Top n list for OSX

[Catfish_Man]

I was wondering what everyone's a) most wanted reasonable features for OSX are, b) what everyone's biggest problems with OSX are, and c) what everyone likes best about OSX. This is based on 10.2, not 10.1.5. Here's mine:

Requests:
1) Scalable user interface, so I can run at 1600x1200 without everything being tiny
2) Fast user switching (like Windows XP, it's similar to 3)
3) Virtual desktops (like Linux)
4) Better filesystem (journaling, and all that fancy stuff)
5) Some stuff I've forgotten

Problems:
1) Open/Save dialogs suck
2) Stripes
3) No easy way to turn off some eye candy (transparent menus, for example)
4) Stuff I've forgotten

Things I like:
1) Stability
2) Multitasking
3) The dock
4) Terminal (sshing is fun )
5) Omniweb
6) the non-bloated parts of Aqua
7) Stuff I've forgotten

I'll probably be editing this post to add more stuff as I think of it.

 

[iapple]

Well...

Requests/PROBLEMS

1. PERFORMANCE, PERFORMANCE, PERFORMANCE! Pleez! A SuperComputer shouldn't have to lag to open windows, and resize!

2. Stripes! AHHHHH!!! I'm in prison!

3. A easier way of navigating files, maybe you could browse with column view, by date, creater type, etc. This would be like the iPod interface, I mean, COME ON! People have been searching for files with "Names" for soooo long! It's about time, where the machine automatically sorts them for you to make your life easier. You could select with a menu. Then maybe see all Photoshop files in one directory, or files created/modified on a certain day in another, etc.

4. AUDIO/MIDI setup! (this is addressed in Jaguar, so GOOD JOB APPLE, but I'm not happy until I see it working!)

5. Improved "Classic" interface. For example, I noticed (using Mac OS 9) that iTunes CAN do live window dragging! Why not let classic apps do that, so it coexists with the X apps more easilly, without all the screen-drawing junk.

6. BETTER disk utility, to refragment disks, etc.

What I like
1. Mostly everything, except the speed, especially with Office X on a G3 machine! IT's a disgrace!

2. The dock

3. Menu extras!! YEAH! better than the control bar!

4. PDF support!

5. IT'S STUNNING LOOK! just try comparing it to XP side by side, and you'll see the difference in "elegance".

loads of other reasons, but i think there was a thread on this before, and also Ambitious Lemon has a whole WEB PAGE on it, so go check it out.. (Not sure about the address though, sorry..)

 

[Choppaface]

-gloved-hand scrolling (aka command-drag-scroll) of windows like in IE

-OS 9 style file selection while in list view (when I shift-click 2 docs, I wan those two, not them and the files inbetween them)

-better epson drivers (well, that's epson though he he)

-support for scanners that use TWAIN and scsi (like mine, an old HP scanjet)

 

[madamimadam]

Originally posted by Choppaface
-gloved-hand scrolling (aka command-drag-scroll) of windows like in IE

-OS 9 style file selection while in list view (when I shift-click 2 docs, I wan those two, not them and the files inbetween them)

-better epson drivers (well, that's epson though he he)

-support for scanners that use TWAIN and scsi (like mine, an old HP scanjet)

Is it THAT hard to use the command key when selecting files??? I didn't think so

 

[Geert]

Originally posted by Choppaface
-gloved-hand scrolling (aka command-drag-scroll) of windows like in IE

-OS 9 style file selection while in list view (when I shift-click 2 docs, I wan those two, not them and the files inbetween them)

-better epson drivers (well, that's epson though he he)

-support for scanners that use TWAIN and scsi (like mine, an old HP scanjet)

Choppaface, use ctrl-click instead, that selects only the documents you selected, and nothing inbetween.

 

[AmbitiousLemon]

the ambitiouslemon list has already been updated for 10.2. its a bit long to post here though... so many problems with osx.

 

[Choppaface]

Originally posted by Geert


Choppaface, use ctrl-click instead, that selects only the documents you selected, and nothing inbetween.

cool i never tried that thanks!

 

[Quark]

What about...

I don't recall this ever being mentioned in these types of lists, but what about just making all of the Apple programs that come with OSX Cocoa based.

Currently the Finder is a Carbon app. Wouldn't it run better, cleaner, faster if it was a full Cocoa app?

Perhaps this is already covered in Jaguar, but I didn't see it anywhere.

In fact, I bet most people didn't even know that it was a Carbon app.

Quark

 

[Choppaface]

Re: What about...

actually, isnt that the point about the new hardware not supporting OS 9 (except classic) or something?

 

[madamimadam]

Originally posted by Geert


Choppaface, use ctrl-click instead, that selects only the documents you selected, and nothing inbetween.

I believe you mean cmd (Apple)-click but that is a simple mistake.

 

[madamimadam]

Re: What about...

Originally posted by Quark
I don't recall this ever being mentioned in these types of lists, but what about just making all of the Apple programs that come with OSX Cocoa based.

Currently the Finder is a Carbon app. Wouldn't it run better, cleaner, faster if it was a full Cocoa app?

Perhaps this is already covered in Jaguar, but I didn't see it anywhere.

In fact, I bet most people didn't even know that it was a Carbon app.

Quark

I think Apple wrote Finder in Carbon to show the strength of the Carbon language. Carbon has a lot more in it than Apple would tell people about since they are pushing Cocoa.

Saying this, Cocoa is definately superiour but, without doing ANY research, I would suggest that if Apple was not pressing so hard for Cocoa, Carbon would be as fast as Cocoa and could multiprocess.

It is kind of like Classic... it is FANTASTIC and has unbelievable potential but has anyone else found that, with every new version of X, classic gets much slower??? I am finding classic UNBAREABLE since i upgraded to X.1.5. Admittedly, though, I am still running 9.1 because of clashing I was having back at 9.2 and I have not been game to upgrade.

 

[Catfish_Man]

Re: Re: What about...

Originally posted by madamimadamtimallen


I think Apple wrote Finder in Carbon to show the strength of the Carbon language. Carbon has a lot more in it than Apple would tell people about since they are pushing Cocoa.

Saying this, Cocoa is definately superiour but, without doing ANY research, I would suggest that if Apple was not pressing so hard for Cocoa, Carbon would be as fast as Cocoa and could multiprocess.

It is kind of like Classic... it is FANTASTIC and has unbelievable potential but has anyone else found that, with every new version of X, classic gets much slower??? I am finding classic UNBAREABLE since i upgraded to X.1.5. Admittedly, though, I am still running 9.1 because of clashing I was having back at 9.2 and I have not been game to upgrade.

Carbon does SMP (multiprocessing) just fine. Carbon also *can* be just as fast as Cocoa (some apps are badly written though). People have this weird idea that Cocoa is somehow intrinsically superior to Carbon. It isn't. It's easier to develop in, and has a few (very few with 10.2) more features, but carbon apps work just as well as cocoa apps (when properly written. You can write bad apps in either too). Get over it. The Finder will be just as good/bad whether it's Carbon or Cocoa. Also, neither Carbon nor Cocoa is a programming language. Both of them can be used with a variety of programming languages.

 

[voyagerd]

Re: Well...

"6. BETTER disk utility, to refragment disks, etc."

REFRAGMENT!! LOL

Who would want to may their disks have fragments

 

[madamimadam]

Re: Re: Re: What about...

Originally posted by Catfish_Man


Carbon does SMP (multiprocessing) just fine. Carbon also *can* be just as fast as Cocoa (some apps are badly written though). People have this weird idea that Cocoa is somehow intrinsically superior to Carbon. It isn't. It's easier to develop in, and has a few (very few with 10.2) more features, but carbon apps work just as well as cocoa apps (when properly written. You can write bad apps in either too). Get over it. The Finder will be just as good/bad whether it's Carbon or Cocoa. Also, neither Carbon nor Cocoa is a programming language. Both of them can be used with a variety of programming languages.

Well, minus the multiprocessing, isn't that what I said??? But you have not given any examples of a non-Apple Carbon app that multiprocesses. I always knew Carbon could perform such tasks but Apple holds it back in order to promote Cocoa. The only reason Cocoa has more features is because of this.

 

[iapple]

Re: Re: Well...

Originally posted by voyagerd
"6. BETTER disk utility, to refragment disks, etc."

REFRAGMENT!! LOL

Who would want to may their disks have fragments
Woops.. No! My disk is not fragmented enough, so I want to refragment it!

 

[Catfish_Man]

Re: Re: Re: Re: What about...

Originally posted by madamimadamtimallen


Well, minus the multiprocessing, isn't that what I said??? But you have not given any examples of a non-Apple Carbon app that multiprocesses. I always knew Carbon could perform such tasks but Apple holds it back in order to promote Cocoa. The only reason Cocoa has more features is because of this.

Adobe Photoshop 7.

 

[alex_ant]

Requests:
1) Please, please make it faster all around
2) Better scanner support / audio support / gamepad support / all around better device support
3) Add the OS 9 / Nextstep window shade feature.
4) Finer-grained energy saver controls
5) Remembering color profiles for different displays
6) More versatile DVD Player - I'm tired of seeing "This hardware configuration is not supported" with multiple displays configured in various ways
7) More CPU-efficient MP3 playback in iTunes.
8) Caching of the file listings of folders in the dock
9) Disk Copy should let me make bootable CDs
10) The Finder should show more details of files in the paned view. Show EXIF image data, etc. Let me double-click on the preview image to open it.
11) Preview sucks. Make it faster, make scaling higher-quality, give it a context menu, stomp the bug that causes it to open some images at a fraction of their real size.
12) A better, completely new, journalled and fragmentation-resistant BeFS-like filesystem
13) Increased reliance on filesystem metadata instead of these stupid filename extensions and resource forks
14) Smoother window resizing
15) Give iPhoto more editing features; make thumbnail scaling higher-quality
16) Full resolution independence
17) Smoother Acrobat Reader page scrolling

Problems:
1) Spinning beachball of death
2) Poor Quicktime player performance
3) Retarded TextEdit. "Please supply a new name. TextEdit does not save SimpleText format; document will be saved as rich text (RTF) instead, with a new name." Then I convert to plain text and the file gets renamed and I can't save over the old one without retyping its old name.
4) The window-click bug, or whatever it is - the foreground app will hang until you click the mouse, at which point the window will jump to where you clicked and resume.
5) Classic (TrueBluEnv or whatever it is) frequently spirals out of control, consuming 100% CPU.
6) For ****'s sake, fix that god damned Internet Connect bug that's been there for a ****ing eternity already.

Things I like:
1) Just about everything else.

 

[madamimadam]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: What about...

Originally posted by Catfish_Man


Adobe Photoshop 7.

Photoshop has been writen to take advantage of multiprocessing for years. That has nothing to do with Carbon it has to do with the way it was coded. Carbon itself will not take advantage of multiprocessing, to my knowledge, unless there is code in the programing that takes advantage of it. As a comparitive example, a Cocoa app that is not writen for multiprocessing will multiprocess in the sense that when it has reached 100% capacity of the first processor it will start using the second.