What do you want to see in the next release of Windows?


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After the big success I had with http://xp-refresh.net, I?ve decided to start a new site with a broader focus. It will probably be named ?http://make-windows-better.com,? and it will promote new features and ways to make existing features better, and it will encourage users to write to Microsoft and let them know about the site so it can influence the next release of Windows. I?ve started on some *preliminary* pictures, and I wanted to know what you think about them. I also want to hear your ideas, so let me know what you want in the next release of Windows...

After being in the forum for a while, there are some things that are quite obvious that most of you want? tell me if I?m correct?

1. Custom/separate icon size settings for the desktop, the start menu, and Explorer. (For example, users could have huge icons on the desktop, medium sized icons in the start menu, and normal size icons in Explorer, instead of only having one universal icon size setting)

2. Along with 1., users should be able to choose custom icon sizes? such 256x256, instead of just having the ?Large Icons? setting, and users should be able to implement icon sizes in their themes. Technically you can go to the ?Advanced? button in the display properties and choose a custom icon size, but it?s a pain because it affects all icons (you might only want the desktop to have huge icons), and because all the icons in Windows XP are not designed for large sizes, so they become very blurry.

3. COMPLETE themes where you can change every single icon in Windows, such as folder icons, system icons, control panel icons etc. You should also be able to change the icons in both the Explorer toolbar and IE toolbar? It should also support themes that include the Active Desktop?? With complete themes, you would not only be able to make Windows look like the MACOSX, but look EXACTLY like the MACOSX, and with support for the Active Desktop, users could use XML code and create a desktop better or at least equal to what you can find in Stardock?s DesktopX. There should also be a native them format that doesn?t need StylesXP.

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Also, here are some *preliminary* pics I?ve made (These links don't seem to transfer, so copy each address and paste them in the address bar):

Office XP Menus: http://www.geocities.com/makewindowsbetter/menus.jpg

Make ?Tiles? View easier to use: http://www.geocities.com/makewindowsbetter/tiles.jpg

Make one simplified connection dialog box: http://www.geocities.com/makewindowsbetter/connect.gif

Allow users to zoom in/out of images in IE: http://www.geocities.com/makewindowsbetter/zoom.jpg

These are very early, but tell me what you think. There will also be many more ideas that don?t require a picture at all.

Anyway, just send me any ideas of your own on what you would like to see added or changed in the next release of Windows, and I?ll consider a:)ing it to my site. Thanks for your feedback! :)

Jason Webb

contact@xp-refresh.net

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yeah, I think complete full customization of the windows shell is a necessity.

  • Built-in download resume
  • Built-in Tweaking utilties
  • Powertoys come built into windows

other small things that i have to download to make windows better should be included

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Allow users to zoom in/out of images in IE

This is actually available in one version of the IE powertoys:

ieimagezoom.png

although it has an annoying habit of not working properly with some images (it stretches them double horizontally, so you get a horribly distorted image)

The powertoys are available somewhere on MS' site, but i'll be buggered if i can remember how to find them now...

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Yes,all that would be great but,its still windows and i seriously dont think that microsoft can and will be better.Its time to sell the PC(untill we get a more powerfull OS for it),and save for a MAC with OSX,i have found out so much more about it (OSX)and,it cant be beaten :)

And it has just turned 10.1.2.I dont care about microsoft and windblows anymore,bye,bye **** its time to quit LOL!

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Originally posted by Cuzzo

Yes,all that would be great but,its still windows and i seriously dont think that microsoft can and will be better.Its time to sell the PC(untill we get a more powerfull OS for it),and save for a MAC with OSX,i have found out so much more about it (OSX)and,it cant be beaten :)

And it has just turned 10.1.2.I dont care about microsoft and windblows anymore,bye,bye **** its time to quit LOL!

I COULD NOT AGREE WITH YOU MORE!

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Yes. Powertoys should be built in! I also think XP should support "burning on the fly" and have packet writing (UDF) built in.

I think it would be nice if MS could work out a deal with TGTsoft and bundle Style Builder in the next Plus!. Heck, they could throw in the log-in loader to change the welcome screen as well. That would a Plus! pack I'd really be interested in ;).

As for the IE powertoys, that's where I got the idea from, but like you said, it's buggy in XP, and I think they should build it into IE.

As for better gaming support, you're right. If you go on the newsgroups, people are having way too many problems :(.

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Oh, and MS better do some of this stuff or a lot of people are gonna go buy a MAC like you said ;). It all depends on how much MS is being presured... like when Netscape was out, that's when they stepped up and made IE a ton better. Now they're feeling the heat from the new MACOSX.

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Definitly need to improve the dialog boxes. The open and save dialog boxes need to be able to be set at a default size in pixels. Also we should be able to choose default file view like details or thumbnails for that folder. When choosing files I want to set it for details view and when looking at pics I want thumbnail view.

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I agree. They're good dialog boxes, but they don't remember any of your settings :(.

As for MS feeling pressure, MS is already redoing Media Maker because of how good the MAC handles movies. It's going to be based on the current MS Producer, which is currently available only for making powerpoint movies. You can get a sneak peak here: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsme...oad/default.asp.

Also, who here wants new IE browser windows to launch maximized? I do!

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To bad the MediaPlayer is coming to OSX,yak.

Im sure there will be some security issues and mess ups in OSX again,when microsoft port their software to the wonderfull OSX.

iTunes is better.

I know this has nothing to do with windows features and so but who cares :)

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i want to see unix

...

just like os x. it would be more stable than xp even.

Jesus H ****ing christ, where do you people get this from?

Please, explain to us, in your own words, how "unix - just like OSX" would make windows more stable?

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I think he meant for the next version of windows to use the unix kernel arhra :) which I wouldnt be surprised if they did, they seem to steal every other idea from mac, so why not kernels now? ;) :p

ps I know mac didnt make unix, but they did come up with the idea to start using a "modified" unix kernel in a mainstream OS :)

also I know technically you cant steal unix, because it is opensource, but imo it's still wrong for it to be charged for like apple has done, but I guess your paying for apple's development of aqua so essentially your paying $100+ for a WM/server :ermm:

funny that apple makes you pay that much for the gui elements and yet MS is called all sorts of names for actually giving you everything homemade at a rather small price:)

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Binary - it still doesn't make sense. UNIX is a standard, not a kernel. And Mac OS X isn't even a UNIX-compliant OS. It uses a modified Mach ?kernel with an integrated BSD server (which is only *nixlike>), and isn't better than the Windows Engine in any significant way (they're different to each other, and they've both got advantages and disadvantages, but overall they're pretty close).

Windows alreadyhas> a first-class kernel. Besides, the head of MS' kernel development team is Dave Cutler, "the father of VMS". I don't think he'd be too keen on the idea of abandoning the kernel he's worked on for over a decade now for some variant of a *nix-like kernel...

edit: Oh, and UNIX isn't open source. It's a trademark owned by AT&T, and a standard overseen by the Open Group. *BSD (a unix-like OS originally designed in the 80s at Berkely as an alternative to AT&T UNIX)is> open source, but it's not, technically speaking, UNIX. The same goes for Linux.

Apple's kernel used in OS X (Darwin), is based on the Mach ?kernel, which was developed at Carnegie Mellon university (and hence, like BSD, has to be open sourced), with a BSD server based on BSD 4.4lite (iirc). Darwin is available under a sort-of-open-source license (which is actually a lot more open than the first license Apple tried to use, which was much more restrictive but universally condemned).

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Have any of you actually used OSX on any professional level? Other than guffawing over shadows and buttons (which quickly lose their luster) the offering from Apple has been an extreme headache at work. Pretty but very annoying. BTW OSX??UNIX :roll:

Now, as the next offering from MS...

-Take styles to another level by including vector support

-Stability...Looks at 20 day uptime...hmmm. Strike that.

-Customized installation. Though I don't give a **** about MSN messenger...because I use it and it doesn't suck like Mirabellis' ICQ. I'm sick of weenies crying about it. Fix that. Though any one can script a customized install, anyone with the requisite mass of grey matter that is...

-Include Netscape and AOL. I have forgotten how much they actually suck.

-Make us compile our own kernels. And include a CLI login as a default UI so our screen grabs with transparent cmd windows showing "print ls" can give the illusion of tech wizardry unparalleled by even the fattest albino amber-screened tanned troglodyte losers to tap the *nix bash shell.

-Instead of "stealing" from Apple, take a BSD variant, spin it into cotton candy and JuJu beads and call it eloquent with the occasional shoe-horned "paradigm" blathering about digital hubs on yesteryear's hardware with pricing that would make the man from goatse feel virginal.

-Global excommunication of "wizards" and f*cking animals that are supposed to find things for me. There must be an easter egg somewhere that plays some avi of clippy and pals get an acid bath.

-The ability to creating my own shell icons and menu icons without the need to hack in some GD dll.

-25 hours in a day and free blow jobs would be nice too.

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