So far, Apple has just given us Mac users a “sneak peek” at just a few of the features coming our way in Mac OS X Lion which will arrive this summer.
• Launchpad. A home for your apps. The Launchpad gives you instant access to your apps — iPad style. Just click the Launchpad icon in your Dock. Your open windows fade away, replaced by an elegant, full-screen display of all the apps on your Mac. It takes just a swipe to see multiple pages of apps, and you can arrange apps any way you like by dragging an app icon to a new location or by grouping apps in folders. Downloaded an app from the App Store? Your new app automatically appears on the Launchpad, ready to blast off.
• Full-screen apps. A better way to enjoy the apps you love. On iPad, every app is displayed full screen, with no distractions, and there’s one easy way to get back to all your other apps. Mac OS X Lion does the same for your desktop. You can bring an app to full screen with one click, switch to another full-screen app with a swipe of the trackpad, and swipe back to the desktop to access your multi-window apps. And systemwide support for full-screen apps makes them bigger and more immersive. So you can concentrate on every detail of your work, or play on a grander scale than ever before.
• Mission Control. Mac command central. Mission Control is a powerful and handy new feature that provides you with a comprehensive view of what’s running on your Mac. It gives you a bird’s-eye view of everything — including Exposé, Spaces, Dashboard, and full-screen apps— all in one place. With a simple swipe gesture, your desktop zooms out to Mission Control. There you can see your open windows grouped by app, thumbnails of your full-screen apps, Dashboard, and even other Spaces, arranged in a unified view. And you can get to anything you see on Mission Control with just one click. Making you the master of all you survey.
What other features do you think or hope Apple will offer in Mac OS X 10.7 Lion?
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Cubert.”]
How about TRIM support? Better integration with SSDs?
TRIM support? Why do you think Apple named their OS’es after cats?
😉
Changes to the Menu Bar. As screens become larger (and sometimes smaller) at higher resolutions, having a key GUI feature at the top left corner of the screen becomes less usable. Ideally, access to those commands should be closer to the current location of the cursor.
For the next major release AFTER Lion (when Mac OS will no longer be called “X”), I think the Menu Bar will go away completely, replaced by some other convention. But for this last major release of Mac OS X, here are the changes I think would be appropriate.
Adjustable text size – The Dock is already smoothly adjustable in size. The Menu Bar should at least be incrementally adjustable. On the smaller high resolution screens (such as 11″ MacBook Air) and larger screens that are placed farther away from user (such as 27-inch screen), Menu Bar text size getting to be on the “too small” side. By the time Lion completes its run (in 2013 or later), the situation will probably be more severe, with some Mac displays exceeding 160 PPI (current max is about 130 PPI). The current Menu Bar text size is entirely dependent on pixel size.
Ability to hide – I’m using the Menu Bar less and less. Usually, the command I need is memorized as a keyboard shortcut, available on the contextual menu (“right click”), or on the window itself as a “button.” It takes up permanent vertical space, which is valuable on wide-screen displays. Give the user the option to hide it, like you can hide the Dock; it appears when needed, then disappears. If the Menu Bar does go away eventually, hiding it will get users accustomed to not seeing it there all the time.
Reduction of clutter on the right side of the Menu Bar – I realize the user can show whatever they want there, but perhaps the default should be “less.”
All good ideas. Resolution independence is long overdue on OS X.
How about iTunes gets on board with the 64-bit, Grand Central Dispatch, OpenCL complianty goodness that OS X offers. iTunes is in dire need of a performance upgrade.
For OS X itself, I’d love to see resolution independence finally come like it was originally supposed to in Leopard, as well as updated graphics APIs. OpenGL 4.0 is out and kicks ass. The Mac gaming community is getting started and should be helped along, it also helps other graphic applications as well.
One last thing would be some security stuff like ASLR so I can quit listening to people say Windows is more secure because it offers it.
And the one dream would be a new file system. I now ZFS is overkill for the average user, but that doesn’t mean it wouldn’t still have benefits for him/her. I don’t even care if ZFS is the default, just the option would be great.
know*
Really wish we could edit posts. I hate grammar/spelling errors.
And I wish the emoticons would come back. I know you can type things and it will turn into an emoticon but I liked the palette.
I think complete “resolution independence” will come with the next major release AFTER Lion, when it is no longer called “X.” When screen resolution, or more accurately “pixel density,” becomes high enough (like with the iPhone’s “Retina Display”), “native resolution” will no longer be relevant. The user should be able to smoothly change the overall resolution setting (as well as the size of GUI elements), using some type of continuous slider adjustment. For desktops and laptops, I think about 200 pixels per inch would be needed to make it effective (current max is about 130 PPI); the iPhone’s display is above 300 PPI already.
I’m hoping for a special subliminal audio feature in 10.7 that constantly broadcasts the message, “Stop wasting brain cells on what you ‘think or hope’ the next version of OS X will include.”
I pray that one day MobileMe is fixed before I die.
Maybe they’ll FINALLY address a real address book and make Mail a real email program or BUY a company that makes a great email client like Postbox and make MobileMe free.
Maybe give the user the ability to actually use iCal/Mail and Address Book in ONE app as opposed to using three separate apps!
Oh yes, make the damn thing FASTER by killing some of the gratuitous GUI overkill.
The ability to scroll in Stickies.
More color options for “labels” in the finder
In Stacks, the ability to delete or move files & etc. (not just the capability to select items)
Trans-warp drive.
Transparent aluminum
“nuclear vwessels”
I’d like to see tabbed finder windows. I use em and like them in Safari… I’d like to see usable FTP built into the finder… I’d like to see Mobile Me really utilized and built in… imagine how sweet idisk would be if it didnt suck!
I would like the kernel panic screen to look more like the Windows blue screen of death. That blue is such a nice hue.
it would be nice if they could get Mobile Me and all the sync/push services to WORK!
That would be so great! Ah well, we can dream…
Bump for Mac!
1) Well customizable MacAppStore
preferences, search filters, tabs, list view like iOS-AppStore, darker colors and betters design.
2) Facetime X
that works better
selectable “video call” or “audio only”. Maybe “show pictures”
(additionally new Facetime apps for WIn and Android)
3) Get back Quicktime 7 and trash Quicktime X
4) Get back Finder with Desktop trashcan
5) stop fragmentation of app related files all over filesystem
6) Uninstall-feature similar to iOS, that trashes all related files
and so on…
but I dont think, that 10.7 will give much more than that what we already know
I have several on my wishlist:
1) A bolder highlighted “Today” box in iCal so I can quickly glance and find “Today.”
2) A window/menu color scheme other than gray or the ctrl-opt-com+8
3) Break out “Notes” from Mail, break-out “To-do” from iCal, but have an option to have them interact with each other and air sync to a related app on the iPhone or through MobileMe.
4) Have the widgets in Dashboard remain how I left them instead of jumping around, resizing and/or duplicating themselves.
5) Have the ability to create a, initial (or any selected point in time) “Locked” Time Machine backup and keep that “Locked” copy archived and from being modified or deleted as files change or time passes. This way you create a clean restoration point and then add back in any updated files such as iPhoto or iTunes from the most recent point in time. I realize I can create a disk image at any point that I want but the feature would a nice option in Time Machine.
6) Built-in selective file synchronization between say, your iMac and your MacBook so you can have both machines with a synced Documents folder or a synced iPhoto or iTunes library or a portion of the library.
Those are just some things that I would like to see incorporated.
“1) A bolder highlighted “Today” box in iCal so I can quickly glance and find “Today.””
Yes! A minor one but has always been a pet peeve of mine.
“2) A window/menu color scheme other than gray or the ctrl-opt-com+8”
My comment earlier was sarcastic. I’ve never yearned for a new color but I hear it from switchers frequently.
“3) Break out “Notes” from Mail, break-out “To-do” from iCal, but have an option to have them interact with each other and air sync to a related app on the iPhone or through MobileMe.”
Hey, are you reading my mind?
“6) Built-in selective file synchronization between say, your iMac and your MacBook so you can have both machines with a synced Documents folder or a synced iPhoto or iTunes library or a portion of the library.”
Now, I’ve been saying this for years. Are you the guy across the street I’ve been catching looking in my place with binoculars?
Got to give me a BIGGER text menubar,,, I bought the largest cinema display,, Have to get out of my chair to see the menu selections,, HELP ME PLEASE, this is also a sight disability issue that MUST be addressed
1. Mail – add widescreen preview so I don’t have to rely on 3rd party plug-ins. Add more stationary themes — at least several for every major holiday. Have a contest and give away free Apple gear to the winners if you don’t have time to develop in-house.
2. Change iTunes to iMedia. Allow users to import DVDs as easily as importing music. Add a “this is only for backup” disclaimer if you’re worried about the studios.
3. Details – provide nice looking wallpapers, icons, etc by default. Sure most users will pick their own, but details matter.
4. Raid capabilities built into the OS. New iMacs would have two internal HDs that function as a Raid 1. In the event of a HD failure, the OS would automatically boot from the 2nd drive and notify the user to replace the failed drive at the Apple Store. Once replaced, the system would duplicate content and boot from main HD.
5. Ability to group Apple’s 3 communication apps together with tabs (Mail, iCal, Address Book) like Outlook.
6. Standardize palettes and allow to snap together like Adobe CS. Currently, Character, Color, etc are all different sizes. you should also be able to choose colors and fonts without opening palettes when composing a new email.
7. Anniversaries should sync with iCal like Birthdays.
8. Entering a year for birthdays or anniversaries should be optional (if you know it). When entered, the event should display smart info like John’s 40th birthday or John and Jane Doe’s 10th anniversary. If no year is entered it would just display the available info such as John’s birthday.
9. Address Book – Coverflow style viewing for contacts with a much larger preview image. In fact, I’d like to see a business card view where a scanned card can be used in addition to the contact photo. Or perhaps Address Book creates a business card style view from the info entered or selected to appear on it.
10. Sucks that you need an additional Birthday calendar for family members that may not have their own v-cards in Address Book. Makes me think Address Book needs a “Family Card” option that would be different than a Group. Birthdays could be entered for family members on one card. Addresses could be formatted to print correctly “Mr. and Mrs. John Doe” or “Mr. and Mrs. John Doe and Family”. Would also be useful for older relatives who tend to share an email address.
“Details – provide nice looking wallpapers, icons, etc by default. Sure most users will pick their own, but details matter.”
You really don’t think the default desktop pictures and icons don’t look good?
4-10. YES!!!
Resolution Independence
Auto-activate fonts similar to Suitcase Fusion
Ability to limit Magic Mouse features, like scrolling, to certain apps. Can’t touch the mouse when entering any number in CS dialog boxes without having the numbers jump all over the place (resolution, fliter levels, opacity, etc)
I would like to be able to create a calendar on iCal and have it easily appear on my Snow Leopard Server and vice versa. And have any changes appear. Just like iCal and Mobile Me work together. If I am missing how that works I’d be delighted to know how to do it.
DO NOT MAKE IT THE iOS DESKTOP VERSON!
Graphics:
–True screen resolution independence
–Support for the latest graphics cards before they are nearly a year old (even the CAD focussed graphics cards are not supported when they first start shipping)
–Support for OpenGL 4.1 (both AMD and Nvidia claim to support it, why does not Apple?)
–Support for up to 4096×2560 resolution
–Support for multiple graphics cards in Crossfire or SLI modes
.
Backup:
–True archiving built in (supports incremental and mirror archives for off site storage)
–Enhanced Time Machine for multiple copies across multiple volumes
–Ability to resolve and tag multiple copies of identical files (we all have them across our systems, there should be a simple way to track them down and kill them — or at least not back them up wasting valuable backup space)
.
Networking
–Support true 256-bit (or higher) AES in all communications (including Safari) *AND* PKI at a level of at least 2048-bit
–Sync built in across multiple boxes (I have a desktop and a laptop for travel, why can’t I sync them like I sync like an iPhone with a desktop?)
.
User Interface
–STOP with the move to having the closing of the last window shutting down the application — this has been one of the great things about System/OS/OS X since the beginning — closing a window closes that window — NOTHING ELSE. Now Apple is starting to change that (especially with some of the iLife programs). KEEP IT SIMPLE. Close one window (even if it is the last window) it does NOTHING but close that window!
.
Not really OS, but media
–Support for 1080p24/30/60 media in iTunes
–Lossless compression versons of songs in iTunes (CD quality or better)
And while they’re at it, Apple can bring me a pony and a chemistry set.
Enterprise Support:
– Make Apple Remote Desktop data-gathering modules that integrate with SCCM, OpenView, Altiris and other enterprise managers.
– Fix the reporting tool in ARD
– Stop taking six months to respond when we report a bug.
– Better acknowledgement of bugs, and fixes.
– Roadmaps Roadmaps Roadmaps. Feature enhancements, bug fixes, models, etc…
Home networking made simple.
iPhoto, allow multiple users to access iPhoto, without it locking,
iCal, allow home sharing of events etc.
iTunes, Home sharing is to basic. All family users should be able to sync, watch video and create playlists from all family attached devises using one iTunes database.
Doc sharing, whilst GUIs can be done simplify it as above.
Perhaps all of the above can be achieved from a central repositry.
I hate my autocorrect at times, for GUIs, read ‘it’, god knows how it did that one, and I apologize for the missing o after to.
I hope that if Apple uses the lion’s monicker to brand their latest OS, they will have the decency to donate money to preservation charities that take care of lions.
Sleep….