Starting Windows 8

[apreichner]

I hope Microsoft sort out a couple things by Windows 8. Firstly, there isn't a need for a total rewrite, I would assume that the code is probably very good.

It would be pretty sweet if Microsoft removes the registry and implements an application install system similar to OS X. Although I guess this would break compatibility, may be add a new middle layer for older programs - like a virtual registry.

I have to disagree. The registry isn't user friendly, but that's not the point. There's probably better ways they could speed up some of their code, but besides that, it's fine. I also particularly like the current application install system. Although I don't imagine it would be too difficult to implement a drag and drop install system similar to OS X, if that's what you want. Or if you're just referring to how all OS files go into the Application folder, that wouldn't be a bad thing for Windows either, but I'd prefer if they kept a Remove Programs panel in the control panel. However, like the other user said, that has nothing to do with the Windows registry.

To be honest though, I just hope Microsoft makes Windows 8 even faster, more usable and more secure. These are the things that matter, Microsoft's aim is to make a easy to use operating system not design an architecturally perfect OS that a small number of users will appreciate.

Microsoft made Windows 7 even faster, more usable, and more secure. I'd say they did a pretty good job... I think the only things I might prefer in Windows 8 are some kind of super-lightweight virus/malware scanner built into the OS itself. Of course you could disable it if you wanted, but it would just kind of fit with the OS. Also, IE definitely needs some speed upgrades. They've got security down pretty well on IE, but I think speed needs to try to match up to Chrome. Boot-up times could possibly be improved, but who knows, only time will tell.

I hope they get rid of Aero Glass in Windows 8.... unlikely... but I wish.

I like glass a lot. If you don't like it, disable transparency or enable the basic theme. If you are referring to the hardware strains it causes, get a better computer. Although, Aero Glass (on win7) runs like a champ on my 1.6ghz netbook.

[KeeperOfThePizza]

I like glass a lot. If you don't like it, disable transparency or enable the basic theme. If you are referring to the hardware strains it causes, get a better computer. Although, Aero Glass (on win7) runs like a champ on my 1.6ghz netbook.

Aero, Aero Glass; it runs fine on my laptop.

[phot0nic]

1. Too much glass.

So, this is going to sound stupid, but, what do you mean by "glass"? If it's transparency (what I think of when I hear glass), you can turn that off.

Do you mean that the UI's too big? If so, comparisons were done recently in another thread with a Vista/7 window and an XP window, and it's pretty clear that the size of the UI hasn't grown too much. Additionally, you can change many of the sizes (title bar, borders, etc.).

Is it the fact that the border extends into the address bar area of Explorer? If so, that's only one program (two if you use IE), and you can always apply a different visual style.

So, once again, what do you even mean by this statement?

2. Basic, are you kidding me? it's ugly, even with Aero still enabled and Transparency off.

I never said basic. And the word "ugly" is too subjective to even argue with, especially because MANY people disagree.

EDIT: Ah, I get it now. Yeah, Basic's pretty ugly, and just about everyone agrees. I have no argument here.

3. Windows Classic? horrible. Looked better in XP, it's now officially destroyed.

Yes, Windows Classic is horrible. The only reason it's there is for compatibility purposes. Also, I'm not sure how it's "destroyed". It's equally as horrible looking in XP. It's been horrible since it was first created. What has changed in Vista/7 that made classic somehow worse?

This doesn't look nice by any means.

Oh? How so?

[apreichner]

1. Too much glass.

2. Basic, are you kidding me? it's ugly, even with Aero still enabled and Transparency off.

3. Windows Classic? horrible. Looked better in XP, it's now officially destroyed.

I love Windows 7, it's great.. I like the Superbar but they need some Graphic Changes.

This doesn't look nice by any means.

1. More glass the better imo.

2.Yeah, Basic theme is kind of ugly. Although I think it's just the color you are picking to use doesn't fit right. Try a darker color on that wallpaper, possibly like a Vista-black.

3. Classic, I stopped using it after ME lol.

[zhangm Supervisor]

The best thing they can do is start a program to cut off the balls of any developer that uses a crappy uninstaller. Is it really that hard to purge the list of files and registry keys installed by YOUR program in the first place?

[KeeperOfThePizza]

So, this is going to sound stupid, but, what do you mean by "glass"? If it's transparency (what I think of when I hear glass), you can turn that off.

Do you mean that the UI's too big? If so, comparisons were done recently in another thread with a Vista/7 window and an XP window, and it's pretty clear that the size of the UI hasn't grown too much. Additionally, you can change many of the sizes (title bar, borders, etc.).

Is it the fact that the border extends into the address bar area of Explorer? If so, that's only one program (two if you use IE), and you can always apply a different visual style.

So, once again, what do you even mean by this statement?

I never said basic. And the word "ugly" is too subjective to even argue with, especially because MANY people disagree.

EDIT: Ah, I get it now. Yeah, Basic's pretty ugly, and just about everyone agrees. I have no argument here.

Yes, Windows Classic is horrible. The only reason it's there is for compatibility purposes. Also, I'm not sure how it's "destroyed". It's equally as horrible looking in XP. It's been horrible since it was first created. What has changed in Vista/7 that made classic somehow worse?

Oh? How so?

I just think it needs to be more polished..

[BetaAddict]

Oh? How so?

Here are some changes to the taskbar that I would like to see:

1. Custom height resizable by the pixel (rather than fixed amounts) and icons resizing accordingly, kind of like how the OSX dock resizes.

2. Automatically, or at least have an option, move applications that are open directly to the right of the start button. Much easier to switch between open application if their taskbar icons are directly next to each other.

3. Reduce the space between the pinned icons to fit more in one row and allow option to force all icons by keep shrinking the icon size into one row rather than multiple rows. I have seen some Macs with 30 icons on the dock. Even though the icons get pretty small, I really don't mind as long as I can see them all and have easy access rather than switching between rows. Far more productive this way.

4. For those who like the row leveling as it is, allow scroll wheel to work when hovering mouse over the taskbar for browsing multiple rows of pinned apps.

For the most part, the taskbar is already pretty good in terms of GUI, but it just need improvements in functionality and feature options. The taskbar is one of the biggest feature in Windows 7 and needs to be as customizable as possible to accommodate the preference of all users.

Note: Never owned a Mac/OSX, but use them sometimes at my college computer labs. So the OSX references are simply to help get the general idea across and bridge the differences.

[thealexweb]

Starting from scratch would be suicide, it would break backwards compatibility and remove any reason to stay with Microsoft, it MS did this Mac's and Linux's market share would sky rocket.

[Motoko.]

Vista was based on XP, with major changes but no complete re-write.

Wait a minute here..

Windows Vista was based on Server 2003 SP1. Longhorn on the other hand was based on XP until they scrapped the project in 2004, that's when development took place on top of S2K3.

[RvXtm]

Still, I tend to miss some things (concepts) that were due to be in longhorn. In my opinion, longhorn had some capabilities that we have yet to see in Vista/7. A unified notification system would be a beautiful thing in windows for applications to take advantage of. Linux has it (libnotify).The taskbar notification baloons have no history,no settings,no nothing. Everything just pops in it's own way, not consistent.

[soonerproud]

Wait a minute here..

Windows Vista was based on Server 2003 SP1. Longhorn on the other hand was based on XP until they scrapped the project in 2004, that's when development took place on top of S2K3.

Server 2003 SP1 is based directly on XP so in essence Vista is based on both XP and 2000.

[Kirkburn]

Server 2003 SP1 is based directly on XP so in essence Vista is based on both XP and 2000.

Ah yes, the old "based on" fun. You know there's no limit to it? It's not like 2000 was from scratch either.

[phot0nic]

Here are some changes to the taskbar that I would like to see:

1. Custom height resizable by the pixel (rather than fixed amounts) and icons resizing accordingly, kind of like how the OSX dock resizes.

2. Automatically, or at least have an option, move applications that are open directly to the right of the start button. Much easier to switch between open application if their taskbar icons are directly next to each other.

3. Reduce the space between the pinned icons to fit more in one row and allow option to force all icons by keep shrinking the icon size into one row rather than multiple rows. I have seen some Macs with 30 icons on the dock. Even though the icons get pretty small, I really don't mind as long as I can see them all and have easy access rather than switching between rows. Far more productive this way.

4. For those who like the row leveling as it is, allow scroll wheel to work when hovering mouse over the taskbar for browsing multiple rows of pinned apps.

For the most part, the taskbar is already pretty good in terms of GUI, but it just need improvements in functionality and feature options. The taskbar is one of the biggest feature in Windows 7 and needs to be as customizable as possible to accommodate the preference of all users.

Note: Never owned a Mac/OSX, but use them sometimes at my college computer labs. So the OSX references are simply to help get the general idea across and bridge the differences.

Fair enough. I agree with every point except for #2, which I feel defeats the whole "muscle memory" thing Microsoft was going for with the new taskbar. Oh, and it already does #3 to an extent.

[George P Global Moderator]

Since people brought up the registry, taking it out will never happen I bet, not anytime soon. What MS should do is have the cleaner tool (the disk cleaner) also go through and clean the registry from leftovers that any app uninstallers missed.

Or if they wanted just add a mini-background service that checks once a month and cleans up the registry that way. They did this with the defrag tool and have it run once a week if needed. Who else would be able to make a nice and good registry cleaning tool if not MS?

I don't think it'd hurt.

That aside, other things I'd like to get in win8 are more general overall, like faster speed etc. Some more multimonitor options though, like the ability to extend the taskbar to other screens finally (don't wanna use a 3rd party app for this). Maybe even bring in a optional virtual desktop feature that *nix window managers have had for years now.

[Quillz]

Since people brought up the registry, taking it out will never happen I bet, not anytime soon. What MS should do is have the cleaner tool (the disk cleaner) also go through and clean the registry from leftovers that any app uninstallers missed.

All I want is for Microsoft to build in to Windows a more powerful Add/Remove Programs Manager that works like Revo Uninstaller. (Or, Microsoft should just buy Revo Uninstaller and make it a standard component of Windows.)

Also, Windows 8 needs to allow for any program or file to be pinned to the taskbar. Why can't I pin Windows Update or the Recycle Bin directly to the taskbar in Win7? Why can't I pin all my hard drives onto the taskbar? This needs to be made possible in Win8.

[BetaAddict]

Fair enough. I agree with every point except for #2, which I feel defeats the whole "muscle memory" thing Microsoft was going for with the new taskbar. Oh, and it already does #3 to an extent.

Well, that is why I wanted it as an option. For some people, it might seem better for them to memorize the order of all taskbar icons and then click it. But keep in mind that the Win+Num combination, which is very useful for switching between specific applications, is most convenient when the opened application is positioned in the first six immediately to the right of the start button. As it is currently in Win7, an application that is in position 9 would have to be manually clicked with the mouse when switching, which obviously takes longer. You might also point out that there is Ctrl+Tab for switching, but sometimes requires cycling through the opened applications.

All I want is for Microsoft to build in to Windows a more powerful Add/Remove Programs Manager that works like Revo Uninstaller. (Or, Microsoft should just buy Revo Uninstaller and make it a standard component of Windows.)

Also, Windows 8 needs to allow for any program or file to be pinned to the taskbar. Why can't I pin Windows Update or the Recycle Bin directly to the taskbar in Win7? Why can't I pin all my hard drives onto the taskbar? This needs to be made possible in Win8.

With regards to the Recylce Bin pinning, Apple owns a patent for that, so MS cannot replicate it without getting into some legal issues. With regards to pinning individual folders and hard drives, I would find that much more useful than the current method of compiling everything into the Windows Explorer icon. But why would you want to pin the Windows Update icon? Seems odd to me.

[ccoltmanm]

BetaAddict, i'm not attacking you here...

But how can Apple own a patent that says only they can pin the Bin. It doesn't make sense. That's like saying only windows can have a Taskbar, or a landscape background.

[Quillz]

With regards to the Recylce Bin pinning, Apple owns a patent for that, so MS cannot replicate it without getting into some legal issues.

Then why can I pin the Trash onto a GNOME desktop in any Linux distro I use?

But why would you want to pin the Windows Update icon? Seems odd to me.

Because it's something I use often and would like quick access to. It's no more odd than wanting to pin any other program icon to the taskbar.

[Salgoth]

I would like to see them continue the trend they started with Live Essentials and move features out of the OS and into post-install add-ins. One of the first things I've done in the 4 Windows 7 installs I've done so far was to disable/delete Media Player in favor of VLC. Why make it part of the default install? Why not make it part of Windows Live Essentials, same thing with Paint (small as it may be). The only thing I feel the OS should be is the framework in which applications run - keep it bare bones and efficient.

Then offer users a link to go add the content they want to for their configuration.

Corporations would love it because it would make compatibility easier for their custom designed apps.

I also would love to see them give users absolute control over the GUI - font colors, font sizes, taskbar sizes and appearance, EVERYTHING. Stop hiding everything from users or expecting the user to pay for a third-party utility to adjust GUI elements.

[Quillz]

I also would love to see them give users absolute control over the GUI - font colors, font sizes, taskbar sizes and appearance, EVERYTHING. Stop hiding everything from users or expecting the user to pay for a third-party utility to adjust GUI elements.

Unless I'm missing something, using the Windows Classic UI lets you alter font color, font size, typeface, border padding, chrome color, etc.

The taskbar can also be resized quite substantially and repositioned in four different areas.

[still1]

i'm a pc and windows 8 was my idea...

I dont care if they start from scratch but starting it from scratch have the risk of having bugs.

windows 7 is stable now and building upon it would be a good idea but I would like to see them rewrite certain module which can improve the performance.

In windows 7 microsoft rewrote the volume control algorithm to identify the Volume out and it has paid off in win 7.

I would like to see these kinds of code rewrite which improves the OS.

[Owen W Veteran]

I just think it would be go to "trim the fat." Vista and 7's footprint on hard drive space is huge. I think they are taking that for granted.

It's only huge if you're using an ancient PC. Most hard-drives are over 200gb these days, it's less than 10% of that.

[Ci7]

It's only huge if you're using an ancient PC. Most hard-drives are over 200gb these days, it's less than 10% of that.

i remember when i went to computer shops few days ago, they told me they have minimum 320GB HDD :laugh:

asumming win7 take 15GB of space that is only 4% of total space :p

[Orange Battery]

I think it would be stupid to re-write at this stage. Windows 7 is a good OS. I stuck with XP as there was no real selling point to me (I wanted more features added to Explorer and file structure/handling) Windows 7 can be added to and refined to create an ever better OS.

[Salgoth]

Unless I'm missing something, using the Windows Classic UI lets you alter font color, font size, typeface, border padding, chrome color, etc.

The taskbar can also be resized quite substantially and repositioned in four different areas.

So you have to give up the Aero UI to make most adjustments? Not a solution.

Also check out this thread:

https://www.neowin.net/forum/index.php?show...=845808&hl=