Future Tense: Ten Ways To Improve Windows
Future Tense: Ten Ways To Improve Windows
Posted 05/14/2010 at 10:36am
| by David Gerrold
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There’s a lot to like in Windows 7. I like the new taskbar best, I like the jump lists, I like that I can set up my own theme with changing wallpapers. I like the Devices and Printers page for its ease of use. I like the Readyboost cache. I like the Monitor Calibration utility. And I really like Microsoft Security Essentials.
But no operating system is perfect. There are things that I would like to see included in the next iteration of Windows. Most of them are easy. Some of them are obvious and it’s puzzling to me why they aren’t already a part of Windows. (And one is probably an impossible pipe dream.)
But I hope someone in Redmond is listening.
Windows Explorer
Can we please have ‘Folder Size,’ ‘Folder Children,’ and ‘File Children’ added to the details view of Explorer? There is a terrific freeware add-on for XP that does this, but the API was changed with Vista and there is no current utility to do the same for either Vista or Windows 7. These categories are very useful for sorting folders and discovering where the bloat is hidden.
Oh, and while we’re at it, can we please bring back the delete button in the Explorer toolbar? Or at least make it an option? I can understand why it was removed. Some people were hitting it by mistake. But not all of us are dummies. Honest.
Instant Search
Yes, the search function in Windows 7 is the best search function Windows has ever had. So why am I still using Search Everything instead? Because Search Everything is instantaneous.
Why can’t Windows have immediate indexing? Every time a file is written or moved or changed or deleted, how about updating the search engine’s internal database at the same time? Yes, indexing the contents of an entire hard disk can still be done in the background, most computers have more than enough power for that, but many users look for files by their titles and Search Everything is faster than Windows’ own search function. So why can’t this kind of speed and functionality be built into the OS?
But the OS should do even more than that. What if the database also included the locations of all the file parts? That way, the OS could more accurately report how long it would take to copy a file or a group of files. (And it might also be useful for recovering data in case of a crash…?)
Windows Media Player
Windows Media Player should recognize FLAC and Ogg Vorbis files. It should also expand its metatag database functions so that WAV and other files can have the same metatag information as WMA files. (And how about an accurate-rip feature, like EAC provides?) Now that I have multiple terabytes of storage, I’d prefer to have my music files unchanged, uncompressed, and unmolested, but with the same metadata as MP3 files.
And could someone in charge pleeeaaase figure out how to standardize Windows Media Player, Windows Media Center, and the Zune media manager? It’s three different interfaces for the same set of functions. Can’t there be one program that manages everything? Myself, I like Windows Media Player a lot—shouldn’t it sync more easily with my Zune?
And how about WMP having an extractable database as well, so I could keep a separate record of all the CDs and other music on my system. It would be great for insurance purposes, I could add sources and prices paid and date purchased and my own notes about each album. And it would also be convenient to have the whole database available when I’m browsing the stacks at Tower … oh, wait, there aren’t any CD stores anymore. Never mind that last.
License RAR and 7zip
Extraction of these popular archive formats should be part of the OS. Users should be able to extract data from all sources transparently.
License DropBox
More than anything else, this needs to be a part of the OS. DropBox is the simplest and easiest way to back up important files and make sure they’re immediately available on all of your machines. It works automatically in the background and it also contains a public folder for sharing files with others. If you’re using it, you know what I mean. If you’re not using it, you should definitely check it out.
License Fences
Desktop icon management has been out of control since Windows 3.0. Fences corrals groups of icons and the corrals can be moved around and resized. A double-click on the desktop hides everything until you bring it back with another double-click.
This license (and the two above) need to be a part of Windows. For those of us who use these utilities, the operating system feels incomplete and crippled without them.
Browser standards!
Argh!! This is the one that pushes me to thoughts of violence. I want to get all the different browser authors into the same room, at gunpoint if necessary, and not let anyone out, not even to go to the bathroom, until all of the browsers—IE, Firefox, Chrome, etc.—display all pages the same way. I mean it. This requires a summit conference on standards. Microsoft, Mozilla, Google, Opera, Safari—all of these folks need to agree on the way that web pages will be displayed. Once and for all. Enough. Too many good people are having to spend way too much time writing code that has to adapt itself to different browsers…including legacy browsers like IE6.
Virtuality
How about an operating system that runs all of its programs—especially browsers—in virtual environments.
Now that we have machines with multiple processor cores and multiple gigabytes of RAM, now that we have mature virtual environment software, why not have the OS create virtual environments tailored specifically to each class of program.
Virtual environments would keep software from interfering or conflicting with each other. Each program would have its own perfect environment.
Even more important, a virtual environment makes it (almost) impossible for malware to infect the primary OS. Virtuality could be the strongest way to stop the spread of malicious software.
In fact, why not run the OS from a read-only image, with updates and patches and config files added to the image only as necessary?
Get rid of the registry!
This requires a whole column, but the registry is a mess, filled with strange strings of numbers and letters, unknown identifiers, and codes for functions that have no discernable documentation. Tracking down problems in a system has become so difficult that even tech support gurus often end up stuck. (That’s another story, for another time.) And don’t even think about tweaking.
This is the worst part—every time you install something to your system, the registry grows like the zerg creep in Starcraft. But every time you delete a program, the detritus of that program is left behind, leaving the registry strewn with trash. So the registry grows and grows and your system slows and slows.
In the days before the registry, software (mostly) behaved itself. It stayed in its own folder. If you needed to move a program from one machine to another, you just copied the folder across.
If you must have a registry, how about this instead? Every program has a REG folder which includes all of its registry additions. When a program is uninstalled, the whole folder is deleted and the registry is rebuilt from scratch, checking all the REG folders in the Program Files folder? Installation and removal of software would be simplified.
Okay, there are only nine bullet points above, but there are more than ten suggestions. Some of these should be relatively easy to implement. Others would require a much deeper level of attention. And I’m open to the possibility that there are better solutions than anything I’ve suggested here.
But these are the things that I’d like to see fixed in Windows, because these are the things that I keep bumping up against.
What do you want to see fixed, changed, or improved in the next version of Windows?
David Gerrold is a Hugo and Nebula award-winning author. He has written more than 50 books, including "The Man Who Folded Himself" and "When HARLIE Was One," as well as hundreds of short stories and articles. His autobiographical story "The Martian Child" was the basis of the 2007 movie starring John Cusack and Amanda Peet. He has also written for television, including episodes of Star Trek, Babylon 5, Twilight Zone, and Land Of The Lost. He is best known for creating tribbles, sleestaks, and Chtorrans. In his spare time, he redesigns his website, www.gerrold.com
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alexamica
March 15, 2011 at 11:01am
I think that the best way to improve your windows is to have a good registry cleaner and tho make File Extensions for your programs , to have a great firewall that locks almost every virus and to make updates every once in a while .
Caboose
July 04, 2010 at 1:51pm
Wow! Spelling Microsoft with a dollar sign! How original!
Wasn't that the "thing" to do back in the late 90's and early 2000's ?
-= I don't want to be dead, I want to be alive! Or... a cowboy! =-
Athlonite
May 16, 2010 at 7:31am
hows about bringing back proper previews of animated GIFs i hate having to open a browser window every fricken time i really don't understand why they removed it from picture preview and even live photo gallery doesn't display them properly BASTARDS bring it back and License RAR and 7zip why bother with those when peazip is already free and does everything those two do combined and comes in x86 and x64 bit flavors
Play till it breaks then learn how to fix it!
gtubbesing
May 16, 2010 at 2:38am
And that's why Windows 8 was my idea!
(Are these the worst commercials ever? Especially the French ones!)
arch-chancellor
May 15, 2010 at 8:53am
I've noticed through the years how OSes and other apps seem to get more and more complicated. I use MS Paint A LOT. While significantly improved has been rendered annoying in its unnecessary complications. Go take a look. You can draw a one pixel wide line and a three pixel wide line, but not a two pixel wide line. You could do all three in Vista and XP. Someone at MS thought that was a great idea.
Another great MS flash trickle of a brain storm was removing the Quick Launch. Sure, pin the apps to the task bar, but you can only open one instance of it this way. You need to click on the start menu and then click on the program again. Or click on show desktop and click on your program. I have found a way to get the Quick launch back.
Okay, I did try the Betas and RCs. But I just used them to see what apps still worked, and what needed to get updated. Most of the stuff I found was only after a couple of months of continuous use.
By the way, XP Paint works in Win 7, but not Vista Paint.
Arrowdodger
May 15, 2010 at 9:40pm
What? You just have to right click the TaskBar icon and the icons name, right above Close and Remove from Taskbar and it'll open another window.
Lhot
May 15, 2010 at 3:57am
...the registry is one of the few GOOD things to come out of MS. It provides a location for REAL removal methods.
Sure it gets bloated..sure there are great reg cleaners out there...and I do remember comps from before the registry...not pretty :/ MS has all but removed the DOS command line....I guess if they remove the registry too, I may as well just give MS MY computer, as I sure the h3ll won't be able to affect UNwanted changes via some MS updates etc., that are a LOT easier to tackle in the registry. IF, I wanted a mindless gaming slab or some such, I just buy an Xbox or PS3...I LIKE the extra control the registry offers.
Did you know that after you UNinstall Google Earth...it leaves behind over 50,000 registry entries, and of those about 3-5 of them require "taking control of the entry, via permissions" to remove those last few.
For anyone that doesn't like the registry, maybe it's because you just don't have the proper tools to handle the registry...aka....JV16 Powertools.
The "CLOUD" is the biggest mistake this country has made...EVER !
thinsoldier
May 18, 2010 at 10:57am
"it leaves behind over 50,000 registry entries"
You honestly don't see a problem with this?
50,000 USELESS entries is MY fault because I don't have 3rd party registry tools?
wtf?
Raspop
May 15, 2010 at 12:27am
I feel that Windows is approaching the barebones maximum, feature-wise. I don't want it to do everything because there are plenty of times where a 3rd party app does the job better. IMO, cleaning house on a bunch of crappy default apps was one of the smartest moves for Win7.
For the sake of polish:
Windows Explorer, tabbed interface, please?
Now that we can burn an ISO, why shouldn't we be able to mount it without burning to a disk first?
I'm in the minority here, but I prefer Quicklaunch over the new taskbar. How about a simple checkbox option to get it back?
WMC is too damned clunky for my tastes. You can't navigate a terabyte+ video library any other way than horizontally - one click at a time. Perhaps there's some good themes out there, but the XBMC themes rock the pants off of WMC's interface.
Raspop
May 15, 2010 at 12:27am
I feel that Windows is approaching the barebones maximum, feature-wise. I don't want it to do everything because there are plenty of times where a 3rd party app does the job better. IMO, cleaning house on a bunch of crappy default apps was one of the smartest moves for Win7.
For the sake of polish:
Windows Explorer, tabbed interface, please?
Now that we can burn an ISO, why shouldn't we be able to mount it without burning to a disk first?
I'm in the minority here, but I prefer Quicklaunch over the new taskbar. How about a simple checkbox option to get it back?
WMC is too damned clunky for my tastes. You can't navigate a terabyte+ video library any other way than horizontally - one click at a time. Perhaps there's some good themes out there, but the XBMC themes rock the pants off of WMC's interface.
Sierra
May 15, 2010 at 1:11am
You are forgetting the days prior to having the registry. I'm not saying that it’s the perfect solution but doing away with it leads to more problems (by far) than it solves. Remember dll hell? For those that don’t, it was the quaint name of the tech support nightmare that happened when installing older software installed an older version of a shared dll, replacing the newer version of the file. Leading to breaking functionality in other programs without any indication that installing some older piece of software was the culprit. Trying to get the newer one reinstalled (once you figured out WHICH dll) usually caused more frustration than seeing a democrat elected when you are a republican (or vice versa). Maybe even more frustration than the tribbles caused the klingons.
Without the registry (or some form of it) how do you use common code across multiple applications? e.g. directshow filters or even DirectX? Each program would have to be completely self contained and that is a nightmare scenario as well. So much for ideas like OLE and COM, heck even security certificates would be effected, I’d have to install a cert for every secure website I use in each individual browser? I’ll pass on that one. How in the world would you deal with things like Active Directory that the entire Microsoft enterprise system is built on? Text files lying all over the place? There is already a very large OS using that system that has been trying to figure out for YEARS how to make it a friendly OS for average users.
As to the idea of a .reg folder for every app, why in the world would you want to have to scan the entire hard drive(s) each and every time you install or uninstall an application? You really want to put more load on the biggest bottleneck of any computer? Have to wait for 5 minutes each time you rebuild the registry? How would that work when multitasking and you need access to make changes while the registry is being rebuilt?
Your article has a couple valid points like explorer needing a makeover and faster search is always nice. The rest is poorly thought out (no offence) and the registry idea is just flat out wrong. Again, no offence meant but it seems like you are looking at things very superficially in this article.
greymist08
May 14, 2010 at 10:22pm
Is the reason they don't "integrate" this (pdf, ogg, etc.) functionality into the OS. Even if the software is free, because they are a company, and therefore making a profit from the sale of the thing, they would have to pay a share to [insert x company].
Go get them, since they're free. Never gonna happen.
Remember, these people don't actually live in "reality". Words get redefined all the time to fit what they currently want them to mean.
dread_ire
May 14, 2010 at 8:04pm
I somewhat agree that having rar and 7z support included would be nice. But really how hard is it to install 7zip and then be able to have the full functionality of 7zip's interface including advanced encryption and its support of almost every compression type.
Media Center and media player serve different needs. Also, from what I have heard Media player is going away and will be replaced by the Zune software in a future version of Windows.
Nyarlathotep
May 14, 2010 at 7:03pm
The fact that I cannot view folder size in Explorer without opening a folder's properties window is just dumb. As for the redundant interfaces, I have always assumed that MS design groups must be too compartmentalized to avoid the overlap. This just should not happen within an OS itself.
I would add that startup programs should be managed from one location. Not either the registry, startup folder, MSCONFIG or combinations of the three. Especially when spyware is so prevalent today there should just be a control panel item for startup programs (not just a command line tool).
"Sheesh, it's just one man's opinion..." -Me
Arrowdodger
May 14, 2010 at 5:09pm
Forget Dropbox. Mesh is way better. Can't wait until it gets out of beta.
dread_ire
May 14, 2010 at 7:56pm
I love using Mesh, it is more powerful than dropbox, as you can use multiple different folders instead of dropbox's one location. I just wish mesh would start implementing differential sync.
SuperiorBeing
May 14, 2010 at 4:08pm
You forgot to mention a built -in PDF reader. The thing I hate about Microsoft is their hit-or-miss approach to software, where some things are really good, like MSE, and others are terrible, like IE8. If all of their products had the built-in functionality that only half of them do... well, it'd be a lot easier to find reasons to look down on Mac users. Every time some pretentious Mac user tells me how great spotlight is I can only shoot back "Yeah? Well Windows 7 is a lot better than XP, because XP was terrible."
Not the snappiest of comebacks. :(
omen3330
May 14, 2010 at 1:12pm
Why don't you ask everybody to abandon their software and program using the same platform and language while your at it. First three points are reasonable, the rest are just nonsense. There is already viruses that detect a system running a virtual environment and wait until the virtual environment is shut down to infect the system, switching everything over would just see a rise in these kinds of attacks.
PawBear
May 14, 2010 at 12:05pm
In my experience, there's nothing brilliant about the registry. The above statements about it are rational. Also, a simple Google search will reveal the incredible headaches the "average" end user suffers from because of it's arcane and complex structure.
That said, I'd prefer a totally stripped down OS removing everything, all the bloat, allowing me the choice to install the browser of my choice, the paint program of my choice, the media player of my choice, etc., etc., etc.
*** "Either we conform the Truth to our desires or we conform our desires to the Truth." ***
wk
May 14, 2010 at 11:56pm
why every program on earth has customize installer, except MS windows installation, they should let us choose what to install, in addition to typical installation way for anyone who don't want the hassle of customizing installation.
one could choose only bare bone windows system and then install his favorite application. this way windows not only will take less space on HD but also may become less problematic and require less maintenance.
On the registry side, I totally agree that they should find a less complicated way, like (i hate to admit that) apple OS!!
MPC is my home page
Sierra
May 15, 2010 at 12:54am
The idea for the windows installation is to meet the needs of the lowest common denominator in order to reduce support costs along with keeping user confusion to a minimum. Every mainstream OS does this to make it a "pleasant" process after taking tons of criticism over the years when they try to cater to the enthusiast market. MS does provide tools for you to tweak the windows install, its just assumed that you would do this at the enterprise level rather than on a one time home install.
As far as the Apple OS is concerned I'd be interested in hearing how they do it better. Not being defensive, I'd really like to know. If they have figured out a way to support virtually every possible combination of hardware and home use through enterprise level applications better than MS then I may need to look into buying one.
Caboose
May 14, 2010 at 1:00pm
nLite and vLite. And hopefully *Lite (where * = whatever the developer will use for Windows 7) for stripping down Windows stuff
-= I don't want to be dead, I want to be alive! Or... a cowboy! =-
michaelsonline
May 14, 2010 at 11:56am
Free Flac, OGG directshow filters for WMP @ http://www.xiph.org/dshow/
Metonymy
May 14, 2010 at 11:27am
I can't really relate to any of these. You made a reference to the registry file growing, but from the content of your post, it's clear that you, the user, are allowing the contents of the hard drive to grow out of your own personal control. I don't understand at what point you think a better virtual organization strategy is going to fix your personal habits.
Then there are other gems in there like 'virtual environments preventing the spread of malicious software.' Really? Because I was under the impression that more complex automation and security = more spectacular failure once someone with a brain figures it out.
Anyway, my point is that the registry is currently essential, and it's brilliant. Anyone who can't figure out what any given registry entry does couldn't guru their way into a light bulb socket. Your idea is decent, and I do prefer the days when software didn't have to be 'installed,' but the typical end-user isn't clever enough to benefit from that, and they never were.
Nyarlathotep
May 14, 2010 at 6:55pm
I think you are contradicting yourself. Your point about the cleverness about most users is the very reason the registry isn't "brilliant". While I personally am comfortable working directly with registry entries the vast majority of users don't even know what the registry is. As the user installs and removes programs entries are left behind in the registry with no easy or effective way to remove them except for reinstalling Windows.
"Sheesh, it's just one man's opinion..." -Me
thinsoldier
May 18, 2010 at 12:12pm
How about a "registry folder" that's actually full of shortcuts to the exact registry entries created by the program in the actual registry. If a semi-experience user needs to edit one of them to fix an issue then it makes it much easier to find the registry items they need.
If a program does not remove its registry entries during uninstallation then it's registry folder is left behind so the user can see what exactly was left in the registry and decide if anything needs to remain in the registry or be deleted. Deleting the shortcut in the registry folder would delete the actual registry entry.
The registry shortcuts wouldn't be actual files on disk (like .lnk). Instead the "registry folder" would be a shortcut to an application that utilizes the explorer interface to show shortcuts to areas of the real registry.
My #1 wish for Windows is a much more configurable task bar (so I can make it mimic the apple dock or have the most useful balance of features from both worlds.)
#2 Split-screen gaming like on consoles.
My pc's more than double the power of the xbox1 but I can't play halo 1 in split-screen? I have 2 x-box 360 controllers after all.#3 Allow me to record stereo mix again.
#4 All the beryl/compiz features for users with disabilities.
For example middle-clicking any part of a window to move or resize instead of accurately targeting a corner or edge is a huge time saver. It would fit perfectly with the win+up, win+left/right features they've added.
ahopper
May 14, 2010 at 11:17am
Another one for Windows Media Player, build in blue ray support, either in all versions or as a downloadable upgrade. Simple as that.
Caboose
May 14, 2010 at 12:59pm
I can see it being an addition in SP2 or SP3. For sure next Windows version though...
-= I don't want to be dead, I want to be alive! Or... a cowboy! =-
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