Welcome to Engineering Windows 7

Article
08/14/2008

Welcome to our first post on a new blog from Microsoft—the Engineering Windows 7 blog, or E7 for short. E7 is hosted by the two senior engineering managers for the Windows 7 product, Jon DeVaan and Steven Sinofsky. Jon and Steven, along with members of the engineering team will post, comment, and participate in this blog.

Beginning with this post together we are going to start looking forward towards the “Windows 7” project. We know there are tons of questions about the specifics of the project and strong desire to know what’s in store for the next major release of Windows. Believe us, we are just as excited to start talking about the release. Over the past 18 months since Windows Vista’s broad availability, the team has been hard at work creating the next Windows product.

The audience of enthusiasts, bloggers, and those that are the most passionate about Windows represent the folks we are dedicating this blog to. With this blog we’re opening up a two-way discussion about how we are making Windows 7. Windows has all the challenges of every large scale software project—picking features, designing them, developing them, and delivering them with high quality. Windows has an added challenge of doing so for an extraordinarily diverse set of customers. As a team and as individuals on the team we continue to be humbled by this responsibility.

We strongly believe that success for Windows 7 includes an open and honest, and two-way, discussion about how we balance all of these interests and deliver software on the scale of Windows. We promise and will deliver such a dialog with this blog.

Planning a product like Windows involves systematic learning from customers of all types. In terms of planning the release we’ve been working with a wide variety of customers and partners (PC makers, hardware developers, enterprise customers, developers, and more) since the start of the project. We also continue our broad consumer learning through telemetry (Customer Experience Improvement Program), usability studies, and more. One area this blog will soon explore is all the different ways we learn from customers and the marketplace that inform the release.

We have two significant events for developers and the overall ecosystem around Windows this fall. The Professional Developers Conference (PDC) on October 27 and the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference (WinHEC) the following week both represent the first venues where we will provide in-depth technical information about Windows 7. This blog will provide context over the next 2+ months with regular posts about the behind the scenes development of the release and continue through the release of the product.

In leading up to this blog we have seen a lot of discussion in blogs about what Microsoft might be trying to accomplish by maintaining a little bit more control over the communication around Windows 7 (some might say that this is a significant understatement). We, as a team, definitely learned some lessons about “disclosure” and how we can all too easily get ahead of ourselves in talking about features before our understanding of them is solid. Our intent with Windows 7 and the pre-release communication is to make sure that we have a reasonable degree of confidence in what we talk about when we do talk. Again, top of mind for us is the responsibility we feel to make sure we are not stressing priorities, churning resource allocations, or causing strategic confusion among the tens of thousands of partners and customers who care deeply and have much invested in the evolution of Windows.

Related to disclosure is the idea of how we make sure not to set expectations around the release that end up disappointing you—features that don’t make it, claims that don’t stick, or support we don’t provide. Starting from the first days of developing Windows 7, we have committed as a team to “promise and deliver”. That’s our goal—share with you what we’re going to get done, why we’re doing it, and deliver it with high quality and on time.

We’re excited about this blog. As active bloggers on Microsoft’s intranet we are both looking forward to turning our attention and blogging energies towards the community outside Microsoft. We know the ins and outs of blogging and expect to have fun, provide great information, and also make a few mistakes. We know we’ll misspeak or what we say will be heard differently than we intended. We’re not worried. All we ask is that we have a dialog based on mutual respect and the shared goal of making a great release of Windows 7.

Our intent is to post “regularly”. We’ll watch the comments and we will definitely participate both in comments and potentially in follow-up posts as required. We will make sure that members of the Windows 7 development team represent themselves as such as well. While we want to keep the dialog out in the open, please feel free to use email to steven.sinofsky@microsoft.com should you wish to. In particular, email is a good way to suggest topics we might have a chance to discuss on the blog.

With that, we conclude our welcome post and ask you to stay tuned and join us in this dialog about the engineering of Windows 7.

Steven and Jon

Please note the availability of this blog in several other languages via the links on the nav pane. These posts are also created by members of our development team and we welcome dialog on these sites as well. We will continue to expand the list in other languages based on feedback.

Comments

Anonymous
August 14, 2008
Good to know that the Windows team and management are planning to listen to the community, although I think we all know development is probably a bit too far ahead by now to warrant REAL changes being made on the basis of commentary on this post. I'm carefully optimistic - good luck with this :)
Anonymous
August 14, 2008
Awesome! I'm looking forward to some great posts on this blog.
Anonymous
August 14, 2008
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Anonymous
August 14, 2008
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Anonymous
August 14, 2008
This is great however as a blog you really need rss enabled if you want people to subscribe and keep up to date with this blog.
Anonymous
August 14, 2008
Yes, an RSS feed would be welcome Apple's approach with virtualizing Mac OS 9 wasn't a bad idea. The hardware is certainly powerful enough to handle it, and it'll give you an opportunity to "clean up" the Windows API.
Anonymous
August 14, 2008
I believe an RSS feed is on the way. There's a note on the right side of the page that states: "Syndication coming soon. Sorry for the delay."
Anonymous
August 14, 2008
Any chance this will be a microkernal type approach? Windows is getting big, and there is no reason for things such picture viewer and ie to be so closely tired to the operating system.
Anonymous
August 14, 2008
Great to see Microsoft officially joining the Windows 7 blogosphere. I do still watch over Shipping Seven (blogspot) in the hope of some juicy insider information on the next major client release...
Anonymous
August 14, 2008
Great news :) Now, can we know if Shipping Seven is a fake or not???
Anonymous
August 14, 2008
Hope this blog is as informative as your internal blog Steven.
Anonymous
August 14, 2008
THX to Jon DeVaan and Steven Sinofsky I look forward to the PDC. Thank you for all your efforts and your infinite work. THANKS to you and to Microsoft.
Anonymous
August 14, 2008
Ebscer: NT (including XP and Vista) is a hybrid microkernel OS. For what it's worth, there are very few true microkernel systems out there (due to the poor performance of that approach). I think what you're referring to is a highly modular OS, not a microkernel OS. A great deal of work went into Vista/W2k8 to make them much more modularized than their predecessors. Expect that trend to continue.
Anonymous
August 14, 2008
Really great to hear about Windows 7. This is now the only reliable information source about the next Windows release. If there will be or will not be RSS channel, I will looking up this blog really often.
Anonymous
August 14, 2008
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Anonymous
August 14, 2008
Hi, could we have the next version of windows something like this pls ---- http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=b9ifQvQCO7Y watch it from 1:05 onwards. Windows sure wouldnt lose sales to Macs then..
Anonymous
August 14, 2008
@Anoop Parwani I love animation in this video http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=rGpN5hwOxR8 but GUI and Fonts Vista is more beautiful!
Anonymous
August 14, 2008
The animation is what exactly im talking about. @ Windows Developers - Can we not have something like that in the next Windows version?
Anonymous
August 14, 2008
ohh btw the UI is awesome in the video too.. if we could have something like that as well pls..
Anonymous
August 14, 2008
How about giving me something like Expose on Windows 7? No, I'm not talking about Flip 3D.
Anonymous
August 14, 2008
Great, welcome (back) to the blogosphere! Of course we are going to be following this blog with great interest, especially as it relates to the juxtaposition of Windows and Windows Live. While we want to hear from you what is coming, it's our understanding that Windows Live will play a much more significant role in Windows (or perhaps more precisely, that Windows will defer to Windows Live in offering many of the services now embedded in Windows. Bill Gates has already mentioned Windows Live Movie Maker as one example). Would love to hear your comments on the engineering challenges in separating services from the OS. And what part do you see in the "engineering" aspects of getting teams that have done things a certain way for a long time to now take a new approach? Looking forward to an open and honest discussion around Windows, and Windows Live :)
Anonymous
August 14, 2008
Hey Jon, I'm a Microsoft Beta Tester and I met you at the 'Winstock' tour. It was great to listen to your session and to listen to some of the challenges of Windows, application compatibilty/legacy support. At the time, afterwards I encouraged you to get out to the community and really show you wanted to listen. Is taken a while, but now is the time to show that you can listen and will work with the community - it certainly is a challenge but one I feel you have done well to accept. I have no idea if I influenced you in any way, but I'm really glad to see that now we will see how passionate, and sincere you are about Windows, and hopefully others will also realise that, but also appreciate you do also have a product to sell, and deadlines to meet. Good luck!
Anonymous
August 14, 2008
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Anonymous
August 14, 2008
Engineer is more beautifully like this video is all i say :-) http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=rGpN5hwOxR8
Anonymous
August 14, 2008
Good deal. Looking forward to all that you guys have to offer.
Anonymous
August 14, 2008
The people wonts Eye candy eye candy and eye candy. even the most complex functions of an operating system are often not well appreciated if missing eye candy.
Anonymous
August 14, 2008
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Anonymous
August 14, 2008
the URL for syndication seems to be the same syntax as all other MSDN blogs so not sure why is says "syndication is coming" http://blogs.msdn.com/e7/rss.xml
Anonymous
August 14, 2008
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Anonymous
August 14, 2008
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Anonymous
August 14, 2008
Anoop Parwani... exactly That was back when they were actually doing real cool stuff and talking about using WPF for the UI, WCF for the communications, P2P for data transfer, WinFS for filesystem and data API, etc. Someone killed it though and I don't know why. Too cool?
Anonymous
August 14, 2008
Windows Team, please read take a minute to read the post below... http://www.wintellect.com/CS/blogs/jrobbins/archive/2008/07/10/in-defense-of-vista-and-the-challenges-facing-windows-7.aspx
Anonymous
August 14, 2008
This blog is definitely a great idea and I -as a Windows developper and user- am looking forward to some interesting information about what we could be expecting from Windows 7. I hope this blog will become an efficient way to share ideas between Windows Team and developpers/users community. Keep us in touch and good luck with this :)
Anonymous
August 14, 2008
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Anonymous
August 14, 2008
I hope windows 7 fixes the inconsistencies that vista has in UI as well as in logic. http://www.aerotaskforce.com/ has a very good compilation or UI inconsistencies.
Anonymous
August 14, 2008
It's really super that this site has started, and I congratulate Jon, Steven, and crew for the step forward.
Anonymous
August 14, 2008
In order for windows to get better a total rewrite is needed. Adding things will only make it worse....
Anonymous
August 14, 2008
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Anonymous
August 14, 2008
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Anonymous
August 14, 2008
You guys rule. Now tell us more about Win7.
Anonymous
August 14, 2008
"Steven and Jon", please consider not posting under an aggregate pseudonym like "e7blog", or even as vague shadowy personas who miraculously speak in a single voice whose only name is "we" (Borg-like, no?), but as full-named individual contributors. As it is, it's only two posts in and the blog risks turning into a syndicated PR feed; a stream of anaemic, shilling, anodyne and bland corporate-speak, whose bias is complete and thus totally untrustworthy. That's not something I'm interested in reading.
Anonymous
August 14, 2008
test my other post wont post?
Anonymous
August 14, 2008
tobor1: You'll find most of the features you're looking for in Windows Parental Controls and/or Windows Family Safety (online service). Whilst they're a little disjointed right now, the next release of Family Safety should be much more powerful, flexible, consistent and better integrated with Windows. HTH.
Anonymous
August 14, 2008
what the heck are you not wallowed to copy and past into the comments of this blog i have a nice long list of stuff i typed in work and i copy the text and past it in the comments and submit it an the page reloads and the post doesn't show up.???
Anonymous
August 14, 2008
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Anonymous
August 14, 2008
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Anonymous
August 14, 2008
It's good to see some information around Windows 7 here, but guys, you should really, really do something with this blog's design and overall UX. Looooong lines of text, boring and dull design... c'mon guys it can be way better!
Anonymous
August 14, 2008
Thats why I vote for a system much like http://aerotaskforce.com
Anonymous
August 14, 2008
I’m not sure if this is really the place or not but here goes. As an artist working in advertising and rich media content creation, I’d like to see the following added to Windows 7. I’ve found some workarounds and third party apps for the past year while using Vista Ultimate but would much rather see Windows 7 offer these natively. Here are my top ten in no order. I have plenty more. 1. Integrated font management tool. 2. Ability to color code files and folders even when you transfer those to others windows 7 computers. 3. Force file explorer to always remember the last folder it was in – even when in other apps saving or loading files for example. 4. Force file explorer to display my files the same way throughout – don’t let the OS decide – ever! 5. Thumbnails for known graphic file types –.tga is a good example, while an old format it’s still used as a preferred format when rendering 3d animation frames. 6. Tabs for remote desktop windows. 7. Ability to copy/move a file or group of files to multiple locations easily and in a single action. Currently I have a dozen shortcuts to local and networked drives that I have to copy and paste in one by one - blah 8. A file and folder icon manager/editor that is easy to use 9. Organize control panel into groups and allow the user to move them around 10. Recent items are nice but folders and network locations should be added to it.
Anonymous
August 14, 2008
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Anonymous
August 14, 2008
MrDiSante - hey, I'm giving you MY experience with Vista - no need to get snippy. Actually I was running an HP dv6204 laptop (bought about a year ago) with Vista Home Premium. I got so frustrated with Vista (for the reasons stated) that I wiped it in April and installed XP Pro (against HP's advice). Haven't looked back, but AM looking forward to Windows 7 and really, really hope it will be better than Vista and XP. For me, Windows 7 is Microsoft's last chance.
Anonymous
August 14, 2008
Good stuff guys, am really looking forward to hearing what's coming and being a part of this community. Vista was a great platform to build on, and I look forward to what comes of that
Anonymous
August 14, 2008
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Anonymous
August 14, 2008
Thats a nice way of keeping people posted about the development and its progress. Thanks
Anonymous
August 14, 2008
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Anonymous
August 14, 2008
DOS has nothing to do with it. This is bad because thats where the mnain problems are many people are sacred of a total rewrite and use childish comments like "if microsoft copies apple, I wont ever use microsoft products again!" Please. give me a break stop being childish and get with the times... so another tip for Microsoft. Work together on this, not in separate rooms or buildings. Think AND work on the important things and the fun things may be added in the end
Anonymous
August 14, 2008
I cried with joy when I came across this blog. I have an emotional connection with Windows and have grown up along with it as it evolved during the 90s. I didn't get to test Vista but I would like to beta test Windows 7. I believe I can give good feedback from the perspective of a developer and an advanced user. Btw, as a start, you can at least inform the world whether Windows 7 will be NT 6.1 or NT 6.5 or NT 7.0, I'm sure that would be decided by now and disclosing that won't affect any other secret.
Anonymous
August 14, 2008
This is great news. Me personally though call me old fashioned (Im only 30) but Ive always just wanted an OS that loaded quickly and held all of my files in an easy to get to manner and thats it. I dont need animations or flashy graphics or see through windows. I just need an OS that runs my games and gets out of my way. Security is another concern. Can we please spend more time on fixing bugs prior to release and a little less time on adding cool graphics? My third suggestion would be making the installation more automated. Several times in every windows install you get to a point where the only option is to hit next or theres a count down screen for a restart. About the only things the user should have to hit keys for should be the accepting the EULA, selecting the drive, deciding how to format it if at all, the network or domain (if it can find and install a driver for a nic) and the product key. That should be the default installation so I guess you should be able to select a default or advanced install too. You can name the pc after windows is loaded or have it load a temp name during installation and prompt the user to change the name on next boot. the timezone should be the same thing. Maybe I should just apply to be a beta tester lol!
Anonymous
August 14, 2008
You are going a very good way by using more the touch screen ability as a more common way to interact with the GUI. The method is good, but I feel it's in the wrong place. people like to interact with their fingers with objects, but what if that object is far away? they need to walk to that place to activate the desired operation. The way we have to interact with windows elements is thru a keyboard and a mouse. those things are right below our hands and fingers, at our reach. Imagine this, connect two screens into a computer that has 2 video cards. one of the screens make it a touch screen, one of those Smart Screens Microsoft may have around there. in the touchscreen monitor, run the On-Screen Keyboard. and make the applications run on the non touch sensitive screen. the touch screen must be one of the smallest ones you have, flat and wide screen. there, you have a keyboard that can change layout to any language, or change interface like when you are playing a game. imagine a laptop, that has a touch screen keyboard. it will be flat both sides. and if you open it 180 degrees, and rotate it 90 degrees, and make it extend the application to both screens, and configuring it to display the image 90 degrees left or right, it becomes a bigger screen, like for watching a movie. what we have right now with Windows is the form of interaction with the program overlapping the programs themselves, like the start menu overlapping the programs that are open. how about if the start menu would be displayed in the touch screen keyboard, when the key with the windows icon is pressed? right now we have all the menus, icons, options of interacting with the elements embedded in the programs themselves, if the touch screen keyboard would be possible, (which it is, I already explained how it can be possible), the menus, icons, and other interface elements to interact with the programs could be displayed in the touch screen keyboard, the keyboard could change skins, I don't know, each developer of each application will decide how it would modify the keyboard to fit the program needs for greater interoperability. you can even emulate a mouse there, or turn it into a keyboard. or drums. change skins, i don't know, i don't know where people creativity would go, nobody knows. I have to say that I appreciate this move from Microsoft, using the masses wisdom to develop Windows 7. a Windows we built ourselves.
Anonymous
August 14, 2008
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Anonymous
August 14, 2008
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August 14, 2008
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Anonymous
August 14, 2008
Is it possible join any Alfa/Beta W7 programs? :)
Anonymous
August 14, 2008
Of course u should clean install on every pc u buy.Pcs with vista already install usually have trimmed-down installations or stupid configuration s like 2 same partitions. As far for the suggestions... I would love to see a steady core that uses the power of quad processors be modular ( what ms did in windows server 2008 and vista was a good move so keep it that way ) . Me ( like alot of people i guess ) i have the leaked build installed on a test pc and i think that the new interface is a good move. Of course is still in early stages so some bugs and hangs are expected. But i honestly believe that if u can keep tha core in low size and make it modular and able to use the power of cpu more efficiently it will improve overall perfomance dramaticaly.
Anonymous
August 14, 2008
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Anonymous
August 14, 2008
Windows needs to make a strong comeback. Not in numbers, but in the minds of people. Let's see what Microsoft can do with W7!
Anonymous
August 14, 2008
When you create a blogg with these intentions in mind, it is important that you do follow the visitor's visions over time. Note what has been said multiple times, and do not refrain from integrating it into the next version of Windows. Here are some features that I know everyone would like:

A dock on the "top" of the screen. Download the program Rocketdock and see how it works!
A search-field which is part of the task bar. You should not have to open the menu, since then, nobody is bothered to use it.
A fresh interface. I've personally grown tired of black (Win), brown (Lin) and gray (Mac) as the colors on my desk. Windows XP did it well with a blue color which was nice to look at.
Better hierachy. You should have a menu on the left where you could choose folders. Then when you open a folder, another menu should be added to the right of it, displaying the maps/files in the map you just clicked on. This allows the user to access all their maps much quicker.
Better performance. When I try to open Firefox now, it usually takes about 5 seconds. With XP, this took a standalone second. The responsiveness must be improved a lot.

Anonymous
August 14, 2008
When using touch screen can you build in a simple utility that allows you to open programs without having to fiddle with the start bar / quick launch and without the need to have numerous icons on the desktop.. similar to this picture here I have made http://www.spitefulgod.net/images/fingermenu.jpg It may already be done but I haven't seen it on a touch screen.
Anonymous
August 14, 2008
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August 14, 2008
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Anonymous
August 14, 2008
Considering integrating the services offered by Microsoft Live division more tightly into Windows. There is no reason why should have Windows Photo Gallery AND Windows Live Photo Gallery. There's too much duplication of functionality. Windows 7 should be a strictly x64 release. Most of the common hardware have x64 drivers already, and it'll force the rest (I'm especially looking at you printer/scanner manufacturers) to move on too. Also, could we try to resurrect WinFS? ;)
Anonymous
August 14, 2008
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Anonymous
August 14, 2008
we need more control of our sound cards. i read one post that said "why we can't install 3 sounds cards in the computer, and unite them to form a 5.1 system?" or convert a 5.1 system into a 7.1 by installing another sound card. redistribute the sound channels to whatever sound card you may find fit. that would be possible if windows would have that option native. because you may have the ability to do so, but only work in a single media player. if not in native support, drivers should have the option to add plug-ins into them, for the changes to affect the computer sound in general.
Anonymous
August 14, 2008
I'm looking forward to read some good news on my next workstation system. As a first step i would like to see the basics of your work displayed here. What about the research and interviews done for your new operating system? It would be nice to see what's the foundation of your work. That will help us to make connections between your assumptions and our understanding. Best Regards, Stefan
Anonymous
August 14, 2008
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August 14, 2008
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Anonymous
August 14, 2008
Great initiatife! THE question is of course: What it's gonna be? I prefer strongly Just An Operating System. If I want to use outlook, I will install it myself. If I want to use IE, I will install it myself. If I want to use Window MediaPlayer, I will install it myself. Etc etc. Please.....? Regards ;-) (Knipoog)
Anonymous
August 14, 2008
I think it is a great idea to convey information that has been tilted towards finalization, rather than the "we could" and finally "we did" marketing campaign of Vista. I like Vista, even if it does have a few little quirks, but if you have a strong enough system, you get used to it and it works. If there is one thing I have found very annoying however, is how Pop-Ups are handled inside XP, Vista etc. Every program has its own Pop-up stopper nowadays. Google Toolbar, Antivirus Software, Webfilter Software, Internet Explorer, Yahoo Toolbar etc. If there is a webpage that you want to visit, that has a pop up you would actually like, it gets blocked and you spend hours going over every pop-up blocker to make sure it is switched off. The CTRL and Link version does not always work, especially if Google Toolbar is active. So my request is to have a standadized, central pop-up blocker in Control Panel. One that everyone has to be compatible with so that when you do switch it off, it switches all of them off. For Windows 7 that would actually be my only request. Apart from that, keep doing what you are doing. Your reputation might not always be the best, but you are good at what you do, so keep doing it! Look forward to updates and a respectful discussion round.
Anonymous
August 14, 2008

I am using Windows Vista Ultimate right now, and I'm very happy about it. But it took some tweaks to get it look the way I wanted. Too many links in the start-menu, wrong color on the windows (black looks better to the taskbar). Mabye you should work a little bit more on that.
There is so many built-in softwares that I don't need. Windows Mail, Sideshow, Calendar, and more. Could you mabye give us the option to choose which programs the operating system comes with? Like when you install it, you can check/un-check different softwares? That would be great!
The look on the top border of open windows doesn't look good. Fix it. Also too much "glow" on the form/window title, when not maximized or minimized, but the middle-thing. (can't remember what it's called).
When you click "Show desktop", in the quick launch menu, it shows the desktop, but also hides the sidebar. That's not good enough! THe sidebar should be more "integrated" in the desktop, and not a program running over it. Thank you. (if my english is bad; I'm from norway.)

Anonymous
August 14, 2008
I would like to know if MS. is going to introduce DX11 with this OS. If so will MS change the specs . Like they did in Vista for DX10. In the orginal specs DX10.1 was removed and add later by MS with sp1 for Vista. I wouldn't want to see a repeat of that. If the hardware companies aren't ready no need to change the specs as it henders progress. and Dx9 cards would have run just find until hardware cashes up. As it turned out removing Dx10.1, This allowed NV to Have a DX10 hardware only because Dx10.1 was removed from the orginal specs. This allowed the game makers not to use DX10.1 SO no games are made using it. Now I read that MS said DX10.1 really wasn't much. In the one game that had DX10.1 ATI performance was greatly increased. But NV stepped in and forced the game company to patch it. Using its . It would seem it was NV crying to MS but we can't do DX10.1 So MS redifined DX10 . BAD BAD MOVE. I hope this doesn't happen with DX11. Intels Larrabee is very interesting Now isn't. So now we have a gpu maker who really doesn't care what DX is used. As intel really can do as they please . Something MS isn't use to .
Anonymous
August 14, 2008
Oh googly moogly this will b fun
Anonymous
August 14, 2008
Since touch is a major feature in Windows 7 I could like to discuss it here. I believe the traditional window UI is not very apt for the new generation of touch or surface computing. The current windows UI was developed keeping in mind the mouse as its pointing interface. But more wonder can be done in the context of multi touch. I believe Microsoft should make a more efficient and innovative UI to take full advantage of the multi touch. In this context Microsoft should not lose its compatibility with existing mouse and keyboard. My suggestions for the UI could be 1 gesture 2 redesign the context menu as an applications launcher or a menu that can handle multi touch 3 great animations are a must!!!!!(Must kick the OSX out) This early concept of urs “Future Technology - A Day In The Life Of Mike” give a great picture of thing to come in windows 7 (Touch , voice and Cloud computing) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGan3zaMTa4 One final word guys!!! “It’s time that we tame those Wild Cats “
Anonymous
August 14, 2008
Hello, thanks for starting this blog. My suggestion: integrate an central Metadata Database Infrastructure like(compatible) http://nepomuk.semanticdesktop.org/xwiki/bin/view/Main1/ for all Apps. (KDE 4 did it ;-)) sorry for my bad english. Best Regards, Roland
Anonymous
August 14, 2008
I hope that Windows 7 will include Touch API that will provide coordinates for every touch. Not only gestures. This way developers could analyze them.
Anonymous
August 14, 2008
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Anonymous
August 14, 2008
I hope that Windows Seven will support more filesystems that NTFS and FAT ;) It would be a great improvement if we could have our system on WinFS(I hope that it will be good and not so fragmentation friendly) and our personal files on XFS/JFS. I am a WindowsNT6 SP1 x64 user + ArchLinux x64 user, so I know all good and bad stuff from both sides. Have a nice start and be openminded.
Anonymous
August 14, 2008
I have a wish for the Windows 7 setup, a checkbox labeled "Make Win7 look like Win95". The first thing I do after installing a new Windows release is to disable all effects, disable all services, turn things like the sidebar off and switch to the classic theme. I was quite disappointed about the ugly classic theme in Vista. Also by classic start menu I expect the classic start menu. I also couldn't get the XP explorer.exe to run on Vista, so I'm not gonna using Vista. Those favorite links are not my favorite links and I don't want this view you can't even turn it off (only minimize it). And I still miss the separate search window we had in Win95 when we pressed F3. And I surely don't want any indexing service. Of course I do want new features, but I don't want change just for the sake of change. P.S.: Before anyone replies "then stick with Win95", nope, I want Unicode and multiprocessor support etc. but also the minimalistic and clean look&feel of Win95.
Anonymous
August 14, 2008
@Andre : They can't go back and bring back Windows 95 The best they could do is if they could add in all the windows and borders more menus for personal customisation.
Anonymous
August 14, 2008
Opps I'm late, over 80 posts already. Hi everyone, and thanks to the Dev's for setting this up. I'll be watching closely to see what happens, when I think I have something worth saying I'll post.
Anonymous
August 14, 2008
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Anonymous
August 14, 2008
Speed, speed, speed. I want a UI that is always smooth and responsive, and never slows down. Currently too many background tasks have the ability to bring the PC to its knees by monopolising system resources. Indexing for example, or journalling. Heavy disk or network I/O shouldn't slow down any UI elements, menu's etc, even if it means displaying placeholders for temporarily unavailable information. If it's not what I'm interested in, it shouldn't slow me down. The start menu in XP is particularly bad at that. I shouldn't have to wait for windows to catch up with me when navigating menus. Banish the hourglass!
Anonymous
August 14, 2008
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Anonymous
August 14, 2008
Hey, I'll probably post this multiple times until it gets noticed, but I really thing windows 7 needs to be a super efficient core with plugin style features. That way as a gamer or just someone who needs all the speed he can get I can just run windows barebones, with only the applications I need. I fully understand why all the features are on and everything acts the way it does, because generally people are stupid and want it to 'just work'. But there is a growing number of people out there that want windows to simply be a super efficient core, that comes with a default GUI and features, but allows them to all be "unplugged" and replaced, or new ones added, even allowing 3rd party GUI's like gnome and KDE to sneak in, and media programs to be made that can allow you to unplug WMP and replace it if it takes your fancy. I think it would be great to look at a GUI plugin online, give it a run for a few days and be able to return to the default if you don't like it, especially if it doesnt have to run on top of the default and can be as efficient as if it was the original. Another upside to this is backwards compatibility. From all accounts (tho I dont know for sure myself) backwards compatibility is really bogging the system down, but it could be set up so that, if say, you needed to run a windows 95 program, all you need is to download an appropriate plugin and off you go, and when you done you can unplug it/turn it off. Although the average user probably wont ever change these things, it will definitely be a godsend to the savvy, and those are the people who are currently killing vista's rep online and recommending people don't buy it, and they are also the ones that the others listen to. I'm currently a 3rd year software engineer, and have taken courses in operating system design, and although I dont know much yet, I'm keen to contribute and learn here, and am quite impressed that a blog like this has been setup :).
Anonymous
August 15, 2008
Hello Devs, I can only hope you will implement a consistent User Interface. There are still a lot of old UI Designs under Vista. It would also be nice to have a central place to offer software products (like windows marketplace, just implemented right into the OS as a package manager) Setup.exe is unnecessary through the package management.
Anonymous
August 15, 2008
@Panos Filip: I really don't want Win95 back with 16-colors icons :) But Win95 didn't do anything I haven't asked it for. There are already many annyoing things in XP which waste my time. Control panel > Add/remove software, takes 3 minutes to show the list because it calculates the size and usage info for 200 apps. Also why is this a HTML view? A simple list with columns for size and usage which are calculated on demand in the background would be nice. The list should be shown immediately with <<calculating>> in the other columns. And then a simple option to hide/disable these columns. When I take some pics with my cell phone and plug it in to the USB port and go to the pic folder with the Explorer on XP it queries the information for every single JPEG which takes a minute while the Explorer is unresponsive. On Win2000 it just shows the files. Had to use ShellExView to get rid of all the extensions. For me Vista has taken the annoyance too far. There is no useable classic theme and Explorer and that's already enough for me. Windows has become an OS for the average Joe but is no longer a productivity system. To the Windows devs: Please always keep this in mind, for you it might be an improvement or nice feature, for others it might be an annoyance. Oh and I have a wish for Paint, if you double-click a color at the bottom you can see/set the RGB values, but you can't double-click the selected fore- and background color. So you can't see the RGB values for colors selected with the color picker.
Anonymous
August 15, 2008
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Anonymous
August 15, 2008
imo windows 7 will need to realy change some core futures to. if you boot a version of linux (even a live cd) almost all your hardware instandly works. windows alwase needs to go find a driver. i have no idea how linux does this but it is something i would realy love in windows 7. also why is it possible that thare is a limit of hardware that windows can use... like a max of ram windows will use. i think that's just stupid. it must be possible to be able to support inf. cpu or ram the os should not limit that. also once again, many people have sead it: " less is more" do not overload the os with futures. they will make the pc run and boot slower. i would realy love the plug-in system as mentioned before, like in firefox. make it possible and easy!!! for people to chose the extra futures them self and plug them in and make it possible and easy for developers to make those plug-ins and get them online. also boot time is still kinda lang ant it's iritating. BUT shutdown time?? why would you need to save settings after you finished working on your pc?? just save them when they get changed. if you shutdown the pc it should almost just power down instantly!!! please realy make a change to windows this time, that people can feel, and it will sell like bread!
Anonymous
August 15, 2008
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Anonymous
August 15, 2008
Here is an idea. Take the existing linux code base, keeping the open source licencing, and contribute support for that for things like gdi printers and wifi chipsets with closed drivers. Then implement windows as another windowing system in parallel to X, another desktop in competition to KDE, gnome, fvwm etc. Make AD and SMB a loadable service like Samba, as proprietary as you like. The DLLs that are needed for applications, twain drivers, and the like would be installed just like the gtk libriaries. You could bring something like this to market in half the time it would take to re-write vista, you'd defuse a lot of the less hysterical criticism by the open source community by being an active contributor and solving some of the closed hardware problems, and be able to concentrate on what you do best - UI based tools for users and commercial environments. You would be virtualising your world. Hardware vendors would be forced to properly support the hardware via the kernel and the open source community, you could slash the number of programmers you have patching round stupid problems as the number of combinations of devices escalates, and concentrate on the areas where you have been most innovative. Think of it. A wikinomics version of windows!
Anonymous
August 15, 2008
...wow... ...a new chapter... ...thanks for the open attitude guys... ...i am hoping foe visual customisation in the new windows... ...my desktop is my electronic home... ...and i want it to feel that way... ...looking forward to all the details... ...ramakandra...
Anonymous
August 15, 2008
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Anonymous
August 15, 2008
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Anonymous
August 15, 2008
No doubt that W7 is probably advanced far enough at this point, BUT if you want to make a smooth transition to a totally new OS -- eliminate any DOS based canoodling. If you can't do it from Windows itself then it should't be there to begin with. And eliminate the registry and ALL DLL's. It only takes ONE little "uh-oh" or problem with either of those to make someone want to throw the PC out a 22 story window (no pun intended)!!! I'm not a fan of MAC OS, but I do have to admit that I've never heard of anyone having problems with anything even remotely close to a DOS, DLL or registry nightmare.
Anonymous
August 15, 2008
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Anonymous
August 15, 2008
Please guys work alot in usability! For example:

Ability to swicth fully from windows Explorer to internet Explorer 8.5 or 9 (Version of that time?),with one button,and viceversa! This will save time to any user!

Anonymous
August 15, 2008
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Anonymous
August 15, 2008

On OS installation, to present two choices:

for the general public: Default Install
for the power user: Customize with fine selection of installable modules.

The registry nightmare: many complaints about the OS have their roots in the registry. Every couple of years a machine needs to be rebuilt - a very unpleasant experience, so people keep working in a slow and problematic environment until they can't any more and then rebuilt. To avoid the above, I suggest to change the installation methods of the OS and applications: each qualified app will carry a data file, provided by the program vendor, that will contain the required interactions and desired relationships to other programs. That config file will reside in the app folder, and upon hitting "Rebuild" the OS will extract the info from the config file and insert it into an ad hoc system registry. That way, when the time comes to rebuild a system, just need to press "rebuild". Also, to delete an unwanted program that infected the registry - just remove the program's folder and press "rebuild": The OS will transverse through all folders and build a new registry. Will be easy to move programs to another machine too. Required lists and parameters that are produced during normal user/program interaction will be saved into a "temp config file" - kind of an ini file - that will be used, if desired, to retrieve all user-defined program parameters for a full system rebuild.

Anonymous
August 15, 2008
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Anonymous
August 15, 2008
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Anonymous
August 15, 2008
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Anonymous
August 15, 2008
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Anonymous
August 15, 2008
I welcome your open community enviroment on this development phase. Please keep us out of the dark and deliver all that you promise.
Anonymous
August 15, 2008
Yes, I read Raymonds blog and this was disabled for security reasons, but usability is more important for me, thus XP is more usable than Vista. Adding 1000 new features but removing 3 I use every day is a downgrade for me.
Anonymous
August 15, 2008
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Anonymous
August 15, 2008
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Anonymous
August 15, 2008
First of all, good luck with the project, and thanks for creating this blog. I hope that Windows 7 will do three things: (1) finally break from the one user/one computer paradigm that Microsoft has never been able to shake, even for servers. (2) take the smallest share of computer resources possible. (3) provide an easy way to disable the "grandma" mode. I mean, wouldn't it be nice if no one COULD write a book called "Windows 7 Annoyances" -- because there wouldn't be any? I'll be following the blog with interest. My company is an all-Microsoft shop, but we've already begun trials for switching everything to Linux because (and no offense meant) we feel that if we stick with Microsoft, we'll be running into an ever-more-complex dead end. I hope that you'll be able to make something good, something we'll be glad to use, and not something we'll feel constrained to escape from.
Anonymous
August 15, 2008
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Anonymous
August 15, 2008
Did Vista Beta, Ultimate tech Tour & Server 2008. throughout felt real lack of Media abilities, even on 690 chipset, bit rough. So ,maybe instead of writing software from bottom up, MEANING: starting at easiest or most know spot. Start at weakest point, Media Center. That might Pull Up other features to better support entire system & offer public Quality Working System from Day One retail. Signed:PHYSICIAN THOMAS STEWART VON DRASHEK M.D.
Anonymous
August 15, 2008
Windows does not need to be rewritten and should not be rewritten nor will it be rewritten. I'm actually tired of hearing this, it only shows that you have zero background in software development. There is a good article on Joel on Software that explains while Netscape failed: They tried to rewrite it. The kernel and Win32 API is ok, the problem is what sits on top of it. Back in the days it was the integration of IE that messed Windows up and with Longhorn it was .NET that messed it up (luckily that was scratched).
Anonymous
August 15, 2008
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Anonymous
August 15, 2008
Hello and thank you for giving us this opportunity to help make Windows 7 a great OS. Like others have stated here, less IS more, at least in the GUI department (and not in the innovation department). I realize that each new GUI with each new OS, brings a perception of justification, as it's really the first thing people will notice. I think we can work a giant compromise for the various user types buying Windows 7. With Vista, there were many different versions with somewhat confusing detail on who would need which. The versions themselves were almost all too similar too. In Windows 7, what if there were two versions with dramatically slimed down GUI's where it wasn't so taxing on ram,CPU cycles, etc. The two versions of 7 should be branded as Professional and Power User. We already know Professional is mostly business focused so by making it system lite, you're giving companies what they want and need in the next Windows. Power User, would be a new and GREAT addition to Windows which would speak directly to an emerging group of users. As it's own separate version of 7, it too would sport the same slimmed down GUI that Professional would have. It would be geared towards gamers,heavy photo and video editing too, as these are applications which will take all the freed up resources as they can get. But here is where things change. A Power User will take the time to change things in the OS and essentially, make it their own. They're all about getting the MOST out of what they have. If they've gone out and bought a Intel Extreme Edition CPU or even a lesser clocked one they've over clocked, the last thing they want to see is that the OS is stealing the thunder in a lightning fast computer. How about including profiles which at installation, will walk you through what you need in relation to what you've installed as far as the hardware. For instance, if you don't use a printer the service and all related to printing are disabled by default. If you will never network to other computers, those services too will be disabled by default too. The installation profile will ask you these questions in the Power User Version as the OS is moving through the Install process. Later, if said user buys a printer, he can go into the profile which is made and saved during install, and turn printer services and functions back on and reboot. I think this level of customization at install for some would be a very VERY welcome addition. Without going on and on here, I have employed at least 50 some odd tweaks to Windows XP which alone, don't really speed things up much but when all of them are done together, it does make a great difference. Look into what people are doing with XP and Vista as far as making it run faster and smoother and implement those settings into 7 at install. A Power User will know largely what he/she will use the computer for and what they will really need running in the background. Thank you again for this blog guys. A very VERY good idea going forward. P.S. Let's keep it civil in here and use this as an opportunity an not a stomping ground.
Anonymous
August 15, 2008
Here are some suggestion for Window 7 hope they help. 1.Make Window 7 be smaller and better performance.

Bring back all the old protocols.
More backwards compatibility e.g.(MS-DOS).
Do not put thing that people well not use that make the window look better because of performance.
Make Window more thread and make more easy to control the CPU Cores and threads e.g.(user giving program amount of threads or cores that the program can use).
Do not uses any Stack then are not need it.

Anonymous
August 15, 2008
Edit: I just read my own post above and realized it reads that there should only be two versions of 7. I meant only two that would be GUI-lite. The other versions would include the updated GUI that Microsoft will add.
Anonymous
August 15, 2008
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Anonymous
August 15, 2008
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Anonymous
August 15, 2008
And I forgot to mention in my two posts up there: Windows 7 MUST be ONLY 64bit (amd64, Intel64) capable. ONLY. And the system has to be built that way that the apps will be responsive like a thunder, like in WindowsNT 5.2 x64 (windows XP professional x64). I once installed it on my laptop and it was responsive and speedy as it had never been.I was forced to remove that OS because the Catalyst Control Center had ruined my system (I don't know how) and I couldn't launch any 3D app :(
Anonymous
August 15, 2008
I highly recommend looking into buying Window Blinds too. It's a great GUI customization program which is very system-lite. This would literlly give users thousands of styles to choose from, with more being created everyday. A very loyal fan base within Window Blinds will definitely make it a wise purchase. the thing is, Stardock should still run and develop it because they've done great so far Just an idea, but a good one at that!
Anonymous
August 15, 2008
Will Steven or Jon or e7blog be commenting on the blog? Or will there be posts only? It might be more interesting with the former though I can appreciate why the blog might stick with a post only methadology.
Anonymous
August 15, 2008
so far they havent.... hmmmm going agenst their word now?
Anonymous
August 15, 2008
I read somewhere it was removed in windows 7....
Anonymous
August 15, 2008
microkernel, better filesystem. Make it like linux.
Anonymous
August 15, 2008
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Anonymous
August 15, 2008
I jest read my post and i think i did not the important of the the new Windows need to be more thread so the Windows can be more quick and make more easy for programmer to use thread in they program more easy. I also get to say do not use any Stack in the new Windows. They may be other way of doing thing without using then. It would may better and easy in a system that is going to use more then one thread at the same time. Then being let down by then. One lest thing make it a 32 to 128 bit system if your can. if you have not read my other suggestion have look it then and tell my what your all think about my ideas. hope make the Window 7 go well.
Anonymous
August 15, 2008
Thanks for starting this blog. Hope to see lot of info on next verison of IIS and Windows Activation Services. regards vikas
Anonymous
August 15, 2008
Steven & Jon, Thank you for opening this avenue for discussion. I would like to see a post in regards to the touch-technology & Win 7. We all know Windows 7 is going to have 'touch' and that's great. But I am assuming we'll all need new monitors for that. As a Windows Beta Tester (Win2k SP4 on up), I have no problems buying a new monitor to test this sort of stuff, but what touch technology will Win7 support? Are there monitors on the market /right now/ that are up to the task or will consumers be left waiting until new monitors are available? A post along these lines would be interesting and informative, I think. Finally, great work on Office 2007, Steven. I really like the new UI and look forward to seeing what you can do for Windows.
Anonymous
August 15, 2008
I think the only reason vista failed is because Apple said it was bad. Leo Laport says its good, and his buddies agree. But the average consumer does not know who Leo is, and values what Apple says because they are the makers of the iPod. So, instead of working on 7, I would stop, and try and get 6 to be better in the minds of the average consumer.
Anonymous
August 15, 2008
Ssteven and Jon, As a person who worked in operating system design for 20 years, I find both good and bad suggestions in this blog. Here is my pennies worth:

Have one version of the OS
Make it just the OS and stop packaging 10s of applications with it.
Media Center - integrate functionality into base.
Give an object/context interface to all "files," but don't try building new overarching file structure (would be great, but its not feasible).
Integrate Live functionality and get Ray Ozzies help.
Avoid as many OEM dependencies as possible. This was the biggest Vista problem for me.
Get rid of the Registry as much as possible.
Network Centric - Services like architecture should be in the kernel. Users don't need to know where things are. Has server and client capability.
Take away all the annoying messages. Second most hated feature of Vista.
Build incremental functionality and start releasing to early testers.

Anonymous
August 15, 2008
Thank you for this opportunity for us users to get a little insight in the process of making the next big OS! One thing I would like you to do for this next release is redesigning some of the old elements Vista have been using. http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/001126.html this post gives some examples to that. Another thing is that I find the sleep-function bugging, but I guess that was before SP1 came along. Also, trying to get rid of the registry would be one great step forward. One thing I miss in Vista is something inbetween Aero and Windows Classic, what about XP? Thanks again for this opportunity, and I hope to see regular posts on various problems you may encounter and explain to us some of the choices you're making in this process.
Anonymous
August 15, 2008
First of all, great work thus far on keeping the lid shut on Windows 7 thus far! One of Microsofts key mistakes was being so open about Longhorn and then pulling the features that it was touting would make it the best OS ever from the product. I really look forward to seeing what unveils about Windows 7 in the comming months. I know that we learned a lot with Vista and all of that knowledge will be reflected in this next release. Keep up the great work guys, I know we can do it!
Anonymous
August 15, 2008
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Anonymous
August 15, 2008
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Anonymous
August 15, 2008
dnr: I agree with your ideas as well. Also, add the easy drag and drop install of Mac OS. I should be able to take my OS, data, and applications with me on a thumb drive too, without affecting performance. Forget "as much as possible". Do it and do it all the way!
Anonymous
August 15, 2008
First things I can think of:

Get rid of the registry
Reduce requirements and memory usage
Move existing WIN32 support to virtualisation in some manner
Hire new UI designers; Vista is ugly (IMO) and XP was a comical joke
Improve security - let us install the OS and not have the PC be compromised within 5 minutes
Standardise the UI; too many widget sets in current Windows etc....

Anonymous
August 15, 2008
Kosher: If people want a completely new, revolutionary OS, use Linux or OSX. Windows will never become that OS, and Vista failed in the attempt. Don't try to be something you're not. Windows is Windows, and the only reason to use it is its familiar and it runs all your apps, without intervening. Thats how it was before Vista came anyways.
Anonymous
August 15, 2008
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Anonymous
August 15, 2008
Please, all you really need is ONE Os with all the features. One simple price. Also no upgrade or full versons. One disc can handle eirther an upgrade or a clean install. Keep it at a low price. I wouldnt mind paying $150 for a single Os that has everything. Cheaper would be nice, but again you get what you pay for....
Anonymous
August 15, 2008
Design is not about quantity of concepts or themes, but about quality. That's why I find Vista to be an annoyingly ugly system. It uses outlines, gradients, blurs, drop shadow, transparency, rounded edges, glossyness, blue, orange, black - just for one single explorer-window. Which is all annoying visual ballast, a result of an additive approach that is symptomatic for Vista. My strong suggestion is to ask an internationally leading design office to design your next windows properly. Design neutral, but characterfull - with style. No fancy, hi-tech bling bling design, but refined, sober, compact, timeless. You will see leaving the more=more approach for a less=more approach will result in an more friendly, better functioning system using far less resourses.
Anonymous
August 15, 2008
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Anonymous
August 15, 2008
well this IS 2008. What do you want them to go back to? 95 era UI? They wont simple as that You must have class at all. I rather see them do the office 2007 UI.
Anonymous
August 15, 2008
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Anonymous
August 15, 2008
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Anonymous
August 15, 2008
Make the OS faster. Make OS smaller. Less is more. (The kernel is just fine -- leave it alone. I'm talking about the higher layers.) Don't break backwards compatibility for Winodws application developers. All of the security features in Vista (an much more) could have been done with proper application virtualization, without breaking backwards compatibility. IBM has achieved a new relevance for their mainframe platform using virtualization features. The same thing can be applied (in the small) for the desktop.
Anonymous
August 15, 2008
The Windows sound mixing and routing system in Vista still is very inflexible! Actually in Vista the sound output of every application is routed to the same output channel and this common sound output channel can only be changed for all applications together! (Only professional multimedia applications allow to chose the output channel). But most other common applications do not allow to chose the sound output channel although it would be very helpful to have this capability (e.g. acoustic feedback). So please implement this in Windows: In the Windows Sound Mixer it should be possible to set the sound output channel for every single application!! This would help to create a multimedia system where every application can send the sound to a different output channel (e.g. small speaker set, big speaker set, ear phones, speaker in a different room, etc. etc.). Maybe you could provide a visual graphical 2-dimensional matrix where on one axis the applications are listed and on the other axis the sound output channels are listed, and the crossing fields in the matrix can be checked to route the sound to the according output channel. All multimedia users would be VERY HAPPY to have this possibility!!
Anonymous
August 15, 2008
I have said it before, but I will say it again: When Vista is installed, we should be allowed to choose which windows-softwares who should be installed, such as SideShow, Photogallery, Media Center, and so on. Pleease?
Anonymous
August 15, 2008
I have said it before, but I will say it again: When Vista is installed, we should be allowed to choose which windows-softwares who should be installed, such as SideShow, Photogallery, Media Center, and so on. If that is not possible for you (beacuse of OEM's ...), we should at least be allowed to uninstall windows-softwares! Pleease...???
Anonymous
August 15, 2008
One of the main things I would like to see are some of the basic functions reworked that have been ported from most of the past versions of NT (Win XP, 2000 etc).

My Computer / Computer: One of my biggest gripes is how this window control works. When a file system is being mounted the whole window hangs and brings windows to its knees in speed. Basically what happens in Computer or My Computer will hang until the specific item is mounted. I would really love to see this better implemented with some threading. There is no reason I should not be able to open and see the contents of the Computer Window while I am waiting for a USB or portable device to mount. I know sometimes this is not a huge issue, but even if that file system has issues (corrupted), it should report the problem asynchronously, and not delay other things with the Computer /My Computer. A similar problem occurs with the Network Menu/ Window area when browsing workspaces or networks.
Network Sharing Center / Network Settings This is one of my most important requests! IN Windows 7 please allow users to save off their connection settings in some way other than a .bat file. There needs to be some menu so that I can change my Network Devices IP address settings without having to manually enter them though Local Area Connection Properties. Make something similar to Mac OSX or better to save off a list of different IP settings for a certain network device / NIC. At work sometimes I need to change my IP to 10 or more different setting depending on what kind of hardware I need to directly interface with. I was actually hoping for both of these things for Vista .. sigh. Ok I am done now! If those minor things are fixed or added I will be very happy with Windows 7! I just do not want to see the same old stuff dragged over from other versions. Some of the menial, mundane tasks have been implemented the same way from older versions of Windows for too long need to be reworked. Fixes those and then implement the glitz and glam. Oh yeah and do use WP, I love it. NEM

Anonymous
August 15, 2008
I use XP daily at home and at work and I shouldn't bother about Vista or Windows 7 because XP is just fine with me. However, eventually XP will be dropped by Microsoft and I suppose Win 7 will be based on Vista. So therefore I am a bit worried. My biggest gripe with Vista is that it can do the same things that XP can do, but in a much more cumbersome way. I have to figure out how to make Vista do the things that I already know how to do in XP, and ultimately this takes time I don't have. Let me explain: As a researcher I ask myself: which OS is best suited to solve the world's problems of fresh water shortage, poverty, food shortage, energy crisis, climate crisis and war, etc? At present day I have to say that it is certainly not Vista, but XP will do fine. I hope that the programmers behind Win 7 see their new OS as more than just a Tickle-Me-Elmo toy for 2010 Holiday sales but also as an OS that has the potential to solve the world's problems, i.e. a faster OS because time is at stake here. I feel that Microsoft wanted to impose "slow" as the new "fast" when they released Vista, I hope this "idea" fades away before Win 7. Lastly, I want the Control Panel in Vista to change till Win 7. Everytime I open it, I get dizzy by all the colorful icons. I also forget why I opened it in the first place, probably due to the dizziness. This never happens in XP, don't ask me why.
Anonymous
August 15, 2008
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Anonymous
August 15, 2008
Include a new version of QuickBASIC called Basic7 which compiles Win32 and Win64 programs, can interface with DirectX, and can create website programs that run on websites like JAVA games do. Make it so that the .exes are stand-alone and of small size.
Anonymous
August 15, 2008
Not talking U.S. politics here folks... I am referring to the how long old dead (or should be dead) software is supported in new versions of windows. In the beginning, this was more than admirable, however... it appears that this has become the achilles heal of MS Windows. My hope is that y'all cut the cord on anything that would negatively affect performance or security or reliability. The value of backwards compatibility has proven itself as extremely diminishing. Especially since previous versions of windows are supported long enough to allow users not to upgrade if they want MS Works for Windows 95 that bad. I know it is a wee bit more than two cents, but it is my highest concern for the future of the Windows brand OS. thanks for listening, -- robbie
Anonymous
August 15, 2008
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Anonymous
August 15, 2008
Please make the Windows Sidebar WIDTH adjustable and update the sidebar gadgets SDK to make the gadgets RESIZABLE! (Both vertically and horizontally).
Anonymous
August 15, 2008
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Anonymous
August 15, 2008
Oh yes. I agree with all those people who want to dump the registry. Yes yes yes yes yes.
Anonymous
August 15, 2008
Additionally 1)Make Windows Explorer 7.0 customizable We want details pane to be on top :p, it's much prettier and ergonomic. 2)Create a Control Panel for DWM and Aero effects. Make Windows Seven customizable. I repeat: customizable AND! Include an option for no gui log on, like in 9x.
Anonymous
August 15, 2008
Windows 7 should be made available as an online OS with an image downloaded after purchasing a license. This should include the ability to work offline and all you have to do for automatic updates is to connect to the OS server and sync up your PC with the online OS, leaving plenty of room on your PC for performance issues. It would be great if while connected to the OS server you sort out all your configuration issues so you can test on a virtual environment and save the image to HD when your happy. It would all also provide a greater user-friendly interface as you just work with images instead of a complicated looking directory tree, especially when trying to track processes that could be running in any object - hopefully this would make installing and uninstalling 3rd party products easier. To me this makes a sensible progression as Windows made its big break with desktop icons - why not use icons and images throughout the system? Anybody agree?
Anonymous
August 15, 2008
Open the Beta early, update it often and then we can see for ourselves what Windows 7 is like.
Anonymous
August 15, 2008
Please add this feature to the file system: Every file should keep a record which program has CREATED it and which program has MODIFIED it for the last time. For example, the number of installed fonts is becoming bigger and bigger over time, because every application installs a new set of fonts (and doesn't tell the user about this) which makes the computer slower and slower. So, when uninstalling fonts to decrease this number of installed fonts the user doesn't know which installed fonts are being used for which purpose in which application to decide which fonts to keep and which fonts to uninstall. So the information to know which application installed a specific font would be very helpful! The same applies to other files: Knowing which program has created a specific file would be very helpful when for example cleaning up the computer of not neaded files, etc.
Anonymous
August 15, 2008
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Anonymous
August 15, 2008
Please improve the Windows Start Menu: Make it possible to assign a category to every installed program and then GROUP the Windows Start Menu items by these categories, so power users which have many programs installed can find a specific program to use for a specific task faster.
Anonymous
August 15, 2008
Here's an idea. For all of those folks that want Windows to stay the same, create a legacy team. Microsoft has the money to spawn a new OS from scratch. Keep on the same path with windows updates like apple did with OS 9 and then develop a whole new "OS", you don't have to call it windows. It wouldn't be based on an *nix kernel it would be based on the new managed kernel. People that don't care about compatibility with Office products or any older file formats would opt to use this "other" OS. The best features and products would be ported to this new OS - Visual Studio, .NET., Direct X. No registry, new filesystem, new WinFS layer, etc. MS could reinvent itself and put its old image in the past.
Anonymous
August 15, 2008
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Anonymous
August 15, 2008
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Anonymous
August 15, 2008
A very big annoyance are applications which when uninstalled do not remove everything they have installed (Registry entries, installed fonts, shell extensions, files, etc. etc.), so over time the computer becomes slower and slower until reaching a point where only reinstalling Windows is the only option left. Now it's easy to say: Don't use programs which don't clean up the mess they've created, when even Micosoft programs often behave in this messy way, and the reality is that also many professional programs behave this way. So Windows when installing a program should BETTER MONITOR which changes are made when a program is installed, so when uninstalling a program Windows could tell me: Look, this program after being uninstalled has left over this and this and this - should I clean up the mess? And the user then can select which things he wants to keep and which not.
Anonymous
August 15, 2008
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Anonymous
August 15, 2008
Here's my ideas for #7: -As much as most people hated it, I want filmstrip view back from XP for pictures. In fact, this is the sole reason I won't move to a Vista-based system. I am into digital photography, and there was no better way to view photos i've taken at a glance and hunt down the bad ones than filmstrip. The way XP handled pictures was superior to Vista's, in my honest opinion. Can you add a switch in the registry to turn it on? Even if it is disabled by default, I want to be able to use this feature. Why take away a feature when a lot of people enjoyed it? Just disable it by default, and let the user decide what they need. -I think making Windows more modular would be a step in the right direction. For instance, some people enjoy the rich graphical interface of vista. Some power users and most gamers don't, and we should be able to only install the features we want. The "MinWin" idea is along the lines of what I had in mind. Tryint to make one OS for everyone, and you can't possibly please everyone. So why not let each user decide what they want? An "advanced" option during the install process would be nice. This would eliminate a good chunk of the "bloated" reputation of Windows, and be very good for the end user.
Anonymous
August 15, 2008
Man - it has started already. We're bombarding these guys with 2000 differing opinions about what E7 should be and arguing about everything that came before. Please don't scare these guys off before they have even started. Everyone take a deep breath and consider your thoughts before posting. Let's wait to see what is proposed by the team before second-guessing them. I'm quite sure that the Windows 7 team has already started work and has consulted with vendors and partners about "the plan". Let's see their outline before we start screaming. As a Windows Desktop Experience MVP, I know what I would like to see based on input from my users and clients. It's not a lot different than what Vista has now - just some fine-tuning. Yes, backwards-compatibility has gotten out of control and baseline performance should be improved, but keep in mind that recent and future hardware advances are going to negate the need for radical surgery for the sake of performance. By the time "it's ready" (thank you, John Carmack), the average PC will be able to run two operating systems simultaneously without a hiccup in either. Back to basics, thank you gentlemen - for sharing your "space" with the wee (Wii?) people (us).
Anonymous
August 15, 2008
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Anonymous
August 15, 2008
@ WDeVercelly said: "As a Windows Desktop Experience MVP, I know what I would like to see based on input from my users and clients. It's not a lot different than what Vista has now - just some fine-tuning." That's totally wrong! This is a column of comments from REAL WORLD users and not from the usual "user experience labs" which never collected the REAL NEEDS of REAL USERS, and that's why there's so much frustration among power users and real world users. The biggest mistake Microsoft made until now IMO is to not listening enough to user requirements. There was never a well organized platform like BUGZILLA where Microsoft could collect and organize user feedback in a very EFFICIENT manner. This blog is something like brainstorming, but it should evolve in something like Bugzilla where users could also VOTE for wanted features or create detailed bug reports. Microsoft has made so many BILLIONS from Windows so they could easily afford to maintain such a kind of feedback system.
Anonymous
August 15, 2008
After reading many of the posts here,and doing a content search,I see many posts which come close to my 'suggestion' but only close and I apologize if I am duplicating a comment! My comment, simply stated, is. . .One item I would like to see is the option, at install, to install for "Single or Multi-User?"! If 'single' then only minimum code is installed to support one user.
Anonymous
August 15, 2008
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Anonymous
August 15, 2008
My wishlist: Windows 7 should be a strictly x64 release. Win 7 should IMO have only 1 or 2 versions (just like XP Home and XP Pro). I would also be nice to offer "family licence" for 3-4 PCs (for reasonable price).
Anonymous
August 15, 2008
Microsoft, why don´t you think about removing the registry in your next windows version?; it's something that allways Apple laughs at. Remember the presentation of OS X Leopard, when they compare it with Vista, they showed the registry as a weak point of Windows, and in fact it really is. Recently i experience some big troubles in my office computer related with the registry, i don't know why accidentally some entries have been deleted and all the system messed up.
Anonymous
August 15, 2008
I just need to chime in about one last most annoying thing with all windows versions. FIX THE REMEMBER PASSWORD CHECKBOX! When I'm on a mac and I say to add a password to my keychain, I never have to type it in again. If I check the checkbox in various programs to remember my password on windows, it might remember it, it might not... you never know. If you don't follow any other post, at least fix this.
Anonymous
August 15, 2008
Thanks for the Blog Windows-Team. I think Windows 7 should focus on 3 major issues that most of the standard-users, as well as power-users like me, fret about: *** 1. Speed and power-usage *** Windows Vista was just consumpting too much processing power and people don´t like systems which steal there time. Things like startup or shutdown should take as little time as possible. *** 2. Modular OS *** Windows 7 should be definitely more modular. I think I´ve already heard, that MS plans to do that. Catchword internet-based services (Windows Live..which isn´t really well designed and connected in between..) *** 3. Steal from Apple, but don´t steal too much *** Yes, I know this sounds really really uninspired and weird but...there´s a really good article about usability in OSX on Smashing Magazine (http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2008/08/12/top-10-usability-highs-of-the-mac-os/) Usability is, in my honest opinion, a really important thing, on which MS spends too little time. Office 2007 was a step into the right direction - now it´s the time to take it a little further. Another thing you can steal from Apple are those little nifty features like spotlight (ok, vista startmenu..). I think there are tons of ideas in- and outside the Windows Team - just take the best and try to fit them into Windows 7.
Anonymous
August 15, 2008
i didn't read all feedback but what i want to say that windows vista is the worst version of all other windows versions because if you bring the latest computer an put hight requirment like 4 gigbyte of ram(without service pack 1 windows can see only 3 gigabye hah!) and core 2 duo 2.5 you will not see good performance, so it's bad OS microsoft wants to release new one as soon as possible like what's happened with windows millenium also it was not stable OS so i hope windows 7 will be good
Anonymous
August 15, 2008
Hey, I'm PimpUigi. I was a very popular pro gamer in 2005 playing Super Smash Bros. Melee, and have been a Windows user since I first used Windows 95 in 1995 I love Windows XP, and I love Office 2003, and I loved the first Xbox, and Xbox 360. I thought Microsoft was on a roll. So I bought Vista and Office 2007. These products were not to my liking, with the exception of Outlook 2007, which wasn't much different from 2003, just new features and improvements. Vista on the other hand, was shockingly disappointing. Not because of anything slow, or faulty, or wrong...just because of things missing. The start menu. You can't chose to have XP's start menu, only classic or Vista style. I wanted to have XP's start menu. The new picture viewer in Vista was such a let down. I want to be able to play animated gif's on my computer, without having to open a web browser. XP can. Mac can't. And just because Macs can't play animated gifs, I didn't think that was a reason for MS to leave out animated gif playing in their new picture viewer. Also, all of the great printing options from the Windows Picture and Fax Viewer were removed. The Windows Picture and Fax Viewer was the perfect image preview application, there was no way to improve upon it. Vista's removed features and made me feel like I was using Windows 2000, or 98, or ME. I feel like XP has many more features than Vista does because of these three things. Please for Windows 7, give the start menu the option to be the windows XP start menu. Please re-add Windows Picture and Fax Viewer from XP, so that I may play animated gif's with it, and have extensive printing options for my pictures. I am looking forward to the product, but if the start menu, and the animated gif's still aren't there...I'm still going to be stuck with XP. Which isn't a bad thing, except MS will stop supporting it, and already won't add things like Direct X 11 to it. Those are the only downsides of XP. I'll be harping on these three things in my future posts. : ) -PimpUigi
Anonymous
August 15, 2008
Your problem is that you have 32bit version - switch to 64bit :)
Anonymous
August 15, 2008
yeah because u can switch for free and you can easy remove it from thousnds of new laptops that all came with vista 32 bit ! is this what you want ? also most laptops does not support more than 4 gigabyte!
Anonymous
August 15, 2008
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Anonymous
August 15, 2008
For starters i wish good luck to the Windows 7 dev team....I know that Windows Vista have been a hard ride since many people dont like this OS so i hope things change with the next. Im not going to bubble about many things so i will just say that i wish the new OS will be focused mainly for Gamers without sacrifising the eye candy found in Vista. Again good luck to you all.
Anonymous
August 15, 2008
I wish you luck, Vista is no longer as horrible as it was on launch day, but it has a doomed public perception. As for Windows 7, I'm hoping for two big things and two minor things. 1)Lopping off ALL the legacy bloat. (pull an Apple and create an OPTIONAL virtual method to run old apps if you have too, you do own Virtual PC) 2)Unify the GUI Vista is a mess of multiple Windows versions icons, screens, etc... a SINGLE global for open and save dialog boxes would be nice for example. (You know consistency.)

For crying out loud can I have a quick keyboard short cut for creating a New Folder in Windows Explorer already? How about Control + N
Make Control + Q a global keyboard shortcut for exiting/quitting an application like Adobe already does.

Anonymous
August 15, 2008
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Anonymous
August 15, 2008
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Anonymous
August 15, 2008
Change the recycling bin's name to trash can.
Anonymous
August 15, 2008
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Anonymous
August 15, 2008
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Anonymous
August 15, 2008
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Anonymous
August 15, 2008
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Anonymous
August 15, 2008
be able to control Diablo 3 with touch, using your finger as the stylus.
Anonymous
August 15, 2008
Never mind i don't like that idea
Anonymous
August 15, 2008
Wish list: 1.) One or two versions of Windows 7 2.) Better Navigation through the menu's. It's a major deal for me. A translucent circle menu that comes up when you press two buttons and can add or remove icons from it.

Allow uninstall of program just by dragging desktop icon to recycle bin. This would have a toggle off or on for it.
Show programs that start up at boot by pressing Alt+Ctrl+Del instead of going into msconfig to do it.
Add Adobe Acrobat Reader as a default install or a small program that reads *.pdf files.
Sandbox programs and drivers that crash.
Make only 64bit version of Windows 7 with of course backward compatibility.

Anonymous
August 15, 2008
I am a relatively new user of computers and only bought my first machine about 8 months ago. It came pre-installed with vista home premium with 1gb of ram which i thought ran ok. I have since added 3gb of ram amd now it runs rather nicely. I have dual-booted and run xp as well. I find xp to be boring and slow with a definate lack-lustre feel to it. Windows Seven needs to do all Vista has done and more, with less bloat, better backwards compatability, less annoying uac, and the ability to easily turn off the plethora of services that hog resources and probably never get used by the average user. Looking forward to the new windows
Anonymous
August 15, 2008
The new OS needs to be slimmed down. Vista is way too bloated. Make the core OS and then have the other stuff as addon installs. Make it TRULY customizeable. Bring back Hardware Sound. I still can't believe Vista left that out. DO SOMETHING about UAC in it's current form. It's the single most reason why I didn't switch to Vista. Vista treats the user like a dummy. Unfortuneately a lot of computer users are dummies but give the ones who aren't some control over their own OS. Contrary to what Microsoft thinks, there are a lot of us out here who know what we're doing.
Anonymous
August 15, 2008
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Anonymous
August 15, 2008
Please create a separate section for language packs. There are a lot of them (almost 40 ?) and to have all of them displayed in the same list as Important and Optional system updates seems unorganized. Thanks
Anonymous
August 15, 2008
One thing that Microsoft needs to eliminate is all unnecessary DRM such as the protected audio path for example. This was one of the major reasons that I continue to use XP. Where DRM is necessary such as Blue Ray I would say that is a necessary evil otherwise please dump DRM. It's a huge hindrance to your user base. Another good suggestion is to reconsider direct hardware access to hardware developers. Having to talk to software every time a hardware device wishes to communicate is not very efficient. Direct hardware access is necessary and I believe that this can be done in such a way that it won't compromise security too much. Sure buggy drivers can crash the OS but that rarely ever happens on XP.
Anonymous
August 15, 2008
@sivill: "Forget touch screens, nobody wants to be poking their fingers around a screen, it makes your arms ache." What about electronic whiteboards or slate Tablet PCs or Microsoft Surface or kiosks or point of sale systems? Sure not everyone may want to use touch screens--especially on a desktop--but it doesn't mean touch has some good uses.
Anonymous
August 15, 2008
Just hope we don't have to wait until 2010 before all the connectivity problems in Vista are solved. I really like Vista for stand-alone usage, but as a notebook user I experience problems with connectivity in most small network environments with older equipment or different OSs. It either cannot connect due compatibility problems with the hardware (routers) or my Vista computer is slowing down the rest of the network.
Anonymous
August 15, 2008
Hi! Great blog, thanks for the chance to leave requests/comments. I have a couple of requests......

I agree that we would like to pick and choose what programs to install. Most videos won't play in Windows Media without codecs from DivX anyway. I would rather just do without Windows Media, unless the codecs are improved. Outlook Express no longer works with Hotmail since it has converted to Windows Live and unless you pay for premium service.
Any chance at voice operation? "Open internet explorer" IE opens to home page. "Search Windows 7" Search bar highlights, the words appear, and search finds articles on Windows 7.
Better font control. Some webpages do not work well with the font all the way to largest. I have vision problems and can't help but to have it all the way up. Well, that was 3 lol. I'm sure I'll think of more later.

Anonymous
August 15, 2008
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Anonymous
August 15, 2008
Whatever you do, MS, do NOT:
Rewrite from scratch.
Run Win7 as a layer on top of a certified Unix foundation.
Use virtualization to run all prior windows apps.
Get rid of WGA.
Get rid of imbedded DRM.
Improve the consistency of the GUI. It's fine the way it is.
Put less security management in my face. All you need to do is add more like what you already have to what you've already got. I have an investment in you not doing any of these things I listed.
Anonymous
August 15, 2008
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Anonymous
August 16, 2008
Windows 7..

Make it simple
Make sure all memory is addreesed without needing a Hotfix later ( 64 bit OS ) later on and without needing to remove 2 gigs first then install windows 7, after which installing the other remaing memory sticks. What a pain
No need for lots of eye candy. Never look at them anyway.
Wouldn't be nice if we could have a OS that can be tailared to our individual needs when we reinstall the OS from time to time. nLite gives us a way to get rid of unwanted windows stuff we never use or need but that program is also a pain to configure.
Faster boot up
Dump the windows performance index score. Useless. Just a few for now.... Thanks

Anonymous
August 16, 2008
Quote: 2. Any chance at voice operation? "Open internet explorer" IE opens to home page. "Search Windows 7" Search bar highlights, the words appear, and search finds articles on Windows 7.

"Open Opera": That build in a Microsoft operating system would be nice :D

Anonymous
August 16, 2008
Steven, John & the Windows 7 dev team, Good stuff! Great to see you guys interacting more with the community. I'm looking foward to whatever you'll be sharing with us through this blog. Off-point, but if I may entertain a suggestion, please consider the Win 7 beta program carefully. Myself and quite a few of my web developer colleagues were offended by the IE 8's team "invite" to the beta program. We could have done without the attitude, considering IE 7. Thanks.
Anonymous
August 16, 2008
Hello Jon, Steven and all Win7 team, I'm very happy to find this blog... Regards, Ardi
Anonymous
August 16, 2008
Hello there, I've got some suggestions based on complains from lots of friends.

Fix the "repair network" command, it should work like it did in XP, quick and eficient.
In "Disk defragmenter" on vista, we can't see how it's progressing or what's happening, this also should have the same functionalities as in XP.
Maybe a new addition that would please gamers would be a special boot, just for gaming, using only the necessary to have better Frames per second.
Reduce the Win product lineup to fewer options, vista has i don't know how many... Maybe 2 or 3 is already enough. All must have basic functionalities (please don't make any without network support!, thats absurd).
Integrate the system with good software, in a way that you only need to buy software for specific usage. Good photo editing, office integrated ( at least word, excel and powerpoint).
This suggestion is the most complicated part, try to reduce the number of runing processes, or at least optimize and clean up most of the coding done.
I now things will change a lot until Win7 it's ready, but if you could try to merge everything that everyone loves in XP (the best system microsoft has done until today) with the visual fx from vista and then plan Win7 from this basis, I believe you can created a great system.
One other thing, Windows is a very expensive software, so please remove the one time activation, because we're dealing with computers, a motherboard stop working without warning, and then, when you change it, and re-install all, it get's complicated to reactivate the OS. Maybe make it 3 time activation without having to contact microsoft. Just to close this post, I admire a lot what you guys do, it's really difficult and you're probably the best team in the world, or at least one of the best. But I really have to say, what you already know, Vista was a crash'n'burn for microsoft... It's time to turn it back... I wish you all the best of luck, wiseness and would like to help make Win7 a system everyone wants to have.

Anonymous
August 16, 2008
Thing of a PC as a toaster. Would you use a toaster if you need something like a task manager? If you need disk defragmentation? If you need to know the difference between a networked drive and a locale one? If you need to choose between a plethora of toaster OS configurations for the same toaster? If you need to register to use the thing. If the toaster OS is too stupid to adapt to the actual hardware configuration? If the toaster comes with a set of non-standard parts. If the toaster vendor tries to be as incompatible as possible to the world around it just to sell its own toaster add-ons? And if you have to copy Unix / Mac ideas, concepts and technologies, then at least do it properly!
Anonymous
August 16, 2008
Why no one opt for the forum instead.... reading the comment this way is just something pain in the eyes XD
Anonymous
August 16, 2008
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Anonymous
August 16, 2008
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Anonymous
August 16, 2008
UI changes, a lot of changes were made in Vista. I read a lot of complaints in the beta's of Vista about them, yet Microsoft chose for the most part to ignore them. Now I'm seeing rumors the ribbon UI will be the UI standard. A lot of people don't care for the ribbon, all I am saying. PLEASE allow the users to choose, I prefer tool bars and menu bars, it's a twenty plus year standard I am use to. Allow me to choose, don't choose for me like MS did in Vista. If I could make Vista feel like xp It would my only operating system, instead I dual boot and primarily use xp. My company has no plans on migrating to vista yet I don't go through a day with out someone asking "Where do I find it?" or " How do I do it?" with their home computer's and Vista, usually followed up by, "Why did they change it?" Again real simple allow users a CHOICE, that is all that is on my wish list a choice....
Anonymous
August 16, 2008
0 reply mr. Steven and Mr. Jon?
Anonymous
August 16, 2008
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Anonymous
August 16, 2008
In my opinion, the major issue with Windows NT and all "longhorn" derivatives is that it is severely hampered by the underlying VMS (Digital) architecture. Its memory management has become lethargic, and there is way too much dead code that carries over from release to release. It has come to a point where the excellent applications that Microsoft makes get a bad rap each time the underlying OS crashes or goes unstable. The device driver architecture and memory management of UNIX clones have done so well, in comparison. I would like to see Windows 7 be a nice Visual Studio C# application that runs over some version of UNIX, ideally Darwin. That way, Microsoft would even have a legal reason to force Apple to open up its hardware, especially the iPhone, to Windows 7. I wish I could get the stability of a well managed operating system to run the excellent application you make. Digital gave up VMS long ago. It is time Microsoft gave up the longhorn core and moved away from it.
Anonymous
August 16, 2008
I would like to second, third and forth comments by several people, including Adroticus, relative to incremental releases. Delivering Windows 7 (once you have the base operating system) in increments would be the best possible plan to produce a quality and appropriately functional product.
Anonymous
August 16, 2008
how about including the windows live skydrive feature as an integrated part of the OS, and have making backups of mission critical files and restore points go there instead of a local directory. I imagine it could act as a virtual drive under My Computer and you could set it up to automatically save important docs and sync them with any computer in the entire world. do they have anything like that in the works? that would be a cool feature.
Anonymous
August 16, 2008
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Anonymous
August 16, 2008
I think it's time of having more than 8 bit per color modes. The hardware allows it, and the visual quality also needs it. I know all the video sources are currently limited to 8 bit, but there are already some displays with at least 10 bit per color input, so the game industry could use it, and we could also process our 8 bit source with better quality. Will it be too dificult to create a 40 bit color quality mode? If the problem is the waste of space in 64 bit, you could go to a 64 bit mode. It would be a little overkill, but it would be great!
Anonymous
August 16, 2008
gonzc900, Change for improvement is one thing, change for the sake of change is another. Vista, IE7 is change for the sake of change. I'm not a lamb to follow the pack, I like to choose, and that is all I am asking for choice
Anonymous
August 16, 2008
My advice, as I can see from Vista criticism experience (Vista is the best Windows out there but non-technical people with little knowledge of kernels, task scheduling, software protection etc., will never understand this), is to give masses what they want: a lot of eyecandies and cool visual effects! Vista changes from XP were mainly technical improvements appreciated only by experts but 90% of users only noticed Aero and still say Vista is just XP + Aero... -sarcastic but with a bit of truth ;)
Anonymous
August 16, 2008
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Anonymous
August 16, 2008
Will Windows 7 has official (built-in) package manager, update manager and repositories? It is probably most expected feature. Another features that i would see in next Microsoft Windows are virtual desktop and tabbed document interface (TDI) in build-in applications ;-).
Anonymous
August 16, 2008
Its great that you have created this blog. Your exchange of ideas with the consumers would be very beneficial for both you and us as this would result in the creation an even better Windows. Please stick with this idea in future too. Before suggesting something I would like to have some clarification about the NT base on which Windows is created. Since I am not a technical person, I have read on a lot of sites that Unix is a very stable platform or base as well as very powerful. I just wish to know if NT is equal or better than Unix in stability and power or it is a little less. Of course being a Windows lover I would like to hear that NT is better than Unix or equal in both terms but I would like to know from you the truth since you obviously know everything as this is your field. Thanks and best regards.
Anonymous
August 16, 2008

No Fancy Names - Windows 7 is fine
Just 2 versions - 32bit and 64bit (same price)
Install time config Templates or roll your own Load services on demand, with the facility to force an unload all inactive services, this would obviate need for Gaming Modes and the like.

Anonymous
August 16, 2008
I feel sorry for the people who have to read this web log's comments. So much ATMers will strike.
Anonymous
August 16, 2008
I agree with the comment abouve. Windows 7 sounds fresh, live and neat. just dont make it look like the wave 3 UI of the live services. That is a huge step back and we dont want our systems to look like a 5 year old made them,
Anonymous
August 16, 2008
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Anonymous
August 16, 2008
I still have no reason to switch from XP to Vista. I am a user interface designer and use my computer for work all day long and there isn't any feature that I feel XP is lacking for me. So the only reason for me to "upgrade" to another operating system would be better performance. Vista obviously uses a lot more RAM than XP and so would be a downgrade for me. We aren't fooled by a new shiny UI that does nothing but make the computer slower. A new shiny UI does not a new OS make. 1.) Use less RAM. If it uses less RAM than XP then I would actually have a reason to switch. 2.) Make the UI cleaner, more minimalistic, less distracting. Shiny stuff might get you more "Oh Wow" sales, but gradually all that shininess and animation becomes rather irritating while you are working and actually detracts from overall usability. 3.) Less bloat: use less disk space. Instead of installing everything from the get go, make an easy way to install features directly from the web. A good reason for me to upgrade from one OS to another would be because the new OS uses less hard drive space; not more.
Anonymous
August 16, 2008
This blog is a wonderful idea. Thanks! I am using XP Pro now. One thing which has bothered me since the inception of The registry is the fact that any application can write to it. This leads to bloat and corruption. I really feel that the OS registry should be sacred and allow no writes to it except Microsoft ones. If necessary, a separate application registry could be added. Better yet, go back to the ini files instead of registry entries. As well, I think the OS folder should be sacred. No program should be able to write to it... period.
Anonymous
August 16, 2008
I would also under an advance-tab in the installation be able to select which harddrive my apps and my documents would be stored.
Anonymous
August 16, 2008
For Windows 7 one thing to keep in mind is that its appearance should not resemble Windows Vista at all. Instead it should give a very different bright look. Colourful look. A little resemblence with Windows XP would be a great idea too.
Anonymous
August 16, 2008
I am a enthusiastic end-user of Windows products. I am not a programmer so I can't give you guys an in-depth constructive criticism, I can only offer my superficial criticism as a sysadmin and end-user. I am still using Windows XP SP3, and will never migrate to Vista. I hope Windows 7 will be back on track. I want to help... So here are some things that really annoy me about Windows XP / Vista: --> Why isn't there a telnet client in Vista? Telnet is an invaluable diagnostic tool as well as a remote management client. If you removed the telnet client because it is an "unsecure protocol" due to lack of encryption, then why didn't you include an SSH client / SSH Server? Can we please see Windows 7 being open for SSH? A port of OpenSSH perhaps? (Short: I want an SSH Server/Client, and a telnet client in Windows 7) --> Network Driver shortage? I don't require my OS to recognize all sorts of devices, I just want to get my NIC up and running so I can aquire the other drivers that my computer is missing after a fresh install. (Short: I want more built-in drivers for NICs) --> CLI tools? We need more and better CLI tools for smarter and simpler management and diagnostics. I find myself, as a sysadmin, adding CLI tools to every installation, such as top.exe, grep.exe, uptime.exe, du.exe, sclist.exe, etc. --> Other: fast and effective Package/application management (both CLI and GUI), New file system (WinFS or whatever, I just don't want to defrag drives anymore!) thanks
Anonymous
August 17, 2008
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Anonymous
August 17, 2008
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Anonymous
August 17, 2008
Hi, Do you want a revolucionary idea, so I give you an idea that coult be sold 2U. Instead create newer versions of the same thing and recreate new GUIs and change the place of the options I suggest to Microsoft: a) improve performance b) desing improvements, not "rechanges" c) make windows fitable to enterprises, and for major kind of professionals like Windows for Lawyer, Windows for Medical, Windows for Engeanering, etc. d) target professionals not kids in the future "stuffs" good look!
Anonymous
August 17, 2008
I would have liked to see a new core, but i guess that have been ruled out. But be shure to make the new windows a good one, i'm not going the mac og linux route so bring me a good os
Anonymous
August 17, 2008
Reason why vista has so many problems and took so long to get out is because you guys toook way to long on the "fun things" and rushed them so you can "beat apple" in the end you failed. This time wor5k on the important thing, DONT RUSH (that will only make matters worse and cause delays)what matters is YOU, not apple, not the dumb penguin from linux. YOU. in the end people will be prhasing you not them because you stuck to your word and didsnt wory about steve jobs creating a system with features like multi-touch thats not neven needed
Anonymous
August 17, 2008
just asking. Do you guys have big plans for this, or just another "lets add it before apple does!" Are you gonna invest money in this or just throw it away to copy them..... create feastures that we would use, and dont copy every single apple feature its just completly childish and uncalled for
Anonymous
August 17, 2008
were you see problem in Vista? I have Vista in 3 PC different

PC Enthusiast OK
Notebook Dell XPS 1530 reinstall Vista day One OK
PC OLD Year 2002/03 with this hardware Asus P4P 800 PV 2,4 ghz Nvidia 7600 gs (update in second time) 1,5 gb DDR 400 (update in second time) This PC with Vista Ultimate WORK SUPER FINE thanks to all the updates I hardly more level desktop PC on which I am working and I want to add a detail, with XP has never worked hybernate and sleep, everything worked with Vista. I am firmly convinced that people who speak evil of VISTA not have original software and hotfix

Anonymous
August 17, 2008
I'd really like to see Microsoft cooperation with hardware manufacturers to get driver compatibility. Me, being a true gamer, would really like to see Nvidia and Ati having good, stable drivers ready at the launch. The other thing is Creative. Any chance you, at Microsoft could force them to develop drivers? Cause making X-Fi getting all audio effects (Eax and such) some long time, before they made Alchemy. I don't know, something like "Make drivers or your hardware won't get <Windows 7 compatible>" tag would be great :) The other thing I'd like to see is some nice startup menu for launching different OS. I'm forced to have windows XP, becasue my printer doesn't work on vista 64 and my bank webpage does not work well with vista (security certificate problem). And to properly launch it, I just keep it installed on another disk. Some multilauncher, that allows to keep other versions of Windows on same disk, different partition would be nice addition
Anonymous
August 17, 2008
I have quite ridiculous request but somebody of my Internet-fellows insist that MS makes Win7 as open-source based? I did not discuss with him till ask a question to very developer ;) Thanks in advance for answer...
Anonymous
August 17, 2008
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Anonymous
August 17, 2008
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Anonymous
August 17, 2008
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Anonymous
August 17, 2008
Well I'm not a big expert on the entire framework for Windows (or any OS) nor am I a complete expert on computers so bare with me. For Win7 I like the idea of only one mainstream version that includes everything for a reasonable price and allows easy customization at installation, so I can op in not to have any eye-candy even installed. I would also love the option to install a hidden partition with an image of the installation CD/DVD so I don't have to go through the long/complex process of finding my CD every time I break my OS, which is a lot. Personally, I liked the upgrade to the GUI but I don't completely see the point in the semi-transparent boundary around every windows I have open. It does not serve the purpose that was pitched when Vista came out (something about giving a feel of whats behind the windows), all it really seems to do is slow down the computer when I'm trying to multitask. If the UAC is going to be put into Win7, the administrator should not have it pop up every time I want to install something. It is really annoying during the first day of operation when I have a bunch of apps to install right after installing the OS, not to mention it serves little purpose for an administrator sense, lacking a full description that I'm going to ignore anyway, I press 'Allow' anyway. Only time the UAC has proved useful is during the few times when I accidentally started a some advanced program I didn't want to and the cancel button cam in handy. It would be better if the user still ran in that weird virtual account that we're apparently running in without the OS telling us to go through another confirmation message. I also like the idea of having the OS run in the virtual machine to replace backward compatibility, especially if it would mean I'm not losing the 15GB of my hard drive right after a clean install. Back to the GUI, I would love some form of virtual desktop, especially if it means I can run a fullscreen application, then quickly go over to another application for whatever reason, then go back without having to minimize the app then re-open it, an operation which tends to seriously mess with some fullscreen apps. It would also be nice if you include an app with the OS or with a very convenient link to Windows Live that would allow quick and easy access to a library of applications, demos, drivers, etc. and automatically update all of those programs. This would help sense I would definitely like to see and use a wide range of MS stuff
Anonymous
August 17, 2008
My suggestions for Windows 7 are related to service packs. #1 Please set and follow a service pack release schedule. One every 6 months would be great, but 1 a year would be acceptable #2 Make each service pack a roll-up of every previous service pack and patch. The last XP Pro system I rebuilt for a customer, I was frustrated to read that Microsoft requires SP1 to be installed before SP3. IT folks and home users alike build and rebuild systems often enough that this would save a ton of time. OS X follows this plan, Windows should too.
Anonymous
August 17, 2008
Happy to see a little change. You have had in this page a lot of good suggestions, follow them up all and good work.
Anonymous
August 17, 2008
One must-have feature that is long overdue: Make explorer remember all folder views in a consistent manner without forgetting the views on an explorer crash.
Anonymous
August 17, 2008
#1: Lose the graphic smuck called Aero. It's nice for home-users, but really, non of our business customers (and the company I work for has > 50 SMB as customers in The Netherlands) asked for it. It makes performance dramaticly slow. None of our customers upgraded to Vista yet (just a few laptops, most were downgraded to XP a few months after sale), main reason is performance. Also lose the side bar. No business want it's users to lose time with stupid gadgets. #2: Vista was supposed to be 'simple'. I hear nothing but 'i can't find this or that' or 'how do I do this or that', from the few Vista users we have. Looks like the learning curve is a lot higher then the migration from 2000 (or even win98) to XP. #3: The network centre is a crime. Fix that please. #4: Loose ACU. It's useless, since anyone clicks 'OK' or 'continu' anyway. #5: Don't try to rename 'C:users' to something else in the explorer view. It's really annoying if at one moment a folder is called different than 1 minute before. I'm not sure you have this problem in the english only version, I know it's popping up now and then in the Dutch translation. That's it for now. Good luck :)
Anonymous
August 17, 2008
Why Windows 7?

Windows 1
Windows 2
Windows 3
windows 3.11 ?
Windows 95?
Windows NT
Windows 98
Windows Xp
Windows Vista ...

Anonymous
August 17, 2008

i was hoping that u don't release as many versions as u did with vista

have better backward compatibility like windows xp had with programs written for previous platforms. perhaps run those apps in some "compatibility mode"

can we also keep the price down, quite a bit actually (at least in india)? the mac os is so much cheaper and comes as a single desktop version.

Anonymous
August 17, 2008
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Anonymous
August 17, 2008
@Comunian: Windows Seven derived, till some months ago, from WindowsNT 7.0 (Windows codename Vienna). But it seems that it'll be Windows NT 6.1, but the "Seven" word remained.
Anonymous
August 17, 2008
Please get rid of the old heritage and start from scratch (like Apple did with OSX). Let major developers like Adobe etc participate and present crossgrades that are affordable to your loyal end-users. And please don't make it "more secure" by letting the end-user cancel or allow all the time, cause this isn't more secure it just putting the liability in de hands of the enduser. Do you realize how fed up users are with constantly having to buy Virusscanner updates that also slow down your computer significantly. There is a lot to gain by starting from scratch and a lot to loose by continuing carrying the bags with poisoned water. Be brave!
Anonymous
August 17, 2008
I read that the previously announced modularization of the OS wouldn't be a development goal for Windows 7, this would be a development for the OS after Windows 7 (codename: midori). Windows 7 would be build upon the the kernel of Windows Server 2008. Is this correct? greetings
Anonymous
August 18, 2008
I am very much excited about this new OS.This new OS should do better the the Vista Version and do not require much hardware specification. Best of luck for the Windows 7 Team.
Anonymous
August 18, 2008
I'm also very exited. I hope you can make a really good system. Good luck!
Anonymous
August 18, 2008
The one big thing that I have noticed with previous versions of windows is that there is little allowance for enterprise administration. All admin tasks and restrictions seem to be from the mindset of the user having admin rights. There needs to be two types of admins: The user when admin rignts are necessary and the enterprise administrator who shouldn't be restricted by silly things like the UAC.
Anonymous
August 18, 2008
I work for a very large organisation >100,000 staff all using windows in an internal IT BA role. We decided recently not to uptake Vista, equally I have found it not necessary to move to Vista for similar reasons for my home use.

Cost, increasing hardware replacing this across an entire organisation. Same for me at home. Also not every hardware provider has delivered supported drivers for key systems.
Benefit, what does Vista offer me that is new. Not windows movie maker please!
Performance. Yes this matters, yeah on yeah things get slower so users move to quicker and easier methods of completeing day to day tasks, think iPhone.
Many alteratives in the market place approaching maturity, which offer customisable experiences for little cost. A general comment, Home and Business users are increasingly swamped with data which they need to make decisions. IT is too complex and data too deeply buried. Build light flexible systems with single entry points to data, that show data relationships in the language of the user..and we have a leap forward interms of OS. As for animation,colours, fonts and so on...just let the wider community develop and support these and spend your time delivering the above or loose market share to other OS including some of your older ones! Good luck, both my company and I sit waiting to decide on whether Win7 does provide a viable future proof OS. Oh and that sort of ties all of us down to current Office and other Information Workplace tools.

Anonymous
August 18, 2008
I feel like a very small fish in the big blue sea, but felt that I should also post my suggestions.

Speed & Performance - this is a must and shouldn't even need to be explained.
New UI - Windows is becoming cluttered with the old UI. Get people excited with a new, fresh design that will actually benefit end users. Make the ribbon the default interface throughout all windows programs.
Customisable - Let the user choose to install what they want to. Have a setup similar to Windows Media Player where you can chose where you want 'Express' setup with the most common settings configured and a 'Custom' setup that allows you to choose each program you want to install, when you want updates installed, when maintenance should be preformed and other customised settings.

Anonymous
August 18, 2008
What are the top 5 "things" you are solving/delivering in the new version compared to Vista. To you start to clean up registry in this new version? Vista is maybe not that user friendly or understandable due to the build in security, but it is fairly stable. It is always a good thing to communicate with the future customers.
Anonymous
August 18, 2008
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Anonymous
August 18, 2008
I do not know if this is the right place to post this, but i have a few recommendations for windows 7. I think the TOP priorities should be as follows. make the OS fast make the OS efficient make the incompatibility issues a past memory make the os smaller (get rid of the bloat) do not rely on throwing $6000.00's worth of hardware at the OS to allow it to run reasonably fast. The fancy gui doesn't make me do my job faster or better. a slim, easy to use, fast os helps. I do not want to see the hour glass every time i click on a window or an icon. Deal with those issues then make it look pretty.
Anonymous
August 18, 2008
i am confused. few months ago a video that windows 7 was actually been build over a completly new kernel, lighter, and faster that was working with 64mb, and later that windows 7 will use a vista-2008 kernel.... very disapointed! why? the real reason? Vista developing hours wasnt covered from the sales, and now you have to use the existed code for the next windows? i am really hoping we will se trully NEW OS this time and not a reix of older versions!
Anonymous
August 18, 2008
one thing, let other users download skins and apply them, if Stardock goes down let it go down. why do we have to pay an extra cost to a non-microsoft company to have that feature enabled? somebody with a simple modification enabled it. or why don't Microsoft buy Stardock and have all those things integrated into the OS? the possibility to change all the icons, the cursors with animations and sound, all that stuff.
Anonymous
August 18, 2008
It's really nice to see how enthusiastic the two of you are about EW7 and a dialog-based approach to making the next version of Windows. I hope you and your team will be able to follow through with this, given that projects of this size always are subject to all sorts of expected and - especially - unexpected problems. Naturally there'll be a couple of agendas: The business driven, the marketing driven, the end-user driven and the administrator driven. And they'll conflict: What may feel really nice for an end-user can be not only very hard for the business to implement, but also a pain for administrators to maintain. So it's my hope that you (All of you, on this project) will be able to balance these priorities and accomplish a mix that will - eventually - see the light of day as Windows 7. I'll be watching.
Anonymous
August 18, 2008
At Windows Vista for Beginners, we are collecting ideas and suggestions to help the Microsoft engineering team deliver an even better operating system in Windows 7, based on your personal experiences with Windows Vista: * Do you think Microsoft made mistakes with Windows Vista? * Are there missing features you want to see in the next Windows operating system? * What features do you think need to be changed in Windows 7 and why? Click on the link below: http://www.vista4beginners.com/Windows-7-and-Windows-Vista-features-that-need-to-be-fixed and leave your comments. We will centralize all feedback in a comprehensive article. Thank you very much for your support
Anonymous
August 18, 2008
A better interoperability with MacOS, Linux and Unix whould be great. Compatibility with their filesystem, etc. Also, a better interoperability with open office file and alike would be greatly appreciated. These standard wars are only profiting corporation, not the end-user.
Anonymous
August 18, 2008
Wow, there are sure a lot of people asking for only 64-bit versions of Windows. Excellent idea! Gamer mode sounds cool too. Please do it! Apple has made a lot of hype about making best use of CPU resources on multi-core systems. I hope a major design goal of Windows 7 is using all those cores and threads AMD and Intel are going to give us in the future, and using them well. In particular, make it easier for application developers to make use of all those cores and threads.
Anonymous
August 18, 2008
Boah Englisch ist anstrengend also erstmal Deutsch und dann die Übersetzung von mir... DE: Ich würde es begrüßen wenn es eine Art "Multi-Seat" Technik geben würde. Das heißt ich habe hier 3 Tastaturen, Mäuse (vornehmlich USB) und 3 Bildschirme (an 3 Graka-Anschlüssen) um dann diese 3 Arbeitsplätze einzeln zu steuern, mit jeweils einem Benutzer und NutzerAccount. Der Administrator kann sie alle abstellen um dann Updates oder ähnliches zu fahren die tiefer ins System eingreifen, die User müssen dann in einem Zeitrahmen ihre Anwendungen schließen und sich abmelden, dann kann der Admin mit dem Administrieren starten. Dann, wäre eine native Unterstützung für die Linux/Unix Filesysteme RaiserFS 3+4, ext 2+3+4, jfs, xfs, etc.pp. sehr wünschenswert (Oh Entschuldigung, ich vergaß, Open-Source und die GPL-2/3 sind wirklich schlechte Dinge -.-) EN: I would like a multi-seat technik. That means, i have 3 Mices and Keyboards plugged with USB, and 3 monitors on 3 Grafikcards. Every Mice, Keyboard and Monitor is 1 Screen, where every people logged with it User-Account. And the Administrater can deactivate each to make Updates or similar. The Users must save and close her Programms and logged out of the Computer in a Time-Space, then can the Administrator start with the Administration. A native support for the Unix/Linux FileSystems RaiserFS 3+4, ext 2+3+4, jfs, xfs, etc.pp. was very good. (Oh sorry i have forgott, Open-Source and GPL-2/3 was a very bad thing -.-)
Anonymous
August 18, 2008
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Anonymous
August 18, 2008
I posted a comment yesterday, but it doesn't seem to be posted, so here's a second attempt. I just said I read that the much talked about modularization of the kernel would be a feature not in Windows 7 but in the OS thereafter codenamed 'Midori'. Is this true? Hopefully my comment will get published this time. greetings,
Anonymous
August 18, 2008
the features i need are very simple

a more flexible file manager (windows explorer) with tabs and remembering the folders which were open (just do something like xplorer2, http://zabkat.com/)
control of the system: too many times the user looses control of the system, presses ctrl+alt+canc and it doesn't work. This must not happen in a good operating system.
diagnostics: when an error occurs the user should always be informed of what has caused it (e.g.: cannot delete a file: which is the process locking the file?). Also, when the system appears to be locked the user must be able to know if it is locked or what it's doing.

Anonymous
August 18, 2008
also you must care about general performance and minimize boot time
Anonymous
August 19, 2008
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Anonymous
August 19, 2008
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Anonymous
August 19, 2008
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Anonymous
August 19, 2008
I would like to see that Microsoft will concentrate on the basics of an operating system, not too demanding for system requirements (RAM, processor, etc). The main task of an operating system is to run software! The less an OS requires system resource the better it is...it leaves more resources for applications. A little bit of nice design is fine but please please do not exaggerate with these kind of stuff!!!
Anonymous
August 19, 2008
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Anonymous
August 19, 2008
Drivers! It would be nice if windows 7 moved from Host controller driver, and used a chip instead, still uses the USBD and IRPS but on a chip would save a lot of problems!
Anonymous
August 19, 2008
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Anonymous
August 19, 2008
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Anonymous
August 19, 2008
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Anonymous
August 19, 2008
I think most of the posts above got everything that I would complain about. One thing that bugged me from the get go for Vista was the fact that there were 5 different versions. Needless to say this probably added more complexity to an OS that really needed to sell itself on simplicity and user friendliness. How user friendly is it when folks first need to do research on which version to get??? With XP it was Home or Pro which made sense, so for future sake go back to this model or better yet one install version with the choice of doing either. This way folks won't feel like they're being short changed.
Anonymous
August 20, 2008
Great to hear that Windows 7 Team is going to hear from the customers and share some internal developments going on. I myself being a software engineer in India's top most IT companies know how an application (or should I say a system application) is developed. I would do all my very best to help you guys and give suggestions. All the best to the entire Windows 7 team.
Anonymous
August 20, 2008
leaked promo video of windows 7 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_CaxYF56jY
Anonymous
August 20, 2008
Windows 7 should get rid of the registry. Maintain compatibility with existing applications using a virtual machine. Simplify and speed up Windows and log on users without administrator privileges by default. Require the administrator password for each administrator level action.
Anonymous
August 20, 2008
Windows 7 should definitely be a 64 bit operating system. The hardware has been there for some time now. 32 bit compatibility can be provided in a virtual machine. A major effort is needed to work with third party hardware vendors to develop a comprehensive set of drivers.
Anonymous
August 20, 2008
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Anonymous
August 20, 2008
Can we get a 3d desktop? Or at least the ability to stack documents like a real desk? I think it can be implemented better than OSX.
Anonymous
August 20, 2008
Instead of a number of flavours of OS, can we have one OS. Can that one OS be configurable as Basic, Intermediate & Power. In each configuration, can we have the ability to install those modules that are required by the user, so less space is taken up.
Anonymous
August 20, 2008
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Anonymous
August 20, 2008
I'd like to see couple of things improved in Windows file management:

When copying/moving across a number of files, in addition of "Yes", "Yes to all", "No", I'd like to see an option "No to all". This has been driving me round the bend for years now! (Anyone else feeling frustrated about not having this option?)
File renaming - I'd like to be able to add a string of characters in front of the current file name - e.g. If I have image1.jpg, image2.jpg, image3.jpg I'd like to be able to rename them on one go to "Conference 2008 pix - image1.jpg", "Conference 2008 pix - image2.jpg" and "Conference 2008 pix - image3.jpg" rather than having to rename them one by one! (Takes ages I tell you!!) Basic things, I know.. Also - I'd like to see registry cleaner as part of the standard maintenance options in Windows..especially an option for "remove all keys with text [XYZ]"!!

Anonymous
August 20, 2008
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Anonymous
August 21, 2008
now I'm a mac user (before Windows XP) and os x has become my development environment too. But I'd like to see a new and powerful Windows. Maybe someone finds this interesting or useful - this is what I like to see.

Powerfull shell
a redesigned kernel without Win32
Win32 virtualization layer, to use all the old software and drivers
Nice and clean UI (not too much color, resolution independend of course, maybe license display-ps or display-pdf?)
Layered registry (if it is still there, it could be a solution for registry problems if every program gets its own registry layer that can be removed - I can tell you more about this idea)
standard conform browser as basic html kit
not too much of new microsoft standards
powerful file system
libraries for writing/reading pdf, doc, xls, odf, ooxml ... The weirdest software design of the world ? Here it is Use open-source, whereever it is possible and concentrate on things that gives you the possibility to produce a stunning new OS. Wanna get all Linux users to switch to Windows 7?
Write a great Win32 virtualization layer (integrated in the system)
Add a stunning UI
Use a Linux kernel as basel (or at least parts of it) (I heard MS has a nice microkernel too...)
Add a delepoment environment like Visual Studio
Think of using LLVM as a possible base for applications
os should be optimized to run on multiple cores sell it, good luck

Anonymous
August 22, 2008
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Anonymous
August 22, 2008
Hello all, better interoperability with Linux and other os like Macos whould be great.
Anonymous
August 23, 2008
Hi, First, such a very good idea give us a chance to talk with the windows core team :) As a small software freelance i (and my cocompetitors) find it a lot more complicated to configure the instalation of our software at clients runing under Vista. We understand that the UAC and Programfile/ProgramData rep. are the "new secure way" of dealing but I that noticed Noone among small dev. was even able to configure a fully Vista-way instalation procedure. (not to talk of a dif. windows vers.) I frequently read on forums that all them came out to use an akward way to complish this. Working with Vista but not fully Vista ready (how do you even prepare it for that ?) so they all keep using created directories directly on C: to avoid the "Vista headache" not to say that many would agree a software is just easier to develop if one can use a single configuration profile for all Windows versions ! (or let say at least starting from the XP vers.) Our nigtmare now is to dicrover that Windows 7 will come out with it's own NEW instalation flavor and more specific directorie's configurations. Can't you guys found out a simpliest way to simplify instalations ? Isn't making computing simpler a key feature in our XXI c. ? Thanks for all efforts in this way :)
Anonymous
August 23, 2008
The new OS must be able to configure itself to dual boot with Win2K or XP and not trash either of these. I want to maintain my previous OS intact to be productive until I lean the new one. Go to 64-bit and drop backward compatibility and all the baggage that goes with with.
Anonymous
August 24, 2008
Just make windows 7, 50% faster than windows vista and ill be happy.
Anonymous
August 24, 2008
Make direct x 11 work with 32bit games on 64bit OS and make it work with older DX enabled graphic cards because when they are forced to run games on low detail with good hardware and 6gigs of memory won't make people happy for their 64bit systems with 32bit games!!! ( if that's not easy to implement then asking companies to make updates would be good also )
Anonymous
August 24, 2008
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Anonymous
August 25, 2008
Less animations and fluff please. Vista business is anything but. It takes an age to disable all the unneccesary rubbish to get you back to a decent speed business tool. PLease, make a business version of Windows 7 that takes into account what you need in a business. No games, no animations, no extra pop-ups (like UAC), no nice backgrounds, no themes, no sidebar. Think minimalist. Put all the extra garbage in the home versions.
Anonymous
August 25, 2008
Yes I hope too that it would have a real Proffesional version without games, MSN,Outlook Express, themes whynot because users likes have a beautifull display (as at home) if it's not decrease the speed of Windows. That will be cool too is an tools for Administrator to allow user to install or not (USB or other)device by an console like Parental authorization in Live Messenger. Very important also that the upgrade and service pack does make it unusable a comptuter that that there a 3 years ago works well with the basic version
Anonymous
August 26, 2008
Check out this multiclipboard idea that I developed: http://octopusproject.tk/ I think it is interesting to include some app like this in your new windows 7.
Anonymous
August 27, 2008
Given all the comments in the numerous threads of this blog, I have a question. When are we going to see draft specifications on what is going into 7? Then we can see if engineering is going in the right direction!
Anonymous
September 03, 2008
Some posts have mentioned keyboard shortcuts; as a trainer, I cannot overstate the importance of giving XP users a simple transition to the new GUI. It would be very helpful to leave all the shortcuts and methods performing repetitive tasks exactly intact from XP to 7 (such as WindowsKey D, CTRL+A, et al). This would be different than what happened with Office '03 to '07 (very disorienting.) To go one step further - have a user selectable option for alternative and more intuitive logic for shortcuts that will give 7 a leg up to Apple's OS. Ex: CTRL+P = Paste NOT CTRL+V You could use the methodology to make working with a Windows based computer with shortcuts that are easier to remember. It's becoming more "user driven" world everyday - by making Windows 7 based computers easier to work for the daily "business" (non IT) users I think you can upgrade users in DROVES.
Anonymous
September 05, 2008
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Anonymous
September 07, 2008
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Anonymous
September 10, 2008
Hi, I had been thinking about this a few days ago. What if Windows was an Open-Source Project? Microsoft has the most number of users than any other Operating System in the world. Lots of people know about Windows, how it works, how it's programmed and how to make software for it. There are numerous security updates every time a new Windows version is launched. Simply because the knowledgeable folk learn about the new version launch their attacks against it. Many of those people and others would come around would love to program for Windows if it were an open-source project. The one thing an open-source project needs is a "huge user base" which you guys already have. Think about it, the whole programming world, working and building Windows Project. It's going to be awesome. How are you going to make money then? I am sure you can think of dozen other ways to make money. Even by giving away Windows for free.
Anonymous
September 11, 2008
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Anonymous
September 13, 2008
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Anonymous
September 29, 2008
I like and use the parental controls that you have under Windows Vista, but I would like for you to consider an “enhancement”. Currently I use the log in times and “games on” / “games off” options to control my son’s PC usage. I would like to keep this functionality, but I would like to add another option so that I can enter the “total time” that he can use the computer (minutes per day) and the amount of time that he can do gaming. For example lets say that on Monday I let him use the computer from 2:00pm till 9:00pm, but I really do not want him on the computer the whole time because then his sister can not log in to do her homework, so I would like to put in that he can use the computer for 4 hours for anything that he wants but can only play games for 30 minutes, which would give hime 3.5 hours of homework time and 30 minutes of game time. I may only allow gaming on the weekends if I find that he is not completing his homework. At the moment I enable games and disable games on a daily bases and that is getting very old. I have enabled the Customer Experience Feedback on my system and you will probably see this information in your data (If I did not mess up my setup). :-)
Anonymous
October 08, 2008
Hi there, I hope you are listening to us users, I would like to know if you have been following this forum http://forums.microsoft.com/technet/showpost.aspx?postid=3969954&siteid=17&sb=0&d=1&at=7&ft=11&tf=0&pageid=10 I just hope that one of the main issues people seem to have with the current version of Vista 32/64bit is the "winsxs" folder size and the fact that this folder cannot be moved. I would like to be able to decide during installation which partition or drive to place this folder in as it currently fills the c drive.
Anonymous
October 08, 2008
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Anonymous
November 02, 2008
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Anonymous
November 25, 2008
I'd like to participate in helping to create a better windows. As far as I am concerned I have really missed the usability-view in vista. Where can I get this pre-beta version blackrose is talking about?
Anonymous
December 10, 2008
Well, i write for ask you this :: 1)In windows 7 , users should forget to make a defragmentation!!!!! So find a way so that the hard disk management in Windows 7, is very efficient , very fast and optimized!!!! No defrag for users, the user in Windows 7 must only work, not think about nothing else. Therefore find ways to optimize the management of records, and in performance with very low fragmentation !!!!!!!!!! That's very very important, windows 7 Team!!!!!!!!!!! Windows 7 will be easy , very very easy!!!!!!!!!!!! Just fragmentation, once and for all. The users are annoys to Defragment windows!!!!!!!!!!! Find a way to do this, maybe make an Api specific for this!!!!! 2)Reduce enormously , the memory and cpu occupation and consuption and Aero interface consuption, because also this , is very very important, for the windows 7 success!!!!! otherwise you risk really being overtaken by competitors this time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Multicore cpu consuption, will be balanced on each Core of quad-core and octa-core Cpu !!!!!! "And listen to the advice of a stupid user once every so often" Thanks!!!!!!

Anonymous
December 10, 2008
Like others members already did, I'd want to stress about focusing in the development of a 64 bit OS. If everything out there is 64 bit, why mantain a 32 bit OS? I'm pretty sure that those who didn't update their rigs for years, will complain again in the future about W7 and performance. So please, focus your development efforts in a native 64 bits, multi-CPU and GPU kernel. Other features can be implemented later. Regards
Anonymous
December 11, 2008
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Anonymous
December 24, 2008
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Anonymous
December 24, 2008
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Anonymous
December 27, 2008
I would like a simple feature added into Windows 7, has an option. which includes the browsing of directory and file functionality changed, into a tab like view similar to internet explorer 7. Many Thanks Edward
Anonymous
January 03, 2009
WHy did functionality have to be removed from XP? Why can't the Explorer toolbar be customizable anymore? Such as adding the delete command. And my wife and I always use the built-in windows slideshow to view pictures and while viewing the slideshow we rotate and also resize them. With Vista that's impossible (so probably W7 also)And why does loading a folder with lots of pictures cause explorer to max out it's memory usage when I start slideshow in Vista??
Anonymous
January 14, 2009
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Anonymous
January 24, 2009
A thing all novice users struggles to understand in Windows is that the Start Menu contains shortcuts and does not reflect what's in reality installed on the machine. Change the Installer criteria so developers must mark the launcher(s) for a given program with some attribute so that Start Menu can figure out what to display/not display? In effect StartMenu is then no longer a bunch of shortcuts but instead a replica of the 'Program Files'-folder. This way StartMenu dynamically changes as apps are installed/uninstalled and you don't get obsolete or missing shortcuts all over the place. Alternatively: Make 'Program Files' directory synced to Start Menu instead of them being separate concepts and add visual filters (So Start Menu only shows the exe-contents of directories)?
Anonymous
April 02, 2009
Hi, I would like to suggest a change in the way files are delete in windows explorer. When I delete many files and a specifc file is locked, windows explorer just aborts the deletion process. Windows explorer could just show the error message and continue with the deletion process. Thanks.
Anonymous
May 05, 2009
I believe this solution disables functionality used by millions of users (the ability to easily start legitimate software installed on portable devices) while still leaving a vulnerability that has been used in the past (malware autorunning from CDs/DVDs). A better solution would be to check for signed code. This could be easily accomplished using the existing infrastructure and presented to the user simply with a minimum of coding changes. I've put together a complete proposal with the details and screenshots here: http://johnhaller.com/jh/useful_stuff/windows_7_autoplay/
Anonymous
May 25, 2009
Hello I just wanted to let you know, that Virtual Server 2005 SP1 R2 it's incompatible with Windows 7 RC. I had to uninstall it from my Computer in order to upgrade from Vista to Windows 7. Like me, there are a lot of people that use this application for running a non production network (LAN) to test patches and critical updates and Drivers. And everybody knows that most of the Microsoft certification labs run using Virtual Server. Hopefully the Windows 7 engineering team will find a solution to this situation.
Anonymous
July 03, 2009
Beginning with this post together we are going to start looking forward towards the “Windows 7” project. We know there are tons of questions about the specifics of the project and strong desire to know what’s in store for the next major release of Windows. Believe us, we are just as excited to start talking about the release. Over the past 18 months since Windows Vista’s broad availability, the team has been hard at work creating the next Windows product. <a href="http://www.mustuniversity.com/Schools-Majors/index.asp">Online Schools</a> AND <a href="http://www.mustuniversity.com/Programs/Degree/Bachelors-Degree.html">Bachelors degree</a> AND <a href="http://www.mustuniversity.com/">Online University</a>
Anonymous
July 16, 2009
As we connect through this blog and through all of those talking about Windows 7 it is clear that folks have a lot of passion around many topics.? We learned early on about the passion around the boot/startup sequence and how important it was for that to go by quickly! At the same time, we know that it is really dull to watch a HDD light blink when resuming a machine from hibernate or powering up a machine. To improve this first connection with people, we set out to improve the boot sequence—jazz it up if you will.
Anonymous
August 07, 2009
I recently sent an email from the link on the main Engineering Windows 7 blog page about sound glitches on my system. I was surprised to receive a reply and offer of help from Steve Ball who guided me through some steps to help the Microsoft engineers locate the source. To cut a long story short, it wasn't too long before the problem source was located and a fix implemented. I am very grateful for Steve Ball's assistance. Overall, I find Windows 7 to be an extremely solid and polished OS. Thank you Steve for being so helpful. :)
Anonymous
August 15, 2009
The comment has been removed
Anonymous
March 21, 2010
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Anonymous
April 02, 2010
It's extremely frustating! I've been testing the beta releases of windows 7 in a pc with motherboard intel D101GGC. I've tested Beta, RC and RTM (all of them ultimate). The video drive was always ok. But now that my firm could afford to by a license it was the Professional version. Then I tried to install it in the pc with D101GGC and the video wouldn't work. So I searched Intel site and there it's been informed that they do not support windows 7 for this motherboard. So, why did it work for windows 7 ultimate and not for windows 7 professinal?

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Welcome to Engineering Windows 7

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i was hoping that u don't release as many versions as u did with vista

have better backward compatibility like windows xp had with programs written for previous platforms. perhaps run those apps in some "compatibility mode"

can we also keep the price down, quite a bit actually (at least in india)? the mac os is so much cheaper and comes as a single desktop version.

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