Windows 7 Wish List

[Huleboeren]

I want multi desktops

Like spaces in OSX and that thing every linux distribution comes with :p

[jjrambo]

Something to add...

Native support for Blue Ray, DivX, H.264 and HD-DVD. Yes, HD-DVD but i have damn plenty of movies...

I'm so unhappy with Blue Ray, compared to HD-DVD ...crap. I wish Sony along with IBM die....can't stand both of them.

[kl33per]

- Improved codec support. Presumably BluRay movies will be supported in the next version of Windows, so it's not to much further to go and have full MPEG-4 SP/ASP/AVC support as well as container support in the OS. I realise there are probably licensing costs to deal with, but WMP/MC really needs to support as a very minimum MPEG-4 AAC and the MPEG-4 container, seeing as Zune/iTunes already supports it.

- Improved tagging support in WMP/MC. ID3v2.3 support in Windows is still quite broken and I can provide numerous examples of bugs. Also, ID3v2.4 should be implemented as it has quite a few nice changes (especially Unicode support, which contrary to many tagging programs, is not allowed in the ID3v2.3 standard).

- A better way to deal with video in MC. If you're looking at a folder with 100 video files in it, and all you see a previews, it becomes very difficult to find anything. It would be nice if the names were displayed next to the thumbnails.

- Audio/Video podcasting support in WMP. Pretty self explanitory

- Some kind of WMP/Zune integration. Full integration would be preferable, as it simply makes no sense having two separate media players on a system. There may be anti-competitive issues here, but it's not like you have to prevent WMP from syncing with other mobile players. Make Zune the default store in WMP, add Zune syncing support, and you're done.

- Gadget size and positioning is a difficult problem. Any gadgets that are on the desktop automatically get moved when you drop to a lower resolution, which makes sense, unless you're playing a game in which case you return to the desktop at your original resolution with your non-sidebar gadgets all pushed to the top and left. This is most annoying. Per-resolution position settings for gadgets is probably the easiest solution here.

- A taskbar on each monitor with only the applications running on that screen visible on it's taskbar

- An improved application for scanning from scanners. With Windows Fax and Scan only being available on Windows Business and up, I'm not sure what Home Basic/Premium users are doing for there scanning needs. The XP application for scanning documents was at least available on the home edition. I had no idea Windows Photo Gallery (and presumably Live Photo Gallery) could scan images. This should be made more obvious.

- Either integrate Windows Live Mail and Windows Live Photo Gallery into Windows 7, or remove the mail and photo gallery applications all together. Having two separate mail and photo gallery applications is just insane, especially considering how similar they are.

[shakey_snake]

WinFS

Consistent GUI

[mad_onion]

so am i going to be dead before people stop suggesting WinFS?

it's like the word has lost all meaning, people just say it because they think it would be a good thing.

well just to make clear it wouldn't. all the good parts have been implemented in one way or another. so can we stop with it now? it's getting really old.

[XerXis]

this thread is all about people repeating what they heard on the web (like; less legacy code, more modularity, no registry, winfs) without knowing anything about what it means or why and if it is better. But yeah anyway, what else is new, people are just parrots.

What i would want in windows 7:

- a more powerful command line utility (microsoft has it, please include it) but ofcourse that is just a developers/administrators wish, so i can live with downloading it ;)

that's it actually, i like windows vista, it's a modern OS that caters my needs for now. My wishlist for windows mobile is way bigger ;)

forgot one thing, the direct search can be much improved ;)

[thealexweb]

I thought of something new I want, I think it should include some Open-Source components like codecs like Apple does with Mac OS X.

[+Warwagon MVC]

I want to be able to turn off the welcome screen in Vista like in XP and have the classic unbloated login box. I don't want that stupid Windows orb fading out every time.

[Brandon Live Veteran]

I want to be able to turn off the welcome screen in Vista like in XP and have the classic unbloated login box. I don't want that stupid Windows orb fading out every time.

The "classic" logon doesn't exist any more. It existed in XP because some functionality didn't exist in the Welcome Screen that was needed for some environments (domains, etc). In Vista, they were merged into a unified and brand-new logon environment. I highly doubt you'll see the classic one come back.

What would you like to see improved in the Vista logon UI?

[+Warwagon MVC]

The "classic" logon doesn't exist any more. It existed in XP because some functionality didn't exist in the Welcome Screen that was needed for some environments (domains, etc). In Vista, they were merged into a unified and brand-new logon environment. I highly doubt you'll see the classic one come back.

What would you like to see improved in the Vista logon UI?

It works good and gets the job done but it just feels Bloated. I just want want them to turn down the bloat. Like that wallpaper that loads on startup, it just feels Heavy. Where the blue background with an classic xp login box that says user name and password, feels very unbloated and fast. I was never a fan of the XP welcome screen either

[devHead]

It works good and gets the job done but it just feels Bloated. I just want want them to turn down the bloat. Like that wallpaper that loads on startup, it just feels Heavy. Where the blue background with an classic xp login box that says user name and password, feels very unbloated and fast. I was never a fan of the XP welcome screen either

That's why I love the Windows Server 08 login. Just a plain blue background, and you can see verbose messages of what Windows is doing at login and shutdown!

[Linkinfamous]

you can see verbose messages of what Windows is doing at login and shutdown!

There's a registry key to enable that on Vista.

[Brandon Live Veteran]

It works good and gets the job done but it just feels Bloated. I just want want them to turn down the bloat. Like that wallpaper that loads on startup, it just feels Heavy. Where the blue background with an classic xp login box that says user name and password, feels very unbloated and fast. I was never a fan of the XP welcome screen either

Well, it really takes no more time to load that jpeg than it does to draw any other background.

[BajiRav]

It works good and gets the job done but it just feels Bloated. I just want want them to turn down the bloat. Like that wallpaper that loads on startup, it just feels Heavy. Where the blue background with an classic xp login box that says user name and password, feels very unbloated and fast. I was never a fan of the XP welcome screen either

Use LogonVista to apply a plain background?

[ViperAFK]

It works good and gets the job done but it just feels Bloated. I just want want them to turn down the bloat. Like that wallpaper that loads on startup, it just feels Heavy. Where the blue background with an classic xp login box that says user name and password, feels very unbloated and fast. I was never a fan of the XP welcome screen either

It's just a picture with a user icon and a password box, I don't see how that is bloated.

[Electric Jolt]

Complete rework of the threading. Today I couldn't figure out why my computer wasn't responding, then I realized my Pocket PC stuck in an endless CPU loop and was still connected via activesync. Why should that hang the system? WHY?!

Not to happy about all explorer and desktop windows hanging when inserting a CD.

I'm skipping Vista unless I am forced to use it for work (unlikely), but if I have to use it you can bet I will strip it down to the absolute minimal config I need or use 2007 Server.

64-bit is still not practical in a home environment. The only real 64-bit systems I have used with good results are servers, and that doesn't help a gamer.

This really is a big complaint I have about Windows, whenever I insert a disk into my DVD drive, it makes explorer.exe hang and other applications. This is terrible whenever I might be browsing some news articles and forums and need to burn a DVD and it is corrupted and whenever I try to insert it, it hangs explorer.exe and everything just slows down or hangs with explorer.exe. I have to terminate the explorer.exe process and start imgburn to format the disk, sometimes the disk is so corrupt that imgburn cannot solve the problem and its a bad disk that hanged Windows.

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...

No! What are you thinking? Never do that! Apple has it so simple, they have one Mac OS X Leopard, one product line (Macs), one everything. Microsoft has it so bad, they have to worry about so many different brands of computers and then custom built too. It is extremely difficult servicing a PC because its simply a PC and there is so many of them, so many editions of Windows, so many places you can get Windows, not the best driver support, so many tweaks and things you can do to your Windows and PC that a taskbar can be themed to look like some TV show. Now asking for better modularity! That would destroy Windows more, somebody who wanted to service your Windows over the internet would need you to use Remote Assistance and you would say that your edition of Windows did not come with that. Modularity is a big no no!

That can't happen. If you kill a process with Task Manager, it is dead.

There are extremely, extremely rare cases where a process may appear to stick around. Like, if you launched it with something that's keeping a handle to it open. In that case, the process object sticks around but none of the code, data, or any of the process's threads are really there.

Part of it may also stick around if it's stuck in the middle of some I/O operation in kernel land, though if that happens for more than a couple seconds you almost certainly have a busted driver. Apparently older versions of ZoneAlarm and all current versions of Hauppauge's TVR drivers are fairly good examples of drivers that get stuck with APCs disabled, preventing processes from being killed properly.

More detail:

http://blogs.msdn.com/oldnewthing/archive/.../23/192531.aspx

Always wondered why sometimes a process lived after being terminated.

What I would like for Windows 7?

* That's not Windows, that's Intellipoint, but a magnifier function which works without the awfully glitches/refresh resize currently done with IP 6.2

* a better Flip 3D: in fact, SmartFlip's implementation of Flip3d with the circular carrousel is much better

* For Windows Media Player, the notion of a sub-genre: let's say I have plenty of soundtracks CD but I want to add the distinction between Game, Movie, TV soundtrack without having to use the 'Artist' field instead

* The ability to name removable disks with meaningful names: more than the 8 Upper case limit

That may be a limit of FAT32, though

The autorun.inf label trick does not always work with my USB thumb drive and I have no clue why.

* Better integration of the products of other Microsoft division: why the hardware division LifeChat and Intellipoint Pro software install a 'Check for Update' shortcut? Should not that be handled by Windows Update?

But that's not my biggest wish, my biggest wish would be that Microsoft works harder with ISV and Hardware vendors

* so that ISV finally learn to make good windows applications that behave properly: for example, skins for skinable applications should go to C:\Users\Public\<Company Name>, not C:\Program Files\<Application Install Dir>, Registry settings should be clearly distinguished between user settings (that go into HKCU\Software) and global application settings (that go into HKLM\Software)

* so that Hardware vendors produce quality drivers for their hardware included in the Windows 7 DVD or readily available on Windows Update.

And when I mean "works harder with ISV and HV", I mean "hammer the **** of them" until they write their software correctly.

While I am at it, a Visual Studio with the Office 2007 Ribbon Interface, I am a big fan of the Ribbon interface and I do think that Visual Studio would become a greater IDE with the Ribbon interface.

I love the Ribbon UI. Now thats the future taskbar I'm looking for, ok well, where the concept came from at least. :p

I think what they need to do is create windows 7 on a low spec crap pc and make it run good on that, then all the rest is gravey :)

Hmm, now thats an idea for Microsoft. I can see it now "Windows 7! Made with slow computers in mind!" :laugh:

I for one love UAC and everyone should...

No, not because I love clicking the ok button, but because it's brings everyone attention to a very important issue, applications should not need administrative privileges to run. The annoyance should be corrected once developers rewrite? their apps! It's a bold move, but a necessary one to have UAC behave the way it does. With that said UAC will not go away anytime soon, it's an important security feature and pretty silly to disable, especially as more applications are replaced with proper versions that don't bring up the annoying popup. At most, it will only be tweaked at the user-interaction level.

Yes, developers have to realize that their applications are applications that normal everyday users use, they do not adore the application and wish it was all over their HDD. For example, iTunes or Adobe. Microsoft needs to strive to keeping it clean, they need to enforce that applications that really do not need that special permission, put the request away and move on.

Applications can be self-contained, and then permission would not be needed. It would be great if compiling was set by default that applications would be self-contained so applications would no longer use the Program Files folder and Registry, and they did not need permission to be installed. I mean when I was younger and I was using my family's computer, applications that were to be used by me only would need administrator permission and I would get mad because I would be the only one using that application.

Now in Windows Vista, you need permission for many tasks dealing with the system, including the registry and Program Files. It would be nice if Windows 7 was designed so you had your own Programs folder that had self-contained applications. It would be more secure because you never know when an application you use everyday and trust, might be asking for permission to upgrade and because it has permission now, it will upgrade and it might go wrong and all your registry keys for that application and everything might be corrupted leaving you maybe with none of your data you had in that application. If you have self-contained applications in your own folder, then it would be easier for UAC to identify what needs permission, and it would never need permission to touch the registry to update the application and the structure of the application and where data is stored is completely different so it could not lose data.

Really, compatibility should really be looked over, it should be emulation, not legacy support. Making Windows suport legacy applications limits possibilities you can do with Windows, now removing all legacy support would open the door to possibilities to Microsoft for the next version of Windows. They could do emulation and any legacy application that wanted to install could do that in an emulated environment.

Incorrect. Anyone can include any normal stand-alone GPL-licensed app with whatever they like, as long as they either include the source, or offer to supply it (such as on am FTP site). The GPL license will apply to Notepad++, not to Windows or whatever else it is bundled with. Things only get sticky if the distributer is using GPL code in their other apps, and not offering source.

I do not support this because including a third-party application with Windows is like getting a file-sharing application off the internet that has bundled software included.

i would like to see:

1:All Legacy Code Either Removed or Upgraded in some way.

2:Lower The Cost Significantly

3:give the 64bit version an edge in some way over the 32bit version

4:Tabbed Explorer(the option could be availible to those who want it on but could turn it off)

5:Fix The Folder Forgetting Bug And Fix The Networking to a degree(ideas?)

6:Give the user more choices when installing But have 2 modes:A Typical Install(it will install the default)or Advanced Install(it gives you choices on what to install)

Who knows what will be in windows 7.

I think Microsoft can do something a bit more snazzier than tabs with Windows Explorer...

How about Mac OS X is like 6 gigabytes, I think Microsoft is on the right track and does not need to do any more modularity right now...

[Electric Jolt]

Things I'd like to see:

More modularity (Hopefully in MinWin)

Integrated office viewers (unlikely due to regulators)

Number of GUI updates / bugfixes as mentioned earlier on

Better ImageX/WDS management and support

More controls over UAC. (E.g. if your a local admin, I want Vista to prompt for my domain admins details for some MMC's)

Virtualisation built-in (VirtualPC native support? Virtual DVD drives)

Updated Media Centre with better controls

UPNP management

Updated and more powerful compression tool. (support tarballs, RAR, ISO etc. Allow passwords, compression ratios etc.)

MS to write their own PDF viewer that's not as bloated as Adobes and is shipped with the OS

PowerShell to be inbuilt!! :-)

SSH and Serial terminal client apps

Removal of IIS from Windows clients. That should help lower the price and keep HTTP servers where they belong - the servers

I want more from Windows defender. I want the power of MSCONFIG from a more intuitive GUI

More configuration options of VSS (e.g. where the copies are stored)

An "Advanced" option for the backup. Love the new one in Vista - but I just want the option for a bit more power

FYI regarding the MS GUI being required - see Windows Server 2008. It's running the same kernel as Vista but has no GUI and works fine.

No! Stop! I am strongly againest modularity! When I found out years ago that I could run a server on my computer, I went crazy and got all happy that it comes built-in! Do not remove IIS from Windows as it limits the possibilities you can do with Windows. By the way, Mac OS X comes with Apache built-in and taking a feature Mac OS X has also out of Windows would be saying, yes I want you to be better than me. I love IIS, I love Windows, I can always depend on Windows having a GUI for everything, unlike Linux which if you need to change boot files or something, it needs done by root, and unless you have Mac OS X or Gnome or something similar that allows logging into root, you can only do that by using the terminal.

I agree on better UPnP support.

Windows already has XPS documents, well Office does.

Virtualization is a big thing I would like to see in Windows 7! Especially mounting ISOs or UDFs or similar, and if Windows 7 does get emulation support and takes out legacy support, then Virtual PC should definitely be a feature you could check to turn on in Control Panel.

UAC does need to be extremely tuned.

Get rid of everything that is bloat.

Strip out all extras from Media Player, and allow add-ons to be installed as needed.

GET RID of Search extras, use bars or webpage ONLY for searching. This does not need to be in the OS.

Bring back 2 window file view for explorer! I am sorry for anyone who does not use Windows Commander ;) It is 1000x better.

Make Windows FASTER! Not just faster in some things, but EVERYTHING!! Kill the bloat K.I.S.S!!

An OS should support as much software as possible. This cannot be achieved if you can only run a couple good programs without clogging the system, because the programs will get harder on the PC at a faster rate than people can upgrade hardware always!!

If this new OS is going to run 2 years from the time of it's intro, we NEED 2x the amount of memory a gamer would want on a PC allowed on the "Home" system at the time it comes out!

AIM FOR SPEED!!!!! Make everything else addons

Excuse me? There is no bloat in Windows, Windows Vista uses MinWin at the core and the kernel is shared between Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008. Look at Windows Server 2008, it is extremely fast, and then look at Windows Vista SP1. Windows Server 2008 is fast no matter what you say and Windows Vista SP1 uses the same kernel and everything. The only difference between them is one is a server and one is a client, and one uses Desktop Experience by default, and one does not, goes into more detail but they are identical really. No bloat in Windows Media Player 11, in fact, I think it is the most beautiful verison of Windows Media Player up-to-date. Windows Vista has some bugs, and it still has room for improvement and a service pack can fix that, but Windows Vista is a really good operating system, Windows 7 can't be less bloated than Windows Vista because Windows Vista is already not bloated. Some people do not know what they are saying. :no:

WinFS

Consistent GUI

Windows Vista already includes a consistent GUI. Yes, thats a problem, Windows Vista includes a consistent GUI for it's self. It does not look like Microsoft had put much work into making it so Windows Vista can have a consistent GUI everyone can use. I hate it how Windows Photo Gallery looks so cool but then I get Windows Live Photo Gallery because its better and it has that stupid ugly blue bar instead of the blackish blue bar Windows Vista's Windows Photo Gallery had. :x

I hate how Windows Live stands out, and Microsoft does not care to keep it looking like Windows Vista. Windows Vista should have WPF applications, not sticking out kind. I am strongly againest the tinted bar most applications have in Windows Vista, FireFox has it and I hate it! In Windows XP, it seems it was yellowish white and it was just good old Windows XP.

so am i going to be dead before people stop suggesting WinFS?

it's like the word has lost all meaning, people just say it because they think it would be a good thing.

well just to make clear it wouldn't. all the good parts have been implemented in one way or another. so can we stop with it now? it's getting really old.

I forget too sadly. Can someone please explain more on WinFS. I thought it was an abbreviation for Windows File System. Really, I find it more appealing to use the Windows File System then the Windows NT File System. I do not know much about Windows NT, but I think that name would fit right in with Windows 98 and Windows 2000, and because were using Windows Vista now, I thought Windows NT sounded a little old to be using with an OS years later when the UI and major components of the OS have changed completely.

this thread is all about people repeating what they heard on the web (like; less legacy code, more modularity, no registry, winfs) without knowing anything about what it means or why and if it is better. But yeah anyway, what else is new, people are just parrots.

What i would want in windows 7:

- a more powerful command line utility (microsoft has it, please include it) but ofcourse that is just a developers/administrators wish, so i can live with downloading it ;)

that's it actually, i like windows vista, it's a modern OS that caters my needs for now. My wishlist for windows mobile is way bigger ;)

forgot one thing, the direct search can be much improved ;)

I find a kernel called the Windows kernel and a file system called the Windows File System a lot more appealing than Windows NT. It is very much similar to saying I'm using the Windows 95 Kernel on Windows Vista... Its like ghetto compared to what it really is. They need to just refresh the kernel and file system, and in doing so, refresh the names.

Removing the registry would be more secure, I know that, well if they did it without creating something exactly like the registry to take the place of it. Now it might not be stable or compatible, but it would be secure and UAC would run better and be able to find out more information about an application needing permission, it wouldn't need to search the registry to pinpoint what application needs the permission. Applications would just need permission to be installed in a global folder or they could just be installed in yours. The programming could be really flexible without the registry.

I don't know but Windows without a sea of the registry would sound so much easier. :D

That's why I love the Windows Server 08 login. Just a plain blue background, and you can see verbose messages of what Windows is doing at login and shutdown!

I hate that login because it has no nice background, why doesn't Microsoft do what Apple does for a change and use a window and a background image? Maybe you people would stop complaining, and wait, wasn't that in Longhorn, I believe that was one of the logons.

----------------------------------

Yes I read all 13 pages, I have a very boring life. I did learn one good thing today, Windows Vista is better operating system than I had thought after reading this entire thread. Of course some bugs need fixed like for example the file is in use bug where cmd.exe is using it and it does not say what is using that file.

Features I Want...

-Better Dual Monitor Support, I do not like how Windows Vista does not extend the taskbar.

-I do not like how when I am using no-gui, some graphic glitches occur. I wish glitches like those could be cleared up.

-Flip3D to be Longhorn style where the windows are not always viewable as they are right behind each other.

-Logon background more comfortable on eyes.

-Welcome Center features the new style, well the top does. I want the tiny dots to go away when you use the arrow keys on your keyboard and I want the style where a clean square surrounds the button, pictures below.

-Taskbar to be fitted round. a screenshot was floating around that was a fake and it featured this nice style. sad it was fake.

-Folder views to be all included on desktop.

-Folder view bug fixed so they can be remembered.

-2 minimum themes to be used in Windows 7, I would say 3 maximum.

-If it is not aero glass, make the border around a window less thick.

-Make the maximized window the color of your monitor. I thought Microsoft was trying to do this when I noticed on an iMac the maximized window fits right in with the border around your screen on your iMac and it really is maximized.

-Get rid of WordPad and Notepad and put in a new application, for example, WordEdit, and make it so its WPF powered and it can act like Notepad or WordPad

There is more I would like but I cannot think all of them at once nor can I bloat the thread. :p

[Ci7]

wow extra large post :wacko:

and yes why there two thing whivh do the same job ?? (notepad ,wordpad)

mybe they should replace them with a basic version of MS word

[briguy992]

wow extra large post :wacko:

and yes why there two thing whivh do the same job ?? (notepad ,wordpad)

mybe they should replace them with a basic version of MS word

I don't think that notepad and wordpad do the same thing.

Notepad is just a really fast loading, and very slim application for just doing extremely basic text stuff, nothing fancy.

Wordpad is essentially the basic version of MS Word.

[Linkinfamous]

I forget too sadly. Can someone please explain more on WinFS. I thought it was an abbreviation for Windows File System. Really, I find it more appealing to use the Windows File System then the Windows NT File System. I do not know much about Windows NT, but I think that name would fit right in with Windows 98 and Windows 2000, and because were using Windows Vista now, I thought Windows NT sounded a little old to be using with an OS years later when the UI and major components of the OS have changed completely.

WinFS stands for Windows Future Storage. It was a grandiose relational database that would have replaced files for certain things, among other things (abstracting data to common schemas, etc.)

It was not a physical filesystem. Windows, WinFS, and all of the associated 'stuff' would have had to run on top of NTFS.

They need to just refresh the kernel and file system

Any particular reason why?

Removing the registry would be more secure, I know that

Oh really?

The registry as it is allows for more flexible security configurations (per-key security) than config files.

[wrack]

Tabbed Windows Explorer

IE 8 with faster engine

[ViperAFK]

People that talk about trashing the registry never have a clue how it actually works.

[Electric Jolt]

WinFS stands for Windows Future Storage. It was a grandiose relational database that would have replaced files for certain things, among other things (abstracting data to common schemas, etc.)

It was not a physical filesystem. Windows, WinFS, and all of the associated 'stuff' would have had to run on top of NTFS.

Any particular reason why?

Oh really?

The registry as it is allows for more flexible security configurations (per-key security) than config files.

I never was into the type of security such as breaking in through code or using special equipment. I meant that when installing applications, you wouldn't do the install routine we do now, you would just use a self-contained application that did not depend on the registry. Security without the registry using UAC would be more flexible because you would never need to touch system files being a self-contained application, now if it was an antivirus, they could run that as admin, stuff you trust would not need permission, stuff you trust to keep your system running is a different thing. The way Windows Vista was (I mean leaving beta...) with deleting files was completely absurd, 8 clicks is way too many. Everything is out of order these days, granting permission to applications that should never need it is like giving a key to your neighbor if they ever need it when they won't ever need it. Applications should never need permission as they should be self-contained and be in your folder and your folder you have permission to built-in. I find applications such as uTorrent my favorite because they are self-contained and the way it should be.

[Reacon]

Nah, Yellow is too awesome of a color to be associated with a crash.

How about Red screen of death.. because you already see red when your pc crashes.

Believe it or not, there IS a way to do that....I just kinda...forgot.

[+Warwagon MVC]

People that talk about trashing the registry never have a clue how it actually works.

I know that you just can't transfer an application from computer to computer by just moving the application folder like on an apple. God, I can't imagine how nice that would be for backing up peoples applications before a format.