{"id":25301,"date":"2016-06-08T00:00:49","date_gmt":"2016-06-08T07:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.technightowl.com\/?p=25301"},"modified":"2016-06-07T16:27:16","modified_gmt":"2016-06-07T23:27:16","slug":"the-os-x-report-do-we-need-new-features","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.technightowl.live\/blog\/2016\/06\/the-os-x-report-do-we-need-new-features\/","title":{"rendered":"The OS X Report: Do We Need New Features?"},"content":{"rendered":"

As you might expect, the tech pundits are now working overtime trying to guess what the next operating system for Macs will contain. Notice that I’m avoiding discussion in this column on whether it’ll be branded macOS, or Mac OS, or remain as OS X. I really don’t care all that much what it’s going to be\u00a0called. I’ve mentioned it on the radio show, but only in passing.<\/p>\n

So what can we expect from the big event June 13, when Tim Cook and his lieutenants reveal all to a waiting public during the WWDC keynote? Whether any of it means anything also depends on your priorities.<\/p>\n

First among equals in expected tentpole features is Siri. I can see, from a marketing viewpoint, why it’s there. Microsoft added its virtual assistant, Cortana, to Windows 10 last year, so Apple may seem to be behind the curve not to have a similar feature for your Mac.<\/p>\n

The details don’t matter so much unless you care about talking to your Mac. I don’t. Don’t forget that you can already perform dictate functions on a Mac, and that’s a feature that has existed for a while. I suspect some people will play with the Mac version of Siri\u00a0for a while and give it up, and a smaller number might agonize over every feature and every failure if things go wrong. Or I might just be totally off the mark on this, but that depends on the degree to which it’s touted by Apple, and what advantages it’ll offer over the competition. Will, for example, VocalIQ technology acquired by Apple last year fuel a Siri on steroids?<\/p>\n

In any case, you should expect that the core apps for OS X will be upgraded, and that includes Calendar, Maps, Mail, Messages and Safari.<\/p>\n

For now, I’m perfectly happy with Safari. I settled on it as my preferred browser years ago. I keep Chrome and Firefox around for compatibility, plus whatever Microsoft is pushing in the Windows 10 environment that runs with Parallels Desktop. I need to know that my sites are all working properly or at least reasonably well regardless of which\u00a0browser\u00a0or computer you’re using.<\/p>\n

Mail is a very mixed bag. It is simple, fast, and does most things well. But the El Capitan version was notorious for stalling for a 30-second timeout from time to time. I’ll let you know if the 10.11.6 betas helps; the second beta shipped this week to both Mac developers and public beta testers.<\/p>\n

Other than that timeout issue, Mail can be aggravating because it is stupid at performing some basic\u00a0functions. Take setting up an email account. If you use a standard free email system, such as Gmail, iCloud or Outlook, the setup process is fairly seamless. Microsoft Exchange support is also pretty good. But when it comes to adding a standard private IMAP email account, Mail is brain dead.<\/p>\n

I’ll single out the email accounts I’ve used on\u00a0my web server and a third-party provider, Polaris Mail<\/a>. The DNS settings for my domains\u00a0include features known as “autodiscover” and “autoconfig” that allow an email client \u2014 well a smart one \u2014 to automatically select the incoming and outgoing servers and, usually, map the local folders with the server’s folders for Drafts, Junk and Sent. Except for Mail, which does none of this. Mail for iOS is equally brain dead, meaning I have to engage in wasted manual labor whenever I configure an account of this sort.<\/p>\n

What about the competition? Well, Microsoft Outlook for Mac is somewhere in the middle. It continues to create bogus folders for the standard three. So instead of mapping the local folder\u00a0to Sent on the server, it creates\u00a0a folder called Sent Items and the Mac versions of the app doesn’t let you change it. At least not for me.<\/p>\n

Are you with me so far?<\/p>\n

Thunderbird, however, seems to guess the “autodiscover” and “autoconfig” settings\u00a0and it gets all the IMAP folders correct. Maybe Apple’s developers should talk to the Mozilla people about this. Why Mail hasn’t been fixed is anyone’s guess. I’d rather have a solid, workmanlike feature of this sort then being able to annotate messages in Mail, which doesn’t even seem to work anymore.<\/p>\n

To put things in perspective, Mail dates back to the NeXT days.<\/p>\n

When it comes to instant messaging, I use three apps on my Mac, because of the lack of interoperability among various systems. So there’s Messages, which also manages such extras as the\u00a0original AOL\/AIM system, plus Jabber, Google and SMS messaging\u00a0courtesy of my iPhone.<\/p>\n

It used to handle Facebook messages until the powers-that-be at that company decided to discard Jabber support. So I use something called Messenger for Facebook, which is not actually published by Facebook. The third is WhatsApp, largely because a few of my contacts, including my son, Grayson, use it. But since Facebook owns WhatsApp, why not integrate both\u00a0systems in a single app? Is that a branding or marketing issue?<\/p>\n

Ideally, I’d like all these messaging systems to work in a single app. It’s about efficiency, which is what Messages used to be until things changed for the worse. Whether Apple can manage this is anyone’s guess. I suppose it depends on the company’s relationship with Facebook and the latter’s intentions. Clearly the customer comes last.<\/p>\n

Then there’s the potential for Touch ID support. Future Macs might have a fingerprint sensor, but what’ll probably happen is that there will be a Bluetooth link with an iPhone so equipped, and it will be able to wake up your Mac. One hopes Apple will keep it simple.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As you might expect, the tech pundits are now working overtime trying to guess what the next operating system for Macs will contain. Notice that I’m avoiding discussion in this column on whether it’ll be branded macOS, or Mac OS, or remain as OS X. 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