[MacMania]

I started many years ago a list of features and functionalities that should be in Mac OS X from version 10.0.0. Now close to 6 Mac OS X versions later and still don't see what I need . All of them are very essential to me and I guess to many other users. They are not whims, they area real needs.

Please share your opinion with me about what you read in my blog, tell me if I am missing something or you want to add more to the list. I will send it to Apple feedback Shortly.

(I apologize if my English is not perfect)

Full Blog
http://web.mac.com/oscar3d/iWeb/Appl.../Feedback.html

Mac OS X
http://web.mac.com/oscar3d/iWeb/Appl...2C7B04BC7.html

Keychain
http://web.mac.com/oscar3d/iWeb/Appl...54F530274.html

Safari
http://web.mac.com/oscar3d/iWeb/Appl...49B5CF1DA.html

.Mac
http://web.mac.com/oscar3d/iWeb/Appl...7DAF84191.html

Mail, Address Book, iWeb, iChat
http://web.mac.com/oscar3d/iWeb/Appl...80E189CCB.html

[Chuckit]

Automatic calculation of BPM in iTunes, auto-adjusting columns in the Finder and a calculator in the contextual menu (WTF?) are actual needs?

[besson3c]

MacMania,

A great percentage of your features could be covered if Apple would open up some of their apps to be pluggable so that developers could add these features for you to install at your discretion. Some of your desired features seem highly personalized to suit your workflow.

[Chuckit]

He actually points out that many of his needs are already covered by third-party plugins and/or apps. He seems to be suggesting that Apple do these things itself.

[MacMania]

Originally Posted by Chuckit 

Automatic calculation of BPM in iTunes, auto-adjusting columns in the Finder and a calculator in the contextual menu (WTF?) are actual needs?

This Thread is about Mac OS X, did you read my post? that means that iLife related blog are not essential, like Automatic calculation of BPM in iTunes unless you are a DJ . (Comments about iLife are welcome too)

Auto-adjusting columns in the Finder!!! yes it is very important to me, because when you work with many file with the same name like I do (picture0011Color, picture0110Color, picture1111Color) is a problem and it waste my time because I have to resize every column in every window so I can see de one that I looking for. They look like they have de same name if the column width is small, because the mid part of de name are hidden.

The calculator in the contextual menu save me time and RAM when I have to do a quick and simple calculation without opening the calculator app. (calculations like 2+5-3*4/2+7=) please check the third party apps for a demo.

[besson3c]

Originally Posted by Chuckit 

He actually points out that many of his needs are already covered by third-party plugins and/or apps. He seems to be suggesting that Apple do these things itself.

Ahhh... Well then MacMania, understand that code bases are easier to maintain when they don't require a massive amount of resources just to get a handle of them. It is more in keeping with the Unix way of developing to write very simple and clean pieces that work together nicely. Throwing in the whole kitchen sink into one giant monolithic thing is a very Microsoftian approach. If Apple is interested in doing what I'm describing, it seems like a better idea to just provide the infrastructure for developers to handle this themselves... More choices for the consumer, and less work for Apple to have to do.

The challenge is generalizing enough to provide these hooks and to not break them across major (and minor) updates, but with the speed of OS releases decreasing, this seems tenable. There are ways to automatically disable plug-ins that are broken, and update them as necessary, check out Firefox for my favorite example of this in action.

[Chuckit]

How little RAM do you have that a tiny calculator application is a major concern for you?

Anyway, it seems you already have this as a third-party addon. As besson said, I don't really see why Apple needs to do it. If Apple included everybody's personal quirks in their UI, it would be bloated beyond usefulness.

Also, bear in mind that for every nonessential feature Apple builds into the OS, that increases RAM and CPU usage for everyone. By having separate apps, people can choose what specific tasks they want to spend their system resources on.

[besson3c]

Originally Posted by Chuckit 

How little RAM do you have that a tiny calculator application is a major concern for you?

Anyway, it seems you already have this as a third-party addon. As besson said, I don't really see why Apple needs to do it. If Apple included everybody's personal quirks in their UI, it would be bloated beyond usefulness.

Also, bear in mind that for every nonessential feature Apple builds into the OS, that increases RAM and CPU usage for everyone. By having separate apps, people can choose what specific tasks they want to spend their system resources on.

I'd argue that Apple ought to allow users to decrease the memory footprint of OS X by (easily) removing processes/services that are constantly running. For now, I think this includes things like Spotlight and Dashboard.

[MacMania]

ok besson3c and Chuckit do you really believe that a bigger pointer should be handle by third-party software? that is just a example of what I am taking about. All these function should be handle by Mac OS X many of them thru the system preferences. The pointer haven't change since System 1 in 1982 with Apple Lisa (display resolution 320x240 pixels = Modern cell phone display), but todays display are up to 2560 x 1600 pixels (30-inch Apple Cinema HD Display) difficult to see the pointer.

Don't call blind now because I lose that tiny pointer in that hi-res display especially when is on top of a black or dark area it get easily camouflaged.

[Big Mac]

Originally Posted by besson3c 

I'd argue that Apple ought to allow users to decrease the memory footprint of OS X by (easily) removing processes/services that are constantly running. For now, I think this includes things like Spotlight and Dashboard.

I don't think Dashboard is actually running until it's clicked for the first time after login. And mdimport takes up 2.47MB of RAM and zero processor time unless it's indexing.

[MacMania]

Originally Posted by besson3c 

I'd argue that Apple ought to allow users to decrease the memory footprint of OS X by (easily) removing processes/services that are constantly running. For now, I think this includes things like Spotlight and Dashboard.

That right, why Dashboard keep eating my CPU, RAM and internet bandwidth after I am done with it? so is just not only calculator that I have problem with, but Spotlight, Dashboard and all the others that I name in my blog running at the same time.

[Chuckit]

Originally Posted by besson3c 

I'd argue that Apple ought to allow users to decrease the memory footprint of OS X by (easily) removing processes/services that are constantly running. For now, I think this includes things like Spotlight and Dashboard.

Dashboard is only running if you activate it. Spotlight is not optional — it's a core service of the OS. Without it, many programs may fail in mysterious ways. You may as well ask Apple to remove menus and drag-and-drop so those services don't take up resources either.

Originally Posted by MacMania 

ok besson3c and Chuckit do you really believe that a bigger pointer should be handle by third-party software? that is just a example of what I am taking about. All these function should be handle by Mac OS X many of them thru the system preferences. The pointer haven't change since System 1 in 1982 with Apple Lisa (display resolution 320x240 pixels = Modern cell phone display), but todays display are up to 2560 x 1600 pixels (30-inch Apple Cinema HD Display) difficult to see the pointer.

Don't call blind now because I lose that tiny pointer in that hi-res display especially when is on top of a black or dark area it get easily camouflaged.

What you're asking for here is resolution independence. It's a good idea, and it's coming in 10.5.

[MacMania]

Originally Posted by Big Mac 

I don't think Dashboard is actually running until it's clicked for the first time after login. And mdimport takes up 2.47MB of RAM and zero processor time unless it's indexing.

That is true, but once you do that deadly click, it doesn't quit it just hide until next time, so it keeps sucking your computer blood.

Dashboard should have a Quit command

[MacMania]

Originally Posted by Chuckit 

What you're asking for here is resolution independence. It's a good idea, and it's coming in 10.5.

Yes I hear about that, but related to icons and windows elements, let hope they don't forget the pointer too.

[besson3c]

I want the mouse pointer to be an animated mouse that when you click on something he temporarily takes over your entire display and makes a happy squeak sound.

[Mithras]

Can't you make the pointer larger in the Universal Access prefpane? Yes, you can.

[OreoCookie]

Do you realize that many of the features are already in place, some of them for as long as you have been using OS X?

Keychain: you want to add your `real-life' passwords? Fine, add a safe note or password.

Preview: Automatic downscaling works just fine here.

Mail: you can sort by any criterion, sender, account, date, etc.

Many of your other needs are met with add-ons, so I don't really understand why you're claiming they are `real needs' -- when you list the solution.

[pheonixash]

Originally Posted by MacMania 

snip..

The calculator in the contextual menu save me time and RAM when I have to do a quick and simple calculation without opening the calculator app. (calculations like 2+5-3*4/2+7=) please check the third party apps for a demo.

You can do this by simply selecting the text and pressing Shift+Apple+8.

[Chuckit]

Originally Posted by OreoCookie 

Preview: Automatic downscaling works just fine here

Yeah, but to get pictures there requires dragging the image (which is fairly slow for large images) down to Preview from Safari. I'd like to see this feature from Gecko in WebKit as well. I've always been meaning to poke around WebKit and see if it's easily hackable.

[OreoCookie]

I know it's a missing feature of Safari, but he was talking about Preview and listed it separately for Safari.

[JKT]

FWIW, Address Book already can do familial and work relationships. Go to Card>Add Field and select Related Names, then when you edit, you can add father, mother, spouse, etc.

[Chuckit]

Originally Posted by JKT 

FWIW, Address Book already can do familial and work relationships. Go to Card>Add Field and select Related Names, then when you edit, you can add father, mother, spouse, etc.

I recall one guy added a "yoMomma" method to the Objective-C API for address book that would look up the receiving person's mother.

[garythecynic]

I love 3rd party software as much as the next guy, but I believe that MacMania just wants Apple to create a convenient way to access all these features bundled as one with the OS so that he doesn't have to install 25 different little programs to customize the OS performance to his preference. In regards to the concern that these little "features" will eat up CPU and RAM: a simple preference pane listing with options to turn features off that you don't care for would solve the problem.
One of the things that impressed me most about my iBook when I first got it was that I basically turned the thing on, selected a language, and was good to go. No extra installations. Nothing. I think what MacMania wants is for the "it just works" philosophy to extend a bit further

[- - e r i k - -]

• Calculate age and zodiacal sigh from birthday data.

Why the **** you would need to calculate "zodiacal" signs from birthdates is beyond me, but this handy plugin will calculate the age (and your preferred superstition) for you:
Address Book Dates 1.1.3 - MacUpdate

[- - e r i k - -]

.Mac
Sunday, September 3, 2006
• www.mydomain.mac

Never going to happen (for blindingly obvious reasons)

• List view like iTunes (bi-color lines for easy reading).

Coming in 10.5

• More media info in column view (bit rate, ID3 tag, image dimension, etc).

Agreed.

• Simple Calculator in Contextual Menu.

Why would Apple need to fill this need? It has an extremely easy accessible calculator on the dashboard, as an application, or even as a System service for calculation directly in text (albeit Cocoa only).

• BPM automatic calculation (write to ID3 Tag)

Beautifully solved by Tangerine!

[- - e r i k - -]

• Lyric in ID3 Tag (Synchronized with the singer)

Never going to happen due to copyright issues (see: Pear Lyrics)

• Mac pointer devise and scroll wheel on the keyboard (save money and space on the desk by dumping the mouse). <Similar to the new scroll ball in the new Apple Mouse but in the keyboard instead to control the pointer and scrolling windows>

Wrong for all sorts of reasons.