What's still missing in Mac OS X?

[ivnj]

In other words, you want Windows. Hint: you can buy it at most computer/office supply stores.

I already have an acer netbook and windows 7. No I don't want windows. I'm tired of it always crashing all the time. 7 is much more stable but not perfect. So no I don't want windows.

I want the stability of a mac and the versatility of a pc. That is why people always spell microsoft with 2 $$ instead of and s. It will never be bug free.

But what is the point of having no viruses and bugs if you can't do anything useful with it.

It would be like buying a race car. Waste of money if you can't go more than 35 miles per hour and only plan to use it to go to the grocery store or what have you.

So a marriage of the 2 would be nice. Unless you are arguing that running exes will make mac less stable and more prone to attacks.

But it would be nice to have native exe and ntfs. Cuz I could finally run all the things that don't work on mac. And I wouldn't have to worry about crashing all the time.

Like this game some people on another forum I joined told me about.

http://www.supermariobrothers.org/smbx/

But I can't play it cuz I have no exe support on a mac. And buying windows plus parallels just to play one game is not worth it.

So they should have native exe support and the same for ntfs. It all should be native.

 

[parish]

But what is the point of having no viruses and bugs if you can't do anything useful with it.

You can do lots of useful things with it. What you mean is that you can't do what you want to do with it - I can do everything I want to do with it (and the same goes for Linux). If you're an avid gamer then a Mac is probably not the platform for you (personally, I'd say Windows isn't either; you should use a dedicated games console).

So they should have native exe support and the same for ntfs. It all should be native.

Providing native .EXE support would be impossible. .EXEs aren't self-contained programs, they need .DLLs, both those supplied with the program but, more importantly, the core Windows ones - Visual C/C++ run-times, MFC, .NET, etc. For example, the Windows File Open/Save dialogues are not within the .EXE, they're in one of the core Windows DLLs (comdlg32.dll IIRC). Plus, the .EXE is compiled to run under the NT kernel.

So, to provide native .EXE support Apple would either have to licence a mountain of stuff from M$ (like that would ever happen), or reverse engineer it (which would result in a mountain of lawsuits from M$). The only reason Open Source Windows emulator projects like WINE, Bochs, etc. probably get away with it is that they have such limited functionality that they'll never be a serious alternative to Windows, and M$ would make nothing from lawsuits.

 

[ivnj]

It's not just games lots of programs. I mean ms would benefit from making a stable system. But then people wouldn't upgrade every 2 years and they would loose money if it was too stable. Plus smbx is pc only and not available for a dedicated console.


But if they would just make the thing more damb stable and 1000% virus free and hack proof it would be worth it. But it will never be. So mac is good for now. But so many programs don't have a mac version and its annoying.

 

[CaseyH79]

Editable Smart Folders. Why do I have to start from scratch every time?

 

[mysterytramp]

Editable Smart Folders. Why do I have to start from scratch every time?

I don't think you have to (at least under 10.6.2).

After you save a smart folder to the sidebar, you can right-click (or control click) it and the popup menu has an option "Show Search Criteria." From there you can edit the existing criteria.

Does that work?

mt

 

[Dub-Dub]

The one thing I wish would happen is an option to get rid of unified menus. How hard would it be to add the top bar menu to each app. When I am working on my 30 inch monitor, it really sucks to go to the top of the app I am active in (and especially when I sometimes click out of the focus window). When I have two apps side by side, I want the options to be above each app and not at top of screen. Whenever I move someone from Windows to Mac, this is the first thing they complain about (usually only thing too).

I often have three or for apps going at anytime and having the menu bar at the top instead of with the app is a waste of time, especially if you have your apps stacked. The extra time may seem miniscule, but add it up over a day and it's a lot of time. Add the problems with the mouse acceleration curve and it's more time wasted.
Simple fix- make it optional or, at the very least, have a copy of the menu bar on multiple screens.

 

[ChrisA]

It can be done (for years) if you got OS X server.

To synchonize folders or even folders on different computers. It can be done simply with the "sync" command. This command is on all Macs, server or not. It fact the command is from BSD and I think has been around from the 1970's

For those who can't type commands there are any number of graphical apps that will invokethe sync command for you. Most of these have "sync" in their name. Google will find them But really, youcan drag and drop folder into the terminal so there is little actualy typing involves, only four laters and a space "sync ".

It is very fast and works between folders or even across the internet.

Funny how almost al of these requests for features are already done. You have to remember that BSD is old. It's beginnings go back to 1969 and people have been adding features for a long time. 90% of a Mac OS X is just BSD but then Apple added some graphics on top. Those graphic are the tip of an iceberg

 

[Elzlaik]

I would like to be able to print from Quick Look. I use Quick Look a lot in Mail to check out my attachments; and hate it when I have seen it in Quick Look but have to open it in Word, Preview, etc before I can just print it.

 

[sammich]

I think I mentioned this in some other thread, but since I forgot which one it was in, I'll post it again:

For the love of God...the save dialog Does. Not. Need. To. Spin. Up. Every. Single. Connected. Hard Drive! I don't want to wait 10 seconds while my app beachballs for 10 seconds waiting for my 3 WD drives (which spin down after 1 minute idle) to spin up. I'm not saving something to all drives connected, so why are you doing this to me?

 

[tobylane]

Plugins - Flash is fairly up to date, and won't be used for videos so it's not so much of a problem. Hopefully flash for games can be replaced by something for Safari I can't remember the name of (OpenCL family?) when it becomes standard. Java could do with some work.

Finder - Yep, I still frequently do cut and paste files and expect it to work.

NTFS - I'd be surprised if they could get any further with this. Look at TomTom, a commercial use of a crappy old bit of IP that M$ left ages ago is apparently still worth sueing over, how would they react to their current file system being opened. NTFS-3G (linux's attempt) isn't commercial standard yet and we can bet they did lots of grey things to get that far.

Transparency - You just know whats going on with different things than Windows, albeit more so just being able to see `3/4 of the source (Darwin, Webkit, etc).

External hard drives - Spun up on every spotlight or search dialog, then noisy for five mins. I wish you could spin them down manually or automatically sooner.

 

[mysterytramp]

I think I mentioned this in some other thread, but since I forgot which one it was in, I'll post it again:

For the love of God...the save dialog Does. Not. Need. To. Spin. Up. Every. Single. Connected. Hard Drive! I don't want to wait 10 seconds while my app beachballs for 10 seconds waiting for my 3 WD drives (which spin down after 1 minute idle) to spin up. I'm not saving something to all drives connected, so why are you doing this to me?

Good idea.

I'd like more versatility in the Save As dialog ...

I'd like to be able to open the dialog, and if need be hit a button or keystroke and the screen automatically goes to that folder in the Finder, where you could do whatever file management is necessary (move files, rename files, etc.) then hit the button/keystroke again and your back to the app, preparing to save some data.

I'd also like to be able to have a series of folders for each app handy from within the Save As dialog.

 

[spinnerlys]

I think I mentioned this in some other thread, but since I forgot which one it was in, I'll post it again:

For the love of God...the save dialog Does. Not. Need. To. Spin. Up. Every. Single. Connected. Hard Drive! I don't want to wait 10 seconds while my app beachballs for 10 seconds waiting for my 3 WD drives (which spin down after 1 minute idle) to spin up. I'm not saving something to all drives connected, so why are you doing this to me?

+1 or Ditto or I agree.

It's annoying as hell, the same with Spotlight, I can't get proper search results before all the drives are spun up again.

I'm heading over to Apple Feedback now.
Wanna join?

 

[Eidorian]

I think I mentioned this in some other thread, but since I forgot which one it was in, I'll post it again:

For the love of God...the save dialog Does. Not. Need. To. Spin. Up. Every. Single. Connected. Hard Drive! I don't want to wait 10 seconds while my app beachballs for 10 seconds waiting for my 3 WD drives (which spin down after 1 minute idle) to spin up. I'm not saving something to all drives connected, so why are you doing this to me?

I really hate my WD Green drive for this on my Windows 7 tower. You though spin up was bad on OS X via software. That sucker is doing it in hardware.

 

[colourfastt]

I think I mentioned this in some other thread, but since I forgot which one it was in, I'll post it again:

For the love of God...the save dialog Does. Not. Need. To. Spin. Up. Every. Single. Connected. Hard Drive! I don't want to wait 10 seconds while my app beachballs for 10 seconds waiting for my 3 WD drives (which spin down after 1 minute idle) to spin up. I'm not saving something to all drives connected, so why are you doing this to me?

Perhaps because the Save dialogue allows you to save to more than the default drive, therefore all drives need to spin-up to be available for the save??

 

[enberg]

A compose key.

 

[mysterytramp]

A compose key.

Then if you hit backspace, would that be a "decompose" key.

More seriously, I rather like the Mac way of doing things ... option-tilde to get an accent grave, à, option-e to get an accent aigu, é, option-u to get an umlaut, ü. Definitely an improvement to remembering Alt-number combos like that other OS.

mt

 

[hakr]

An easy way to customize the size and font of screen fonts that work appropriately whatever the screen res is set to...and the fonts work across applications.

 

[richard.mac]

... For the love of God...the save dialog Does. Not. Need. To. Spin. Up. Every. Single. Connected. Hard Drive! I don't want to wait 10 seconds while my app beachballs for 10 seconds waiting for my 3 WD drives (which spin down after 1 minute idle) to spin up. I'm not saving something to all drives connected, so why are you doing this to me?

yeah only spin up additional disks if they are accessed or clicked on.

 

[ss957916]

Maximise.

Automatically arranging windows - it's a pain constantly manually resizing windows.

The new drag-to-the-side-and-it-snaps-to-half-the-screen feature in Windows 7 is a fabulous idea.

I actually think OS X is getting very dated with very few innovative 'features' to speak of.

Plus, I would like more continuity through OS X and Apps. For example, pressing Esc cancels whatever you're doing except when editing an event in iCal where Esc SAVES and closes. In Finder, pressing enter allows you to rename the file. In iTunes, it opens the file. Very annoying.

 

[richard.mac]

Maximise.

the Zoom button increases window size to show all content, for example for scrolling web pages Safari would increase vertically to fill the whole screen. some apps do not have this feature coded in and just maximise the whole screen around the Dock.

The new drag-to-the-side-and-it-snaps-to-half-the-screen feature in Windows 7 is a fabulous idea.

theres a few apps that bring this feature to OS X. but i think they were developed mainly because Windows added the feature. i never change my window sizes after initial resizing. column view and spring loaded folders prevents me from aligning Finder windows.

In Finder, pressing enter allows you to rename the file. In iTunes, it opens the file. Very annoying.

iTunes behaves a little differently to native OS X cocoa apps. hopefully iTunes 10 will become cocoa.

 

[creativejunk]

- Being able to drag files directly from the desktop into an application; for example if I have a .jpg image on my desktop, I'd like to be able to drop it straight into my Photoshop canvas.

- Better support for .wmv files in Quicktime, without having to wait for files to import.

- A better Quicktime - with preferences, it's annoying how when I move the slider on an audio/video file it stops playback upon being released on it's new position.

 

[thermodynamic]

Mac OS X is advertised as the world's most advanced operating system. However, even if it is the most advanced OS, it is still missing things. What are you still waiting for in Mac OS X or what do you think Apple is planning on putting in future versions of Mac OS X?

One thing that comes to mind for me is, I would love the ability to close windows from Expose mode.

Post what you think is missing or what you think will be added in future versions of Mac OS X!

In applications (e.g. Photoshop), using the up and down arrows instead of being slave to the mouse button would be nice...

And a window roll-up function since unsanity has disappeared...

Otherwise OS X is just about everything I've wanted in an OS.

 

[enberg]

And a window roll-up function since unsanity has disappeared.

I never understood the point of that. Can someone explain its appeal over just minimizing?

 

[Piplodocus]

Well, **** my old boots! Been using macs a few years now and I never noticed you can't cut and paste, only copy and paste in finder!

Things I want:
Yes, I want to maximize! I hear lots of the "it's a waste of space", or "you don't need to maximize". BS! For example: I'm looking at pictures in cover flow, of various sizes. I hit the green button it goes good for that picture, I then scroll to the next picture, and it's a different orientation, or size and I HAVE TO HIT THE GREEN BUTTON EVERY TIME FOR EVERY F***** PICTURE!!!! Why! I just want to make the window fill the screen and go through all the pictures as big as my screen will display, without pressing green all the time! Also if I'm focusing on one thing, I sometimes want that to be the focus of my attention and the only thing on the screen. Having lots of windows hanging out from behind it doesn't help my focusing. Is that so hard? You can minimize things which isn't really "necessary" since you have expose. Why can't I maximise them?

Anyway, so, I'll just drag the thing to full size. But it's not hard up against the left-hand edge of the screen and I can only drag to resize with the bottom right corner! WTF? Shuffling the window about and dragging it around? Why can't I re-size on all edges? Sure, not everyone wants that, so put in a check box option to turn on all edge resizing (like the top bar minimizing). You could have it re-size on any edge when you put the mouse right over it and it becomes a double arrow. You don't have to have big fugly boarders round all the edges? What is this? 1984?

As someone mentioned, some kinda selectable tree on the left might be nice to navigate folders, as it's the best still on big folders with shed loads of subdirectories to go back and forth between a few locations (and no, you don't want to favourite them as different days you're going back and forth between different folders). Using the path display is not the same as you can go up folders, but not straight to and flip between folders in the same finder window.

Also, you can make folders contents sorted by file type, etc.. Can't there be an option to always put folders first? It's a PITA navigating folders with lots of contents and putting it by file type, when folders (the things you're navigating through) come all the way down at "F" in the alphabet of file types. Sorry, but MS got this one right when where showing by file type Folders are still always first at the top. I don't want to scroll through loads file to find the subdirectories of the current folder. Especially if I'm using big icons rather than list view.

Regardless, I prefer OSX, and am pretty happy with it overall, but use windows at work, and these few pet hates are all the more annoying as they seem so simple, but make navigating, viewing, finding, and doing, all the more annoying. Sure, if you have only a small selection of photos and mp3s, and about 15 documents in your home folder you might not notice, but when dealing with about 5 Terabytes of samples, audio files, projects, photos, and documents, spread across multiple drives in hundreds of folders, you realise how much the little things can annoy, or make things simple. It's all about productivity, and doing what you want to do the fastest and simplest way possible.