We all know that Microsoft keeps tabs on Neowin, perhaps some of the Redmondians / Microsoftians even take some of our feedback to heart.

So in that spirit, what feature must be present in Windows 7 or you will refuse to buy it?

For me it's:


Without a capable and well implemented 'Virtual Desktop' feature in Windows 7, I refuse to buy it.

Yeah.
I refuse do buy it when there is no mouse cursors!

windows 7 should not order folder contents according to what it thinks its best.

If i decide that i like viewing avi's in a list, each time i visit a folder with avi's they should be in a list. They should not appear as thumbnails or anything else. All ms os's to date including vista lay out folder contents the way they want, not the way i - the user want. Its so annoying to have to go in each time and set the view accordingly.

Ridiculous.

Totally agree with you there. I get so annoyed when XP or Vista decides how best to view whatever content I have. I want that gone.

Maybe Explorer can suggest in a 'not in you face' way how the folder could be viewed but leave the option to the user.

For me the feature is winFS. If gmail is using labels for things instead of folders, then why can't operating systems?


Set up a folder how you want it.
then goto:
Tools -> folder options -> View -> Apply to all folders

Personally I'm not going to invent a reason not to buy it. I'll probably pick up the ultimate version when it comes out.

yeah but that will unconditionally set all folder views to the view type i have chosen for that folder, i want to selectively choose how to view certain filetypes, eg i like viewing music as tiles, images as thumbnails, videos as a list, etc...

windows should accept what i have chosen and not revert back to what it thinks is best every time.

they should focus on less boot times (comparing it to a iMac), i think they should scrap AERO, yes i said it, and make a nicer design which will appeal alot to the buyers and this time, reduce the amount of ram and CPU used just for that, umm..better multicore support. more back up opions, more support for 64 bit. now this one ima give them an idea, have an IN Built or a standalone purchase Microsoft anti-virius, that would get them truck loads of money especially with their name, and if its in the windows 7 it would be the best thing, especially when you have to format etc, its alwaysthere so you have protection. and yeah. i cant think of anything else atm. but i will buy windows 7 anyways.

Microsoft already gets slated for ani-trust issues by including so many features in its bundle.
try:
http://www.codeplex.com/vdmhttp://shock-4way-3d.uptodown.com/en/

alternately
http://search.live.com/results.aspx?q=virt...manager+windows

There are seriously plenty of them out there.

For me, the only thing windows version whatever needs out of the box is a useable interface and the ability to add/remove modules that make my digital life simple.

It pretty much has to have a task bar, a start menu, a desktop and a file explorer.

Make it slim, make it cheap, make it functional and customizable- by all means, sell me optional add ons (such as IIS or even windows media player).

Multiple Monitor needs to have better support, taskbar, screensavers, backgrounds.

Not as good or as much UltraMon but at least basics.

Make the small popup in Office 2007 ie when select text etc, system wide like select folder gives copy, paste into, print etc depending on folder or file.

+1

How about "I'll buy Windows 7 if it doesn't feel like I'm using Vista"

This sounds interesting :: Lyon ::, just my curiosity. What do you not like about the feel of Vista or what would make Windows 7 make you want to use it?

I don't think this will happen, but it would be great. I'd love to have a "Windows Seven Basic Lite" version that is stripped down to only the explorer, a basic image viewer and a few necessary services but will then cost nothing more than 30$. Great.

Further features I'd like to see:

• virtualization for running old Windows apps
• built-in theme support
• a filesystem that doesn't fragment (applies that to WinFS?)

I'd really like to see:

• Wallpaper changer (I currently use Wallpaper Master, but I'd like to see something similar built-in)
• Stop rearranging folders by what it thinks is best. This is annoying, especially in My Music, where it keeps rearranging most of the album folders into regular music folders.
• An OS is meant to be secure, right? So how about bundling Windows Defender and Windows Live OneCare in Windows 7? That would increase the sales!
• Bundle Office into Windows 7 (or at least a minimal version)
• Include better games. You can only enjoy Minesweeper for so long.
• Keep all the Vista features, but give it performance like XP, or better.
• Automatic defragmentation tool.
• The ability to use custom themes right out of the box, without having to download a modified uxtheme.dll.

The ability to select basic or advanced installation... please!

a. Basic mode: about the same way Vista is installed, the most quick/unattended installation possible

b. Advanced mode: you can select every component you want to install, every service you want to activate, with a few recommended settings: preset for office, preset for gaming... Another method could be Windows 7 ask you... but maybe is more tedious.

I will not buy it unless it gives me almost 100 % performance out of my hardware. Unlike Vista which as compared to XP gives lower performance from my graphics card in games. And the same with the hard disk. While copying files, sometimes it seems like I'm using a very ancient low RPM HDD, where as I have 2 160 gb 7200 WD HDD with 8 mb cache each. So yea, we buy the hardware and we want to utilize it to the fullest extent please.

Better stability, reliablity, performance and most of all : compatibility.

And then i'd consider using it.

I'd like an option to see drives mounted on the desktop (like OS X or various linux distros).

Also, some sort of a LIGHTER theme, or at least 3 or more options like XP had.

ON xp and vista couldnt you just create shortcuts for the drives and put them onto the desktop by right clicking on the drive and creating a shortcut?

For me Windows 7 needs to be modular...

Install the basics, as mentioned here start menu, task bar...etc.. just the small bits and pieces to make teh PC run. Have ability to add/remove anything else...

I only use windows at home for gaming, so less system resources for the OS and more performance to games

Oh and reduce the footprint..and OS should not take 15Gb (even XP takes 1.5Gb) and OS should be small.....

1. Improve performance over Vista.
2. Modular install for space savings and ease of backup. (I don't need every language installed)
3. Make it easier to migrate settings to new machine.
4. Complete overhaul of the search feature (schedule, index filenames only, index right now, etc.)
5. An actual File Manager like Directory Opus 9.

I'm shocked at how little has changed from XP to Vista after 5 years of working on it so I don't have high hopes for Windows 7.

How about...
- Decent anti-virus security. Or write the OS so it can't get viruses. Far fetched, but it'd be nice.
- Built in theme support. Which is why I love Linux; you can make it look like anything.
- A partitioner that actually works during install. Cuz I don't know how many times I've installed XP and it hasn't been able to detect my Linux drives (which it should) or my OS X drives.
- Doesn't make me feel like downgrading to Vista, or XP for that matter.

Yay, thats two of us - I don't game as much as I used to, but windows is bundled with a helluva lot of stuff that I don't need, nor would I ever.

Its more the cost I'm thinking of tbh - I need 3 licenses of vista for myself:

• laptop - work mainly so doesn't need any of the gaming stuff
• main rig - OK this is the one where most modules would be required so the current "home premium is great here"
• media center - this is my biggest bug bear I have to admint - I fork out £100(ish) for an OS where all I use is WMC.

We need a minimal windows that is just a hub and like I said before, make all the other stuff available at extra cost (or free for download)if it was only £50(Retail - cheaper for OEM) for the OS, but then cost be an extra £25 for WMC I'd be happy, its the way the cost is ramped up for things I don't use or need.

[/rant]

Wow you should at least get the Megaultrazord Green Ranger version..... I mean the Ultimate version will be equal to Vista Home Basic......

vista has a winsxs folder that is most of vista's footprint. It takes up 8 gigs on my hdd and its very annoying.

I'm not buying it unless it comes with built in USB robot arm to wipe my arse...in 64 bit.

Get a bigger HD -^

To be honest I have a 250 GB just for Vista, So I don't really have to worry about these "Space Issues"

One thing I would like to see is a reduced price for upgrades, I don't want to have shell out a ton of cash for a new OS.

1: Performance will be improved, because by then you'll be running a 8 core CPU with 8GB of ram.
2: The language updates are optional, you don't have to install them.
3: The Windows Easy Transfer works pretty good, have you ever even tried it? It works on a Network or via Removable Media.

I will buy it.. regardless... that's just me haha.

Total space is not a problem .Its just I hate having a folder that takes up 8 gigs thats there just incase i download a bad program and that also has files for 64bit in it when I only have the 32bit version of the OS.

-modular design: allow me to install only the stuff I want/use (like Linux)
-smaller footprint
-better performance: yeah I know we'll all have multicore CPUs with several gigs of RAM by the time W7 comes out. But I don't want to have to use 60% of those resources just for the OS.
-built in support for customized themes

Basically all of these would be possible, and most importantly feasible, if MS would throw away the crappy legacy code and start from scratch. But, thats just a pipe dream. I don't have high hopes for Windows 7.

Hopefully by the time it's out I'll have educated my missus on how to use Ubuntu, so I won't need Windows any more

Microsoft would get sued by the EU for being anticompetitive.


That's the purpose of UAC, but most people disable it. It's impossible to make a computer both 100% secure and 100% efficient. You have to reach a compromise between security and usability.


Would be nice, but Microsoft are far too protective of their closed source to allow access to the shell.


Not sure how much of a problem this is to other people, but I've had no problems.


Care to elaborate why Vista makes you feel this way?

Well what i want in Windows 7 is the following
Remove the current compatability thing and replace it with sandbox emulation. As half the time stuff never seems to work with it for me.
Fixed folder/file icons on desktop. So when i hit arrange they dont all go back to the left side etc, they will be arranged in their group orders. So as such grouped desktop icons and folders, no matter were i have them on the desktop.
Something that will monitor what gets added to the startup part of msconfig, and having an option saying you want this program to be added to the startup thing or not. As some of the time programs will add them to it and not tell you etc.

Something i know maynot be in Windows 7 but is cool - A totally modular OS, meaning less restarts for updated stuff, only reload the module as such.

Wouldn't you have to manually create all of these? And, in the case of removeable media (usb sticks, CD/DVDs) you would have to have them created and present, even when no media is present.

I think MrEggsalad is looking for icons that appear when media is there, and go away when it is removed. There are probably add-ons to Windows that already do this.


I assume you are a Linux user (your username is a giveaway). I am a Linux user as well, but I see no reason that Microsoft should be made to (or would want to) deal with other OS filesystems. Should they support ext3? ext4? ReiserFS? XFS? Asking for "Linux filesystem" support is asking for an awful lot, and then people will rightfully blame Microsoft when it doesn't work. All for what? About 1% of the population?

I don't think so.

They need to change their whole licensing scheme it's getting way overly restrictive and ridiculous and does nothing but hurt the legal users.

Mainly, I would like it to be more modular, I mean I never have to restart linux or OSX after updates, but with windows installing updates or many programs you need to restart. I just want windows 7 to be a very polished/secure/stable upgrade.

^^^ Yeah, something like Apple's "family Pack" would be great!

Seems like about half the features listed here are already in Vista...

WinFS.

It already works exactly how you want it to. The "Apply to Folders" button applies to all folders of that type. So if you're in a music folder, you set it up the way you want, then click Apply To Folders and it makes all "music" folders look that way. Then you can go to an image folder, and do the same thing.

Otherwise if you change an individual folder and don't use Apply To Folders, Explorer remembers for that folder.



What possible reason could you have to want WinFS? WinFS isn't a feature. It was a technology that didn't work and wasn't useful. We already have most of the features that were going to be powered by WinFS.

You don't want WinFS. You may think you do, but trust me, you don't.

I would like for the next version of WinOS, to removed or have an option to be installed, all the components elements. Vista should have been a great OS, but, since MS wanted to bundle Media Center module to it, it start having driver issues.

If you want Media Center, sell it separately and make it easy to install as an addon

Microsoft will be sued by third party vendors like LavaSoft & Symantec (Again) for killing the competition

When has that stopped them in the past?

second that.

It doesn't need to have any new features as long as there's a significant performance increase.

I would also like to see the sidebar and taskbar mergable. I should be able to have components of sidebar running docked in the taskbar.

Well obviously we don't know because Microsoft doesn't announce things like "Vista will not feature Windows Live OneCare"

Windows 7 would have to be faster than vista. i'd really like vista to open programs faster. have a faster startup. it can be embarrising when you are bragging about it to xp die hards and it loads up slower than win2000.
this laptop has two gig o'ram, a dedicated graphics card and a dual core turion.

awesome LOL