[althe3rd]

Unlike previous years where Apple has unvieled features of its next iteration of OS X far before its release. The new version (10.5 Leopard) hasn't been revealed in any way shape or form. This is not unexpected due to the fact that Apple doesn't want Microsoft copying any more of its features before Vista has gone gold master.
Anyone who hasn't seen the beta versions of vista allow me to explain quickly... Microsoft has literally copied feature for feature everything from OS X. Everying from spotlight to smart folders to transparent windows to new computer transfer wizard to the dock to expose to well..... pretty much everything!
So I ask of you the mac community, what features do we think Apple will put in 10.5 that will set it apart from Vista? Obviously the responses will have to be pretty much be speculation as no one really knows for sure. But keep in mind whatever they do in leopard will be pretty much the only differences between the two OS's.
I hope to see some more GUI polishing to once again out do Vista in the pretty factor. Also some more unique user interface features that allow the user to work quicker and easier.
Let me know what you think.

[lkalliance]

OK, here's mine: turn iChat into a Skype-like client that can dial a phone number and conduct a VoIP phone conversation, and can allow outside callers to call in to you. I don't know about the econonics of it, seeing as Skype charges for such services, but since my conversations are about 50-50 phone/IM during the work day, I'd love to do it all through one interface.
Concurrent with that, I'd love for some additions/modifcations to the Address Book. I'm sure a lot of this may sound like small potatoes to most folks, but I would love to see...
--Better support of customized Address Book entries. I've got an uncle, with an East Coast address and a West Coast address. Rather than use "home" and "office" I use the more appropriate "Maryland" and "California" to identify the two addresses. Now, I expect that my cellphone won't recognize these custom labels (and it doesn't), but my iPod should. That's frustrating.
On the other hand if I have multiple URLs listed for the Address Book entry for my daughter's school (school site, district site, PTA site) then they DO show up with the custom labels shown parenthetically on the Safari Address Book menu. That's the way it should work.
--A new tier of Address Book contact types. A "combo" card, not the same as a group card. My brother has a cell phone number, my sister-in-law has a cell phone number. Combined, they have a home number. And they both, along with their daughter, use a single AIM account. I should be able to aggregate my brother and my sister-in-law into one unit (and all three of them into a different unit). I can store cell phones with the individuals, home phone and AIM account with the entire family combo, and anniversary date with the husband-wife combo.
And when I call up my broher's card, it shows his info, plus all inherited information from the combos he's in. And iCal should tap into the anniversary dates automatically, like it does with birthdays.
--Even better integration with iCal and Mail. I'd like to be able to see a list of calendar items I've associated with a contact no matter what context I'm in...if my brother is on my iChat Buddy LIst, I should be just a contextual click away from all the calendar items or all the Mail items or all the contact information on him from the Buddy window.
--How about a configurable database product? Nothing really over-the-top (that's what FIlemaker is for) but something simple, configurable and integrated. Let's say I use it to create a database of recipes. And let's say I've had my neighbor over a few times and he's just loved a particular dish that my wife makes. Now we're planning another dinner party, and my neighbor is on the guest list. In iCal I could include him as a contact with the event (which I can already do). But I could also have in the past associated this recipe with this contact (i.e. "Jim likes Chicken Gumbo"). So I could be looking at the dinner party on iCal, and call up all the recipes associated with contacts invited to the party (aha, a couple of invitees loved the Chicken Gumbo!)
So something simple but highly integrated.

That's something I'd like to see.

[althe3rd]

Some interesting additions for apple apps. I certainly like the idea of the ichat/skype integration. Doing away with having a home phone line all together would be nice.
I guess the tough part I am thinking about with the intial start of this thread was... All apps aside (ilife, ichatav, etc), what core OS additions will apple make (expose, dashboard, spotlight, etc) in 10.5. New apps are nice but they don't usually warrant a os 10.x release. I would like to see some sort of user interface functionality improvement. Unfortuantly I am not sure what they could do otherwise I would try to mock it up in photoshop.
I guess it would be funny to see 10.5 steal a small graphical que from vista. (the blured out graphics behind transparent windows effect) It would sort of be an omage/poke at microsoft. /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

[lkalliance]

It had better be more than an homage or poke, it had better look good and classy (and serve a function other than that) if we're going to pay the performance overhead for it, and look at it every day.

[althe3rd]

I completely agree, however I don't we would have to worry about a performance hit. If we have learned anything from the OSX86 project is that although apples GUI is pretty its even more efficent that windows xp.

[Albertr]

Beside screwing up the wonderful design of the iMac G4 with the G5 Apple now has dropped the modem. If this is not screwball of a decision! Who doesn't have to fax from time to time at the very least? I also use the modem all the time to dial my phone. It is to the point that I do not remember any phone number. I am sure that I am not the only one like that.
By the way, what do you all care what Microsoft does or doesn't do? The day I buy a computer using windows will be a cold day in hell.

[lkalliance]

I was (and am) a big fan of the iMac G4 design...but having one of each in my home I'd have to say that the G5 design has "held up" better.

[Albertr]

What does "held up better" mean? The great industrial designer Raymond Loewy once explained that a good design follows function. The G4 did that to a T. He went further giving examples. A woman's breast is a great design because any other shape would smother a baby suckling because he would be deprived of air. The egg was his other example. The life of a chicken would be impossible if the egg was a cube. The iMac G4's screen adjusted with the touch of a finger in all directions making viewing the screen easy and pleasurable. I even had the G4 raised above the desk, the keyboard tucked under that low shelf and the screen descending below the shelf making reading the screen a normal viewing angle. When you read a book do you hold the book vertically at eye level? The iMac G5 is literally a pain for my neck now. Too bad I had to get rid of my old friend. I will apparently always miss him.

[lkalliance]

I mean it held up better because I sit in front of it every day, hours at a time, and I still get a kick out of looking at it. The G4 less so, though I still like it. I was concerned about the G5's comparative lack of screen movability, but it hasn't been a problem.
Oddly, as much as the G4 has great screen movability, I find myself wishing it had more. Once I've set the height, fine. But I found myself wanting occasionally to pivot the screen, and since the "wrist" didn't have the degree of freedom to bend in such a way that kept my visual angle to the screen the same whilst moving the screen to one side or another.
That's not fair -- laughable, actually -- to "fault" the G4 for lacking this element that clearly the G5 also lacks. But there it is: the G4 inspired me to wish that this bit were there, the G5 doesn't. The design, too, lost some of its "cool" to me after a while. Not all of it...some of it. The G5 hasn't. It still looks beautiful to me, even now that I've been working on it daily for longer than I'd worked on the G4.
But the G4 lives on...it's on my daughter's desk, and the screen's ability to lower itself so low is a benefit to my six-year-old. I got it refurbished to start with, and now it's on, what, three years of daily use since then, with no sign of imminently going away, lol.

[tybowen]

In reply to:

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But keep in mind whatever they do in leopard will be pretty much the only differences between the two OS's.

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I disagree. I switched to Mac because of its stability and protection from virus'. Everything else was just a bonus (a very happy bonus when I found out all about it) that I didn't know about when I first decided I would get a Mac as my next computer. No one buys Tiger because of Espose or Smart Folders or the other things you mentioned. If that was the only advantage Macs had I wouldn't bother switching because of the compatibility headache. I would just find a program that makes Windows do the same thing.

[macnuke]

the secret card really isn't a secret.
it's the blend of OS and machine.
MS cannot do that.
and i will still sit smug without any AVware in my Macs

[althe3rd]

Well I am not sure how Albertr decided the hardware design of imac fit this thread but oh well, to each his own.
But back to the topic. Macnuke I completely agree with you on that one. The matching of hardware and OS is a key to success in stability and functionality that MS can't get. Also the added security and functionality make os x a better solid os. Its true that those points will never make me leave the mac os, I love it. I suppose when I started this thread that my general concern is that one of the ways the mac os draws its appeal to the wintel switchers is its appearance, os features, and security. And if MS manages to do something right with Vista (fat chance) then we could lose at least two out of the three of those advantages. That is ofcourse unless Mac OS stays ahead of the user os functionality. Features like expose have become a staple of why I love working on my mac when I do projects rather then my pc. And as stated earlier, MS will have its expose clone out in vista.
Trust me, I won't be switching back to wintel but I would love to continue to have a the same amount of reasons to entice my friends over to the mac. Thats why I am curious what apple might have up its sleeve.

[althe3rd]

Btw, in case some of you are curious as to the similarities I am referring to and would like to see them for your own eyes.
http://www.winsupers...owcase/winvista[/u]5308galleries.asp

http://www.winsupers...eviews/winvista5270.asp
Although still images make it hard to convey the true similarities, it atleast lets you see the improvements to the GUI that are being made.

[Martian]

Looks like Vista will be serious competition maybe serious enough for Apple to stop pulling chinchy crap like prematurely declaring features like PCMCIA/CardBus, and telephone modems (like they did with analogue audio and floppy drives) as obsolete. To prevail against Goliath, one must both be better AND not make chinchy mistakes.
Yes, my complaints are hardware related, but a Mac is sold as a single bundled OS/hardware product. I would never buy any computer without a phone modem or a laptop without a PCMCIA/CardBus slot.