I have noticed that it's been two years now since Apple has released a new version of iLife for Mac OS X (iLife '11, that is.) Each iLife version from '04 to '06 was released in January of that year. The infamous iLife '08, however, was instead released in August 2007, and the next iLife version didn't come out until January 2009 (iLife '09, obviously.) Then Apple went with an October 2010 release for iLife '11, and there has since been no new version for Mac OS X; only iOS receiving iPhoto, iMovie and GarageBand.
Even though iLife '11 works with Mountain Lion (provided the programs are updated for it), and is still included with every new Mac (except iDVD and iWeb), it won't be long before a new version is needed. This is what I think Apple would include in future versions of programs...
iPHOTO:
I'm not sure... even though this is my most-often used iLife app, I can't think of what could be updated. Maybe the ability to go through and delete pictures on your camera or its memory card without importing them first (so you don't have to always do it with just the SD card slot.)
More slideshow themes and book/calendar templates would be obvious.
iMOVIE:
This is my second most-used iLife app of choice. For starters, I would add 3D video support, as a number of competing consumer video editors for PC like Pinnacle Studio and Cyberlink Powerdirector come with this.
More themes and trailer templates would be an obvious candidate.
I would also like to see more video and audio effects added, as the same 20 video effects are now four years old (even iMovie 3 and iMovie HD 6 had some new effects added), maybe even a "particle generator" feature like some modern Windows editors like PowerDirector and Roxio Creator have, this way you'd be able to make fog and rain effects again like the "classic" versions of iMovie!)
I would definitely keep the ability to capture from DV and/or HDV camcorders. After all, Apple came out with a FireWire-to-Thunderbolt adapter, and many people still use FireWire camcorders.
And of course, I would like to see them incorporate all of iDVD's features into iMovie, so you can burn DVDs right within the program. No more need for a separate DVD program! If Pinnacle Studio can burn DVDs within its program (and it makes pretty good DVDs too), then why not iMovie? It even has the chapter mark feature!
GARAGEBAND:
I don't use this program that much, but from what I've seen it is pretty neat, and I've used it to make a few unique music pieces for my videos and for modifying MIDI files from old computer games.
The latest features do seem rather minor, but from what I heard it's still pretty popular.
And then there's the possibility of creating NEW applications for iLife. Maybe a blogging program that is compatible with Blogspot, LiveJournal, etc. would be a nice idea, to compete with Microsoft's Writer program.
Maybe Apple could even discontinue iWork as a separate package and just include Pages, Keynote and Numbers as part of the new iLife? After all, it'd probably be essential for most new Mac users that don't want to shell out more money for Microsoft Office...
Even though iLife '11 works with Mountain Lion (provided the programs are updated for it), and is still included with every new Mac (except iDVD and iWeb), it won't be long before a new version is needed. This is what I think Apple would include in future versions of programs...
iPHOTO:
I'm not sure... even though this is my most-often used iLife app, I can't think of what could be updated. Maybe the ability to go through and delete pictures on your camera or its memory card without importing them first (so you don't have to always do it with just the SD card slot.)
More slideshow themes and book/calendar templates would be obvious.
iMOVIE:
This is my second most-used iLife app of choice. For starters, I would add 3D video support, as a number of competing consumer video editors for PC like Pinnacle Studio and Cyberlink Powerdirector come with this.
More themes and trailer templates would be an obvious candidate.
I would also like to see more video and audio effects added, as the same 20 video effects are now four years old (even iMovie 3 and iMovie HD 6 had some new effects added), maybe even a "particle generator" feature like some modern Windows editors like PowerDirector and Roxio Creator have, this way you'd be able to make fog and rain effects again like the "classic" versions of iMovie!)
I would definitely keep the ability to capture from DV and/or HDV camcorders. After all, Apple came out with a FireWire-to-Thunderbolt adapter, and many people still use FireWire camcorders.
And of course, I would like to see them incorporate all of iDVD's features into iMovie, so you can burn DVDs right within the program. No more need for a separate DVD program! If Pinnacle Studio can burn DVDs within its program (and it makes pretty good DVDs too), then why not iMovie? It even has the chapter mark feature!
GARAGEBAND:
I don't use this program that much, but from what I've seen it is pretty neat, and I've used it to make a few unique music pieces for my videos and for modifying MIDI files from old computer games.
The latest features do seem rather minor, but from what I heard it's still pretty popular.
And then there's the possibility of creating NEW applications for iLife. Maybe a blogging program that is compatible with Blogspot, LiveJournal, etc. would be a nice idea, to compete with Microsoft's Writer program.
Maybe Apple could even discontinue iWork as a separate package and just include Pages, Keynote and Numbers as part of the new iLife? After all, it'd probably be essential for most new Mac users that don't want to shell out more money for Microsoft Office...