One feature or tech you want in Windows 8

[AaronMT]

Now that Windows 7 is out and I know many of you are using it, Microsoft is most likely working on SP1 and gathering ideas for Windows 8.

What is 1 feature or technology you would like added or changed for Windows 8?

To me the #1 thing would be the included ability to mount ISO images.

A complete and total rewrite of the entire operating system with security in mind from foundation upwards.

[Orien]

64bit only and a new file system would all be welcome.

[soumyasch]

A complete and total rewrite of the entire operating system with security in mind from foundation upwards.

That's called Singularity.

[soldier1st]

what i would like to see is 64bit only and only allow the hard drive for temp files and no more or less virtual memory(hard drive swapping so the hdd is further taken out of the equasion drop support for certain legacy hardware like ide hard drives and not allow usb 1.1 only 2.0(we will have 3.0 by that time) and allow windows to use the linux file system(if possible)

[Fraud OS 11]

Windows Installer in its latest versions is absolutely efficient at uninstalling program files. It is usually just the application/user data that gets left over and scattered across all directories or the registry. We already have tools to monitor the file system and registry but MS can make one built into the OS which can use UAC virtualization to redirect all the data applications write to to a single application data folder or single registry key so it should be easy for the user to manually clean that up and fully regain revert changes.

In terms of security, Vista was their best effort towards securing the foundation and I think they have pretty much succeeded. Unless Midori appears, which'll give them a chance to start from the beginning. But Windows is not insecure any more, the ecosystem is because it is so powerfully dominant.

In terms of features I would buy it right away if Microsoft put something like Automator which Mac OS X has. Windows has absolutely nothing close that's as easy yet as powerful for scripting. PowerShell is powerful but not easy, VBScript and batch programming are quite easy but not as powerful, and not GUI-oriented like Automator.

I just want it to be a major release with several features like Vista. Not a minor upgrade in terms of new features like Windows 7. And I still hope Microsoft will return the XP explorer back.

[Ci7]

what i would like to see is 64bit only and only allow the hard drive for temp files and no more or less virtual memory(hard drive swapping so the hdd is further taken out of the equasion drop support for certain legacy hardware like ide hard drives and not allow usb 1.1 only 2.0(we will have 3.0 by that time) and allow windows to use the linux file system(if possible)

USB3 is backward compatible all the way back to USB1.1

dropping virtual mem would certainly break some program or at least make them act in a wiard way

and btw why would they remove ide drivers ? it isnt like will slowdown the system only taking few megabyte at best of HDD space

[DaRkMaDnEsS]

about removing registry i think it's hard

but maybe Microsoft should give a new thing other than registry

i mean beside it so the new version use the new way but also old stuff can work

[kimsland]

I just want it to be a major release with several features

I agree

But what I'm thinking is the next release may be more Internet based

That is that many things (not just Help files) but like actual Windows programs could be web based

This could effectively cut Windows full install down to a few hundred meg (or close to)

What needs to be changed is the quadzillion MS webpages, and made directly related (and incorporated) into the MS Windows installation.

Anyone who uses the new Windows also uses the web, this will also stop piracy in its tracks (actually it probably still wouldn't)

Windows OS needs to become a Web OS, I'll call it Windows online Web for the WoW factor ;)

[Antaris Veteran]

A complete re-write of the OS? This has come up time and time again, and my response everytime is....why? It would take too long, and considering the heavy investment Microsoft have made to compatibility, rewriting the OS from scratch means they would pretty much need to go back to the drawing board with their existing hardware eco-system also. It makes no sense.

Windows 7 looks to be a secure and reliable OS, sure its taken a while to get to this point, but why not continue this trend? They have made massive performance changes allowing 7 to scale right back to some really basic hardware (you've all seen the videos), and improvements will hopefully come leaps and bounds.

Consider how many hardware vendors would need to write new drivers. Consider how many applications wouldn't work because of a re-write...

A complete OS rewrite is quite possibly the worst decision they could make.

As for features in the next iteration of Windows...

I would like to see a new primary configuration system introduced, based on .NET's configuration mechanism. This could be promoted to a first class tool, and rely on the Registry for legacy applications, that over time, as software vendors update them, they disengage from using the Registry to using this newer framework. No doubt this will increase security, and segregate potentional damaging changes away from the core Registry.

[iamwhoiam]

A complete and total rewrite of the entire operating system with security in mind from foundation upwards.

Then say goodbye to any and all older app compatibility. I do agree that the security should have been built in from the start instead of being "tacked on" afterwards.

I would like to see

• The entire driver subsystem moved down to user land.
  
• A more streamlined and consistent UI (absolute laziness that some buttons and controls pop and flash when selected or hovered over).
  
• No more reboots for anything except kernel updates.
  
• Expose the firewall settings in MMC in a user friendly manner.
  

I would like to see a new primary configuration system introduced, based on .NET's configuration mechanism. This could be promoted to a first class tool, and rely on the Registry for legacy applications, that over time, as software vendors update them, they disengage from using the Registry to using this newer framework. No doubt this will increase security, and segregate potentional damaging changes away from the core Registry.

+1

Edited August 12, 2009 by iamwhoiam

[Alex3305]

I would like to see the registry replaced with something that is like a SQL database, thus faster I suppose.

Furthermore, the number one feature that I would like to see in the Next Gen Windows is 'support' / optimization for multiple harddrives. I know this sounds kinda funny, but listen. If Windows seperates the system folder (Windows and some Program Files entries), my installed programs and my data then I guess the system would be faster and more organized. In example:

C:\ - 64GB SSD > This harddisk for Windows and applications only

D:\ - 500GB HDD > This harddisk for media and data only

OR

C:\ - 64GB SSD > This harddisk for Windows and daily used applications

D:\ - 640GB HDD (Striped set, RAID0) > This harddisk for applications that I use less frequently

E:\ - 1TB HDD > For my media and data

So optimizing Windows for using multiple harddrives.

And last but not least a more modular Windows, seperating almost all elements of the Operating System, so I would (REALLY!) crash less often, although it doesn't crash that often lately too...

[cbosdell]

I posted pretty much this same list for Windows 7 back in April but it still applies. Maybe this is early enough to actually get it looked at for Windows 8 in 2012? Sure it's more than one but they all should be done imo:

1. A consistent user interface that follows the aero ui standards. No more dialog boxes and windows from XP and older. In particular overhaul the following: screen saver selection, advanced system properties, disk cleanup, advanced power settings, device manager, msconfig, and administrative tools as well as working to make control panel a unified area that pretty much stays in one window.

2. Built-in iso drive mounting

3. WordPad can open/save .doc files for backwards compatibility

4. Ability to "Uninstall" system restore, parental controls and signed driver checks

5. Built-in FLAC Audio Support in WMP (13)

6. Built-in .MKV container support in WMP (13) allowing it to process .MKV files with embedded subtitles and multiple audio streams

7. Built in support for .7z archives. It is an open-source format so why not?

8. Built-in support for opening, browsing, printing and searching text in .pdf documents (should be doable since it's an open standard now)

9. Better system information utility that is more modern and provides more info such as system temps, etc

10. Built-in Alarm Clock feature

11. Multiple taskbar support for dual-monitors similar to MultiMon

12. Built-in bandwidth usage monitor

13. Multiple tabbed interface, history of opened items, line numbering, multiple document comparison (to find differences although this might be better suited for word or wordpad) in Notepad. All of these should be turned off by default but should be built-in options

14. Better Built-in CD/DVD/Blu-ray disc burning support similar to IMGBurn or Ashampoo

15. Better disc cleanup similar to CCleaner

16. An updated disk space usuage pie chart graphic that doesn't look like it came from office 97

17. Actually read and implement reasonable suggestions from win7taskforce.

18. Option to keep UAC on but be able to see processes from all users without clicking that annoying button every time

19. Quick backup/restore option to backup changes made to default Windows settings and applicable history and logs (for the bandwidth usage for example and uptime stats)

20. Built-in spell check utility in IE9

21. The Ability to drag and drop files to the breadcrumb explorer navigation bar (to move files up a folder for example)

22. Option to have "tabbed" explorer windows, however have it turned off by default.

[SVG Veteran]

I hope they don't call it Windows 8 albeit 7 sounds cool.. 8 is just boring.. :p

Functionality-wise make stuff more productive keeping the requirements to a minimum :D

[Livin in a box]

Windows 8- nah. I heard from somewhere (not saying where) that it could be called Windows Streamline (Or streamlined); though, of course, that is up for debate, and it's probably just some wild guess. But who knows.

I think for the next OS there should be a slight UI change, otherwise it'll just be the same as 7 and Vista...again. I don't know about any of this technical stuff, though.

[Brandon Live Veteran]

what i would like to see is 64bit only

Why?

and only allow the hard drive for temp files and no more or less virtual memory(hard drive swapping so the hdd is further taken out of the equasion drop support for certain legacy hardware like ide hard drives and not allow usb 1.1 only 2.0(we will have 3.0 by that time)

If you have enough RAM, you'll never have to worry about memory pages being swapped to the disk. Don't really know what benefit you think you'd gain by removing that capability though.

and allow windows to use the linux file system(if possible)

Which Linux file system? Ext2/Ext3 can already be used if you install a driver. But why? It's more or less comparable to FAT with some extra features bolted on. NTFS is vastly superior.

What would you like a new file system to do that NTFS doesn't?

[Brandon Live Veteran]

I would like to see the registry replaced with something that is like a SQL database, thus faster I suppose.

The registry is already a database. What advantage would using SQL provide? I can't think of any reason you'd want to query the registry in that way or make use of the relational capabilities of SQL Server. Maybe there are a couple of cases where joins or multiple keys might be useful (instead of the CLSID->ProgId and ProgId->CLSID sort of mappings where we end up with two and they aren't guaranteed to be in sync). But in general I'm not sure what the point would be.

Furthermore, the number one feature that I would like to see in the Next Gen Windows is 'support' / optimization for multiple harddrives. I know this sounds kinda funny, but listen. If Windows seperates the system folder (Windows and some Program Files entries), my installed programs and my data then I guess the system would be faster and more organized. In example:

C:\ - 64GB SSD > This harddisk for Windows and applications only

D:\ - 500GB HDD > This harddisk for media and data only

We kind of encourage this a bit more now with libraries... but I understand the argument for taking it further. On the other hand, users or OEMs are free to set it up this way (I already do, and I know many others do as well). Making it easier to set up might be nice, but it's not like we'd be enabling anything you can't do now.

4. Ability to "Uninstall" system restore, parental controls and signed driver checks

"Uninstalling" system restore would be disasterous. The system relies upon System Restore to recover from corruption to the registry or other important system configuration files. Without it, you're "up a creek" so to speak.

I thought Parental Controls were removed and are now an add-in?

Signed kernel driver checks are important for security and reliability. Disabling them would be a very bad idea.

10. Built-in Alarm Clock feature

In college I did this via a scheduled task that would play an MP3 at the specified time :)

17. Actually read and implement reasonable suggestions from win7taskforce.

Did a ton of that in Win7. I'm sure we'll keep an eye on those suggestions in the future.

[rakeshishere]

1.Virtual Desktops or Spaces like feature from Mac OS/linux

2. ISO mounting & Inbuilt PDF viewer

3. Better and improved Control panel

4. 64Bit only - Only if next major version moves to pure 64bit only version, only then we can see major s/w vendors like eg: Adobe porting their apps and finally seeing a 64bit flash plugin

All my suggestions are nothing innovative or ground breaking. Its pretty simple

[AaronMT]

Adherence to open standards.

[mpg187]

Are they calling the next Windows Windows 8?

Funny how they are using version numbers again, that's what they started with.

They used "Windows 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 3.1, NT4" then after thay they went with the year for "Windows 95, 98, ME*, and 2000" (ME isn't a year, but it's Millennium Which is close to saying 2000 which is a year). Then they went to normal names for XP and Vista (Server 2003 was named after the year and so was Server 2008 which is wierd since the Workstation OSes had names). Then for Windows 7 they are going back to numbers...

[Gio Takahashi]

Are they calling the next Windows Windows 8?

Funny how they are using version numbers again, that's what they started with.

They used "Windows 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 3.1, NT4" then after thay they went with the year for "Windows 95, 98, ME*, and 2000" (ME isn't a year, but it's Millennium Which is close to saying 2000 which is a year). Then they went to normal names for XP and Vista (Server 2003 was named after the year and so was Server 2008 which is wierd since the Workstation OSes had names). Then for Windows 7 they are going back to numbers...

That's the project name, far as I know.

[Rob2687]

How many people actually use that "Use the Web service to find the correct program" feature when opening files with unknown extensions. I'd find it a lot more useful if it opened the "Open with" dialog.

It's kind of one of those minor annoyances in that I've learned to live with.

[cbosdell]

How many people actually use that "Use the Web service to find the correct program" feature when opening files with unknown extensions. I'd find it a lot more useful if it opened the "Open with" dialog.

It's kind of one of those minor annoyances in that I've learned to live with.

Good point. I always click on open with when that comes up and I've never seen anyone not do that.

[mpg187]

Chances are you know what program to use and if not you can just google it or use a site like filext.com

[Migra]

I'd LOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE that Windows 8 to be finally this:

??

We were framed since Vista!

[kimsland]

That was a good Video on the previous Windows and their look

The longhorn look was quite exciting too, I wonder if there's a similar video with Win7 and the previous ones all captured together like that

Yes longhorn was really meant to be good, then Vista was released :( (I think they cut back a bit ;) )

Yes still waiting for the

to be in the home, I'd prefer that !