How would you make Windows 7 better?

[stevember]

You can achieve that using the Win+Left or Win+Right hotkey.

Brilliant.

Now can you nudge the Media Center team for:-

Sort Media Center so can go full screen one monitor and not lock in mouse and doesn't revert back when click something.

[fix-this!]

How to improve it?

Require dual-core processors (purely to improve the user experience) or properly match options to the performance of a machine.

Only release a 64bit version (we need to move forward and sometimes that requires a gentle push).

Make sure it remembers folder views (Vista is pathetic with this).

Make sure file operations don't take unnecessarily long periods of time (there should never be a delay when emptying the recycle bin).

Make sure unresponsive apps are properly contained (Vista helped but still there's a long way to go).

Make sure networking works properly (by default Vista is an absolute nightmare when it comes to sharing printers / drives).

Make sure users never see UAC prompts unless ABSOLUTELY necessary (not for changing the system time or start menu entries).

Get rid of drive letters (come on, please!).

Allow for file / folder names with colons ':' and other common characters.

Avoid the need for restarting when installing updates (surely it could just shutdown and restart the relevant processes, even if they are system critical?).

Improve the Personalise desktop feature (Vista was a backwards move from XP).

Make the All Programs menu in the Start Menu usable (Vista was a backwards move from XP).

Make alt-tabbing / Windows-tabbing out of games perform as well as tabbing out of Firefox or Outlook (instant).

Make only one version but allow it to be customisable (Business, Home and Ultimate should all be merged into one, like OSX).

Price it sensibly. Don't make retail versions 3x the cost of OEM. Offer a considerable discount for Vista users.

Update IE to actually support standards, particularly more demanding specs like Acid3. While Acid3 means nothing in and of itself it speaks to the commitment of the developers, something WebKit/Opera have done but Mozilla/Microsoft have not. Don't be afraid to break websites just because the previous version was bad at handling standards, though give web developers plenty of warning.

Make sure WordPad (or its replacement) supports Word 2007 documents(!!).

Include the picture arranging / face recognising tool demonstrated in tech videos.

Make better use of 3D graphics cards for interface (not just gimmicky but at least reward users with systems capable of it, which would also motivate people with weaker systems to upgrade), though not at the expense of application performance.

Make the Game Explorer detect ALL games and make sure Games For Windows Live games also make an entry in the Start Menu, as now I never know where to look.

Make Add / Remove Programs work properly (stop auto-refreshing every time).

Finally, get rid of the registry or give users more control over its management. Applications can write thousands of entries all over the place, which can significantly impact systems. At the very least it should show applications that have been installed and list all the settings added or changed by that program.

expect much ? :rolleyes:

7 will just be an improved version of vista with more eye candy.

as far as only release a x64 os, i wouldn't mind it as i run x64 but it wouldn't go over well with the general user because x64 still doesn't have the amount of driver support as 32 bit has. people wont upgrade their systems to just install 7. i do see more and more retailers selling desktops & laptops with 4gigs of ram and x64 vista as of late.

[sharp65]

Wordpad supports .docx but not .doc, is this by design or just due to it being a pre-beta that wasn't supposed to be out in the first place.

[fix-this!]

Wordpad supports .docx but not .doc, is this by design or just due to it being a pre-beta that wasn't supposed to be out in the first place.

openoffice 3 ftw !!!!

[Simon Veteran]

7 will just be an improved version of vista with more eye candy.

Which is exactly what people want. Another drastic change like Vista was would be another flop for Microsoft, but the more incremental changes (like OS X has) allows people to adapt, and over time drastically improves the OS. Consider how nicely OS X has matured since it first came out. I think Windows users are realizing that they are much more than service packs, and they're now in for much the same thing with 7.

And I'd debate that the eye candy is at least functional eye candy. Little transitions improve user experience, which improves the mood of the user, which in fact makes a user more productive.

[fix-this!]

Which is exactly what people want. Another drastic change like Vista was would be another flop for Microsoft, but the more incremental changes (like OS X has) allows people to adapt, and over time drastically improves the OS. Consider how nicely OS X has matured since it first came out. I think Windows users are realizing that they are much more than service packs, and they're now in for much the same thing with 7.

And I'd debate that the eye candy is at least functional eye candy. Little transitions improve user experience, which improves the mood of the user, which in fact makes a user more productive.

yeah but with osx you install the new builds as free updates right ? we would have to buy windows 7, i still say 7 should just be a BIG service pack update for vista.

[Ambroos]

Today I ported my mum's most important files, email client etc over, just to let her play with it. She was completely stunned by how useful Aero Peek is, and blown away by the speed of the new build. So if this is a beta, and people already say this, it's a good thing. What I remember of Vista's beta's were ugly visual styles, slowness, and driver problems.

[Elliot B.]

Today I ported my mum's most important files, email client etc over, just to let her play with it. She was completely stunned by how useful Aero Peek is, and blown away by the speed of the new build. So if this is a beta, and people already say this, it's a good thing. What I remember of Vista's beta's were ugly visual styles, slowness, and driver problems.

Your mom is a beta tester, awesome :p

[Brandon Live Veteran]

yeah but with osx you install the new builds as free updates right ? we would have to buy windows 7, i still say 7 should just be a BIG service pack update for vista.

Umm no, you pay Apple $130 for every one of those updates.

I did not spend the last 2+ years developing a service pack. You don't rewrite half of the shell in a service pack.

[sharp65]

openoffice 3 ftw !!!!

I tried it but didn't see anything special about it, it was liked a stripped down version of office. I don't see how that could have replace office 2007.

[Simon Veteran]

yeah but with osx you install the new builds as free updates right ? we would have to buy windows 7, i still say 7 should just be a BIG service pack update for vista.

Nope, most of them cost around $100, a reasonable price imo.

[fix-this!]

Umm no, you pay Apple $130 for every one of those updates.

I did not spend the last 2+ years developing a service pack. You don't rewrite half of the shell in a service pack.

i didn't know that as im not an apple user, just what i heard. $130 for an update is ridiculous.

I tried it but didn't see anything special about it, it was liked a stripped down version of office. I don't see how that could have replace office 2007.

did you try 3.0 ?

open office is free and does everything ms office can, pretty much.

[Simon Veteran]

$130 for an update is ridiculous.

http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetai...amp;catid=10657 < Microsoft does the same pricing, and that's for one of their more limited versions. You can only get the full featured version of OS X.

And I'd expect Microsoft to charge the same as they have for a 7 upgrade.

[Brandon Live Veteran]

i didn't know that as im not an apple user, just what i heard. $130 for an update is ridiculous.

Why? I mean, building an OS release is an order of magnitude more difficult and costly than a normal software project, and $130 is actually a lot less than a lot of software out there (Most Adobe products for example, which cost more and tend to have upgrades released more frequently).

[fix-this!]

Why? I mean, building an OS release is an order of magnitude more difficult and costly than a normal software project, and $130 is actually a lot less than a lot of software out there (Most Adobe products for example, which cost more and tend to have upgrades released more frequently).

i dunno, to each their own i guess. i don't have alot of $$ to blow right now, might not when 7 drops either. i may have to stick with vista for awhile yet, at least sp2 will be out soon enough.

[Brandon Live Veteran]

http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetai...amp;catid=10657 < Microsoft does the same pricing, and that's for one of their more limited versions. You can only get the full featured version of OS X.

And I'd expect Microsoft to charge the same as they have for a 7 upgrade.

Amazon has that for $80, and that's not a "limited" version that's the full Home Premium release (equivalent of XP Media Center Edition). Ultimate is $150.

[Simon Veteran]

Amazon has that for $80, and that's not a "limited" version that's the full Home Premium release (equivalent of XP Media Center Edition). Ultimate is $150.

I didn't mean limited, I meant not full featured.

[temple_treefrog]

Umm no, you pay Apple $130 for every one of those updates.

I did not spend the last 2+ years developing a service pack. You don't rewrite half of the shell in a service pack.

Brandon Live it seems you are misinformed.

OS X and Windows are quite different when it comes to patches, and the money you spend on Leopard (as an example) is a new operating system (10.5). The release version (e.g. 10.5.x) would be what you call a service pack although Apple simply refer to it as an update. Think of Windows 2000 and Windows XP, that was an upgrade from 5.0 to 5.1. :)

Regarding Windows 7, the changes I think could improve the operating system:

- Improve the taskbar (allow easier rearranging of open programs/windows in the taskbar).

- Support for ID3 v2.4

- Improvements with UAC

[Brandon Live Veteran]

I didn't mean limited, I meant not full featured.

But it is full featured. The things that Ultimate has which aren't in Home Premium are things that Apple charges extra for too (like $300 just for Remote Desktop).

Brandon Live it seems you are misinformed.

OS X and Windows are quite different when it comes to patches, and the money you spend on Leopard (as an example) is a new operating system (10.5). The release version (e.g. 10.5.x) would be what you call a service pack although Apple simply refer to it as an update. Think of Windows 2000 and Windows XP, that was an upgrade from 5.0 to 5.1. :)

How am I misinformed? We were talking about the OS updates like 10.5, 10.6, etc. They all cost about $130 and that's the only price you'll find it at.

[fix-this!]

Brandon Live it seems you are misinformed.

OS X and Windows are quite different when it comes to patches, and the money you spend on Leopard (as an example) is a new operating system (10.5). The release version (e.g. 10.5.x) would be what you call a service pack although Apple simply refer to it as an update. Think of Windows 2000 and Windows XP, that was an upgrade from 5.0 to 5.1. :)

Regarding Windows 7, the changes I think could improve the operating system:

- Improve the taskbar (allow easier rearranging of open programs/windows in the taskbar).

- Support for ID3 v2.4

- Improvements with UAC

the service packs for leopard are free right ? that's what i was referring to. i agree about UAC in 7 but for now i use "tweak UAC" in vista to keep it enabled but in quiet mode.

But it is full featured. The things that Ultimate has which aren't in Home Premium are things that Apple charges extra for too (like $300 just for Remote Desktop).

How am I misinformed? We were talking about the OS updates like 10.5, 10.6, etc. They all cost about $130 and that's the only price you'll find it at.

i would never pay for service pack updates, are you sure about this ? i mean i had osx86 installed before and the update manager asked me if i wanted to install 10.5.4 or something like that but it didn't say anything about having to pay for it. :blink:

anyways were getting off topic a bit here.

[jjrambo]

I want $300 back from Microsoft for Vista. Now they are going to sell Vista SP2 cough cough Windows 7 for $400 again?

Where the f morale is there.

[sharp65]

Windows 7 is nothing like vista SP2, and if you really paid that much then you got ripped off.

[jjrambo]

Windows 7 is nothing like vista SP2, and if you really paid that much then you got ripped off.

Full Retail version of Vista Ultimate was $400. Windows 7 = Vista SP2. I don't give **** about GUI, underneath is the same ****.

Vista will get IE8, DX11, WMP12, and other things.

[fix-this!]

Full Retail version of Vista Ultimate was $400. Windows 7 = Vista SP2. I don't give **** about GUI, underneath is the same ****.

Vista will get IE8, DX11, WMP12, and other things.

i actually but sadly agree with you man.

[sharp65]

Behind the scenes windows 7 is much improved from vista, it's pretty evident by how stable a pre-beta is. Actually using it day to day helps too. Maybe you don't care about GUI that's actually useful and makes things easier, but other people do.