7 ms·

Given that OSX has got to a fairly stable point, what would you want to see in a new version of OSX that would make you want to upgrade?

by iuguy 16y ago

aaront 16y ago
Maybe a UI overhaul. They've been teasing us for years with iTunes. Time to finally ditch Aqua. Maybe something MacRuby related? Maybe making it a first class language?
Corrado 16y ago
That's a good question. I'm guessing that UI tweaks will be the order of the day: - I remember when the Dock was a new idea; will there be a similar revelation in task management? - The "Spaces" feature could use some work to bring it up to par with similar functionality in Ubuntu. - Complete the transition to 64-bit for every single Apple sub-system|program. - Tighter integration/control of external stuff: AppleTV, Airport Express, etc.
- Timothee 16y ago
  - Tighter integration/control of external stuff: AppleTV, Airport Express, etc. Not that I have any hope of seeing this, but I would extend it to iPhones, iPad, etc. for things like sharing clipboards, using the computer's mic/audio to pick up the phone, direct access to the iPhone's camera from the desktop... basically make the relationship between the computers and devices more symbiotic.
jws 16y ago
Snow Leopard was all about the internals. UI changes were not a priority. Apple has presumably learned much from their iOS work that will inform their thinking about how people want to interact with a device. I don't think we'll see a touch-the-screen interface, but we might see an interface that is less file/application oriented and more task oriented. It won't be a replacement, but it might be a new direction. Oh, and some gradients and textures will be slightly different and 10,000 blogs posts will be written about that.
- jasonlotito 16y ago
  > Snow Leopard was all about the internals. God, they fubared that. I can't count the number of times my wife complained about Snow Leopard's constant WIFI problems. It's sad when my iPhone has better connectivity then her MBP.
  - noahc 16y ago
    I turn my WIFI on and off at lest 5 times a day.
    - jasonlotito 16y ago
      We need to get our iPad looked at, too. It constantly has problems, but my iPhone4 has no issues with local wifi connections. Between the iPad and the MBP, it's a crap shoot with connectivity. I also complain to my wife that she needs to stop going on and offline all the time. She doesn't appreciate that. =) Edit: For those that think no problem exists: http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/04/ipad-wifi/ http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/04/ipad-wifi/
      - jeffclark 16y ago
        Has it occurred to you that multiple devices having wifi issues could be your wifi setup?
        jasonlotito 16y ago
        Yes, and we've looked into that as well. We've tried multiple routers (we returned 2 prior to this one, thinking it was the routers at fault), and in each case the problem was always the same: iPad and MBP. Both of these have cases that can be searched for online, and lots of other people have these problems. For the MBP, it had something to do with Snow Leopard, as downgrading seems to help somewhat. For the iPad, their are other reports of it being a energy saving issue. We don't have issues with the iPhone 3GS, iPhone4, or the iMac when it's on the wireless. We also considered the location of the router, but both the iPad and MBP suffer the problem even if they are in the same room as the router. We also don't experience the problem on a netbook we have that runs both Linux and Win7. However, we don't use it that often, but it's never had the problem whenever we did use it. It could simply be a hardware issue, but as I said, we aren't the only ones having this problem.
matthewd 16y ago
my guess is a touch display on a new mac book pro line
- pohl 16y ago
  That's where I'd put my money, too. Several weeks ago I was sitting at my laptop and I wanted to scroll down on a web page I was reading. I instinctively wrapped my hand around the bottom-right corner of my monitor and brushed the screen with my thumb. A week later I was in an Apple store and a young kid walked up to an iMac and said "ooh, I bet this is a touch screen". It wasn't, of course, but it made me wonder if Apple hasn't been quietly training a generation of people to expect to be able to touch the screen. Maybe that's what the much-maligned glass displays has been about: user preparation for the inevitable day.
  - rimantas 16y ago
    Touch screen is perfect for iPad, makes no sense for laptops (at least in current form factor). Also, MacBooks have wonderful multitouch trackpads…
protomyth 16y ago
A working modern version of samba in the server version might be a nice touch
dtf 16y ago
OpenGL 4.0, like the rest of the world.
jasonlotito 16y ago
Fixing all the problems that OSX is still plagued with. On a daily basis. Here are problems I deal with that are Apple related, almost on a daily basis: * iChat and Bonjour. I cannot, for the life of me, get my iMac and my wife's MBP to chat, let alone do anything else iChat says it can do. I've not found a solution. I can occasionally see the MBP on my iMac, but I cannot do anything with it. * Make iLife make sense. Videos are stored in iPhoto, but need to be transfered to iTunes to send them to the AppleTV. But I need to create them in iMovie. iMovie is for editing movies. iPhoto is for editing pictures, but also organizing movies. Movies are also organized in iTunes. Also, plugging in a devices starts up iPhoto by default. Setting this up silently isn't easy to discover. * System Preferences. The best way to demonstrate the complete craziness of this is to explain that to disable the Remote Control, you need to go to the Security panel. I'm not even going to mention that fact that certain panels literally lie to you. No, that keyboard command you say I should use doesn't actually do what you say it does. * Window Management. Sure, their are programs you can install for this, but it should be something handled by Apple. * Fix Safari so I can log into their support pages. I'm mean, it's evil that I need to download Firefox so I can log into their support pages. Yes, I've cleared the cache in Safari, and cookies, etc. Apple does great on the polish, and their system sits on top of a solid foundation, but in between that, the meat, is lacking. Sure, OSX is stable, but it's still frustrating by default.
- jonknee 16y ago
  iLife and Safari are updated outside of system releases, so I wouldn't bet too heavily there. iChat will get an update though, surely with FaceTime support baked in.
  - jasonlotito 16y ago
    I know iLife and Safari are updated outside the OS, but they are still shipped with new Macs. They are apart of the system you get when you open the box and plug it in. And they add to the frustration. Essentially, I find it sad that my wife and I find it easier to email each other things rather than use something like iChat or file sharing. I can't count the number of times we're both online, but one can't see the other, or neither can see. The problem is the foundation is mostly fine. They really need to start working on making the system easy to use though. Their are a LOT of areas were the polish is gone, and all you're seeing are warts.
ary 16y ago
Two things. One is a possibility, and one is a dream. 1. The Finder is going to change. What is becomes I don't know, but I think the filesystem will be further downplayed as Apple tries to take its vision of user friendliness even further. This is the possibility. 2. Window management goes away. Imagine software that didn't need its UI sorted and resized. Personally I hate even thinking about where something should rest on a screen. Given that there are tons of legacy applications out there that use windows in a variety of ways I don't see this happening. This is the dream. -- Edit: Graphics drivers that are on par with Windows should probably be added to the "dream" category.
- Timothee 16y ago
  How would window management go away in a desktop OS? By having only fullscreen apps à la iOS/Android? I don't see that feasible or desirable. In a small format it works, but on a desktop I very often want to see multiple windows at the same time. (say, reading documentation with code, or multiple files open at once)
  - roc 16y ago
    A 10/GUI style horizontal window scroll is quite feasible with the new touch mouse and trackpad.
    - Timothee 16y ago
      Sure, but the 10/GUI is managing the windows though. It's a different way of doing window management, but that's still what is it. I'm curious to know if ary had something else in mind.
      - ary 16y ago
        I do. No window management. The recent praise full-screen applications got at the 10.7 sneak peek doesn't resonate with me, but perhaps it will with others. What I want are applications that intelligently manage screen real estate themselves. My thoughts on this are still somewhat unpolished, but what I'd really like to see is automatic management based on need and importance. Clear, standard notifications (and as few as possible), cooperation between apps when two or more run on the screen, and a clear way to navigate between them. All the while there would be no title bars or min/max/close buttons to be found. This isn't a call for more iOS in OS X (although it seems to be going that way) so much as it is a call to acknowledge the limitations of user ability and patience. It's something I think about a lot.
blehn 16y ago
- A new Finder. I want tabs (like TotalFinder) and two instances in the same window, so that drag+drop doesn't require multiple windows. Like this: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/12925/finder.png http://dl.dropbox.com/u/12925/finder.png Other than that, I'd like to see it continue to get faster. Booting, opening apps, etc.
- nfg 16y ago
  You probably realise this, but using spring-loaded folders Finder does allow you to navigate while dragging and dropping. See http://kb.iu.edu/data/aehp.html http://kb.iu.edu/data/aehp.html
- roc 16y ago
  > " two instances in the same window, so that drag+drop doesn't require multiple windows." Why wouldn't you just use copy/paste?
  - blehn 16y ago
    Well, then I'm left with two copies and I have to go back and delete one. If OSX had a cut/paste, that might work better. Even so, with the way Finder currently works, it's easy to have 10-15 Finder windows going at any moment, so cmd+` can be a pain.
    - roc 16y ago
      ... it doesn't have cut/paste?
      - Naga 16y ago
        The menus have cut, but I have never figured out how to use it.
      - SoftwareMaven 16y ago
        It has copy/paste for files, but you can't "cut" a file. This is a continual source of frustration for Windows power users who come to the side with cookies. My guess is Apple doesn't think "cutting" a file makes sense: you are actually moving the file or deleting the file. However, why it would suddenly make sense to "copy" but not actually have "copy" do anything is still confusing to me.
cletus 16y ago
I must admit, one thing I've become absolutely dependent on in Windows 7 is when you press Start you can do a quick lookup of the program you're after by typing a few characters. Sure OSX has the Finder and Spotlight but it's not quite as quick and convenient, in my experience. But my big request is this: implement the TRIM command in the OS to open up the SSD choices. This is long overdue.
- randallsquared 16y ago
  According to http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/apple/2010/07/01/mac-ssd-performance-trim-in-osx/7 http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/apple/2010/07/01/mac-ssd-pe... : "We started off this article making it intentionally limited in scope as we weren't expecting, in a OS that doesn't support TRIM, to find anything all that interesting. What we found was the exact opposite: an OS that doesn't appear to be affected by SSD performance degradation [...]"
  - pornel 16y ago
    They've only benchmarked 3 systems that don't support TRIM. That doesn't seem like a good way to prove that TRIM won't improve performance.
  - wmf 16y ago
    an OS that doesn't appear to be affected by SSD performance degradation That may be true, but there isn't enough information in that article to tell. I think their other theory — that the Samsung SSD is essentially pre-degraded — is more likely to be correct.
- pohl 16y ago
  "Two thumbs down." I'm not rating your comment or spotlight or the start button. Rather, that's my mnemonic for Command-Spacebar, which brings focus to the spotlight search field. I can launch Terminal in 5 keystrokes: CMD-Space t e ENTER. Is the Start button really significantly better?
  - slantyyz 16y ago
deleted 16y ago
[deleted]
philwelch 16y ago
When I select "restart" (edit: at least when installing system updates), the computer should save application state and reboot instead of every application asking me stupid questions like "are you REALLY sure you want to quit web browsing?". I want to select "restart", go to the kitchen, get my dinner, come back, and the computer be rebooted and my applications restored the way they were before. Also, the developer tools should include a good package manager instead of having to use Homebrew or Macports (both of which are flawed in various ways).
- naz 16y ago
  That's what sleep is for. The primary use of restart is resetting your computer's state, so it would be counter-intuitive to retain it.
  - philwelch 16y ago
    The primary use of restart is to install system updates. Having my applications' states reset only means I have to go in and restore their states by hand every time Apple decides to release a new version of Safari. I actually can't think of any time I've even used restart to reset my computer's state in the past couple of years.
    - naz 16y ago
      Why do you think the updates require a restart? To reset the computer's state. I think the problem to be solved is updates requiring a restart (which is unacceptable in this day and age)
      - philwelch 16y ago
        Yes, I have some idea of how computers work. And it would be fantastic if the OS could hot-load patches instead of needing a reboot. It would also be acceptable if Safari could just remember what tabs I had open and reopen them instead of asking me stupid questions when I run Software Update and then canceling restart when I don't answer.
adolph 16y ago
Facetime compatible iChat would be nice. More gestures for the magic trackpad. Improved Time machine (I want all to see all previous versions of a particular file, not row through a timeline of a directory.). Improved automation (Automator is still not natural enough, lots of clicky dragging.). Frameworks start to encourage 3rd party applications to continuously auto-save like iOS apps. Don't want to see but will probably see: Lots of "social" junk, like Ping for iWork or something that nobody will actually use.
- glitterfang 16y ago
  Facebook chat is actually available through Jabber. Its not obvious, though. http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20100211130853507 http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=2010021113085350...
  - vasi 16y ago
    Not faceBOOK, faceTIME.
pornel 16y ago
Rewrite Finder, again. It has stupid limitations — files in use, can't put item to trash while trash is emptied. Still has only read-only support for FTP, locks up with WebDav, can't browse ZIP, etc. Copying in Finder is much slower than with cp. On Samba drive it may need 10-20 seconds to replace 2kb file. It handles permission errors erratically (sometimes asks for permission, sometimes fails, sometimes asks and fails anyway). UI for permission change is weak. I could rant about Finder whole day.
- dolinsky 16y ago
  While I agree about Finder getting the shaft, have you checked out Pathfinder? http://www.cocoatech.com/ http://www.cocoatech.com/
  - moe 16y ago
    I'm not the same person but I did try it. For me it was quite a disappointment because one of my main beefs with finder is the atrocious performance even on modern hardware and especially when network mounts are involved. Sadly pathfinder turned out to be even slower! I don't need zillions of buttons and special "features". First and foremost I want a lean and fast view into my files, everything else is secondary. As much as I hate windows; up to this day the windows explorer remains the most bearable graphical file browser that I have used.
- slantyyz 16y ago
  The only good thing about the Finder is the column view. Otherwise I find myself missing Windows Explorer, circa Windows 2K when using the Finder.
brownleej 16y ago
I would love to see them release a Mac App Store. Of course, if they made it the only way to get new programs on a Mac, I would never upgrade, but I think providing a central market-place for software could be a very useful thing for a lot of users. Also, as a developer, I would love for there to be a way to sell apps that gives me the ability to reach a wide market, and also keeps me from having to run my own DRM system, or even my own payment system. The iOS app store is far from a perfect system, but I think this would still be a net win for developers. I think it would especially be good for iOS developers who need to have a traditional PC counterpart to their mobile app. Of course, my pipe dream would be if they would release a Windows app store at the same time, with as little friction as possible for releasing apps on both platforms. I doubt that Apple would do that, but who knows.
pornel 16y ago
Proper filesystem-level encryption would be nice. File Vault is a poor hack. Needs logout to free disk space. You can't sudo into file-vaulted account. It makes Time Machine nearly useless: you can only restore entire home directory at once. It won't backup anything in home while you're logged in.
mcella 16y ago
Just one thing: bring back the leopard exposè! I installed snow leopard and reverted back to leopard just after 3 hours as I couldn't stand the new (non proportional) exposè. Yes, I'm exposè addicted...
mortenjorck 16y ago
It's time to break up iTunes. Like a bank that has become too big to fail, iTunes has become this massive hub that manages everything from audio and video syncing to mobile file and app management. Mobile device interaction not relating to multimedia needs to be offloaded to a renovated iSync, or better yet, Finder needs to be updated to integrate the iOS anti-filesystem. Photos, apps, app files -- all hierarchically listed with MacFUSE-like simplicity, but probably with a more context-appropriate UI than the standard Finder view.
- djacobs 16y ago
  I like the idea of Finder handling multiple types of filesystems. Seems like an elegant solution to this problem to me -- move device management out of applications and into the operating system, where that should be. The elegance of that solution seems too much for Apple to ignore. I wonder if this could prompt Apple to adopt Fuse as a means of filesystem abstraction in Finder?
pkaler 16y ago
Syncing. Syncing should be pulled out of iTunes and made a core feature of the operating system. Support for over-the-air syncing of devices. DLNA. I use MediaLink to stream from my MacBook Pro to the Sony PS3. My USB scanner doesn't work when plugged into the Airport Extreme. Basically, everything related to syncing, sharing, streaming, and networking in general should be improved. The future of the Mac is connecting to the iPhone, iPad, AppleTV, MobileMe, and other devices.

Given that OSX has got to a fairly stable point, what would you want to see in a new version of OSX that would make you want to upgrade?

by iuguy 16y ago

Given that OSX has got to a fairly stable point, what would you want to see in a new version of OSX that would make you want to upgrade?

aaront 16y ago

Maybe a UI overhaul. They've been teasing us for years with iTunes. Time to finally ditch Aqua. Maybe something MacRuby related? Maybe making it a first class language?

Corrado 16y ago

That's a good question. I'm guessing that UI tweaks will be the order of the day: - I remember when the Dock was a new idea; will there be a similar revelation in task management? - The "Spaces" feature could use some work to bring it up to par with similar functionality in Ubuntu. - Complete the transition to 64-bit for every single Apple sub-system|program. - Tighter integration/control of external stuff: AppleTV, Airport Express, etc.

Timothee 16y ago
- Tighter integration/control of external stuff: AppleTV, Airport Express, etc. Not that I have any hope of seeing this, but I would extend it to iPhones, iPad, etc. for things like sharing clipboards, using the computer's mic/audio to pick up the phone, direct access to the iPhone's camera from the desktop... basically make the relationship between the computers and devices more symbiotic.

jws 16y ago

Snow Leopard was all about the internals. UI changes were not a priority. Apple has presumably learned much from their iOS work that will inform their thinking about how people want to interact with a device. I don't think we'll see a touch-the-screen interface, but we might see an interface that is less file/application oriented and more task oriented. It won't be a replacement, but it might be a new direction. Oh, and some gradients and textures will be slightly different and 10,000 blogs posts will be written about that.

jasonlotito 16y ago
> Snow Leopard was all about the internals. God, they fubared that. I can't count the number of times my wife complained about Snow Leopard's constant WIFI problems. It's sad when my iPhone has better connectivity then her MBP.
- noahc 16y ago
  I turn my WIFI on and off at lest 5 times a day.
  - jasonlotito 16y ago
    We need to get our iPad looked at, too. It constantly has problems, but my iPhone4 has no issues with local wifi connections. Between the iPad and the MBP, it's a crap shoot with connectivity. I also complain to my wife that she needs to stop going on and offline all the time. She doesn't appreciate that. =) Edit: For those that think no problem exists: http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/04/ipad-wifi/ http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/04/ipad-wifi/
    - jeffclark 16y ago
      Has it occurred to you that multiple devices having wifi issues could be your wifi setup?
      - jasonlotito 16y ago
        Yes, and we've looked into that as well. We've tried multiple routers (we returned 2 prior to this one, thinking it was the routers at fault), and in each case the problem was always the same: iPad and MBP. Both of these have cases that can be searched for online, and lots of other people have these problems. For the MBP, it had something to do with Snow Leopard, as downgrading seems to help somewhat. For the iPad, their are other reports of it being a energy saving issue. We don't have issues with the iPhone 3GS, iPhone4, or the iMac when it's on the wireless. We also considered the location of the router, but both the iPad and MBP suffer the problem even if they are in the same room as the router. We also don't experience the problem on a netbook we have that runs both Linux and Win7. However, we don't use it that often, but it's never had the problem whenever we did use it. It could simply be a hardware issue, but as I said, we aren't the only ones having this problem.

matthewd 16y ago

my guess is a touch display on a new mac book pro line

pohl 16y ago
That's where I'd put my money, too. Several weeks ago I was sitting at my laptop and I wanted to scroll down on a web page I was reading. I instinctively wrapped my hand around the bottom-right corner of my monitor and brushed the screen with my thumb. A week later I was in an Apple store and a young kid walked up to an iMac and said "ooh, I bet this is a touch screen". It wasn't, of course, but it made me wonder if Apple hasn't been quietly training a generation of people to expect to be able to touch the screen. Maybe that's what the much-maligned glass displays has been about: user preparation for the inevitable day.
- rimantas 16y ago
  Touch screen is perfect for iPad, makes no sense for laptops (at least in current form factor). Also, MacBooks have wonderful multitouch trackpads…

protomyth 16y ago

A working modern version of samba in the server version might be a nice touch

dtf 16y ago

OpenGL 4.0, like the rest of the world.

jasonlotito 16y ago

Fixing all the problems that OSX is still plagued with. On a daily basis. Here are problems I deal with that are Apple related, almost on a daily basis: * iChat and Bonjour. I cannot, for the life of me, get my iMac and my wife's MBP to chat, let alone do anything else iChat says it can do. I've not found a solution. I can occasionally see the MBP on my iMac, but I cannot do anything with it. * Make iLife make sense. Videos are stored in iPhoto, but need to be transfered to iTunes to send them to the AppleTV. But I need to create them in iMovie. iMovie is for editing movies. iPhoto is for editing pictures, but also organizing movies. Movies are also organized in iTunes. Also, plugging in a devices starts up iPhoto by default. Setting this up silently isn't easy to discover. * System Preferences. The best way to demonstrate the complete craziness of this is to explain that to disable the Remote Control, you need to go to the Security panel. I'm not even going to mention that fact that certain panels literally lie to you. No, that keyboard command you say I should use doesn't actually do what you say it does. * Window Management. Sure, their are programs you can install for this, but it should be something handled by Apple. * Fix Safari so I can log into their support pages. I'm mean, it's evil that I need to download Firefox so I can log into their support pages. Yes, I've cleared the cache in Safari, and cookies, etc. Apple does great on the polish, and their system sits on top of a solid foundation, but in between that, the meat, is lacking. Sure, OSX is stable, but it's still frustrating by default.

jonknee 16y ago
iLife and Safari are updated outside of system releases, so I wouldn't bet too heavily there. iChat will get an update though, surely with FaceTime support baked in.
- jasonlotito 16y ago
  I know iLife and Safari are updated outside the OS, but they are still shipped with new Macs. They are apart of the system you get when you open the box and plug it in. And they add to the frustration. Essentially, I find it sad that my wife and I find it easier to email each other things rather than use something like iChat or file sharing. I can't count the number of times we're both online, but one can't see the other, or neither can see. The problem is the foundation is mostly fine. They really need to start working on making the system easy to use though. Their are a LOT of areas were the polish is gone, and all you're seeing are warts.

ary 16y ago

Two things. One is a possibility, and one is a dream. 1. The Finder is going to change. What is becomes I don't know, but I think the filesystem will be further downplayed as Apple tries to take its vision of user friendliness even further. This is the possibility. 2. Window management goes away. Imagine software that didn't need its UI sorted and resized. Personally I hate even thinking about where something should rest on a screen. Given that there are tons of legacy applications out there that use windows in a variety of ways I don't see this happening. This is the dream. -- Edit: Graphics drivers that are on par with Windows should probably be added to the "dream" category.

Timothee 16y ago
How would window management go away in a desktop OS? By having only fullscreen apps à la iOS/Android? I don't see that feasible or desirable. In a small format it works, but on a desktop I very often want to see multiple windows at the same time. (say, reading documentation with code, or multiple files open at once)
- roc 16y ago
  A 10/GUI style horizontal window scroll is quite feasible with the new touch mouse and trackpad.
  - Timothee 16y ago
    Sure, but the 10/GUI is managing the windows though. It's a different way of doing window management, but that's still what is it. I'm curious to know if ary had something else in mind.
    - ary 16y ago
      I do. No window management. The recent praise full-screen applications got at the 10.7 sneak peek doesn't resonate with me, but perhaps it will with others. What I want are applications that intelligently manage screen real estate themselves. My thoughts on this are still somewhat unpolished, but what I'd really like to see is automatic management based on need and importance. Clear, standard notifications (and as few as possible), cooperation between apps when two or more run on the screen, and a clear way to navigate between them. All the while there would be no title bars or min/max/close buttons to be found. This isn't a call for more iOS in OS X (although it seems to be going that way) so much as it is a call to acknowledge the limitations of user ability and patience. It's something I think about a lot.

blehn 16y ago

- A new Finder. I want tabs (like TotalFinder) and two instances in the same window, so that drag+drop doesn't require multiple windows. Like this: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/12925/finder.png http://dl.dropbox.com/u/12925/finder.png Other than that, I'd like to see it continue to get faster. Booting, opening apps, etc.

nfg 16y ago
You probably realise this, but using spring-loaded folders Finder does allow you to navigate while dragging and dropping. See http://kb.iu.edu/data/aehp.html http://kb.iu.edu/data/aehp.html
roc 16y ago
> " two instances in the same window, so that drag+drop doesn't require multiple windows." Why wouldn't you just use copy/paste?
- blehn 16y ago
  Well, then I'm left with two copies and I have to go back and delete one. If OSX had a cut/paste, that might work better. Even so, with the way Finder currently works, it's easy to have 10-15 Finder windows going at any moment, so cmd+` can be a pain.
  - roc 16y ago
    ... it doesn't have cut/paste?
    - Naga 16y ago
      The menus have cut, but I have never figured out how to use it.
    - SoftwareMaven 16y ago
      It has copy/paste for files, but you can't "cut" a file. This is a continual source of frustration for Windows power users who come to the side with cookies. My guess is Apple doesn't think "cutting" a file makes sense: you are actually moving the file or deleting the file. However, why it would suddenly make sense to "copy" but not actually have "copy" do anything is still confusing to me.

cletus 16y ago

I must admit, one thing I've become absolutely dependent on in Windows 7 is when you press Start you can do a quick lookup of the program you're after by typing a few characters. Sure OSX has the Finder and Spotlight but it's not quite as quick and convenient, in my experience. But my big request is this: implement the TRIM command in the OS to open up the SSD choices. This is long overdue.

randallsquared 16y ago
According to http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/apple/2010/07/01/mac-ssd-performance-trim-in-osx/7 http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/apple/2010/07/01/mac-ssd-pe... : "We started off this article making it intentionally limited in scope as we weren't expecting, in a OS that doesn't support TRIM, to find anything all that interesting. What we found was the exact opposite: an OS that doesn't appear to be affected by SSD performance degradation [...]"
- pornel 16y ago
  They've only benchmarked 3 systems that don't support TRIM. That doesn't seem like a good way to prove that TRIM won't improve performance.
- wmf 16y ago
  an OS that doesn't appear to be affected by SSD performance degradation That may be true, but there isn't enough information in that article to tell. I think their other theory — that the Samsung SSD is essentially pre-degraded — is more likely to be correct.
pohl 16y ago
"Two thumbs down." I'm not rating your comment or spotlight or the start button. Rather, that's my mnemonic for Command-Spacebar, which brings focus to the spotlight search field. I can launch Terminal in 5 keystrokes: CMD-Space t e ENTER. Is the Start button really significantly better?
- slantyyz 16y ago

deleted 16y ago

[deleted]

philwelch 16y ago

When I select "restart" (edit: at least when installing system updates), the computer should save application state and reboot instead of every application asking me stupid questions like "are you REALLY sure you want to quit web browsing?". I want to select "restart", go to the kitchen, get my dinner, come back, and the computer be rebooted and my applications restored the way they were before. Also, the developer tools should include a good package manager instead of having to use Homebrew or Macports (both of which are flawed in various ways).

naz 16y ago
That's what sleep is for. The primary use of restart is resetting your computer's state, so it would be counter-intuitive to retain it.
- philwelch 16y ago
  The primary use of restart is to install system updates. Having my applications' states reset only means I have to go in and restore their states by hand every time Apple decides to release a new version of Safari. I actually can't think of any time I've even used restart to reset my computer's state in the past couple of years.
  - naz 16y ago
    Why do you think the updates require a restart? To reset the computer's state. I think the problem to be solved is updates requiring a restart (which is unacceptable in this day and age)
    - philwelch 16y ago
      Yes, I have some idea of how computers work. And it would be fantastic if the OS could hot-load patches instead of needing a reboot. It would also be acceptable if Safari could just remember what tabs I had open and reopen them instead of asking me stupid questions when I run Software Update and then canceling restart when I don't answer.

adolph 16y ago

Facetime compatible iChat would be nice. More gestures for the magic trackpad. Improved Time machine (I want all to see all previous versions of a particular file, not row through a timeline of a directory.). Improved automation (Automator is still not natural enough, lots of clicky dragging.). Frameworks start to encourage 3rd party applications to continuously auto-save like iOS apps. Don't want to see but will probably see: Lots of "social" junk, like Ping for iWork or something that nobody will actually use.

glitterfang 16y ago
Facebook chat is actually available through Jabber. Its not obvious, though. http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20100211130853507 http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=2010021113085350...
- vasi 16y ago
  Not faceBOOK, faceTIME.

pornel 16y ago

Rewrite Finder, again. It has stupid limitations — files in use, can't put item to trash while trash is emptied. Still has only read-only support for FTP, locks up with WebDav, can't browse ZIP, etc. Copying in Finder is much slower than with cp. On Samba drive it may need 10-20 seconds to replace 2kb file. It handles permission errors erratically (sometimes asks for permission, sometimes fails, sometimes asks and fails anyway). UI for permission change is weak. I could rant about Finder whole day.

dolinsky 16y ago
While I agree about Finder getting the shaft, have you checked out Pathfinder? http://www.cocoatech.com/ http://www.cocoatech.com/
- moe 16y ago
  I'm not the same person but I did try it. For me it was quite a disappointment because one of my main beefs with finder is the atrocious performance even on modern hardware and especially when network mounts are involved. Sadly pathfinder turned out to be even slower! I don't need zillions of buttons and special "features". First and foremost I want a lean and fast view into my files, everything else is secondary. As much as I hate windows; up to this day the windows explorer remains the most bearable graphical file browser that I have used.
slantyyz 16y ago
The only good thing about the Finder is the column view. Otherwise I find myself missing Windows Explorer, circa Windows 2K when using the Finder.

brownleej 16y ago

I would love to see them release a Mac App Store. Of course, if they made it the only way to get new programs on a Mac, I would never upgrade, but I think providing a central market-place for software could be a very useful thing for a lot of users. Also, as a developer, I would love for there to be a way to sell apps that gives me the ability to reach a wide market, and also keeps me from having to run my own DRM system, or even my own payment system. The iOS app store is far from a perfect system, but I think this would still be a net win for developers. I think it would especially be good for iOS developers who need to have a traditional PC counterpart to their mobile app. Of course, my pipe dream would be if they would release a Windows app store at the same time, with as little friction as possible for releasing apps on both platforms. I doubt that Apple would do that, but who knows.

pornel 16y ago

Proper filesystem-level encryption would be nice. File Vault is a poor hack. Needs logout to free disk space. You can't sudo into file-vaulted account. It makes Time Machine nearly useless: you can only restore entire home directory at once. It won't backup anything in home while you're logged in.

mcella 16y ago

Just one thing: bring back the leopard exposè! I installed snow leopard and reverted back to leopard just after 3 hours as I couldn't stand the new (non proportional) exposè. Yes, I'm exposè addicted...

mortenjorck 16y ago

It's time to break up iTunes. Like a bank that has become too big to fail, iTunes has become this massive hub that manages everything from audio and video syncing to mobile file and app management. Mobile device interaction not relating to multimedia needs to be offloaded to a renovated iSync, or better yet, Finder needs to be updated to integrate the iOS anti-filesystem. Photos, apps, app files -- all hierarchically listed with MacFUSE-like simplicity, but probably with a more context-appropriate UI than the standard Finder view.

djacobs 16y ago
I like the idea of Finder handling multiple types of filesystems. Seems like an elegant solution to this problem to me -- move device management out of applications and into the operating system, where that should be. The elegance of that solution seems too much for Apple to ignore. I wonder if this could prompt Apple to adopt Fuse as a means of filesystem abstraction in Finder?

pkaler 16y ago

Syncing. Syncing should be pulled out of iTunes and made a core feature of the operating system. Support for over-the-air syncing of devices. DLNA. I use MediaLink to stream from my MacBook Pro to the Sony PS3. My USB scanner doesn't work when plugged into the Airport Extreme. Basically, everything related to syncing, sharing, streaming, and networking in general should be improved. The future of the Mac is connecting to the iPhone, iPad, AppleTV, MobileMe, and other devices.