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Microsoft Windows 7 "Wishlist" Leaked

Cassius Corodes is one of many readers to point out that a recent "wishlist" of new Windows development features is floating around the net. This list was supposedly leaked from Microsoft and contains some of their key development features for the next version of Windows. Given that the next new Windows release is bound to be a long way off I would recommend seasoning this news with a hefty dose of sodium chloride.

6 of 522 comments (clear)

  1. Am I the only person who makes a 2nd partition? by khasim · · Score: 3, Interesting

    When installing Windows, I make a partition specifically for the swap file and temp files. That way they don't add to the fragmentation mess of the OS partition.

    Speaking of which, why does Windows still use a variable sized swap file? I lock it down to 2x RAM or 4GB. Whichever is larger. I do not want fragmentation in the swap file. I'd prefer not to need one, but that's another story.

    And how about moving IE's temp files somewhere else? Okay, you can still set permissions on the folder, but get it out of the user's profile.

    And I'm tired of seeing C:\WINDOWS\Temp
    Temp directories do not belong in the OS directory.

    Yeah, I'm whining. But I spend 15 extra minutes just getting the directories and swap arranged correctly every time I set up someone's Windows machine.

  2. More to the list... by glimmy · · Score: 5, Interesting

    An interesting choice for the article since it is a summary of an engadet summary of this article, and here is more of supposedly the leaked list.

  3. I've done it since Win3.1 by khasim · · Score: 3, Interesting
    And ever since Win3.1 I've been complaining about variable sized swap files. Come on, Bill!

    There's nothing to it. Just save some of the drive space when you install (this is a problem with some "recovery CD's" that grab everything) and format it later. Then add a swap file to it and set the swap file on C:\ to 0 bytes. Reboot and it's set.

    This is indeed a mystery. Even back in the 1970's you could designate a device to use for the swap file and it was pre-extended. You even had the option to place it on the middle cylinders of a disk so it was, on average, faster to access.

    Do you ever notice that we seem to be re-inventing everything we've learned before? I'd prefer to put the swap drive as close to the outer sectors as possible. That's a bitch with Windows. So it ends up on the inner sectors. I sacrifice speed to reduce fragmentation. But seeing as how the speed would be awful anyway (RAM swapping to even the fastest drive sucks rocks), I'm not bothered by it.
  4. How about a user wishlist? by webmaster404 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    How about a user wishlist? I would probably be using Vista instead of Ubuntu if it had these things that will probably never make it into any of the Vista service packs nor Windows 7

    1. A decent license, now open-sourcing Windows would be excellent but just having it under a "you bought the copy now do whatever you want with it" would be a ton better then the usual "Microsoft owns your computer" And that is one of the reasons I switched to Linux

    2. Good speed. I shouldn't need 4 Gigs of RAM just to get halfway decent performance out of my operating system, 512 MB should be fast enough and at 2 gigs it should have all the power needed for anything other then heavy gaming and major video editing

    3. Non-Fragmenting filesystem, Seriously, when there is file systems on Linux that never have to be de-fragmented that have been there since at least 2000, why can't Windows in 2006 not have it?

    4. Acceptance of other operating systems other then Windows. When Windows can't open up simple, free open standards by default such as .ogg, .tar and .pdf without the aid of third-party software that is just stupidity. MS needs to realize that they don't have a monopoly and that the rest of the OS world outside of MS use those and they are gaining while MS is loosing.

    5. Security without annoyances. Seriously, what is up with UAC. So now I need to click a dialog box whenever I want to run a binary from a CD-ROM??? When I clicked on it? On Ubuntu on an under-privileged account, I don't even hardly need to type my password for anything other then major system work such as installing software or changing accounts and even then it keeps it for a bit so every time I don't need to enter it.

    Its time for MS to start listing to people and make a halfway decent OS, otherwise there will be more people like me switching to Linux or OS-X.

    --
    There is no "disagree" moderation, and troll, flamebait and overrated are not valid substitutes
  5. Re:Who cares? by nine-times · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I care what Microsoft does on various levels. I'm not a Microsoft fan and I think Vista is a disaster, but honestly, I would *love* for Microsoft to come out with a great new OS. I'm the sort of guy who likes good software wherever it comes from.

    On the other hand, I don't care about wishlists or press releases. I also don't think that Windows can continue to compete if they keep doing what they're doing. Some key things that Windows absolutely has to do if I'm going to continue using it in the future:

    • Drop activation. At the very least, go back to offering a corporate version which doesn't require activation. Activation makes it hard to manage lots of machines, image them, and I don't need my computer going into "reduced functionality" because of an error".
    • Improve imagine support and booting from external drives. For a model to copy, watch how easy it is for someone to copy their whole OSX install to an external USB drive using Carbon Copy Cloner, and then to immediately reboot and run the copy on the USB drive, or boot that USB drive on *any* Mac without needing to reconfigure anything or install drivers.
    • better interoperability with Unix/Linux/OSX.

    That's the bare minimum that Microsoft can do before I'll even look at them again.

  6. How about Microsoft address some of this stuff! by AbRASiON · · Score: 4, Interesting

    First off, this post and my subsequent replies, my "general whinge with the OS"
    http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=304745&cid=20695969

    Then in a little bit more detail
    (crosspost of a post I made on a forum not more than 24 hours ago, I finally documented precisely why Vista Explorer shits me to tears)
    Warning: Bad language ahead.

    Why does Windows Vista insist on a startup sound, despite me disabling all sounds, they are turned off but it does one at startup, I like quiet and what if I don't want to wake people up?

    I've been meaning to make this post for a while, I may have railed on Vista for performance problems, specifically in Crysis, you do need to give a new operating system a 'pass' for a while, let it settle in (it's nearly been a year though!!!)

    My beef still sits with Windows Explorer, something I use daily, a lot at work and home, I need it clean, simple and easy to get data into my face as quick as possible so I can react as quickly as possible (yes, I sorry to big note but I am, *that* quick on the keyboard and when working with files)

    http://abrasion.shackspace.com/lolsta/argh01.jpg
    Apply to all folders won't let me save the options for "Computer" (My Computer) or Desktop, this is annoying.
    also, fuck the breadcrumbs bar, in the ASSSSS

    http://abrasion.shackspace.com/lolsta/argh02.jpg
    That motherfucker 'task pane' which is taking space up from my damn explorer view.
    Sure, I found some website suggesting I shrink the size of it (yay) but I can still accidentally click the bastard, plus it still looks messy.

    http://abrasion.shackspace.com/lolsta/argh03.jpg
    Mofo! I accidentally clicked it, see explanation of why it eats babies in the JPG itself.

    http://abrasion.shackspace.com/lolsta/whywhy01.jpg
    Those little box pluses, I like them, why take them away? It's confusing and slowing down the amount of data I can take in per 'scene' I need info and you're witholding it, just so you can pretend you're neater than you actually are.

    http://abrasion.shackspace.com/lolsta/whywhy02.jpg
    Ahh my boxes are back, this is good, also more cluttered shit.

    http://abrasion.shackspace.com/lolsta/wtf01.jpg
    You call this a save as dialogue box?
    I hit shift tab twice (yes, I do often, try it people) to navigate quickly to where I normally would on XP.
    I slap backspace like 10 times fast, this should ensure I'm at desktop, almost instantly (shift tab x2 and backspace x10 takes me 1 second)
    Does it work? no, of course it doesn't you breadcrumb whores.

    soooo I hit browse

    http://abrasion.shackspace.com/lolsta/wtf02.jpg oh oh
    Hot jesus, make the fucking hurting stop!
    This is one of the best reasons WHY I can't deal, look at it, just look and tell me that's simple, quick and easy to work with?
    This picture alone is why osx is going to gain some serious marketshare in the next 5 years.

    http://abrasion.shackspace.com/lolsta/shambles01.jpg
    This one is a lot more subtle, this is the kind of cluttered stuff that's hard for anyone to notice is cluttered unless you analyse it.
    You'll need to see all 3 JPGS to understand where I'm going with this.
    Maybe I should've got into UI design? Maybe I should be a minimalist linux nerd but damnit that screams messy and awkward to me:/
    http://abrasion.shackspace.com/lolsta/shambles01a.jpg
    Same picture, without t