I’ve been hearing lately on podcasts that people are running out of ideas for new features they’d like to see in macOS. I disagree. I think there’s still a long, long way to go. For example:
Siri-assisted automatic file sorting and tagging (ie: DEVONthink’s AI assisted magic-hat sorting)
Private key encryption for iCloud syncing
Rule-based automation built-in (Hazel on steroids, consolidation of Apple Mail rules with a OS-wide event triggering system)
I couldn’t care less about dark mode. My idea is that the Mac is where work gets done, so let’s make it the absolute best environment for managing your data right out of the box. What ideas can you think of?
A native markdown control that understands references (to figures, etc.), captions, citations, etc. This so that developers have a common control, and we users don’t have to learn 12 flavors of markdown. This control would appear everywhere text is appropriate, Mail, Reminders, Calendar, etc.
Narcoleptic sleep
Make sleep faster so I don’t have to wait with my laptop up to my face to see when the fans stop and I can put it in my sleeve and bag.
Rescan USB thing
So I don’t have to cycle power on my hub for my external drives to be recognized when I connect my laptop and it’s been asleep.
Dark mode
I’m looking forward to it. I’m sensitive to excess light, so this should be nice.
All of @ibuys suggestions, plus dark mode. Native tagging in Mail (synced with iOS) would be huge. Also if tagging worked with all cloud services (currently only iCloud – I realise this isn’t Apple’s fault…) that would be great. Currently Dropbox syncs tags from one Mac to another but they don’t sync to iOS Files app.
I’m pretty happy with the existing features, once I add some third-party software (Alfred, Hazel, BetterTouchTool, some others). But what I’d really want to see:
Less frequent new versions. One per year is way too frequent.
Better support for legacy programs and computers. This is what I truly miss from Microsoft Windows.
More thought to how it works stand-alone, without the iCloud or iOS devices.
Automator looks so much like an incomplete project. Finish it. This request is similar to “add Workflows”.
A global linking system. Be able to press a shortcut to create a timestamp like (a20180802123302) and clicking on it opens spotlight and shows me all the things that have that stamp. It could be a simple icon with a unique ID to it that I can place anywhere I want press it to link something else.
This way I could put this stamp in my todo list item where it links to a spot in my Bear Notes. Or if I have a clients file and i need to quickly get to another part of a different note I can press that button and it opens it up no matter if its in the same app or not.
The ability to set column widths individually in Finder for particular folders, and have those setting retained. I know I can set them all globally, but that isn’t ideal.
More control (and transparency) of what syncing/uploading/downloading is taking place in the background.
It might be iCloud, or Photos, but it happens 2/3/4 times a year that the fatpipe internet connection at work, gets hammered by my MBP – and when I look again, I’ve blown way over my monthly ‘allocation’ in a matter of moments…
Little Snitch doesn’t’ even ‘see’ it, which has me thinking this is a OS issue, that is deeply embedded, and running silently in the background.
