Windows XP Pro does it, X11 does it too. But Apple is charging $300+ bucks for the ability to connect to another of your Macs with Apple Remote Desktop. Currently, that price is for 10-clients and I agree with companies need to make money. However, a free, bundled version of Apple Remote Desktop with only 1-client license would be Godsend for many users! It is very important for people who want to work from home. My husband does it all the time with his Win2k laptop connecting from home to his work's VPN and his XP Pro machine. He didn't have to pay a dime for it and it has made his and my life much easier. And yes, I did try VNC and TightVNC on OSX. They immensely suck stability-wise and they are extremely slow compared to a real, native solution.
Database Integration between Local and Networked Apps
Note how you can share iTunes' playlist using Rendezvous or an IP-based authentication? Wouldn't be great if such data exchange could be achieved by more applications on the Mac, using the same secure protocol based on XML and maybe a back-end database (that could be tied to the filesystem for all that I care). This way you could share your photos, your music, etc., by using not only proprietary Apple apps, but any other third party app could make use of the protocol. Suddenly, all apps would interoperate, because they would be built upon the same structure and architecture.
Scanner sharing
Anyone knows how to share my scanner connected to an OSX machine, over the network to other PCs or Macs? I can't use Image Capture's preferences because it blocks the official Epson and SilverFast driver, so I would need this option on the main Preference panel (read the next page where I explain the problem).
Modern Web Presence
It would be lovely if Apple could bundle Apache, mySQL or PostgreSQL and PHP by default. For me, this is a development platform and I find it unfair that C/C++/Java/ObjC developers get their tools for free and easily-installed, while web developers will have to either buy the Server OSX edition or go through the pain of installing the software and the Apache addons manually through trial and error.
Included Virtual PC
This would be a killer feature: the ability to run Windows or Linux inside Mac OS X, for free (Windows OS installed manually by the user, not included in the OSX package of course). I can already imagine the TV ad: "Two worlds come together! Run Windows. But with the elegance of your Mac. Think Different!" A free Windows/PC emulator can solve a lot of problems for people who want to do the switch and they are set back for one reason or other other. And I believe that Apple could purchase the source of Virtual PC off Microsoft, because MS bought it off Connectix mostly for their Windows reasons (running them inside future Windows versions as emulated or grid-like). MS said that they are committed to doing more Mac versions, however, if Apple could incorporate this as an OS feature, it is a big win to guarantee more switchers. And with Apple's marketshare declining towards 2%, this feature could help a lot. Unfortunately, RealPC was a hoax, Bochs is ranging from unusable-to-very-slow, and VMWare is not available for non-x86s (neither it can become, as it relies on x86). The only viable solution today would be to somehow license or purchase the Mac version of Virtual PC off MS. Strategically-speaking, Apple should have done this years ago already, purchasing it from Connectix. Letting someone else purchase Connectix's IP was a huge strategic mistake.
Office Solution
Except the dated and seemingly abandoned AppleWorks and the overpriced MS Office, there are no modern and cheap office solutions today on the Mac. Only latest addition is X11-based OpenOffice.org, but until X11 becomes more integrated to OSX, I don't see OOo taking off with the regular Mac crowd (see: no geeks). KOffice, Gnome Office and OOo can greatly help the situation here if released as easy-to-install bundles, however, X11 integration to the OSX system is imperative beforehand. Some say that Keynote is just one part of a larger, new, office solution developed by Apple, but this is just a rumor that I can't hold on to. In the meantime, there is a "market hole" here.
Support for the .NET Platform
Personally, I believe that it would be great if Apple started working on a .NET implementation, either based on Mono, or on a licensed codebase by Microsoft. Many would think that engaging on .NET would strength Microsoft's position and weaken Apple's, but I don't believe so. Apple is already 'weak' at 2.2% market share, and supporting the technologies of the big competitor with the 95% of marketshare would only strengthen Apple at this point. Besides, .NET is actually a good technology and, if this is what it takes to get more apps or more developer switchers, then this is what has to be done, politicalities and zealotry aside. Business is business.
DB-based 64-bit Filesystem & NL Parsing
In the file system area we see many innovations from SGI's XFS and Be's BFS in 64-bit and metadata-enabled fs, while ReiserFS and WinFS will soon bring database support on their backend. And there is always more exotic stuff, like Seth Nickel's Storage concept, which allows users to search and use the file system using natural language. Also, ability to search on content rather than just metadata or filename would be good.
Application Management
I absolutely love the simplicity of uncompressing an archive and drag-n-drop the binary to your /Applications or your ~/ folder. However, there are cases where applications install preferences, plugins or drivers to the system and, when you later delete the app, these files remain to your system. This renders your system "unclean" and maybe even unstable after a while, as most of these apps come without an "uninstall" facility. I would like to see a smart way for the system to "connect" these apps with these files and, upon deletion, to clean up the system for me. Or force the developers to provide visual uninstallation methods. More users are too lazy to hunt down such files in directories they don't normally view.
- "User Interface"
- "Application Enhancements"
- "System Enhancements, Part 1"
- "System Enhancements, Part 2"
