Almost a year ago , I created a “ Tiger Wish List , ” full of features I wanted to see in the next version of Mac OS X. When Tiger was finally announce , many of those features were n’t on the list — but several other cool feature I had never even consideredwerea part of Tiger .
So with Tiger now slated to get on April 29 , allow me be the first to start the supposition about what will be in Mac OS X 10.5 … oh , countenance ’s call it Leopard … when it arrives in … oh , allow ’s say January 2007 . ( And yes , I have take this opportunity to bray my usual axes and call for my pet features . That ’s part of the sport ! )
Smart Locations . Yes , I ’m still dreaming about a system - wide feature of speech that lets portable Macs fuck where they are and change their options consequently . Perhaps by 2007 Macs will have work up - in GPS locators , so they wo n’t even need to read for nearby wireless networks in lodge to learn where they are . More hardheaded uses for this technology ? eastward - mail , printer , iChat , and other scene that deepen depending on if you ’re at menage , at work , or on the route .
Smart Syncing . With Tiger , .Mac sync is much more integrated with Mac OS X and item-by-item program than it ’s been in the past times . Which is not bad . But now it ’s time to get impudent with syncing individual file and folders . macintosh OS X can synchronise a local copy of your iDisk with the edition that ’s on the .Mac servers , but that ’s so special . I ’d like the ability to arbitrarily opt ANY file or folder on my Mac and have it synced with an iDisk or other systems . Which guide to my next postulation for Leopard …
“ Profile . ”Apple ’s much better than I am at taking collections of technologies and giving them a coolheaded sobriquet — I probably would ’ve call Spotlight something like “ Beachhead ” or “ Supersearch ” or “ Mega Findy Man ! ” So the nameProfileis debatable . But the feature I ’ve got in head takes reward of fast electronic web connections and/or big - capacity portable repositing devices to let you apply what you think of asyour Mac — your preferences , documents , and perhaps even some of your app — at any Mac that ’s been set up to receive you . In other words , I lumber in to my Power Mac at household , and it tie in to .Mac to automatically synchronizeallmy key documents and preferences , and re - synchronize with .Mac when I sign out again . Or if I ’m someone who works with gigantic files , I should be capable to contemporize with my iPod , a thumbdrive , or some other as - yet - excogitate portable storage engineering . ( This would be an fantabulous feature for schooltime computer research lab , by the way . )
iChat as Productivity Tool . I apply iChat every twenty-four hour period for work — it ’s an excellent medium that ’s more verbatim than e - mail and less direct than a phone call . However , if you ’re using iChat for important body of work purposes , it needs better organizational puppet . Apple should build in a Old World chat - archive - internet browser like Spiny Software’sLogorrheainto iChat . I also want to be able-bodied to archive of sound and television chat file . Even tank would be a technology that can recognize the words spoken in those audio and video chat and automatically generate a chat transcript with a clip - based index so I can jump to the appropriate place in the chat and take heed for myself . last , how about a tabbed option for multiple chats , for those of us who need to keep many New World chat windows candid during the day ?
Okay , so that ’s four . Each time Apple comes up with a new operating system , they harbinger that it ’s get hundreds of new features . So I ask your avail once again . What feature wouldyoulike to see in the Mac OS X of 2007 ?
[ update : Stephan Somogyi remind me that 10.0 was Cheetah . Then it move Puma , Jaguar , Panther , Tiger . And Lion does n’t seem to be in the cards . So Leopard it is ! Also , Curt Poff made an splendid iChat suggestion that I ’ve added above . -J.S. ]
