Apple's other Operating System

Until a few months ago, I fully expected Apple to announce Mac OS X 10.7 at this year’s Worldwide Developer Conference. But when I saw that there was no Mac-specific track on the conference schedule and that Mac apps would be excluded from the annual Apple Design Awards, I got the message loud and clear: iOS and the products it powers—the iPhone, iPod touch, and now the iPad—are now the stars of Apple’s software show. Mac OS X, last updated a year ago, now plays second fiddle.

OS X’s last major release, Snow Leopard, included internal changes, bug fixes, and performance improvements, but very few new features that were visible to users. Could it be that Apple thinks there’s just nothing left to add to Mac OS X? I sure hope not, because I have plenty of ideas. Here are just two of them, one concrete and the other more fanciful.