[Link]

What I'd like to see:

Finder: acts exactly like itunes/iphoto and responds as fast as w2k's explorer does.

mail: smart email boxes (there's already junk)

folder scheduling: routinely move files from X folder to Y folder (this would be handy for backups and organizing)

adjustable GUI elements: windows has had this since 1995. Apple could implement a much better version if they wanted and it would be good to support higher DPI monitors

Dock folders: drag a folder to the left side of the dock and it shows the content menu on left click by default.

more responsive sound adjustment (I hate how it takes a second or two sometimes to respond to volume keys)

Ability to choose favorite compression format (tar vs zip vs gz or whatever), favorite screenshot method WITH auto compression as well?

The ability to 'work offline' in safari..

A dialog box that pops up when you plug in something that doesn't have a driver installed... this is REALLY crucial for new users trust me.

The right click to close minimized windows (finally) feature

A small button in the scrollbar for "auto scroll" heheh.

Working display detection for dsektops (it's never worked for me).

A global sound equalizer

Adjustable mouse acceleration and custom cursors (not neccessary but hey)

"System" settings in system preferences including verbose crash reporting and kernel panics, auto reboot on kernel panics, timed "This application has unexpectedly quit" dialogs, and some sort of GUI restart key combo (we truely could use a 3 finger salute)...

Replacement of FTP with SFTP or at least the addition of SFTP

A "smart firewall" which when in training mode pops up a dialog asking if you'd like to open X port when that port is called but is blocked.

Smarter Internet sharing with WPA and many of the features found on good base stations... perhaps a box which shows connected users.

PORT MAPPING THROUGH INTERNET SHARING!! (highly requested)

color coded expose windows (colored by their app maybe?)

hotkeyable menus (alt + m + v to do menu + Move + Vector sort of crap)

Smarter DVD-RAM support

Automatic backup to certain drives when plugged in (ala iPod style itunes thing)

Built in system monitoring for systems that can do it (temperature and power status / built in alarms for it IF enabled)

Ability to choose to auto install certain patches but not others in software update

Customizable aqua? Make the colored parts (like in graphite but dynamic) an 'overlay' that can be changed

Making safari support the above as an option to do IE-like scrollbars on certain sites

The ability to have the finder highlight freshly downloaded files on the desktop instead of showing them up in a new window

Better file details on desktop and folder views (it's optional now but why not make what can be displayed optional)

Custom text colors for files in the finder/on the desktop OR "smart color detectiuon" <-- depending on whether the background is light or dark automatically adjust the text color heheh.

A more clever services menu (or maybe stick it in the context menu).. it was a good idea never really used much

A 'frameless' buddy list in ichat, warning levels in the buddy list, and optional timestamps on every line of text (slightly above the chat bubble perhaps) -- or at least timestampped logging WITH the seconds

customizable "autoscroll" button for mouse button.. push 5th mouse button on any list and it starts scrolling

"Download finished at 8PM 4/22/99" sort of stats in safari

Ability to save the contents of a text box in safari, or 'freeze' a page (handy for when you're about to post something on a forum but then have to leave immediately), a set of freeze hotkeys one for freeze and one for defrost

Hrmm well there's some suggestions

[Link]

More thoughts:

Easier disk duplication: Be able to simultaneously copy a CD by using one drive to read and one to write

Right clicking disk images and having "Burn this image" as an option (oh how I wish they'd do that!!!)

A uniform way to switch between tabs in anything

Tabbed IM convos in iChat

Tabbed terminal sessions and the ability to put an 'input box" in the window.

Finally a colored LS? Implementation of a system similar to fink

A unified installer method (I'm sick of VISE installers, disk image drag-overs, and the typic OS X installer.. why not one or the other?)

"Auto extract files from disk images with fewer than X files"

Customizable hotkeys for any sort of applescript, app, whatever (10.3 ALMOST has it)

OS restore points similar to XP's feature (it's not really that usable but heck)

The ability to get a machine's IP address(es) from "About this mac"

Apple X11 having "startx" outside of loginwindow

An option for verbose bootup in system prefs AND an optional statusbar on the apple logo screen.

[jokell82]

Originally posted by hudson1:
Well, that's only partially true. Apple might force users to upgrade to 10.4 if they want the capability of upgrading any other Apple application such as is the current situation with Safari and iChatAV.

Uh, iChat AV works great on Jaguar. So does Safari.

However, the latest Safari uses updated Webkit frameworks that are only available in 10.3. So if you want to use that, yes you'd have to upgrade. However you can still use both programs just fine in 10.2.

[Socially Awkward Solo]

I really hope Apple comes up with something more innovative and exciting then the nit-picky stuff listed here so far.

[Link]

Yeah maybe they'll come up with another fancy and lame effect that moves windows around to try and sell a new OS for $129

[sniffer]

Originally posted by Link:

Apple X11 having "startx" outside of loginwindow

Nice! Plain X11/KDE/Gnome/stand-alone windows manager stuff for show off, geekdom and speed!

[osxisfun]

Originally posted by Link:
Yeah maybe they'll come up with another fancy and lame effect that moves windows around to try and sell a new OS for $129

Yes. that's all it was.. sure... whatever...one of the best ui tweaks in the 20 years of my mac life was just a lame effect....

geez. can someone rename this thread to:

"The yet another Apple are weasels for asking me for money for a whole new OS even though no one is forcing me to spend 129$ on it if i do not see value in it."

Thread??

Thanks...

[Luca Rescigno]

Originally posted by Link:
Yeah maybe they'll come up with another fancy and lame effect that moves windows around to try and sell a new OS for $129

Shut up.

[Link]

Originally posted by sniffer:
Nice! Plain X11/KDE/Gnome/stand-alone windows manager stuff for show off, geekdom and speed!

Thanks for reminding me! I'd like to see X11 have optional "aqua windows" vs using your own workspace manager

ERrr.. being able to switch on/off that damn aqua window overlay. It's nice but seriously it's not complete and no X11 based theme can mimick the aqua right so I'd rather just use my own theme for aqua windows.

[JasonQG]

Originally posted by lngtones:
Why don't you just close the lid? I've been doing that for over a year now and haven't noticed any problems.

I do, and I'd still do that most of the time. But when I know I'm not going to use the machine for a while, it'd be nice to have a quicker, more convenient alternative to shutting down completely, because sleep drains WAY too much battery power.


On a related subject, boot times need to be significantly improved. Watch a clean XP machine boot and be amazed. I know, I know; OS X "never" needs to be rebooted, but obviously it does sometimes.

[Link]

OS X isn't the most predictable in boot times. If I unplug my pro speakers from my g4 it can boot in under 30 seconds. ...

OTOH sometimes it takes 2 minutes :|

[JasonQG]

Originally posted by Link:
OS X isn't the most predictable in boot times. If I unplug my pro speakers from my g4 it can boot in under 30 seconds. ...

OTOH sometimes it takes 2 minutes :|

My rev A 12" PowerBook always takes forever. Maybe it's partly a hardware issue.

[osiris]

Originally posted by Cipher13:

Do you mean "d", or command-d? Just clarifying.

Just "D". FCP and other apps are consistant with usage in dialog boxes.
I think Quicktime, Preview, and TextEdit are the only apps that need command D.

[ApeInTheShell]

These are the only models that qualify for the Tiger update in my opinion. Apple doesn't support upgrades in their specs if you recall:

The minimum requirement will be 32 mb standard VRAM

a) iMac G4 FP (all models)
b) iBook G3 800 - iBook G4 1.2
c) eMac
d) Powerbook G4 667/DVI - Powerbook G4 1.5
e) Power Mac 533 DP - Power Mac 1.42 DP MDD

[ApeInTheShell]

Oh and the Power Mac G5...but you already knew this

[SMacTech]

Originally posted by ApeInTheShell:
These are the only models that qualify for the Tiger update in my opinion. Apple doesn't support upgrades in their specs if you recall:

The minimum requirement will be 32 mb standard VRAM

a) iMac G4 FP (all models)
b) iBook G3 800 - iBook G4 1.2
c) eMac
d) Powerbook G4 667/DVI - Powerbook G4 1.5
e) Power Mac 533 DP - Power Mac 1.42 DP MDD

I don't think so.

[msuper69]

The thread that never dies is back for another go-round.

Ho-hum.

[jokell82]

Originally posted by ApeInTheShell:
These are the only models that qualify for the Tiger update in my opinion. Apple doesn't support upgrades in their specs if you recall:

The minimum requirement will be 32 mb standard VRAM

a) iMac G4 FP (all models)
b) iBook G3 800 - iBook G4 1.2
c) eMac
d) Powerbook G4 667/DVI - Powerbook G4 1.5
e) Power Mac 533 DP - Power Mac 1.42 DP MDD

No friggin way. I'd say at least all TiBooks and iceBooks would be supported. And any PowerMac G4 would be supported as well.

[Link]

Originally posted by ApeInTheShell:
These are the only models that qualify for the Tiger update in my opinion. Apple doesn't support upgrades in their specs if you recall:

The minimum requirement will be 32 mb standard VRAM

a) iMac G4 FP (all models)
b) iBook G3 800 - iBook G4 1.2
c) eMac
d) Powerbook G4 667/DVI - Powerbook G4 1.5
e) Power Mac 533 DP - Power Mac 1.42 DP MDD

Who the hell are you trying to kid? Those are HORRIBLE minimum sys requirements.

[ambush]

I just want bugfixes and improvements. really.

nothing new would be good - if we had a working finder, good speed, etc.

[tooki]

Originally posted by MartiNZ:
Wow, I had actually never noticed that shortcut keys don't work in some apps' dialogs! I have a feeling that this might be another one of those cocoa vs. carbon things though - I just tried it, and it doesn't work in TextEdit but it does in iTunes.

Of course this could also be because of the different sorts of dialogs - the ones that appear in the middle and those that fold down from the top - but I don't know. Definitely should be sorted though!

Those last ones are called "sheets".

Anyway, there is no one standard for this, but basically every application accepts Command-D for Don't Save. Some apps additionally support just D for convenience, but the general standard is that for commands, you don't use an unmodified letter key, you assume that ANY command will contain the command key.

I tested Command-D in TextEdit and it works. iTunes doesn't create documents (that is, there is no way to have an unsaved document in this program), so I don't know what you're talking about there.

tooki

[Superchicken]

OS X needs... improved Finder... a rewrite would be really nice. Customizable sidebar, more so, There would be a nice feature if you had some more immediate control in the dock, perhaps you roll over the App and buttons can appear, IE roll over iTunes and you get controls, roll over iPhoto and you get the import button, Photoshop you could have like open file browser, or batch process, or you could even have customizable lists for apps or something. But the dock certainly does need to grow up, it's almost been unchanged since X.0.
Some more utilities would be nice, some stuff for optimization and stuff.

The handicap stuff for schools would be great, although it would also be cool if these things can be useful for those of us who might just be lazy
If speech recognition features could be built in that would be a huge plus.

TextEdit could use some nice features that make it into a full fledged word processor... I tried to use it to write my papers for college... I'm buying Office before next semester.

[higgybaby5]

Here's something that would be great.....what if Apple came up with a new startup sound to go with Tiger. That hasn't seemed to change in a while.

[diehlr]

As it stands in 10.3, if you drag a minimized window out of the dock, it falls back down into the dock. Why?

I'd like to be able to drag minimized windows out of the dock, and have them pop open where you drop them.

Makes sense to me, anyway.

[moonmonkey]

Originally posted by Cipher13:
You need a shift button to make beautiful girls scream?

Two at once Yes; now I know why Sticky Keys were really invented.

[moonmonkey]

Originally posted by higgybaby5:
Here's something that would be great.....what if Apple came up with a new startup sound to go with Tiger. That hasn't seemed to change in a while.

\

I don't think its in the firmware (like the startup image), so it would be impossible to change.

[h00ligan]

Originally posted by deminisma:
Proper session management.

Please. I mean, when I logout of my KDE session on GNU/Linux everything is saved. When I log back in, it's still there. OS X definately needs to do this.

amen

[ebolla]

How about integrating the iApps into open dialogue boxes. kinda like how DVD Studio Pro allows you to access your iTunes library and iPhoto libraries directly in the side bar. The only thing that keeps me from using iPhoto 100% is that Photoshop has no way to read my iPhoto library.

Also I could go for a "pro" theme so I could make my entire interface as small and simple as DVD Studio Pro or Soundtrack. 12" screen is just too cramped as is.

[h00ligan]

Originally posted by mitchell_pgh:
I disagree with the MSN support. We shouldn't support Microsoft in their IM crusade...
I agree with ICQ considering it's the same company...

I am pretty sure you can already add icq users in ichat.

[h00ligan]

and finally, after reading this entire thread.


sidetrack like feature built in.

Give me a chance to scroll with my trackpad... and command click with a tap (not that i'd use that one)

[Proudest Monkey]

What i want is simple:

Customizable apple menu - it was great - i didn't know it until it was taking away from me.

Customizable Go menu - could be useful - i have no need for the Computer, Home (most of it sits in the sidebar), network, iDisk (especially if in the pref pane you don't have a .mac account, integration, huh? )

I�d prefer to customize the apple menu though � it�s always there � the Go menu is not.

Dock - i use cleardock - some of the features offered in there (placement on the screen, different colors), ability to remove the Finder from the dock, or at least make it functional. I have no need to hide the finder ever (unless I could hide everything including the icons), or allow me to put some shortcuts in the Finder icon if it must be there - maybe copy the Go menu/Apple menu and throw those shortcuts down there.

And THEMES! Why not?

[proton]

Originally posted by Link:
Finally a colored LS? Implementation of a system similar to fink

ls -G

- proton

[bzImage]

- The ability to change the mac (ethernet) address on the airport card !!!
- Support for xfs, ext3, jfs and other linux/unix filesystems
- Non destructive partitioning (ala partition magic or linux parted).
- Support for my ibook dual USB with 8mb video ram!!!!
- A faster and better terminal emulator program (have you tried: cd /; ls -lR ? the display its slooooowww).

i will be happy just with that.

[bzImage]

Originally posted by Link:
[B]What I'd like to see:

folder scheduling: routinely move files from X folder to Y folder (this would be handy for backups and organizing)

A simple shell script with cron its not enough ?

A global sound equalizer

Yes!!

Replacement of FTP with SFTP or at least the addition of SFTP

Sftp its already in OSX, its part of ssh ..

A "smart firewall" which when in training mode pops up a dialog asking if you'd like to open X port when that port is called but is blocked.

Smarter Internet sharing with WPA and many of the features found on good base stations... perhaps a box which shows connected users.

PORT MAPPING THROUGH INTERNET SHARING!! (highly requested)

Most of those things can be done via the terminal, ipfw, ipnat, etc.

Automatic backup to certain drives when plugged in (ala iPod style itunes thing)

Built in system monitoring for systems that can do it (temperature and power status / built in alarms for it IF enabled)

Simple Shell scripts can do that, no need to create a new version of the OS.

[JasonQG]

Originally posted by bzImage:
- The ability to change the mac (ethernet) address on the airport card !!!

I'm confused. You want the OS to natively support MAC address spoofing?

[Simon]

Originally posted by JasonQG:
Watch a clean XP machine boot and be amazed. I know, I know; OS X "never" needs to be rebooted, but obviously it does sometimes.

I hear this argument a lot and I think it's somewhat bogus.

Our XP machines here at the lab boot rather quickly, certainly true. But then I log in and the wait begins. Until I can really do something I wait for at least thirty seconds. This is with a default XP install, no special stuff.

My PowerBook will boot Panther in under 60 seconds. As soon I log in the Finder & Dock appear and I can start working. On XP I can't do this because XP's multitasking is rather poor.

So, I think a fair comparison would measure how long it takes the machine to boot and the user to start doing something. If you look at it that way the boot times are pretty similar.

However, if Apple manages, certainly nobody will mind shorter boot time.

Back OT:
- How about remote GUI login capabilities; basically built-in remote desktop a la X11?
- Any removable disk (FW, USB, etc.) should be able to contain a user's ~/ and be selected with a single click (people plug in their disk, the login panel automatically lets them login to the attached account; of course admins could turn this on and off globally or selectively)
- Decide if it's going to be Aqua or BM and this stick to it globally. Or at least give users the option which one to have
- An option to start X11 at boot time (not login time, but boot time!)
- Make Mail.app look, feel and work like the iTunes/Finder/etc.
- Make CCC an included utility
- Give the user control over the services menu
- Sheets should be enforced everywhere! The mix between sheets and dialogs is a PITA
- Build a competitor to VirtualPC that actually works efficiently (also on the G5!) and bundle it for an additional $29 (w/o XP license of course)
- AppleWorks is in dire need of a big fat mucho macho hell of a godhead update. AW should be for the Mac what OO.org is for Linux. It should read and write MS Word/Excel docs, be easy to use but also look good. Keynote was this for PowerPoint, now it's Excel and Word that need to be replaced. Why should Mac users fork over hundreds of $$$ to MS just to be able to stay compatible to office environments when they could fork over much less cash to Apple and get a better product?
- Speed up contextual menus in the Finder/Dock/etc.
- Any Mac should be able to get user accounts from any other Mac specified so that home networks with a couple of Macs can have one Mac hold all the family member's accounts and everybody only has one single ~/
- Virtual Desktops optional!

[Link]

I actually find that one funny but true.. one of the longest waits in XP is that delay between when your desktop shows up and when it's actually usable.

[dru]

*Post Deleted*

[sniffer]

I only reboot every 14th day, because of update patches or Deus Ex in OS 9, what's the deal talking about boot times?

[wadiuwant]

I just want Right-to-Left languages fully implemented.

[JLL]

Originally posted by eyadams:
This is untrue. 10.3 cut off support for machines without built-in USB (like the "Beige" G3), but several previous releases of both OS X and the Classic OS cut off machines.

Going from memory, one of the OS 7 releases cut off the "compact" Macs; OS 8 was the first PowerPC only release; OS 9 but was not recommended for the first generation of PowerPC machines (i.e. 6100), although it ran. The OS X Public Beta cut off NuBus machines; 10.0 didn't support machines without a G3 (though it could be coerced into running). Things have been pretty stable for 10.1 and 10.2, but then Apple hit us with the 10.3 cut off - although, again, you could run it on an appropriately upgraded Beige G3 via XPostFacto.

All that said, I would be surprised if Tiger cut off any machines. All the officially supported machines are "New World" machines, and the differences between the original iMac and the G4 iMac aren't as significant as the differences between the "Old World" machines and the original iMac.

Try and read the post I answered

The only Mac OS X upgrade dumping Macs was 10.3!!

[YangZone]

Herr Jobs is very innovative.... his unexploding wallet is an enormous incentive.

Amongst a slew of "new features" in Tiger there may be, say, two nice new have-to-have features... one that works with a G4 and another that requires G5... (He has to start selling those G5s somehow.)

Look how he pushed Expose to sell Panther... (shamelesss... it should have been $12- shareware).

[JLL]

Originally posted by Simon:

- Make CCC an included utility

Disk Utility -> Restore (which uses the built in asr feature).

[heavyboots]

Did anyone mention Pathfinder yet? If you're too impatient to wait for some screaming fast Apple Finder, it's a pretty good substitute. Also, for the people who want iTunes control in the Dock, you can get them in your menu bar with Synergy. Better yet, you can assign hot keys to play/pause, next, prev, +vol, -vol, etc. As for stability, each release has increased stability on every machine I've installed it on. More remarkably, each release has also increased the speed OS X runs at.

- Do something--anything--to bring fonts back under control! Some suggestions: Only allow the Chicago/Geneva/Monaco system-type fonts (or their equivalents) in the /System/Library/Fonts folder. All other fonts go in /Library/Fonts. Alias Classic to use these folders too. Have the OS run conflict resolution across all font folders whenever any of them change. Run a corruption check at boot time, log in, and during nightly maintenance. Trust nothing instead of trusting everything! I have a handle on the fonts on my machine and can get anyone's machine running in about 30 minutes, but whenever they try to add more fonts on their own I end up spending another 30 minutes to straighten things out again...
- More reliable networking would be nice too. The only consistent kernel panics I've gotten relate to difficulties copying files to an Appletalk or WebDAV network volume.
- Redo 10.3 Labels to match OS 9 Label behavior. Reordering them and locking the colors was a great idea that has resulted in much confusion amongst my users.
- On a similar note, disable Finder Moves (vs. Copies) or amplify the warning that you're doing a Move not a Copy. Many users at one time or another have discovered the hard way the continuing to hold down the command key while dragging a discontinuous selection has just deleted their files from the server.
- Polish & accelerate Java.
- Better X11 integration would be a nifty plus in 10.4.
- You can never say no to more speed either, of course.

[moonmonkey]

What I want.

Multiple desktops (workspaces) via expose
Proper Meta data in finder
Customizable widget colors
Stripes in list view
Folder/Hard drive/Trash icons updated
Login screen with time, number of running aps per user and number of unread mails displayed.
Multi session burning and disk duplication in finder
Minimized progress bars show percentage finished (and minimized windows auto update).
Smart folders (ie. iTunes smart playlist) in finder.
Cut in the Finder
Multiple undos and History function in finder.
Editable Text Clippings in the finder
Spoken User interface with decent voices
Blurring/image filtering in the OS (see balloon image)
Balloon notification/alert system or similar (See mockup image)

[Simon]

Originally posted by JLL:
Disk Utility -> Restore (which uses the built in asr feature).

Lacks lots of functionality. Restore to folder? Restore only partially? Remove caches? Abort button? Etc.

Additionally, it gives strange errors with no explanation like "-34". Great.

It may be a good start, but it's got a long way to go...

[ginoledesma]

I like the idea of unobtrusive message alerts, or should I say, notifications. Mac OS 8.x/9.x had these with the floating alerts (yellow-backdrop, small text).

I don't want to have icons in the dock bouncing all the time telling me "something has happened." If something has happened (and I'm doing something), I'd like the alert to float in the background, or in an area of the screen that doesn't distract too much. That way, I'm informed of the notification and can decide whether or not to act on it. The current "icon bouncing on the dock" can get rather annoying, especially if its a simple "can't load page" error in Safari.

Opera 7.5b1 has something like this, though its limited to open windows. When your downloads complete, a little floating status message appears on the lower left corner of the window, informing you that downloads have completed. That's something I'd like to see carried out throughout the system. Developers can use this widget to inform users of events that have happened without "requiring their attention" immediately.

[ginoledesma]

Originally posted by Simon:
Back OT:
- How about remote GUI login capabilities; basically built-in remote desktop a la X11?

Mac OS X 10.3 already has support for Apple Remote Desktop built-in. However, computers can only be remote controlled using the commercial ARD application.

A free solution is to use OSXVnc, though it only exports the current screen, meaning one user max. I'd like to see something like Terminal Server, though.

- Sheets should be enforced everywhere! The mix between sheets and dialogs is a PITA

I second the motion!!!

- Speed up contextual menus in the Finder/Dock/etc.

Speed it up everywhere. CMs in apps like Opera, Safari, Omniweb, etc, take sometime to display at first (sometimes causing the spinning beachball of death, or worse, an application crash).

[JamesKass]

Originally posted by moonmonkey:
I actually made two beautiful girls scream when I held the shift button down.
What other OS can do that?

With the windows machine at work, I often scream when I turn on the power button... does that count?

[moonmonkey]

double post.