So, the dates for this year’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) have been announced (August 7-11, if you are curious), and those of you with good memories will remember that in addition to announcing the Intel switch Steve mentioned that one of the topics to be discussed this year is the next release of OS X, Leopard. I jumped the fence about a year ago now, with a purchase of a 15” Powerbook. I write this on a new 20” iMac, and I will say this: the grass is greener on the Apple side of the fence.
Which isn’t to say that the Mac leaves nothing to be desired; in fact I have some pretty specific desires for the next version of OS X. I’ve even gone so far as to make a list of them:
1> iChat needs some improvement. for starters an instant messenger should only take two windows in text-chat mode: one window for the contact list and one for the open chat(s). iChat needs an Adium-like tabbed chat window. Also, having to have three windows open to see all of my contacts is silly: iChat needs to integrate the AIM, Jabber, and Bonjour contacts into one contact list. Secondly, iChat needs to be multi-protocol: that means Yahoo and MSN support needs to be added to iChat. the new Macs (like my iMac) are coming with the video camera built-in: for me this means either snubbing my family (who use Yahoo) to use iChat, having multiple chat programs open, or using a program like Adium and not using the camera. None of these are ideal solutions and I am sure there are others in the same position as I.
2>iSync syncs my bookmarks, calendar and address book information between my iMac and the Powerbook: the process is seamless and happens in the background. I want the same feature to be available for files and folders: intelligent syncing of documents between two computers. Here is how I want it to work: I get home from class; set my Powerbook down on the coffee table and open the lid: I want the iMac to notice the powerbook (via bluetooth or airport) and automatically start to sync the files that have been changed since the last sync - in either direction: if a file has been changed on both computers - then notify me of a conflict (just like it does with address book). Of course, I don’t want to mirror all of the files on the iMac to the Powerbook, so I also want to select the folders that I want to sync. All of the technology is available for this sort of thing and the number of people who have both desktops and laptops grows all of the time. In fact, most pro applications are licensed in a way that assumes that the user has both: syncing that “just works” is long overdue.
3>This one has more to do with iWeb - but really would be helped by some OS work: iWeb needs a better blogging engine and built in FTP: publishing a new blog comment should be quick and painless. Also, a commenting system needs to be included
Okay, I am done … for now - any other ideas?
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