Things You'd Wish Would Be Implemented In Windows 7

[hdood]

I think BSODs should stay too but removing them won't be a problem as long as the log files are easily accessible.

I don't think he wanted to get rid of just the BSOD messages, he probably wanted to get rid of the crashes themselves. In other words, make an OS that never crashed. Obviously not possible.

The original idea of the registry was to accumulate all the *.ini files in one location. This idea sounded neat at first but has become something that is more or less a bottleneck to the system. I would much prefer if windows took a linux approach to storing settings etc. It's easy to backup, easy to edit (when necessary) and just seems cleaner.

That's just bull****. The registry is not a bottleneck, it performs extremely well. The problem with storing the configuration in plain text files is that such a system does not support access control except on a file basis. That means you would either have to give that up, or use thousands of files. I have no idea why you believe this would perform better.

The registry is easy to edit if you have to manually. Your complaint here is that you find the structure of the data stored in it complicated, not the registry itself. Valid to some extent, but Windows would still have to store the exact same information in the text files (unless you were to fundamentally redesign Windows). It wouldn't be any easier to understand.

Backing up data in the registry isn't difficult either, but it requires that you actually understand what the various configuration options are and where they are stored. I agree that there is a lack of good tools that abstract this away so you could easily back up the most common things people care about. Again it's all about the information stored in the registry, rather than the registry itself.

The registry is just a neutral database. You have to separate it from the data stored in it. They are two different issues.

A taskbar that spans 2 screens would be nice (without having to use UltraMon).

I really want this too, and it would be nice if you had separate taskbars that showed just the windows on that display.

[Ci7]

I have a few points and hope they get implemented at least in the next version (which will be a major release)

1)I wish Windows focused on reducing the number of silly and unnecessary reboots. I know that it has been considerably less compared to XP but may be they can focus on the issue a bit more.

2)A bit less cluttered and more organized Control Panel. The view by Small icons is lame presently

3)Remove all legacy crap since next version will surely be 64bit only and I'm sure XP Mode like feature would be even more improved

P.S: I have yet to see any BSOD since Vista. :huh:

1# reboot are mostly a carry over from application which get designed for older edition of windows

2#the already did ,i agree about small icon through

3#that will break say 90% of the application for windows ,are you ok with that?

Get rid of the registry. No other operating system has this file.

duh !

32 will eventually disappear. i dont see why it has to be done in win 7 right now. it doesnt support 16bits anymore so eventually 32 bit will be gone as well. in the mean time, a lot of people still have older hardware that doesnt have 64 bit drivers for it and the maker of those hardwares are too lazy to support them.

i havent used windows 7 yet. not much into beta or RC releases but what i would like to see is the ability for multiple desktop. i used to used Redhat at University and loved the idea of having 4 desktop and able to switch between them with a click. that's something i truly miss in windows. the ability to have a multiple copy and paste. i know it there in Office but i mean when try to copy files in windows explorer. i should be able to copy different sets all at once from folder and then paste each of those individually in different location. i would find something like this very useful when organizing photos into different folder as an example.

16bit has been removed from 64bit edition but not from 32bit edition of win7

you wont see a pure 64bit windows at least not in the next 10 years

The original taskbar.

keep dreaming

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

anyway the thread is a bit pointless since windows 7 already finalized and released

the title should read "Thing you'd wish would be implemented in Windows 8/.NEXT "

[Arkangel]

A new more efficient file system would be nice... perhaps some sort of an agreement and cooperation could be made between the open source community and Microsoft to come to an agreement of sorts to create a new standard (I doubt it would happen but you gotta admit it would be great)

I'd also like tighter restrictions on applications from bloating up the registry by leaving remnants, wouldn't it be nice if you could uninstall an application and not leave any traces of it ever being installed thus keeping your system conflict free and smoother than a silk sheet.

[rakeshishere]

1# reboot are mostly a carry over from application which get designed for older edition of windows

2#the already did ,i agree about small icon through

3#that will break say 90% of the application for windows ,are you ok with that?

duh !

16bit has been removed from 64bit edition but not from 32bit edition of win7

you wont see a pure 64bit windows at least not in the next 10 years

keep dreaming

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

anyway the thread is a bit pointless since windows 7 already finalized and released

the title should read "Thing you'd wish would be implemented in Windows 8/.NEXT "

LOL ? 10years.... Say, it aint so ;) Also, removing legacy crap and improving XP mode will definitely be a plus and not breaking 90% of apps on windows

[hdood]

Also, removing legacy crap and improving XP mode will definitely be a plus and not breaking 90% of apps on windows

Could you explain exactly what "legacy crap" you want removed, and can you please be specific?

[Linkinfamous]

Does anyone know why vector scaling with the magnifier for WPF apps was removed?

Under Vista, if you zoomed into any app using WPF, it would scale as a vector, and quite frankly looked awesome. Under 7, it raster scales it, and looks crappy.

Combined with the new magnifier mode, that could have been nice, and a damned good reason to push WPF.

[AltecXP]

Personally I think that applications should refrain from storing private configuration data in the registry, they should store it in the roaming/local folder, and only use the registry for system-wide settings (like registering servers), but that has nothing to do with the registry itself. It seems like these complaints almost always boil down to application (ab)use of the registry, rather than the registry itself.

It already kind of does, there is a section of the Registry that is User dependent and other Users can't view it unless they Load it back into the registry just for editing/reading.

I just want to see ISO mounting, and more parts of Windows x64 to be 64-bit.

[M_Lyons10]

Those other programs don't actually use multiple desktops, they just have the one and cleverly manipulate it to give the impression that there are more. They do this by doing things like hiding the Windows and task bar buttons that belong to another "desktop" than what is active. This is a rather large hack, and none of them really seem to work quite right.

Ah. Very interesting. With Sysinternals being part of Microsoft though, they should petition for a better desktop environment so that things like this can actually be done properly in Windows. I think that a well done implementation of dual desktops would be a top feature of a new version of Windows for me.

Does anyone know why vector scaling with the magnifier for WPF apps was removed?

Under Vista, if you zoomed into any app using WPF, it would scale as a vector, and quite frankly looked awesome. Under 7, it raster scales it, and looks crappy.

Combined with the new magnifier mode, that could have been nice, and a damned good reason to push WPF.

Hm... Hadn't noticed that. Now I'll have to check it out when I get a chance. That sounds like a .Net Framework issue though. Maybe that was "broken" in Windows 7 and will see a fix in the future. I did see that Microsoft changed some things about how Glass is handled in Windows 7, which broke third party control suites and such until fixes were made available... Might be something like that...

A new more efficient file system would be nice... perhaps some sort of an agreement and cooperation could be made between the open source community and Microsoft to come to an agreement of sorts to create a new standard (I doubt it would happen but you gotta admit it would be great)

I'd also like tighter restrictions on applications from bloating up the registry by leaving remnants, wouldn't it be nice if you could uninstall an application and not leave any traces of it ever being installed thus keeping your system conflict free and smoother than a silk sheet.

The file system improvement would be nice, and if I recall correctly was originally planned for Vista (But scrapped). I wonder if Microsoft has made any new steps towards developing a new file system...

Oh! I just thought of something I would really like in Windows. An improved VPN tunnel application. I have never been able to get the Windows Vista one to work, and when they changed the way things were handled when you were behind a NAT device under Vista it broke a lot of third party applications (Which these other companies don't seem to have an interest in fixing...). That would be awesome. lol

[rakeshishere]

Could you explain exactly what "legacy crap" you want removed, and can you please be specific?

For eg: Compatibility Mode for Windows 95,98,2000 ? If XP mode is improved in later versions, i dont think all this code would be necessary

[hdood]

You want to remove the MASSIVELY more efficient shim system (which even recent software depends on) so people have to install and run a full legacy OS virtualized to run the software? Absurd. Or just take out the older shims? Even more absurd.

Exactly what would this accomplish, except make things far more bloated and slow? Save a couple of megabytes of disk space?

[rakeshishere]

You want to remove the MASSIVELY more efficient shim system (which even recent software depends on) so people have to install and run a full legacy OS virtualized to run the software? Absurd. Or just take out the older shims? Even more absurd.

Exactly what would this accomplish, except make things far more bloated and slow? Save a couple of megabytes of disk space?

When you run XP mode in virtual machine as guest OS, you already do have compatibility mode for 2000 and below OS right? Why again for host OS ? Just give XP mode for all Windows SKUs in future and consider it has not optional but main feature. This makes removing legacy stuff easy

[hdood]

When you run XP mode in virtual machine as guest OS, you already do have compatibility mode for 2000 and below OS right? Why again for host OS ? Just give XP mode for all Windows SKUs in future and consider it has not optional but main feature. This makes removing legacy stuff easy

Because the overhead incurred by running XP Mode is EXTREME. You are literally running another complete operating systems at the same time, and emulating hardware for it. The emulated hardware also tends to be extremely simplistic, so that you can't use, say, something that depends on a 3D accelerator.

Compatibility shims, on the other hand, are small patches for specific functions that can be applied to programs when needed (and only when needed). You can apply specific patches to a program, or you can run it with a pre-defined set of patches (the compatibility mode choices). Even fairly modern games and software (like Photoshop CS4) have shims applied to fix minor issues.

These shims only have a very minor performance impact, and so are the best solution. XP Mode is only intended to be an absolute last measure if the program won't run no matter what.

While you could remove these shims, what exactly would you accomplish? Nothing useful.

[rakeshishere]

So you mean to say XP mode is performance overhead and should be last measure? You are stating that because of present situation. It will not be the same during next OS release when there would be great improvements in both hardware and software.

I have a gut feeling that MS has introduced Virtualization solution for maintaining application compatibility only to make sure they could improve upon removing legacy code in future OS releases.

[ViperAFK]

I wish you could change the icons on items pinned to the superbar similar to dock programs.

[ThisSiteHasLostItsCharm]

can't believe they never added any aspect ration controls to wmp, how many versions have there been? lots... glad you can remove it in 7. Gone back to using MPC again. That's the only thing I wanted added in 7.

[hdood]

So you mean to say XP mode is performance overhead and should be last measure? You are stating that because of present situation. It will not be the same during next OS release when there would be great improvements in both hardware and software.

Yes. It's not just my personal opinion, it's the whole purpose of XP Mode. Running an entire operating system virtualized and emulating its hardware is NEVER EVER going to be more efficient than simple shims. It's a far inferior last measure.

make sure they could improve upon removing legacy code in future OS releases.

You've yet to explain what "legacy code" you are talking about. All you've mentioned are the compatibility shims, which are just patches that are made available exactly because the underlying code has changed and is no longer compatible. Removing those serve no purpose except make your computer less usable. The "problem" with Windows is that there is no clear separation between what is "legacy" and what is not. There isn't a separate set of legacy APIs that you can remove. The most ultra-modern software you can find still use many of the same APIs as software from the 1980s.

[ToneKnee]

A new more efficient file system would be nice... perhaps some sort of an agreement and cooperation could be made between the open source community and Microsoft to come to an agreement of sorts to create a new standard (I doubt it would happen but you gotta admit it would be great)

I'd also like tighter restrictions on applications from bloating up the registry by leaving remnants, wouldn't it be nice if you could uninstall an application and not leave any traces of it ever being installed thus keeping your system conflict free and smoother than a silk sheet.

The file system improvement would be nice, and if I recall correctly was originally planned for Vista (But scrapped). I wonder if Microsoft has made any new steps towards developing a new file system...

There is nothing wrong with NTFS, actually, NTFS continues to improve all the time, a bit like how ext2 improved with ext3 and now ext4. NTFS is different now than it was a few years ago, for example, I tried to install Windows 2000 (wanted to run a game which wouldn't work properly on XP, Vista or Windows 7 since it's really old). And Windows 2000 refused to install on the current NTFS partition because it wasn't compatible with it.

Also, M_Lyons10, I believe you are referring to WinFS which wasn't a new file system, it was an extension to the current NTFS file system. It was scrapped (in it's form) because of performance problems, so it was dropped but some of it's components were added to MSSQL etc and the Windows team came up with alternative ways of implementing the ideas into the system, meta tagging and so on. WinFS was practically a database, not a file system.

[theyarecomingforyou]

I wish they'd added non-resolution dependent rendering by adopting vector graphics. You shouldn't have to lower your resolution to increase the size of content on your screen, especially with the degradation that occurs with LCD monitors when running a non-native resolution. It was meant to be included with Vista but we still haven't seen it. With higher resolution monitors appear - like 22" 1920x1080 displays - you end up with really small content or sacrificing most of the benefits of a high resolution display. Displays are evolving at an impressive rate - from high resolutions, to touch sensitivity, to 120Hz and soon to be 3D - and it seems silly that Windows is holding things back.

I also wish they'd have removed the concept of drive letters already and allowed the full range of characters, like question marks, in file names. And we really shouldn't need to be restarting the computer to install updates and under NO circumstance should a computer automatically restart because of an update - I've woken up many times to find my computer has restarted during the night. The prompt for the restart even minimises you out of games, which is obscene. For all the improvements they've made they've left some real clangers in there.

[HawkMan]

There is nothing wrong with NTFS, actually, NTFS continues to improve all the time, a bit like how ext2 improved with ext3 and now ext4. NTFS is different now than it was a few years ago, for example, I tried to install Windows 2000 (wanted to run a game which wouldn't work properly on XP, Vista or Windows 7 since it's really old). And Windows 2000 refused to install on the current NTFS partition because it wasn't compatible with it.

Also, M_Lyons10, I believe you are referring to WinFS which wasn't a new file system, it was an extension to the current NTFS file system. It was scrapped (in it's form) because of performance problems, so it was dropped but some of it's components were added to MSSQL etc and the Windows team came up with alternative ways of implementing the ideas into the system, meta tagging and so on. WinFS was practically a database, not a file system.

Vista already had a lot of WinFS, the important parts, and Win7 has everythign fromWinFS that Vista didn't get and then some.

I wish they'd added non-resolution dependent rendering by adopting vector graphics. You shouldn't have to lower your resolution to increase the size of content on your screen, especially with the degradation that occurs with LCD monitors when running a non-native resolution. It was meant to be included with Vista but we still haven't seen it. With higher resolution monitors appear - like 22" 1920x1080 displays - you end up with really small content or sacrificing most of the benefits of a high resolution display. Displays are evolving at an impressive rate - from high resolutions, to touch sensitivity, to 120Hz and soon to be 3D - and it seems silly that Windows is holding things back.

I also wish they'd have removed the concept of drive letters already and allowed the full range of characters, like question marks, in file names. And we really shouldn't need to be restarting the computer to install updates and under NO circumstance should a computer automatically restart because of an update - I've woken up many times to find my computer has restarted during the night. The prompt for the restart even minimises you out of games, which is obscene. For all the improvements they've made they've left some real clangers in there.

Supporting vectors or not has nothing to do with 120hz displays and touch screens, both of which windows has supported since forever. though 7 ads extended touch support. even if it's useless for an actual user OS. info terminals and control stations on production machines and other computer operated gear (like engine diagnostics machines and such), yeah they're great, but they use custom UI's for the user software anyway. for a regular user a touch screen is not only useless it's stupid, you don't want to move your hand back and fort across a 15+ inch screen.

The only place vectors would give an advantage is in high dpi screens. however, computers aren't really powerful enough to make use of high dpi screens yet. imagine playing games or doing 3D work on a 192 dpi 24 inch screen... you'd need a graphics card beyond anything we currently have. when you add in that a vector based UI would be significantly slower to render than a bitmap based one as well. it makes sense not to introduce it before there's an actual need.

As for drive letters, I don't see what the problem is, you already have labels. what advantage would removing drive letters have, except killing compatibility and making it a lot harder for apps to easily access drives since they need to use long complicated strings to go to them instead of a simple drive letter. and if the Linux systems is supposed to be an inspiration, yeah I'll stick with my drive letters+labels. also stars and question marks as well as slashes in filenames and directory names would be a nightmare for a feature that has no real use.

and if you don't want to get dumped out of games for auto update, then

A: set it to check for updates during a time when you aren't using the computer

B: set it to check for and download updates but don't apply them.

The auto reboot needs to be there because otherwise your parents and their like won't ever get updated.

The one thing I would have liked to have seen in 7 is the sidebar. Removing the sidebar made no sense. Everything you can do with gadgets no you could do in vista (hiding sidebar and having gadgets anywhere on the desktop). but since I always work in full screen, and some gadgets I'd like to see all the time, I'd like to have the sidebar, is not like I use all the horizontal screen estate for browsing and mail and irc anyway. and it's easy enough to hide when I fire up max or photoshop

[Calum Veteran]

Here is a list of what I wish they had implemented -

• New 'back', 'forward' and 'Computer' icons (as well as any other icons which have that awful dark blue screen). I am happy with the Recycle Bin icons. I think more orange and lighter blues in new icons for those would have been much nicer as they'd have gone with the other new Windows 7 icons. I think some orange icons (maybe a new shape, like a diamond shape) would have been nice for the 'back' and forward' buttons, or, perhaps all of the orange in the icons should be made green because of the new login screen background and default desktop background?
  
• An option to allow the user to change the colour of the command bar in Windows Explorer, just like the user is able to change this in most of the Windows Live programs. I despise inconsistencies and this is one major one. If you change the colour of the glass to anything but the default or another blue, it doesn't go very well because this command bar will stay a light blue-ish colour. This is a very important thing which Microsoft missed and they should be ashamed of themselves for missing something so vital.
  
• A more prominent 'start' button, without the orb. Windows Live got rid of the orb, Office decided to remove the orb, so why does Windows Media Center still have it and why does Windows 7 still have it in one or two places? This is another bad inconsistency. Just the Windows logo, on it's on, tilted and a bit bigger, would look very nice where the current 'start' button is and it would remove this inconsistency.
  
• An option to allow us to pin any folder or library to the right-hand side of the 'start' menu. We are able to pin these things to the left-hand side, so why not the right-hand side with the rest of the folders? This is again a poor UX decision. I also wish the same for the Recycle Bin.
  
• Renaming of the core libaries and folders to more appropriate names. Why is the main audio folder and library called "Music"? I don't need to have two seperate libraries for my music and my audio files. Not all audio is classed as music. Sometimes you may have sound files - some WAV files which are just sounds - these are not classed as music. A better name for this library and folder is "Audio", which is what I have renamed it to on my system. Secondly, "Pictures"? Nuh-uh. This one isn't as bad as "Music", but I believe "Images" covers everything and is more of a general term for what a user might put in there.
  
• A better way to change the icon for a library. I don't even know if there is a way? However, they should have provided many more icons, in the same style as the library icons, for us to choose from when creating our libraries. I have a library for all of my development work and i would be nice to identify it with an appropriate icon in the same style as the current library icons.
  
• An option to remove text labels from icons in the left-hand side of the 'start' menu. They are not needed in my opinion, although I suppose, with those moved, the start 'menu' thinner and other labels, which are needed, visible, it may look slightly odd. It would be nice to see what it looked like with these removed though.
  
• In fact, I'd rather have the whole 'start' menu removed and that part renamed. The 'start' button should remain, renamed, but when clicked should pop up only with a jumplist type box with two links - "All programs | Control Panel". The all programs list should then appear in a Windows Explorer-type window, where we could enlarge icons as we wish and the Control Panel should appear as normal.
  

These are all very minor things but I just love everything else about Windows 7 :p

[theyarecomingforyou]

Supporting vectors or not has nothing to do with 120hz displays and touch screens, both of which windows has supported since forever.

Obviously. I was making a point about how fast displays are evolving, not suggesting that Win7 doesn't support 120Hz displays.

The only place vectors would give an advantage is in high dpi screens. however, computers aren't really powerful enough to make use of high dpi screens yet.

Computers are perfectly capable of running high DPI monitors, though obviously if you're talking about gaming then that's a separate matter. But a lot of people lower the resolution of their monitors to increase the size of the interface, which is a horrible way of doing things. Instead Windows should support a scalable, resolution independent UI.

As for drive letters, I don't see what the problem is, you already have labels. what advantage would removing drive letters have, except killing compatibility and making it a lot harder for apps to easily access drives since they need to use long complicated strings to go to them instead of a simple drive letter.

Drive letters are a bizarre legacy throwback. Why do they start at C:? Floppy drives haven't been around for ages and what about B:? And if you plug in devices in different orders or rearrange your drives in a different order when rebuilding your computer then it can completely screw things up.

and if you don't want to get dumped out of games for auto update, then

A: set it to check for updates during a time when you aren't using the computer

B: set it to check for and download updates but don't apply them.

The auto reboot needs to be there because otherwise your parents and their like won't ever get updated.

I know why it's been done but it's still a horrible, horrible implementation. It infuriates users and is simply a crude way of doing things when computing has advanced so much. Windows should facilitate my ability to run applications, not hinder it.

also stars and question marks as well as slashes in filenames and directory names would be a nightmare for a feature that has no real use.

You can't be serious. No real use? What about songs with question marks in their title? Why should I have to butcher my filenames because Windows hasn't evolved with the times?

All your arguments seem to be "it's always been like that so why bother changing it?", which doesn't address the actual issues at hand. Are you really suggesting that restarting your computer without permission and losing the data from applications is a good thing? Are you suggesting high DPI based displays don't need to be supported because some graphics cards will run games poorly? Are you suggesting that drive letters are really relevant? Are you suggesting that some of the most common forms of punctuations shouldn't be valid in filenames?

[Chicane-UK Veteran]

Backups that were as easy to setup, easy to use and as reliable as Time Machine in MacOS X.

I know a lot of people insist that file backups in Vista and Windows 7 are as good but please go and try it before you make this assumption. It really is exactly how backup / recovery should be on a home computer IMHO! Well, perhaps without the corny interface :)

[Calum Veteran]

After noticing some points in this thread, I would like to add two more to my list -

• Allowing the use of question marks, forward slashes and other prohibited characters in filenames. I completely understand the reason these are not allowed at the moment but they are allowed in filenames on Mac OS X and I know there would be a way Microsoft could implement this into an operating system. Sometimes, to maintain correct punctuation, there is a need for question marks in filenames and I am always very annoyed when I am not allowed to do this. As theyarecomingforyou said, Windows does need to evolve with the times. It's getting there with the improvements in Windows 7, but this is one vital update which is missing.
  
• An easy way to backup my data. Currently, I have to plug my external drive in and manually select files I need to copy over to my external drive, then I copy them and paste them to the drive. Unless there is another way (?) this is pretty tedious and annoying; it's annoying to the point that I don't backup as often as I should. I don't know how Time Machine works (?) but I've heard it's much better. I know this isn't fully down to the operating system, but I would like my backup process made much easier. Venders selling wireless hardrives would be a start, but something programmed into Windows which could somehow automatically backup my content, to my external drive, would be fantastic :) Unless it is already there and I have missed it? :p
  

[Chicane-UK Veteran]

See we want the same thing there Calum - easy backup!

Time Machine does just work brilliantly. You load the Time Machine control panel applet, either turn it on or off and specify which volume you want to use as the Time Machine backup device - either an internal disk or external. Then it takes an initial large backup, and subsequently does differential backups every hour. It's totally seamless (apart from, perhaps 5 times in a year of daily use of my Mac that a backup mysteriously failed - forcing it to re-run always worked fine) and I frankly never even noticed it running. And if you've not changed much or just being browsing the net for an hour or so, the differential backup is about 2.0MB so it's done in a matter of seconds.

It's really excellent and I hope that Microsoft can make their backups work as well eventually. I don't think you've missed it - I was using Windows Vista's built in backup solution at work but didn't find it to work quite as well and it's certainly not as idiot proof.

[Subject Delta]

Have all codecs and drivers manually like linux

Lol, try to play a MP3 file on most Linux distros :laugh:

Backups that were as easy to setup, easy to use and as reliable as Time Machine in MacOS X.

I know a lot of people insist that file backups in Vista and Windows 7 are as good but please go and try it before you make this assumption. It really is exactly how backup / recovery should be on a home computer IMHO! Well, perhaps without the corny interface :)

Agreed, the backup built into Windows is pretty poor. I personally like to manage my data manually.