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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 so

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`
  - Joeri 16y ago
    I did read your paragraph. In my opinion, your issues with the registry are not with what it can do, they are with how well app developers use it. If they're not even using what's already there, why would they use something more complex? Secondly, what you want is not a package management system, but an app store. You can build that as a third-party app today, without any additional features in windows. In fact, somebody has already done so, it's called http://allmyapps.com/ http://allmyapps.com/ You could argue that microsoft should ship such an app store by default, any maybe they will. That would however place them in the position of having to review the apps and arbitrate them. They don't like doing that.

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`
- Joeri 16y ago
  I did read your paragraph. In my opinion, your issues with the registry are not with what it can do, they are with how well app developers use it. If they're not even using what's already there, why would they use something more complex? Secondly, what you want is not a package management system, but an app store. You can build that as a third-party app today, without any additional features in windows. In fact, somebody has already done so, it's called http://allmyapps.com/ http://allmyapps.com/ You could argue that microsoft should ship such an app store by default, any maybe they will. That would however place them in the position of having to review the apps and arbitrate them. They don't like doing that.