# Some changes for 10.4



## Arden (Dec 26, 2003)

Well, Panther's been upon us for a good two months, so why not start suggesting what we'd like to see in the next version of OS X?  You can never start too soon, right? 

Some of you may recall the thread I started earlier this year, called Some changes for 10.3.  It's interesting to look through it again and see how many of those Apple has implemented... like just from my original list, they put in about 7, in part or in whole, not to mention suggestions from the rest of the thread.

I'm too tired/sick/lazy to list stuff right now, but you can be sure I'll start putting stuff out later.


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## hulkaros (Dec 27, 2003)

Some MORE speed across the board even on low G3s!


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## Hypernate (Dec 27, 2003)

Maybe not exactly a feature request for 10.4 as such, but in iTunes, either in the version shipping with 10.4, or sooner, a field in Get Info for lyrics, and a database (such as LyricTracker) that will download lyrics as we rip the cd?


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## Pengu (Dec 27, 2003)

What about the option to automatically download the cover-art for a cd? MusicMatch does this, it can't be that hard. I can't even find a script to do it any more (and the last app i tried to use, put the art on the wrong tracks so i ended up removing them all)


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## Arden (Dec 28, 2003)

Safari:  Human actions should take precedence over browser processes.  When I click the close box on a tab (or a window, even), it should close right then and there, not load most of the page before closing.


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## hulkaros (Dec 28, 2003)

Also, in every aspect of the OS that a user needs to right-click or ctrl-click in order to access the pop up menu, we should get the option of hold-click for couple seconds for that... like in Mozilla (or IE if my mind serves me correctly)... Lets drop that useless right click once and for all


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## octane (Dec 28, 2003)

I recently started such a thread as this and I got a response that was a mixture of mild criticism and bewilderment.

I know what I want to see with 10.4, I think Apple do, too.

Apple have the chance to put [even] more clear blue water between OS X and Windows.

I know it's been said before over and over, but by the time Longhorn [read: Longyawn] ships, OS X could quite easily to at 10.6.

It's hard to see what Microsoft are going to do in response to this given that the feature set for Longhorn was frozen some months ago.

I'd like to see Apple cozy on up to the Linux community and make attempts to bridge some of the areas where Apple and Linux could well be more complementary to one another.

I think that Apple will be making more effort to woo the corporate market. And given the ease at which they can rattle out new software and features -- because of the unix underpinnings and because of the quasi-compatibility between OS X and Unix / Linux -- Apple are going to enjoy the coming months and years...


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## Arden (Dec 29, 2003)

Octane, the difference between this thread and that thread is that yours asks what _will_ be in 10.4 (or what we think at least), while this thread asks what we'd _like_ to see in 10.4.


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## octane (Dec 29, 2003)

I can tell you what you won't see!

Further customization options. Unless Stephen P. Jobs changes religion / sex / his mind, you're _never_ going to get Apple-endorsed themes.

Some people have suggested that Apple make room for KDE and Gnome front-end support .. err, no!

I think Apple recognise that there's more power users these days -- especially with the Unix crowd moving across. So we could expect to see more power tools / toys in the Utilities folder.

One feature expected to see the the light of day is Home on the iPod; plug in your iPod, back up your Home directory, go someplace else, plug your iPod into some other mac and hey presto! Your very own digital mobile Home...

C'mon, Arden! Let's a have a run down of the top 20 features you're looking for...


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## Arden (Dec 29, 2003)

How about just about everything on my original list that wasn't put in?


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## Pengu (Dec 29, 2003)

But honestly. After using KDE and Gnome on RedHat (and KDE under X11/various X11 servers on OSX.2) there is not a KDE/Gnome theme out there that can touch what apple has done. They all seem a bit unfinished, because of the literally hundreds of methods of making a gui app under Linux/X11.

Just remember, X11 was designed to give unix geeks a way to "see" something on either the machine they're sitting at, or a machine on the other side of the world. NOT to give the best user interface in the world. I know which one i'd prefer.


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## octane (Dec 29, 2003)

Pengu said:
			
		

> But honestly. After using KDE and Gnome on RedHat (and KDE under X11/various X11 servers on OSX.2) there is not a KDE/Gnome theme out there that can touch what apple has done. They all seem a bit unfinished, because of the literally hundreds of methods of making a gui app under Linux/X11.
> 
> Just remember, X11 was designed to give unix geeks a way to "see" something on either the machine they're sitting at, or a machine on the other side of the world. NOT to give the best user interface in the world. I know which one i'd prefer.



While we're in danger of drifting off topic [sorry, My fault!] I have to say Linux as a desktop OS just isn't working, and is going to take some time before it does work.

Anyway .. back on topic, and please don't flame me on my last comments ;-) I would also like to see a more brave Apple and see them drop in some of the stuff they've cooked up over the years but have shied away from for one reason or another, like Piles for instance.

If you don't know what they are [other than a uncomfortable lower-bowl condition] they are collections or stacks of related files.

So, you create a Pile that has a specific set of criteria; Microsoft Word files that cover meeting notes or .mp3 files for a particular genre.

Every time a bunch of files land on your computer that meet those criteria, the Pile grows .. visually!

But then to do something like that, you'd need something like an SQL-based file system, or a file system from the likes of Be OS.

[PS: Apple poached a couple of developers from Be Inc. whose area of expertise was the file system]


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## fryke (Dec 29, 2003)

Okay (ignoring all of those off-topic posts...), here's my list:

- Less 'in-the-face' colours for the labels, and user-choosable ones, too, of course.
- Finally bring back the usability of the Finder to the level of OS 9. It just doesn't 'feel right'.
- Reintroduce a way to select default applications for internet protocols. Make that a syspref again.

I'll bring on more later...


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## Pengu (Dec 29, 2003)

Someone in a different thread said that HFS+ supports metadata, it's just that MacOS doesn't really use it (except for file type/creator codes..)


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## octane (Dec 29, 2003)

Pengu said:
			
		

> Someone in a different thread said that HFS+ supports metadata, it's just that MacOS doesn't really use it (except for file type/creator codes..)



I've asked for that kind of thing before.

It's might not be used but if it was, it would open up all kinds of possibilities, not least the Piles thing.

As soon as you start rolling XML into your software, you're way of thinking has to be in the meta data direction...


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## malexgreen (Dec 30, 2003)

Mac OSX 10.4 feature wish list:

Enable color coding files automatically by type, date created, size, permissions, owner, etc. Be able to do this recursively through an entire hierarchy of folders.
Record iChatAV video chats, if you can't do it already.
Integrate Inkwell with iLife, Preview, Appleworks etc. Be able to annotate data with Ink entered in from a tablet to files created by or read by these apps.
PC emulation is built in and faster.
Extend fax software by adding voicemail software and even be able to check your voicemail remotely over the internet or by phone.
Enable out of the box compilation of apps ported to Linux.
Enable Themes, at least be able to change window colors. Enable cool animated themes, like a window that changes colors or changes from one theme to the next every X minutes.
More effects like maybe 3D Genie or some fancy way of switching between apps...something even better than Expose'...like virtual desktops, but make switching between them cool.
Support more advanced audio/video codecs in iLife such as H.264, and WM9 (yep that's right).
Make FileVault better by being able to encypt individual folders or files and be able to encrypt data on external drives.
Have their own automated file backup utilities that are integrated with MacOSX.
Please don't make Safari and Finder one and the same. I hardly ever use this in Windows so I don't think it's worth the effort in MacOSX.


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## lilbandit (Dec 31, 2003)

good list malexgreen!
I second the windows integration using something like the bochs emulator. I haven't had time to play with it so I can't speak about the user experience but the concept sounds great!


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## octane (Jan 1, 2004)

malexgreen said:
			
		

> Mac OSX 10.4 feature wish list:
> 
> Enable color coding files automatically by type, date created, size, permissions, owner, etc. Be able to do this recursively through an entire hierarchy of folders.



Should be do-able with AppleScript, surely?



			
				malexgreen said:
			
		

> Mac OSX 10.4 feature wish list:
> 
> PC emulation is built in and faster.



You might want to hold that thought. I can't get to the article right now, but MacRumors have been playing around with an alpha version of VirtualPC.

Microsoft have been busy little bees and they've done a good job of routing the video hardware calls form inside VirtualPC right into the video card in / on your mac.

Apparently getting 30-40 frame a second out of Quake III .. not bad for an alpha version, yeah?



			
				malexgreen said:
			
		

> Mac OSX 10.4 feature wish list:
> 
> Extend fax software by adding voicemail software and even be able to check your voicemail remotely over the internet or by phone.



In the meantime, try Yac.

Voice & Fax straight into your inbox.



			
				malexgreen said:
			
		

> Mac OSX 10.4 feature wish list:
> 
> Enable out of the box compilation of apps ported to Linux.



You and me same!



			
				malexgreen said:
			
		

> Mac OSX 10.4 feature wish list:
> 
> Enable Themes, at least be able to change window colors. Enable cool animated themes, like a window that changes colors or changes from one theme to the next every X minutes.
> More effects like maybe 3D Genie or some fancy way of switching between apps...something even better than Expose'...like virtual desktops, but make switching between them cool.



It'll _never_ .. I repeat, _NEVER_ happen!



			
				malexgreen said:
			
		

> Mac OSX 10.4 feature wish list:
> 
> Support more advanced audio/video codecs in iLife such as H.264, and WM9 (yep that's right).
> Make FileVault better by being able to encypt individual folders or files and be able to encrypt data on external drives.
> ...



I agree. Apparently, the Og Vobis and DivX codecs are line up for the next big point version of QuickTime.

You might want to look here. Although a little off-topic at times, this is the wish list of the tech literati...


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## Trillian (Jan 1, 2004)

-Work with Sun on making their 3d desktop that they are devoping usable on mac (like that will ever happen, but hey, I can dream can't i?)
-Something like the workplace switcher from kde
-Have finder do the same thing it dose to a tif file for a .png file. Render the contents as the icon for the file.
-Add tabs to termenal


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## octane (Jan 1, 2004)

Trillian said:
			
		

> -Work with Sun on making their 3d desktop that they are devoping usable on mac (like that will ever happen, but hey, I can dream can't i?)
> -Something like the workplace switcher from kde
> -Have finder do the same thing it dose to a tif file for a .png file. Render the contents as the icon for the file.
> -Add tabs to termenal



Hey stranger things have happened! And, even stranger things are happening...

I saw the Sun 3D desktop, and although the concept is good, they're making a few subtle mistakes. For instance, Sun seem to be satisfied that they've taken the concept as far as they'd like and are now _hoping_ that the developers will take it further[!]

Apple are in the [near] unique position of taking that one big idea and surrounding it with lots of little big ideas .. that's how they make stuff work so well!


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## Pengu (Jan 1, 2004)

In the finder go view > view  options. tick on "show icon preview"


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## Trillian (Jan 1, 2004)

It's already ticked. I'm running jaguare though, maybe it's does it in panther though.


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## Arden (Jan 2, 2004)

I'd like to see a free application, possibly as part of iLife, that lets you use your Mac's microphone and speakers to dial telephones over the Internet.  Telephone sound quality isn't that great to begin with, so this would be possible even over 56K.

Remember, these are changes that we'd like to see built right into the operating system.  Many of the things people suggest here are achievable with 3rd-party apps/hacks, but we'd like these features without having to rely on external sources.


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## octane (Jan 3, 2004)

I'd like to see Mail re-arranged to work like iTunes and get rid of the folders / mailboxes draw.

I find the folders / mailboxes draw to be clunky and awkward. Unless you only get one email a week, you're _always_ going to have the draw open, right?


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## octane (Jan 3, 2004)

Arden said:
			
		

> I'd like to see a free application, possibly as part of iLife...



You know, Arden, you got me thinking. Apple have a damn good OS, they can pull feature sets together in weeks what would take Microsoft months if not years to do.

What about desktop-level clustering?

Sounds bonkers, but think about it. Apple have made a consumer version of UNIX although you'd never know it unless you need it, or you were looking for it, it's that well hidden.

What about building on the work done with Xcode with regards to compiling across a network and build this kind of functionality into all of their major processor-hungry applications like Final Cut Express / Pro, iMove and iTunes.

Apple could do this kind of thing in such a way that you'd never know it was there. So any idle macs on a network get used automatically .. even over AirPort!

They could roll this out as a bunch of API's and let other developers build it into their applications.

Imagine Adobe using it for PhotoShop and After Effects.

Now _that's_ a feature I would like to see in 10.4, and I don't think it's beyond the realms of possibility...


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## Trillian (Jan 3, 2004)

Add in the native qt/mac package now that it is out- it would make things alot easyer to port some *nix apps to mac, something which, I think, they have said is their goal to help (somewhat) along.


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## octane (Jan 4, 2004)

Trillian said:
			
		

> Add in the native qt/mac package now that it is out- it would make things alot easyer to port some *nix apps to mac, something which, I think, they have said is their goal to help (somewhat) along.



That's a long-standing wish of mine; for Apple to cozy up to Linux / Unix a little more and make sure that mac is nothing more than a re-compile away...

I was reading an article yesterday from the I, Cringely web site. He was making prognostications for 2004.

Prediction #5 states that Linux either grows or dies[!]

What! I'm no Linux expert, nor am I a real fan, but to say Linux will die is just plain ridiculous. He simply _must_ be flame baiting.


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## Trillian (Jan 4, 2004)

I doubt that it will die, just because of the fact that it is free, and there for very popular  with developing contreys(sp?). It is also fairly easy to use, as long as you find a distro that suits you.


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## octane (Jan 4, 2004)

Trillian said:
			
		

> I doubt that it will die, just because of the fact that it is free, and there for very popular  with developing contreys(sp?). It is also fairly easy to use, as long as you find a distro that suits you.



Exactly!

The developer community alone would / will keep Linux chugging along for years to come.

The only death I see is their ambitions for desktop parity with Windows, I don't see that happening. Linux is too much of a tinkerer's OS to be able to get the kind of consistency needed to make any substantial in-roads.

Anyway [I keep doing this with every thread I infect with my madness]. What was the topic of this thread again?..


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## Arden (Jan 5, 2004)

octane said:
			
		

> You know, Arden, you got me thinking. Apple have a damn good OS, they can pull feature sets together in weeks what would take Microsoft months if not years to do.
> 
> What about desktop-level clustering?
> 
> ...


 Bryce 5 (and probably other 3D apps) has the ability to do network rendering.  If Apple integrated something like that into its applications (where appropriate: you don't need 5 computers on a network to rip MP3's), it could attract even more people to switch.

And the topic is changes you'd like to see built into the OS (really, anything out of the box, including iApps, Safari, etc.) in 10.4.


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## octane (Jan 5, 2004)

Arden said:
			
		

> And the topic is changes you'd like to see built into the OS (really, anything out of the box, including iApps, Safari, etc.) in 10.4.



I know, but I just couldn't resist!..  

Actually, thinking about it, I'd like Mail to let you right / control click on a link in a message and give you the option to open a link in a new tab in an existing window in Safari.

Also, for Mail to be a little more intelligent; when you're in the Sent folder, the initial search criteria is 'to' and any other folder is set to 'from'. Small, I know, but they would really pick things up for me...

Does that qualify?


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## Arden (Jan 5, 2004)

octane said:
			
		

> Actually, thinking about it, I'd like Mail to let you right / control click on a link in a message and give you the option to open a link in a new tab in an existing window in Safari.


What happens if you drag a link to the Safari icon in the Dock?  Does it open in a new tab, a new window, or the current window/tab?  Not being a Mail.app user, I wouldn't know.


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## octane (Jan 5, 2004)

Arden said:
			
		

> What happens if you drag a link to the Safari icon in the Dock?  Does it open in a new tab, a new window, or the current window/tab?  Not being a Mail.app user, I wouldn't know.



Same tab, same window 

But dragging & dropping isn't the best way to do that kind of thing, especially when you have a very crowded screen like I have...

What about some blogging tools built right into Safari that then link into your blog on your .Mac account?

Tie all of that in with iPhoto and all of the other stuff. Then get iChat to link into it, also. So you could use iChat to blog 'live'...


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## octane (Jan 7, 2004)

Clustering for the masses?

And just for Arden, to annoy him even further my my penchant for semi off-topic posts, read on...


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## Arden (Jan 7, 2004)

Oh, it doesn't bother me, I've been known to derail threads in the past.  It's just that the mods tend to yell at me when I do so.


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## Satcomer (Jan 13, 2004)

I would like to see QuickTime support for more native codecs (ogg, and and a real DivX codec). Plus, I would love for iChat to support more than AIM. Also, I would love Apple to update their speech and speech recognition. I would LOVE Apple to take a demanding lead into speech on the computer platform.

Plus, add my voice to a better integration toward the *nix* and Linux application recompile.


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## Trillian (Jan 13, 2004)

Maybe they could ship it with some basic *nix proggys like gimp, at the very least. I know that if they fully supported recompiling *nix apps to run native, then I would probably spend more time on os X, and a lot less on linux.

(apple, are you listening?  )


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## octane (Jan 14, 2004)

Trillian said:
			
		

> Maybe they could ship it with some basic *nix proggys like gimp, at the very least. I know that if they fully supported recompiling *nix apps to run native, then I would probably spend more time on os X, and a lot less on linux.
> 
> (apple, are you listening?  )



Personally, I think you're going to see that [I may have said as much earlier in this thread]

Not fully understanding the intricacies of all of this, but in my mind, Apple are always going to make more of a feature of X11. For a start, it has usable UI, so 10.4 could come with OpenOffice pre-installed.

For every new version of OS X, we see more up-to-date versions of the underlying Unix components.

So now Apple have fleshed out the mechanics, they may spend more time adding in the toys that you're looking for!


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## Cat (Jan 14, 2004)

I'd like it to come with Fink and FinkCommander pre-installed or with a usable version of DarwinPorts ... with all the re-compiling going on from X11 to Qt, we might rather see some KDE apps or otherwise some Java ports (like neo-office).
The "native" OpenOffice in 2006 with OS X 10.6 is not something I'm going to wait for ...


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## octane (Jan 19, 2004)

Who said this thread was dead?

Looks like someone was listening to me:



> Xgrid could spawn "Resource Sharing" feature in Mac OS X.4: Although Apple is only in the preliminary stages of development on features for the next major release of Mac OS X, internal company documents recently acquired by Rumors outline a potential implementation of Apple's Xgrid clustering technology for personal use under the name "Resource Sharing."
> 
> Resource Sharing would a simplified Xgrid configuration, targeted toward consumer use. Simply enable Resource Sharing on your spare computer(s) and connect them to the network (100Mbps required/Gigabit preferred). Your Master computer will then automatically seek to offload work to these ad-hoc cluster nodes whenever this will result in faster performance for the Master system. It will be months yet before features are finalized for OS X.4, but Resource Sharing might well be one of its greatest selling points....



Go to: MacRumors


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## nmm88 (Jan 19, 2004)

Alright, let me throw something out here. I think apple should work with open office and get it to a good working version in Aqua. Then they should integrate it into 10.4. Sorry, but Apple works sucks on most levels, and open office is a great program. Steve said in the keynote that iLife was MS Office for the rest of your life, so why not get a great office app with the OS (appleworks wont do it) and have OS X be your whole life, without have to pay hundreds for MS software?


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## octane (Jan 19, 2004)

nmm88 said:
			
		

> Alright, let me throw something out here. I think apple should work with open office and get it to a good working version in Aqua. Then they should integrate it into 10.4. Sorry, but Apple works sucks on most levels, and open office is a great program. Steve said in the keynote that iLife was MS Office for the rest of your life, so why not get a great office app with the OS (appleworks wont do it) and have OS X be your whole life, without have to pay hundreds for MS software?



Apple are reportedly working on a seriously big update / overhaul to AppleWorks. The remour is that the new version may well be kOffice or similar.

If you scour Mac Rumors and / or Mac OS Rumors you'll find something floating around.

I think for Apple to do something like that would be pretty dangerous, given Microsoft could get the huff on and take its toys home.

And before you say; 'so what? Big deal!' for me, it IS a big deal. My business relies on Microsoft Office X. I think it's great and it just works, which is more than can be said for the pc version [much to the annoyance of my pc friends...]


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## Satcomer (Jan 19, 2004)

I would also like Apple FIX the Networking aspects of Panther. Very large networking was broke by Panther. If you do believe then you have not been in a large corporate network environment  or haven't been reading the Apple Discussion Boards. 10.2 networking in large environments was SO MUCH EASIER than 10.3s. 

Just try to connect to more than 10 servers but have to remember that servers IP address to mount the server so you can download and upload content. The new Finder Network button does not mount servers. It only surfs the server. So try to interact with the server you must mount it via command-k, but know the full server name (which the Finder Network pane DOES NOT TELL YOU). 

This is fine in a home network but just try to connect to any of the hundred servers in your company (or college) and see what I mean. You will have to memorize that particular server's IP address or full server name. With hundreds of servers that's a challenge. 

Apple please bring back Jaguars networking ability.  The Next guys are taking the easy out of the Apple networking. They brought to OS X Panther the Windows style of networking! The old OS 9 Chooser was a way better networking solution.

Edit: This is Apple's instructions on panther networking. However, This page points out the glaring differences in the easiness of Jaguar networking compared to Panther's networking.


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## speedfreak (Jan 27, 2004)

Make the screensaver option for view my photos randomly thorugh subfolders work again.
A pref pane for internet protocols.
Expose - an option to make one corner cycle thorugh apps.  When you see the one you want you move out of the corner.  Kind of like command-tab for your mouse. 
Mail - when you delete a message delete it from the IMAP server(.mac) automatically(what a pita).  A way to archive mail. 
Sherlock - a conversion channel - weights, measures, currencies(w/mkt. rates), etc.
iSync - safari history, recent items - docs and apps,


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## octane (Jan 28, 2004)

I know the other guys were there first, but given Apple have made a big thing of the sliding draws, I'd like to see the Bookmarks window work as a draw rather than the new window thing which is reasonably capacious, but just annoys me sometimes...


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## JohnnyV (Feb 4, 2004)

The feature I want most is a 50 dollar price tag.


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## Hydroglow (Feb 5, 2004)

Really what I would like to see. (since all the iCandy has already been mentioned in this thread I won't repeat it)


1) ReiserFS!!! Or something besides ext3. 
2) A way to configure the Darwin kernel to fit my needs.
3) Have the Gentoo portage software built in OS X (when it's done )
4) Have the choice between window managers when booting. Could be something like "Please choose your environment" Aqua, Fluxbox, KDE (damn it would be tight to run OS X apps in another window manager other then Aqua)
5) Better networking support
6) Crypto support
7) Built in prelinking (*nix tool to speed up apps maybe make something like that and run it as a cron at 4am or whatever I know 10.3 has something like that but it only does small files that's not good enough)
8) And lastly a way to use rendezvous to install 10.4 on more then one mac. Kinda like Xcode and compiling apps.


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## btoth (Feb 6, 2004)

*Fix the "Connect to Server..." back to how it was in Jaguar and fix the network browsing to work much much faster.  It's rediculously slow even with a few computers and workgroups and unreliable to boot.

*Remove "File>Duplicate" and replace it with "File>Cut" so that you can actually MOVE a file without 1)having to drag and hold through a million sub folders or Copy & Paste and go back and delete the old file.  Who needs duplicate when you can Copy&Paste just as fast?

*Fix the printings... in every web browser on the system, Aqua controls get screwed up when printing or saving as a PDF (essentially the same thing).

*Add a menu to the Apple menu or such that would give you fast access to your programs.  I still find that I work slower on my Mac than my PC where I would rather see it the other way around.

*Built-in email checker? So you wouldn't have to have Mail (or another app) running and sucking your memory.

*Better native support for PC mice with multi-buttons.

*A way to change the function key settings on powerbooks to be the other way around so you don't have to use FN to access your F# keys. (How dumb is that!  Who designed this thing?)

*True CDRW support.

*A way to show hidden non-system files (like Windows, sorry) or both system and non-system files, depending on what you want to see in the Finder.




Is my list long enough?    A lot of little Apple quirks that haven't changed since my System 7 days that still turn up once in a while.  I'm sure I'll think of more stuff later.  It'd be nice if Apple did read these.


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## btoth (Feb 6, 2004)

JohnnyV said:
			
		

> The feature I want most is a 50 dollar price tag.




OS X is still cheaper than an upgrade copy of Windows.


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## octane (Feb 7, 2004)

btoth said:
			
		

> *Remove "File>Duplicate" and replace it with "File>Cut" so that you can actually MOVE a file without 1)having to drag and hold through a million sub folders or Copy & Paste and go back and delete the old file.  Who needs duplicate when you can Copy&Paste just as fast?



That would remove one feature just to add another. Have the File->Cut be an alt-click option rather than a replacement...



			
				btoth said:
			
		

> *Fix the printings... in every web browser on the system, Aqua controls get screwed up when printing or saving as a PDF (essentially the same thing).



Yep. The pdf support could be better with regards to GUI elements...



			
				btoth said:
			
		

> *Add a menu to the Apple menu or such that would give you fast access to your programs.  I still find that I work slower on my Mac than my PC where I would rather see it the other way around.



This is always a matter of how you use your mac, but I find the default mac setup much faster than a pc.

That said, for $20 / $40 [depending on whether your a home or business user] you could buy Launch Bar.

Believe me, it's worth every penny!



			
				btoth said:
			
		

> *Built-in email checker? So you wouldn't have to have Mail (or another app) running and sucking your memory.



That's just plain silly! So by building it into the system it'll use less memory?

Where would it stop? Would you want Safari built in next? You've been hanging round Windows too long, mate!..


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## btoth (Feb 7, 2004)

octane said:
			
		

> That's just plain silly! So by building it into the system it'll use less memory?
> 
> Where would it stop? Would you want Safari built in next? You've been hanging round Windows too long, mate!..



Windows doesn't do it either, but I like how in Unix when you log in it will tell you if you have any new mail (at least at school it did).  Just something in the menu bar or such (an option of course) that would let you know if you have mail waiting, then you can use your prefered email app to check it.   This wasn't of big importance to me, just an idea, and a 3rd party app is probably available or easy enough to write.  

And no.... web browsing should not be built in to the Finder, the Finder should be used to manages files.... not act as a web browser. (My opinion anyway.)  I like being able to choose what web browser I want to use. 



> That would remove one feature just to add another. Have the File->Cut be an alt-click option rather than a replacement...



Does anyone actually use this though?  It does the same thing as Copy/Paste, it's very easy to just do Command+C Command+V.  Though you don't have to remove it, but a Cut would be nice (or maybe Apple would name it Move).  I personally get sick of all of Apple's "hidden" options like Alt-this Option-that.  I thought Macs where supposed to be "easier". 


I thought of two more things (probably mentioned before):

* A Restore option for the trash, for when you delete something accidentally and want to later put it back to where it was.  I actually use this feature often in Windows (not that I'm trying to make OS X more like Windows... heck no! but a useable feature should not be overlooked just because Windows has it).

* I think that there should be an Unistaller app to go along with the Installer app.  That way programs that do use the Installer (mostly really big app packages like Office and Adobe) would have an Uninstaller to clean up files that you probably don't know exist in your system somewhere and are tricky to remove.  Unlike the Windows uninstaller, the Apple one would probably work  because we don't have crap like DLLs and Registry entries that muck up the works.


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## octane (Feb 7, 2004)

btoth said:
			
		

> * I think that there should be an Unistaller app to go along with the Installer app.  That way programs that do use the Installer (mostly really big app packages like Office and Adobe) would have an Uninstaller to clean up files that you probably don't know exist in your system somewhere and are tricky to remove.  Unlike the Windows uninstaller, the Apple one would probably work  because we don't have crap like DLLs and Registry entries that muck up the works.



You've pretty much covered the pros and cons of such a scheme.

The problem is, some applications still create files in odd locations, like in your home directory as hidden files. I find this annoying.

Also, the liberal spattering of preference files that have no creator information so you don't know whether they belong to the system or not.

One thing I hope never to see in OS X is the system install roll-back feature in Windows.

I'm not too sure if that's still in or not. But the fact is, any operating system that needs such a feature doesn't exactly instill confidence in me as to the stability or integrity of installations...


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## steven_lufc (Feb 19, 2004)

What about its name.... which big cat would you like to see next?? We've had Cheetah, Puma, Jaguar & Panther. Should Apple even continue with this theme? Personally, I think so, I like it but eventually they'll run out of cats!!


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## HateEternal (Feb 19, 2004)

idk there are a lot of different cats out there... idk how many wildcats there are. I think i may be turned off abit if the next release is called American Shorthair. Not that the name of an OS really matters, as long as it works.

One thing i think might be kind of a good idea(might get flamed on this one) is to do what microsoft did with explorer. I think it would be nice if finder also functioned as a web browser, safari is nice, but if you already have finder running why not save some memory and loading time by mashing safari into finder.

What I dont understand about explerer and Internet explorer is that you can open explorer and type in a url and it will change browsing mode to web and open the link. This doesnt start iexplorer and uses the same amount of memory. If you run IE it starts a process called iexplorer now you are running ie and explorer, basically the same 2  programs with the exception that one is called internet explorer and has different settings(icons and view mostly, all things that can be changed) than explorer. Why didnt MS just put it all into one? Having the shortcut for IE just open to a diff(web) location than My Documents.

All this coming from a guy who uses firefox as his default Pc browser...


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## octane (Feb 19, 2004)

I dropped these two articles [this one and that one] on another thread, but they make sense here.

Apple should be pretty keen to weave in more [some?] 64-bit support and more multithreading capabilities to get the best out of OS X and the G5 chip.

This is clearly in Apple's best interests. What better way to market Shake and Final Cut if they dig deep[er] into the chip.

And what better way to differentiate themselves from Windows XP 64 beta?

Like the article states, the Xserve is likely to be the first system to see an 64-bittified version of OS X.

Anyway, megahertz are so 2002 .. 64-bit is the new black...


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## HateEternal (Feb 21, 2004)

I am going to bump this one up, just because I want to see what others think about what i said above.

LOOK UP^^^^^^^^^^^


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## andychrist (Feb 21, 2004)

I say let Finder be Finder. Was thrilled when Sherlock was severed.  Safari is my default browser but wouldn't want to be tied to it.   Understand what you mean about [initial] load time, but once your browser is open there's no problem and the way X manages memory you won't see significant savings.

Don't see how Apple can come up with a classier looking cat than Panther. 

I want 10.4 to be 10.3.3...


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## dlloyd (Feb 21, 2004)

Three words: FULL FTP SUPPORT!


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## bobw (Feb 21, 2004)

Now, if all you guys would gather together and develop this system, with everything mentioned in this thread, we wouldn't need Apple anymore


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## HateEternal (Feb 21, 2004)

Hey now, they still come up with some amazing ideas.


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## dlloyd (Feb 21, 2004)

Yeah, there's a _reason_ why we have Apple.


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## octane (Feb 22, 2004)

And there's a reason why Apple are still around .. they listen to their customers...


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