Mac OS X 10.5 ideas

cyprus mac man

cyprus mac man

Expert Macintosh...er
Hey everyone,

I just wanted to start a thread to hear what anybody knows about 10.5 and if any of you have any cool ideas for it.

I had some ideas. One would be you could catch the dock icons when they bounced up and down. Another would be that you could slow down the playback in iTunes. In iChat, you could easily connect to MSN, Yahoo, etc. and also have animation Buddy Icons. Also, themes (like the red, yellow, and green buttons at the top) would be shades of Aqua Blue. Also an uninstaller. You could also have the icon for a document (example: Word file) and it would preview the first page as the icon.

Thats about it for now. Ill post back with more.
 
Neat ideas Cyprus. In particular, I like the one about iChat -- it would be nice to use it to communicate with other chat programs.
 
Fix the bugs of MacOS X 10.0.0 through 10.4.7, and provide it as a free 'bug fix' - not as a major 'with 120+ features' release.
 
barhar said:
Fix the bugs of MacOS X 10.0.0 through 10.4.7, and provide it as a free 'bug fix' - not as a major 'with 120+ features' release.
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Hear, hear! Not going to happen, but it's nice to dream, isn't it?

I think more dynamic icons would be a good idea. At one point Apple did have dynamic icons for text files in OS X, but I don't think this feature made it out of the public beta (or was it in 10.0?). I can certainly understand why they took it out. It's not like you'd actually be able to read much of anything on an icon, so it might not be worth the cost to performance/consistency. But there are other types that could use dynamic icons, like folders.

Along similar lines, it would be nice if the Finder's previewing ability was beefed up. I'd like a way to get pop-up previews in icon and list view (and column view, too, since its previewing isn't terribly convenient as it is). AFAIK, there's no way for developers to hook into this and provide routines for OS X to generate previews. It would be cool if Apple made this extensible; that way potentially every file format out there could have a meaningful preview.

Quote:
Another would be that you could slow down the playback in iTunes.

Again...why? There are specialised programs that can do this.
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But...not in iTunes. I have all my music in iTunes. With playlists, and all sorts of goodies that no other program with this feature has. Adjusting the speed of music playback isn't just a novelty, and since QuickTime already has the ability to do it, why not? I'd actually like to see this. Although granted, QuickTime 7 isn't all that great at slowing down audio, so its routine would probably need to be improved. It's great at speeding up audio, though. I doubt Apple will be motivated to do this, though, since its usefulness is pretty limited and iTunes is a general-purpose program.



The single feature I want most is the ability to adjust the onscreen resolution of individual apps and windows. This feature allllmost made it to Tiger, in the form of Quartz 2D Extreme (not to be confused with Quartz Extreme). You could even play around with it if you used some debugging tools, but I think they even pulled that out in 10.4.4 or so. Apple is definitely thinking about it, anyway, so it's not unreasonable to expect it in Leopard. Fingers crossed!
 
Something that was in Panther that disappeared in Tiger.... ANIMATION IN PREVIEW!!!! What happened to the play button?!?! UGH! I'm sorry but this is major to me.

~Dark Dexter
 
also, I would LOVE to bring back the "button" mode from classic. you know, the won where you just click a file once to open it.

also, Veljo, the idea is that it's Apple's program that would do it. not just some other third party application. i know fire can do it with MSN, AIM, and Yahoo. iChat + Psi can do it too, but have Apple work on its own program.

also, something that really would be nice. in finder, when you press the "Go" tab, you see "Computer", "Home", "Network", etc. well the "Computer" icon is an older iMac. I think they should have it be the make and model of the computer you are using (in my case a Power Book G4 15")
 
Veljo said:
Err....why?


Again...why? There are specialised programs that can do this.


Adium achieves this exact purpose.


Uninstallers are totally unnecessary for the majority of Mac OS X applications because they're put into 'packages', meaning essentially all of the application's files are stored in the one file. Simply Trash that and it's uninstalled.


Do you know how hard it would be to see what the first page of the document looked like in a 128 x 128 or smaller icon? Impossible.
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Ohhhh! come on mate! give the guy a break. He has some good ideas and didn't he ask if you had any? Anyway, a true mac user is one with ideas.... Big ideas. Go the ideas man! it can only help.

My idea was to see some windows applications that were built for windows run on a mac without windows. but "wine" is starting to do that now:

http://www.macrumors.com/pages/2006/06/20060630170338.shtml

i knew someone would do it sooner or later.


.
 
On top of my wishlist would score the encryption with contextual menus. Built in system, not as a software addition...
 
I agree quicksilver. He (cyprus) has the spark to kick off this thread.

I will say this, there seems to be a air of snobbery with mac users, the idea should be to promote the OSX system to "catch" the XP users and prove to them that there is life outside the "box". I;ve been an Mac engineer for 15 odd years and I always feel a sense of pride when a Windows users see's me Mac and asks what can it do... I give them the tour, I know at least 12 people have now got mac's..
 
what I think apple should do is start making Official Apple brand programs built into 10.5 like the ones available for download, but we have to pay for. Like those iTunes lyric finders and the App Zapper. you have to pay for those. have Apple make its own, and include it in 10.5. thats what I say
 
me too Trooper. here in Cyprus, i am one of only 2 people i know with a mac. when i go to a WiFi zone, everyone with their Sony laptop looks at my G4 and its Apple symbol and just stare! its really cool.
 
cyprus mac man said:
me too Trooper. here in Cyprus, i am one of only 2 people i know with a mac. when i go to a WiFi zone, everyone with their Sony laptop looks at my G4 and its Apple symbol and just stare! its really cool.
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While nothing I have to say corresponds with the title of the thread :p, I have to answer to this post.

I know exactly what you're talking about. Not because of me, but because of another classmate in my cohort (doing a working adult study program for my bachelors). I have my laptop from work which is a crappy HP Compaq nx9010. The only good thing about it is that it's running Ubuntu Dapper, otherwise I would chuck this faster than my son's lunch after we got back from having lunch at the diner. Anyways, everyone else in the class had their own Windows laptops turning on and whatnot.....nothing interesting.

Then I hear that familiar "BONNNNNNNGGGG!!!" Everyone in the class turned around and noticed one of the girls in the class using a PowerBook G4. It made me feel good to see a Mac user in the class, while at the same time I was a bit envious of her lovely PowerBook.

Apple makes computers that command attention and rightly so. This is exactly what happens any time a Mac fires up amongst the sea of PC lemmings out there. :cool:
 
I have to say I'm honestly not blown away by many of the suggestions so far. I don't want new themes, though it would be nice to see the look refined and unified a little more, to get a bit of consistency. That hardly seems like an important point, though. Spotlight and Finder could both be refined a fair bit to make them more effective and neat.

It wouldn't surprise me to see iCal, Address Book, Mail and iSync all integrated - though its hard to say what advantage this would actually have.

One thing Apple might look at is providing their own app for Skype / VOIP telephony. I think that it will become a bit more commonplace in a few years, and Apple will want to get it sorted out now.

If I were in charge of mapping out 10.5's new features, I'd start by making it about making it easier to manage information. I'd start by making Spotlight include *context* on search hits - that is to say, if you search for a word and get some documents back, you also see the context in which that word appears in that document, just as you would with a Google search.

The next thing I would do is start working on support for metadata tags for *everything* to tie together, similar to the way you would tie together related items on Flickr or YouTube. Imagine being able to select a photo in iPhoto, or a song in iTunes, or an item in the Finder, and add a tag instantly like "Christmas" or "Melbourne", and then be able to find these files and tags quickly in Finder.

I'd also like to see at least a few day-to-day tasks simplified:

- Scanning in documents and photos needs to be neater. OCR should become an easy-to-use system service.

- Printing envelopes from Address Book. Seriously, why has this not been done properly yet?

- Keychain Access should be upgraded as more of a "Secure Digital Wallet" type of thing, where users can keep their personal details under lock and key.

- A way to securely encrypt folders built right in to the Finder. Yes, I know there are several ways to do this, but I want to see it become a right-click/File-menu option to "Secure this folder or file with password encryption". That way, people will use it. I also want a way to send secured files built right into Mail.app - and support for authentication/signing (perhaps PGP or GnuPG). Of course, all of this would fly in the face of US export laws, but I'm sure Apple's lawyers could figure out the right way to make it happen.

I know all of my ideas sound pretty bland, but I have had success before with proposing some of my ideas to Apple. I think though that 10.5 is too far into development now for them to start on anything new.
 
Veljo - thats probably the most negative comment i've read on this forum on what is a pretty fun speculative subject for people to throw out ideas.
it was totally unnecesary. pull the stick out ya *ss dude!

what i would like to see:

itunes tabbing - just like in safari, that would make for true 'music browsing' experience. open a genre... then ctrl click on bands etc to open them in a tab so you can continue checking out other bands in the genre. i bet songs sales would rise even more with this simple addition.
i actually sent this idea to apple via their feedback form!

its already been mentioned but i too would love to see mail, ical and address book integrated - or a 'pro' version released to sit with 'iwork'.

i want apple to do all the hard work in getting ichat to sign into msn etc - i want apple to make it... well - 'applelike' - just makes the process really easy. ichat will fly, and it'll be goodnight vienna for msn messenger which is poor in comparison to its window counterpart.

i would love to see live icon previews. i work in graphics - i get files in lots of different formats for lots of different versions etc etc - to be able to see exactly what the file is would be awesome.

i want to see expose move on too - it's changed the way i work with my mac and i would say is one of the best OS ideas. i'm hoping apple are working on something great for the next iteration of expose.

i want to be able to 'find' another mac just like i can find other bluetooth phones with my phone. just 'search' for them. so if im at someones house who has a mac with airport, all i have to do is hit the menu item that says 'search for other macs'. and all you have to do to be found is to check a box in your preferences that says 'let me be seen'. make it secure though - just like with bluetooth phones - make it compulsory to input a random one off code on each computer to make the link active.

please please apple do something with .mac... it could be so many great things... its on the brink or greatness - it just needs someone at apple to give it a nudge. to make it the 'must have'. if you've got a mac - you've GOT to have .mac.

sorry if some of these things are a bit unclear! just stream of conscience stuff!
 
what did veljo say to get so flamed? i see nothing here.

anyway, on to my own ideas. i would love to see an appearance pref pane, like the appearance control panel of classic days. i want more than blue and graphite. aqua is nice, but there is so much more color out there in the ocean. and why is there only 2 choices there, but the highlight can be anything? only so many desktop backgrounds can go with 2 colors. even if they only add base colors (ie black, brown, red, orange, green, yellow, and purple) to the 2, then we'd have a much bigger range of choices to color coordinate the finder. (btw, i have this same beef with windows xp too. but vista finally seems to have done something about it far better than i've see implemented anywhere else.) also, why has apple never added the gui switch to place both scroll arrows at both ends? we always have to goto some 3rd party to add this easily. also, os x is far too quite for ME. I miss the sounds! i know they bugged alot of people, but i loved them the instant i heard them. and it was nice to save my own themes. and why not make all the pref panes available via a menu like in classic days. i know most of my ideas can be had via 3rd party software (i have prefsmenu and tinkertool), but it should be part of the os's gui.
 
I would like to see a redesigned Finder with updated Exposé window sorting, 3D transitions to hide/show various elements of the GUI -all practically based-, and maximized Spotlight proficiency a la what symphonix said. I think Apple will somehow intregrate a VOIP/Skype'esque phoning service based on rumors I've seen floating around, and I'm all for the idea. I'd like the Mac to become the multimedia/connectivity powerhouse, assimilating all the modern communications technology we have and bringing it together in a user-moldable package. I'd like to see the NOW version of what Sherlock revolutioned; web search from the desktop, finding people from the desktop, etc. We shouldn't have to open a browser for everything. Oh and speaking of which... Safari should be a nearly optional element. Browsing should be built into Finder and/or the iApps or -more aggresively- an entirely seperate element of the interface, possibly taking off Dashboard's features.
 
Symphonix said: "I don't want new themes, though it would be nice to see the look refined and unified a little more, to get a bit of consistency."

I rather want them to _refine_ the look and unify it, so it's consistent. But I fear they'll do what you suggest PLUS add yet another look in, say, iChat this time. So we'll have Aqua, Brushed Metal, new metal, Unified and "one more look...". Buggers.
 
one thing I HATE is how confusing Apple makes it for me and my friend to link via WLAN. yes, have it like bluetooth, except faster. also have more available color labels, or chose your own color from the spectrum...thing...

oh, and enough with the page turning icons. lets see, i have a Quicktime MPEG file, several web archives, and 3 .dmg files on my desktop, plus some Word documents. all of them are "page turning" icons. i dont want my Quicktime movie to be a page turning icon. i want it to be like a film strip (well it is a film strip, but make it look like one more). and the .dmg files. page turning + my HD icon. change that too
 
The page-turning icons have a long history - and I'd certainly miss them if they'd go away. But I agree that for QT movies and DMGs, they might not be ideal.
 
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