You do n’t stay on top by standing still . Rather , you keep your boundary by unendingly looking to deliver something better , whether it ’s by improving what you already have or summate something altogether new .
Apple seems to realize this conception as well as anyone . Since present Mac OS X in 2001 , the company has put out a serial of major update , each one ameliorate upon its predecessor . OS X 10.2 brought greater stability and serviceableness to the operating organisation . OS X 10.3 tot up sweetening such as profligate user switch alongside establish - in features include iChat AV and Exposé . And OS X 10.4 infix even more features such as searching via Spotlight , simplified scripting through Automator , and a raw layer of appliance courtesy of Dashboard .
That pattern of enhancements and improvement figures to continue later this summer , when Apple pay us our first look at OS X 10.5 . At the Worldwide Developers Conference in August , Apple contrive to provide a sneak preview of the next major update to OS X , computer code named Leopard . Apple is typically rigorous - lipped about what to expect from Leopard , so we have no idea what new and improved feature look us in August . But that ’s not stop over us from coming up with a list of things we’dliketo see in OS X 10.5 .
We posed that very question to a handful ofMacworldeditors and contributors : What do you want to see in the next version of Apple . The resolution ran the gamut from sweetening to exist features to whole fresh capabilities . We do n’t recognize if Apple will postdate our mesmerism — or number up with even good ones — but we ca n’t wait to find out what ’s fund with OS X 10.5 .
Improvements to Spotlight
It ’s secure to say that Spotlight was the marquee addition to OS X 10.4 . In OS X 10.5 , I desire an equal amount of attention is yield to greatly improving the establish - in search functionality . Do n’t get me wrong : The basic conception of Spotlight is fantabulous . But I ’ve found the implementation to be less than perfect .
limelight works well enough for uncomplicated searches . But the real force of this feature should be more approachable to the typical user . I want to be able-bodied to run searches on phrases , with AND and OR operators , and parentheses . With such features , you could build a query such as :
There are utilities out there that let you do much of this today , but I want a nicely desegregate Apple solution.—ROB GRIFFITHS
Built-in launcher
Many group O X users are familiar with programs known as catapult — Butler , LaunchBar , andQuickSilverrepresent three of the better - be intimate entrants in the category . These utility make it very easy to launch app , open documents , and do other Indian file - relate tasks . In OS Adam 10.4 , Apple included a rudimentary catapult — Spotlight . you may seek for an software ’s name using Spotlight , then highlight it in the resultant role lean and press Enter to launch it .
Unfortunately , Spotlight searches tend to return a ton of hits , and so it may not always be easy to see the program you wish to launch in the list of results . It can also be somewhat slow to utilize , since it ’s searching the index of every file on your car to find the program you need to run .
Apple could deposit this in Leopard pretty well — just produce a new “ rocket launcher ” shortcut Francis Scott Key , and have it get at a restricted variant of the Spotlight index . The qualified translation of the forefinger would do away with the indexed content , since a launcher would only have to work on filenames . A preferences instrument panel would let you determine the type of things you ’d like the program to launch , from covering to document to iTunes to Address Book contacts and more .
Do I conceive this will happen ? Maybe . Clearly such a thing would n’t offer the same variety of characteristic found in the third - party utilities , but for many user , a simplified rocket launcher may be all they need . Once you ’ve tried launching thing with a few keystrokes instead of multiple mouse movements , it ’s heavy to go back to the “ honest-to-god way ” of doing things.—RG
Finder fixes
One of the major sticking point for me in OS X is the Finder . It ’s the last actual bit of legacy code in the system , with its origins dating back to who knows when in the mist of prison term . alas , the Finder is really showing its years , too . It ’s quite easy to bog the Finder down with things that should n’t impress it — opening a brochure with 3,500 items in it , for example , or find what happens if you ’re plug in to another machine ’s share folders when that political machine goes to slumber .
There are also a slew of new lineament I ’d care to see in the Finder — a sortable editorial - view window , well customizable contextual menus , selectable colors for pillar view windowpane desktop , some way to browse the Spotlight metadata directly in the Finder , and more powerful Smart folders ( just to name a few ) .
At present , I find myself usingPath Finderquite a chip , as it already has many of these features ( and more ) . However , as with Spotlight , I ’d prefer an prescribed Apple replacement for the Finder.—RG
Windows compatibility and integration…
Boot Camp is a wonderful band - aid and Apple should be commended for allowing a Macintosh to runThe Other operating system . That state , it ’s still just a band - aid . And even Apple would concede that having to entirely shut down one operating organization in parliamentary law to apply another is a far from elegant approach to running Windows on your Mac .
If Leopard is going to welcome Windows to the Mac , please let it do so completely . For instance , allow drug user to easy move Indian file between the two operating systems . Make it possible for app in each O to share data ( such as item replicate to the Clipboard ) . And let Disk Utility support Windows - compatible formats .
If an desegregate windowed environment — one exchangeable to Microsoft’sVirtual PCand Parallels’Parallels Desktop — can’t run Windows at darned - near - aboriginal pep pill , encounter another way of life . Perhaps a scheme similar to profligate drug user - switching that allow you quickly dash between operating systems ( while still apportion files through a vernacular warehousing space).—CHRISTOPHER BREEN
Apple could observe the lead of Parallels Desktop and countenance you switch between the Mac OS and Windows without a reboot in Leopard .
…Or virtualization
If you ’ve got an Intel Mac , there are two way you may fly the coop Windows on it . As Chris noted , the Apple - provided solution , Boot Camp , requires a reboot before you may bring up your Mac directly into Windows . This method has some nice benefit , including full ironware support and accelerated graphics — if you want to play PC games on your Intel Mac , this is the direction to go .
But a much better solution , at least proportional to most distinctive post and base - usage want , is represent by the aforesaid Parallels Desktop , which is something be intimate as a “ virtualization resolution . ” Parallels Desktop is n’t design to just run Windows on your Intel Mac . Instead , it ’s design to take advantage of the Intel processor ’s ability to create “ virtual ” CPUs , and then to track down an operating organization of your choice on that virtual CPU . Parallels lets you run Windows XP Pro , XP , 2000 , 98 , and almost every other sport of Windows out there . But you could also install and run many different Linux systems as well , and run them all at the same time . You give up some level of hardware reinforcement , and you lose accelerated 3 - 500 graphics , but you get about 90 percent of the aboriginal fastness of the systems , all without a reboot .
So what will Apple do with virtualization in OS X 10.5 ? All we love is that the company plans to make Boot Camp a part of OS X 10.5 ; it ’s been quiet on any virtualization root that may be in the work . It ’s potential that Apple may go after the Parallels mart and admit some virtualization technology directly in Leopard . If it does , then the Mac will truly be the jack of all trades — you’ll be capable to run many versions of Linux and Windows directly within OS , or reboot via the terminal version of Boot Camp for those time when you call for 3 - D graphics or full computer hardware documentation in Windows . Sure , you’re able to do all that today via Parallels , but in OS X 10.5 , such capableness may be built directly into the system.—RG
Virtual desktops
Unix has had it for a while . VirtueDesktopsis one of the public utility company that bring it to the Mac . It ’s the construct ofvirtual desktop , which is sort of like riotous User Switching within a single drug user . Anyone who keeps a whole lot of window candid in a whole clustering of dissimilar program fuck that it can be quite a mess . With practical desktops , you may assign different applications to different workspace , and keep them all separate . For example , your einsteinium - ring armor program can take up the integral cover in one workspace , while you ’ve get a collection of Microsoft Office document receptive in another . Switching back and forth between those workspaces with a keyboard shortcut is a whole lot easier than meticulously hiding and showing the covering you want to see .
Although this feature seems a second esoteric , it ’s really one that could be a major productivity rise if it was bring to mainstream users . ( And if you toss in the ability to exchange to a virtualized interlingual rendition of Windows as one of your virtual desktops , as you may do today with VirtueDesktops and Parallels , you ’d really have something . ) If there ’s anyone who could make virtual desktops a easy - to - utilisation characteristic for regular people , it ’s the atomic number 8 engineers at Apple . So bring it on!—JASON SNELL
Make a true media center
Apple has introduced many innovational technologies and applications in the last number of years , but the company still lags behind in one increasingly important field — the media center . I ’m not talk about a multimedia management software such as Front Row — I desire to see Apple integrate a full - flight media nerve centre into Leopard .
The problem with jell up a media center on a Mac right now is that it requires the drug user to set up and configure multiple applications individually and then try on to pull everything together manually . Apple necessitate to mistreat in and make this outgrowth seamless for the substance abuser .
The biggest absent man in Front Row is financial support for enter tv in a TiVo - similar mode ; Apple should construct this functionality into Macs , offer it as an add - on , or work with a fellowship likeElgato Systemsto support TV - tuner computer hardware within Front Row . In addition , you should be able to purchase songs , video , and movies flat within the user interface , so you’re able to look out content or sync directly to your iPod , all without leave the Mac media center .
I trust Apple takes Leopard as the chance to dominate the home - media market place like the iPod has dominated the portable music market . If anyone can do it , Apple can.—JIM DALRYMPLE
File and account security
The FileVault machinelike encryption applied science could definitely stand to be more reliable and easier to use in O X 10.5 .
FileVault , OS X ’s automatic encryption technology , have some promise but it was just undependable enough that most drug user avert using it . For exercise , some user have suffer data when FileVault was in the midriff of inscribe something and the Mac ’s power of a sudden exclude off . What ’s more , FileVault place your data in a undivided inscribe disk look-alike . Should that image become corrupt , you risk losing lot of file .
Let ’s go for that Apple takes FileVault back to the drawing board , improving reliability so that there ’s no chance that information will be corrupted ( or if it is , that a safe backup exists somewhere ) .
FileVault can also be a bit confusing for some drug user . Set a Master Password ? Then turn on FileVault ? A childlike setup assistant would be a welcome addition here.—CB
Restore more
It ’s not often that I wish for Windows features on my Macintosh , but I would like to see Apple implement System Restore in the Mac o . This is a characteristic that “ rewinds ” your computer to point where it was felicitous and stable . Should your information become corrupt or your hardware jumble because of some natural process you ’ve taken ( installed a dicey hunk of software package , for model ) you could restore the Mac to a point before you took that ill - advised legal action — if this features winds up in O X 10.5 , that is.—CB
Smart locations
I ’ve been a full - time Mac laptop user for years now . I move between two main locations , my business firm and theMacworldoffices , almost every day . My MacBook is smart enough to intuit where it is found on a few little pieces of info , most importantly the name of the wireless base place it ’s connect to . It just ca n’t do anything with that information — and Apple should give it those power .
If my MacBook get laid it ’s at base , it should be capable to set my house printing machine as the nonremittal printer , update my iChat status to “ At Home , ” put on my local file server , run an AppleScript or four , and even change my default mail waiter . Thankfully , Location Xdoes this now . But this should be a fundamental part of Mac OS X.—JS
Smart users
Do you use unlike Macs in dissimilar places ? Do n’t you wish you could take your personal information , and fundamental applications , along with you as you go ? That ’s the conception behindLexar ’s PowerToGo , a USB flash drive with built - in Windows software that lets you store all your preference , document , and even some applications , and take them with you from place to place .
I wish the Mac had something like that , and I wish Apple was the one to put through it . The Mac ’s already have support for multiple users , and can even hive away user data point on a distant file server . So why not on a keychain drive or an iPod ? That style , when I plug into my Power Mac G5 at household , I can finger rightfully at home , and not like a unknown on a strange system.—JS
Improve VoiceOver
Apple perform a great service for the visual sensation impair when it included VoiceOver , a screen reader , in Mac OS X 10.4 . interchangeable utilities were expensive and not nonrational to use . VoiceOver help with the first publication — it ’s free with every written matter of the Mac OS — but it still needs service with the second gear . Apple compact VoiceOver with options ; things should be simplified .
For instance , VoiceOver ’s Navigation tab carries three navigation options , four cursor trailing options , and two textual matter pick trailing options . Before forcing this level of control on user , why not offer a couple of presets that configure VoiceOver in ways that most people will use ?
Also , the voice included with recent versions of the Mac OS are robotic . Companies such asCepstralhave demonstrated that you may make more natural sounding voices . I trust to hear some of those vocalism in Leopard . And when those voice do speak , I ’d like what is spoken to be more immediately utilitarian — for example , I do want to know the name of the button my pointer hovers over , but I do n’t want to be intimate that it ’s “ tab 2 of 5.”—CB
Expand Disk Utility’s powers
Apple ’s Disk Utility is a utilitarian program , but it could be even more so . While Disk Utility is adequate to of compensate disc , it can really only fix elementary errors . For more complex fixes , the exploiter is left to purchaseTechTool Proand / orDiskWarrior . It ’d be great if Apple bundled similar functionality into Disk Utility . You ’d still need to boot from another campaign ( or the installer CD ) , but it would be nice than trust on a third - party app .
This is peculiarly crucial as both OS X and the hardware that we employ to run it preserve changing — as of later June , for example , neither DiskWarrior or TechTool Pro was useable in a Universal version for Intel - based Macs . If the tool were provided directly by Apple , we would n’t have such topic .
I ’d also care to see Disk Utility make headway the ability to create and resize partitions on the fly front . OS X is intelligibly open of doing this — Boot Camp will do it to allow for the installation of Windows on Intel Macs , and third - company tools such asiPartitionwork on PowerPC Macs . I ’ve always partitioned my effort , for better system and data point wholeness ( I could lose a sectionalization without losing the whole drive ) , and I ’d love it if it were simpler to do.—RG
More from Mail
Apple ’s Mail gets better with each iteration and my hope is that it will continue to do so . I ’d like that next version to offer more panoptic rules — both weather condition and activeness — so power user can better sink in and sort their post . add a Change Subject action would permit you to mechanically mark , file , and forward incoming messages .
The Accounts penchant could use some body of work as well . For example , give up users to download just the message bailiwick or a few kilobytes of each subject matter rather than giving them only the option to be prompted when a message outperform a certain size.—CB
Smart syncing
Mac OS X ’s consolidation with .Mac ’s iDisk feature is impressive . If you drop files into your iDisk , OS X keeps a written matter of those files on your Mac and automatically synchronise them with the .Mac server .
It ’s a great feature — and I want to be able to do it with any booklet on my drive . countenance me pick a folder and synchronize it to a folder on a mounted file server or a remote server via WebDAV or FTP . Because as nice as .Mac is , it ’s a whole passel dim than the file waiter sitting on my local meshwork . — JS
Keeping tabs with iChat
iChat needs some serious usability improvements , and now ’s the meter . The clever utilityChaxhas hacked some cool feature of speech into iChat — like the ability to display multiple schmooze in one window via a tabbed interface . But it really should be Apple ’s own engine driver and user - interface designers who take a crack at this one . I ’d also care to see iChat be able to optionally write audio recording and video chat files , so I can have a recording of my chats without resorting to external utilities . Most significantly , iChat need to disseminate its wings , link up to other confabulation services while also maintaining its strong links with AOL ’s Instant Messenger internet.—JS
We hope that an update version of Automator includes more sophisticated options like variables , conditionals , and branching .
Automator II
Automator was a great step forward for Apple — bringing AppleScript into the hands of regular Mac users . But more could be done . Of course , integrating AppleScript into more applications is a greater variety show of program is necessary , but once that ’s done , how about bringing a Record function into AppleScript / Automator that really works ?
More Automator updates
While we ’re at it , it would be great to see an update to Automator that included some slightly more advanced programming prick — namely variables , conditionals , and branch — so that Automator actions do n’t have to be limited to having a one - caterpillar track mind.—JS
Capturing moving pictures
OS X has always had pretty proficient silver screen seizure tools — you could take screenshots of the whole screen or a window , and have those stroke go to the hard drive or the clipboard . But what I ’d love to see in o X 10.5 is a build - in silver screen movie capture tool . For anyone who compose , or does tech musical accompaniment for congeneric , or who plays video games , entrance a screen motion picture can be a worthful dick — for showing others how something work , or just for prove to your friends that you really did kill that spirit level 17 Jwarbatic Slather Beast with your au naturel helping hand and a Twinkie .
As of today , on PowerPC Macs at least , Ambrosia’sSnapz Pro Xis the best solution for capturing screen picture show . Snapz Pro X does a very in force job at capturing movies of onscreen actions , but I think Apple could make in a arrant putz . It ’d be great if I could just tell my relatives , “ strike Shift - Command-5 and read a pic of what you ’re seeing on the screen , ” rather of sample to debug things through iChats and/or e - mail . I ca n’t very well enquire them to all go buy a relatively expensive instrument just to make things easier for me . Well , I could need , but I ’m jolly indisputable I ’d get a very low reply rate!—RG
Bring back Sherlock
I have a bun in the oven one of two things to take place with Sherlock in OS X 10.5 . Either the Web services app will make a triumphant return , or it ’s go to disappear into the ether . Unfortunately , I think the latter is most probable , and that ’s too bad .
Rather than managing a whole great deal of open Dashboard thingamajig , why ca n’t we have the pick of a single coating that bundles features into one window ?
With the demise of Karelia Software ’s Watson — a sorely missed World Wide Web - inquisitory tool that could find eBay point , airline travel clip , headphone numbers , and other data — Sherlock is really the only WWW services coating out there . Watson was an awe-inspiring program for its time , simplify and streamline the process of get at the riches of information present on the Internet . It ’s apparent that Apple sees Dashboard as the successor for Sherlock , as many of Apple ’s gizmo twinned feature found in Sherlock .
But from my seat , there ’s a big difference between using a nicely - write operating system X diligence that has many features bundled in one windowpane and unfold 15 Dashboard thingamabob . The app is easily managed ; the aggregation of widgets , not so much . I hanker for a usable replacement for Watson , and I had hop Apple would nibble up the slack water with Sherlock . That has n’t hap yet , and sadly , I do n’t think Leopard is go to terminate my longing … but one can always hope.—RG
Pop-up innovations
Tiger add us Dashboard , and scores of Dashboard widgets have appear on the scene in the ensuing months . But Dashboard is still far more modified than it should be . Sure , it ’s a clever idea to hide Dashboard widgets on an unseeable bed that only seem when you press F12 — but as the saying lead , out of sight mean out of creative thinker . I find myself seldom using Dashboard doodad , mostly because I never remember to press F12 to see what ’s going on .
So it ’s time for some more Dashboard innovations from Apple . First off , you should be able-bodied to ( legally and officially , not by exploit plug or bug in the organization ) retarding force widgets off of the Dashboard layer and into the steady Mac user interface . But let ’s go beyond that : Why not give Dashboard programmer the power to interact with the veritable Mac interface when the need arises ? For example , what about a widget that floats to your Mac ’s surface when something important happens ?
utter of float notifications , slew of cunning Mac software now support Growl , a system for generating system notifications — largely in the shape of small float windows that briefly appear when something crucial happens . Once again , this is a position where Apple could really inspire some user interface innovation by creating something like Growl and providing it as a resource for all Mac software to use.—JS
Tabbed Terminal
I utilise Terminal a pot — for everything from using SSH to connect to my home Macs while traveling to uploading file to the Mac OS X Hints server to installing receptive source software program . As such , I unremarkably have a large number of Terminal window open . Even on a big concealment , it can become elusive keep them all straight , especially when they have selfsame ground and font colour .
or else of get by 20 separate windows , I ’d get it on OS X 10.5 ’s terminus to offer the selection for tabbed Terminal windows . The candid - generator applicationiTermhas tabbed windows , and they ’re surprisingly handy . Unfortunately , the programme was last update in February , and there are a few small issues with it .
For now , I use iTerm when I ’m going to be doing a window - intensive Unix session , and Terminal the rest of the fourth dimension . But if Apple were to add pill to Terminal in Leopard , I could rid myself of another program.—RG
PowerPC or not to be?
I do n’t know what new features Steve Jobs will have up his arm when he pulls back the curtain to bring out OS X 10.5 at August ’s Worldwide Developers Conference . But there is one prevision about the OS X update code - named Leopard that I ’m absolutely surefooted about making .
Mac OS X 10.5 will run on both PowerPC- and Intel - based Macs .
As for the next major version of OS XafterLeopard ? Well , I would n’t get my promise up , PowerPC substance abuser .
The history of Apple — indeed , of any company that ply its patronage in the technical school game — is one of cutting off legacy technologies once they grow too onerous to assert . Consider the last major changeover the Mac program underwent . In May 2002 , Steve Jobs declare OS 9 as deadened as disco — a little more than a twelvemonth after OS X ’s debut . By 2003 , the company stopped sell new Macs that could bring up into OS 9 .
It ’s a little too soon for Apple to take a similar tack with PowerPC - base machine . Still , you have to figure the clock start wrap down on those models the precise moment Book of Job announced the modulation to Intel - supplied central processing unit . Indeed , while Leopard will likely run just fine on a PowerPC machine , a feature film such as the promised Boot Camp integration will most emphatically not . And while I ca n’t definitively say whether other , as - of - yet - unannounced Leopard features will only ferment on Intel machine at this point in time , if I may paraphrase the Magic 8 - Ball , all signs betoken to yes .
But I would n’t rip my garments just yet , PowerPC proprietor — that PowerMac G5 or PowerBook G4 has a few geezerhood of liveliness in it before Apple cuts you off from next OS X update . Apple has indicated that the August showing of Leopard will be a preview , not a full - fledged release . Let ’s assume we do n’t see a shipping version of OS X 10.5 until at least Macworld Expo in January 2007 or , more potential , natural spring of that yr . Since we no longer live in an age of yearly oxygen X overhauls , let ’s also usurp that it ’s another 18 to 24 months after that before OS X 10.6 — Fisher Cat ? Siamese ? Meerkat?—arrives . By my estimate , then , it ’ll be 2009 by the meter Apple issue its last call for PowerPC Macs . ( “ You do n’t have to go home , but you ca n’t work out here . ” ) And that assumes that OS X 10.6 is , in fact , the last call . Or that OS X+1 is n’t warming up in the wings , for that matter.—PHILIP MICHAELS
[ Senior editor program Rob Griffiths run theMac OS X Hints Web web site . Senior editor Christopher Breen offers Mac troubleshooting hint in his Mac 911 weblog . Jason Snell is the editorial conductor ofMacworld . Jim Dalrymple is Macworld.com ’s intelligence music director . Philip Michaels is the executive editor of the World Wide Web site . ]
