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20 Features Windows 7 Should Include
Damian Francis writes "Australian computer expert Vito Cassisi has come up with a list of 20 features that Windows 7 should have. The article includes features like modularized OS, new UAC, program caching, standards compliant browser and a whole lot more with explanations as to why these features should be included. With Windows Vista only receiving a luke-warm reception, Microsoft needs to make sure Windows 7 is a winner from the get go." What other features would you suggest to Microsoft if they are to have a hope for recovery?
What other features would you suggest to Microsoft if they are to have a hope for recovery?
A Linux kernel.
Sadly what will happen is they will be slated for the final product and fail to make it in. I was really looking forward to Winfs. It design specs and features looked like a big benefit to Windows Vista. I'm still kinda bummed it was never included. :-/
EGA mode
"When life gives you lemons, don't make lemonade. Make life take the lemons back!" -- Cave Johnson
What other features would you suggest to Microsoft if they are to have a hope for recovery?
The ability to boot on a single core with 1GB of RAM in under 5 minutes?
Dewey, what part of this looks like authorities should be involved?
Perhaps they could take FreeBSD, perhaps with a customized Mach kernel, and add a fancy, easy to use and intuitive graphical user interface?
oh, wait...
Include the not sucking feature, amirite?
Why don't they just work on trimming off some of the bloat already?
Just because system resources are cheaper now doesn't mean I'd like to waste them.
If Vista is any measure, Windows 7 should not include marketing driven development.
How about multiple desktops?! Native...that don't suck!
Microsoft can only embrace and extend standards. Be afraid, be very afraid. Switch to Firefox, Opera or Safari, stop using Internet Explorer.
Here are 5 features from Linux that MS should include...
1. 3-D desktop, sure it may not be the most funtional thing, but it can sure perswade people to switch
2. Customized installs. For example, you should be able to install a ~4 GB full install with everything, or a ~1 GB minimal install with only the GUI and some programs
3. Themes. More then just a theme that makes it look like Vista, or 95, include various themes, make it look like an old school mac, or perhaps a bit like OS X.
4. -O3 for OEMs, for OEMs, MS should compile software -O3 so it is faster
5. Virtual desktops, why MS hasn't been including them is beyond me, they seem really easy to code
Really though, the killer app of Linux is. Customization. For MS to get more marketshare, you need to be able to customize everything on it. From the kernel to the GUI.
Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
A crust that rises.
Colin Dean Go a year without DRM
Comment removed based on user account deletion
But then I remembered a lot of you paid good money for your Microsoft products. So I guess, you should have your voices heard. It's a pity you can't just file an RFE though. Personally, if I don't have the time to at least file a decent, detailed RFE I shut up about it, and don't piss and moan. But I got my software free of charge. However, ood luck with your appeals to your vendor of choice, Microsoft.
"Thanks for all the money you paid to us. We've used it to buy off ISO among other things" -Microsoft
While I'll go along with the one-version-to-rule-them-all idea, the most important thing?
Easy external backup, for everybody.
Apple has it right with time machine. No muss, no fuss, and I had only the tiniest of glitches when I restored onto a newer hard drive.
And if they don't do this, well, this needs to be a feature of Ubuntu. That'll gain them market share.
stored on computers from birth to the grave
My only issues with windows stability since Windows 2000 have been attributable to hardware (not driver, hardware) - replace the defective hardware, and the problem goes away.
Defective drivers can cause the issues as well, and Windows does need to improve that front, but it doesn't seem as critical.
For this issue, MS should be more concerned about the hardware quality used by manufacturers. People assume it's the OS and it isn't often the case.
Sadly this isn't easily implemented, and stability testing can't be terribly great until something has been out a while.
After that, a lockdown mode, using something similar to the various sudo like systems available on any other modern OS, for any administrative task. Not MS's cheap vista imitation, something like real thing, with an actual password (either one admin password, or each person has their own admin password that isn't the same as their normal password). Then maybe we'd see some better security.
Most of the issues I have with windows stem from lukewarm support of a text command line.
/s not \s for \.'s sake.
I don't want to have to run cygwin just to get a reasonable CLI. Even having done that, it's just too hard to manipulate the registry etc. through text commands. I'm sure with a little thought, MS could come up with an industry leading text based interface that I could ssh into with a reasonable way to switch between different users (with different admin privileges) on the server.
And make them
Nullius in verba
Perhaps we should look at the reason why we switched to Macs or to Linux. Lack of innovation and high prices. If MS can make a secure product, that is innovative, and affordable, I might buy it, or at least not wipe my OEM install of it. The fact though is, I don't think that MS can innovate, which is really sad.
Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
A "Gaming Mode" to disable some services? When is the last time you said "Ah, crap, my error reporting service is making me lag?"
And Program Caching notice? The average user doesn't even know that Vista uses RAM. His suggestion would just confuse them more. We need fewer popup notifications, not more. Instead of cluttering the user's view, get stuff out of the way. Interfere less.
Oh, you're not stuck, you're just unable to let go of the onion rings.
Features? It doesn't need new features, most people don't use the features it already has. What it needs is not to suck!
The first thing Microsoft needs to do is look at everything from the user perspective. What can be faster, lighter, more convenient? What can be more stable? The absolute last thing they need to do is to--even for a second--imagine that bolting some shiny crap onto Vista is going to somehow make people happy with it.
Christ. Some of the stuff he thinks 7 needs is stuff that would make any knowledgable geek recoil in horror. WinFS?!? Are you kidding me?
"Game Mode" so I can turn off the resource hogging of my OS and run a game? NO! Pay attention! I want the OS to not hog resources.
A standards compliant web browser? It's called Firefox. Next.
Site licensing for the home user? *pause for sardonic laughter* Yea, right, that's going to happen about the time Ballmer gay marries Steve Jobs.
The only things I think he had right (aside from the impossible things like a modular os, etc) were XP virtual machine/emulation, and a better UAC interface. An XP vm would be a quick and dirty fix for compatibility issues; Mac pulled this with OS9 emulation, and it definitely smoothed their adpotion of OSX. As far as the UAC, Microsoft has always been the king of suck as far as security interfaces go; I almost always end up having to disable security to get the machine to do the crap I want it to do, and while I've got faith in my upstream security, I'm the kind of person who can't ever have enough security, and it pisses me off when some of it is useless. If you have to disable security to make your machine work, it's WORTHLESS (I'm looking at you too Symantec).
blah blah. End rant.
ad logicam Claiming a proposition is false because it was presented as the conclusion of a fallacious argument.
Changed my password, some fucker was using my account. Sorry for the crap he/she wrote.
It's mind boggling that third party apps (Ultramon, Oscar) or drivers (Matrox, Nvidia) have had better dual monitor support for Windows since NT, yet Microsoft hasn't implemented any of their features. As far as I can see, nothing changed in regards to dual monitor features since Windows 2000.
Being that gadget zone is still a fan of the Redmond, Washington, company (although we like Apple too), gadget zone contributor and computer expert, Vito Cassisi, has come up with the 20 Microsoft must do's to ensure the success of Windows 7.
20. Modularised OS
The great thing about being modular is that the OS can be modified easily. Think Linux here - in Linux everything is modular and replaceable. For example, you can replace the whole GUI component without affecting anything else. With the abundance of third party applications written for Windows, this would spur a whole new variety of customisation and open-source implementation.
19. XP Virtual Machine
It seems that the biggest issue with Vista was compatibility with older software/drivers. A solution may be to include an XP virtual machine which ensures compatibility with said software. Apple did a similar thing when they re-wrote their OS a few years back.
18. New UAC
In theory UAC was a great idea. It protected people from themselves, but it was too intrusive. An alternate idea is to teach the user the importance of limited accounts and how they prevent the accessibility of nasties such as viruses. UAC should be a single dialogue with 'Continue' and 'Cancel' and an explanation of why the user was interrupted.
17. Gaming Mode
Most Windows users like to dabble in a bit of gaming when on their PC. But the constant demand for computing power by the latest titles (read: Crysis) can leave the majority in the dark. Perhaps Microsoft can offer a mode similar to that of the current 'Safe Mode' which only initiates the required services for gaming. This would minimise overhead and increase performance.
16. Customised Install
The avid performance tweakers out there may have heard of the likes of NLite and VLite for XP and Vista respectively. These pieces of software allow you to remove unwanted components from the OS before you install it. This increases available HDD space, and also improves performance depending on the services cut out. Offering the same amount of control when installing Windows 7 would settle the 'Windows is bloatware' activists out there.
15. Productive GUI
Microsoft bit the bullet with Vista and changed the GUI to be attractive. This is fine by all means, but the productivity of this new GUI wasn't exactly enhanced all that much. Small things such as multiple desktops and simpler open/save dialogues can make all the difference. Perhaps even let the user modify the GUI to their liking, i.e. toolbar sizes etc.
14. All for One and One for All
Vista came out in so many versions that even Chuck Norris was bewildered. There should only be three, Home, Business/Pro, and Server. This would lessen the current Windows ambiguity.
13. WinFS
Whatever happened to the infamous NTFS replacement? Windows 7 would really benefit from an improved file system, and such an improvement is bound to attract businesses that shunned Vista for its lack of innovation and improvement. The relational database structure should enhance overall system performance.
12. Home User Licensing
Let's say you have 3 PCs in your house, two desktops and a laptop. You want to upgrade to Windows 7, but have to pay three times for three separate licences. In a world where P2P and torrents are commonly used, how many users would slip into the world of cracks and keygens? The solution (to an extent) would be to offer a home licence. A small fee to be able to use the OS up to, for example, five times in the one household would surely benefit both Microsoft and the average home user.
11. Driver Availability
Arguably the Achilles heel of Vista was the slow uptake of drivers by device manufacturers. Although this is hard for Microsoft to dictate, it would be in their best interest to promote driver production during the OS development stage. Even if the drivers are beta, it sure beats being left with no hardware functionality.
10. Standards Compliant Browser
This isn't mu
1. edit the boot screen from "windows XP" to say "windows 7", then just re-release it as the new version and continue to refine XP's codebase. problems solved!
stuff |
Who has time to read these speculations. Who here cares what Win7 *should include*... given history of features taken out at the last moment -- wake us up when Win7 does include it.
14. All for One and One for All
Vista came out in so many versions that even Chuck Norris was bewildered. There should only be three, Home, Business/Pro, and Server. This would lessen the current Windows ambiguity.
Which is it? One for all or not? Why should there be different versions of the OS at all? Server I can understand but desktop? This is one area that Vista was hurt in.
1 in 4 Maine children in struggle with hunger.
Get rid of the stupid and user hostile activation. No other OS has this, and MacOS is selling lots of copies every time there is a new release, and it has no activation. Stuff the CD in, click upgrade, and done.
Add SELinux policies onto every app. This should be part of a new MSI standard, where an app gives a manifest of permissions, minimum, normal, and maximum (some apps like Web browsers should never be given free reign and shouldn't install if they are forced to run as Administrator or system)
Ditch all but 3 versions. Home, pro, and corporate is good enough.
(Although some of them were rather silly, a cached programs popup? Like I need more popups on my toolbar. If users are smart enough to know how much page file Vista is using, they're smart enough to know why).
As a systems admin, what I'd really like in addition to the modular OS is a much advanced installer. I would like a full set of options on what to install and what not to install. (Lets go ahead an uncheck WMP DRM, Alexa, Windows Messenger, and a whole other host of unnecessary crap). Maybe even a "quick minimal" installation of only the required components to get Windows to run. You'll notice even Vista runs fairly nicely once add SP1 and chop it up with a tool like vLite.
Windows 7 should be a modularized OS, like Minix. Oh, a microkernel.
Yet, the same folks will argue against a microkernel... mind you, Minix' stated goal is exactly WHY they want a modularized OS: to make driver crashes not tear down the system. Amusingly, it's also the same implementation: Move all drivers out of the core kernel.
Why do I see so many cries for microkernels these days, without the word "microkernel" attached? And with so much fighting AGAINST anything called a "microkernel"? What's in a name, what is a rose if not a rose...
Support my political activism on Patreon.
...a hope for recovery?
Isn't this a bit gloomy? I know it's cool 'round these parts to bash M$, but seriously, do we HONESTLY believe that Vista, even the flop that it is, is marking some sort of very likely demise for Windows? Isn't it much more likely, that, as with 98 ME for example, users will suffer through the pains of Vista and M$ will continue to be the majority OS by a large margin for several years?
"I must not fear. Fear is the mind killer." -Bene Gesserit Litany Against Fear
new UAC, program caching, standards compliant browser
From what I've seen from builds so far, UAC is getting modified in that you'll be able to say "Don't bug me again for for X minutes"...program caching is in Vista called SuperFetch...works nicely if you have the RAM (even if people tend to complain it "uses my memory", ironically)...and IE8 is supposed to be standards compliant by default. So, out of that list, 2 out of 3 are already here if you don't use IE, and UAC prompts are rare if you don't use software from 10 years ago.
throw new NoSignatureException();
Who is Vito Cassisi and what makes him an 'expert'?
Always proofread carefully to see if you any words out.
What other features would you suggest to Microsoft if they are to have a hope for recovery? Why do they need to recover? They seem to be doing quite well. Its hardly like they've had a drop in value is it?
I only please one person per day. Today is not your day. Tomorrow isn't looking good either. - Scott Adams
A proper Windows Classic GUI, and MUCH lower system requirements than Vista. Dual-booting XP works fine for running games, and that's all I need Windows for. Make me want to upgrade, don't force me. They tried that with Vista but I got Halo 2 to run on XP anyways. Also try to make UAC less of a PITA.
The Colin Chapman theory of design applies here: "To add speed, add lightness."
Vista is a fatass riced-out American SUV with flat tires and the brakes stuck halfway on. Dump that POS and try again.
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
I don't care about all the cool features. Just give me a Windows filesystem that doesn't fragment during NORMAL usage.
Why was this functionality removed? For the love of Jebus, can we please be allowed to turn the file tree view on and off with a click of a button, etc? I spend a lot of time moving files around, and the locked down Windows Explorer is one of the most annoying "features" I've encountered in Vista.
It's 2008. Dump the triumvirate of Windows design retardedness:
1. Drive letters (we are not using CP/M)
2. Backward slashes for directory separation (we are not using DOS)
3. CRLF (we are not using a typewriter!)
My predictions for the next weeks (spoiler alert):
50 Features Windows 7 Can Include
75 Features Windows 7 May Include
100 Features Windows 7 Will Not Include
Balloon Help!!
Whoops - I thought it said System 7.
Tough to sound convincing with a preface like that.
1) Hardware acceleration
2) Only two versions. Home and Pro.
3) An expose function that is actually useful
4) Multiple desktops
5) IP over 1394a/b
6) NTFS support for Readyboost
7) Built-in support for running on a virtual machine
8) Better organization in the control panel and start menu.
And that's just off the top of my head!
21. Microsoft Bob! /ducks
22. Clippy7
Vivin Suresh Paliath
http://vivin.net
I like
Australian computer expert Vito Cassisi has come up with a list of 20 features that Windows 7 should have :
1. Developers
2. Developers
3. Developers
4. Developers
5. Developers
6. Developers
7. Developers
8. Developers
9. Developers
10. Developers
11. Developers
12. Developers
13. Developers
14. Developers
15. Developers
16. Developers
17. Developers
18. Developers
19. Developers
20. Developers
If you quote this signature there'll be 72 copies of Windows ME waiting for you in Heaven.
I read that article earlier today, and it is complete drivel.
One of the points is they want to do away with UAC and instead educate the users.
But otoh they complain that there is no status bar telling people that Vista is using their RAM for caching. So what do you want the users to be: Expert or novice?
And I'm all for educating users, but
a) it doesn't work if they don't care and
b) Microsoft got bashed for not protecting the users. UAC enforces the design guidelines that were not enforced up until now.
And it has to be 'productive' Fine. You tell them what 'productive' constitutes and they'll be happy enough to implement it. As it is, usability experts find it difficult enough.
Is 'the gimp' so much better?
And it has to be rewritten from scratch.
You can complain about the Shell all you want, but the Vista kernel is an engineering masterpiece, and there are some real design innovations in there. Read 'Windows Systems Internals, 4th edition' if you don't believe me.
Yes, windows has its problems, but the list in TFA is complete bollocks as far as I am concerned. It is just a bunch of easy catchphrases for getting support from the windows bashers and for getting hits on their page.
The centralized repository of software is one place Linux really shines. It can be done more easily with open source software, but as the iTunes store shows us, it doesn't have to be open source. Microsoft could easily offer vendors a place in its own software store that's tied to the Add/Remove programs dialog. Want a freeware program, it's a couple clicks away. Want Photoshop, it's a couple clicks and a credit card number away.
I'd imagine there would be some anti-trust considerations though.
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
Blast! My plans were foiled!
AC, away!
One feature I'd love to see is a desktop pop-up that comes up randomly telling me "There are unused services on your computer". That combined with a nice wizard that turns off all the services you never used, making your computer useless in the same process, would be wonderful.
I failed to see a Complaint Box included in Vito's list. Also, I sense that he knows very little about Microsoft... Gaming Mode?
The most recent "wouldn't it be nice if..." I wanted was a proper version of remote desktop. Something a little more like X where the architecture was actually designed to allow windows to be drawn efficiently on another machine, but some of the basic IO (such as rendering the text you've just typed in a dialog) to be handled locally.
...And the only prescription, is more Clippy!
1. I want to be able to install an application without having to give it complete and unfettered access to every single aspect of my machine. As a long list of "reputable" companies (Sony, Intuit, Apple, every game engine, etc) have proven, I can't trust any of them. They all want to install rootkits, spyware, adware, whatever they can when I choose to install their app. I can't find out beforehand what they're going to install, I can't easily find out afterwards what they did install.
Give me a way to sandbox every single app. I don't care if that means that I can't install an app that hooks the keyboard, or the filesystem. I want my machine to continue to run!
2. Implement a "Snitch" mode for performance. Tell me why my computer takes 3 minutes to boot, and name names. Tell me why my computer takes 2 minutes to shut down, and name names.
These are OS-level improvements (not eye candy implemented in the windows manager) that would make my life easier. /frank
And the worms ate into his brain.
Link wasn't working for me, here's the google cache link http://216.239.59.104/search?q=cache:ISIp9BoucDYJ:loader.gadgetzone.com.au/Movies/July-2008/20-things-that-Windows-7-MUST-include.aspx+20+Features+Windows+7+Should+Include&hl=en&gl=uk&strip=1
- NO drm shit to slow down the computer
...
- No bloating of the system with embedded browsers, players or other shit
- Modular structure that only installs or loads stuff that is absolutely necessary
- No 2342532523 different versions that only came to being due to shit from the marketing department
- No 'we could do it, but we wont give some features to old oses to force you to go up to 7' thing, like the dx10 flop in vista
- NO 'win 7 certified' logo on computers that cant run win 7.
- Less chair throwing
that should get you going
Read radical news here
Instead of listing things that will never get done, let's discuss a general framework. (that will never get done....)
An OS that prioritizes consumer wants/needs BEFORE the media rights holders. How about sticking to the Doctrine of Fair Use as a start?
An OS with a simplified security scheme. I'm not talking about their blame-shifting "security" mechanism to which they are clearly committed.
They probably can't get back all of the developers they lost when they abandoned VB, but they need another VB for Schmoes to write their quick and dirty hacks.
http://www.maxineudall.com/2010/02/should-economists-be-sued-for-malpractice.html
I might be totally off the mark here, but is anyone forgetting about Seadragon - http://labs.live.com/seadragon.aspx? I mean, I know it's developed as part of Live, but the idea of Seadragon (or similar) working in an Windows OS is enough to stick it up Mac's Expose, no? Certainly Microsoft did not acquire Seadragon so that they can screw it up, right? Oh wait...
I'd really like a smarmy paperclip that will pipe up all the time and suggest things. Say, it pops up while posting on the Intarwebs and says, "It looks like you're trying to spell the word 'ridiculous'. Can I help with that?"
Because sites that spread a relatively short article over 5 pages just to rake viewers across more ads deserve a good slashdotting.
I can't remember the last time I forgot anything.
FTA:
"Vista came out in so many versions that even Chuck Norris was bewildered"
Really? Are Chuck Norris jokes still funny in Australia or something? Vito Cassisi, go back to 2004
Being that gadget zone is still a fan of the Redmond, Washington, company (although we like Apple too), gadget zone contributor and computer expert, Vito Cassisi, has come up with the 20 Microsoft must do's to ensure the success of Windows 7.
20. Modularised OS
The great thing about being modular is that the OS can be modified easily. Think Linux here - in Linux everything is modular and replaceable. For example, you can replace the whole GUI component without affecting anything else. With the abundance of third party applications written for Windows, this would spur a whole new variety of customisation and open-source implementation.
19. XP Virtual Machine
It seems that the biggest issue with Vista was compatibility with older software/drivers. A solution may be to include an XP virtual machine which ensures compatibility with said software. Apple did a similar thing when they re-wrote their OS a few years back.
18. New UAC
In theory UAC was a great idea. It protected people from themselves, but it was too intrusive. An alternate idea is to teach the user the importance of limited accounts and how they prevent the accessibility of nasties such as viruses. UAC should be a single dialogue with âContinueâ(TM) and âCancelâ(TM) and an explanation of why the user was interrupted.
17. Gaming Mode
Most Windows users like to dabble in a bit of gaming when on their PC. But the constant demand for computing power by the latest titles (read: Crysis) can leave the majority in the dark. Perhaps Microsoft can offer a mode similar to that of the current âSafe Modeâ(TM) which only initiates the required services for gaming. This would minimise overhead and increase performance.
16. Customised Install
The avid performance tweakers out there may have heard of the likes of NLite and VLite for XP and Vista respectively. These pieces of software allow you to remove unwanted components from the OS before you install it. This increases available HDD space, and also improves performance depending on the services cut out. Offering the same amount of control when installing Windows 7 would settle the âWindows is bloatwareâ(TM) activists out there.
15. Productive GUI
Microsoft bit the bullet with Vista and changed the GUI to be attractive. This is fine by all means, but the productivity of this new GUI wasnâ(TM)t exactly enhanced all that much. Small things such as multiple desktops and simpler open/save dialogues can make all the difference. Perhaps even let the user modify the GUI to their liking, i.e. toolbar sizes etc.
14. All for One and One for All
Vista came out in so many versions that even Chuck Norris was bewildered. There should only be three, Home, Business/Pro, and Server. This would lessen the current Windows ambiguity.
13. WinFS
Whatever happened to the infamous NTFS replacement? Windows 7 would really benefit from an improved file system, and such an improvement is bound to attract businesses that shunned Vista for its lack of innovation and improvement. The relational database structure should enhance overall system performance.
12. Home User Licensing
Letâ(TM)s say you have 3 PCs in your house, two desktops and a laptop. You want to upgrade to Windows 7, but have to pay three times for three separate licences. In a world where P2P and torrents are commonly used, how many users would slip into the world of cracks and keygens? The solution (to an extent) would be to offer a home licence. A small fee to be able to use the OS up to, for example, five times in the one household would surely benefit both Microsoft and the average home user.
11. Driver Availability
Arguably the Achilles heel of Vista was the slow uptake of drivers by device manufacturers. Although this is hard for Microsoft to dictate, it would be in their best interest to promote driver production during the OS development stage. Even if the drivers are beta, it sure beats being left with no hardwar
It needs to be compatible with all the old 32-bit OS stuff that everyone is keeping XP to use.
Common Sense isn't as Common as people think...
2) UAC
3) DRM
4) excessive bloating
5) DRM
How about no DRM!?
..Self Destruct Button? How fitting.
You're right. The Windows 7 marketing team recently released research that shows a large part of their target audience watch "48 Hours Mysteries". Hence WinFS will be left out in favor of Reiser FS.
If Microsoft wants to make the next version of Windows a success, I have one idea that will help minimize (but not prevent) disappointment during the initial release. Do not spend years building it up and claiming it will have several great and innovative features and then fail to deliver them and fail to meet the original planned release date. Before Windows was released, many features such as a great, new file system were promised but were not delivered. Other features that were promised were stripped down to meet deadlines or were built up by advertisements to a point that the possibility of meeting everyone's expectations were near impossible. So, Microsoft, here is the tip: Do not promise what you cannot deliver.
Security.
And no, I don't want to patch it every five seconds. I wouldn't mind waiting a little longer for a release that's stable as opposed to what happened with Vista.
-MelRom
I want more control over the O/S and less questioning of my actions by the O/S. For instance, I want the ability to kill a process without further interrogation. And when I kill a process, I don't want to see it lingering out there, requiring me to kill it 9 times. Actually, what the computer needs is a setting to tell it how advanced the computer user is, from say 1 - 10. Where a 1 is a housewife and a 10 is an XP kernel developer. Then, I would set my O/S to a 10, and it would do what I tell it to without question (deleting files, killing processes, etc.)
Windows biggest problem is the amount of crap it gets saddled with in order to try and please everyone.
Just make it modular, fire out the basic OS for free and charge for the units. None of this umpteen crappy editions bullshit.
And do something to stop crap like sticking my 64-bit programs into system32, and my 32-bit programs into wow64. Surely something can be done with virtual directories to deal with legacy hard-coded locations?
There is nothing wrong with the concept of Windows, but the implementation has always left something to be desired, and frankly after almost 20 years of putting up with amateurish launches filled with security issues I'm tired of it. If it wasn't for the fact I'm tied to SQL Server and Visual Studio I'd seriously look into alternatives
They prefer to have everything decided for them.
This kind of choice can lead to anarchy or marijuana use.
Miguel de Icaza
The list only needs to be one item long: Make windows secure.
The first thing any corporate user of Windows does on a new machine is to install anti-virus software. Make Windows secure enough that anti-virus software isn't needed. If Vista was a secure operating system, most people would forgive it's other flaws.
I've heard a lot about people really decking their machines out to play the latests greatest high power games, but I've never actually seen these games that don't play on less state of the art machines. My machine is several years old now, and while I spent a little extra on the video card I wouldn't have called it top of the line, but it runs anything I throw at it fine. Where should I be looking to find games that will bring it to a screaching halt?
Windows isn't fragmenting your files, it's sharing them with otherwise unoccupied sectors on your hard drive.
Another legitimate use of file sharing in my opinion.
My theory on the whole Vista debacle is that autocorrect in MS Word owned Vista. Ballmer was typing in better features but it got autocorrected to bloated features.
...and Windows XP, and almost every version of Windows before that.
It will be buggy, counterintuitive, mac people will complain that it lacks design, linux nerds will complain that it isn't stable (or free), and people will slowly migrate to it to make sure that the 10 year old windows app they have running their entire company works about as well as it used it (which is to say not well at all, but management got really pretty pens from the vendor they get support from).
If Windows Vista didn't convince people to change OS vendors, what can Windows 7 do that will?
Don't you know what happens when you answer the Devil's phone call?
Then, take out any system level DRM hooks, forget about any hardware drivers / hooks to enable DRM at any level.
Make the kernel non monolithic - allow for recompiling based on what the user wants to use, not what M$ wants to ram down our throats...
Who is general failure, and why is he reading my hard drive?
Innovation is messy... you invent a design idea and hope the masses like it. Sometimes the innovation is great and everyone loves it. Sometimes the innovation is awesome but it's not released soon enough so it never takes off and is eclipsed by a different technology. Sometimes the innovation is released too early and everyone hates it.
You don't want innovation from Microsoft. What you really want is a Windows 7 that is enough like XP that you know how to use it and most of your existing application still work, but includes the few features you've come to enjoy on Mac/Linux/BSD/etc. Please stop using the "innovation" buzzword.
One big difference between Microsoft and Apple is that Apple goes out and announces a set of features (if anything is announced) and then implement them well and add a few more just to exceed expectations. Microsoft does the exact opposite. They hype lots of features and only include a few of those and hence fail to meet expectations and everybody gets upset.
Its all down to expectations management, which Apple does well and Microsoft not so well.
Previously there were only 14!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Ballmer#Viral_videos
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
This will remind users how fun Windows is and what it would feel like if they knew what computing was supposed to be like( ie, they don't feel the pain because they know nothing else ).
LoB
"Anyone who stands out in the middle of a road looks like roadkill to me." --Linus
Some of us are not trendy, not emo, or not enough of a artist to own a Mac. I just don't generate the required level of self satisfaction to own a Apple Computer product.
How is it possible that they are going to forgo (once again) making 64-bit required? If someone needs 32-bit, let them use XP or Vista. The new version needs to be 64-bit only, so hardware manufacturers HAVE to support it.
Vista is spectacularly worse than 98/ME ever were. The problem is that Windows is becoming a cesspool piece of garbage that serves no market. If you're a business user, the web and your cell phone are very close to becoming more important to you than your OS. If you're a casual user, especially a young one, the web and your cell phone are already more important to you than your OS. If you're a power user or enthusiast, Linux is becoming more and more accessible, and it's free. If you're a gamer, you have consoles and plenty (including Blizzard games) coming out for the Mac. If you're any kind of professional/semi-professional user, you probably bought a Mac already instead of Vista, because you're frankly tired of wasting your time dealing with viruses, blue screens, and a paperclip that has to tell you how to do things because the Windows UI blows. If you're a gamer, HTPC user, or whatever, you're going to beg, borrow, or pirate XP because you don't want to deal with Vista automatically downgrading your HDMI output or your games crashing.
And that's not even going into consumers wondering what the hell is up with the 28 different versions of Vista, or why it is that the cheapest one (at retail) costs about 50% of the cost of their new computer.
People *hate* Vista. They don't want it. It's been out retail 18 months now. I'm looking at webstats now for one site, 1M visitors/month, and WINDOWS visitors are 76% XP, 20% Vista. (Windows as a whole is 88%, 10% or so mac, then linux, then iphone/psp/ps3/etc)
Now, Windows is certainly entrenched, so this is not the complete failure for the company it might be for less entrenched companies. But what happens when Microsoft releases two Vistas in a row?
Answer: it's a good time to own stock in Apple, Red Hat, and Novell.
Suggestion number 12, Home User Licensing, already exists in a way. If you have a Vista license you can buy additional licenses at a reduced price, provided the new Vista licenses are of the same type as the one you already have.
There is more information on the Microsoft website.
Another alternative is buying upgrade licenses for computers which already have valid Windows licenses for Windows 2000 or Windows XP.
- Jesper
My security clearance is so high I have to kill myself if I remember I have it...
...for running games, and that's all I need Windows for.
What version of Vista are you running?
I'm running Vista Home Basic and it's just as fast and light as XP.
I think all the bad press with Vista is folks buying the Ultimate version for home and running all of the eye candy on their old XP machine. And there's the MS bashing for the easy Karma.
Vista Home on 1MB RAM 2mgHTZ processor laptop is running just fine thank you.
I was about to say that CDs don't fragment, but then I remembered you can't run Windows off of a CD.
You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike.
Support some non-Microsoft filesystems for $DEITY's sake! No hidden magical APIs that nobody outside of Redmond knows about!
For large sets, this will be our guide even unto death, for the LORD will work for each type of data it is applied to...
I mean seriously, isn't the concept of a "C:" drive a little outdated? Why can't the filesystem span physical drives/partitions and let's just forget drive letters?
LVM anyone?
At the risk of sounding snarky I might suggest Windows 7 needs a Unix core. No flame intended, I'm just being honest.
Seems like part of Apple's OSX success can be predicated on the fact that they release their own hardware too, which allows them to streamline the two in a much more elegant package. Microsoft packes their XBOX w/ their own software, which allows them much greater creative contro -- they should package Windows into their own computers too.
Seriously, this is the root of many of Microsoft's problems. They need to stop bolting on poorly-designed "features" and work on reliability and functionality.
Honestly, if Microsoft made a solid, secure OS without all the "value-added enhancements" and profit-driven lock-in tactics, then public opinion of them would be much higher. I would be very happy to see them shift all OS business to their server-level products, because they really are significantly better than their consumer-level OSs. If they spun off their end-consumer products into another business, fine. Those people who like their bells and whistles can buy them, and those who just want a stable and secure platform would have it also.
Yes, I know, use and love Linux. But I also worked at Microsoft (Windows 2000 team,) and am proud of having worked on that OS. There are alot of good developers there, but they have no say in the management direction. While I was there, I saw ME in development, and couldn't believe that I was working at the same company. I was embarrassed for the team.
So, we'll see how Windows 7 turns out. MinWin is a great idea, and I hope (but don't at all believe) that the mentality behind it will influence the rest of Windows 7. But with Ballmer now completely unrestrained, I'm sure it will be trash. Things really went to crap there after he took the helm in 2000.
It's fun to rib MS on innovation because they used the word as some kind of battle cry while doing nothing innovative but I don't think that innovation is the problem. The problem runs deeper than that, here's a list of the basics...
I could easily go on for hours. Microsoft could do a lot worse than to license OSX -- which is hardly without problems of its own.
It seems like the low-hanging fruit would be to copy the parts of Linux and OS X where Windows is still behind. This would include:
If M$ really wants to fix windows why not throw in the towel. Honestly, Windows has pretty much always sucked. XP was an important and considerable improvement at the time but it still has a ton of security, virus and spyware vulnerabilities. M$ will probably never do it. However, here is what I suggest. I suggest that M$ release their own proprietary Win32 compatability system for Linux. OR, if they really want to break down they could open some of their code or at least enough of it to improve WINE to the point that it will run almost anything. The final idea would be for M$ to release a version of Linux that includes a proprietary Win32 system to run windows applications. That would also be nice. Many scuff at the idea of combining the proprietary code for Win32 with Linux in such a way but its one very good step for M$ to cement their business and still keep the shareholders happy. Vista is almost a flop although they are still selling a lot of copies of it. Thanks.
Ok, my biggest complaints are these, applicable to any Windows I used:
1) Get rid of that horrible monster named registry. It is hard to navigate, it collects crap from every program ever installed, saves tons of useless information, and is a pain to edit. End it or revise it, make it neat and easy to view, clean, and edit, or get rid of it altogether and replace it with configs for individual programs.
2) Make components uninstallable. If I don't want IE or Outlook Express or Windows Media Player or Messenger or MS Games etc, I should be able to just go to Add/Remove programs and remove them. Not just "hide shortcuts" from them, actually remove them from the hard drive. Along with other odd folders in Program Files like "MSN" and "xerox".
I think Linux isn't better than Windows hence in the slashdot realm I'm a troll
How would any file system prevent fragmentation?
There's a physical medium, the harddisk (let's ignore flash media seeing as that is fragmented as part of its entire operation, defragmenting not having much use other than for data recovery), and the best way to store data on it is sequential, one bit right behind the other, etc. Write out a ton of bits, delete some in the middle and there you have fragmentation, regardless of the filesystem used, no?
I understand UFS and various others try to *minimize* fragmentation by grouping files in a single directory together on the drive, or more fancypants things like archival files getting stuck neatly together while files that tend to expand (log files, etc.) given a bit of headroom so that they can without fragmenting as their size increases... but eventually, all of them still fragment?
At the same time, there's background defragmenters that continually work behind the scenes and I can't help but imagine are only -adding- wear&tear to the drive (even if they make the thing less fragmented, it accesses areas that may otherwise not be accessed anyway?)
The ability to play games designed for use on Windows 95 and Windows 98 only without running in emulation mode.
they stopped little short of stamping people's butts with Vista Certified stickers. so go figure.
Read radical news here
No 32 bit version of Windows 7 at all, whatsoever. Since I didn't get a chance to RTFA so if this is on the list, sorry. MS had their chance with Vista to do this but decided on getting rid of XP and forcing the x86 and x64 versions of Vista instead of having Vista the preferred x64 OS and XP as the x86 OS of choice.
/bin/bash
"Destroy science and religion. Science would re-emerge exactly the same; but not religion." - Penn Jillette, paraphrased
Isn't features another way of saying, I want additional software on my machine from Microsoft. That simply isn't the case. Maybe what I want is a basic framework for the O.S. and then maybe I could be able to pick and choose which features I want. I think a feature selector, if you will, would be a great feature.
Here comes another cheezy-linuxfanboy comment from the poster...
Just 12 really trivial features that would boost Windows in the gaming, multimedia, enterprise, data center and scientific markets. 12 lousy features. Not even the 20 that TFA asked for. Just 12. 12 features that other operating systems have achieved with a fraction of the resources available to them. 12 features that should not be hard to add, and require no concessions to be made to other OS designs or other architectures. 12 features that don't hurt the prevailing egos or require any kind of shift in overall corporate philosophy.
12 additions we are unlikely to ever see in Windows.
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
see title.
That is, the ability to remove any feature, and be provided with a list of repercussions.
Let's not forget which operating system has a devil for a mascot...
*cough* BSD *cough*
...and which commercial OS is based on it...
*cough* Mac OS X *cough*
;)
I want "safe mode" to include a video driver that supports 800x600,1024x768, and 1600x1200 at 16 bit color.
Heck, I'd want "safe mode" now to include internet support for downloading drivers and such.
I want a tech logon that doesn't give the tech access to anything other than desktop, start menu, control panel, and what apps get loaded of the users. The best buy tech or random computer tech doesn't need access to Joe Users my documents and his entire family's documents to trouble shoot his computer.
I'd actually like the tech logon to be able to apply default profile setup over an existing user to fix most of those minor users glitches. I want that tech log in logged and the admin user to see a nice readable list of what the tech did/didn't do.
I want this utility http://www.tgrmn.com/ to be be bought and made part of the base system and a defrag service that is trivial to set and forget about.
how about that it be less power hungry and not force me to upgrade all my stuff to windows-7 compatible ?
last but not least, be stable ? that's a feature they never were really able to address properly from the beginning
If you look like your passport photo, you're too ill to travel. - Will Kommen
And let Ballmer do McDonald's.
Why does Windows have to reboot after almost every update? You should never have to restart unless it's a kernel update. It doesn't even know which updates cause reboots, with just a generic after this update you may have to restart. At the very least they can get rid of that annoying nag popup if you don't reboot.
Windows 7 should have a feature that takes a web article which was split by the author to 5 separate HTML pages for advertising purposes, and joins it back to a single HTML page, while as a form of punishment of the author/publisher, cutting out any adverts in the process.
As for the topic, Windows should just cease to exist, or at least have the mafia OEM agreements broken (that force it down customer's throat via new Laptops/PCs). Operating System, being one of our backbones, doesn't have to be free, but it must be transparent, as in open source.
20. Modularised OS
This example is silly. You can use different user interfaces by changing the desktop shell. Hell, there's a posix subsystem floating around there somewhere if you want to use it.
19. XP Virtual Machine
'Virtual Machine' is a big buzzword, but the truth is you're going to hit issues with drivers and this situation, and with software that does a lot of heinouss stuff on XP, and with games that hate running on VM, and no matter how much you'd like it to be the case, someone would be whining about how hard it is to sync files to and from the XP VM.
18. New UAC
The author's premise is wrong here; UAC is clearly about making sure new apps are authored for the standard user, old apps function the same for protected administrator as for standard user, and making the standard user a more viable option for people. Changing UAC significantly is a bad move for MSFT.
17. Gaming Mode
So you should reboot to play games? That's absurd. Services spend most of their time sleeping, and memory pages that aren't in use get paged out when the system is under pressure. I doubt you would see much room for an increase in perf with this 'gaming mode'.
16. Customised Install
This is probably fair. The 'advanced install' type options could give you choices like with XP. However, then you would need the DVD in order to add Windows features later. Currently, it does a full install, and just doesn't 'install' certain features that are sitting on the system waiting to be enabled. So, in a sense, you do already have that customizability - but it comes at the cost of disk space in order to be convenient. I'll stick with the option that doesn't force me to dig around for a Vista DVD to enable a webserver, though, thanks.
15. Productive GUI
GUI programming and fit and finish are TREMENDOUSLY hard. The author might as well ask for the moon in a picnic basket. He also fails to notice that Vista goes to great lengths to make the UI more accessible for the visually impaired, appease the people who like the XP feel (see the control panel options), and yes, for efficiency - see the 'search' widget at the bottom of the start menu. Explorer views are TREMENDOUSLY more featureful now than in XP, as are the search tools if you don't disable the search indexer.
14. All for One and One for All
Author says there should just be one SKU. I agree. Won't happen.
13. WinFS
The author blindly asserts the relational database would speed things up. There's a reason WinFS was canceled; to the math. Windows does need a new filesystem, but there's no need to throw out 40 years of filesystem traditions.
12. Home User Licensing
I agree, Microsoft should explore alternative licensing and pricing models. But it won't happen for Win7, I don't think.
11. Driver Availability
32-bit drivers mostly continue to work. Many services that had UI components are broken by session 0 isolation for services in Vista, requiring a rewrite - and that's a good thing. See 'Shatter attack'. As for 64-bit? Complain to vendors. 64-bit OS isn't that hard to write for. This is not MS's fault.
10. Standards Compliant Browser
Nobody has a standards compliant browser. Yes, there's the ACID test, but the test changes with time, raising the bar on browsers. More importantly, Javascript is a mess of a language. So long as it's around, the web is going to be a graveyard of usability and standardization. And the same goes for browser plugins.
9. Program Caching
Superfetch. It pre-loads stuff during the start of your process to improve start times. Most people don't even know this is occuring. Why bother them with a popup that would occur at LITERALLY, every process start, and offers no options?
8. Microsoft Toolbox
Sort of like a package management system for 3rd party software. Sounds grand. Maybe someday.
7. OS Restoration via imaging
System restore is QUICK and CHEAP, but it's not a backup. If you want to back up your system, BACK UP YOUR SYSTEM. Unless reimaging would wipe the
10 Things Microsoft should take out of Windows 7
"Think about it this way ... "
It should be: "Imagine a world ..."
- windows XP
- A new optional windows XP theme.
- A native desktop switcher that doesn't suck.
Copyright infringement is "piracy" in the same way DRM is "consumer rape"
Unless Windows 7 finally introduces resolution independence we'll be stuck with ~100dpi screens for 10 more years. Apple is making the move but that wont be enough to get manufacturers priming up 200dpi and beyond monitors, Microsoft needs to commit to it as well.
The problem with these recommendations is that they are formulated from the perspective of "What would make Windows a better operating system?" It's being thought of in terms of, what improvements are in the best interest of Windows users?
That's not how it works. Vista is a shining example of the fact that new features in Windows are designed to be in the best interest of Microsoft. Sometimes the interests of Microsoft and its users overlap (for example, an OS that doesn't crash quite as much will provide a better user experience, but it also saves Microsoft tech support dollars) but more often their interests are conflicting (end users were not asking for more DRM).
The bottom line is that operating systems are not killer apps. The job of an operating system is to provide a platform for the launching of applications. Do that and then get out of the way.
Tired of FB/Google censorship? Visit UNCENSORED!
Wake up, Microsoft isn't going down you almighty poster aka opensourcefanboy. Chances are that a part of your retirement funds are invested in Microsoft stocks... figure out
#20 - Do people not understand that Microsoft does have a modularized version? You can buy embedded windows today. Microsoft just doesn't want to sell you consumer versions that way.
#19 - seeing that I believe the winnt apis are good, and that the issues are caused by the win32 subsystem, I'm really not happy about seeing a win32oldxpcompat subsystem. No, really.
#18 - Anyone wanting Windows Vista/7 stamp of approval gotta have their stuff work right with uac. Done.
#17 - WTF is the author smoking? What can you remove? Sound drivers? Graphic drivers? Network? Oh wait, I know, DRM, yes, you can remove DRM.
#16 - It's bloatware because Microsoft wants it that way. Do you think they're going to let you remove things that they want to force down your throat? Sheesh.
#15 - Bring back GEM is all I can say.
#13 - No, not WinFS. ZFS. Unfortunately, Microsoft has a significant NIH syndrome. Not Invented Here is what causes a lot of the problems they have.
#10 - IE8 is supposed to be standards compliant, so this is redundant
#1 - It's called Autoruns, free download from sysinternals, now part of Microsoft.
...loss of confidence in their ability to deliver. Microsoft are indeed doing well financially, and Vista could be selling like hotcakes for all I know or care, but investor confidence has been shaken by the negative press the OS has received. In light of the development costs, dropped features, and years-long delay, Microsoft needed to hit a grand slam home run with Vista, and failed to do so. It's academic whether Vista is as bad as many make it out to be; it was not as good as was hoped/hyped. Microsoft and their marketing are to blame for the company's woes here: they over-promised and under-delivered, and that's the major reason people are calling for Ballmer's head. The juggernaut that crushed all before it has been revealed as a stumbling, bumbling, fumbling clown, pissing away billions on a supposedly world-changing product, only to have it met with a resounding *meh*.
Remember that a company's stock price is not driven by institutional investors, but by day-traders and speculators, and they're not concerned by little things like logic or common sense. Day-traders are like spooked cattle; once they get wind of trouble, real or perceived, they'll stampede for the exits. Loss of confidence in a company, regardless of revenues, is murder on the stock price.
a better OS.
I offically gave up on windows at home last week. It's all linux for new PCs at my house.
When I came back to work today after a weeks vacation, my computer wanted to install a windows update, a Adobe Reader update, and some other update that I remember telling it no. I don't need all three programs telling me to update, I need one place to see what has available updates that I can trust.
Ah; you left out the fact that MS makes their bones on backwards compatibility; when you can't recompile some old piece of software, you're stuck with emulation or with backwards compatibility.
If MS makes a clean break, then they won't have a leg up on other operating systems; why not emulate XP under some other OS, if you'll be taking the same performance hit under Windows 7?
Laws do not persuade just because they threaten. --Seneca
to redesign the recycle bin icon.
Bling bling, hookers, and a good poker game.
On the other hand, forget the bling bling.
In fact, forget the bling bling and the poker game!
How about the ability to change the highlight color used for selected files in Windows Explorer? The default light blue doesn't show up on my LCD projector, and when I tried to change it, I discovered that it's not possible, unless I switch to the Windows Classic theme (I prefer Aero).
$x='S24;r)>63/* h@<5+oZ)32"5cz';$me='phroggy'x$];
$x=~y+ -xz+\0-Tx+;print$_^chop$me for split'',$x;
Why would I want them to recover?
Seriously (and this is more targeted towards the server versions of the OS), still choosing between Client or Server based licensing in an Internet connected world is just dumb. We already pay over $700 for the damn OS, what's wrong with allowing an unlimited number of clients to connect to the file shares/web server/print server? I know, it's about vendor lock out (Windows OSes include their own client license, so it's only a problem when you use a non MS OS), but with SAMBA so easy to set up, CUPS working with most printers quite well, etc, and useable on a FREE OS, that $700+ PLUS additional licenses for non-MS clients (PDAs, etc) becomes ridiculous.
/end rant
Oh, was that my outside voice?
1. Make the application rather than the HTML control solely responsible for the opening of windows, execution of plugins, following links, and so on. This does not necessarily mean a callback to the application, but the API needs to be such that without the application explicitly loading and registering handlers the HTML control itself would be unable to do anything but display the contents of the file it was passed.
2. Having done this, make IE simply another application, remove the links between IE and the desktop, stop using IE as the shell for things like Windows Update.
3. Remove the ability to run ActiveX components directly from IE, with or without "UAC" or similar approval dialogs.
4. Applications based on the HTML control that grant greater rights (such as Windows Update) would still be thin shells around the HTML control, but there would be no mechanism for other applications to be tricked into running any components they had not explicitly registered.
Once this kind of approach is taken for all components and helper applications, one that makes rendering HTML by default a "hard" sandbox rather than the "soft" one it currently is, has been completed... the vast majority of malware attacks on IE would no longer be possible, because once you eliminate security zones "cross zone" attacks are moot.
MUCH lower system requirements than Vista
I'm not sure I follow you there. Hardware is going to increasingly get more powerful. Why would software developers tailor their new code to not utilize newer hardware?
It might be one thing to have them write a separate version for smaller devices that will obviously carry less power, but if I have plenty of hardware power I certainly hope developers will efficiently utilize what I have to give me some cool things. I'm not holding it to developers to support my old tower.
Prove it.
Dunno what to say except that you're a little thick.
Leopard costs 129.99 on the Apple website. In a retail box. No student discount, no other discount. Can't imagine it costs more anywhere else.
Apple actually is pretty good. Mac is a lovely platform to use and hack on.
Also: the two extra is in fanboy are confusing. I think the first one is meant to mock all of Apple for sticking extraneous is on things, but you undercut your pithy taunt by... sticking an extraneous i near the end of fanboy.
Warmest regards,
AC.
Wubi! :D
Hehehehe....
This comment should be modded up, but it won't be (not on slashdot). Everything there seems pretty accurate.
Yes -- one can. See: "MS To Finally End OEM Licensing For Windows 3.11" for basis on how it could be done. (Both ROM and CD-ROM can be the same thing; read-only memory)
omg PONIES!!!!111111
I don't like cheerleaders, even when a lot of what they say is right. In this case, the guy advocates a "home user license" that would cost a small amount and allow the buyer to install Windows 7 on up to five computers in his own home. He also sees little wrong with the damned warnings Vista keeps pushing under your nose, though he thinks that it should be limited to one warning, and the warning should supply an explanation.
Wrong!
When you've bought the operating system, there should be no limit on the number of installations, as long as it's in your own home for your own private use. And setting up security should be a one-time job, until changed circumstances (maybe an added user) cause you to change it. My firewall asks what it should do when a new program seeks internet access. I tell it, and it doesn't bother me again about that program. Otherwise, it keeps its damned mouth shut.
There's more, but his bottom line is the same: Vista's OK/Good. Windows 7 will be better.
I'll believe that when I see it. Meanwhile, I'll continue to believe the underlying problems that led to Vista will continue to fester, and erupt again in a Win7 design.
I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
One good example would be #18 "UAC should be a single dialogue with 'Continue' and 'Cancel'"
The UAC serves two purposes. Of course it warns the user that an administrative access is about to happen; but it also prevents a program from silently performing an administrative access. A dialogue box which did not ask for a password could be circumnavigated by a malicious program that simply clicked "continue" for you.
Still some others (home licenses?) sound excellent. It's always good to be thinking of ideas, even if some don't pan out.
I have a fortune wrapped up in audio, video and image editing software. These are the only programs that Vista will not let me install. I suspect the reason is all the DRM limitations and the fact that MS wants to control everything media related. I'd ask that MS lighten up a bit in that department. Let Corel Draw Suite work. Let CoolEdit Pro work. Let Adobe Premier work. Even small apps like MusicMatch Jukebox should be allowed to work.
Oh, and my computer doesn't need to keep telling people what I have and what I'm doing all the time. The IP address it keeps talking to is registered to Microsoft. Big brother is named Vista and he is watching!
Banjo - The more I know about Windoze, the more I love *nix
All filesystems suffer from defragmentation. Many Linux users, for example, take the lack of defragmentation utilities to mean that the filesystems are immune to the problem. This assumption is incorrect. Even a commonly-used filesystem like ext3, which is every bit as vulnerable to fragmentation as NTFS, does not have a defragmentation tool: you are first required to convert the partition to ext2. There are very few problems with the bazaar mentality and this is a rather stunning example of one of them.
....including the ANTI- integrated pervasive user frustration function.
Well considering you couldn't get the simple fact that OS X Leopard only costs $129.99, how are we supposed to take the rest of your comments seriously?
You'd apparently be surprised, given the lengths that MS goes to to maintain backwards compatibility. (Example. Another example.) Now, not starting up Win16 unless someone does run an old app is one thing. (I think they already do this, don't they?) But it would be an insanely bad idea for MS to drop it.
Like all Linux USB drivers use libusb, and the only ones in the kernel are class drivers, right?
Why on earth would you drop support for old hardware, especially if it costs you little or nothing to keep it in? It's not like unused drivers eat memory.
Given that the OS is designed to not let you control your own system, I'd say that DRM does have to run with super-duper permissions. But since when do codecs run in kernel mode? Admittedly, my Windows knowledge is pretty rusty, but this seems like a really weird thing to do.
I can see potential problems when help documents are rendered in possibly-wrong ways depending on your browser. Most of the time--when you're specifically clicking a web link or opening a .url shortcut--it does open your browser of choice, if I recall correctly.
You can already enable viewing of hidden files in Explorer. If you want to blame an OS feature which seems to have no purpose whatsoever other than working as an attack vector, try NTFS forks. (It's used in XP SP2 to store information on where an executable was downloaded from, apparently.)
Users pretty much invariably click "okay" to dialogs that pop up--adding a dialog, in general, makes users crankier and doesn't improve security. Autorun was introduced, despite being a security nightmare, because telling people to run start, run, "D:\SETUP.EXE", got very, very old.
Laws do not persuade just because they threaten. --Seneca
When will people understand? Microsoft is a M-O-N-O-P-O-L-Y.
Microsoft have no strategic reason to make Windows wonderful. Some people at MSFT might *want* to, but frankly, they're deluding themselves. Their entire business is structured to prevent innovation. They just need to make sure the hoards of corporate clients keep upgrading. With no real competition, the hoards always will of course, provided the sales guys dangle a couple of half-decent ideas in their faces, and threaten the end-of-life thing of course (that's called "choice" in IT circles).
Anyone who thinks I'm wrong - look at what MSFT have achieved in the last 10 years. Is there anything - anything at all - that has not been either a flop or just a blatant me-too play?
"And the meaning of words; when they cease to function; when will it start worrying you?"
I'd really like to see Windows 7 employ more efficient resource management and not require 40+ MS processes be running out of the box as found in Vista. That and a much lighter RAM footprint. Native 64bit wouldn't be bad as well, I'd like to take advantage of my multiple cores without having to spend extra money for a buggy collection of code that isn't even "standard mainstream." 64bit is everywhere and rapidly taking over the market -- it's time for MS to get on the boat and start shipping a 64 bit product standard, no extra upgrade necessary.
Hey, Virtual PC 2007 is free to download and use on Vista to run Windows XP inside of it. So Vista users already have that option.
VMWare has that VMWare Server free for Vista, and it can run XP under a virtual machine as well.
I am wondering why someone doesn't port WINE over to Vista? I think that there are some legacy Windows applications that run in WINE but not Vista. Maybe if Microsoft licenses WINE they can include it in Windows 7.0 as an XP virtual machine, and contribute code back to WINE to make it run more Windows applications under Linux?
Maybe Windows 7.0 can go back to the XP/2003 codebase?
Remember, Slashdot does not have a -1 disagree moderation, and no, troll, flamebait, and overrated are not substitutes.
Good comments. I'd add/agree with:
Change:
1. Versions - having only one version of Windows (with the ability to install only the options I use) would be easier to maintain and market by Microsoft.
2. Consistency - after all these decades, can't we all agree that the right mouse button will *always* work, the search key is F4, etc.? Likewise, check the entries on the right-click menu to make sure they have all the available options for that item (as in, why would anyone want to print a directory listing while managing files in Explorer?).
3. Cloning - why is moving my Windows setup (OS/software) to a new computer with different hardware just one step below voodoo? People get new PCs so make it easy to move everything (including settings) to the new box.
4. Multiple Cores - I can't find any articles on how Windows uses multiple cores. I manually set the affinity/priority and get better results. Once again, Steve Jobs is leading the effort as if Microsoft didn't get the memo that 95% of the new PCs have multiple cores. Feel free to educate me on this if I'm missing something.
5. Flash Partitions - flash drive capacities are exploding, and I still can't partition the flash drive and have Windows recognize anything above one partition.
6. Drivers - I don't think I've ever had "Search online for new hardware driver" work. This seems like an easy way to get around some of Vista's driver issues. BTW, how about knowing that my "USA super-duper" video card can, in a pinch, use the same driver as "XYZ China Clone" video card since they are made by the same company?
7. System Restore - I want this to work in the real world. I've never seen it work from a serious crash. Likewise, the "Last Known Good Configuration" in Safe Mode has been useless to me.
8. DLL Hell - Why can't I easily move a program from one directory to another? Between scattered DLLs and registry entries, this is almost always impossible.
9. Innovate, Don't Duplicate - I don't have a beef with Apple but you'd think Apple has the greatest minds in computing. As they've proven repeatedly, Apple has smart employees, but more importantly, they have Steve Jobs. Microsoft needs an evangelist (and it is not Balmer) who can wow a crowd. Likewise, I can only imagine the efforts it takes to get a cool, new feature added to Windows. I picture committee after committee and months and months of effort.
10. Skunk Works - the concept of hiding a group of employees in a separate location, giving them lots of money and no bureaucracy leads to greatness.
11. Piracy - since Bill Gates had his first BASIC compiler stolen, there has always been pirates. I've yet to see an anti-piracy scheme that hasn't quickly been defeated. It becomes a game for hackers and an annoyance for legitimate users. Piracy will be largely dented by only charging $50 for the OS and with gentle reminders the OS/software has not been registered.
Stop Changing List:
1. Stop moving things around - It makes supporting people over the phone difficult and just confuses everyone. Notice how the items in Control Panel change with each new version of Windows. Why? Notice how "Documents and Settings" is now "Users" in Vista. Why?
2. Names - is it officially called the "Notification Tray", the "Notification Area", or my own name "Lower right corner of the screen where the time is showing"? This is classic bureaucracy behavior where someone is bored or protecting his/her job and changes things for no reason.
Mike Honeycutt
> The ability to boot on a single core with 1GB of RAM in under 5 minutes?
How about not rebooting at all unless there is a major core kernel update? Windows (all versions) is still stuck back in the 90's, when the smallest system or application update required a reboot. Linux manages just fine through large subsystem updates without rebooting unless the actual kernel changes, because so much of its fast-changing kernel code is in modules which can be reloaded, and 95% of its "system" functionality is in user-space subsystems anyway.
Windows could do this too, if MS set their mind on it. If they don't, Windows is going to start to look like a toy pretty soon, even to the unwashed masses who haven't yet realized that awful truth.
Thank you sir. You truly are merciful.
Windows Update can optionally be set to look for updates to other Microsoft software such as Microsoft Office, in addition to Windows. This is great; it gives you a single interface for software updates that's easy to configure and manage. And kudos to Microsoft for making Windows Update its own application (or control panel or whatever it technically is) instead of running it inside a web page that only works with Internet Explorer.
Microsoft should take this a step further. Extend it. Allow third party developers to register their own applications with the Windows Update service, so that when Windows Update checks with Microsoft for new updates to Windows, it also checks with the third party developer for new updates to that application. For example, take Acrobat Reader. When you install Acrobat Reader, the installer would automatically add an entry to Windows Update's database telling it how to query Adobe to check for updates, and how to tell whether the currently installed version of Acrobat Reader is the latest one or not. Then, every night (or every week, or manually, or however you set it up) Windows update would query Microsoft to check for patches to Windows, query Microsoft again to check for patches to Office, then query Adobe to check for patches to Acrobat Reader.
This would of course eliminate the need for Apple Software Update, currently bundled with QuickTime, iTunes, and Safari. And hopefully, Apple would copy Microsoft by making Apple Software Update for Mac OS X work the same way, allowing Mac applications to register themselves with ASU.
Obviously, every single Windows (and hopefully Mac) application would need to be modified to adopt this new standard for updating, and that won't happen overnight. But it doesn't need to. Make it easy for developers to use this feature, and make it clear that this is the direction in which Microsoft wants to go, and one by one they'll flock to it. And applications that don't adopt the new system will continue to work just fine the way they do now - just because there's a new standard way to do it doesn't mean individual applications that do their own checking won't still be able to do so instead.
Linux, of course, already has something a little different: since all applications most people run are Free, the distributor just packages up each application into a central repository and the package management software fetches updates for everything from there; there is no distinction between packages that are part of the operating system and packages that are not (or to put it another way, Firefox, the Gimp and OpenOffice.org are all part of the OS, so they get updated when the OS does). That approach also solves this problem, but that's not what I'm proposing for Windows (and Mac OS X). I am not suggesting that Microsoft should host Firefox updates on update.microsoft.com, or even that Microsoft should maintain a database of available patches to Firefox; rather that the Windows Update application should be expanded to support querying Mozilla for updates if the user has Firefox installed (and if the user wants it to, of course).
$x='S24;r)>63/* h@<5+oZ)32"5cz';$me='phroggy'x$];
$x=~y+ -xz+\0-Tx+;print$_^chop$me for split'',$x;
Speak for yourself. The VAST majority of computer users use windows. The majority of servers run windows. As for price, a quick google of OS X, shows that Leopard is selling for at minumum, 161.49. I can get an OEM of winXP for 129.99. Talking about high prices, how about the Apple hardware, which is overpriced, and when something breaks, you have to take it to some uptight douchebag @ Apple to fix, not your local PC repair shop. I'm sick to death of iFanbois. If Apple was so good, why are they not the market leader? Why can't they support any hardware mashup like the big boys at Microsoft do? I'm no MS fanboi, but ignorant comments like this piss me off. /rant
You've just learned, as I have, that if you say anything anti-Apple here you get modded as a Troll or Flamebait. The Mac Hipsters don't like it. I'll go ahead and beat them to it and mod my own post down as -5 Flamebait!
If all those people in Redmond expect us to pay for their BMWs, first home purchases, pretentious yuppie lifestyles, and their kids' orthodontist bills, they have to give us something worthwhile in return.
They really do need to give us good cause to actually spend cash instead of simply installing GNU/Linux and forgetting about MS altogether.
...are we scared yet?
The team designing Windows needs to lose the "not invented here" mentality.
The reason I think this is that Apple and Ubuntu Linux, while a long way from taking Microsoft's lunch, are being taken more seriously as time goes on. And they have a stellar pace of development compared to Microsoft - partly because they're not afraid to integrate third-party software to achieve a particular feature, be it F/OSS or commercial.
Microsoft, OTOH, are generally much more reticent to do this - and when they do it's usually because they've just bought a company which happened to have a product which met a given need.
Another thing I don't like (though I think it's even less likely to change) is the "you must buy Windows everywhere in order to use relatively basic features" idea - plain LDAP, for instance, isn't supported as an authentication mechanism, though it is in both OS X and Ubuntu. It's Active Directory, Windows NT 4 domain or nothing. Granted, Samba provides NT4 domain capabilities, but it's a long way from a stable release that supports AD domains as a domain controller and AD has been around for coming up to 8 years now.
Similarly, it would be trivial for a company of Microsoft's size to say "Right, you can set up your PC to get all updates from an alternate FTP server in your network, and if you pay us $N/year you can even get your own user ID and password that you can use to mirror our server". But no, they've got to sell you the full WSUS and again we're back to "ah but that requires AD... which requires a Windows domain which requires at least two domain controllers and CALs for all your PCs..."
Windows has absolutely TERRIBLE event logging capability and error reporting. There are virtually no useful security audit functions included with the operating system. Virtually, all useful information gleaned from MS event logs is via 3rd party products or home-brew scripting. EventComb is ancient add-on garbage. I do not think that -useful- error and audit log entries are too much to ask.
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/archive/winntas/support/usesecur.mspx?mfr=true
"You can effectively monitor logons and logoffs if you know what to look for and where to look."
WHAT?! If there were ONE thing in a operating system security log that I would make an 'easy button' for, it would be who logged in, when, and when did they logout.
Because the only reason I have any Windows machines anymore is to play games on them.
Either that or maybe MSFT should realize it always made more money for each Apple customer using Microsoft Office than it did for a Windows customer - and install an Upgrade To Mac disk utility to assist in gaining revenue.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
Yes, Space Cadet Pinball.
This needs to be included with all Windows again [even work licences].
If each mistake being made is a new one, then progress is being made.
Vista is a fatass riced-out American SUV with flat tires and the brakes stuck halfway on. Dump that POS and try again.
And a cupholder *THIS BIG*. And with regards to Powell Motors' fate at the end of that episode, well...
Only thing i disagree with is the home/pro distinction. Its artificial market segmentation and has no use in the modern computing perspective. The difference between XP Home and Pro was laughable, but the cost/benefit ratio was down right insulting.
1 Feature that would sell Windows 7 to me is a hot blonde chick with great T&A that would give me a blowjob during the power-up and would do a special treat of any kind that I would wish for in case if any OS related error happens.
Every service pack should include a newer blonde yet.
I should be covered for crazy amounts of sex until I die.
You can't handle the truth.
Don't just TELL users that Windows is preloading programs in memory. Who cares is some users are mistaking this for the OS using resources? Unless there is an easy way to turn it off, it effectively IS the OS using resources. Give users an easy way to manage which programs use this feature, or to turn it off entirely. That would allow users with systems more than a year or two old to actually run the OS smoothly, while letting those with more powerful systems take advantage if they so choose.
-- Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new. -- Albert Einstein
I'm pretty burned how MS purposefully disabled XP's capability to mirror hard drives via software. Yet, they allow raid 0,1, and 5 for their server editions.
I don't know if they changed this for vista, but it's pretty irksome that i would have to buy a hardware controller to do some software mirroring.
Troll, Troll, go away and flame again some other day
No paperclip, but how about a grape ape?
Here's a couple "features" I'd add right away (stolen right from OS X). /
Ability to rename an open file.
Ability to move an open file.
File names update their position in a file list immediately when moved/changed without need to F5 update
Ability to apply a user-defined color label to file names (red are in progress, blue are original/backups, etc.
Elegant and uniform application installer
Elegant "force quit" that actually, I don't know, works?
Fast user switching
NOT taking forever to turn off? I'll give a pass on booting up, but a computer should turn-off within seconds, not 1/2 a minute
Get rid of the stupid letter drive dependancies, and stop making the desktop such an "illogical" place to store files and executables
Enforce consistent dialogue and window behavior, regardless of 3d party application
And the list could go on, but those are my usual responses to people who don't think Windows has UI issues.
The real issue here isn't what features M$ should add to Windows 7, but what features they're promising that will make it to the final version. I'm guessing, not so many.
Boycott shampoo! Demand the REAL poo!
Are 64-bit capable. Some Laptops are gimped for various reasons and cannot run at 64-bit. Also, not all programs work in 64-bit yet and there are some compatibility issued with 64-bit. All the other ideas seem good.
Let's take a PS3 controller, assuming the left stick is for moving the cursor and the right stick is for moving the screen (unless you want to only move around the map by clicking on the minimap, or moving your cursor to the edges)
SimCity for Super NES bound Y + D-pad to move the camera quickly. The PS3 has buttons L3 and R3 under its analog sticks, which could expand on this:
Now the D-pad and right stick are free to select one of several hotkey squads.
Triangle would be useful for issuing the basic move action.
And triangle + D-pad would issue four more move commands, such as patrol.
Perhaps the best move might not be to try to copy a Windows game design directly but instead to start simple. Think Herzog Zwei.
I typed "OS/X Leapord box" into Google and the ad on the right shows $107.98, right ON the results page!
Clicking the Amazon ad link above that shows $109.99.
This took approximately 4 seconds. Does not look like you Googled very hard...
#1 The ability to install (downgrade) to Windows XP straight from the installation menu.
#2 A full list of the software that the new installation WILL break or not be compatible with, along with a calculator to calculate how much the installation is REALLY going to cost you.
#3 5 versions of the same garbage, but call it Home Garbage, Business Garbage, Premium Home Garbage, Premium Business Garbage...and for those that want all the garbage..."ULTIMATE Garbage".
#4 A full list of the software you will have to buy in order to get the same functionality out of the box you get with OS X/iLife.
#5 A full DVD copy of the OS X version "du jour".
I'd be surprised if there even was a PC Game market in 10 years.
Console titles would have to greatly expand the capacity for mods in order to fully replace Windows gaming. There are some token efforts to make moddable games, like RPG Maker 2 for PS2, but they aren't in the same league as Windows game mods.
> The majority of servers run windows.
No.
"If God created us in his own image we have more than reciprocated." - Voltaire
A real, well documented and simple way to update the OS and maybe some of the other programs as well.
Like apt-get and the likes. Windows Update sucks, partly because I can't even remember what it's called at the moment, but mostly because you never know what it's about to do.
I welcome our defragmentation-suffering unfragmented file system overlords, then. This must be something along the line of "suffering from good health", no?
Jokes aside, defragmenting something like ext3 includes 1 backup, 1 wipe, and 1 restore action from time to time. And don't try to fill up your drive up to more than 90% like I do with my data partition ... but this is only the data partition, I take care to have all system partitions with lots of empty space left.
change the start button with a die and desist button
a more advanced BSOD that produce the computer to explode and burn the house to ashes, the ultimate version of the OS will include a mother in law burning capability as an extra
a tool set with included slow action poison sack in case of computer crash
a browser controlled remote targeting gun pointing to the balmers of the world ( to play the jump and dance game with your favourite CEO
It seems that the biggest issue with Vista was compatibility with older software/drivers. A solution may be to include an XP virtual machine which ensures compatibility with said software. Apple did a similar thing when they re-wrote their OS a few years back.
Most of the Vista incompatibilities are with things that wouldn't work in an emulator either. For example, printer drivers: it's great if your printer driver works inside an XP virtual machine, but if you can't print to that from native applications, it doesn't really help you; you need a native driver. Running antivirus software inside a virtual machine isn't very useful either. These are the same kinds of things that didn't work in Apple's Classic environment (which, by the way, is no longer supported at all).
$x='S24;r)>63/* h@<5+oZ)32"5cz';$me='phroggy'x$];
$x=~y+ -xz+\0-Tx+;print$_^chop$me for split'',$x;
1) The Aqua interface layre
2) A UNIX microkernel for the OS
that would be a sweet operating system.
Skot Nelson music is my saviour / i was maimed by rock and roll
They should strike a deal with Stardock to include it so the XP GUI isn't so ugly. I just hope they eff him like they effed the guy from Spyglass.
If I were you, I certainly wouldn't go around telling everybody you know the state of Dick Cheney's penis.
It's a little uncouth to kiss and tell.
Microsoft is to software what Budweiser is to beer.
Also fast on the draw, since he snarfed up the comments before the server was slashdotted.
Don't forget to include the pony this time.
I have always wanted a feature in the right-click context menu caled "Folderize" (or some other clever name).
To use it you would select any number of files, then right click on the group of highlighted files and select "Folderize" from the right-click context menu.
This immedialtely takes all of the foles and creates and folder and places them inside. It would then either autoname the folder - and would have options for how you want this handled.
For one thing, the Linux kernel has more drivers BUILT IN than Windows includes with their OS distribution.
As I understand it, the drivers included with Linux tend to be for old(er) hardware, as opposed to hardware for sale new in box today. When a new, binary-incompatible revision of an 802.11* card comes out, it comes with a Windows driver disc, and there's significant lag before the Linux module for that card is updated. Worse, some hardware never gets a driver that runs under Linux, and if the make and model that I happen to own lingers at "unsupported" for years, all the manufacturer can say is tough shit.
so most of your hardware with the exception of the very newest hardware, should work.
Except one can't easily buy anything with a manufacturer's warranty other than "the very newest hardware".
Printers and scanners, are supported by "drivers" that are NOT part of the kernel at all. Your glib reference to CUPS (printer drivers) and SANE (scanner drivers) doesn't even make this suggestion at all.
This only illustrates the public's confusion between Linux the kernel and *Linux the operating system. I don't care that drivers for inkjet printers and flatbed scanners work in user space; I just don't want to have to install more RAM, a virtual machine, and Windows XP just to print or scan something while running Ubuntu.
It'll work just fine!
Enabling safe mode (for games) with networking pretty much disables the "safe" portion of that equation
2Good4U96 is trying to fire a rocket at you.
Accept or deny?
This space up for sale.
...and it just doesn't work well.
Yes - http://news.cnet.com/2100-1016_3-6041804.html?hhTest=1
they - http://www.oreillynet.com/xml/blog/2006/03/windows_steals_top_server_os_s.html
actually - http://www.linuxinsider.com/story/32706.html
do - http://news.zdnet.com/2100-3513_22-6041804.html
But thanks for coming out.
Copyright 2010. All rights reserved. This comment may not be copied in any way including, but not limited to caching.
I'm personally exclusively linux/bsd since '97. Macs peeve in lots of little ways and I recommend them all the time, and MS products are a wonderful revenue stream.
Their next system is going to rock!
1. Microkernel (probably singualarity-based), super-secure hypervisor with a small number of essential web-based applications running in strict userland, all in 64MB or less
2. Modular design of all major components
3. XP emulator
4. Game mode
5. Real time mode
6. Super simple and _well explained_ UAC system
7. Fabulously integrated network environment
9. Auto-clouding
10. Total business/office solution
11. Ubiquitous Encryption
12. ODF support
13. Haskell Shell :) You never know
14. Wicked multimedia engines
15. WinFS+ (I'm making that up, but I'm sure they've got some new tricks up their sleeves)
16. GPL driver stack
17. Revolutionary Development Environment (how tired are they of eating their own dog food?)
18. Niceness. Microsoft know they're on a hiding to nothing, and Ballmer's time is almost up. He'll stay 2-5 more and handover the toughest job in the industry. In the meantime, watch their PR department try to spend their way out of recession.
19. Abandon the Desktop! Seriously, it's about time. The only time I use a desktop is when I'm demoing something to regular folk. A diary interface would be better for crying out loud. I use e16, konqueror, screen, and kate mostly, except coding when it's xmonad and emacs (prolog, lisp, and haskell make this a no-brainer) with konqueror.
20. Published, though still copyright, source code ...
And the reason I'm so keen? It will provide immense spur to the open source community, and we'll likely have all these capabilities and more (we've quite a few already) before Windows 7 even ships.
Go Team Freedom! May Donald, Richard and Linus smile upon you!
science in government
Did any of you notice that most of the things this guy wants are ideas pulled from Linux or Mac OS X? Modularized OS, virtual machine, productive GUI (virtual desktops), customized install, etc.??? This just shows how far behind M$ is when it comes to the OS. They just stood still for way too long. Hell, even these days I have as good or better drivers for any random piece of hardware with Ubuntu than I do with Windows XP or Vista.
Not that we don't have far to go yet. Linux needs to be 20 times better and have that much more software available for it before large businesses port all of their apps to it. And there are still occasional stupid things that bite me (DIE Totem DIE, why the F!@# doesn't kill -9 kill it???!?!) It's a long road, but we're definitely makin' tracks. --J
Ok, before you mod me down, think about it, there are some real benefits for Microsoft adopting this strategy.
Hey, it's just a sugestion
My ism, it's full of beliefs.
Saves time and bandwagon by avoiding to search for it in the net, also is a good excuse for the wife... it comes with the computer, love!
automatic Ballmerspamer
a gore version of the search dog
Seriously, they are happy to include CD burning, DVD playback, 3d transparent windows, ad nauseum. A seemingly endless stream of technology that a significant portion of computer users have no interest in at all is mashed in there as long as it competes with someone else's product, yet a basic spellchecker that almost *every* computer user wants is left out because they want to sell Office. Knock it off. If you really want to add features that people use, put in a spellchecker.
When it comes to operating systems, lack of GPL license is a deal-breaker for me.
Call me a zealot if you will, but my computer belongs to me and will obey my commands. Attempting to usurp my authority on my hardware with DRM, is 100% unacceptable.
Looking at your comment history shows that you clearly have a Apple bias. Nothing that I could say would satisfy you if it was in any negitive to Apple. Why don't you go and edit some pictures and upload them to myspace.
Copyright 2010. All rights reserved. This comment may not be copied in any way including, but not limited to caching.
Stability.
#2 is to quit with all the licensing nonsence that makes it harder to manage a SMB situation.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
They promised Vista was going to be the last Windows ever. Let's hold 'em to that.
Help us build a better map!
You do realize you cited the same reference twice there, right? MS hit number one in *dollar sales* not in number of installations. There are nowhere near more Windows installations than Unix systems out there. Sorry to burst your myopic bubble. BTW, how's that high school diploma treating you?
Fixed that for ya
My ism, it's full of beliefs.
though they're probably going in this direction anyway, with their whole coffee-table computer demo...
How about an SSH Client or a terminal app like in Gnome ...
Adding in something like Xming would also help.
Linux: For those able to think out side of a window
Two things:
Microsoft can innovate, the Xbox has shown that. And the new Office UI. And their various non-Xbox hardware products.
Of course, I'm now going to get attacked by 20 Slashdotters telling me that nothing in the Xbox was innovative (oh yeah, Live was just an extension of-- whatever Dreamcast had! And the integrated storage? Who needs it!), and everybody will point out that the Zune hasn't sold a ton of copies ignoring the fact that this is due to network effect and has nothing to do with innovation. And that Office 2007 requires all kinds of mythical "retraining" cost. But, oh well.
But what do I know, I switched to Vista from being a long-time Macintosh user. I got pissed off at Apple's constant habit of removing features and creating shitty UIs (including never fixing the horrible Finder UI. Explorer kind of stinks, but at least it stinks consistently without constantly switching "modes" between opening folders.)
Comment of the year
What we need is an "Advanced Mode".
A "Turn off the bullshit" mode.
I work with PCs day-in, day-out. I logon to about 10-50 different PCs a day. I know EXACTLY what I'm doing. I don't want to take the tour. I don't want to clean up my desktop icons. No, seriously I don't want to clean them up, why are you asking me twice? Why is there an extra level of buttons I need to click in Vista to edit security permissions? Why do I have to go thru Network and Sharing Center to manually allocate an IP address?
I want an "Advanced Mode" which basically says "I know what the fuck I'm doing, stop treating me like a child.".
Dump the legacy stuff. Include a Virtual Machine Win XP for old apps; modern hardware surely makes that a piece of cake.
Build-in virus software. Security should be top priority.
Kill the registry.
Make it easier (cleaner) to remove programs you don't wish to keep.
A database file system would be cool. Things tagged in such a way that you could scrape data off of a computer to back it up or migrate easier.
Split out "temporary internet files" and loads of other crap from the user directories.
How many more computers would be sold if idiots could actually migrate programs, data and settings in a reasonable way?
...return the money to the shareholders.
Right?
Isn't that what Microsoft executives suggest be done when a company has run out of capable new ideas and is losing market share?
*** Sigs are a stupid waste of bandwidth.
Why do I care?
Because true QoS means that your available bandwidth is shared better between applications, so your Quake session, bittorrent downloads and Internet Phone can coexist. It means you can actually use the machine, rather than wait for other network activity to cease.
The Windows kernel is already preemptible since at least Windows 2000. What exactly are the deficiencies in the current Microsoft implementation, and how is multimedia usage impaired?
It is no more pre-emptible than Linux is when you have the Big Kernel Lock enabled. You will frequently see the machine lock when an application is hogging a resource (usually the network). That is a BIG no-no when doing anything with multimedia or gaming. Lock-ups, however temporary, are a Bad Thing.
How would this enhance gaming, multimedia, or scientific use?
You even need to ask, given all of the hotfixes and patches out there for security holes? Yeesh. It also eliminates the need for the Vista-style security engine or the XP-style close-everything-see-what-breaks service packs. This means your games, multimedia packages, etc, are more likely to work, and more likely to work well, with far fewer workarounds needed by corporations, which in turn means the software can be used NOW rather than a decade from now.
What are the current deficiencies in Windows network security?
Tha's easy. It doesn't have one. That's why you had all those security vulnerabilities due to JPEG images, and why Windows boxes are notoriously hard to secure against even rudimentary Skript Kiddie attacks.
How would this enhance gaming or multimedia use?
More even disk response times, which is a necessity for both gaming and multimedia. Full transaction-based systems are less prone to corruption, which means installing things like games is safer. More efficient use of disk bandwidth, as you don't have to actually carry out transactions in order, which means better throughput. I mean, a lot of this stuff is pretty basic.
Can you propose something better than file extensions that won't break compatibility with every other operating system? Would the average user notice anything different than the current implementation of "hide extension"?
An OO desktop can always do the same things as a hide-the-extension desktop, so you break nothing. (Christ, this is so obvious.) However, an OO desktop can put any script behind any method, and can have any number of methods, whereas an extension-based system is limited to one for most files and two for executables. An average user would notice that things got a damn sight easier. Files would be opened by the application they wanted, rather than the default for that extension. This means that documents created by different applications would (gasp!) work!!! Yaaaaaaaaaaay! It would mean that they could print files without opening them. It would mean they could create workflows that - well - just worked. Put data into one application here, get the results out of some other application there. All done.
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
Tops on my list of what Windows 7 should not be is Vista in a different shape box.
Seriously, if Microsoft thinks they can make a few tweaks on Vista, load up a new marketing effort and make a big hit with Windows 7, it'll be the final sign that the last of the brains have left the company.
But considering their announced delivery date, I don't see how Windows 7 can be anything else.
I think we're looking at a big splash in early 2010, not in a good way.
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
No, everything likes to be on the C drive, so just have "C" and everything under that.
If it MUST have a drive letter. Most things I've seen get away with assuming C: when it doesn't have it.
Perhaps we should look at the reason why we switched to Macs or to Linux. Lack of innovation and high prices. If MS can make a secure product, that is innovative, and affordable, I might buy it, or at least not wipe my OEM install of it. The fact though is, I don't think that MS can innovate, which is really sad.
Neither Linux nor OS X are any more (or less) "innovative" than Windows.
Further, Windows for the vast majority of consumers is not expensive. Indeed, it's "free".
... features that Windows 7 should have: 1. Must report all porn watching to local police.
2. Must report all useless online shopping. Definition of useless shopping may vary.
3. Must report any profit making activities (including using Ebay to sell wholesale items and stock trading).
4. Must crash if left idle. Servers are OK, as far as they're being used at all times.
5. Must detect angry users via enforced biometric sensors on all machines and report them.
6. Must not allow downgrading to older versions of Windows under any circumstances. Linux is strictly prohibited.
7. Must not allow anything bad said about it in any online review or blog -- or at least censor it in IE.
Microsoft is going the wrong direction by trying to play Apple's game. The eye candy thing has to stop. Microsoft should focus more on usability, which is an entirely different thing. Where Vista is horrible in usability: - Responsiveness. They were supposed to improve this. Instead, I go from periods of great responsiveness to periods of heavy disk grinding. - Mobility. They were supposed to make Vista sleep quickly and reliably. Instead, my laptop wakes up in my bag, heats up the inside (and may one day overheat!), and drains the battery to 0. - Heat. Typing on my laptop is torture because Vista causes it to bake, and the heat is really uncomfortable. Thus, Windows 7 should focus on these things. If they can cut the crap and make it work, it might actually get some market share. Until then, this Windows dev is going Mac.
Windows 7 really really needs a ssh daemon. I don't care if ms telnet accepts ntlm password hashes, ssh support is definitely needed.
Just patched my computer, now Vista nags me every 10 minutes to reboot. Sheesh, where's the fire, is any update that critical?
Never let a lack of data get in the way of a good rant.
Currently there is a hard distinction between web based applications and locally executed "windows" binary apps. The biggest distinction between the two is (except for maybe active-x) web apps cannot have local hardware interaction. This needs to be addressed securely. If web browsers supported some kind of access to local devices (storage, i/o ports, etc.) through some kind of secure api, the next stage of distributed computing could take place. Another critical component to the next evolutionary stage is a dramatic improvement to JavaScript executable performance. Perhaps optimized javascript p-code or intermediate standard binary executable language would do the trick. Tie these programs to a Profesional Programmer Certification license to promote trusted computing and a code quality ranking system (kinda like eBay's seller rating) and we'd have the foundation for a new wave in software development. Most of the existing corporations successful in today's computing paradigm would want this because it will obsolete existing revenue streams. Microsoft has much to lose and not much to replace it with. Ultimately, the network interface and web browser will be a component of computer firmaware (BIOS) with the majority of the OS being a web based application living on remote server computers. Windows 7 needs to build a bridge to this inevitable evolutionary step.
Greed is the root of all evil.
Dear Microsoft, either create more quality Visual Styles for people to download, or dont force users to patch uxtheme.dll just to use third party ones. I cannot see any reason to keep people from making their desktop look the way they want it to.
MS is not about to kill its cash cow, the core of its monopoly, its reason for existence. If anything, there will be greater fragmentation of "versions" with "incentives" at the bottom end to upgrade at additional cost. Expect to see inexpensive laptops and desktops at the sub-US$300 level that are practically useless without an upgrade.
If MS can make a secure product, that is innovative, and affordable, I might buy it
Why are you using a Mac then? Macs are massively overpriced compared to PCs with equivalent hardware and less secure http://securitywatch.eweek.com/apple/mac_hacked_via_safari_browser_in_pwn2own_contest.html
Can't complain about Linux, secure, innovative and free.
... applications absolutely, positively, will not, under any circumstances, steal the keyboard focus.
Regarding the program caching point, a more effective solution would be to just add a statistic for how much RAM is actively in use, and how much is used by the cache, like how unix(-like) systems do it.
I have my own request of Microsoft to add: Advanced user options. So many minor tweaks in the form of extra options would make Windows more tolerable, but I bet Microsoft doesn't provide them because they're afraid the options will confuse their users. Giving user the choice to enter "advanced mode" or even just to activate an "advanced options" option somewhere would make life much easier for those of us used to being able to customize and tweak real operating systems.
Thus, a perfect fit for Microsoft.
So anyway, Linux tells me I can either plug my drive into a Windows box (which isn't at my friend's house) or I can try this ntfs-chk command (or something similar, I don't remember) and then mount with the -o force option. So I do that, and find that my NTFS partition contains nothing but garbage files. Total corruption.
Needless to say, I no longer trust NTFS-3G write even under the best of circumstances. Read-only is the only truly safe way to go. Choosing the filesystem on my 4TB RAID-6 array is gonna be a huge dilemma but I'll have to make a decision in the next couple of days when my drives come in....
my supposed biases don't change the fact that OSX still only costs $129.99
I'd like to be able to save certain setups so that when I startup it can open the appropriate apps, folders, etc automatically. I could potentially have several different dev setups, perhaps a gaming setup, a financial setup, etc.
New UAC?
ZOMG A NEW VERSION OF DOOM??!?!?!?
Sweet! oh my god its going to be great isn't it? Is it going to be totally awesome and sweet like the originals or will it be a mediocre graphics display the the new one?
How about not hiding file extensions of known file types, not hiding system files, not warning you when you navigate to c:\Windows... This is the first piece of babysitting I have to turn off whenever I log onto a Windows PC for the first time.
www.arkhambrewingcompany.com For all your Lovecraftian T-Shirt needs
Try using GNU/Linux
I might be a little late on posting this to get any notice, but for the longest time I've wanted to see MS make what I would call "Windows Business". An operating system with 3 primary focuses:
1) Focus on ease of developer support and application stability. QUIT releasing a "new" operating system every 4 to 7 years and start releasing "Windows Business" 2.0, 3.0, 4.0, etc. This way developers can easily tell the end user "To run this version of our application you must be running 'Windows Business' 3.0 or greater". Then charge $99 for users of "Windows Business" to upgrade from 2.0 to 3.0. What changes in this upgrade? Oh, not much, a few minor feature improvements and new development libraries.
2) Focus on management. Part of what I mentioned in the ease of developer support falls into the ease of management. (EG: "Dear IT, We need 'Windows Business' 3.0 to run our applications.") Now to focus on IT. Sure, Windows 2000, XP, Vista, and so on are all "easy" to manage. Gobs of GPOs and 3rd party tools, but come on! I want to see REAL management. How about licensing, for example. I have yet to see an obviously easy way for IT to audit their licensing. There are a lot of solutions for it and they all do it their own way, but if MS wants to keep people legal, you'd think Windows Server would have a licensing management, auditing, and tracking system that far surpasses what we have now. I digress. Every aspect of "Windows Business" should be manageable without the need for 3rd party utilities. I could go on talking about management needs for days.
3) Users need a simple environment to work in. This is really a mixed topic for both ease of management and ease for the end user. Windows is already customizable and you can lock down the user environment to specific apps and profiles, but this isn't good enough. It's a PITA to get things just the way you want them. We really need to be able to easily make an over-the-top application specific end user environment that really completes the entire package. Remember, the computer at work is a tool to do work, not a "computer" in the typical end user sense of thinking.
To finalize, MS needs to take the market position and technology they already have and make it work for the people, instead of making the people work around the technology.
You talk better than you fool!
How long is this going to take Microsoft? Yes, there are third party apps (including nVidia's nView), but I would prefer it were built into the system. So annoying how I have to play around with the GUI to make one window on top of another to be able to use information from one to another.
Would not it be easier for web developers who use text editors to have an always on top button for their text editor so they can preview their site behind the text editor (even if not all is shown)? That's how I do it in KDE quite a lot. I restore Kate to a size about 1/4 my screen size then click refresh on Firefox. Quick edits are easy and no having to click between windows on the task bar whatsoever.
"modularized OS, new UAC, program caching, standards compliant browser" -NT is already modularized and so are OS components...you just can't get it from MS. Take a look at vLite. -The UAC mechanism itself is actually pretty alright...and now that most common software has updated for Vista over the last year, you hardly ever see a prompt in day to day use. -Program caching? If only we had a mechanism, we could call it "prefetching"...and the OS could load common programs ahead of time. What an idea. -Look to IE8 for standards browsing, which isn't even out yet, but you can run fine on Vista.
1000 Linux servers: 0$
1 Microsoft server: more than 0$
Epic Fail on your logic.
It should be possible to configure this windows 7 OS so that the most important parts reside in flash ROM. Also have some flash ROM to hold an image of what should be in RAM after booting. On power on, the RAM gets initialized, the screen gets invalidated and we are up and running. This should be almost instant on.
Religion is the main cause of atheism.
echo "Windows 7 has been installed. Post-processing OS to prevent problems...." format c:\
My web domain.
The only one needed is a capabile browser.
While I love linux as a server/development environment, Windows has paid my bills when I worked in IT, its office software has gotten me through school, and kept me entertained with its gaming support.
A faster boot time would make for some really positive reviews for a new Windows. A critic would be tickled pink if his evaluation copy of Windows started up as fast as my Ubuntu laptop.
Now one very simple request I have, which I'm boggled as to why Microsoft has either refused or neglected to implement over the years, is being able to rearrange the windows on the taskbar. Really, I can move tabs around in Firefox (even IE!) but I can't organize myself on the taskbar?
Chewbacon
The Bible is like Wikipedia: written by a bunch of people and verifiable by questionable sources.
I-I've never experienced this phenomenon before? You say this is.. this is free will? My god.
You know what I really want? A big, red delete button. Oh, and native ext3 support.
Your backup policy is a flash drive? Let me guess, it's stored on top of/nearby your box? Or, is it floating around in your desk draw?
.
12. Home User Licensing
A quick google search comes up with: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-vista/get/licensing.aspx
Have more than one PC that is ready to run Vista? Once you're running Windows Vista on one computer, you will probably want to run it on other computers you own. Now it's easy to get the additional licenses you need to put Windows Vista on your additional computers. (You will need one license for each computer running Windows Vista.)
So if you have brought one copy of Vista you can then buy more copies at a reduced price which seems to be what the author wants...
If Microsoft made cars, the replies to a question such as this would inevitably be "I want a car that goes 300 miles per hour, 5000 miles to the galon, has room for all the family, and.. and looks awesome! Yeah! With bells ..and whistles!".
Back to reality. What I would like from Microsoft is much simpler - I want them to do what they've delivered in the past but failed to do so recently. Microsoft's strength has always been consistency and compatibility. For example, virtually every platform called "Windows" has support for both Batch and VBScript automation. This is great, if as an admin, I want to write a script, I can. No problem, it will just work.
Recently they've introduced Powershell, which has made even Linux zealots a little jealous. Except it's not installed by default. That's right, in a 10GB base install of Windows Server 2008, they couldn't spare the 2MB scripting component. It couldn't make it in there. No room... or something. This means that unless a server requires Powershell (eg: because it runs Exchange 2007), it probably won't have it! This makes Powershell an order of magnitude less useful than it should be. Of course, you can install it with another script (a batch file, for example!), as long as you shove the DVD into the server.
So... you're a contractor, you're at a new site you haven't seen before but you know they have Windows 2008 on all their servers and you've been asked to bulk-reconfigure a bunch of servers on a deadline. You plan to use your Jedi PowerShell skills and your psexec bulk automation wizardry, don't you? Try again. It's back to Batch files for you, like everyone else.
This is why end-user ideas like "componentized operating systems" are stupid. Unless you're developing for the embedded market, shaving 1MB off a 10GB base install is just frustrating admins and software developers for no tangible gain. If a feature is not guaranteed to be installed, developers have to assume it isn't and hence can't depend on it or use it. Most users don't even know where their install DVD is, if they even have one, so they can't fix any missing components required by a new piece of software.
And Microsoft really has to drop the ridiculous "security through signature" crap. You have to sign Powershell scripts now. Think for a minute how ridiculous that is. You can run unsigned executables, binary blobs with any possible content at all, but not a script? How does that makes sense? The first thing every admin does is turn that feature off, resulting in a hassle and no additional security at all. Scripts, like everything else, are already restricted to whatever the user can do, they need no additional security. Not to mention that no-one would be stupid enough to run an script from an untrusted third-party without glancing through it first!
It should be useful out of the box, so it should come with tools such as an office suite and a web browser by default, so for these we could use Open Office (which uses the standard ODF file format natively), and Firefox, which seems to be emerging as the best-of-breed browser. For a GUI against we could use a best-of-breed solution such as KDE.
But what about underneath the hood? We want rock solid stability and resistance to viruses, so let's replace the existing kernel with the Linux one. For our disk filing system we could use ext3.
Many computers are used as servers these days, so we'd want to include the industry-standard LAMP stack out of the box. Also, many sys admins like the standard Unix comand line tools, so we'll include them.
Many customers want to run legacy applications, so we'll need an emulator for them. It might be better, for marketing reasons, to pretend it isn't an emulator. We could even make the name a trendy recursive acronym, for example something like "WINE Is Not an Emulator".
Finally, the Windows name is getting a bit old and hackneyed. Let's change it to something modern sounding, like "Kubuntu".
You know, like Ubuntu.
Oh. Wait.
Microsoft. Choice. Forget I said anything.
Freedom = (Meaningful - Coerced) Choice != (Speech | Beer^2), and sad sock puppets' bad mods avail them naught.
Lighten up!
But then, the FAT shall be accused of "making files available". Filesystems aren't safe anymore.
I was about to say that CDs don't fragment
Well, they do if you bend them hard enough, and with a nice musical tone, too. Especially ones from AOL.
Regardless of the hardware you run the thing on, even with the best-newest and most compatible Hardware and drivers when it looks like it effortlessly runs the glass thing and everything, sometimes it just halts to a stop when doing simple things like copying small files or playin MP3s.
I am even beginning to suspect that the "hangups" are even reflected in the CLOCK! I had to re-set the clock a couple of times cause it seems to be getting out of sync a lot. And don't tell me to set it up to sync with timeservers. It SHOULD NOT loose sync after copying a 5 MB file and stalling for a while!!!
Isn't it amazing that we already have operating systems that do all this and more. Gnu/Linux and OS/X are already there. So what's the point of screwing with windows again?
Their first commercial product, Xenix,
Altair BASIC was Microsoft's first commercial product. Xenix was their first OS.
It's not quite what you're suggesting, but have a look at your Vista score (Windows Experience Index). There's a breakdown of each component, and what you can do to improve your score (usually simple suggestions like buy more RAM, or get a better video card).
I think they had a plan at some point to include a minimum score on boxed software (for example, "this game requires a Windows Experience index of 4.0" or "this software will run best with a score of 3.0 or higher"), but it's been a while since I looked at software on the shelf.
Hands in my pocket
http://www.boreme.com/media/yr2006/cheneys-pants.jpg
It's insidious. I mean, I knew he had to have huge BALLS to pull the stuff he has, but I thought his level of aggression was usually associated with a specific type of 'low self esteem', so to speak. From the pic it appears that I was horribly horribly wrong.
Heh, I guess ya can't ALWAYS be right. :-D
You can already replace explorer with your own custom navigator. As for the window manager, Mac OSX doesn't allow you to replace Aqua, so . The window manager is quite the complicated thing - no one is going to really bother writing one. In what ways is Windows not modular but Linux is? Architecturally, it seems they both are - just few people bother to replace Windows components with open-source ones because the API is internal.
However, most of the article simply says - I wish it was more like Linux. Well, you know what else is more like Linux? Linux. It's so much better as an OS right now, which is why I switched (don't have much time for gaming these days, so that's not an issue for me). But I could always run the games in VMWare using 3d acceleration.
Proper marketing involves studying what your potential customer base wants and needs, and producing a product that meets those needs. Microsoft hasn't been doing much of that, at least not for the past several years.
Microsoft did sit down and ask what would make their customers happy. It's just that the customers were the MPAA and RIAA.
It needs to work like an operating system, concentrating on managing the IO, disk, and wasting less time on bundled partly-usable applications.
- The ability to do a backup, built in, working, scalable etc.
- Version management on a per-directory basis.
- Working WebDAV
- More command line options
- Built in programming language
Is GNU a feature?
Speaking of which - how would WinFS and ZFS compare?
Much like chalk and cheese. WinFS is(/was) *not* a filesystem, it's a database/metadata layer that sits between the filesystem (NTFS) and the applications.
Indeed. I find it well acceptable that a random slashdotter wouldn't know this, but it disturbs me all the more that the author of TFA says the same in a authoritative voice.
In fact, apart from a few obvious points (like Windows needing better CD burning tools, or that it might not need to be released in umpteen editions), all his points are more or less completely bogus:
20. Modularized OS
Yes, that's easy to say, in about the same way that it's easy to say that "Windows 7 should be better than Vista". He does not appear to have any clear idea in what manner Windows should be modularized or even why. In fact, Windows is probably far more modular than he actually realizes -- it's just that Microsoft only releases complete builds of it.
19. XP Virtual Machine
I don't even know where to start on this. Lots of people seem to think that all Microsoft would have to do is throw an instance of XP into a VM and everything would be fine. It doesn't take much to realize the stupidity of that idea. To begin with, it is obvious that they can't make the instance of XP completely virtualized, because then it would have access to none of the actual hardware, which would result in large outcries of people like gamers or anyone who expects to use any piece of userspace software that comes with a piece of hardware they bought (like synchronization software for their PDA:s or whatever).
So, they'd need to allow API calls through to the real operating system running on the real hardware. Once they've wrapped everything that needs to be wrapped for any real level of hardware compatibility, they're back to square 1, only with a useless CPU virtualizer in between.
18. New UAC
In theory UAC was a great idea.
UAC was never a great idea, neither in practice nor in theory. All it can do is tell the user that some program needs more privileges, but it can't actually know why, and neither can the user. It just gives a false sense of security and is probably designed to push the blame onto the users and everything which has already been discussed to death here on Slashdot.
17. Gaming Mode
I would much like to know what services he thinks are detrimental to gaming performance. I'd be very surprised if he'd find even one which would increase gaming performance, by any metric, by even a percent when turned off. The indexer service in Windows Vista might be an exception, but even then, I don't see a reason for an entire "Gaming Mode" just to turn it off.
13. WinFS
Yes, here it was; the author showing off his perfect cluelessness by claiming that WinFS would be an "NTFS replacement". He also makes the completely unbased claim that, and I quote, "the relational database structure should enhance overall system performance". However a relational database would actually be faster than a filesystem is completely beyond me.
9. Program Caching
He's actually trying to blame users' (understandable) ignorance about virtual memory and block device caching on Microsoft. While I might agree that Windows' Program Manager may be a bit too dense about what it actually displays, it's not as if there even exists a metric that Microsoft could choose to display that would make users content.
6. Barebones Kernel
This idea has been thrown around by Microsoft, specifically âMinWinâ(TM). Allowing the user to choose between this and the default kernel could potentially allow older systems (i.e. XP based) to run the new OS with decent performance levels.
I think this point almost takes the price i
UAC is no different than Linux permissions. It should stay there. It's the beginnings of a Unix-like permission system that will ultimately make Windows more secure and better for everyone.
Coming from the perspective of an IT gremlin (which I play occassionally, though it's not my main job), I do NOT want any troglodyte user to be able to arbitrarily install anything on a system I maintain. Machine care means everyone needs to be on the same page. Not a hundred idiot users installing Microsoft Bob or that evil purple gorilla because "he's funny and he gives me teh gigglez!"
UAC prevents this. Unix permissions have always prevented this. It's a GOOD thing.
UAC is (right now) implemented badly. Give it a few versions and it'll get better.
UAC should stay.
DRM should go. I totally agree there.
Consider yourself spoken to.
Build/optimized for older hardware as well as newer hardware can be done with multiple combination of exe. I do not mind having to use multiple DVDs for the install to get the optimization for the older hardware; I have done this with games. Use virtualization/vmware to run older software and more standardization all around. I would like less bloat ware in the OS as well as a way to play/use the Xbox 360 games with the new OS; buy one game that runs on both platforms, think of the number of game developers that would like that one. The ability to add extras into the OS as the needed arises: like new features or terminal services, please make these small prices, as well as point me in the direction of various options for me to choose from: Norton Ghost or other imaging software.
On a side not it would be nice to have Slashdot do a filter of the comments. One large expand tab for all off comment remarks and one for those that stick to the topic. It might be worth having if someone really was interested in the responses instead of wading though 500+ comments. However, I do not see Microsoft coming to read this response but some of the questions that are asked on Slashdot might find it useful. Food for thought.
Ooh, a 20 features for Windows 7 article. Flamebait, waiting to happen. Attention MS bashers, you may now fire your weaponry...
I don't particularly hate Windows, I just love Linux. Windows just gets on my nerves. Nonetheless, I just Vista almost all day...
I'll probably end up in Karma hell for the moderation I'll get, but here goes: my list of Vista annoying me.
1) I think is this what people are referring to as "Multiple Desktops" - the Mac calls it "Spaces". This. I want it. I have an app that simulates it in Vista, but come on... (oh! And I should be able to set the hot keys for switching, I should be able to set the backgrounds on each desktop!)
2) Symbolic links. They still suck. When I ask to have one created, I get:
"You do not have sufficient privilege to perform this operation."
Which is bull. I lack sufficient privileges to... oh wait, create a file. Why do I have to be an admin to create symlinks by default? Why are symlinks not integrated with the GUI? Im. Ple. Ment.
3) IE. My god, can we ever get this right? It still fails at some of the most basic things, like simple tables. Also, when I drop a link onto a tab, I expect it to open in that tab... Fail less.
4) Updates. They bug the crap out of the user. From the death clock to restart your system, to the constant balloons, to the evil placing of updates on the shutdown button, it sucks. Also, why do I need admin privileges to stop updates, but not to start?
5) More Filesystems. Not WinFS - screw that for five minutes - give me support for ext2fs, HFS+, etc., so that I can read media from other systems not running windows.
6) Explorer: Don't start renaming random shit when I hit "New Folder". ("New Folder", and if you type too quickly, it'll rename the wrong item.)
7) Start up time. It's appalling. My ten-year-old-hardware running Linux can pwn Vista in a start up race. AND the Linux side prints out tons of interesting messages like "Reversing polarity on the warp engines" until it gets to the GUI. Where are my Warp Engines, Vista?
8) A GUI. Like. One. Or maybe two. Not the "oh look! new app, new GUI! oh boy!" As a programmer, if the default controls didn't suck so much, and have all these gotchas, it wouldn't be so bad. Partly application developer's fault though, but there is still MS Office.
9) Slideshows. A minor feature, maybe, but it fails. Fades between picture are jerky and clunky, on modern hardware. Google's slide show app on my mother's laptop pwns all over, not only fading smoothly, but doing a Ken Burns effect all the way.
That was fun. Basically, reduce the suck factor. By like, orders of magnitude, if possible. Now is not a bad time to rewrite from scratch. (Er, if there ever was a bad time?) Or at least redo some stuff. Think big. Keep working on Vista, but Windows 7 - break away from the old. Give us the new. And try not to fuck it up this time.
Did I just RTFA?
Ok, you've got $50B in the bank and you want to build the ideal desktop, server, supercomputer and portable device OS for all people. In addition to the money you have accumulated the world's largest collection of professional programmers, systems engineers and managers from around the globe. You've got a first class distribution network, peered server farms and media pressing manufacturers the world over. You've partnered with every major OEM since the beginning of time, so you have full specifications for all the hardware there is. Let's have some criteria...
Help stamp out iliturcy.
and stop kneeling in front of the media producers,for /. 's sake.YOU have the monopoly,not THEM.
They seem to have thought that the MAFIAA were their "customers" instead of the people who would be paying them money.
Had they blown off all the encrypted cascading cruft, even with the laze-faire, if the entire world hadn't had to release half-made over-engineered recreations of their drivers for everything, then there would still have been an acceptable use case for a _few_ people at the least.
So yea, not marketing but _pandering_ in the hope of capturing the MAFIAA like they were one of the countless prior "partners" that microsoft screwed in the past.
Innocent people shouldn't be forced to pay for inferior software development.
--"Code Complete" Microsoft Press
I miss the Cyborg Billy G as a picture Tag for windows related Slashdots.
My Blog | Badsh
No, if MS wants to have even a tiny chance of winning this geeks approval, they should include less not more features.
Don't replace UAC with something else, just remove it entirely. Kick out the browser, minesweeper and all the other non-essential bullshit feature-crap. Come up with a rock-solid core OS. Then, if you want, bundle additional crap in as extras. But prove to us just one time that you can actually still write an operating system. Not some do-everything-(but-nothing-well) moloch of shit.
Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
That's it, that's all I want.
You all know it of course because you've had to put up with my rants for over year on this now.
http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=364823&cid=21406737
(note: I realise one of those points I was wrong on, the initial audio one)
Otherwise, I stand by my comments - each and every time I attempt to use Vista I simply can not as the explorer interface to navigate *my* filesystem on *my* computer is now distinctively more difficult to use, clumsier, more cluttered and actually buggier!
They can do ANYTHING else they want but give me the XP explorer interface please.
For starters, they could fix the window Z ordering bug thats been there since Win95, and has been in every release to date, including Vista (ever seen a focused window below a non-focused window when both are not Stay On Top windows ? I have on Win95, Win 98, Win2000, Win2003, Win2008, XP & Vista). There are many other little bugs that never seem to get fixed, I'd prefer to get these annoyances removed ahead of buying new eye candy.
Perhaps we should look at the reason why we switched to Macs or to Linux.
Because they aren't made by MS? So what you're saying is that in order for Win7 to be successful, MS should outsource it, or publish it under a non-MS name? Brilliant!
Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
1. simple programs like a dictionary, a translator, an efficient burning tool, a photo manager, a torrent downloader, an archive manager... so that i don't have to download 257 sharewares coming with 383 web toolbars and 1190 weather widgets --- the same sharewares that invade my desktop, load at startup without my consent and eat 75% of my resources. It'll solve two problems at the same time : first, the evident lack of productivity of Vista, and second, the recurring invasion of ad/mal/spy-wares. Plus, Ballmer will be able to say : oh, look, we've got tons of new features in Vista+1.
2. a better command line interface : some people do *program* on their computers... The same goes for a better text editor : i want a notepad with syntax highlighting, autocompletion and a spell checker.
3. a toolbox for drivers and codecs (and freewares ?). I mean, Media Player unable to download a codec for divx or ogg, this is just ridiculous.
4. a more flexible GUI, with virtual desktops (with some eye candy if Ballmer demands it) and size-customizable windows. For example, i would like to be able to *read* the content of the init tab of msconfig...
5. a built-in Windows-to-Ubuntu migration assistant ?
virtualization is not a solution to application compatibility
And the reasoning behind this was what exactly? (I assume you've asked him.)
Who is General Failure and why is he reading my hard disk?
> But thanks for coming out.
Lol. The other posters already handled your ass. Good luck with MS products.
"If God created us in his own image we have more than reciprocated." - Voltaire
- Kernel. Might be quite good, but it has one big deficiency: It's not Unix. I doubt they will or can change that.
- Filesystem: Case-insensitive but case-preserving is an utter fuckup and a security-nightmare too.
- Charset: Get rid of that fucking cp125x-charsets. Now! Everywhere! Make it impossible to choose it anywhere. And bid those "smart-quotes" and other non-standard crap goodbye.
- CR/LF. Do that CR away, this is not a typewriter anymore, I hope..
- Shell: Backslashes and Drive-Letters are a bloody nuisance to every (C-)programmer. Who in his right might would choose the escape-character as a directory delimiter?
- Terminal: No, a Terminal should not be limited to 25x80. You need to be able to change the resolution, and you also need to be able to switch the charset.
- Mouse-handling: I personally can't stand click-to focus. Not only I use sloppy-focuse, but I also want autoraise. Windows can't do that, and it even collides with its dozens of modal dialogs.
- Registry. Please explain the benefit of this monster over config-files with a clearly specified structure.
- Incoherent separation of user-config and system-config (resulting from the registry). I should be able to take my personal config from one account to the other by action of simple copying.
- Missing desktop-features: multiple desktops of course.
- Look and Feel: Where is the problem of letting the user specify how his widgets should look? Esepcially if I don't like this Fisher-Price-look. As far as I can tell, these are easy customisable. And yes, ALL of them should change their look simultaneously.
- Localization. This is very bad. I should be able to change the language of the GUI on a click. But at least per user. And I should not have to download a different version of some patch or some service pack depending on the language I'm using.
- Decent Editor. Per default. One where you can choose that the input uses CR, CR/LF or LF and saves only with LF. One where you can select a charset for input (and save as utf8 only), one which can open files up to at least 2GB.
- Directory-Structure. Only a fucking idiot would name the programs-folder "Program Files" -- with a space in it, and what's more, different in every language! Why not just "programs"? And more: Why is there such a mess in the windows-folder? and the windows/system folder? And why are users preferences and files there too??
- ACLs. An actually nice feature of windows -- if the default ACLs weren't so braindead. Who got the idea that users need to have write access to the root or the windows-directory??
- DRM. Either this goes out of Windows, or Windows goes out of the window.
- Standards: They exist for you to use them, not to invent stupid competing formats. Away with that WMA, WMV, DOC, XLS-trash. You can still support them, but store your information in open and standardized formats in the first place, like mpeg, mp3, ODF. I want to hear "You might loose some information if you store this Open Document Text in Microsoft .DOC-Format. Do you really want to do this?"
- Autostart: Ditch it. Not necessary just to save one click. Yes, you can turn it off, but actually it should be impossible to turn it on at all.
- Internet Explorer. Either you do it right (XHTML, CSS, DOM, EcmaScript), or throw that garbage out of the system.
- Outlook. Either you do it right (raw-text, charsets, quoting, pop3-handling), or throw that garbage out of the system.
- Active-X. Throw away without replacement.
- 32bits. Yes, it's about time for the next version only to offer a 64bit-version. Plus, if done right, this will force the morons at Adobe to finally port flash to 64bit.
"The more prohibitions there are, The poorer the people will be" -- Lao Tse
9. Program Caching
...A simple toolbar notification stating 'Vista is caching your programs to improve speed. Click here for more information', would end all the confusion.
What a terrible idea. Why not just display it on the startup screen under "new features"? Toolbar notifications, especially the ones that require you to close them before they disappear, are one of the biggest Windows annoyances.
Clearly that's a gun in his pocket... ;-)
People replying to my sig annoy me. That's why I change it all the time.
Why not ReiserFS?
or he really likes the little girl at hie feet...
I love stacking my barbecues in the shed at the end of summer - you can't beat a bit of grill on grill action.
You've just learned, as I have, that if you say anything anti-Apple here you get modded as a Troll or Flamebait. The Mac Hipsters don't like it.
IANAAFB (I am not an Apple Fanboi). I have a standard Dell PC and dual boot Vista and Ubuntu. I have never owned or particularly wanted to own any Apple hardware/software.
I have gone through the GP post statement by statement. It is a mixture of true statements, extremely contentious statements presented as fact, inaccuracies (e.g. the price) and leading questions which assume dubious premises (the part starting 'If Apple is so good...').
So although Apple Fanbois *do* often mod down critizism of Apple, that does not negate in this case the Flamebait mod being largely justified.
Honestly, Yes. there are huge reasons in vast numbers out there to hate microsoft and windows. However, dogma aside the one thing that pisses me of most about windows is the Registry. Loose that and make it so I can install a program without having to reboot and I might not hate Windows any more... I might only detest it.
- No DRM
- Forward Slashes
- On/Off for Shadow File
- File specific On/Off for shadow file
- Light install by default(as in XPLight)
- Add in an api so installed programs can us windows automated update
- Put all of that in and I can wait till Win8 for a Linux kernal (which isn't to say you shouldn't add it now)
2. No programs or whatnot grabbing focus, ever. It's OK to make this a custom setting.
17779 eligible voters in a district, 17779 'vote' as one. This is Russia.
You would only need a cert for applications that require access to data or files created by other applications.
Such as Firefox, for HTML files created by Notepad.
Anyone who WOULD release free code that requires a cert? well, simply don't include the cert, and then the user simply gets a prompt instead of it working dynamically. Free apps may be annoying that way, but few of them would even get the prompt... this is a minor inconvenience at best
As I understand it, Mac OS X works with what you describe. Developers self-sign their apps, and the user gets a prompt to grant or deny privileges to all apps signed by this developer, no root CA needed. But Windows is considerably pickier about root CAs.
I do agree with most of your points.
I can even add another bullet-point and say that MS also innovated with SQLServer offering cheap OLAP.
But, have you tried to imply that the Zune has real innovation? Squirt yourself.
We are Turing O-Machines. The Oracle is out there.
If you want a Virtual desktop that does not suck or get in the way. Try Secretly.
I have not run it on Vista. But I have used it extensively on XP. It is wicked fast at changing desktops. It has no user interface (it is keyboard driven). Which works out well. All of the graphical virtual desktop pagers I have seen in Windows suck.
Usage is not bad either. Unzip it to a folder you want to keep it in. I use C:\Program Files\Secretly. Log out and back in or reboot. You will need to hit F11 to start using it.
As I have said, it is wicked fast for changing desktops. So far it is the only virtual desktop program that has been fast enough at switching deskops, does not have teh gay pager that gets in the way and has sane keyboard navigation.
vi +
Most of the Vista incompatibilities are with things that wouldn't work in an emulator either. For example, printer drivers: it's great if your printer driver works inside an XP virtual machine, but if you can't print to that from native applications, it doesn't really help you; you need a native driver.
But... you could install a virtual network adapter in the virtual machine, share the printer on the LAN, and install it as a network printer on Vista...
Haha. I don't know whether to laugh or cry now.
Alexander Peter Kristopeit bought his basement from his mommy for one dollar.
But... you could install a virtual network adapter in the virtual machine, share the printer on the LAN, and install it as a network printer on Vista...
Haha. I don't know whether to laugh or cry now.
Unfortunately not. Anybody who prints to a shared printer needs the correct driver, not just the print server.
My roommates have a Dell printer. They have it shared on their PC, which has the correct driver installed, but I cannot print to it from Mac OS X or Linux, because no driver is available for those platforms.
What you would need is a program that would essentially emulate a standard PostScript printer, accepting print jobs from anybody using a generic PostScript driver, then printing those using the native driver. I'm not aware of any such software package existing. I tried to cobble something like this together once, using a CUPS server with a plugin that saved documents to PDF files instead of printing them, then an old Mac running System 7 that would watch the shared folder on the CUPS server for new PDF files to appear, launch Acrobat Reader, and print them to an old Apple LaserWriter connected via a serial port. The main issue I had was some incompatibilities between the PDF generating plugin and such an old version of Acrobat Reader, the Mac and the printer both running out of RAM trying to print complex documents, the fact that it was only printing at about one page per minute, and the final print quality was very poor due to the age of the printer. So it wasn't practical, but the concept was sound. Feel free to hack together something better!
$x='S24;r)>63/* h@<5+oZ)32"5cz';$me='phroggy'x$];
$x=~y+ -xz+\0-Tx+;print$_^chop$me for split'',$x;
Ow. Yeah, I forgot about that. Oh well, if all else fails, print to a PDF (plenty of freeware drivers out there) and copy it into the VM... ugly hack ugly hack! Yes, it needs to be "fixed".
Alexander Peter Kristopeit bought his basement from his mommy for one dollar.
It's $200 per BUSINESS per year. (or replace software distributor with business).
Not all software is distributed by a partnership or corporation. Some software is distributed by an individual author. To take an example related to Slashdot's parent company, who would sign the packages on SourceForge.net?
I said you dont need to keep renewing your cert for old signings to continue working. You only need to renew if you need to sign new software after your old cert has expired.
Even if the signature of the old version of a program is still valid, an individual software author would have to either renew or get a new hobby.
Certificates dont have 'privileges'.
By "certificates have privileges", I meant that the operating system grants privileges to a program based on the certificate chain with which a program is signed.
Signing for distribution can be done with any of these vendors: [link to a list including Comodo]
True, but then what is the meaning of the row "Accepted for Windows kernel mode certification" in the table on this page? I'm guessing that Microsoft must have expanded the list of valid KMCS root CAs since last time I checked, but Comodo is still not there. Which $200 SPC vendor were you thinking of?
Probably later (since there's actually an honest chance of DNF arriving in the foreseeable future). WinFS was basically "hey, let's make every filesystem IO task also involve a query across 20 database tables with possibly thousands of records in each". It was never practical on hardware of the foreseeable future.
There's no place I could be, since I've found Serenity...
a lower price tag
DVDs don't very well, though.
Alexander Peter Kristopeit bought his basement from his mommy for one dollar.
Windows 7 should ship with a Chuck Norris defragmenter. The animation will consist of Chuck Norris staring down a hard drive while it frantically pulls everything into line.
Alexander Peter Kristopeit bought his basement from his mommy for one dollar.
Why not just say so?
"I'd settle for being able to stretch/shrink a wallpaper image to the size of the desktop without messing up the aspect ratio. [FUD omitted] couldn't find an intern to spend 1 afternoon making it so you can just slap an image on the desktop without it looking like crap."
---
You want a good reason to be annoyed, how about how all desktops backgrounds (in Vista) are now stored as
I did not say to drop permissions or privilege levels, I agree that they are a good thing. Windows XP and Windows 2000 have permissions and privilege levels, that's not new with Windows Vista. UAC is the annoying pop-ups that encourage users to try to bypass the user permissions and privilege levels.
Mac OS-X has user permissions and privilege levels also, but it does not have the annoying UAC popups. It is a far-better designed user interface.