Windows 7 feature request list leaks out
By Nilay Patel 
posted November 12th 2007 4:20PM
posted November 12th 2007 4:20PM
Read -- post at ArsTechnica
Read -- full list at NeoWin
posted November 12th 2007 4:20PM
A look back on popular stories from today in a specific year.
Now that we've thrown 'em off the trail, use the form below to get in touch with the people at Engadget. Please fill in all of the required fields because they're required.
Keyboard and mouse UI needs to die. Touchscreen, mind control, give me something better.
How about a speech recognition interface that completely removes the need for any keyboard/mouse input? And voice recognition that removes the need for passwords and fingerprint readers. And not having to use a microphone or headset but instead having "ears" in the upper left and right corners of the display.
What happens if/when you lose your voice?
@Phil:
If only Microsoft made it's own hardware.
Microsoft did have an interesting concept PC: http://www.istartedsomething.com/20070917/revisiting-microsofts-vista-pc-concept/
Personally, I love Vista's built-in Speech Recognition. I can say, they really kind of innovated speech recognition. You can't say the same for Apple.
Multitouch support throughout the interface, surface and oragami already intergrated like media center. More ability to customize the layout of start menu and control panel. No NT anymore, go with a more stable base like: mac os is built on top of unix. way way way more advanced functionality between mobile device center and windows mobile photon, for example:I shoudn't have to have outlook to sync pim items when windows already has all the necessary apps built in. Also, speaking of the "necessary apps" like calendar and contacts and mail, why not replace those things with the windows live versions of them and give it the ability to do exchange server-like syncing between any computers or winmo phones connected to them. VNC based multi desktop support that is way more intergrated than mac os's vnc support with spaces, make sure it is all intergated into messenger (or live messenger). make windows movie maker better, and intergrate it with dvd maker, and also make sure it has a much better sound recorder/editor built in. give media center the ability to "back up" DVDs and other HD format discs. Give WMP better HD support and a nicer interface(BTW by nicer interface i don't mean frickin cover flow). Make word pad a viable solution for document editing, and give it pdf reading support (don't worry, people will still buy office for the more advanced functionality, but word pad is so sad it either needs to be axed or imporved). I'm starting to lose my train of thought, but one last feature you need is an os wide spell/grammar/dictionary checker that can have autocomplete and syncornize to my windows m photon os wide checker and autocomplete. o yeah, also windows mobile photon devices should include support for being sideshow devices and remotes for media center.
Make it less bloated than Steve Ballmer. That should be easy. Shouldn't it?
Windows is a dog, requiring too many resources and too many calls to antiquated routines. Free it from the shackles of its crappy underpinning. Releasing Vista instead of scrapping it was Microsoft's biggest mistake and a gross insult to the business, 3D, and cheapskate, communities that kept it alive.
"Backup Xbox 360 games to Windows PC"
HAHAHAH Who's the retard to suggested that!
I want Microsoft to completely rewrite Windows from the ground up. I'd also love it if the next Explorer wouldn't be as gaudy / shiny / distracting as Vista's.
That list is a nice start... but how about not having those little dialogs that pop up with a long file copy status steal focus? How about not allowing ANY window to EVER steal focus? And those dialogs shouldn't have accellerator keys on the buttons... I can't count how many times I've been typing during a long download, and when the file completes and copies, it steals focus, and while I'm typing, I just happen to hit the key that causes the "cancel" button to activate, losing the entire damn download.
No window should ever steal focus, period.
And all those damn pop ups giving me status of things I don't give a damn about.... "Network connected" (uh, no kididng, I can tell), "There are unused icons on your desktop", "Updates are ready", ugh, ugh, ugh. Stop with the notifying me all the time! It's annoying and distracting. Even more, when I say "shut down", please just shut down! Fast! Don't prompt me for things, don't hang out, don't stop and wait on dialogs... FORCE the damn shut down, so that I don't tell it to shut down, walk away, and then come back an hour later to see it stuck at some "Are you sure?" prompt. Ugh.
Better multi-monitor handling all around, including media center, placing dialogs and remembering them, applications, virtual desktops, task bar placement (on specific monitors, or across monitors, or different parts (launch, language, system tray) on different monitors.
Windows install and uninstall is such a mess. I know this from both a user view and a developer view. It's too complicated, too easily messed up, not robust enough to deal with strange situations and boundry cases. It all should be a lot simpler.
Include the powershell with all versions.
And speaking of versions, let's cut the 17 versions crap. At most three: Home, Business, and Ultimate. Basically, that's "Media Center", "Business" (with advanced security, domains, more services and clients aimed at business), and "everything" (the sum of it all).
And make the UI consistent... go through everything, and make all the icons consistent, all the graphics consistent, get rid of those "single tabbed dialogs", update everything to the same consistent look and feel.
That, and speed everything up, optimize everything, and make windows snappier. I can't stand clicking a close button and waiting (1... 2... 3... 4... ) until it closes SECONDS later. Same when I launch... put that damn window up there, blank if necessary, and wait for the application to load and paint it. I want the perception of snappiness.
I'm a simple man, all I ask of Microsoft is to make windows open source, and to get rid of the BSOD. Come on, how log has Microsoft been using the same BSOD format, for once let ME choose the color my screen is to display when Windows wants to inform me tht I got screwed....or better yet, change it all together and just have a black background with a smiley face that takes up the screen and on the bottom a text box that reads "You got f***ed Over. Have A Nice Day."
started using Vista and got a BSOD, not only did I get the BSOD, but I also got a little notice after I rebooted to inform me that I got BSOD-ed.
You certainly can't expect them to open source it, but I agree with you on the BSOD thing. Quit spitting out meaningless error messages like "ODBC: Invalid Argument" when a corrupted database or "Error Code: 0E" when a memory error occurs. It sure doesn't help a tech when a user calls up and says, "I get an error message that says 'Error 0x800001C occurred.' What do I do now?".
So when Windows 7 comes out, the upgrade will be to downgrade to Vista, then downgrade to Windows XP. I guess Windows XP is the best OS Microsoft has ever made or ever will make. I know I like it a lot.
Ahem... I think it was back in '97 that Microsoft announced 'Cairo' - Windows NT 5.0 including an improved file system, more OO in the OS etc. etc. we're ten years further yet most of the stuff they swore they'd deliver then just keeps reappearing as a hot feature in THE next windows release. If there's one thing MS can learn from the Jobs crowd then it is that the best way to get a proper OS out there is to make a clear break with legacy and build something new.
OK, heres what to do:
1. Look at Win95. That was the last complete rewrite. Use this as your base, instead of keeping on building on patches, cause thats whats causing windows to be so bloated, buggy, and ugly.
2. Add support for the 21st century--larger HDs, multi-proc, USB, ethernet, etc.
3. Have a fresh team come in and flip though it, and make it as small as possible. As in, it can boot and run off a CD (LiveCD).
Sell this "barebone" system as the BASIC (home edition or whatever) vesion of the next windows. Most office users don't use anything beyond music player, firefox, word processor. Period. Note, this doesn't apply to home usage or Engadgeter types.
4. Package with it a second CD (or sell for less) that contains basic features that the average user might want, such as a word proccessor, image editor, firewall, new GUI themes (such as those in Vista or XP). On this include a package repository. This repository will be used for independent developers to produce executables...the programs listed in it are "approved" and so you know they're not malware. It also has he ability to download and install selected programs, as well as provide a short description of each.
5. Sell or offer free Window features as upgrades. These can be on CDs or DVDs, or over the repository as stated above. These would include things like a new GUI, integration of applications, anything that the base user doesn't use, more than, say , 10,000 users request.
The barebones system and modulized features would make it easier to work on something without messing up the system as a whole, efficientize the system, and easier to finish work on a section. Also, the lack of features will mean that the OS can be sold for cheaper, such as say, $25, which is so amazingly low, people will find it more effective to buy the damn thing rather than pirate it. (Take for example the counterfeiting of five dollar bills...no one does it). More people will be satisfied with the product, due to its efficiency, size, and customability. And people can no longer complain that it has too many useless features, or too few interesting features, cause you can configure it however you want it. Customer satisfaction, and therefore, loyalty will increase, seeing as the market is changing out of the Microsoft monopoly, and they need to stay on their game in lght of emerging competitors like MacOS, Amiga 5, and the myriad Linux distros that are becoming easier to use by the day.
One thing, any release of a "new" OS should contain NO source ripped or patched from older versions..this leads to bugs and inefficiencies, such as the street and water systems of the "old" parts of town in European cities as compared to the more modern mass build in newer portion.
While it will cost the corporation a lot in the production phase, programming an operating system takes a fair amount of money and work, it will pay off significantly, seeing as very little time will have to be spent debugging (which takes a LOT longer than programming) and insulting the user with continuous patches, showing an inferior product. In the end, all is for the better.
If you read this far, I'm amazed at the length of your attention span! We should get together and have tea sometime.
--Bob
I read to the end! Oh wait...I think I skipped a couple lines in the middle where I got bored reading about modulized features or something like that.
"Win95. That was the last complete"
-Yeah, whatever...
"Win95. That was the last complete rewrite"
LOL, yeah whatever...
Hey, I've been through XP's win32 files. Explain to me why I find files headed with:
"
$CHICAGO$
=========
"
Its because it has been sitting around, unmodified, nd completely useless since 95. (Chicago was the codename for 95)
Or better yet, why does XP have a TRIPEAKS HIGH SCORE TABLE? Tripeaks was unsupported along with the rest of the BOWEP pack some years ago.
how about filling up the recently used programs list if you use small icons!!! If I increase the number of programs to show beyond 9 it just makes the start menu long. XP does it fine but vista doesn't. Talk about going backwards microsoft!
I switched to vista....
a few registry hacks, disabled uac's and "performance and reliability upgrades" later and it's pretty solid
I won't be going back to xp...
it's just an endless cycle..., people are going to be making the same complaints when 7 comes out... just as they did with the switch between 98 and xp
imo.. all os issues are the spawn of user error O.o
http://www.neowin.net/images/uploaded/1798_early_feedback.png
a lot of those comments are for IE to work more like FireFox and Opera, both can be skinned to look like IE btw.
my best idea would be to include a copy of XP with Vista and have the two run multiboot {no comments on running XP with Vitualization, gamers/professionals need the graphics card} then they could call every sale a vista adoption.
introducing: Windows Cairo... I mean Vienna. {woops}
247005: Windows "Gaming" mode, would be awesome, automatically turn off all unwanted services or run in a striped down windows with maximum stability with graphics support.
253309: Deleting Addresses from IE7's Dropdown address bar {would save then marriages of many net perverts}
Windows 7 is underway and Vista is half baked. Almost sounds like the burying of ME with 2000. XP Pro (SP2) is solid and was never very demanding and was legacy friendly to a point. Vista in all 5 flavors (what were they thinking)is not legacy friendly and very hardware demanding. MS promised a revolutionary new O/S but really didnt deliver one. All we got was an XP core with a pretty new interface...big whoop. Unfortunately everyone bought into the media hype and some have learned the lesson.....wait 6 months to a year until they get it fixed. XP Pro works good and Unbuntu is very nice (just won't play with AD). So what would be nice to have in an O/S ? Lighter faster and not hardware intensive, less prompting of 'are you sure?', less use of the NEXT button with a one click install or change, wifi hardware drivers internal, fast install of O/S, efficient HD use, easier menus, easy config control panel, ... maybe more....geez...I just described Unbuntu and Leopard. MS take note of what everyone else is doing, maybe you might come out of the Vista mess much better with Windows 7. Oh and cut the crap of more then 2 versions. OK ?
I don't use leopard because of the stuck up pricks that support it. It's a nice OS, but god damn the fanboys are terrible people that love 8 year old jokes.
Which is more pretentious and repugnant? All those "God Damn Fanboys that love 8 year old jokes", or someone who boycotts a product that they see to be of value because others with whom the individual does not agree use it? That's kinda like swearing off Pepsi because someone flipped you off in traffic and happened to be drinking a can.
Don't go into this. I know it is a personal flaw of mine, I don't watch anime, and pretty much hate asia because of the group around it. I am not saying it's right man, but I mean to have a intelligent conversation with one of the things, you need to associate with people that like it, and SERIOUSLY it gives me a headache... I did not say what I said to be a cock, I said it because I seriously have an issue with it.
Start with streamlining the installation. Why should you have to answer questions every 5 minutes of a 30 minute install? Ask everything before or after, but not in the middle of copying files and such. Look at any Linux distro (such as Ubuntu) to see how well this works.
Make every tech's life easier by providing a decent interface to the internals of the system. Recovery Console took the already lacklustor command prompt and brought it to its knees. One should be able to copy files, edit the registry, and otherwise fix things without services like winlogon.exe. It's far too easy to end up in a situation where you can't remove a virus because it always starts up before you get access. Even the safe mode command prompt loads the GUI!
To really ensure you end up with an "upgrade", *stop moving things around!* The amount of trouble one has to go through even to change the screen resolution is ridiculous. At least with Windows 9x/2K/XP users had a consistent interface (well, XP started killing this) that they could memorize for the horribly hard-to-accomplish things. By juggling everything around and giving it different, abstract names (Personalize? Personalize what? Everything!?), they have to relearn the whole thing.
I could go on, but I doubt I would have to; I think we all know about the "little things" that drive us mad. Start with those before tossing on alpha blending effects and DRM.
Wow, you people are suckers. You do know this is a hoax, right?
Which is more pretentious and repugnant? All those "God Damn Fanboys
that love 8 year old jokes", or someone who boycotts a product that
they see to be of value because others with whom the individual does
not agree use it? That's kinda like swearing off Pepsi because
someone flipped you off in traffic and happened to be drinking a can.
I can't say I'd get a lot of use out of these features, but I'd like to see some of these features (borrowed mostly from linux):
* Symbolic links
* Native mounting options (i.e. for hard drive and CD/DVD images)
* Get rid of the registry (or reduce its role)
* No "Hardwired" software (e.g. Internet Explorer)
It would be really nice if you could enable some sort of window-snapping... When you're running a big external monitor and putting multiple windows side to side, it'd be great if they'd snap edge to edge, or even to the sides and top of the screen for that matter.
If there is already a way to do this and I'm wasting everyone's time please let me know...