What Windows 8 needs to be… Part 1

Here's what I learned about windows 8 from a Microsoft employee
http://jesselocke.me/2010/02/windows-8-and-clou...

One click install sort of exists now, but personally I don't want that to be forced, there's certain settings I want to change before installing (What components of said software I want installed, etc). If they do make it "one click" then it should be optional.

For example, let's say I have Office 2007 and I mainly use Word, Access, Excel and Powerpoint, but let's say I don't care for Groove, OneNote or publisher. If I understand the concept of One Click correctly, I don't have a choice. I much rather, be able to choose the ones I want rather then install useless bloat that I never care about. I mean yeah sure we have large harddrives, but I rather use it towards something I want instead of pointless bloat.

Oh, and touch should be optional, I have no use for touch and rather use a mouse, maybe even an alternate GUI for touch and one for mouse.

Windows is already cheap! Seriously if you call $100-200 not cheap for an OS your out of your mind. I mean yeah it's not cheap if you compare it to say OSX, but what they lose in Software money they gain back in ridiculously expensive hardware (The same hardware that's Cheaper on a PC to begin with).

DRM should remain. You don't want DRM Content? Then don't download DRM content, it's that simple.

COM/Active X Should stay, but should be more tight with security as there is legacy apps that use them.

When it comes to installs, would much rather click a few times than have options hidden. I like to know exactly what is being installed on my computer and be able to choose options based on how i am going to use the program. I click install is in no way a make or break item for me, and while one click would be nice i think there are other areas to focus on. While touch screen may be the future, it is not even close to being developed enough for me to use it in my everyday tasks (web editing/video editing, and various other tasks), so i would rather not give up my familiar interface for something that is "dumbed down" for touchscreen use (as all touch screen OSs seem to me).

Second, it response to cheezonline's comment regarding an Expose type feature. I've used Expose and I despise it. Every time i went to it, it rearranged my icons, so it took me forever to find what i was looking for. The windows Alt-Tab Feature, while not pretty, is way faster once you get used to it. The same is true for many windows features, they are not nearly as "pretty" as some of the Mac features, but in the end i find them to be much more effective. They can also tend to be "hidden" and you need to find them and get used to them, but once you do you will be amazed how much you miss them when you go to Mac.

1. Win 8 must "compete against Google Chrome OS on the netbook and PC, and with iPhone OS and Android on the tablet."

The reference to Google Chrome OS is clearly just bandwagon jumping in response to all they hype that OS has gotten. Google Chrome is absolutely no near-term threat to Windows. It doesn't do the things corporations want: run Office, middleware, and support IT management of corporate assets. It doesn't do what home PC users want: play Direct X games and act as a DVR and movie player. It doesn't do what students want: run all the software they have to use for classes and job training.

Chrome OS is essentially a web client OS tailored for cheap, disposable web browsing and web apps. That may change in the future, but it will take a while.

The reference to the moble OSes show that Mike doesn't know what he's talking about. Desktop machines do NOT compete with mobile smart phones. People use handheld computers for different things than they use desktop and laptops for. No one writes their term paper on a cell phone running Word for Windows CE. Yeah, you could do that, but it would be like voting republican, no point. People don't use their mobile phones/computers as DVRs or home theater PCs, and only use them for web browsing when a laptop or desktop isn't avaialable. It's so much easier to surf with a real keyboard and monitor.

2. One single-click solution that Windows is lacking...

First, one-click install is an APPLICATION feature, not an OS feature. Only idiots want to put application crap in the OS. Keep the OS clean and lean or you'll have a bad OS that needs to be reinstalled often or it will slow down.

Second, there is one-click install for programs. Just click "typical install" instead of "custom install".

Third, I and many other people would freakin HATE one-click install. That's why we always choose "custom install". We don't want the stuff put where you want it; we want it were WE want it. I want to choose the install directory, the start menu shortcuts, desktop icons, etc. because I arrange my sh1t differently from you bozos. If we're all force to do it one way, then it better as hell be my way.

3. The ageing interface of drop-down menus and the window control buttons will either have to be redeveloped, redesigned or dropped completely.

I hate it when people diss something for being old. If it's such a bad thing, then explain what your complaint about it is. There is a reason that drop down combo boxes and similar controls have been around a while: they are the optimal known solutions to problems, i.e., they work and they work damn well. Most of the UI changes introduce in Vista were ugly and cumbersome. I still say XP has the best looking graphical shell on any platform.

But again, why is this an OS feature? Does Mike think the OS is only software that draws pixels? The drawing of the pixels is the LEAST important thing the software loosely packaged with the OS does. Don't you know that developers can write their own controls? Heard of Java, Swing, SWT, WPF, Silverlight, etc.? Don't know that there are packages of UI controls that you can buy? I've made many UIs in Java and WPF that use custom controls either by writing my own paint method in Java or using markup and templates in WPF and Silverlight. At the application level I can make a UI look like anything you can imagine. It's not an OS thing. If anything, for Microsoft it's a WPF/Silverlight platform thing now, and that's independent of the OS.

4. One of the biggest barriers to owning Windows is the price.

It's the goals of any product seller to maximize the revenue. The only way you can pay less for Windows is if Microsoft makes less money off of it. It's a zero-sum game, especially since Windows has already saturated the market. Rather than hoping for cheaper price, let's hope for a higher quality product.

This brings me to the next part: What we really want in Windows 8. Guess what, it's what I wanted since Xp, Windows 95, Windows 3.1.

WHAT WE REALLy WANT IN WINDOWS 8

1. An OS that is bug-free from the start. I shouldn't have to download security patches every third day with each patch claiming that if you don't install it, hackers will take over your computer and kill your family.

2. When I tell Windows to kill a process, it should kill it, not ask the process if it wouldn't mind terminating. Kill is an order, not a request. This is the one thing that Unix gets right that Windows does not.

3. No more registry. Get rid of it, period. All application data should be stored local to that application. That way, many evils go way such as

a. Spyware can't hide itself.
b. I can blow away a Windows partition and reinstall the OS without having to reinstall my applications.

4. No COM/ActiveX. These "technologies" -- and I use the term loosely -- are the reason for 99% of all security problems in every version of Windows. They don't even do anything useful that other platforms don't do much better. All they do is open security holes in your system.

5. Minimize Internet Explorer's usage. IE is just a bad web browser. It has always been, and it just keeps getting worse. Granted, point 4 would greatly improve IE, but it would still be a bad browser. Just don't require it for anything including Windows update.

6. No DRM. If a content provider wants to package its content only with DRM, then fine. We consumers reserve the right to say f' you! We can choose whether or not the content is worth putting up with the DRM, and if we decide it's not, then we don't buy DRM'd content. Let the market decide. We live in a capitalistic society. Do NOT put DRM or DRM support in the OS. That is forcing it down the throughts of consumers.

7. Go back to OS/2 ideas. The desktop should be object-oriented. You should be able to right-click anything for a context menu that includes a "properties" menu item. In that properties menu, you should be able to change colors, fonts, etc. This includes the Windows taskbar. Why can't I choose it's color with a simple right-click->properties? That's a no brainer.

8. Also from OS/2... The proper way to rename something is to Shift+click it. Windows requires you click an item AFTER it has been given focus. This means you accidently double click it and run it when you want to rename it, which is really bad when you are trying to rename something to "evil virus - don't run". Alternatively, you often accidently start renaming things when you just want to select them - arrg, also annoying. Look, OS/2 got this right. Don't be ashamed to admit it. Use the proper solution and people won't be frustrated when you misinterpret their mouse gestures.

9. Do not defrag without user permision. This is a security hole as you can't properly overwrite sensitive files such as bank account information.

10. Stop using virutal memory unless absolutely necessary. Even the fastest hard drives are slow as crap compared to system memory. Virtual memory was a necesary evil back when 1 MB was a lot of system memory. For over 10 years, I've run Windows without using any virtual memory, and it always runs better. Turn off VM by default and use it sparingly.

11. Don't hide ANYTHING. This include programs that run in startup. All startup programs should be listed in one spot that is accessible from Control Panels. You shouldn't have to type "msconfig" or search the registry. Also, don't hide any processes. If you look in Task Manager, the sum of the memory used column is always way less than the actual memory used. Where's the missing memory? Some entity that doesn't show up in the list of processes is using it. Stop hiding things.

12. No GAC. The GAC is evil. It doesn't solve any problems, it just creates a versioning nightmare. Today code is cheap and data is expensive. Code takes up a few measley megs of disk space / memory. Data can take up terrabytes easily. So stop trying to optimize code size and stop using code sharing. It saves us nothing and makes software incompatible and prone to install failures. Every app should have it's own copy of a DLL, .jar file, etc. that contains the version of the whateverPackage that is uses. That way the apps don't have to worry about version conflicts with other apps using the same libraries.

13. Support ISO. ISO is an installable file system. That's the right way to look at it. Why should I have to install a third party app to mount an ISO image? It should be no different than mounting a FAT32 or NTFS image.

14. Kill keyloggers and other spyware. Don't let apps listen to keystrokes or read pixels from other apps except through a very secured kernel-level API. Will this kill legacy software. You betcha. Who cares! Run your damn legacy crap in a VM if it's so important. This is a terrible security hole that destroys confidence in the OS. The secured kernel-level API should display a blantantly obvious (even flamboyant) window whenever some app is using it. That window should have a "allow recording" and a "stop recording" button in it, and it should identify the process and application calling the API.

15. Taskmanager should display full path to a process's executable. 'Nuff said.

And this is just what I can think of off the top of my head at this late hour. I'm sure I could come up with 50 other real improvements to the Windows Operating System -- not involving drawing pixels -- if I took the time to think about it.

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Hmmm... I could see a one-click installation work... or maybe a two or three click installation. Perhaps the installer would be a background application, only popping up when it needs some input for some installation option. Or perhaps they could group up the pages that make a lengthy installation (like the license appearing during the actual installation, or shortcuts and where you specify where to install could be grouped up)... there are many methods to simplify and shorten installation available for Microsoft.

On another note, great article!

1. one click install 2. monothlic Kernel 3. all programs install and run as if they were portable 4. run on usb & run on mini-net books fast 5. make the windows on a CDR- & MAKE THE ISO 696 MB 5. faster gui & star menu 6. make IE safe like firefox or chrome
7. make windows 8 32-64 one version & one disc (windows 8 32_64.iso 696mb) <---like this

one click install i think would be near impossible.

what about ditching the registry concept and making all programs install and run as if they were portable, by putting all their configurations onto their own folders?
this is finally fix the registry errors and leftover stuff after bad uninstalls/installs ...