What's left for the next OS X?

[iLive]

Now that Mavericks is out with all the requested features like better multi-monitor managing, tabbed finder and improved technologies (App Nap, Timer Coalescing, Safari Power Saver, iTunes Playback Efficiency, Compressed Memory), I just can't see what's left for the next OS X.

Siri is still missing, which I bet will be included in the next release, but apart from that, what's left to improve about OS X? What do you think is still missing?

 

[TallGuyGT]

I could see Apple offering a hybrid experience for OSX. And unlike Windows 8, it would offer the best of both worlds.

Mavericks shows that Apple is committed to the desktop and power users. But they are also laying the foundation for a touch-centric experience with things like launchpad, fullscreen apps, and iCloud app-centric file saving.

Maybe Apple would offer users a choice - boot into desktop mode as normal, or boot into "easy" mode that defaults to Launchpad, which shows only fullscreen touch enabled apps.

Not sure Apple would do this, and they may just prefer people buy iDevices, but seems like they are leaving themselves options.

 

[Shishu]

New filesystem

 

[tarco0]

New filesystem

I always wondered what's wrong with the actual file system.
What are the other options out there?

 

[Sky Blue]

- Siri
- New iOS 7 style design.
- Ability to answer calls, get voicemail

 

[samcolson4]

OS X 10.10 will most likely be a massive UI overhaul and and deep-integrated Siri.

Now that Ive has finished working on iOS7's design I'd imagine Apple will push his time towards the next OS X.

Or OS XI if they choose to rename it.

 

[notrack]

New filesystem

File system that integrates with icloud (without that in-app-hide-away nonsense) and client side encryption which makes it possible to easily, securely and seamlessly use documents on multiple devices. Apple style killer feature.

 

[Cougarcat]

I always wondered what's wrong with the actual file system.
What are the other options out there?

Apple will probably roll their own. I believe they were hiring FS engineers not too long ago. They were thinking about ZFS at one point, but that fell through.

As to what's wrong, read the FS sections of John Siracusa's epic OS X reviews on ArsTechnica.

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Mavericks shows that Apple is committed to the desktop and power users. But they are also laying the foundation for a touch-centric experience with things like launchpad, fullscreen apps, and iCloud app-centric file saving.

No, they are not. They're just moving over things that make sense. The UI for touch and mouse is just too different. If you try to make one for both, you fail.

The best integration I could see them doing would be some sort of device that would boot into OS X or iOS depending on its hardware configuration. Say, an iMac that would turn into a giant iPad if you took it off its stand.

 

[nutmac]

I always wondered what's wrong with the actual file system.
What are the other options out there?

From my stand point, the main issues are:

• Data integrity: With HFS Plus, if data goes bad (which happens more than you think, especially as your hard disk gets old), you won't know anything about it.
• Copy on write: With HFS Plus, each file has a global lock, meaning only one process can update the file at once.
• Data deduplication: No provision for eliminating duplicate copies of repeating data.
• Storage pool: For pooling multiple storages into a single volume. Fusion makes some attempt at storage pool, but it has a long way to go.

 

[mikecwest]

Maybe Apple would offer users a choice - boot into desktop mode as normal, or boot into "easy" mode that defaults to Launchpad, which shows only fullscreen touch enabled apps.

Apple has tried created an "easy mode" before, and I don't think it did well.

It was called "At Ease," and was by far the dumbest product I ever saw apple offer!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/At_Ease

 

[w0lf]

Lots:

• Siri
• New File System
• Read/Write NTFS
• OpenGL 4.4
• OpenCL 2
• iCloud documents -> like dropbox
• Finder improvements -> like XtraFinder
• More video/audio codecs supported by iTunes -> so I'm not forced to use something like vlc or mplayerx for non iTunes Store videos
• Allow iTunes to store media across multiple drives -> for example music on the internal and movies/video/apps on an external drive
• Let the computer connect to iOS devices over wifi and browse pictures/other allowed content in Finder like a mounted drive
• Launchpad improvements -> better moving of icons, multi icon select, right click context menu, folders in folders
• Improved functionality of Airport Utility
• More options for multi monitor settings
• Further notification center improvements -> 'today, all, missed' like on iOS 7 maybe?
• More notifications for apps the are not running
• Icon/UI re-design
• If it doesn't happen by 10.9 release -> redesign Game center, reminders and several other apps to match the new plain/flat iOS/OSX style
• More new apps
  
  • Maybe a torrent client could come standard with the OS like Transmission
  • Clock App - lets you set alarms, timers, stop watch, wake computer at certain times and run task (already exists but could be integrated into this app), etc
  • A quality maintinance utility like Onyx
• Trim support non standard SSDs without the help of Trim enabler
• Better screen brightness controls -> like f.lux
• Support for unpacking .rar and several other formats aside from .zip
• Safari improvements
  
  • Better HTML5 Support (pretty sure iOS 7 Safari has better support then OSX Safari)
  • Simultaneous Private browsing with non-Private windows
  • Fix some bugs like always reloading when going back on certain sites
  • Retain zoom in between sessions
  • Allow aspects of the new sidebar to be hidden/resized like Shared Link for example
  • Give an option to move tabs into the top bar like Chrome
  • More advanced syncing (preferences, extensions, etc)
• Fix the slow shutdown :|

I'm sure there's plenty more too.

 

[tarco0]

From my stand point, the main issues are:

• Data integrity: With HFS Plus, if data goes bad (which happens more than you think, especially as your hard disk gets old), you won't know anything about it.
• Copy on write: With HFS Plus, each file has a global lock, meaning only one process can update the file at once.
• Data deduplication: No provision for eliminating duplicate copies of repeating data.
• Storage pool: For pooling multiple storages into a single volume. Fusion makes some attempt at storage pool, but it has a long way to go.

thanks!

 

[nutmac]

My wish list:

• More robust file system: complete CoreStorage, data integrity, copy-on-write.
• Better mouse pointer: the black mouse pointer barely changed from original Mac OS and is often hard to see.
• Stable fast user switching: it's flaky, slow, and does not utilize resource very well. Better yet, allow power user's to open another user's workspace within a screen sharing window.
• Menu bar management: All the tray icons are getting out of control. Let us control it once and for all.
• Mail: It still consumes way too much CPU cycle.
• Messages: Better IM buddy list, iMessage still doesn't work quite right, improve search
• Faster restart and shutdown.
• Launchpad: Automatic categorization.

 

[lunaoso]

Lots:

• Siri
• New File System
• Read/Write NTFS
• OpenGL 4.4
• OpenCL 2
• iCloud documents -> like dropbox
• Finder improvements -> like XtraFinder
• More video/audio codecs supported by iTunes -> so I'm not forced to use something like vlc or mplayerx for non iTunes Store videos
• Allow iTunes to store media across multiple drives -> for example music on the internal and movies/video/apps on an external drive
• Let the computer connect to iOS devices over wifi and browse pictures/other allowed content in Finder like a mounted drive
• Launchpad improvements -> better moving of icons, multi icon select, right click context menu, folders in folders
• Improved functionality of Airport Utility
• More options for multi monitor settings
• Further notification center improvements -> 'today, all, missed' like on iOS 7 maybe?
• More notifications for apps the are not running
• Icon/UI re-design
• If it doesn't happen by 10.9 release -> redesign Game center, reminders and several other apps to match the new plain/flat iOS/OSX style
• More new apps
  
  • Maybe a torrent client could come standard with the OS like Transmission
  • Clock App - lets you set alarms, timers, stop watch, wake computer at certain times and run task (already exists but could be integrated into this app), etc
  • A quality maintinance utility like Onyx
• Trim support non standard SSDs without the help of Trim enabler
• Better screen brightness controls -> like f.lux
• Support for unpacking .rar and several other formats aside from .zip
• Safari improvements
  
  • Better HTML5 Support (pretty sure iOS 7 Safari has better support then OSX Safari)
  • Simultaneous Private browsing with non-Private windows
  • Fix some bugs like always reloading when going back on certain sites
  • Retain zoom in between sessions
  • Allow aspects of the new sidebar to be hidden/resized like Shared Link for example
  • Give an option to move tabs into the top bar like Chrome
  • More advanced syncing (preferences, extensions, etc)
• Fix the slow shutdown :|

I'm sure there's plenty more too.

You can already do that. Just uncheck copy on import or whatever the wording is in the iTunes preferences is (under advanced) and you can just store things on different drives.

 

[Oridus]

- Siri
- New iOS 7 style design.
- Ability to answer calls, get voicemail

No... just no.

Icons aside, the iOS 7 interface is way too bright for a lot of people, not to mention the lack of button separation from the background. Microsoft did something like this in their new version of office to make it look like Windows 8 and that flat design, and there was a huge backlash and outcry to give it back it's original depth. I was also one of those people who downgraded back to outlook 2010 because of this.

If Apple DID do this, I would hope they give users more choice in themes / styles than they do on iOS 7 because i'm sure there would be a lot of people who would gladly opt out of their yearly OS upgrade.

 

[Sky Blue]

No... just no.

it's happening

 

[Ddyracer]

Supplementing the "power" features with some iOSification:

Siri
Live wallpaper (yum)
Control Center

Across both platforms:
Game Center iCloud saves.

 

[brendu]

No... just no.

Icons aside, the iOS 7 interface is way too bright for a lot of people, not to mention the lack of button separation from the background. Microsoft did something like this in their new version of office to make it look like Windows 8 and that flat design, and there was a huge backlash and outcry to give it back it's original depth. I was also one of those people who downgraded back to outlook 2010 because of this.

If Apple DID do this, I would hope they give users more choice in themes / styles than they do on iOS 7 because i'm sure there would be a lot of people who would gladly opt out of their yearly OS upgrade.

I agree a system wide os overhaul to the ios7 look isn't what I want for osx but I would like to see apps like messages get an ios7 style look.

 

[ckeck]

They desperately need to add the functionality of tools like Moom. I don't mind running a third party app but the UX would be much better.

This is one of my favorite baked in features of Windows TBH.

 

[wolfe.masque]

From my stand point, the main issues are:

• Data integrity: With HFS Plus, if data goes bad (which happens more than you think, especially as your hard disk gets old), you won't know anything about it.
• Copy on write: With HFS Plus, each file has a global lock, meaning only one process can update the file at once.
• Data deduplication: No provision for eliminating duplicate copies of repeating data.
• Storage pool: For pooling multiple storages into a single volume. Fusion makes some attempt at storage pool, but it has a long way to go.

Amen! We're a vendor of a Mail server, and while we are happy to support a small/medium installation on macs, we always advise larger installs to use UNIX of some sort, to avoid the copy on write, and storage pool problems.

And I am a self-admitted mac fan girl!

 

[talmy]

Three utilities that I'd like to see built-in:
1. Multi-level menu bar to reduce number of items in menu bar (like Bartender).
2. Snap windows to corners/sides like BetterSnapTool (or perhaps Moom).
3. Smarter sleep algorithm like Should I Sleep.

There needs to be a way to collaborate in iCloud.

Actually, collaboration, sharing, and synchronization is pretty bad even locally. Microsoft does that much better. Apple's OS and Apps are really aimed for single person with a single computer doing content creation.

 

[leman]

Oh, there are lots of things that should be done. Like, a new filesystem, true resolution-independent graphics (specify UI size in metric units, not in pixels), high-performance GPU drivers, etc...

 

[Krazy Bill]

Three utilities that I'd like to see built-in:
1. Multi-level menu bar to reduce number of items in menu bar (like Bartender).
2. Snap windows to corners/sides like BetterSnapTool (or perhaps Moom).
3. Smarter sleep algorithm like Should I Sleep.

If all that is left for Apple to do other than copy 3rd party ideas I'd say their innovation has truly peaked. If that's the case... I'd rather they look back into previous versions of OSX and resurrect some of their own ideas that people miss and provide options to activate or ignore them. (e.g., Spaces & the old Expose'). And I still struggle with "Versions".

But this will never happen of course.

There needs to be a way to collaborate in iCloud.

Agree but OSX is a General Consumer OS. 3rd parties will continue to lead the way on this.

 

[potatis]

the ability to change mouse cursors

 

[talmy]

If all that is left for Apple to do other than copy 3rd party ideas I'd say their innovation has truly peaked. If that's the case... I'd rather they look back into previous versions of OSX and resurrect some of their own ideas that people miss and provide options to activate or ignore them. (e.g., Spaces & the old Expose'). And I still struggle with "Versions".

But let's not have change for the sake of change. Much of the innovation we've had post Snow Leopard have caused many irritated users. The combination of features introduced in Lion -- Versions/Autosave/Resume/Duplicate(instead of Save As) was really innovative, but badly received.

I like the idea of Versions. It's a very easy to use version control. However, it's no good for collaboration or even one person using two machines since the version history is not attached to the file but is stored globally on the system disk drive. This also means it doesn't work on removable drives or servers. For me it ends up being a failure.

I don't miss the old Spaces/Exposé especially with the new multi-monitor support in Mavericks. And I expect that Speakable Items may morph into the more usable Siri in 10.10, although Dictation should improve in Mavericks.