Wednesday, August 27, 2008

15 ideas for Windows 7 (A bit more like Linux ?)

http://www.2dayblog.com/images/2008/march/windows_7.jpg

Windows 7 is scheduled to come out in 2010. I am satisfied with Vista SP1 to tell you guys the honest truth but I want Windows 7 to be even better. Here I present you with 15 suggestions, I agree that some of them may not be possible but if even a little of it is implemented, I hope that many Windows users will be delighted. Wouldn’t you?


1) Performance, Compatibility should be improved. Please don't make us wait for service packs, make the final Windows 7 release as good as you can. It shouldn't be too resource heavy. The boot up time should be minimized. It should be stable, fast and reliable.


2) The GUI should be changed.
I don't know what change you should make but it should be visually spectacular and not resource heavy at the same time. The taskbar can be heavily modified or changed completely. MAC OS X looks great but is not resource heavy at the same time.


3) New Windows Media Player with codecs installed,
which can play videos out of the box should be present. An effective audio enhancement tool like DFX audio enhancement or SRS sandbox should replace the existing and less powerful graphic equalizer.

A faster and a resource light Internet Explorer with features which are atleast better than the competition at that moment. Let's make browsers like Firefox/Opera/Safari slow if compared to Internet Explorer. Make features which the other web browsers would follow. I think IE8 beta 2 is an awesome step forward and has many features which the other web browsers lack. Accelerators and WebSlices are a good way to start.


4) Paint should be improved with more features, more like Paint.Net or GIMP. It should atleast have layers and more tools to draw with.


A document reader which can read .doc, .pdf files should be inbuilt. We don't want to pay and install Office to read documents or Adobe/ Foxit reader to read pdf files.


5) A good internet security solution and a good compression utility like WinRAR should be pre-installed supporting the major compression file extensions like .rar. .zip etc


6) Drivers should be automatically detected and installed. We don't want to look for the driver cd or hunt for the drivers in the internet.


7) A chat program which supports major sites like Yahoo, Gmail, and MSN should be pre-installed. More like Pidgin!


8) A good cd/dvd burning software and a tool to mount images (.iso etc)


9) More customizable installation
and the ability to add or remove more Windows components, features, etc should be there to make the OS tuned according to one's preferences and needs. Components should be recommended and installed according to the hardware.


10) Windows Movie Maker should implement more features and a Windows Audio Maker
can be made. A good Audio and Video converter/splitter should be added.


11) A performance enhancing tool
which should include Disk Defragmenter, Disk clean up, Registry cleaner and Defragmenter should be present.


12) Different desktop environments which would alter the looks of Windows or atleast a tool like that. Themes are too basic to bring about a noticeable big difference in the UI except colors and wallpapers. Tools like Talisman Desktop or WindowsBlinds are needed to achieve that at the present moment.


13) Tabbed Explorer
feature would be a nice addition to the Windows Explorer.


14) Ability to read file systems of Linux, MAC OS X.
I should be atleast able to access the movies, pictures or music kept in my Linux partition.


15) Please don't make a large number of SKU's for Windows 7.
The number of sku's of Vista has confused many users of which one to take, so keep that number as low as possible in Windows 7.


I would be glad if you can post your suggestions in the comments section! Let me know the features you want to see. Let me conclude by saying that even though there are some distributions of Linux like Debian , which provide all the softwares for free but in case of Microsoft many would consider this to be a monopoly, providing all the software's for free, made by Microsoft developers ( what would the other developers do). Well, make it better or have more features. And if that's not acceptable then instead of providing the software's for free, Microsoft can add a price tag to it. Like you get all these extra tools or software in a dvd, for a price, and which is not included in the OS. Or they can even enter agreements with the major players in the market like Adobe, etc. But many of the ideas which I mentioned here can be done for free without thinking of a law suit from the other software developers!










6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Okay, now I'm convinced that this is yet another spoof Windows advocacy blog. There seems to be something of a fad for them at the moment.

What you're saying, effectively, in almost every point, is that Windows 7 should be more like Linux:

"It shouldn't be too resource heavy. The boot up time should be minimized. It should be stable, fast and reliable." ... "it should be visually spectacular and not resource heavy at the same time" (Compiz, anyone?) ... "Media Player with codecs installed, which can play videos out of the box should be present" (a criticism of Linux in the past, but the fact is that there are many distros nowadays that include media codecs) ... "An Internet Explorer with features like that of Firefox 3 or better should be shipped! " (or just Firefox 3 itself) ... "GIMP anyone!" ... "A document reader which can read .doc, .pdf files should be inbuilt" ... "A good internet security solution and a good compression utility" ... "Drivers should be automatically detected and installed" ... "More like Pidgin!" ... "A good cd/dvd burning software and a tool to mount images" ... "make the OS tuned according to one's preferences and needs" ... "A good Audio and Video converter/splitter" ... "Different desktop environments" ... "Tabbed Explorer" ... "Ability to read file systems of Linux, MAC OS X" ...

And "Linux sucks"?

Anonymous said...

No wonder why MS makes crap software !!! They take feed back of guys like you lol...

Anonymous said...

Agree Wid you.... but atleast it shud get new GUI and shud be less resource hog... and ofcourse the IE shud be faster, safer , and easy it use wid all add-ons like features. Totally Agree wid your 15 points..

I dont understand why these guys accept reality... Linux is one platform and windows is other.

Bloggers have right to express their views. If you are not interested then jus ignore this blog!

Anonymous said...

@Ashis,

Yeah, Bloggers have rights to express their opinion, in this case stupid ones...

kozmcrae said...

Congratulations on your MVP. I guess I have to take your post as a serious list of changes/features. Can a MVP award be revoked?

A monopoly in the hands of a publicly traded proprietary company is a disaster for the consumer. Microsoft isn't a total monopoly but they are enough of one. They control the software we use, the development of the software and the "standards" that follow. Another way you can look at it is this: The next time you pay less than $400 for an (incomplete) operating system, you can thank Open Source. Specifications are one thing, what happens if the company whose software you champion controls the market? That must be a consideration. Being an American I am well aware of damage we have done to the Earth by the choices we make on a daily basis. Choosing Microsoft carries its own set of consequences. The Keys to the IT Kingdom do not belong in the hands of one company.

These are difficult concepts for people who've only know one operating system, one vendor. If it's not like Windows, then in sucks. That's the prevailing sentiment among those who were born using Windows and live and breath Windows to the exclusion to everything else.

As I read down your list, almost to the word, the computer you described is sitting on my desk. It's a 5 year old PC I built myself and it's running PCLinuxOS 2007.

Anonymous said...

Agreed with comments #1; #2; #4 & #5. Such n00b posts by a MVP, disrespectful to the entire community. :lol: