My Wish List for Windows 7

Hi everyone, haven't posted here for a while. I hope my post is not out of tone, if so please feel free to delete it. I thought that with the 2008 PDC approaching and the main topic being Windows 7 at the event, I would gather some of my wishes for this release and hope the Windows Team take some time out of their busy schedule to read and engage in a conversation on what I and others would like to see in this release. I am aware of the Engineering Windows 7 blog, but wouldn't want to post a wish list as long as this in the comments. Thanks and let me hear everyones feedback.

1. Integrate Windows Live Skydrive into Computer explorer as a Mapped Network drive where I can drag and drop files on my personal computer and save to it directly from within Windows and third party applications.
2. Ability to use ‘Backup files’ in ‘Backup and Restore Center’ in Windows 7 to backup files to Skydrive. Please note this is only for Documents, Pictures, Music, Videos (basically the contents of the User folder), also with the option of selecting specific files, since there is a limitation to Skydrive’s storage capacity.
3. A ‘Task’ drop menu next to ‘Organize’ drop down menu on the command bar in explorer windows for common options such as moving files, saving explorer settings and options that were once available under Task Panes in Windows XP explorers.
4. Consolidate and centralize Networking into two locations/explorers for everything networking. Right now there are just too many confusing windows for networking: Network, Network Sharing Center, Manage Network Connections, and Network Map. Some of the task links in Network and Sharing Center could be on the fly radio box links that changes the view of the window when clicked. Try to give the user some focus.
5. Turn ‘Personalization’ appearance options into collapsible panels, meaning, the various options such as Windows Color and Appearance, Desktop Background, Screen Saver, etc instead of a separate explorer view or dialogs; you will simply click a button next to the setting link that expands to reveal options related to that applet. When the button is clicked, all the options are put into view and when clicked retract to put all the link options back into view. (Please view concept).
6. Try and make more dialogs in the system into actual explorer windows that can reveal more information such as:
   - TCP IP Properties.
   - Advance Settings under System Properties.
   - Folder Options and the various applets in the Control Panel that use dialogs. Dialogs to me are unproductive, lacking detail and just confusing how information is revealed to the user. Most were great for Windows 95 when screen size was 800 by 600.
7. Ability to rearrange open window buttons on Taskbar and have saved favorites applications that the user can open with one click.
8. Call up and auto-hide keyboard command for Windows Gadgets.
9. Windows Macro Tool for automating simple task throughout the user interface. Make it easy using flow charting capabilities and standard set of templates users can start with and more they can download from Microsoft.com.
10. Thinner window borders, they are too large.
11. Make initial phase of Windows Setup when launched from within an existing running version of Windows minimize to Notification Area, so you can do something else while files copy from the Windows 7 disk. When the files have finished copying, a mandatory 1 minute notification should appear informing the user that a restart is required to continue installation, save all work and click ok to continue. I can do this now, by initiating the Windows + D command, but it’s cumbersome and does not feel official.
12. Speaking of installation, don’t let Windows tell me it has completed installing, when it still has to go through an optimization phase before it actually takes you to the log in screen or desktop. I notice after I setup an account in Vista, select my recommended security settings, it has to go through this tiresome, boring optimizing computer performance routine. Make that be a part of the actual installation, please.
13. Create a System Restore point on first boot, seems like a good idea to me. So, if you do hose your system with the first app you install, Windows 7 got you covered.
14. Do not put the swap file (pagefile.sys) at the end of the drive; I want to make partitions in Disk Management larger than 2 GBs.
15. Ability to resize and enlarge partitions by utilizing existing free space. For instance, if I have Windows 7 installed on an Extended (logical drive), I can allocate free space from an Active/Primary partition that might have Windows XP or Vista installed.
16. Ability to boot off Windows 7 DVD into a basic Windows environment with basic networking, ability to access storage devices and access to the Internet, you could make this possible by improving on the System Recovery Environment in Vista.
17. Upgrade an existing installation of Windows by booting off the DVD, the point of killing something like this that has been in Windows for so long seemed pointless. Why must I boot into Windows to start an up upgrade? I could simply, boot the computer, insert disk, boot from Windows 7 installation disk and select upgrade and it does the rest.  
18. Restore just your personal files from a Complete PC Backup.
19. Include Complete PC Backup in all editions of Windows 7, I think everybody’s data is just as important no matter the edition of Windows you are running.
20. DVD Burning capabilities in all editions of Windows 7, even a $260 computer has a DVD Burner these days.
21. Include Remote Desktop in all editions of Windows 7 and make the ability to access remote computers easy over the Internet, but secure. It’s easy now, but I still see some complexity to it especially differentiating the separation between a LAN and WAN. I live in Jamaica, I am on a business trip in the States, makes it easy for me to access my Windows 7 PC at home with Windows 7 notebook in the hotel lobby. I am not talking about remote assistance; I want an actual rich experience.
22. Ability to drag and drop Gadgets on supported web pages and Windows Live Messenger conversation window, for example, a note gadget dragged and dropped into a conversation window, should work great with Multi-touch too.
23. Make it easy to backup data stored in Windows Gadgets, and integrate the Notes Gadgets with Office Outlook Notes.
24. View photos in multiple locations by including filters in Pictures explorer, whether they are on your Windows Live Space, Facebook, My Space or Flickr. The same should apply for videos, whether they are on Facebook, MSN Soapbox or YouTube. Developers should have access to API’s so they can tie in their own custom multimedia web applications.
25. Ability to browse the contents of a Complete PC Backup image (read only).
26. Include a subsystem for Windows XP SP3 to maintain complete compatibility with legacy devices and software. If you can have a subsystem for UNIX in Vista Enterprise and Ultimate, I don’t see why you cannot for Windows.
27. Internet Guest account, this brings down your settings on any high speed internet enabled Windows 7 computer, a very secure high encryption account, once you log out settings and personal files are removed. Your Windows Live Hotmail address is used to do this and there must be no option at all to save username or password on the computer. Personalized options include, access to your personal files, access to your Skydrive, this would be excellent for public computers and kiosk.
28. Include viewers for common applications like PowerPoint, Word, Photoshop, and Illustrator. I am not asking for the ability to edit, just view them if I don’t have the appropriate applications installed. You might say I should download the viewers for PPT and Word or buy the application, but I think with the ubiquity of Office, the ability to view them should be native in the OS. Make previewing richer and more agile, by simply hovering a file I can see a full preview of the file (with the ability to turn this feature off.
29. Bring back Film Strip view.
30. Standardized Save and Open windows in addition to standardized ‘Do You Want to Save this file?’ modal dialogs in all Windows based applications and Microsoft software applications, make an effort for every third party application developer to jump on board for this.
31. Ability to Search Task Pane links from Start menu search box. Examples include:

-          Change Desktop Icons – Personalization

-          Adjust Font size (DPI) - Personalization

-          Advanced System Settings – System Properties

-          Remote Settings - System Properties

-          System Protection - System Properties

-          View Computers and Devices – Network and Sharing Center

-          Connect to a network - Network and Sharing Center

-          Manage Network Connections - Network and Sharing Center

-          Setup a network or connection - Network and Sharing Center

-          Diagnose and repair - Network and Sharing Center

There are many more task links throughout Windows I believe should also be searchable, not just limited to applets, applications and personal files. The Search facilities in Windows 7 need to be more extensive and inclusive.

32. Ability to remove/uncheck thumbnails in list view in Windows Media Player.
33. Remove cached thumbnails of music files and albums when user deletes them from library.
34. Create a Dynamic partition for Digital locker that automatically resizes itself when you download applications from Windows Market Place.
35. Make ‘Add a printer’ wizard look like Turn on Windows Features window.
36. Make ‘Add hardware’ wizard look like Turn on Windows Features window.
37. Ability to customize a Windows 7 installation, remove unnecessary Printer drivers, only install for supported and available hardware devices that user knows is in their system.
38. Slip streaming utility in Windows to make servicing Windows 7 easier, so when the first Service Pack for Windows 7 arrives, a built in tool under System Tools in Windows 7 automatically does it for you, only thing you need to provide is a blank DVD. This slip stream utility could have additional options for adding authorized drivers provided by certified IHVs and authorized software, such as a new version of Internet Explorer, Media Player and so on.
39. Make the Properties bar at the bottom of each explorer window show more information about a file, try to eliminate the need to go to properties of the file to reveal more meta data, you could integrate the tabs for from the properties dialog of a file such as Sharing, Security and Previous versions into the Properties bar, just have a chevron collapsible panel button on the properties bar, when clicked reveals more information.  
40. Preview files by hovering over them, whether it’s a song (embedded control), or image in Pictures explorer similar to Photo Gallery.
41. Make the look of Wizards more consistent.
42. Ability to change the color intensity of non-key (non-active) windows when Aero Glass theme is being used.
43. Glow to selected icons on desktop instead of the square box, ability to turn it off and use the classic selection highlight of icon like in Windows XP.
44. Make URLs work through Run dialog box without having to type in http://
45. Put pictorial representations of Start menu common links icons beside the worded link instead of at the top of the Start menu. The User profile picture in my opinion takes up just too much space and it looks useless.
46. Include a built in dictionary, I would suggest the Encarta Dictionary, could also make it a Gadget.
47. Improve the Windows Aero Basic theme; I think it’s the worst looking theme in the entire Universe. I recommend something that looks more like Office Communicators theme with the Vista Aero Glass styled min, max, restore and close buttons. If Windows Media Player 11 for XP and Windows Live Messenger 8.5 can have it, I don’t see why an improved Windows Aero Basic in Windows 7 cannot have this. Give users who don’t have powerful enough PC’s to run the high graphics tiers something to feel confident and pleased about, a theme that I would feel confident enough to switch to even if my PC has the capabilities to run Aero Glass.
48. Publish movies directly from Windows Movie Maker to MSN Soap box, Windows Live Spaces, Facebook, You Tube, Flickr and Skydrive.
49. Please include the supported Language Packs in the appropriate Windows 7 SKUs on the actual disk; I don’t want to see these showing up in Windows Update at all, even if we do now have the ability to hide updates.
50. Officially support dual booting with prior versions of Windows, accept it, it’s a fact of life, people dual boot. I have 6 versions of Windows on my computer right now and I want a powerful built in boot manager that’s easy to use like EasyBCD by NeoSmart Technologies, hey I’m sure Mahmoud Al-Qudsi would join your development team for free just have this working in Windows 7.
51. Make Windows Complete PC Backup recognize changed partition layouts. Ok, I have Windows Vista on a 160 GB drive; it’s using approximately 90 GBs of that, leaving me with around 60 to 65 GBs of free space. I did a Complete PC Backup, and wiped the drive clean (160 GBs), from this 160 GB, I created a 20 GB partition, leaving me with around 140 GB, ample space to restore that 90 GB Complete PC backup I created. When I booted off my Windows Vista DVD and selected the Repair Computer option and selected Completed PC Backup, I pointed to the Complete PC Backup .VHD on my external drive, the restoration process started, and then I saw a strange sentence that said “restoring partition layout”. I said, ok, but never paid much attention. When the restoration was finally complete and I booted up Windows Vista, logged in and checked Computer, the 20 GB partition I created was nowhere to be found, only the same old 160 GB partition with my 90 GB Vista installation intact. Please fix this.
52. Better looking demos and tours in Windows 7. The bundled tours in Windows Vista are awful; they looked like they were put together by an amateur (I am not disrespecting you whoever did create them, just my opinion). Windows XP’s tour was so beautiful, rich and inviting, even to this day I watch it with that soothing narrator and encouraging song in the background filled with such momentumJ.
53. Help and Support, give actual examples of scenarios, not instructions. If Paul was setting up a home network, show Paul an actual example of setting up a home network in Windows, not where to find the things, but how the thing is done. Jesus Christ led by example, let Windows 7 take a cue from that.
54. Make Windows Meeting Space into a social networking tool that targets not just businesses, but consumers. It clearly needs to be revamped. Make it a way for users to extend their personal computing experience with family, friends and colleagues. For example, you aggregate, data from a number of online sources such as Twitter, Facebook, Windows Live Space, Pictures, Music, Videos, Flickr and Office files. Have common scenarios setup, home work, business projects, travel with sub categories and makes it full functionality available to all editions of Windows 7 with support for video conferencing.
55. Thumbnail previews of images and video files in Start menu search when files are filtered down to the top 5, when it’s a lot of results, that’s hard to discern, support the ability to hover over each result with a big thumbnail preview.
56. Flip 3D for album view in Media Player, will be great for Multi-touch mania.
57. Ability to set default library view when Media Player is opened, I personally prefer Album thumbnails instead of list view.
58. Colorize folders, this can actually make even searching easier, so you can filter search results by color of folder. So that report I wrote, I knew I put it in the Orange folder.
59. Make Windows Calendar recognize holidays, especially localized ones.
60. Ejecting USB devices needs to be less annoying, just the other day, I clicked the eject USB device icon in Notification area, yet it insisted the device is still in use. I closed out all applications and explorer windows associated with the device, yet it kept nagging me. Come on, please let me be in control and tell Windows I know better sometimes.
61. Speaking of holidays, make the floating Notification Area Calendar display these holidays also in addition to the Calendar gadget.
62. Viruses, I have to say this, it’s still a fact on Windows Vista, even the 64 bit platform. Just the other day, my friends Vista Home Premium 64 bit Laptop contracted a virus that disabled Run, Task Manager, Command Prompt and any type of Administrative activity. Could you please put something in Windows Security that says, hey’ this is a regular consumer user who would never want these type of things disabled. What’s interesting, these things are coming through the browsers, which must mean some tightening up needs to be done there.
63. Harmonization between Internet Explorer and Windows Explorer again. Remember in the pre-Vista days when you typed a URL in Windows Explorer window (My Documents, Pictures etc and it automatically transformed into the IE web browser? I want to see that magic again. J
64. Postpone restarting my computer to install updates option to ‘when I feel like it’?
65. Built in support for Industry Standard image based file formats, there is some degree of support .VHD, but I would like to see it taken to the next level, in addition to support for the ubiquitous .ISO, ability to mount, browse and burn from within Windows 7.
66. Support WinRAR compressed files, please.
67. Sync Windows Contacts with Windows Live Hotmail contacts, maybe I would actually use it then, then again the next version of Windows Live Mail might make this point moot.
68. Tighter integration between Windows Live Mail, Calendar and Contacts. Instead of just links to the application, at least make there be some degree of integration similar to Office Outlook, I am not asking for a downright replica here, just reduce the clutter of having the need for multiple applications open all the time. Sometimes I am in my email and just need a quick check and edit of my calendar; I don’t need to fire up a separate program to do that. If Windows Live Hotmail can do this, I think it’s a likely possibility for Windows.
69. Better Windows DVD Maker themes, I’m serious, like copy the ones that Apple has in iDVD. I don’t like the repurposing of Windows wallpapers used in the themes that are included in DVD Maker, especially that red African daisy and the Windows Vista aurora wallpaper. Have themes that revolve around scenarios, Birthdays, Travel, New Baby, Wedding, Family, Nature, Professional and holidays.
70. Better integration between DVD Maker and Windows Movie Maker, these two were meant to be joined in holy software matrimony.
71. Under Desktop Background in Personalization Explorer, make the Picture Location list box be located beside the wallpapers, it’s annoying to change in the list box to look at different wall papers. (Browse while I simply click is the concept here).
72. What’s up with the Windows Aurora screensaver in Screen Savers? Get rid of that thing, pronto!
73. Every task link that leads to a dialog in an explorer window must be a Radio Box that leads to an explorer.
74. Repair Network connection dialog – could you actually make this useful? For instance, I can’t get access to the Internet, please don’t tell me to ask my Administrator for help! The Administrator account is even disabled in Windows these days, most home users don’t even know what an Administrator is and duh, they are most often the Standard Administrator of the computer. I am looking for real solutions here. Here is a list of common problems associated with networking.

-          Conflicting IP Addresses

-          Not in the same workgroup

-          ISP is having problems – this actually suggested.

-          The connection you are trying to connect through (gateway) is not shared – this one in particular gets me every time.

Expound on these in the Diagnose network connection dialog and I am sure more users will be able to resolve their problems better.

75. Make the Network icon balloon icon when hovered over in the Notification area reveal sent and received packets. In addition to a how long have you been on the net, especially handy for dial up users who are still out there in large numbers. The entire world is not broad band ubiquitous just yet and I don’t think it will be by 2010.
76. Could you actually include both Windows 7 32 and 64 bit disk in the packaging? I am sick of the complaints this caused, especially in the retail space. ‘Hey, I thought Vista Home Premium was available in both 32-bit and “64-bit”? Oh man, I really gonna have to sign up to get the additional disk?
    Hey, if you can even put both platforms on a dual layer disk and have the user choose their platform of choice during setup that would be nice. But let there be clear distinctions when choosing this option during setup. E.g.:
    Chose Windows 7 64 bit if you have 4 GBs of memory or more, if you have applications that can address more than 4 GBs of memory, technical applications: engineering, architectural, animation, and design/publishing. I don’t know, but you can figure something out.
77. Make Windows 7 Anytime Upgrade for supported SKU’s be be interchangeable, eg:
    7 Home > Business, Premium
    7 Premium > Business
    7 Business > Premium
    I have seen the cases where a user wants this particular edition because of this, hey, it would even be better if you could just outright buy the feature for your SKU, even if you Microsoft would want it to require a product key and activation. Running Windows 7 Business and need Media Center and DVD Play back, then purchase it for $49.99. Running Home Basic and really need that Domain Join functionality, then purchase it for $70.99. I am talking about the key differentiators here that make each SKU special. Even if it means adding anti-piracy features at an extreme level, at least make this an option for all Windows 7 users.
78. Since we are on the topic of SKU’s, Vista has been the most controversial to date. Microsoft, you gotta make this easy, you gotta make people be enthused and not confused or heartbroken. I have seen stupidity happen over this very same SKU fiasco in my lab and I am sick of defending it!

“I got Ultimate and you don’t and you are running Home Basic which is like the worst edition” even between premium SKU’s I have witnessed arguments.

Kara: “I’m running Vista Ultimate 32-bit and its way better and have all the features”.

Wolli: Actually, I am running the better edition of Vista, Home Premium 64-bit, because it’s more secure and is not susceptible viruses like the 32-bit one and it can use more memory.

Stop! Ok, one more.

Cian:  “I am running Vista Home Basic and I feel left out”.

How can we solve this? The SKU strategy needs to be redesigned, here’s a tip:
Cut out Windows Vista Ultimate, it does not make sense – I have witnessed over 30 notebooks running Vista where I study and only 3 I see are running Ultimate, the majority is Home Basic or Home Premium. Rare cases will you see even a Business Vista based computer.

 
The SKU strategy for Windows 7 must be like this:

• Windows 7 Home – same strategy as Vista Home basic, supports upgrading from XP Home Edition and Vista Home Basic. Decent looking theme (AERO Glass). I am sure by 2010; most computers will have a powerful enough card to at least run this theme.
• Windows 7 Business (Eliminate Enterprise, let whatever unique functionality it offers be add on under software assurance). This would in fact I believe spur more Company’s to actually sign up, and push the initiative of software as a service in the Enterprise and revamp some of Microsoft’s businesses like SA and EA.
• Windows 7 Premium – Includes Media Center and all multimedia features and the successor to Ultimate. Persons who upgrade from Vista Ultimate to 7 Premium must get access to all the same and improved functionality. So, things like Domain Join for instance that is in Ultimate, but is not a default feature of 7 Premium, must be carried over, just write it off as an add on purchased by the user, similar to what I described earlier. I can give an example of this. Remember when the first version of XP MCE was released? It included Domain Join, but subsequent versions after that were done through clean installs did not include DJ, but if you upgraded from say MCE v1 to MCE 2004 or 2005, the Domain Join functionality is retained, yeah, it’s something like that.
  
  

Pricing:

-          Windows 7 Home - $100 (no upgrade pricing, just let there be a $100 dollar edition of Windows like there use to be). $160 family pack, supports up to 5 computers in the home and stick to it too, don’t back out 7 months into the program.

-          Windows 7 Business - $200 ($140 upgrade), don’t make this SKU a hard bargain, make persons who actually want business features and business features only actually want to buy this SKU. Again, it should also replace Vista Enterprise. When I plug in a UTP cable, it should automatically be able to detect a Domain, type of Network and guide the user to successfully join and access resources just by providing username, password and domain name. Diagnosis should be informative, explanation of how to join a domain, what the Administrator might not have provided to the end user to make you join the network, what the administrator might be doing wrong on his/her end. Make it easy for users to bring home work and continue accessing resources remotely.

-          Windows 7 Premium - $200 ($140 upgrade), Multimedia based version of Windows 7 that includes all the features of Home Basic and all the latest rich consumer experiences on the PC, from Parental controls, to a premium experience with Windows Live, Media Center and so on, I am sure you can bundle some goodies to make it a key differentiator. $350 family pack for 3 computers, make people want to see value in it enough to spend that kind of money on an OS.

-          And stick to this strategy for all eternity.

There you have it, three SKU’s that can be easily adopted by mainstream markets. If I had my way, I would personally eliminate even the basic Home SKU and just have Windows 7 Business and Premium. Yes, there are compromises, but at the same time I believe this strategy shuts up the point about bloat in Windows. It gives consumers, SMBs and Enterprises choice and an easy way to get Windows 7 with the features they do need.

79. Put back Windows Fax and Scan in all consumer SKUs, don’t make something like this which was available Windows 95 a compromise now, it’s just too late.
80. Make connecting to locally connected Projectors easier, I should just plug it in and be able to start a show. Pressing F1 and toggling displays does not work sometimes. Windows 7 must have the common sense to say, user has connected projector, user has PowerPoint open, user must want to project slide show, let me ask him/her. Eureka! Going to Personalization > Display Settings > Identify monitors is just confusing at times.
81. Built in system wide spell checker. Do it for the sake of the kids and me, Windows and Office have corrupted my grammar skills and I want to mend and protect my nephews own while I am at it.
82. Non Adjacent selection of text in Internet Explorer on Windows 7, looks like it’s not gonna happen for version 8 now.
83. Reset Windows 7 Settings; reset Windows 7 to its default settings. Meaning, when I buy an OEM branded computer, I can remove all the third party programs that OEM’s often include without having to reinstall the OS from scratch, this should not affect device drivers. But even virus protection software must be removed in the reset process. Let me the user; decide what I want to put on my computer. IE 7 has a similar setting.
84. User Account Control, it’s not working and you need to make it AEROrized. And when I say it’s not working, it’s an annoyance and not intelligent enough to know the areas of the system that does not need it, let me list some:

-          Advanced System Setting

-          Change Date and Time

-          Turn Windows Features on or off

-          When I insert a software program through CD/DVD. Come on, I intentionally put the disk in the drive.

-          Accessing device manager – look, I am not saying it’s not needed there, just that, opening the applet doesn’t mean I must encounter UAC, if I am actually editing a device, uninstalling then fine.

-          Disk Cleanup

-          Let me designate applications I install as completely safe.

-          Areas I think need to be tightened up in terms of security? Task Manager, Run command and Command Prompt.

85. Support upgrading from 64-bit XP and Vista 64-bit to 7 64-bit, whether installation is started from within a running copy or by booting from the DVD.
86. Export and import of speech profile option.
87. Do a Complete PC Backup of Windows 7 on a partition with Boot settings excluding other installations of Windows. For instance, I have 3 partitions, Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008. I want the option in Complete PC Backup, to back up only the Windows 7 partition and restore it to a different partition, maybe a larger one example. I don’t like how Complete PC Backup has to backup everything although it’s called Complete PC Backup for a reason; I want some degree of control over the process.
88. The About Windows dialog and the System Properties explorer reports contradicting amounts of memory, could you please fix this:

-          System Properties - 2,559 MBs

-          Windows About dialog - 2,619,865 KBs

89. Next Windows Mail needs to include some professional looking Stationary for various occasions, birthdays, weddings, new baby, party, invitations, and greetings and so on. They must look very good, have a simple layout and a quick access to your photo and video library, preferably a Task Pane on the right with drag and drop capabilities.
90. Ability to do a one click export of attached photos sent by email to my Pictures library, with the option of adding directly to library or in a folder. Try avoiding implementing modal dialogs.
91. Virtual Desktops utility, easy to access, situated in the Notification Area or a Windows Gadget (preferably the notification area).
92. Make Microsoft Management Console windows look and work like actual Windows Explorer windows.
93. Consistency between expanding tree indicators, I notice, Device Manager use (+) signs, while things like the Windows Explorer folder tree uses triangles.
94. Search box in Registry toolbar. The Edit > Find (CTRL + F command modal dialog is just old school and rather unintuitive.
95. Windows Experience Index rating needs to get its act together, I have upgraded my PC to the 9’s, yet I get a lousy rating.

·         3.2 Ghz P4 32-Bit

·         2.6 GBs of RAM

·         nVidia Geforce FX 6200 512 MB AGP

·         250 GB drive

·         Vista Ultimate 32-Bit

And I still get a lousy 2.3 rating even after that? From those specs, it’s a 3.5 minimum I say.

96. Please include some decent Gadgets for the following categories, I haven’t seen anything decent on Windows Live Gadgets that I would use:

·         Windows Media Player – similar to that one that existed during the alphas demoed in Vista Build 5219 at the 2005 PDC

·         A countdown timer gadget with an alarm, I am baking some muffins at the moment and the instructions on the packaging say 16 to 21 mins.

·         Virtual Desktops Gadget

·         Mail Gadget

·         IM Gadget

97. Show pictorial representations for a program such as Office, Windows, Silverlight, Live Writer, Outlook in Installed Updates History and Windows Update view available updates explorer.  
98. Ability to uncheck Welcome Center on first boot to the Windows Desktop.
99. Update personal file location changes in Windows and applications installed on Windows 7. For instance, I saved a file in my Documents folder, then a couple days later, moved it to my Public Documents folder. When I open that same file link from the Recent Items menu or say the application it was created, the link should automatically know the new location without presenting a cannot find file window or searching for file dialog.
100. Remember Resized column views in folders.
101. Scenarios and OOBE. When people just install Windows 7, they want to know what to do with their PC, especially for the consumer SKU’s. I suggest you have a one stop wizard that setups an email account (or use an existing one) with the ability to start publishing content to all the key Windows Live services, a blog post, publish and post videos, photos, socializing with friends and family. Just focus on a scenario of experiencing the web in an engaging way after setting up Windows 7.
102. Make the Windows 7 product box easier to open – I am working on some concepts.
103. Make Windows 7 faster: Startup (although I am using hibernate these days), shutdown, resume from hibernation, sleep, indexing faster (please take advantage of the multi-core CPUs, make applications pop open, just make it super, super, super fast.

So there you have it, my 103 suggestions: Design Change Request, Additions, and improvements to this operating system I use every day. Yes some are minor, some sound like huge undertakings, but I just want you the Windows Team to actually read them and understand my passion and why I want to see deep synergy with the Internet, the Windows Live platform and services. The aim is about scenarios, the Internet, power users, affordability, functionality, relevancy, deep integration, choice, accuracy and a way to make Windows a platform everyone can be proud of.

 Thank You

Can you repeat that?

Seriously, the first item - stop using Skydrive. Try going to Mesh.com. I use it as a folder and share that folder with other people via Mesh. Specifically, my wife uses my laptop for recording podcasts of our two year old son. But, she edits it on her desktop. My folder is in the mesh and I shared it with her Mesh ID. it all 'just works'.  There is no reason we can't backup to it. And yes, I can access the folder from the web as well.

Check it out, and its free (although it's in tech preview right now).

littleguru said:

Jason I said:

*snip*

The Mesh is US only and he's from Jamaica. That's why he doesn't use it.

mostly good ideas

interesting...

That's quite a list. There are some nice ideas there, though like littleguru also some that I find hard to understand.

• Thinner Window Borders: I remember watching an interview on Channel 9 with someone who was working on the UI for Windows Vista and they specifically mentioned that the window borders had been thickened over those in Windows XP because many people found the thin borders hard to use. Personally, I don't resize any of my windows (aside from maximise and restore) so it makes no difference to me, but I can imagine that for inept users the larger window borders would be valuable.
• Standardised Save and Open Windows: An effort to implement standardised windows for saving and opening files has already been made, hence the availability of these as dialogs in Visual Studio. However, some applications have specific needs which the standardised windows cannot satisfy and it is in these situations where the developer must build their own.
• Integration Between Windows Explorer and Internet Explorer: Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe this feature was removed for Windows Vista to assist with further separating IE from the operating system as a means of improving security. Adding this capability to Windows 7 would reverse the gain in security.

Most of the ideas seem to be fixes to existing problems, as opposed to new features for the operating system. I could be incorrect, but I don't think even Microsoft has the resources to conduct such an extensive round of fixes while simultaneously integrating the complex array of features planned for Windows 7.

Although I like the concept of dedicating a version cycle to refining the software, much like Apple plans to do with Mac OS X v10.6 and Microsoft did with Office 2007, I think both naïve users and the media would be dissapointed if Windows 7 adopted this strategy. Microsoft needs to show these people the level of innovation that Windows developers have been seeing for a long time now.

littleguru said:

Some of the ideas are quite interesting... It must have taken you quite long to compile this list. How did you gather this information? Are these only improvements that you would like to see or do you have like asked other persons too?

Thanks for sharing.

Edit: I have read now all your complaints and some of them are not understandable to me... like this 

System Properties - 2,559 MBs
Windows About dialog - 2,619,865 KBs

This is the same value...

and the three SKUs don't make sense to me because I want a SKU that just does everything. Like the Ultimate right now... You seem to miss that one. A few other things are also strange and I think not well thought out (I can construct common scenarios where they might not work properly) but others are cool ideas.

Andre Da Costa said:

littleguru said:

*snip*

Hi little guru,

Thanks for your feedback, I started compiling this last night (while Hurricane Gustav passed through the island).

As for the memory, how is 2,559 MBs and 2,619 MBs the same value? 2.5 GBs and 2.6 GBs are not the same value, at least its not showing the same value in System Properties and Windows About dialog for me. Unless you are saying I am reading RAM wrong. As for the SKU's, I personally don't see the point in having Ultimate anymore. I have it on my systems, a Desktop and Laptop, but I am not utilizing everything in it regardless its the best SKU. My laptop and desktop do not support Tablet PC, I don't join a Domain.

Thats why I recommend having additional features available as add on's you can buy and add to your existing SKU if the need arises. I know there are those who want the best sku, for the best sku sake, but I honestly believe this is a small minority and it shows in the number of notebooks I see running Vista more and more each day. Are you really using all those language packs?

Live Mesh I believe would be an asset for powering the synchronization of data across multiple PC's and make sharing and securing data on multiple PC's easier. But there needs to be more integration with all these disparate Windows Live services, SkyDrive looks like good technology but its not being utilized in a way that I think would be significantly beneficial to the end user.

I am interested in hearing more about what you think is strange.

Thanks again for all your feedback!

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