Windows 7 Wish List

[Smigit]

I wish people would stop talking about something which is so far away.

MS is toying with the idea of a late 2009 release. Thats only next year. Sure thats a bit but it isn't THAT long.

[zerologic]

Eww. Spaces. The Compiz Fusion implementation of multi desktops is way better.

EDIT: I would like to see a Windows mode I can run that's really lightweight, but still runs programs fine. No Aero, no extra apps, no sidebar, just the bare minimum.

I'm not familiar with Compiz Fusion. Is that the spinning 3d cube?

I think Windows needs something useful unlike Flip 3d which is just a silly gimmick.

[PL_ Veteran]

I'm not familiar with Compiz Fusion. Is that the spinning 3d cube?

Yeah, drag a window to the side and keep going to put it onto another face of the cube. Hold Ctrl-Alt and the left mouse button to freely move the cube around with your mouse. Hold Ctrl-Alt and push an arrow key to go to the next face in that direction. See all faces of the cube and jump to faces with an object that sits in your GNOME panel (or KDE bar or whatever). Flashing/alerted windows will show up on the task bar of every face, allowing for easy access.

It's fantastic and really intuitive. It's a great example of an area where Linux is way ahead of Windows/Mac OS.

[4CxbqFxVnstmA Veteran]

They should do what Apple did and get rid of their old kernel and use some variant of Unix as the base. This would speed things up hugely, improve security and stability, and get more out of hardware.

Then they should copy all the good ideas from Mac and Linux (everyone copies others' ideas) and improve upon them (everyone copies others' ideas and usually improves upon them).

They could go open source: develop the Windows desktop to sit on top of the Linux kernel (this is probably one of the many things they do in their research labs anyway for testing purposes).

[Harlem39s Finest]

more advanced install, i want to choose which things i want to install, i never use netmeeting, sytem restore, messenger, moviemaker, remote assistance, built in firewall, WindowsMediaPlayer, etc.

better UI consistency

more control over applications causing crashes/"freezing" i don't want games, programmes, etc forcing me to restart my pc because they froze.(which in some cases results in f***** up windows install)

Edited June 4, 2008 by Harlem39s Finest

[TaRaKa]

i want to see a windows where the GUI and the kernal are seperate.

[Typhon]

:blush: Well, OS X has a great Interface, Microsoft could learn a lot from Apple.

Also Microsoft should expact the 'breadcrumb' idea into something like this from Apple (Column View):

:happy:

Why would I want my OS to look like iTunes lol.

[XerXis]

i want to see a windows where the GUI and the kernal are seperate.

i guess you don't know what a kernel is...

[4CxbqFxVnstmA Veteran]

i guess you don't know what a kernel is...

Maybe you don't?

Mac and Linux both have separate kernels and desktops.

[Imran Hussain]

Well, I don't know about you guys, but I don't want Microsoft to publish UI guidelines for Windows 7, when all they come up themselves with is this crap!!! Either be consistent in your UI Microsoft, or don't give others guidelines!!!

[)-(orus]

Only one thing (actually less things).

Better Modularity.

Give me a windows core and let me choose (even buy at individual costs) the features I want.

Let me buy windows and if I so desire buy the multimedia pack (include DVD creator, etc) or buy the infrastructure pack (include active directory, roaming profiles, etc) or buy the "desktop experience" pack (include additional functionality for the GUI) my list of things to exclude could go on but I thing you get the idea...

[kl33per]

Maybe you don't?

Mac and Linux both have separate kernels and desktops.

As does Windows. The GUI and the kernel are completely separate. It would be insane to execute GUI code as part of the kernel.

[Knife Party]

1. installer modularity

2. consistent GUI

3. some sort of virtual mounting support - iso

4. provide maybe 3 visual styles to work with + give tools for allowing custom visual styles

5. more desktop composition - Flip 3D was a complete waste, do simple things like different minimize or maximise effects that are different from others

6. provide only 3 versions -> Home, Business & Ultimate

7. include a few more disk management tools -> the abilty to merge partitions or unallocated space as an example

8. try to improve and cut bloat as much - making services less resource intensive

9. work with manufacturers to a greater extent, set driver quality levels and make sure sufficient support is available

10. allow Explorer to be more customized -> tabs is one example.

[4CxbqFxVnstmA Veteran]

As does Windows. The GUI and the kernel are completely separate. It would be insane to execute GUI code as part of the kernel.

Sorry, mate, but in Windows the kernel and GUI cannot be separated: see here.

In Linux, BSD, Unix, Solaris, etc., the kernel is truly separate from the many desktops available (Gnome, KDE, Fluxbox, Enlightenment, etc.). Since Mac is based on BSD, it works the same: the Mac kernel and the Mac GUI are separate too. It's never been possible to do this with Windows because they always built it as an interlocked system.

[TonyLock]

• Native Multi desktop support.
  
• Ability to TOTALLY customise the Windows Explorer toolbar.
  
• Bring back the "UP LEVEL" icon in Windows Explorer.
  

[Smigit]

Well, I don't know about you guys, but I don't want Microsoft to publish UI guidelines for Windows 7, when all they come up themselves with is this crap!!! Either be consistent in your UI Microsoft, or don't give others guidelines!!!

Yeah some of it's out of hand, then again theres another way of looking at it which is "right tool for the right job". Obviously a ribbon bar makes no sense in a messenger app or a web browser for instance. Of those a few are using the same UI too (visio, notepad, outlook and visual studio) besides colours for the panes which may or may not be adjustable in the options.

Edited June 4, 2008 by Smigit

[anonymous_user]

Isnt this thread similar to: I will not buy Windows 7 unless it has ... *Feature*?

Anyways some things Id like:

*More performance

*Tabbed explorer

*Update all icons (look here)

*Allow for more customization of visual styles (like change color of basic style)

*Bring back the old address bar (I dont like breadcrumbs)

[Roger H. Veteran]

it's funny to see some of these requests/desires. Half the stuff i've seen so far i'm like yeah, definitely would want that some times and the the rest is like NOOOO! Some people will say why would you complain about having the option and options is what's the problem now. IF Microsoft has to build a Windows for so many different people with different uses and different systems you can expect a fair amount of crashing going on.

Imagine the support nightmare for OEMs too when you've customized your system to all hell and then the support person tells you, "Click start and then click all programs" Well where is it, i don't have a start menu cuz i've remove that option!. Ok so most of us geeks probably wouldn't call customer support in the first place but what about all those users out there that have no idea what they are doing and totally screw their machine not knowing how to get things back.

For business (IT Specialists) it makes sense to keep things simple and consistent between machines so that probably wouldn't apply there. Then again for all us geeks that would like the customizing we can do it anyways just without the support or Microsoft making it "easy" for us to do it.

[Brandon Live Veteran]

Text / Information customization

Live Preview of documents

I'm not exactly sure what the first one means. But we definitely have the second.

[j1232]

You know if you really want WinFS you can install it on your own. . I had winFS running on Windows XP three years ago when it was still in Beta. But I am almost positive you can download it and run it on Vista now. .. as far as it becoming a standard in windows 7 O doubt it.

[Brandon Live Veteran]

They should do what Apple did and get rid of their old kernel and use some variant of Unix as the base. This would speed things up hugely, improve security and stability, and get more out of hardware.

Oddly enough, switching to a Unix foundation would have the exact opposite effect in every one of those areas.

i want to see a windows where the GUI and the kernal are seperate.

Sweet! We've already shipped about a dozen of those, so you should be very happy :)

Maybe you don't?

Mac and Linux both have separate kernels and desktops.

Uhh, and Windows too.

Sorry, mate, but in Windows the kernel and GUI cannot be separated: see here.

In Linux, BSD, Unix, Solaris, etc., the kernel is truly separate from the many desktops available (Gnome, KDE, Fluxbox, Enlightenment, etc.). Since Mac is based on BSD, it works the same: the Mac kernel and the Mac GUI are separate too. It's never been possible to do this with Windows because they always built it as an interlocked system.

Well that is simply incorrect.

[Rigby]

Apple had no choice but get a new kernel, the classic Mac OS series was garbage to put it nicely. No true multitasking, crashed like crazy, etc. It would compare more to the 9x line, not NT. The NT kernel is very good, it's just the junk they pile on top of it that brings Windows down. Get rid of all the flashy nonsense and resource hogging bloat and Windows 7 could be great.

[Smigit]

You know if you really want WinFS you can install it on your own. . I had winFS running on Windows XP three years ago when it was still in Beta. But I am almost positive you can download it and run it on Vista now. .. as far as it becoming a standard in windows 7 O doubt it.

WinFS doesn't exist any more as a single product, but the technologies of it are found in quite a decent handful of other MS products, many of which will be included with a default Vista install.

They pulled the plug on a dedicated WinFS release well before Vistas launch.

as for the whole GUI + kernel thing. That wikipedia article posted earlier to me doesn't read that the kernel and GUI are not separate, but rather for windows to operate you need one and the other and thus theres dependencies at the OS level (thats how I read it anyway). Whether they should open it up to allow different presentation interfaces is up to debate. I would argue no and one of the things that makes a windows machine a windows machine is the fact they are largely configured the same and at least from a business standpoint MS doesnt want to support people using 3rd party UI's nor do businesses want to train people who are accustomed to non standard ones. I'd much rather MS implemented a good UI that I can rely apon being on all WIn 7 systems than them spending resources opening that aspect of the system up.

Edited June 4, 2008 by Smigit

[markwolfe Veteran]

Sorry, mate, but in Windows the kernel and GUI cannot be separated: see here.

In Linux, BSD, Unix, Solaris, etc., the kernel is truly separate from the many desktops available (Gnome, KDE, Fluxbox, Enlightenment, etc.). Since Mac is based on BSD, it works the same: the Mac kernel and the Mac GUI are separate too. It's never been possible to do this with Windows because they always built it as an interlocked system.

I think that there is much confusion in this thread because of the terminology being used and mis-used in the discussion.

Just because the Microsoft GUI is mandatory, doesn't mean it is part of the kernel. So when you say that "Mac and Linux have separate kernels and desktops", it is misleading, because so does Windows. I think that Apple and Microsoft both pretty much require the GUI for most typical operation, but they have separate kernels and GUIs.

In Linux, it is probably easier to see and demonstrate the separation by firing up Ubuntu, playing music in mplayer, editing a file with vi or emacs, checking mail with mutt or pine and browsing the web with links. Then kill X and run in TTY mode (runlevel 3) and do the same things. Play music in mplayer, edit a file with vi....

I think that clearing up the terminology will help. A GUI that is a required part of install does not mean it is part of the kernel.

[BajiRav]

I'm not exactly sure what the first one means. But we definitely have the second.

I wish Microsoft include more previews by default. :/ Vista doesn't show TXT, HTML, PDF or even Office(Doc, Xls etc.) previews in default config. While there might be some Adobe bitching for including PDF, I don't see a reason why TXT or Office formats are missing. One possible explanation for Office is - Office team doesn't want you to see previews unless you have Office installed. Still doesn't explain TXT or HTML.