on.

I think that OS 11 will be a OSX + iPhone OS Hybrid, and that will debut after 10.7

ZFS is probably never coming back to Apple again. The Oracle's acquirement of Suns changed everything. It is more likely Apple will use BTRFS instead of ZFS or they'll work on their own next gen HFS. I don't think we'll see anything regarding to a new file system in 10.7, since BTRFS is still an immature FS and Apple started hiring new file systems engineers after dropping ZFS which suggest we're years away.

Trim is likely to come with the new file system but regarding to 10.7, i think we might see some kind of an enhancement to the old HFS+ but they could've done that for 10.6. No news to report on this.

Native NTFS write support is already in SL, you just need to enable it by mounting it with an RW option via command line. I think I saw some tool that can do this for you, check google for it. I think Apple will enable it by default in 10.7 once the driver continues to mature.

Better/faster OpenGL is coming already via 10.6.x updates, 10.7 will just continue the pace regardless.

Better/Faster HD decoding is a definite. 10.7 will continue the optimization and maturing of the OpenCL, likely to have OpenCL 2.0 release support.

There won't be any Mac OS X + iPhone OS hybrid, because there's nothing to mix with. iPhone OS is nearly the same thing as OS X with its front end being tuned for the touch screens and Mac OS X is tuned for the desktop use. If Apple releases iMac/Cinema with touchscreen support, then the interface will be tuned for it, not likely to be the same as iPhone's interface, it'll have many of its graphics but the way we interact will be different.

Steve Job also said and I'm paraphrasing, that 10.6 was built to build the next decade worth of OS X releases. That was the whole point of 10.6, to modernize the cores so that they can get the OS up to date and ready for new technologies and innovations in the next several releases.

With all the new foundations, I don't think Apple is going to radically change to something else right after 10.7, it's too soon. Apple has the OS that they're ready to work with. With no more PPC code in it and likely the 32bit CPUs support bring dropped for 10.7, Apple finally has a near clean codebase to work off with no worry about PPC/32bit support.

Apple could easily rename 10.7 to OS XI if they want to, especially if it'll continue a brand new file system, brand new interface and so on. The question is, can they get those done in time? Probably not, could they get it done for 10.8? We have no idea.

I honestly think 10.6/10.7 combined itself would've been OS XI.

 

[kasakka]

Native NTFS write support is already in SL, you just need to enable it by mounting it with an RW option via command line. I think I saw some tool that can do this for you, check google for it. I think Apple will enable it by default in 10.7 once the driver continues to mature.

Native NTFS writing is disabled for a reason, it's pretty buggy so I don't recommend enabling it. 100% working NTFS write support would be nice tho.

 

[mysterytramp]

My list:

1. Add bookmarks to Go menu
2. "Commander" style window
3. Rename multiple files. Select, hit return, anything added to one is added to all the files.
4. Right (or control) click an alias, and the menu that pops up reveals the path to the original file.
5. ZIP archives open as folders (total Windows ripoff)
6. Apps recognize an "uninstall" message and will delete themselves and their associated files
7. Option for zooming to be window by window, rather than for entire screen
8. Volume control for each window
9. Finder should be able to give battery status of iPod through Get Info
10. More control of trash: delete individual files, see which drive files are from, undelete files from trash window, view trashed files in TM backup, automatically trash items when trash is above a certain level, or items that are a certain age

mt

 

[Octorox]

One feature I'd really like that always bugs me is the lack of an ability to merge folders. If I drag a folder into a directory that already has a folder of the same name, I should be given an option to merge the content of the two folders, not just overwrite.