“In this feature, we explore the ten things we think Apple could do to OS X that would make it a better operating system as we – presumably – move towards the 11th version of Mac OS,” Craig Grannell writes via TechRadar.
“However, some of these enhancements could, of course, appear in OS X 10.9 and so this feature could equally be called OS X 10.9: what we’d like to see,” Grannell writes. “We’ve included changes to existing features, entirely new ideas and the return of some old favourites, plus the opinions of two interface experts.”
Top 10 most-wanted features for OS XI:
• Make a better Finder: The heart of OS X’s interface is in dire need of a makeover
• Dismantle iTunes: It’s time for this Jack of all trades to be master of some
• Revamp the desktop: Why not make the desktop more like a real desktop
• Add more color
• Enhance Spotlight
• Enhance full-screen mode: You’ve given it to us, now make it work properly
• Give us a media center: Bring back Front Row – or preferably something better
• Revert to ‘Save As’
• Improve sound controls
• WindowShade
Read more in the full article here.
A proper option to turn off/on the built-in display when connected to an external screen would be nice.
1 for Save As. I miss it. I’d also like to print Finder windows. Not often, but in the past it was convenient when you needed it.
Ummmm…lets see, take a screen shot of the Finder then print. Been using a Mac long ?
Have you? I know how to do screen shots. I use them all the time in my work. But thank you for treating me like an idiot. I appreciate it.
If you used macs before OS X, you would know what I’m talking about.
Manco, not cool!!!
By the way, I started using Apple computers in 1982.
Who cares if you have? You still got smacked!
sorry, my comment was meant for Manco. I misread and thought he had responded to your comment
Not the same thing as printing out a list of what’s in Finder window or having a text file of it. You’d have to OCR a graphics snapshot of a text file. Not nearly as convenient as the functionality of what was in the classic Mac OS.
Thanks, Peterblood. Another difference is that printing the finder window did not limit you to the visible area. File names that were not on the screen were still included.
I needed to do that a while ago, so I wrote a little action script that does: select all, copy, open TextEdit, paste, print, and close TexEdit without saving. A bit kludgey, but it worked. It was convenient when the Finder handled it in one swell foop.
There is always the command line which provides an extraordinarily rich environment with with to produce all sorts of directory listings.
Save As is still there, you just have to hold down the “Option” key to see it in the File menu — Duplicate becomes Save As.
There is a keyboard shortcut too…
Duplicate = Shift+Command+S
Save As = Option+Shift+Command+S
Enjoy!
…and shouldn’t it be “Top X Features”?
Seems like this is a request to make the OS more Windows-like in some areas – and I can never understand why people have a gripe with iTunes, which to me is one of the most user-friendly and best all-in-one pieces of software ever written.
I like iTunes too, but that may be because I’ve been using it since version 1.0 (which was a Mac OS 9 app!). So I understand how it has evolved over time, and learned to use its many features one at a time, as they were added. Someone using it for the first time today may be confused and intimidated.
Apple should rethink the Menu Bar as part of the GUI. If it is kept, it needs to be “scaleable” (like the Dock and other elements of the Mac’s OS) so that it is not a fixed size dependent on the overall screen resolution setting. That should be #1 on the list.
And it may be a good move to remove it from the interface. Most apps today, including iTunes, already have the most commonly used controls on the app’s window. As the screen gets larger (higher resolution), it become progressively more inconvenient to move the cursor to the upper edge of the screen to do something, then move it back to what you are doing. The contextual menu (“right click”) can already be used in place of the Menu Bar in many situations, as long as the developer codes for it. The NeXT OS did not have a Menu Bar.
Perhaps the best “compromise” would be to make it scaleable and then hide it (or have a user preferences setting to hide it like for the Dock). It should act somewhat like the Menu Bar already does in full screen app mode. When you move your cursor to the upper edge of the screen, it unhides. Otherwise, it’s out of the way, to give the user a bit more space.
How menus are handled is one of the fundamental differences between any Mac OS and Windows.
That does not mean Apple should not make this change. I’m NOT saying put the Menu Bar on each window, like in Windows. Get rid of it; Apple can invent a NEW way that handles the current functionality of the Menu Bar, which is becoming less and less important over time.
Or they can keep the Menu Bar, but get it out of the way most of the time. On smaller screens (such as the 11.6-inch MacBook Air), the Menu Bar and Dock takes up a significant percentage of the screen. There is an option to hide the Dock. There should be an option to hide the Menu Bar (which already happens in full screen app mode).
When you dig a little deeper, 90% of the time when someone complains about iTunes, they are using the Windows version.
I think iTunes is fine, and I also don’t want to see anything too weird with the desktop. I prefer mine to be empty, clutter would just distract me and those features would probably not be used for that reason.
I agree. iTunes is fine and NOT part of the OS anyhow. I find the desktop useless and is usually covered with windows. The dock and info and the left side of windows replaced the desktop for me. The desktop is just another folder.
I really like the suggestion above about printing out the contents of Finder windows/folders.
If these are all the issues, OSX seems pretty perfect. Compared to Windows, it truly is. But the finder really needs a big makeover. All the alternative finder apps have big issues, so Apple should try to make it better themselves.
How? Suggestions please.
Fix Safari! Don’t wait till 10.9 or 11. Fix it now. It’s slow and buggy and, did I mention, slooooooow. I thought perhaps it was my aged late 2009 iMac so I got a new i7 Mac mini with a Fusion Drive. Nope. It’s Safari. I’ve tried everything suggested in the forums to get it working at an acceptable speed with no joy. Now I’m using Chrome. I miss a lot of the features in Safari–reader, sharing integration, etc–but it’s just not usable in it’s present form. FIX SAFARI!
Also if they could update it for users of snow leopard … 🙁
Yes I hate the fact in Mountain Lion you can’t change the font in Safari with the default being less readable than others. Why do we seem to always be taking a step back in basic features? I loved Windowshade and the only wy to get that functionality back is from a software developer who takes his sweet time to update it because Applw makes it harder to upgrade.
I’ve got an SSD and I have no problems
One feature of Mac OS 6 or 7, that missing now that Mountain Lion opens all an app’s windows on launch, is “Puf Away”
I believe Puf Away is now legal in Colorado.
Uh . . . what was that, dude?
http://m.denverpost.com/denverpost/pm_119194/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=eMWJP5tW
But … Muffin the Mule is still illegal.
Haha, I crack myself up sometimes.
My list would be:
1. Bring back rosetta (even if it costs a bit more) – I think the addition of rosetta would finally allow for most users to not have a drawback from upgrading and would unit the users running the same OS more
2. Bring back the color icons in finder and itunes – can’t stand the grey look, i know there are hacks but its more work than needed
3. Take away all the transitions between applications – or at least have a button to turn them off
4. Allow power nap for all macs – I truly don’t see a reason not too especially for desktops since they don’t relie on batties
5. Include some preloaded fun stuff – macs use to come with some preloaded games and music
btw I also don’t have anything wrong with itunes so it can stay the way it is, especially after v. 11 of it.
I think we should have the option to turn the colour icons to grey if we want. Personally, I find the clouts to distracting and would prefer everything goes to grey except working windows. But that would drive some people I sane I suppose.
Yes, the loss of Rosetta is what’s keeping me and many others from upgrading. That and the restoration of Save As would be quite awesome.
What 6+ year-old PowerPC software are you guys still using that you can’t replace with something more modern?
Here we go again, a wish list of features that Apple should add to its products. If OS X 10.9 or XI comes out without these new suggested features, you’ve just set yourself up (again) for one hell of a disappointment. Apple stock will fall. OS X-gate will begin. Craig Federighi would be hung, drawn and quartered. And Tim Cook would be blamed for allowing it all to happen in the first place. Tacking on this failure with all the other recent “failures” such as the Maps fiasco, etc. and over a year now sans SJ, it’s all downhill from here for Apple, I’m afraid. What makes you think that Apple has not already considered all or many of these features? Why don’t you send all these suggestions to Apple directly instead of complaining about them? Apple can’t please everybody. It tries to make great products for people… not add the ability for a user to be able to tweak the system all to hell (like PC). Those not in the PC camp just want a computer that’s simple and just works. If you don’t like the OS because of the “lack of feature” then go elsewhere.
I want them to fix the multiple accounts problem in iCloud/AppleStore/iTunes. It’s becoming a gigantic pain.
I second this. Those of us who have accounts from the original iTunes from before .mac have two accounts: one that is just our user name, and one that includes @ (mac.com, or me.com, or iCloud.com). Some of my stuff is authorized through one account, and some is authorized through the other. Why can’t they merge these?
The multiple accounts–how long must we wait for a fix? But I also want window shade, not just as it used to be, but with all the additions that were made by Unsanity, who simply don’t keep it up. As an editor and film maker, the window shading is such an advantage. Minimize to dock is a pain.
While we are improving: I NEED the ability to merge apple IDs, dammit! What is the problem ? Why is Apple deaf on this ear? This is so disappointing !
Latest version of OpenGL and high performance graphics drivers (that rivals those of Windows)
Improvements to the server version of the OS.
Native NTFS write capabilities
More innovation in mobile device interaction. E.g to use your iPad as a second display or controller
Online storage for iCloud. Send others large files etc.
Better window handling. Move windows to the second screen with a gesture. Close/maximize/cascade windows using gestures.
More power to the keyboard.
Nice list. Actually useful stuff for the average user and pro user.
1. full-screen SOMETIMES can be very useful, but right now it is confusing and at times obtrusive. One notable exception: kis’ games
2. re-opening app windows should be opt-in, not opt-out. More often than not, it is a nuisance, and can be unpleasant privacy-wise, not to mention startup-time-wise.
3. iCal should regain parity with the -much- nicer iPad version. Right now it is buggy and desparately needs updting.
4. I don’t particularly care for the leather look, as long as it isn’t too obvious, as in iCal. In Pages it is really annoying: makes a decent app look like a toy.
5. Lion on a late 2006 Intel iMac, not in itself a slow machine, at times has become dog slow, reminiscent of Performa 5200’s. Reason: 2GB no longer seems enough.
6. Games available on the app store should follow GUI guidelines. e.g., Cmd-., cmd-z, cmd-q, should be supported. Multilanguage support should be encouraged, especially for children’s games. Some game GUIs nowadays are worse than Windows & Android, and lack consistance. The use of Flash should be a no-no!
4.
7. Placing images in Pages is a pain, both placement modes should work better: absolute doesnt work well near the end of the document, and the tex- anchored mode is confusing: advanced options should be avaioable and visible.
8. iTunes should be split up in its constituent parts, or at least some of the parts should be runnable stand-alone, and the sub-app name should show in the menu bar. How confusing is it to have a separate Mac AppStore app, but no separate iOS AppStore App. More symmetry please.
9. Searching in iTunes and App Stores should improve A LOT. even if one knows an app exists, it can still be hard to find it.
Here we go again. Trying to make it appear as if there is list of things OSX NEEDS to fix. All the items on that list are dodgy at best. A
MEDIA CENTRE???? Really? A desktop that looks like a desktop???? After all the skewo……squeo…skueo…(you know what I mean) pulava we had last week?
“Make the desktop more like a real desktop” What does that even mean? Do you want a pencil cup? Or a Newton’s Cradle? A lamp?
“Revert to Save As” No. Save as is an old function. The new Duplicate/Save has people kicking and screaming but it is the newer, better way. It makes more sense and functions more appropriately with iCloud.
Mostly, these changes would never be OS 11 or XI or whatever… at best it would be 10.9 if they were to do any of it.
My #1: Give the classic desktop trashcan back.
Separate iTunes in logical parts. iTunes Store, musicplayer, iSyncronize,…
Quicktime X: More Pro export features.
Re-design all “leather apps”.
Generally more Pro-development, less playground.
Bring facetime into iMessage. Gateway to Skype.
Get appstore out of finder.
Give developers free code sign certificate!
iOS:
Let us write/backup data onto flash drive.
Separate functions in iTunes but combine FaceTime into iMessage……hmmm… Let me think….
Ok a bit curious, but: My thought about FaceTime was, that we have a lot of different apps for the one only usage:
Have audio-video-chat, using one addressbook.
Why not one only GUI.
Itunes is different: We have one app for a lot of different usages.
Shoppin, playing, syncing.
I would appreciate a only Audio-player, only Video-player (quicktime), only device-sync, only appstore-app. Not all in one. For discussion…
Just give me tabbed finder windows to reduce window clutter and I’ll be happy.
Finder needs a dual windows panel option. it also needs move option or cut and paste as moving and sorting files is a slow.
Bring back FTP inside sharing why did they remove it anyone know? Ok how about some native playback of a simple Avi file or mkv and of course certain cannon video camera formats for those who use hddvd video. Have to use vlc for all these.
Some more support or updates for snow leopard or safari would be nice. The sever osx needs a revamp from what I’ve read it’s less configurable than ever now.
iMessage is getting better, Siri is evolving maps will improve with time. Although I have grown to accept iTunes don’t make it all girly like what they’ve done with the iPhone version it’s slower even on my 4s that’s not improvements latency is the worst kind of bad. And anyone who as ever tried iTunes in windows.. That’s a funny ordeal.
Option to restore to your previous os instead if just mountain lion if you want as it may be just a little slow on some dual cores with two gig of ram.
With regard colours or no colours again a simple toggle switch for on or off would be neat. Spotlight is faster than search on any windows machine but still needs a bit of something few tweaks.
Desktop is a no brainier it’s always really been a place to throw some crap or have your recent files handy.i use it constantly for accessing my shared drives. Time machine options could be well improved and a drop box feature would be nice accessed from the net.
Safari I have noticed recently has been slow I figured it was from scripts or SQL errors on the site I was on but reading on this forum I’m not the only one.
Seems like a good community even if the updates are all mundane and repetitive. For those who read this and point out all the bad grammar & spelling, find something else to do and keep the community spirit going. Peace
Make fullscreen mode work with multiple monitors
1. OS is not apps… like iTunes, Front Row…
2. More colors? Buy a Windows.
3. Desktop, Mission Control, Dashboard, Spaces = useless.
4. iTunes UI always shows the future OS X design… but where’s the iTunes 11?
5. More security, no more folders, no more files (like iOS).
6. No more colors.
7. OSX 10.9 Black Lion (cool name)
8. No need for Notes, Messages, Game Center, Calendar, Photo Booth, FaceTime, Contacts…. these are iOS apps… OSX need just a few.
9. No more Facebook and Twitter, please… they are the next Google.
10. iTunes was a Windows gateway to sell iOS devices and content… now Post PC era, no PC is needed.
11. I don’t want to use a Mac to upload or delete stuff from iTunes Match.
12. No more Chess.
13. Notification Center is cool, Dictation too. Launchpad from gestures not the dummy icon fine.
14. More iCloud Storage 100 GB.
15. A better way to handle windows.
16. Less keyboard shortcuts… more gestures driven.
17. Kill Finder.
18. No more OSX fot Intel. no more Windows supported.
19. A surprise from Apple.
20. Thanks
I mean:
OSX = A Light OS just for web and iCloud (very simple and no apps) but powerful for pro apps. (Maybe still Intel) Bring QT pro back. These stuff.
iOS = For all the rest. OSX UI has no future, waste of time. Everybody have an iPad. OSX = 1% or use it for companies and servers
Fully Restore Save AS
Set default save location to something different than iCloud.
Give the ability to turn off auto terminate.
As my clients remind me – When the application automatically terminates without user permission, it is the same to the user as an application crash!
Apple Mail
Need an option to set a default zoom view for creating and reading e-mails.
On 27 inch iMac’s, the default 12 point font is difficult to read for many people. Users are not wishing to write an email in an 18-point font. They would like to set the default zoom so that a 12-point font is readable.
Ability to set a program to open full window or full screen.
Long time Windows users freak out when they discover they can’t set the program to open full window.
Green Zoom Button Behavior
Option to set Green Zoom button to Window Maximize – (Window fills screen except for Dock and top menu). As it stands now it is up to each developer how this function works therefore the behavior is very inconsistent.
This is the most frequent complaint I receive from Windows switchers.
Client Comment:
“I have looked at the iMac carefully, as my kids have one at home. Even though I’d like to switch to Apple, I find the inability to fully maximize a program is irritating, as I am used to doing that regularly.”
“Regarding the new FULL SCREEN Mode. I think this is a nice feature and I am glad it is there. However, it is not the same as Maximize Window. I personally do not want to loose the Doc and the Menu Bar most of the time. Just want to use all other available screen space for the App. Especially when on the Laptop with only a 13″ screen.”
I want it to work! had two “blue screens” in 2 days!
http://beta.fool.com/jaans/2012/10/05/apple-mt-lion-most-annoying-os-release-win98-i/12306/
Usually a blue screen refers to a hardware problem or some compatibility problems with your peripherals. Unplug all your external hardware and see if it is happening again.
enjoy
I’d like to see extended capabilities for Qmaster. It would be great to spread builds and virtualization over a whole cluster of macs (especially Minis). I wouldn’t mind the non existence of a new pro so much if I could have the same power via distribution.