Windows 8 Feature Wishlist

Everton | Jun 21, 2009 | Comments

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Although Microsoft don’t intend to make a big splash when launching Windows 7, it will probably be Microsoft’s finest release yet if the feedback from testers and readers on our sister site Windows 7 News is anything to go by.

There’s still plenty of room for improvement in Windows 8. Mike from the Windows 7 News editorial team has published a series of posts detailing what he’d like to see in Windows 8:

Features Mike would like to see improved in Windows 8 include a better explorer, improved libraries and game support. Personally I would like to see more options for organising multiple windows. Aero Peek helps, but I don’t want to go over to the sidebar everytime I want to locate one of the many windows I have open. There has to be a better solution that ALT+TAB and Aero Peek.

What features would you like to see in Windows 8?

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Filed Under: Misc

Tags: aero peek • features • Windows 8

About the Author: Everton is based in London and has worked in the internet and mobile space for over ten years now, and before that worked in corporate strategy and consulting. He has a degree in Economics from Cambridge University, and currently runs the Portal and online operations for one of the largest ISPs in the UK.He also writes for Windows 7 News, Connected Internet and One Tip A Day.

goodguest
I'd love to see the three power options back instead of only two as is in windows 7

Alex
I'm running Windows 7 now and my power options are as follows:
-Shut Down
-Sleep
-Hibernate
-Restart
-Lock
-Log Off
-Switch User
That's... um... a few more than two.

Alexandr
I wannna see in Win 8 just one new feature: source code of all parts of the OS, freely accesible for downloading, modification and the subsequent use in commercial and non- commercial projects. It'll be very good if source code will be available under GNU GPL v2 or GNU GPL v3 licenses.

Min Chew
Personally:

1. I'd like the Windows system directory be FULLY protectable. No software installation should EVER be allowed in the system directory. In fact, it's probably not a bad idea for the core system files to be separate from any future updates. That way, in the worst case scenario, I can delete every other folder, and the system will still be able to run with its core set of functionalities. Good bye reformat!

2. It'd be nice if the Windows Registry were more controlled, like a svn. You can then see what changes a program had made to the registry, and rollback if required.

3. During the installation of the system, please PLEASE let the user specify the paths for default directories (users directory, program files directory, etc). Doesn't have to be in plain sight (eg, accessible via an Advanced button or tab)

4. Ultimate Task Manager. When I want to kill a process, it means I want to kill a process, and reclaim all used memory and file streams. Currently, if a program is accessing a file, and the device is buggy/damaged/slow/can't flush, the Task Manager is unable to terminate the process. Have been having problems with my external hard drives.

5. Bring back XP-styled search pane. The one in Vista/Win7 may be easy to use, but it's hard to get to the Advanced options. Of course, a 3rd party software can easily overcome this, but I think it'll be nice if it came installed.

6. Ejecting devices. IMO, Win7 handles this the EXACT same way as WinXP. If it's in use, windows doesn't tell you which program is using it. An option to force eject (and terminate the dependent processes) would be nice.

7. Program accountability. It'd be nice if I can see what a program is/was up to (what files were accessed/created/modified/deleted, which registry keys were added/modified/removed). Sure, we have ProcMon, but I'd like to see it more refined (with multiple levels of detail), and part of the system, or as a PowerToy.

8. Give us more flexibility UI-wise. I think win7 has gone in the right direction with floating Widgets. Now PLEASE do the same for the task bar, start menu, and Windows Explorer, for the sake of those who DO want to customize the look/feel of their desktop. When working with a computer 8 hours a day (in my case), even the most trivial things (location of a shortcut, location of the notification bar/window, label, icon, color, etc) will be the difference between ease-of-use/efficient and annoyance/agitation/mistakes. Here's an idea: give us a "Desktop Canvas Bar", on which we can place Widgets (such as the Notification Area, the Start Menu, Quick Launch, Opened Programs, etc. You know, something like... the Opera browser.

Josh

Steve
There has to be a tabbed command prompt so you dont need loadsa windows, and it also has to have support for ssh and everything that a unix terminal can do.

I hate the merged windows in the taskbar, can u pls do something about that.

and while ur at it, can u bundle in a time machine?

Ptto911
I think it's way too early to be thinking about Windows 8 when Windows 7 HASN'T EVEN CAME OUT.

Matt
Why not just copy OS X? Just kidding don't verbally bash me for that :S

Seriously, Microsoft have proven themselves with Windows 7 I won't deny that it have more Apple-esk features but have also included some totally hip new ones, most that people will actually appreciate.

So my advice to Microsoft in terms of features would be to just listen to customers because they pay the bills at the end of the day.

Sam
"-integrate the Zune/X-Box marketplace into Media Center. While in Media Center, if I’ve got one episode of Smallville, no reason why it shouldn’t offer to complete the season for me. If I have one album by an artist, it can offer more albums by that artist. If this is integrated and easily accessible, that’ll make it even easier for MS to encourage artists to get to their marketplace and make money, and another avenue to sell X-Box games with game trailers put into Media Center."
Looks like the integration you are looking for is kinda like what Apple offers with iTunes. Similar artists, more albums by that artist, etc. etc. Wonder how long it will take MS to put in this feature AND make it usable.

James
Feature list:
-podcast support and integration in Media Center and Media Player
-metadata support (dvd cover art and text) for self-created videos of any format, allowing me to organize my self-ripped tv shows and movies by series, season, and episode within media center and media player. It's just like albums and artists in mp3s. It's not that hard, guys. Check out video library by JackLuminous on thegreenbutton.com for how to do this. Browse via DVD covers, just as you'd expect. This man has a great idea.
-codec signing and updates. If you run a file and either audio or video is not playing or media player can't play it, simply report the issue and it will send file information to MS. Using that data, MS can then push out codecs that pass its quality assurances so you don't need to get massive and buggy codec packs that may do more harm than good.
-something like ZFS or WinFS for a file system. Please move beyond NTFS - it's old and we need something newer for how we handle data now.
-Photo Gallery with facial recognition. Mac's iPhoto already does face recognition, and then offers me up other pictures that may be possible matches for the faces I've already trained it to recognize. If they can do it, MS can also.
-Movie Maker having a timeline
-DVD Maker having fancy transitions like iDVD's column of film clips (it's eye candy like that that attracts people nowadays), and the ability, like Ulead DVD workshop 2, to have fine control over buttons, motion backgrounds, transitions between menus and movie, and also hidden buttons for easter eggs.
-Advanced Tag Editor back in Media Player.
-album art is by default 500x500, or whatever higher resolution you imbed in your mp3s. We have HD displays now, so anything less than 500x500 would look bad.
-subtitle and multiple audio support in media player and media center. VLC does this. Why not the included players? Just make the selection via the red/green/yellow buttons on the MC remotes, or right-click with the mouse to choose subtitle/audio. It's just one button on our (good) DVD players, so why do I have to dig around in a menu, exiting my movie, when it can be a click away?
-support for 8 logical CPU cores. Intel is working on making this, why not support multi-threading for up to 8 cores in the Pro version? And 4 in the home version would be good.
-integrate the Zune/X-Box marketplace into Media Center. While in Media Center, if I've got one episode of Smallville, no reason why it shouldn't offer to complete the season for me. If I have one album by an artist, it can offer more albums by that artist. If this is integrated and easily accessible, that'll make it even easier for MS to encourage artists to get to their marketplace and make money, and another avenue to sell X-Box games with game trailers put into Media Center.
-put weather, stocks, and news into Media Center under another bar. Use my RSS feeds to determine news source, or pick from MSN, Google, FoxNews, CNN, etc. as content providers.

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Windows 8 Feature Wishlist

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