20 Features Windows 7 Should Include 901
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ScuttleMonkey
from the downhill-since-dos dept.
from the downhill-since-dos dept.
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?
5 pages with broken comments... got to be kidding (Score:5, Informative)
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
Nearly (Score:5, Informative)
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.
Re:better command line (Score:5, Informative)
Take a look at Windows Powershell [wikipedia.org], formerly known as Monad. It's different than most Unix shells out there but once you get used to it, it's pretty powerful.
Re:I'll believe it when I see it (Score:2, Informative)
Speaking of which - how would WinFS and ZFS compare?
To me at least, they appear to be two vastly different beasts... WinFS [wikipedia.org] / ZFS [wikipedia.org]
Re:I'll believe it when I see it (Score:4, Informative)
The Text (Score:3, Informative)
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
Re:Two words (Score:3, Informative)
Hey, I've still got a monochrome card somewhere... it'd be nice to use it again.
Re:Easy backup, for everybody. (Score:1, Informative)
Robocopy. Google it.
Re:Easy... (Score:2, Informative)
You may be in luck. VMWare has beta support for directX. http://www.vmware.com/support/ws55/doc/ws_vidsound_d3d.html [vmware.com]
Re:Easy... (Score:5, Informative)
NTFS-3G [ntfs-3g.org] solves your problem.
Off you go!
Re:there is one not to include (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Easy... (Score:1, Informative)
Butterflies!!!
I'd mod this +1 (XKCD)
Re:Proper Dual Monitor Support (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Easy... (Score:3, Informative)
Can't, MSFT sold XENIX to Santa Cruz, who sold it to caldera who sold it to SCO who relicensed only part of it back to MSFT.
Unix Recursion. inevitable it is.
Re:I'll believe it when I see it (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Let's not forget... (Score:5, Informative)
It's not a devil, it's a daemon.
Re:Easy backup, for everybody. (Score:4, Informative)
robocopy /d
showacl
adduser
subinacl
These are programs any Windows admin should know how to use, and they all come in the Resource Kits.
Re:Easy... (Score:5, Informative)
Actually the Internet File sharing Pirates have an answer to that, it is called Tiny XP. It is the bare minimum you need from XP to play games on it.
Microsoft has Windows PE, of which BartPE [nu2.nu] and Reatogo [reatogo.de] are based on provided you have a legal Windows XP SP2 or higher CD-ROM to use to create the smaller version of XP on for just the basics. They are what the Ultimate Boot CD [ultimatebootcd.com] is based on and there exists an option to install that to the hard drive instead of the standard XP. I've used it and it does not even ask you for a valid CD-Key to install BartPE or boot from it. You just have to own a copy of Windows XP SP2 or higher to use it, while it works with XP SP1 and under, I wouldn't recommend it. I even heard it can use Windows Vista for a PE version of Windows, but I never tried that.
It is either BartPE or some variation, or wait for ReactOS [reactos.org] to at least get a beta build. ReactOS 0.3.5 came out in June 30th 2008, but Slashdot seems to be ignoring it and BartPE and variants. ReactOS is an open source OS based on WINE that is being written to run at least Windows XP/2003 code under it and use XP/2003 drivers. It is not ready for prime time yet.
Re:Easy... (Score:1, Informative)
Re:5 pages with broken comments... got to be kiddi (Score:3, Informative)
Re:How about LESS features? (Score:3, Informative)
Admitting you have a problem is never the first step for anything in business. Business just don't admit problems - way of the world. Internally, heads are rolling at Microsoft, and if Win7 starts to look too much like VistaME, Balmers head will join them, but even then there will never be an admission of a mistake.
Buttons under the sticks (Score:3, Informative)
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.
Re:Easy... (Score:4, Informative)
http://xkcd.com/378/ [xkcd.com]
Re:First hand knowledge? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Easy... (Score:5, Informative)
Just as MS is alienating PC enthusiasts, gamers, media mavens, and home PC users with sneaky draconian DRM restrictions, built in disabling of hardware, UAC security theater, and umpteen versions of the OS ... they are just as busy alienating business customers and engineers by messing with workstation management, (and not in a good way) treating business clients as "Revenue Streams" rather than as "Customers" and trying to charge for products as "Upgrades" even though the business pre-paid "Maintenance agreements", which were supposed to insure that they were entitled to those new versions as they get released.
My favorite part was paying for a three year "maintenance" agreement and seeing no new versions for five years ... then after the wait MS saying "No soup for you!
For businesses paying "maintenance" MS will now only renew licensing for "Basic" versions of what was top of the line software (in a manner of speaking) at the last release, and if businesses want to use the "Enterprise" version why, they have the privilege of paying even more!
The Ozzie Balmer Strategery.
Look how well abusing your client base worked for Lotus, IBM, Sun, SCO, Novell, etc. Ad nauseam. All marginalized shadows of their former selves. Rant aside, I would say that MS needs to get back to a Home and Business version of the desktop OS and maybe two server levels. more than that and it's just too obvious that the marketing pukes are trying to squeeze more money out while delivering little or nothing.