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Mailbag: A Winning Windows 7

Doug asked readers yesterday what Microsoft should do to make Windows 7 your OS of choice. Here are some of your suggestions:

If Microsoft really wanted to do it right, all it has to do is make Windows 7 look and feel just like XP. Just make it better behind the interface. Have it use the same third-party drivers, only use them better. If nothing else, Microsoft should do as it did when it changed the Control Panel -- that is, give us a one-click option to revert back to an interface which we are familiar and comfortable with. Rather than obsolescing hardware, it should be able to create more efficient coding to do more with less. After all, we've not really added any major capabilities that we couldn't do with Windows NT and that first Pentium CPU. We can just do everything faster.

When a brand-new PC with a brand-new OS is slower than my seven-year-old one, then there is a major problem somewhere. I for one am not likely to trust my livelihood to a company that doesn't understand that very simple point.
-T.W.

I hate to say it, because I know it won't happen, but above all else Microsoft needs to KEEP IT SIMPLE!
-John

I believe that in order to make Windows 7 shine, Microsoft must do the following: One, optimize the OS to make it as stable and fast as possible. Two, make sure that the UI isn't a performance killer. Three, replace the command prompt with Powershell. Four, drop User Account Control and replace it with a confirmation prompt for elevated permissions for installation. Five, remove the need for Internet Explorer to be installed on the machine at all. Six, provide recovery options that don't require floppy disks be used for disaster recovery. Seven, provide real multi-user capability, like what's found in Windows Server 2003, where multiple users can make use of a single machine at the same time. And eight, provide two versions only: Home Edition and Business Edition.
-Jerald

Build it on BSD like Apple did with OSX.
-Bill

Windows 7 looks like window (excuse the pun) dressing on Vista. Are we actually going to get a new file system?
-T.

A nice thing that I am very surprised has not been done in any of the Windows OSes yet would be the ability to move the position of your open windows on the Task Bar, instead of just grouping similar ones beside each other.
-Anonymous

It may be too late, but I'd like to see Windows 7 be secure from the outset, small enough to fit on a single CD, and faster.
-Ray

Check out tomorrow's edition for more reader letters. And to share your own thoughts, e-mail [email protected], or fill out the form below.

Posted by Doug Barney on August 19, 2008


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