Fraser Speirs ([info]fraserspeirs) wrote,
@ 2006-08-04 21:13:00
Previous Entry  Add to memories!  Tell a Friend  Next Entry
WWDC Hopes and Dreams
Lots of people in the Mac dev community are talking about WWDC. Here's what I want to happen:

Intel Mac Pro in a new (read: smaller) case. I'd really like it if it had: 8 cores, lots of drive space and a built-in memory card reader. I just really want a built-in card reader for some reason.......

But, really, I'm always more interested in the software than I am in the hardware. Here's what I'd like in Leopard, from a developer point of view:

- Growl, or something very like it. I mean, the Growl people wrote it mostly to prove to Apple what a good idea it was......

- A version of Core Data that can transparently talk to MySQL. There are so many little applications that I'd like to write to aid collaboration at work. They would be really easy to write as Core Data apps, but it's the aspect of having the database network-accessible that's missing.

- A consistent widget set which is up-to-date with Apple's current 'look'. It would be nice if someone at Apple could recognise that their 3rd party developer base are wasting time playing catch-up with the visuals instead of innovating on Apple's platform.

- Specifically, the following widgets would be nice to see: a Safari-style tab control, the Mail 2.0 "zen" split view, the little iTunes arrow in table cells, one look for popup menus (I personally like the look of the rounded grey ones in iTunes, but I'd like just one please).

- A built-in predicate editor view.

- Classes to parse RSS.

- Xcode 3.0 with an API to let other editors access the Code Sense database for autocompletion.


From a user's point of view, I'd like to see:

- iCal get a serious update (it's a great app, but it's looking a bit old)

- Someone beat Mail.app with a stick and integrate a bunch of features from Mail Act-on and MailTags. Also, give us super-tight integration with iCal.

- A replacement for all the Menu bar status items. Literally half my menu bar is taken up with them (maybe this is deliberate to push me into buying a 30" screen).

- Adoption of the ZFS file system as a full peer of HFS+.

- A built-in, free backup application that actually works

- Some technology which allows users to cras^H^H^H^H fully log out and shut down their system without losing their workspace's state.

- VOIP integration in iChat.

(11 comments) - (Post a new comment)

AMEN
(Anonymous)
2006-08-04 09:22 pm UTC (link)
I'm with you on pretty much 100% of that. Some of them I'm not so strongly preferential towards (the menu bar status items... I'm ok with them being where and what they are) but on others I'm right there (ZFS! UI consistency!). Core Data sounds like it could borrow a concept from the Newton's "Soups" and run with it hardcore.

Anyway, just wanted to say its nice to see some intelligent wish lists out there that don't center entirely on iPods and the Finder (not that we all don't want to see upgrades there, its just there are so many other areas that NEED it as much if not more).

(Reply to this)


[info]jkusters
2006-08-04 09:28 pm UTC (link)
I agree 100% with your developer list. Any *one* of those would make me quite happy. All of them... I dunno if my heart could stand the strain. :-)

As for the user list, I agree with them, but not all of them are my top priority. But I do agree with the menu bar thing. My poor iBook doesn't have enough room for all of the menu bar icons I would *like* to use, and there's no way that I've found to expose them when they're covered up by the menu. I think what I'd like to see would be a way to scoot the menu to the side for a moment (a la Expose or similar techs) So I can access the menu bar icons.

And yeah, iCal could use a LOT more polish these days. Including the ability to SET REMINDERS FOR BIRTHDAYS! (*bitter*)

I hear rumors that iChat will start working with MSN and Yahoo in the next rev. Nice, but about one generation too late.

Thanks for your list! I'll have to think about what I'd like to see show up on Monday...

JOhn.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

[info]sjkramer
2006-08-06 08:36 pm UTC (link)
My poor iBook doesn't have enough room for all of the menu bar icons I would *like* to use, and there's no way that I've found to expose them when they're covered up by the menu. I think what I'd like to see would be a way to scoot the menu to the side for a moment (a la Expose or similar techs) So I can access the menu bar icons.
Yep, it doesn't take much to overload the menubar on a 1024x768 display.

Sub-optimal workaround: NoMenuBar only displays its app menu for the purpose of being temporarily brought into the foreground so that menubar items occluded when apps with regular menus are in the foreground can be displayed/accessed.

I'm surprised Unsanity hasn't come up with some type of menubar haxie to deal with the overflow problem.

(Reply to this) (Parent)
Re: WWDC Hopes and Dreams
[info]sjkramer
2006-08-04 09:49 pm UTC (link)
- Some technology which allows users to cras^H^H^H^H fully log out and shut down their system without losing their workspace's state.
Something more flexible than Safe Sleep, like per-user saved sessions?

(Reply to this) (Thread)
Re: WWDC Hopes and Dreams
(Anonymous)
2006-08-05 12:43 am UTC (link)
Hooks for crash-persistent state. Basically, you write your apps to assume that a crash could happen any time, so that you can actually crash the app and then relaunch it, and everything will be exactly the way it was before the crash.

There may be performance issues, but that's what frameworks support is for...

(Reply to this) (Parent)
Developer Wish-List
(Anonymous)
2006-08-05 12:38 am UTC (link)
If we're talking about integrating Growl, I'd love to see more official Apple support for LinkBack (http://linkbackproject.org/) and maybe even Sparkle. Both of these are great third-party frameworks for useful functionality. Sparkle seems to get some attention currently, but LinkBack seems to have reached a plateau -- used in Omni and Nisus products and a few others.

LinkBack is great -- and the Mac really needs something like it.

I agree with a lot of your list. Here's hoping some of it comes to fruition. I'm sure there'll be some pleasant surprises too.

(Reply to this) (Thread)
Re: Developer Wish-List
(Anonymous)
2006-08-05 12:14 pm UTC (link)
I hope Apple can improve their package management system so we can build,install,remove and query packages via command line .

Examples from rpm pacakge mangement system
rpmbuild a.spec
rpm -ivh a.rpm
rpm -qa
rpm -e a

tj_yang@hotmail.com

(Reply to this) (Parent)
Objective-C API for creating and using Unicode-aware regular expressions
(Anonymous)
2006-08-05 04:54 am UTC (link)
Regular expressions are supported in C++ (Boost libraries), Java, C#, Perl (Duh!), Python and Ruby.

The lack of support in Foundation.framework sticks out like a sore thumb.

(Reply to this)


(Anonymous)
2006-08-05 04:59 am UTC (link)
what is CoreData with network accessable database?

It is EOF - the fore-father of CoreData. available in some form since 1994.
except that Apple threw away Objective-C version with Java version which no
one liked.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

[info]ahruman
2006-08-05 01:08 pm UTC (link)
There’s a guy working on a drop-in replacement for EOF.

…a built-in memory card reader. I just really want a built-in card reader for some reason.

There will never be an elegant multi-card reader. Therefore, there will never be one built into a Mac. :-)

A replacement for all the Menu bar status items.

Ahh, Control Strip. There was an OpenStrip project, but it died around OS X 10.0. :-(

(Reply to this) (Parent)

[info]deejake
2006-08-05 08:23 pm UTC (link)
Xcode 3.0 with an API to let other editors access the Code Sense database for autocompletion.

Code Sense that actually works with C++/STL would be a good start for me.

I can't wait to see what is announced on Monday.

(Reply to this)

(11 comments) - (Post a new comment)

Create an Account
Forgot your login or password?
Login w/ OpenID
English • Español • Deutsch • Русский…