10.4 Wishlist - Yet again!
 

All right, so here's a couple of ideas I've had for good things to add/fix in 10.4...

1. Implement a system that allows downloading codec packs for quicktime through software update -- DivX, XviD, 3ivX, the WORKS, and keep it up to date. This would be marvelous if we didn't have to use VLC to get support for all the codecs we want.

2. The Finder still does need some work. It's a lot better in 10.3 than it was in 10.2, but there are a few tasks that still need to get a lot better -- browsing through a folder of pictures with thumbnails, for example. It at least needs to be Cached so it only needs to generate the thumbs once. There are other tweaks I'd like to see too -- most notably Write support for FTP in Finder, as well as SFTP capabilities.

3. File sharing needs to be more integrated, especially samba. Expecting n00bs to edit thier smb.conf files is outrageous -- it should be part of the "get info" menu for each folder. The freeware app Sharepoints eliminates most of this need, but nevertheless, it should be part of the core OS.

4. Disc burning should get its own Application. Disc burning via the finder is very confusing to newbies, and having one App just called "Disc Burner" that would launch when a Disc was inserted, and allowed easy erasing of rewritable media and easy multisession burning would be stupendous. Yes, the Disk utility has some of this functionality, and yes, the finder does too, but it's very hard for a newbie to use, and it's slow (have to copy all the files to the temporary image) for pros, who end up using Toast for only that reason.

Other Ideas? I'm always impressed with Apple's abilities to fix things nobody realized were broken, but I'm also irritated by the things they fail to fix until assaulted about it for a decade.

Just a correction: SharePoints is Donationware, not freeware. If people like it and use it, they should support the people that put it together by donation an appropriate sum of money.

This is true :). It's a moral dilemma whether to give to such a cause -- on one hand, I really appreciate what the author has done, on the other hand, this SHOULD be included in OSX.

Thanks for the correction, though!

Mailboxes Keyboard Control
 

I'd like the ability to navigate in the Mailboxes drawer of Mail.app without having to use the mouse.

It's a bit annoying that the keyboard commands that work in the mail list and preview panes don't work in the Mailbox drawer.

Best Regards,

John Haffner

Anticipat's list is THE best list I have seen to-date. Well done.

I would like to see a Preference Manager that will quarantine possible bad preference files to see if this is the problem for an application.

I would like to see an Apple-blessed theme and behavior changer. This will also contain ALL of the appearance preferences with the ability to turn off the Dock and Finder animation.

Trash Can to become a utility application and not intrical to Finder. It is in the Dock by default, but can be dragged off to the desktop. It can be moved to another folder or a shortcut to the various custom and left-hand menus. Contained in this app is the zero-delete and recover functions.

Would like to see a utility called "Troubleshooter" that will guide a novice through basic identification of problems such as permissions and/or missing files.

I seem to recall that the real issue is licencing of these third-party codecs. Apple is somewhat more constrained in this regard than the VLC developers, who can afford to neglect some of the legal niceties, many of which don't apply to them.

Too bad. Personally, I am getting pretty tired of this pile of codec business. You can't watch this... You can't listen to that... I do no recognize this file. These developers better wake up and realize that they are alienating the average user. A good example is RealMedia. I used to use their codec all the time. A few years later you had to swim through a myriad of pages to find the free viewer that was hidden behind a dresser in the attic. Then the viewer became a SPAM and advertising annoyance. Forget it. I deinstalled it and have never looked back. If the combination of Quicktime and VLC captures 70% of the codecs out there, well I think that is pretty darn good.

Ability to be able to sort on more than one column in Finder, Mail, iTunes and other similar browser apps. Be simple to implement surely.

It's always the simple things that waste everyone's time that make the best enhancements to an OS. I'm sure once 10.4 is previewed they'll think of dozens of things like this.

I really would like to see the Codec packs in quicktime implemented. There's a lot of other little things that would be nice to see too... anyone else have any ideas?

I don't mind the codecs not being available directly from Apple's QuickTime site, but when I try to run a movie that relies on a codec that I don't have and which the QuickTime site itself doesn't have, I'd like to get a page that says:

"The movie you're trying to play requires a resource, 'EWJ-Enhanced Videostream', and the resource you need to install can be found here".

or, failing that,

"The movie you're trying to play was encoded in a format identified as 'EWJ-Enhanced Videostream', for which a Macintosh version of the codec has yet to be released. More information about EWJ-Enhanced Videostream can be found here".

That would sure beat hell out of

"The movie you're trying to play requires a resource not currently installed. Unfortunately Apple's QuickTime site doesn't have it either, whatever the heck it might be, and since we don't have it and you don't have it there's no purpose in telling you what the codec is, now is there?"

or however it's currently worded :mad:

AHunter3, how about:

"The movie you're trying to play requires a resource, 'XYZ', the licensing terms for which are so arduous that it will never be available (legally) on OS X. Our lawyers have advised us that we might be liable if we supplied a link to further information about this resource. And they told us that even mentioning the name of this resource in the context of the above might be troublesome for us, so the name of the resource referred to above is not its real name. Sorry."

Bah. There's nothing Illegal about video codecs, except if they cost money and you aren't paying for them! They could at least include XviD and DivX codecs and updates, both of which are free.

I agree that functionality like SharePoints should be integral to the OS, and not donation-ware that a Mac user (not a Unix geek) must hunt and seek out on their own for file sharing.

How about fixing the bug that allows a user to specify in finder preferences that all new finder windows open in column view, but a double-click on the hard drive defaults back to icon view... little things like this drive me batty.

Why must all people who have passing knowledge in UNIX be a geek? :confused:

I don't know, but some time during the 90s, "geek" became a badge of honour. I actually like it when a coworker refers to one of us in my department as a "geek", because it implies that we possess arcane knowledge gained through experience and initiative.

In that case, I'm an OS9 (and earlier) geek, and working my way towards the privilege of OSX geek-dom!!

:cool:

You and me both. Global view should be just that, GLOBAL, without the leaving of DS_STORE droppings everywhere you go.

I can't seem to find licensing info for XviD, but it certainly seems that Apple would have to pay a licensing fee to distribute DivX. See this page:
http://www.divx.com/divx/licensing/

Because biting the heads off those chickens is so much fun? :rolleyes:

I suppose it's better than being called 'UNIX puke' or 'UNIX weenie.'

Hmm, now that you mention it -- I don't think that's happening to me. I tried to reproduce this bug but could not.

True. "Puke" is reserved for another OS. ;) "Weenie" is reserved for "Ball Park". I would prefer my subjects call me "Lord Master", or "Evil Tyrant". Possibly, "Woshisname". I digress! This is not the coatroom!

:LOL:

Back when it was still a novel thing to have computers speak aloud, I changed mine around so that it referred to me as "O Righteous Lawgiver and Ruler Of All That Thou Surveyest" or some such nonsense. Nowadays, I often change the voice alerts on my Macs to start with "Please, don't beat me" or "Great Googlymoogly!"

How about "Dear Facist Bully-boy" ala "The Young Ones"?

Lol!
 

Well, sure, if I could get "Wick" to say it, or get the computer to use "Wick's" voice. Gotta love that Coventwy pwonunciation -- Wick totally wocks.

I prefer "Payable to the order of...", all things considered. ;)

Actually, it's only the "Pro" encoder software that costs money -- the decoder is free, and when used for players in personal computers, there would be no license fee. Apple could inclide a simple EULA (like many things in software update) that says "Hey, if this isn't personal, go pay for it."

Until people pay for Quicktime Pro, when then Apple has to drop a cut of the proceeds on the DivX folks, or they remove the DivX decoder plug-in. Which folks will then just download and install again. Better to skip the whole darned middleman and just let folks do it themselves.

Why not have the Divx Encoder (Divx Pro) come with Quicktime Pro, even if a small cut of the proceeds do go to the DivX folks? Decoder functionality free, pay for Encodiing functionality. That's pretty standard fare.

Though it seems more like Apple is really pushing for the standard, free codecs... H264, etc. Too bad they're usually not as good... :-/