5 ms·

Quick question - what are the killer features that you would want to see in Windows 8? I can't think of any. While Windows XP was getting a bit old (in terms o

• TillE 16y ago
  Exposé. Virtual desktops. A massive overhaul of Windows Update that turns it into part app store, part package manager. I want a Debian-like system where it's easy to add my own sources, and everything on the system is updated with one service.
  • loire280 16y ago
    It's funny how difficult window management is in an operating system named Windows. The only useful addition to window management since XP is the addition of easy vertical maximization. The lack of virtual desktops is especially unfortunate in Windows because the taskbar gets cluttered so quickly.
    • james2vegas 16y ago
      The lack of virtual desktops in Windows is especially unfortunate since at least Windows 3.51 (but perhaps Windows NT 3.1) the support for multiple desktops (and multiple interactive login sessions) has been part of the operating system, but not properly exposed to users.
  • code_duck 16y ago
    So, you are anticipating features that have been in other operating systems for years?
    • iaskwhy 16y ago
      To be fair, both features already exist as third party applications (for years).
      • code_duck 16y ago
        Right, so is it really exciting for MS to make their own version?
    • gavinballard 16y ago
      I get quite annoyed when I read comments of the "hah, [X] has had [Y] for ages!" variety in response to questions like this, as I don't believe they are particularly helpful or address the point. This isn't a question asking for comparisons between Windows and other operating systems - it's looking for sought-after features (whether implemented in another OS or not). Responding otherwise always seems to end up in a fanboyesque argument (see commentary on this recent TC post on desired iOS5 features devolve into an Android-vs-Apple flamewar: http://www.mobilecrunch.com/2011/04/01/10-things-that-simply-need-to-be-in-ios-5/ http://www.mobilecrunch.com/2011/04/01/10-things-that-simply...).
      • code_duck 16y ago
        I"m not saying any of that at all. My point is that probably, there are more exciting things to hope for in new versions of Windows. Or, perhaps as others have stated, there really isn't much to be excited about. All of the major desktop environments do everything a user wants, and it's really unlikely MS will do anything majorly innovative, bold or disruptive in terms of interface in the next version of Windows.
  • encoderer 16y ago
    Agreed. Windows 7 is a wonderful OS. I've never said that before about a Windows version -- tho I was certainly wowed as a 13 year old first seeing Windows 95. But package management would be wonderful. You know, all my development is linux-based. Many of the guys I work with run ubuntu for that reason. I tried that. And I tried OSX. But in the end, Windows 7 is the best desktop experience I've ever seen. I love it. And I just live in vbox for development which also has a ton of advantages itself.
    • billybob 16y ago
      Huh. I went from using XP at work to using Windows 7 at work, and I didn't see what all the fuss was about. The file finder was nice, but other than that... ? Since then I've moved to OSX at a newer job. I really like the paradigm of installing apps just by putting them in a folder and uninstalling them just by deleting them. And I really like having multiple workspaces to slide between. I also have that on Ubuntu at home - not sure if Windows has it or not. I guess overall I feel like OSX has the command-line power of Linux and even more shininess and nice UI stuff than Windows. I sort of miss easily maximizing windows, but then again, my iMac does have a pretty big monitor, so maybe that's a waste of space.
      • encoderer 16y ago
        Windows 7 taskbar is certainly inspired by the dock, but it's also an improvement upon it. The context menu that each pinned item has is awesome. The implementation of Libraries is awesome. No longer have to give a shit about where my docs or music or anything else is. It's like the gmail change from folders to tags. And it's super easy to make new libraries. I can create libraries for individual projects with code, specs, business documents, etc. Before I had an SSD, readyboost was great. Unlike the Vista version it actually worked. There is no longer a stability argument to be made. I've run Win7 since last april and I've had one blue screen since then. My system is often running 20, 30 days and I only restart because I've got several weeks of aggregated updates that I want to install. The way Microsoft uses Virtual PC actually shows they have found the VM religion. I can install a program to run in "XP Mode" and create shortcuts to it, etc, as I normally would to any other program,. but it of course runs in an XP VM seamlessly. This is exciting for what it means going forward for the OS. The "Homegroup" networking feature is great, i dont' use it myself but set it up at my dads house. His 4 PCs in the house were networking as easily as I've, in the past, setup a similar network in OSX. It's just FAST. Powershell is great. I don't use my OS for much: all my development is in Vbox VMs but when I do need to interact with Windows, Powershell is legit. Here's a 1 line reason why: You know how you can easily pipe output in bash from one app to the next? In powershell you can pipe actual objects, not just stdout output. The way it handles cameras, printers, etc, that I plug in. Awesoem standardized control panel for these kind of devices instead of the old hodgepodge of whatever driver it had. But mostly, once again, the taskbar. It turns out, when you develop in Vbox, the biggest interaction i have with my hostOS is the taskbar. The way it handles pinning, stacking, the aforementioned context menu, the way the notification area actually works now and I dont' get BS annoying "balloons" (oh god I hated balloons...) Anyway, in good faith, those are the things that come to mind when I say I love Windows 7.
• lordlarm 16y ago
  Disclaimer: I'm a technical person, or in some cases called geek :) The non-technical user, I'm sure loves these large buttons, informative popup-bubbles and cool icons everywhere. But if one is supposed to _use_ the system for anything else than the most basic tasks I have found these 'features'/designs to be more annoying. I hope windows 8 (or whatever the next version is called) to be more minimalistic - or at least give me _the choice_ to have tiny tiny icons, lots of raw text and links, small menu-bars etc.
• personalcompute 16y ago
  I don't expect any of these to actually be implemented by Microsoft as they are all major design changes, but, to name a couple: Central standard system for software configuration. This would be similar to the Windows registry but with larger scope. Every setting of any software would be configurable here by users. No nonstandard config files. No trying to find config files everywhere, etc. The Windows registry is only used by some programs, and in my opinion, is not at all user friendly. This would apply to the control panel and internal settings as well. The current control panel has many different inconsistent styles for dialogs and configuration screens and can be tough to learn and tough to know where to find some things intuitively (eg: to restart your network you have to go through a 'network adapters' page). Package Management Windows has made strides with Windows Update, Add and Remove Programs, and standard installers, but there is a long way it could go to entirely streamlining this.
  • Joeri 16y ago
    Central standard system for software configuration. Windows already has such a central system. The registry is used by almost all apps that aren't ported over from other platforms. And anyone can ship a management console snap-in to manage registry settings for their app. It's easy. Nobody does it because it's even easier to work some UI into your app to configure things. Package Management Windows couldn't use package management even if it wanted to. Packages are only necessary if you want apps to share dependencies. For various reasons sharing dependencies between apps on windows is not feasible (mostly because the dependencies are proprietary). Windows tries to solve the problem the same way OS X does: ship all the dependencies with the OS itself.
    • personalcompute 16y ago
      No, read my paragraph, I'm aware of the registry and it is lacking. Package management is nowhere near 'only necessary if apps share dependencies'. Compare: 1) Search google for software. 2) Search software website for download link. 3) Download. 4) Go to folder it was downloaded to. 5) Run installer. 6) Click next five times. The same situation, but with package management: 1) Type in a single command and watch it install exactly what you want, quickly. eg: `pacman -S firefox`
• ig1 16y ago
  Hardened security, automatic restrictions on applications to stop them hogging memory/processor cycles and slowing down your machine.
• tomjen3 16y ago
  A security system for programs ala Android where you have to approve what each program can do (but in more detail, eg this program may not read my files but it may store files in a private directory on my hardrive or it may access facebook.com but not any other url, etc) programs should be installed as a bundle ala MAC programs with standard directories for dll, exe, configure files, etc.
  • biot 16y ago
    This was available for XP via a third party utility CoreForce... shame they didn't keep developing or open source it. It acted as a permissions firewall for network, file, and registry access giving you really fine-grained control. http://corelabs.coresecurity.com/index.php?module=Wiki&action=view&type=project&name=Core_Force http://corelabs.coresecurity.com/index.php?module=Wiki&a...
• skymt 16y ago
  Integrated version control: call it something like "Tracked Folders" and build the UI into Windows Explorer. Build an efficient set of diff algorithms for text, binary, images, and media, plus visual-diff views for each. Make it work with Office's change tracking, so old changes from Office documents are automatically added to the repository. Provide a complete API, so developers can add differs and diff UIs for their own file formats. Integrate it with search, so you can have indexed search through old versions of files. That's quite a project, but it would be a formidable response to Apple's Time Machine (a feature I've personally seen sell a few Macs).
  • michael_dorfman 16y ago
    Actually, VAX/VMS's shipped with a versioning file system, so the technology has been there for a long time.
    • ams6110 16y ago
      It's been a LONG time since I've used VMS, but I'm pretty sure that the file versions were just complete copies of the prior version of the file, not deltas as any modern VC system would keep, and there was a limit (perhaps configurable) e.g. you'd have up to the last 10 versions of your file, but not the entire history since creation.
      • michael_dorfman 16y ago
        The versions were indeed complete files and not deltas. The limit to the number of files kept was a user-configurable setting, and there was a series of commands (like PURGE) to get rid of unwanted versions. (There was also an optional directory size quota, to limit disk usage by users.) Obviously, it would take a bit of jiggering to alter the system to use deltas-- but you'd think that there would have been ample opportunity in the past few decades for someone to do that work, if desired.
  • redacted 16y ago
    First steps toward what you want exist in the next OS X: http://www.apple.com/macosx/lion/#versions http://www.apple.com/macosx/lion/#versions I don't know if it has diff capabilities though.
• pcowans 16y ago
  Something targeted at encouraging a strong hacker community around the OS - most likely lowering the barrier to entry for non-professional developers to build and distribute simple tools which add functionality in creative ways. Microsoft's idea of a developer community is still too focused on professional developers working on large scale commercial apps.
• dagw 16y ago
  Better window management, with things like Expose, virtual desktops and window tiling. A rework of the file manager. Better integration with the command line. Basically small UI tweaks to make things slightly easier to work with. Something like Apple's Time Machine would also be kind of nice, and perhaps working to integrate some NTFS features into the core OS.
• Hoff 16y ago
  Bash and the usual tools. Integrated off-host backup mechanisms past Apple's Time Machine, with bare-metal reinstall. A UI that wasn't so blasted proud of itself when it successfully connected up a USB key disk, and reversing the current UI of excessive chatter for one of quiet; only tossing messages on actual errors. Transparent, integrated VM support, and with per-application VMs. Cross-box-portable disk installations and full software re-installation mechanisms. PostgreSQL and SQLite integrated. Open-source multi-platform management and deployment tools. Make me want to manage the Microsoft boxes from Microsoft boxes. Non-obfuscated data file formats, and a simple alternative to the current and over-grown Office suite; those tools can't decide if they're a text editor or a layout tool or a spreadsheet package or a database. (And yes, Windows and Office are two sides of the same coin.) That Microsoft management and Microsoft marketing folks shut up until they actually have something to show, rather than their usual model of unintended death of product interest by a thousand leaks. Stability is a given. No advertising is a given. Cleaning up the most fetid piles of legacy is a given. Fast install is a given. Fast upgrade is a given. Fast upgrades are a given. Fast roll-up patches are a given. And all of which runs contrary to the existing Microsoft and Office implementations and models in the current market. But I question why end-users are involved with Killer Features questions. Users classically stink at inventing Killer Features. All of what I've posted above are me to features. Not Killer Features. (In all honesty and not intending to slam Microsoft here, I can't identify the last killer feature that Microsoft came up. Which gets back to the 'good enough' comment.)
  • thematt 16y ago
    No advertising is a given. In their defense, I think we have the PC manufacturers to blame for this one. I do agree that Microsoft should push hard to minimize that stuff though.
    • CountSessine 16y ago
      Look at the current windows UI and count how often you read 'Microsoft' or 'Windows', or how often you see a big gaudy Windows logo somewhere. It's gauche. It's tasteless. It's pointless. It's over-branding. If I'm paying for something, I don't EVER want to be advertised to about it again. I made my choice. Don't make me regret it.
• deleted 16y ago
  [deleted]
• frogly 16y ago
  A simple programming tool designed for kids and beginners, with comprehensive video tutorials, given a prominent place in the Start Menu. Something like Microsoft Small Basic would fit, I think.
• trotsky 16y ago
  Consumer grade security enhancements. ROM-able boot chain validation support. A fine grained version of Mandatory Integrity Control that supports individual profiles, ships with profiles for popular applications and allows ISV's to embed requested access in their signed installers. A home user focused Steady State type application that allows them to reload the core OS from a known good repository on demand without breaking most user mode applications. An extended validation type code signing policy for anything that isn't user mode. Hey, a lot of them may not be realistic but I don't have to implement them.
• henry_flower 16y ago
  * DNS server--I'm tired to install BIND on every laptop with Windows 7. * Analogue to rpm/yum. * Virtual desktops. * Rebindable keyboard & mouse bindings for the system WM. * 'Follow mouse' focus (and an ability to drag any freaking window with Alt+Mouse-1). * Lightweight & tiny pdf-viewer. * Something like sysinternal's Tcpview. * System-wide spellchecker. * Integrated version control.
  • jodrellblank 16y ago
    Why do you install BIND?
    • henry_flower 16y ago
      Several reasons: 1. I can use custom (internal) domain names for my vmware virtual machines. 2. I don't have to depend on shady DNS servers on public wifi networks.
• viraptor 16y ago
  Apart from features like package manager, proper firewall (manually configurable rules with more options than allow/block), apparmor/selinux equivalent, virtual desktops, I'd simply like it to be more responsive. I use a windows laptop at work for 2 things really - visio and outlook. Compared to other linux systems I use, it's simply slow to respond, even though it's a new, high spec, multicore machine. Also, networking in a domain could be finally fixed... Plug out the cable while you're logged in to a domain - freeze. Suspend, unplug, change rooms, plug in, resume - freeze, "windows explorer is not responding".
  • encoderer 16y ago
    Have you used Windows 7 much? The firewall is no longer the "Allow/Block" only version that was included in previous versions. And similarly, I've found it quite responsive. If you're on a laptop -- and it's Vista -- then it probably suffers from the same issue a lot of laptops do: it's not the cores that's the problem, it's the RPMs. Pop a SSD in there and it'll sing. In the meantime, if you're on Win7, stick a USB stick in and let Readyboost do it's thing. At least 2 GB. Preferably bigger. Readyboost never wowed me in Vista and in 7 it's still not "wowable" i guess (i mean, wowable is a high bar to attain) but it definitely works to speed things up.
    • viraptor 16y ago
      Considering I've got a crappy, bottom of the range laptop at home and the latency of all actions is much, much lower (on ubuntu), I'm sticking to "7's fault" rather than buying more equipment. The other laptop has a 7200 rpm disk with 16GB ram to use for (pre)caching and I'm complaining about latency of basic action like work with Outlook or using explorer to look through folders - how hard can it be to display emails/files? Thanks for the info about the firewall - I can't find anything advanced however. Have you got some links / screens? I can see only the same old on / off / per-application thing.
      • encoderer 16y ago
        Ooh maybe you're on Windows 7 home? I'm on professional. That could be a difference. When I use it, I go to: Control Panel > System and Security > Windows Firewall and then select "advanced settings" on the left. Do you have that option?
• nhebb 16y ago
  Better networking. It still baffles me that I can launch a FTP client and connect to my web server in a fraction of the time it takes Explorer to discover the other systems on my network. Even connectivity to partitions mapped as network drives can be slow. If you launch an application that loads the last file you were working on, and the file is on a mapped drive, it's not uncommon for the load to fail.
• urza 16y ago
  * tagging files system wide (all files, not just some formats) * user friendly hard links.. to be able to have one file in more folders (I know it is possible with NTFS, but it is quite pain to do)
• estel 16y ago
  I'd love for Microsoft to have the nerve to make a fresh start. Windows 7 is brilliant for anyone that wants it to continue to use: Windows 8 can be rebuilt from scratch as a new operating system without any concerns for backwards compatibility.
  • patrickk 16y ago
    Yeah, sort of like the way they threw out their old smartphone OS and started from scratch with WP7. I suspect this would be heresy for their main OS, sadly. EDIT: typo
• riffraff 16y ago
  - query-able versioned filesystem (whatever happened to winfs?) - built-in appstore a-la osx (which would be huge for startups aiming at desktop development, freeing them from the piracy issues)
  • rbanffy 16y ago
    > whatever happened to winfs? WinFS was marketing through vaporware. MS were scared of ZFS making into OSX and had to show something to say "look, we aren't so much behind the others" so less people would be tempted to migrate. They do it all the time. Last thing I perceived as being that was the ARM support for Win8. I would be very surprised if it materializes as a product, but they just had to say "look, we are not chained to x86". Longhorn being all managed code (Java envy?), WinFS (every-other-modern-filesystem-envy?)... The list goes all the way back to Windows for Pen Computing (GEOS-envy?). They make outrageous claims and launch so-so stopgap products so that corporations have an excuse not to move away from Windows.
    • larsberg 16y ago
      > WinFS was marketing through vaporware. That may be how it looks from the outside, but from the inside that's not what it looked like at all. The WinFS team Truly Believed in what they were building. They tried to get Office on board with coordinating data through there; tried to get the OS on board; tried to get all the app partners together to make the whole "queryable store with all of your information and explicit relationships between all items" vision work. But, the tech just couldn't get there, no matter how well that team delivered. They were in the worst possible space. Below them, they had huge dependencies on the .NET framework, which was at the time proven for small applications but still in its infancy scaling up to a system-wide service, and WinFS was not the top-tier internal client that Avalon, SQL Server, and many others were. Above them were a huge set of application dependencies, none of whom wanted to make a bet until they knew WinFS was a winner (playing dependency chicken -- you're on our schedule because our VP demands it, but I'll only do my work when you show me that everyone else has done theirs). Of course, I was just in developer tools at the time and only saw it as a third party, so my view could be a bit off. But I'd caution against assuming that there is some amazing marketing organization at MSFT that is carefully concocting ill-scoped and ill-planned projects just to maliciously steal airtime from your favorite other projects. The reality was quite different. Sometimes, projects fall short of their plans. And if they're ambitious, sometimes becomes often.
• CurrentB 16y ago
  I've been waiting forever for a damn extended taskbar for dual monitors. Multimon works OK, but I just don't see how a feature like this can be ignored for so long in a software company where (hopefully) tons of people use dual monitors internally.
• zacharypinter 16y ago
  I'm not sure how actionable these requests are, but the things frustrating me about windows are: * Lack of decent symlinks (I know there are ways to accomplish it, but they always seem to have tradeoffs and problems) * Lack of a decent terminal window with straightforward copy/paste and resizing (Console 2 helps, but it's still less than ideal) * File locking - I hate this. Can't we have the unix approach instead? * Notification bubbles - way too annoying