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posted by janrinok on Sunday March 02 2014, @10:30AM   Printer-friendly
from the the-weekly-borg dept.

CowboyTeal writes:

"Windows 8 is still being disputed as either the product of a genius or a nerdy sadist but that doesn't mean Windows 9 isn't in the works. That said, how would you guys improve Windows if you could change anything about it? Has windows 8 improved or degraded your overall experience of the Windows platform? If you're not a Windows user, what features would you like to see in Windows for possible assimilation?"

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  • (Score: 5, Funny) by crutchy on Sunday March 02 2014, @10:36AM

    by crutchy (179) on Sunday March 02 2014, @10:36AM (#9491) Homepage Journal

    duh

    • (Score: 5, Interesting) by jt on Sunday March 02 2014, @11:49AM

      by jt (2890) on Sunday March 02 2014, @11:49AM (#9529)

      Joking aside, the NT kernel is not the big problem with Windows. I want to see Windows get package management and repositories like Linux distros so the OS and applications would be kept up to date without a million app specific updaters or manual intervention. I know this dream will remain a dream as the app vendors won't agree, or give up a path to shovel toolbars and general adware and malware.

      • (Score: 1) by Aighearach on Sunday March 02 2014, @11:50AM

        by Aighearach (2621) on Sunday March 02 2014, @11:50AM (#9532)

        Just make it a linux window manager, problem solved. To differentiate from Apple and others, they can use the OpenBSD versions of commands.

      • (Score: 4, Interesting) by Angry Jesus on Sunday March 02 2014, @12:18PM

        by Angry Jesus (182) on Sunday March 02 2014, @12:18PM (#9548)

        I want to see Windows get package management and repositories

        Isn't that what the Windows 8 App Store [microsoft.com] does?
        That's not a rhetorical question, I've never used it or Win8, so I don't know.

        • (Score: 4, Insightful) by Nerdfest on Sunday March 02 2014, @05:08PM

          by Nerdfest (80) on Sunday March 02 2014, @05:08PM (#9658)

          The Windows app store locks you to one store, same as OSX and iOS. It's not a repository manager. The Linux repo managers are great in that they allow us to keep software up to date across multiple providers through a central mechanism. The commercial OSes want to limit what you can install and because of that they will always take a hit in security because they require multiple mechanisms.

      • (Score: 2, Flamebait) by TheloniousToady on Sunday March 02 2014, @04:36PM

        by TheloniousToady (820) on Sunday March 02 2014, @04:36PM (#9641)

        I can live with the Windows update process as it is but I have a similar dream that Linux will one day get plug-and-play - and finally catch up to Windows 95 in that regard ;-)

        But seriously, folks, maybe I'm just confused on this. Does Linux, 1) already have plug-and-play, 2) lack it by design, or 3) lack it because it just isn't there yet? I read an article awhile back that suggested it was 2), but I really don't know, so this is an honest question, not a troll.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 02 2014, @07:45PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 02 2014, @07:45PM (#9712)

          It has plug and play already.
          Have I been trolled?

          • (Score: 2) by Appalbarry on Sunday March 02 2014, @08:59PM

            by Appalbarry (66) on Sunday March 02 2014, @08:59PM (#9735) Journal

            Have I been trolled?

            Apparently. I just did a fresh Mint install this week to my more or less generic Dell box, and everything just worked. Took all of ten minutes including formatting the new drive.

            Bonus: even Windows Vista is running better now, inside VirtualBox.....

            • (Score: 2) by TheloniousToady on Sunday March 02 2014, @10:20PM

              by TheloniousToady (820) on Sunday March 02 2014, @10:20PM (#9774)

              No, it wasn't a troll, it was an honest question. (I hope those are being allowed here, even if they were systematically surpressed at The-Site-Which-Must-Not-Be-Named... ;-) Thanks for answering it. I haven't tried Linux in a couple of years, but the (apparent) lack of plug-and-play support at that time was one of the main reasons I quickly abandoned it. I went through a great deal of misery back then trying to get sound to come out via ALSA.

              However, I recognize that things improve over the years, so it's not surprising they've finally gotten something like that going. However, from an article I had read a few months ago, I got the idea that the Linux kernel simply wasn't designed to allow that. The article suggested that people actually enjoyed recompiling the kernel to add drivers. But the article was wrong, or maybe I misunderstood. (Likewise, this message is *not* a troll. Feel free not to respond if you have any doubts.)

              • (Score: 2) by Appalbarry on Sunday March 02 2014, @11:55PM

                by Appalbarry (66) on Sunday March 02 2014, @11:55PM (#9828) Journal

                I've never recompiled anything, and wouldn't know where to start. I have though downloaded a handful of distros and installed them from a USB stick. Or first tried them as a live instance.

                Mainstream linux is pretty painless these days for average systems.

                • (Score: 2) by TheloniousToady on Monday March 03 2014, @01:58AM

                  by TheloniousToady (820) on Monday March 03 2014, @01:58AM (#9867)

                  Glad to hear it's working for you. I recently tried installing Linux as a dual boot on a Windows 8 machine that I had just built. It installed and ran fine in a little nominal use. But when I tried to boot it later from the HDD, it wouldn't boot, I think due to the UEFI issue. So, I kindda lost interest and rebooted into Windows.

                  In a general sense, this has pretty-much been my experience with Linux over the years, starting with Red Hat 6 many years ago. It always basically works, but there always seems to be some sort of significant snag that I run into - and a different one each time. Last time it was audio, this time it's UEFI. Each problem I've run into is surmountable (including the most recent one), but I end up just going back to Windows.

                  I admire those of you who either have better luck with Linux or who actually enjoy solving these sorts problems. I keep hoping, so I'll try Linux again in a few months or years.

              • (Score: 1) by EvilJim on Wednesday March 05 2014, @12:10AM

                by EvilJim (2501) on Wednesday March 05 2014, @12:10AM (#11071) Journal

                I've got ubuntu 3 or 4 running on a pentium 233 laptop with 64mb ram, never could get the S3 video drivers working properly so stuck with VESA, that and my older 486dx4-100 laptop with 16mb ram are the only two systems I've had to re-compile a kernel for or mess with driver settings to get working. even USB plug and play works fine. running Deli Linux on the 486. all of my more recent machines just work straight out of the box, oh except one where I had to de-blacklist the wifi card after an update.

          • (Score: 1) by tangomargarine on Monday March 03 2014, @09:56PM

            by tangomargarine (667) on Monday March 03 2014, @09:56PM (#10263)

            If what you're *actually* trying to refer to is AutoRun, yes, Linux lacks that by design. Although I'm sure those damn Gnome devs will put it in one of these days (if they haven't already).

            I have been plugging arbitrary flash drives/external disks into my desktop and Ubuntu autodetects them since 2007 at least.

            --
            "Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
        • (Score: 1) by fido_dogstoyevsky on Sunday March 02 2014, @09:56PM

          by fido_dogstoyevsky (131) <axehandleNO@SPAMgmail.com> on Sunday March 02 2014, @09:56PM (#9762)

          I can live with the Windows update process as it is but I have a similar dream that Linux will one day get plug-and-play - and finally catch up to Windows 95 in that regard ;-)

          But seriously, folks, maybe I'm just confused on this. Does Linux, 1) already have plug-and-play, 2) lack it by design, or 3) lack it because it just isn't there yet? I read an article awhile back that suggested it was 2), but I really don't know, so this is an honest question, not a troll.

          I don't know about (2) and (3), but every I've installed it on a PC (whether it's a desktop, laptop or netbook) everything "just worked" (advertising term borrowed from some computer company or other).

          Sometimes I've had to select one of the installed sound drivers, and the scanner I have tries really hard to not play nice with Linux, but that's it.

          --
          It's NOT a conspiracy... it's a plot.
        • (Score: 2) by TheloniousToady on Sunday March 02 2014, @10:27PM

          by TheloniousToady (820) on Sunday March 02 2014, @10:27PM (#9784)

          Darn, I was hoping that, unlike Slashdot, I could express some sort of mild pro-Windows/anti-Linux sentiment without being labelled as "Flamebait". (Didn't anybody notice the "wink"? ;-) Is Soylent going to be the narrow, dogmatic place that Slashdot is? Can't we have "News for Nerds" or something like that without enforcing humorless dogma about the Windows/Linux divide and related issues like the copyleft/BSD/proprietary divide?

          I try not to use my own moderator points in a dogmatic fashion here or elsewhere, so please don't do it to me.

          • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 03 2014, @05:07AM

            by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 03 2014, @05:07AM (#9911)

            Didn't anybody notice the "wink"?

            Wit is in the eye/ear of the beholder [google.com]. You need to try harder.

            As for your original point, as others have alluded to, if you have hardware that doesn't "just work" it's because you have chosen a sucky product from a sucky manufacturer with sucky support.

            For years and years, the Linux Driver Project has offered labor (gratis) to make products Linux-compatible.
            If a manufacturer's products aren't, it's because that vendor is standing in the doorway and blocking progress [googleusercontent.com].(orig) [lwn.net]

            Even Broadcom, who has a reputation for zero Linux support (wouldn't even release specs and made everyone reverse-engineer everything), is coming around [google.com].

            -- gewg_

            • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 03 2014, @05:20AM

              by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 03 2014, @05:20AM (#9913)

              ...if you have hardware that doesn't "just work" it's because you have chosen a sucky product from a sucky manufacturer with sucky support.

              An interesting point of view: if something doesn't run well on Linux, it must be the hardware manufacturer's fault. Maybe so, but personally, I enjoy being "free" to use whatever hardware I want...

              • (Score: 1) by tangomargarine on Monday March 03 2014, @10:01PM

                by tangomargarine (667) on Monday March 03 2014, @10:01PM (#10268)

                I guess if you value the "freedom" to only run Windows...

                --
                "Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
              • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 04 2014, @02:01AM

                by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 04 2014, @02:01AM (#10393)

                it must be the hardware manufacturer's fault

                Exactly my point. Glad you got it.
                Now, who do you think produced the device driver for that item so that it would run under Windoze? M$?
                Bzzzzt. Wrong. The hardware manufacture who refused to support Linux was the same bunch who produced that Windoze-compatible driver.

                ...and when the next version of Windoze comes out, with its incompatible-with-what-exists driver model, do you think that manufacturer who didn't support Linux will write a driver for Windoze n+1 for your old peripheral? Don't hold your breath; they want you to plunk down yet more cash for the next iteration of their poorly-supported crap.

                ...meanwhile, I have a Pentium 2 still viable (running a supported version of Linux, of course).

                I enjoy being "free" to use whatever hardware I want

                As tangomargarine intimated, you guys who not only enjoy slavery but will willing purchase your own chains are really strange.

                -- gewg_

              • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 30 2014, @11:23PM

                by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 30 2014, @11:23PM (#23344)

                An example of fringe gear (a dance pad):
                Convention wisdom would say that getting a Windoze device driver that works would be duck soup.
                Convention wisdom (aka Windoze fanboys' opinions) would say that there is no Linux support for the device.
                Wrong on both counts. [googleusercontent.com] (orig) [archlinux.org]

                -- gewg_

      • (Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Sunday March 02 2014, @04:37PM

        by Grishnakh (2831) on Sunday March 02 2014, @04:37PM (#9642)

        What you're proposing is already mostly done: it's the Windows App Store. MS gets a big cut of everything. Apple has something nearly identical. On either one, you're limited to what the OS vendor wants you to have access to.

        If you want something like what Linux has, just use Linux. It's that simple. You're never going to get a Debian-like repo system from a proprietary vendor. It's simply not in their interests to provide freedom like that.

      • (Score: 2, Informative) by iamjacksusername on Sunday March 02 2014, @05:16PM

        by iamjacksusername (1479) on Sunday March 02 2014, @05:16PM (#9665)

        It exists and it is called WSUS. A WSUS service can be customized to include non-Microsoft packages but the licensing implications (i.e. requires server CALs for each unique connection), the client side technical requirements (it can break rather spectacularly and opaquely if you do not do it right), as well the fact that WSUS server is a "free" product that Microsoft could arbitrarily change the licensing agreement terms on essentially make it unworkable as a public repository solution.

        This does not exist in a vacuum of course. Microsoft makesx far too much money selling companies package management tools for that capability to be "standard". Adobe, HP and Dell. SCCM does what you are thinking of but it bypasses the built-in WSUS client side technologies in favor of requiring the use of SCCM. And that is another subject for another day.

        • (Score: 1) by iamjacksusername on Sunday March 02 2014, @05:19PM

          by iamjacksusername (1479) on Sunday March 02 2014, @05:19PM (#9668)

          There is a missing sentence...

          I meant to say "Adobe, HP and Dell are the only major vendors I am aware of that publish publicly accessible SCCM repositories."

      • (Score: 2, Insightful) by hash14 on Sunday March 02 2014, @05:30PM

        by hash14 (1102) on Sunday March 02 2014, @05:30PM (#9669)

        I'm not sure I agree that the kernel isn't a problem (though I agree that it's not THE problem). From a technological standpoint, the Windows kernel just isn't as advanced as the Linux kernel and you can see it in all sorts of ways. Linux is more responsive, has better task scheduling ie. is less likely to freeze up when processes become resource intensive (CPU, disk and memory I/O), has better admin/management utilities (though I have never admined a Windows box myself), supports dozens more file systems (nearly all of which are far, far superior to NTFS) and rarely requires restarts. Generally speaking, it's just more responsive, secure and modular than the Windows kernel.

        I understand that people who use Windows often don't care about these sorts of things, but Macs are successful because they try to emulate the Linux kernel (or at least what it does well). The only thing that Windows may do better than Linux is graphics hardware support, and yet given Linux's open community model, people are constantly contributing support to improve it (e.g. Valve). The primary difference is that Windows is built to make money, and Linux is simply made to be as good as can be.

        It may not be noticeable to average users, but it is to me.

        • (Score: 3, Insightful) by jt on Sunday March 02 2014, @06:22PM

          by jt (2890) on Sunday March 02 2014, @06:22PM (#9692)

          I think it's fair to say that the various kernels have pros and cons for any given situation. The Linux kernel is undoubtedly excellent, modern, and can be tuned/configured to perform well for almost any application. The NT kernel is certainly good enough for desktops and has some strengths in this area, particularly with multimedia applications, and does have modern OS design features. Other alternatives like QNX might be a better choice than the Linux kernel for some hard real-time applications. It's important to remember that 'Windows' implies much more than just the kernel and its these other elements, and the surrounding ecosystem of applications and hardware support, which differentiate Windows from the alternatives.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 02 2014, @10:58PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 02 2014, @10:58PM (#9806)

        I don't think your dream is that far off from being realized, though I worry that it'll look more like the iOS walled garden with the official repository whitelisted, everything else blocked, for the "protection" of the users.

        It's already what they've moved toward in the mobile market on ARM devices.

        If they went with everything blocked by default, with a big fat disclaimer to override that default (much like Android warns when you install from third party sources), I wouldn't complain much about that. We'll see where the MS heads take it.

    • (Score: 2, Interesting) by cx on Sunday March 02 2014, @01:45PM

      by cx (239) on Sunday March 02 2014, @01:45PM (#9592)

      I see this request, serious or in jest, every time there is a question about what is so wrong with Windows. And I don't get it.

      Seriously, what is wrong with NT kernel? The fact that 'it is not Linux' doesn't really qualify as valid answer.

      • (Score: 3, Insightful) by SurvivorZ on Sunday March 02 2014, @02:56PM

        by SurvivorZ (792) on Sunday March 02 2014, @02:56PM (#9620)

        Quite simply, it's the Windows API!! OH MY GOD! You have apparently never tried to work with this monstrosity or you would not even need to ask such a telling question!

        • (Score: 5, Informative) by Grishnakh on Sunday March 02 2014, @04:41PM

          by Grishnakh (2831) on Sunday March 02 2014, @04:41PM (#9643)

          You're absolutely right about the API, but you're absolutely wrong about the kernel. I just started a job where I have to do some work with the Win32 API (not by choice, if I had known this about the job I wouldn't have accepted it), and holy shit, it's the most ridiculously arcane thing I've ever seen in my life.

          However, the Win32 API predates the NT kernel mostly, as it was used in Win95/98, and is an API to the OS libraries, not to the kernel itself. It's retained in XP/Vista/7/8 because of backwards compatibility concerns and inertia. If they switched to a Linux kernel for some odd reason, they'd still have to put in a compatibility layer for Win32. Of course, we actually already have this on Linux: it's called "WINE". But for Windows, they'd make it a primary API probably, along with some kind of .NET stuff, and the Linux libraries and APIs we know and love would probably not be there.

          • (Score: 1) by andrew_t366 on Sunday March 02 2014, @05:12PM

            by andrew_t366 (1072) on Sunday March 02 2014, @05:12PM (#9661)

            Windows NT existed before Windows 95.

          • (Score: 0) by mendax on Sunday March 02 2014, @09:05PM

            by mendax (2840) on Sunday March 02 2014, @09:05PM (#9737)

            However, the Win32 API predates the NT kernel mostly, as it was used in Win95/98, and is an API to the OS libraries, not to the kernel itself.

            I don't know where you got your history from but this is completely wrong. I wrote a Windows app for Windows 3.1 way back when, then ported it to the Win32 API when I discovered the Win32S package that would generally allow programs using the Win32 API running in the already well-established, multitasking and stable Windows NT to run in 16-bit Windows on a 32-bit machine. This was about a year before the introduction of Windows 95. Thus, I know something about this history. The basic Win32 API is essentially the original 16-bit Windows API with some adjustments. When Windows 95 came out, Windows NT was already well-established but not being used by the masses, mainly because memory was astoundingly expensive in those days (I paid $500 for 16 MB in 1995). Windows 95 could run fairly well in 4 MB.

            --
            It's really quite a simple choice: Life, Death, or Los Angeles.
            • (Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Monday March 03 2014, @04:11PM

              by Grishnakh (2831) on Monday March 03 2014, @04:11PM (#10094)

              Ok fine, but the point is the API is not tied to the kernel, since the NT kernel and the Win95/98/Me kernel have very little in common, but both support the Win32 API.

            • (Score: 1) by EvilJim on Wednesday March 05 2014, @12:16AM

              by EvilJim (2501) on Wednesday March 05 2014, @12:16AM (#11073) Journal

              Shit son, last time I bought ram for retail it was 8mb for $800. that was right after the factory fire or something, my single speed cd rom drive and soundblaster was $680, all on a 486 sx-25, man those were the days.

              • (Score: 0) by mendax on Wednesday March 05 2014, @12:04PM

                by mendax (2840) on Wednesday March 05 2014, @12:04PM (#11280)

                Well, this was memory for a 33 mhz 486DX. It did run Windows 95 nicely after getting all that memory. After the upgrade it had 20 mb of RAM.

                --
                It's really quite a simple choice: Life, Death, or Los Angeles.
        • (Score: 2) by cx on Sunday March 02 2014, @04:48PM

          by cx (239) on Sunday March 02 2014, @04:48PM (#9647)
          Um, I actually did. Still don't get what's wrong with NT kernel, though.
  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by Pslytely Psycho on Sunday March 02 2014, @10:37AM

    by Pslytely Psycho (1218) on Sunday March 02 2014, @10:37AM (#9492)

    10,000% improvement, instantly.

    --
    Alex Jones lawyer inspires new TV series: CSI Moron Division.
    • (Score: 5, Interesting) by mrbluze on Sunday March 02 2014, @11:10AM

      by mrbluze (49) on Sunday March 02 2014, @11:10AM (#9508) Journal

      Considering the touch screen is apparently "here to stay", a compromise is needed. Bring back the windows 7 desktop for a start, but with multiple or a large scrollable desktop as default, maybe let the wallpaper have touch active elements, maybe allow the start bar to be larger on touch displays so it is easy to press. Get rid of Metro - it is the most inefficient and useless touch screen interface there is. Can Microsoft be so stupid as to forget who is paying their wages? It's corporations with desktops, people who create content not just consume it.

      In addition, they have failed to see that touch screen computing is for mobile devices, which Windows and its ecosystem of apps is not geared for. As for the mobile device market, Microsoft has failed dismally and I can't see how a Windows 9 can change that.

      --
      Do it yourself, 'cause no one else will do it yourself.
      • (Score: 5, Insightful) by Dunbal on Sunday March 02 2014, @01:03PM

        by Dunbal (3515) on Sunday March 02 2014, @01:03PM (#9571)

        The touch screen may be here to stay, but just like finger painting (which is also here to stay), it should be limited to its special place in kindergarten or grade school art class and not forced onto everyone for everyday tasks. People don't realize that touch screens are actually a step backwards from highly specialized and precise selection/pointing devices to, well, poking stuff about with your finger. While this has the advantage that my dog could probably use one by poking a screen with her nose, it's actually far less efficient.

        Anyway I'd fix Windows 9 by re-releasing Windows 7, only with all the vulnerabilities fixed. But fat chance of that happening...

        • (Score: 3, Funny) by mattyk on Sunday March 02 2014, @04:56PM

          by mattyk (2632) on Sunday March 02 2014, @04:56PM (#9653) Homepage

          > ... touch screens are actually a step backwards from highly specialized
          > and precise selection/pointing devices ...

          Except for multi-touch. A friend made a passing comment to me once, probably back in the '95 days, about how if you had two mice you could grab opposite corners of a window to resize it. The concept of two pointers has stuck with me for all these years. So that's what I'd add to Windows: a second mouse.

          --
          _MattyK_
          • (Score: 1) by tangomargarine on Monday March 03 2014, @10:07PM

            by tangomargarine (667) on Monday March 03 2014, @10:07PM (#10277)

            I feel like we could probably emulate that functionality with a few well-placed modifier keys...some DEs already supports holding Alt and grabbing anywhere on the window to move it around. E.g., hold Window key/Super, click and drag in one of the four window quadrants to resize that corner?

            --
            "Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
      • (Score: 4, Insightful) by Grishnakh on Sunday March 02 2014, @04:43PM

        by Grishnakh (2831) on Sunday March 02 2014, @04:43PM (#9645)

        Touchscreens have no place on a desktop system. Look up "gorilla arm". The human body is not designed to hold its arms out extended for any length of time. Touchscreens are great on tablets or phones, and also kiosks (where you don't use them for any great length of time; think of ATMs), but not for desktop systems. They're just a bad and stupid idea.

      • (Score: 5, Insightful) by tirefire on Sunday March 02 2014, @05:42PM

        by tirefire (3414) on Sunday March 02 2014, @05:42PM (#9675)

        Considering the touch screen is apparently "here to stay", a compromise is needed.

        Agree, and I think I may have it. Have Windows 9 detect if a touchscreen device is installed. If there is no touchscreen device detected, send the user to the desktop. If Windows 9 detects a touchscreen device is installed, default to Metro, and if it's the first boot for a new install, have an introductory overlay that briefly explains to the user what Metro is, what features it offers touchscreen users, and how it differs from the usual mouse-driven desktop interface. I'd like to see these options at the bottom of the screen:

        [ ] Okay, take me to Metro.
        [ ] Okay, take me to Metro, and make it the default.
        [ ] No thanks, take me to my desktop this time.
        [ ] No thanks, take me to my desktop, and don't take me to Metro again.

        If Microsoft had done this from the start, I think Windows 8 would have been much better received by just about everyone. It would let "pro users" like us banish Metro permanently with one click of a button, and it would help people like grandma make an informed decision about what is best for them to use.

        • (Score: 1) by emg on Sunday March 02 2014, @06:18PM

          by emg (3464) on Sunday March 02 2014, @06:18PM (#9690)

          But, uh, lots of laptops now come with touchscreens that I'm never going to use. Why should I be forced to use a stupid touchscreen interface that I don't want, just because the laptop manufacturer forced me to buy a touchscreen I didn't want?

          And the idea of my grandmother making an informed decision whether to use Metro is just insane. She'd be on the phone to me asking what she should do, or enable Metro by mistake and then be on the phone asking how the hell she gets Windows back.

          • (Score: 1) by tirefire on Sunday March 02 2014, @06:42PM

            by tirefire (3414) on Sunday March 02 2014, @06:42PM (#9699)

            Why should I be forced to use a stupid touchscreen interface that I don't want, just because the laptop manufacturer forced me to buy a touchscreen I didn't want?

            Read my post again. You'd only be forced to use it ONCE, to press the button on the hypothetical Metro screen that says (in so many words), "Get this Metro shit outta my face and don't ever let me see it again". Then the system goes to the desktop and you can ignore the touch interface and use the laptop's trackpad and/or clitmouse... like God intended.

            Is it really that objectionable to be required to use a touch interface once, when you're first setting up a Windows install?

    • (Score: 3, Interesting) by jt on Sunday March 02 2014, @01:01PM

      by jt (2890) on Sunday March 02 2014, @01:01PM (#9568)

      Just giving the Start menu back would cover 80% of the problems. I don't want to be stuck with a Windows95 clone interface till the end of days; progress happens, and I like change.

      However, there's a limit to anyone's patience. Most people don't actually want to use a computer; they really want to do something else and the computer is merely a means to that end. Anything that gets in their way, or is unfamiliar, is the problem. Personally, due to work I'm using Win7, WinXP, and various command shells on Linux and Solaris every day, then throw in OSX, Android and MATE for my personal stuff and I'm starting to forget how to do anything, never mind find the time to learn a whole new unintuitive interface.

    • (Score: 1) by Cyberdyne on Sunday March 02 2014, @09:53PM

      by Cyberdyne (403) on Sunday March 02 2014, @09:53PM (#9758)

      1. Start with a copy of Windows 7
      2. Change the logo.
      3. Tada!! Windows 9.

    • (Score: 2, Insightful) by NovelUserName on Sunday March 02 2014, @11:43PM

      by NovelUserName (768) on Sunday March 02 2014, @11:43PM (#9825)

      I have a laptop-tablet hybrid thing (Lenovo Thinkpad Helix) and I think Metro has a place. I use it on occasion because my hardware works well with it, but it should not be part of the default system.

      When I'm using my computer as a laptop, I want it to behave like a laptop. I don't want to drop into metro mode when I try to open an image file. I don't want to drop into metro when I hit the windows key. That said when I pull my screen off the keyboard, Metro is a nice interface.

      I'd make Metro an app like paint or the remote desktop client, rather than a base part of the OS. This would let you have just a desktop when you want just a desktop. I'd also change the way you get in and out of metro mode to be either explicit or keyed to the presence of a keyboard, rather than some odd context dependent thing.

    • (Score: 1) by lajos on Monday March 03 2014, @01:06AM

      by lajos (528) on Monday March 03 2014, @01:06AM (#9849)

      I wouldn't go as far as "remove" it. It works pretty awesome on the wife's new shiny sony laptop with touchable screen.

      Maybe just integrate it a bit better. Allow metro apps work on desktop, and it's golden.

  • (Score: 3, Funny) by d on Sunday March 02 2014, @10:40AM

    by d (523) on Sunday March 02 2014, @10:40AM (#9493)

    I'd make it Free Software. I could probably use it then.

    • (Score: 0, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 02 2014, @11:15AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 02 2014, @11:15AM (#9513)

      ReactOS is Free Software. You could probably use it right now.

      • (Score: 3, Interesting) by linsane on Sunday March 02 2014, @12:15PM

        by linsane (633) on Sunday March 02 2014, @12:15PM (#9547)

        Have been keeping an eye on that for a while - given that they are doing it on a shoestring it is very impressive indeed. Hopefully their recent kickstarter and associated fund-raising https://www.reactos.org/donations [reactos.org] will get this to the point of widespread usability before everyone's XP support ends. Here's to hoping anyhow

        • (Score: 1) by tangomargarine on Monday March 03 2014, @10:11PM

          by tangomargarine (667) on Monday March 03 2014, @10:11PM (#10279)

          From what I've been hearing the last few years, it sounds like every time I think they're about ready to fiiiiiiinally kick it into beta, they decide to overhaul and replace one of the major system components (Explorer, sound, USB...). And I can only assume that Microsoft will figure out a way to sue them to kingdom come and back as soon as they try to release a working product.

          --
          "Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 03 2014, @03:07AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 03 2014, @03:07AM (#9883)

        I'll start by assuming that folks here know that ReactOS and WINE share a significant portion of their respective codebases.

        Any Windoze app developer who doesn't check his executables against WINE simply shrinks his potential market.
        ...then there are guys who have done it right for over a decade [google.com] and whose app has become the most-used in its category (aka the industry standard) over roughly the same time period because that app is now cross-platform.

        -- gewg_

    • (Score: 1) by hash14 on Sunday March 02 2014, @05:37PM

      by hash14 (1102) on Sunday March 02 2014, @05:37PM (#9672)

      Perhaps... I'm more of the opinion that Windows is broken beyond repair. Even if you took all the community support for Linux and applied it towards Windows, you would have to deal with all sorts of badly designed legacy hacks which were just never fixed because it wasn't monetarily feasible, and then systems grew on top of these bad hacks which essentially make them impossible to fix because it would break everything. For example, just look at how terrible the OOXML standard^W specification is.

      Don't get me wrong on the power of the community - I have observed it a great deal over the years and have never failed to be impressed by how much they can accomplish. Nevertheless, when you're dealing with a system that's as old and poorly designed as Windows, I don't think there's anything you can reasonably do without upsetting virtually all of your downstream vendors and users.

      And let's not forget that many Windows users have this phobia of Free Software as they think openness is bad or unsecure. Unfortunately, sometimes MS's propaganda is very successful.

      • (Score: 1) by d on Sunday March 02 2014, @08:44PM

        by d (523) on Sunday March 02 2014, @08:44PM (#9730)

        1. Microsoft can't really do much of its anti-opensource propaganda because much of its libraries/C# stuff is open source now.
        2. Even its kernel would probably already be worth quite a lot because of the drivers. The parts that sucks could be rewritten.

        • (Score: 1) by hash14 on Sunday March 02 2014, @11:49PM

          by hash14 (1102) on Sunday March 02 2014, @11:49PM (#9827)

          Business companies have no issue with hypocrisy, so they can continue spreading open source propaganda as much as they like. Everything Microsoft produces comes with a toxic stigma. They're a known patent extortionist, and nothing is stopping them from pulling an Oracle stunt and assert copyrights something that doesn't even fall over the galaxy-sized "intellectual property" umbrella that they love so much.

          Microsoft - at least as long as Ballmer and his ilk are there - is still a 100% anti-open source company. That fact doesn't change just because they open sourced a library that nobody uses, or Linux drivers for HyperV because not doing so would be suicide for their cloud division.

          We've been down this path before. Never trust Microsoft - they're a business company first and will screw you at whatever chance that they can.

  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by echostorm on Sunday March 02 2014, @10:50AM

    by echostorm (210) on Sunday March 02 2014, @10:50AM (#9500)

    but I would bring network map back in 9, and of course classic start and a properly implemented search like they had in 7... 8 gets in its own way with the charms bar and the poor search functionality. As far as new features, it would be nice is SOMEONE got a la carte cable tv channels off the ground and including that kindof functionality into a new version of media player could be a HUGE success for them.

  • (Score: 4, Interesting) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Sunday March 02 2014, @10:54AM

    by MichaelDavidCrawford (2339) Subscriber Badge <mdcrawford@gmail.com> on Sunday March 02 2014, @10:54AM (#9502) Homepage Journal

    -a.

    While I do own a copy of windows 7, that's only for regressing bugs with some code I wrote a while back. If I do need to regress a bug with Windows 7, I will install it, but I have not actually installed it yet.

    What microsoft regards as an indeterminate progress indicated with that large, circular cursor that gets the GPU hot and your fans spinning as it sort of slowly rotates, drives me absolutely bananas.

    That's properly known as the "Pointer". When you move the "Mouse" with your hand, the "Pointer" moves too.

    The purpose of the pointer is to know when you're cool to click on a button or scrollbar or when you want to get into a text entry field, select menu items and the like.

    The purpose of the pointer is not to make itself so glaringly obvious to me that I am completely unable to focus my attention on anything else.

    However the ultimate cause of my decision not to use Windows ever again, is that a great deal of sophisticated image processing is used to make the title bars and frames of all the windows semitransparent but quite blurry, so you can see through to the other items on your desktop as if you are looking through a glass shower door.

    I have quite a serious problem with eye fatigue. I have multiple astigmatism, my glasses can only correct for the first-order cylinder, it's not like being near sighted or far sighted, I have to wear glasses all the damn time, and now I'm getting old so really I can't see anything that well anymore.

    I spent quite a long time tooling around hoping to find a way to disabled those semintransparent but blurry title bars and frames. Upon yielding no joy, I decided that I would drop dead of fatigue just by hanging out on slashdot and kuro5hin too much, were I to so hang out with windows 7.

    --
    Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
    • (Score: 1) by Aighearach on Sunday March 02 2014, @11:57AM

      by Aighearach (2621) on Sunday March 02 2014, @11:57AM (#9538)

      I gave up and switched to linux when apps stopped working with Win3.11+Win32S extensions. I never thought they could make a worse OS than Win95. Then came WinME, Vista, 8.

    • (Score: 5, Informative) by damnbunni on Sunday March 02 2014, @12:25PM

      by damnbunni (704) on Sunday March 02 2014, @12:25PM (#9553) Journal

      Disabling the blurry transparent frames is fairly simple in Windows 7.

      Right-click the desktop, select Personalize, change the theme to Windows 7 Basic or Windows Classic.

      Turns of Aero, therefore not using the GPU for anything really, and disables all the transparency effects.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 02 2014, @03:28PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 02 2014, @03:28PM (#9627)

        That does also turn off some of the nice features of aero, such as being able to mouse over items on the task bar and get a thumbnail view of the application.

    • (Score: 1) by arthurdent on Sunday March 02 2014, @04:18PM

      by arthurdent (1097) on Sunday March 02 2014, @04:18PM (#9638)

      You'd actually like Windows 8, then. They've done away with the glass, see-through title bars on the desktop. Though, to be fair, you'd probably hate The User Interface Formerly Known as Metro.

  • (Score: 1) by big_e on Sunday March 02 2014, @10:59AM

    by big_e (2513) on Sunday March 02 2014, @10:59AM (#9504)

    Yeah, I know I'm being a dreamer! I think a sudden unexplained outbreak of world peace is more likely than that happening, but until then I'm not touching Windows unless I have no other choice.

    Google is rapidly ramping up to second place and joining Microsoft on my shit list for monopolistic behavior, removing features, vendor lock-in, and slowly ruining their own product UIs as well. Worse yet, they are harder to avoid.

    Microsoft, be more like the old google before it turned evil.

    • (Score: 1) by el_isma on Sunday March 02 2014, @09:28PM

      by el_isma (1819) on Sunday March 02 2014, @09:28PM (#9746)

      Why would you touch it even if it were GPL?
      Is it really "being non-free" your only issue with Windows? That's the least of my worries about it!

  • (Score: 5, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 02 2014, @11:06AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 02 2014, @11:06AM (#9506)

    There should be a single checkbox in a control panel that disables all server features, stops all network services, and terminates all processes with listening ports. In workstation mode, a firewall should be completely unnecessary, because there would be no open ports and no incoming connections would be possible. A machine in workstation mode is a pure workstation and cannot be a server.

    • (Score: 0) by crutchy on Sunday March 02 2014, @11:27AM

      by crutchy (179) on Sunday March 02 2014, @11:27AM (#9523) Homepage Journal

      nice idea but it wouldn't be enough

      i'm working on a http relay that simply polls a public server with a conventional outbound request on port 80... no port forwarding or listening required

      not sure exactly how malware like conficker works, but you can be pretty sure that it wouldn't be as obvious as a listening socket

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 02 2014, @11:49AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 02 2014, @11:49AM (#9530)

        Workstation Mode wouldn't eliminate the need for Windows Defender. It would eliminate the need for Windows Firewall. The basic idea is instead of turning Windows Firewall ON, you turn OFF everything Firewall is protecting in the first place. Just like on any average Linux box, Netfilter doesn't even have to be loaded into the kernel if there simply aren't any listening daemons.

    • (Score: 1) by Aighearach on Sunday March 02 2014, @12:01PM

      by Aighearach (2621) on Sunday March 02 2014, @12:01PM (#9540)

      How about, Workstation Mode turns off everything except a VM runnig GNU/Linux.

    • (Score: 2) by VLM on Sunday March 02 2014, @01:22PM

      by VLM (445) Subscriber Badge on Sunday March 02 2014, @01:22PM (#9580)

      You're confusing upper level management goals "client server architecture" etc with lower level implementation like packet filters.

      I've worked at plenty of places where "workstations" not attempting to be "servers" at the architectural level none the less run all manner of VNC, SSHd, and some weird proprietary push administration apps that force out anti-virus updates and all manner of things. Don't just say "pull not push" because that can be very inefficient especially week days 9am eastern time, even if the pull response is nothing but "try again in $random_minutes"

      Also how would you ensure a kernel exploit level malware equivalent doesn't directly talk to drivers or directly to hardware, or tell lies to your shutdown service...

    • (Score: 0) by HyperQuantum on Monday March 03 2014, @12:07PM

      by HyperQuantum (2673) on Monday March 03 2014, @12:07PM (#9997)

      A nice idea but...

      wouldn't this also break peer-to-peer applications as a side-effect?

  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by bd on Sunday March 02 2014, @11:10AM

    by bd (2773) on Sunday March 02 2014, @11:10AM (#9509)

    The Windows operating system is not exactly a community driven project. So, does our opinion matter?

    Microsoft recently fired the chief designer and will change whatever they deem necessary to release a "business-friendly" version of Windows, as the Windows 7 to Windows 9 migration will bring them a lot of money. They said they will bring the start menu back, so there you have an instant fix for nearly everything wrong with windows 8.

    But, if you want your questions answered, maybe just have a look here: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=what+is+wrong+with+windo ws+8 [duckduckgo.com]. Seriously, why did you ask?

    • (Score: 5, Insightful) by efitton on Sunday March 02 2014, @04:01PM

      by efitton (1077) on Sunday March 02 2014, @04:01PM (#9633) Homepage

      We could do the same discussion with GNOME or KDE with just as much impact. Yes, we are having a purely theoretical discussion just like I sometimes have in the bar about fixing education. People who implement change or could implement change don't actually care what I think about Education either.

      That said, I am cautiously optimistic about Windows 9. MS has to respond to their business customers as you point out. KDE and GNOME have to respond to no one and so far have responded to no one.

    • (Score: 2, Insightful) by hash14 on Sunday March 02 2014, @05:40PM

      by hash14 (1102) on Sunday March 02 2014, @05:40PM (#9673)

      No, but it brings out the nerds and gives them all sorts of opportunities to say why W|nd0w$ suxx0rs while the headline tries to remain relatively neutral or even positive... so march on, I'd say!

  • (Score: 1) by cloying on Sunday March 02 2014, @11:12AM

    by cloying (91) on Sunday March 02 2014, @11:12AM (#9512)

    Or is windows 9 out already?

    • (Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 02 2014, @11:19AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 02 2014, @11:19AM (#9517)

      NT 6.3 is out already and 6+3=9

      • (Score: 1) by cloying on Sunday March 02 2014, @11:24AM

        by cloying (91) on Sunday March 02 2014, @11:24AM (#9521)

        Nice. And N+T=windows

  • (Score: 4, Interesting) by TheLink on Sunday March 02 2014, @11:19AM

    by TheLink (332) on Sunday March 02 2014, @11:19AM (#9518) Journal

    0) get "everyone" to agree on a standard "phone support" interface.
    It could work like this:
    1) Phone support tell users to click the "spanner icon" (or press a standard key combination/sequence), then press Y or click "Yes/green tick symbol" to the warning message (instead of cancel/red X symbol).
    2) Then a big configuration window pops up, where sections (tabbed?) are marked with coloured shapes (e.g. circle, triangle, square, star, cloud), and items are marked with letters and numbers- each section has has its own unique letter to start item numbers with.
    The sections could be stuff like: OS, Network, Hardware, Applications, Remote Assistance (with scary warning, user-side configuration of the destination could be disabled for Corporate setups).
    3A) Phone support tells the user to go to the "Red Triangle" (Network) section, and to read out item "B2" (primary IPv4 Address). If it's 169.254.x.x, phone support can get the user to click on the item "B1" (renew DHCP configuration).

    3B) Phone support tells the user to go to the "Green Circle" (OS) section, read out the OS name and version in item A1, and then to click on item A10 (Syslog/OS log). The last 50 lines from the syslog appear. Phone support asks the user to type "unrecovered read" into the item A11 (syslog search box) and press enter. Syslog lines containing the case insensitive match appear: e.g. "Oct 26 21:23:56 kernel: [ 1900.960506 ] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Add. Sense: Unrecovered read error"

    The user can also type "tab" "B1" "space" to go item "B1".
    If accessibility for the blind is enabled and the data is suitable and not too long, the data could be read out through speech synthesis.

    To edit the current item press "delete or backspace" followed by the new data and then press enter (or click on the data and type).

    The side effect of this interface is "advanced users" could use it as a quick way for doing common tasks (set/request IP addresses).

    p.s. the strange thing is I believe I've proposed posted something like the above years ago to Gnome or Redhat? (even got a follow-up post by someone clarifying that it's not an interface for phones) and Slashdot but I can't find the posts anymore using Google, Bing, Yandex, duckduckgo.

    • (Score: 4, Interesting) by TheLink on Sunday March 02 2014, @11:53AM

      by TheLink (332) on Sunday March 02 2014, @11:53AM (#9534) Journal
      Say I've a file/document opened in one application, I edit it and I save it somewhere.

      Now say I want to:
      a) email it to someone
      b) edit it with a different program (not necessarily the default program associated with it)
      c) copy/move it somewhere else (USB drive)

      Seems for many GUIs I often have to go through the process of looking for the file again before being able to do a), b) or c). Some applications of course support a "send as email" in their file menu, but this is not a standard across all apps.

      Some applications trigger the "Recent Documents" but not all of them.

      But the OS/GUI already knows the path of "Documents" that have been opened/saved/renamed by GUI applications, so in theory it could create a list of these and make them available in file dialog boxes and "file browser/windows explorer" equivalents.
      • (Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 02 2014, @12:00PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 02 2014, @12:00PM (#9539)

        Seems for many GUIs I often have to go through the process of looking for the file again

        Actually, that's something that the various Linux desktops need to get fixed as well.

        • (Score: 1) by TheLink on Sunday March 02 2014, @12:25PM

          by TheLink (332) on Sunday March 02 2014, @12:25PM (#9554) Journal

          I've actually proposed this and other stuff to them: https://mail.gnome.org/archives/usability/2011-Mar ch/msg00012.html [gnome.org]

          But they're probably too busy with more important stuff like "wobbly windows" and touch UIs.

          I can't find some of the stuff I've proposed any more. Don't know whether it's Google's fault (somehow the search results look very different now) or they are no longer on the sites (which may be since Bing etc don't find them either).

          Then I'd get IE to support something like CSP: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Content_Security_Pol icy [wikipedia.org]
          By the way years before CSP (in 2001/2002?) I personally proposed special tags to disable active content (enclosed between the tags- you need a matching closing tag with the correct random key- to reenable active content) to the W3C and browser bunch but nobody was interested (even my crude proposal would have stopped the various worms that happened later).

          I personally think there's plenty to improve for "desktop computing" and "desktop computing" has still plenty of untapped potential for augmenting humans.

      • (Score: 4, Interesting) by TheLink on Sunday March 02 2014, @12:07PM

        by TheLink (332) on Sunday March 02 2014, @12:07PM (#9544) Journal

        And a bunch of other stuff:
        Better Sandboxing - sandbox templates
        https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/156693 [launchpad.net]

        Direct selection of windows with key combos, and quick mapping+remapping of those combos.
        https://mail.gnome.org/archives/usability/2009-Nov ember/msg00011.html [gnome.org]
        (Windows nowadays does something similar but it is not by window but rather by app which makes it less useful if you have multiple windows open for each app).

        Filesystem encryption enabled by default for at least one container.
        https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/148440 [launchpad.net]
        (the NSA et all will probably be against this)

        I would also prepare for "thought macros" and wearable computing. In the future we would likely control stuff like Google Glass with "thought macros" - associate arbitrary thought patterns and pattern sequences with various actions and "objects". This would allow a more seamless brain/mind augmentation (just think of something and the relevant stuff is recalled/done). Need to also handle stuff such as user falling asleep and "sleepsurfing".

        • (Score: 4, Interesting) by TheLink on Sunday March 02 2014, @12:49PM

          by TheLink (332) on Sunday March 02 2014, @12:49PM (#9560) Journal

          Create a decent way to rename two files/directories at the same time atomically - e.g. it either happens or it doesn't happen at all.

          This allows us to rename:
          NewStuff->ActiveStuff
          ActiveStuff->BackupStuff
          in one atomic step instead of two steps. BTW windows doesn't allow renames of stuff while they are in use (unlike unix/unixlike systems), maybe that could be changed too.

          Next I'd have the windows, microsoft application and compiler people think of better ways for Intel and AMD to use some of the billions of transistors available. Stuff like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transactional_Synchr onization_Extensions [wikipedia.org] are good. Stuff like more cores and cache are meh.

          Make gettimeofday more efficient or create an alternative method for checking "is it time yet" which is very efficient, monotonic, unlikely to rollover/overflow and is not affected by someone changing the system time, or even a "wait till now is >= X or thread interrupt occurred" command.

          Maybe also stuff like making it easier to do Single System Image with lower overheads and latency (yes many people prefer scaling out but I'm sure Microsoft might be able to make $$$$$ from those who prefer not to).

          Lastly, no freezing of the UI just because someone stuck a disc into the DVD drive (or similar). WTF is with that?

          • (Score: 2) by VLM on Sunday March 02 2014, @01:27PM

            by VLM (445) Subscriber Badge on Sunday March 02 2014, @01:27PM (#9582)

            "Lastly, no freezing of the UI "

            How about RTOS-like latency guarantees for the UI thru the entire system. No freezing ever. You fail to respond to a click in 50 ms your process gets killed or the machine rebooted. And by respond I'm not just talking about the "close program X" button or maybe the back button, but everything you do will have some kind of response or interaction at most every 50 ms. Never, ever, freeze up.

            This latency is the primary difference between CLI and GUI programs. GUIs always are implemented with extreme latency and delay and CLIs are always implemented with a fast response UI. Very rare to ever see those "roles" reversed.

          • (Score: 1) by tangomargarine on Monday March 03 2014, @10:30PM

            by tangomargarine (667) on Monday March 03 2014, @10:30PM (#10290)

            Lastly, no freezing of the UI just because someone stuck a disc into the DVD drive (or similar). WTF is with that?

            Kind of like when you load facebook after clearing your cache and it locks your whole OS for an entire minute while it waits on akamaihd.static.somebullshit.net? Good times :D

            --
            "Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by gishzida on Sunday March 02 2014, @11:21AM

    by gishzida (2870) on Sunday March 02 2014, @11:21AM (#9519) Journal
    In no particular order of importance:

    1) The Metro what-is-it UI needs to go. Fire the idiots responsible.

    2) Do not make the OS "touch dependent". A touch desktop is a silly idea.

    3) Remove all of the built in Spyware that is being used to "Monetize Windows".

    4) Dump internet Login to the desktop -- since we now know you are a paid pawn of the NSA we don't trust your ability to pwn a login to your authentication services without breaking a sweat. It won't restore the trust but at least you get to do actual work for your NSA fees.

    5) Dump Internet Explorer. OS integration is a bad idea. As it is designed it is a malware vector.

    6) Stop trying to copy everybody else and do something different: innovate.

    7) Stop rewarding bad software design... your users only end up hating you.

    8) If you seriously are planning on being a hardware company or a services company then spinoff or open source the Windows Desktop.... trying to be a hardware / software / services company isn't going to work for you. Why? Because you have too many "fronts" to be able to be agile enough to be successful.

    9) Want to be successful? Focus on what you are good at. Tablets isn't it.

    10) Stop trying to compete with hardware manufacturers. Face it-- There is no large margin in "commodity electronics". You aren't Apple and your fanbois are used to cheaper hardware. You don't have the Mojo to make make yourself into an "Apple-like" MagicMojo company.

    11) You've pwned the enterprise market and the enterprise has become dependent on you. Don't for get them or the QNX deal is going to be the first of many lost opportunities.

    I've supported Windows OSes for 18 years and used them for 32 years [right along side of Novell and Linux]... MS was savvy and mean in its day but they have burned so many bridges and told so many lies that one wonders if they'll be the next Novell which is to say: carved up and sold out.
    • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 02 2014, @11:37AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 02 2014, @11:37AM (#9526)

      6) Stop trying to copy everybody else and do something different: innovate.

      You claim that Microsoft is not innovative and yet Windows is the only commonly used operating system that is not a blatant Unix clone. Android, Linux, OSX, QNX, all Unix clones. Windows is suffciently non-Unix-like that it requires a compatibility layer like Cygwin just to compile Unix software. The fact is that everybody else is copying Unix while Microsoft is doing something different.

      • (Score: 4, Interesting) by gishzida on Sunday March 02 2014, @12:19PM

        by gishzida (2870) on Sunday March 02 2014, @12:19PM (#9551) Journal
        If you are thinking I am a knee jerk *nix fanboi you've got it wrong. Don't get me wrong I have a house full of Windows machines and still have TechNet subscription until September.... I run apps that *nix cannot because the apps are dependent on the software ecosystem that MS sold to developers [after they had shut out or down other development vendors out of the market].

        Ask yourself honestly: Was Aero innovative? It's MS-OSX. Was Metro innovative? What is innovative about pissing off all of your desktop users? Was the fact that the original Windows IP stack was from BSD innovative? Was MS innovative that copied as much as they could from BSD to get Posix compliance? Was MS innovative when they fumbled on LAN networking and Novell got there first-- It took MS 20 years to kill Novell in the market place and Novell had the still had the better Server product. Was MS innovative that that Novell could get rated as a secure OS by the US Government because of superior directory services and file permissions [even better than *nix] and MS could only get NT certified if it was not plugged in to the network???

        I've used MS OSes and apps for over 30 years and what MS has been most successful [innovative?] at was FUD and their ever favorite "Adopt, Extend, and Exterminate" method of innovation. MS has had the money to undercut or mislead.

        The things MS has done does not "justify" be called innovative. They did not see the need for more than 640K of memory. The did not see what a innovative company could do in the compiler / utility / application space until Borland started kicking them around. Once they applied money and pressure to the market place Borland lost out.

        From that point until the beginning of "the endless Internet summer" MS made sure no one got in their market space.

        For example -- Once upon a time there was a Windows Basic Compiler who's first two versions were impressive enough to draw attention of Computer Associates. CA bought it but when MS realized the threat suddenly CA and MS signed an agreement to allow CA to be come a "solutions partner" and CA quietly killed CA-Realizer which was a better product [I used both Realizer and Visual Basic -- Realizer was a better RAD tool that VB].

        The kind of "burn your bridges innovation" MS used isn't really innovation. Now nearly 20 years into the "public" Internet Era and MS is struggling because they did not innovate. The point is they could have killed all of their current competitors but they did not innovate their way out of their predicament... they thought that their 1-2 punch of OS and Apps was invincible... Until Google and Apple showed them different. So yes MS needs to put on its thinking cap and innovate... or they are history.
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 02 2014, @04:43PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 02 2014, @04:43PM (#9644)

        Isn't it sad that the original mission of the FSF was the grand and glorious vision of producing a Unix clone? And they didn't even completely succeed at that - a college kid from Finland had to do the hardest part for them.

    • (Score: 1) by elgrantrolo on Sunday March 02 2014, @12:37PM

      by elgrantrolo (1903) on Sunday March 02 2014, @12:37PM (#9556) Journal

      I'll try to be less harsh than you were in your critique of MS/Windows 8. I may not succeed :)

      Here's the way I see it: the number of people in your generation of PC users is dwindling and even now is dwarfed by the new generation. For the new generation, a "desktop" is not a useful UI metaphor in the same way that a floppy disk does not represent "saving" anything.

      Mass market surveys tell us that as of 2013/14 people use their smartphones while having sex, while eating and while sitting in the loo. I don't know what could make it more obvious for the people of the "file manager" generation for them to understand that PC, as in "personal computer", MUST include more than the laptop and mini tower form factor.

      In the same way that the power user minority did not stop the PC industry from moving from matte 4:3 screens to 16:9 glossy screens, they will not be the reason to reject the incremental cost of adding a touch screen to the majority of PCs.

      When Microsoft rebuilt the Windows UI with Metro, they realigned their main product with where they think the market will be from now on. It's risky like any other change or innovation. It was criticised in the same way that the previous generations of Windows were: clunky, resource draining, change-for-the-sake-of-change. It was just more obvious now that PCs are for billions of users, rather than for people in computer labs. On the subject of Metro and MS not being good at tablets: For applications built in the olde ways of WIMP, there is still a desktop mode. Those applications will still have plenty of "advanced settings" to play with and will remain the domain of keyboard+mouse. At the same time, there will be more applications built for metro, with larger buttons for touchscreen users, with only a subset of the traditional UI clutter. Standard mouse and touchscreen gestures will become as familiar as pressing ALT-F4 or ALT-TAB. These things were never intuitive, what they did was become familiar.

      Anyone expecting MS to drop Windows RT should also see that this is to miss out on the opportunity to have a big pool of unofficial testers for any ARM version of Windows. It would be a bad move.

      Anyone thinking that MS should drop the consumer market should also notice that the consumer and the enterprise market influence each other. BYOD, the defunct Apple Computer inc. traditionally selling to niches except when it comes to schools are just 2 examples.

      Buyers will always moan about things changing. MS and the other players in this market can't have analysis-paralysis every time that happens. The old PC is dead, just move on.

      • (Score: 2, Insightful) by gishzida on Sunday March 02 2014, @01:30PM

        by gishzida (2870) on Sunday March 02 2014, @01:30PM (#9583) Journal
        Being "of that generation..." is irrelevant unless you consider age of itself is a detracting factor in determining what is "innovative" verses what is actually a "marketing spin and spiel". Having worked in IT [LAN and data center] for as long as I have I don't buy spin much any more. Assuming that Mobile / Tablet is the future is wonderful for those who have IP to sell [movies, books, games, etc]. RT, Android, and iOS have all proven to varying degrees that the mobile market is for content consumption. But a Microsoft TabletOS [of any kind] it is pretty much useless for anyone that is a content creator / software developer / or doing anything which requires "heavy lifting" which low power CPUs do not yet do well. I don't need a touch screen to write software, write a novel, edit a film / video / music mixdown [Win8 touch is not yet supported in the pro A/V apps I'm using...] but I do need speed, memory, drive space. Clouds don't these things well at a reasonable price.

        What is the advantage to a content creator to have something that is not useful [other than to push up the price] What is the value added to pay an extra $200 for something that is not needed? [no killer apps in MS app space... all of the innovative "creative performance" apps stuff is iPad / iOS based]. The Dual Xeon Quad Core workstation on my desk is not a tablet and I don't use it for tablet like things.

        In addition to the desktops I have quite a few tablet / smart phones... all of them running Android. Why just android? Cost. Features. Design.... and innovation. I have not bought into the Apple mystique as I don't particularly like the garden they are keeping.

        MS is playing a catch-up game and so far it keeps stumbling... Vista... then Win 8.0. I am not sold on the idea that MS can actually pull of a transformation to an "Apple clone". The point is why are they trying to do that? Do they really have their ducks in a row to actually beat Apple and Google? I remain unconvinced that becoming more like Apple helps.

        MS might be better off if they focus the Xbox line and make Xbox and RT synonymous... and leave the windows desktop / server / app space a part of the "enterprise space". The problem with their becoming a "hardware company that competes with their OEMs is that it gives the OEM motivation to out innovate MS as Samsung is trying to do to Apple. The net result is that OEMs are breaking their necks to bring out "useful" CromeBooks or Android laptops which undercuts MS in the tablet space.

        So back on point... MS needs to actually do something innovative. Buying Nokia does not make Microsoft into Samsung. Sure they can make money... but Nokia has been taking a beating from the Smart Phone vendors and long term is a losing proposition. Forcing a mobile OS UI onto the desktop is unwise and unwarranted... whereas it just might work with an XboxOS set top computer. Or an "XboxBook". Ultimately I don't much care what MS does... except I'd hate to see them continue to stumble... because before long they will take a fall and stay that way... and I will be sad if that happens.
      • (Score: 2) by bucc5062 on Sunday March 02 2014, @01:41PM

        by bucc5062 (699) on Sunday March 02 2014, @01:41PM (#9589)

        "I'll try to be less harsh than you were in your critique of MS/Windows 8. I may not succeed :)

        Here's the way I see it: the number of people in your generation of PC users is dwindling and even now is dwarfed by the new generation. For the new generation, a "desktop" is not a useful UI metaphor in the same way that a floppy disk does not represent "saving" anything."

        What's this "your generation" crap. Like old people don't have and use smart phones (aka little PCs). LPCs are great, handy, and lousy to work with in the *work* environment. People may use a LPC during sex, but I really doubt they are using it to perform their day to day business. The working world does not revolve around Android, Apple or whatever touch and play device. Perhaps in 10 years there could be a shift, but for now that desktop is still a mainstay for businesses, Enterprise to small size.

        As such, Microsoft's introduction of 8 ()RT) was ill planned and it showed. People who work and use Desktops did not want to change and if they did, found the interface to plain suck. "Your generation" maybe liked it, but only because you don't do actual day to work on it (maybe you do, most don't) and it fit the touch and go or short attention span infecting young minds today.

        MS better approach (removing greed which is pure fantasy) would have been to split the UI while keeping the kernel intact. Desktops run 7 and beyond by default, mobile runs RT by default. Just as they did with 95 and NT (though I will accept they were different engines under the hood). MS had the smarts to pull that off, instead, they got greedy and "chose poorly".

        --
        The more things change, the more they look the same
      • (Score: 2) by TheloniousToady on Sunday March 02 2014, @04:45PM

        by TheloniousToady (820) on Sunday March 02 2014, @04:45PM (#9646)

        Mass market surveys tell us that as of 2013/14 people use their smartphones while having sex, while eating and while sitting in the loo.

        The "and" there really painted an ugly picture in my mind. Still, you're undoubtedly right that somebody's done that.

    • (Score: 2) by VLM on Sunday March 02 2014, @01:32PM

      by VLM (445) Subscriber Badge on Sunday March 02 2014, @01:32PM (#9585)

      "11) You've pwned the enterprise market and the enterprise has become dependent on you."

      How will this turn out better than RIM/Blackberry? Or IBM mainframes circa 1970s. Or Lotus Notes.

      Not saying its impossible, just better have a different plan if you want a different result.

      Enterprise market has traditionally been where companies go to die. Oh they'll make dough for a decade, at most, then bye bye.

      Would it necessarily be bad if no one ever used Windows outside a business environment ever again? The market is rapidly headed that way anyway so may as well encourage the trend.

      • (Score: 2, Insightful) by gishzida on Sunday March 02 2014, @01:55PM

        by gishzida (2870) on Sunday March 02 2014, @01:55PM (#9597) Journal
        Microsoft was so good/evil [depending on how you see them] for so long that businesses will have a real problem if they "fall". For an number of years I worked at a financial institution. The company was not large enough to have their own software development group so they were dependent on small specialty software developers who are "locked in" to Microsoft products / technologies. We went through a wave of visualizing a bunch of servers into a vSphere Cluster... but all of the Server client OSes were Windows.

        You can dumb down a teller workstation to a what is the modern equivalent of a smart terminal [a touch workstation with an Atom CPU running a virtual desktop on a VM host]... but for the end user the OS still needs to be Windows to support all those specialty apps... because you cannot change an Enterprise over night. Enterprises also hate to have to retrain users. You won't see BYOD for a Bank Teller... or any other critical app [medical , military, law enforcement, etc.]. When and if you do you should be seriously question doing business with that company
    • (Score: 1) by Reziac on Monday March 03 2014, @05:06AM

      by Reziac (2489) on Monday March 03 2014, @05:06AM (#9910) Homepage

      "...the next Novell which is to say: carved up and sold out."

      Which began when Novell stopped doing what they were good at and tried to jump on whatever bandwagon went by making the most noise. :(

      --
      And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
    • (Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Monday March 03 2014, @04:25PM

      by Grishnakh (2831) on Monday March 03 2014, @04:25PM (#10102)

      I don't like any of these suggestions. Here's my suggestion:

      Shut down the company and give the cash back to the shareholders.

      That's what I want to see Microsoft do. Nothing less.

  • (Score: 5, Interesting) by Marand on Sunday March 02 2014, @11:46AM

    by Marand (1081) on Sunday March 02 2014, @11:46AM (#9528) Journal

    Like the subject says: rather than provide an OS, I'd prefer seeing some sort of win32/win64 userland made to work with other platforms, like Linux and OS X. Basically, an MS-blessed version of wine that can run atop different operating systems and run windows executables.

    Microsoft could ditch the operating system problems and dev costs, pawn off some of their security problems to the kernel devs, and focus on providing a solid application environment and services, instead. If done right, they could pitch is as a more reliable, faster alternative to wine or Cedega's Cider (for macs).

    Alternately, I'd love it if Microsoft either ditched Dirext3D for OpenGL, or did something to help improve the quality of Direct3D in virtual machines. I don't mind Windows games and apps, or closed-source software, I just don't really want to live with Microsoft's operating system just to use them, and running it virtualised has limited effectiveness currently.

    ---

    For a slightly less ridiculous want: I'd settle for more configurable, sane window management; virtual desktops; better access to system innards and logs; and alternative taskbar options

    • (Score: 1) by caseih on Sunday March 02 2014, @08:55PM

      by caseih (2744) on Sunday March 02 2014, @08:55PM (#9732)

      It's just not that simple. The "userland" is highly tied to the Windows kernel. Just ask the wine developers. They have to emulate large parts of the windows nt kernel to get windows apps to run under wine. A windows app is far more than just calls to draw a gui. There are process creation and management calls, synchronization primitives, etc, all provided by the kernel, that often don't correspond 1:1 with what is available on other operating systems. WaitForMultipleObjects() is a prime example. Not impossible of course. But I'm just saying it means MS will be reimplementing large parts of the NT kernel on top of another OS' kernel. There is precedent for this: MS basically did this to produce Internet Explorer for Unix. But there's absolutely no reason for MS to ever want to do this when their own operating system works just fine, and already is everywhere. Porting it to OSX or Linux would be silly.

      • (Score: 1) by Marand on Monday March 03 2014, @01:27AM

        by Marand (1081) on Monday March 03 2014, @01:27AM (#9854) Journal

        Yeah, I understand that, and realise it's not trivial at all. However, if they're looking into giving out a version of Windows for free (and bundling services with), like the rumours going around are claiming, then it might be worth the investment (long-term) just to ditch the OS side and let someone else deal with providing an OS for free.

        Hell, they could build off what wine's already done and clean up the messier parts and various stubs that exist because the wine devs are trying to match a black box, where the Windows devs actually created the black box and know how it should work.

        Even if they decide to keep the OS business, I'd love to see something like that done. Their apps could be considered cross-platform then, and they could pitch the platform as an alternative to using things like Qt and Java.

        Not that it matters; it's just a pipe-dream item for a wish-list topic, so I wasn't worrying about feasibility. It's what *I* would like to see done, not what I expect to ever actually happen.

        Now, the bit about Windows guest VM improvements for non-Windows hosts is less pipe-dream, and I'd still love to see that as an alternative.

    • (Score: 1) by var on Sunday March 02 2014, @11:08PM

      by var (1792) on Sunday March 02 2014, @11:08PM (#9810)

      I think Microsoft made big mistake, when they did not release .NET for linux, then killed Silverlight and finally chose HTML 5 in Windows 8. NET could have been THE platform for desktop, for mobile devices and for web.

  • (Score: 3, Funny) by Skarjak on Sunday March 02 2014, @02:16PM

    by Skarjak (730) on Sunday March 02 2014, @02:16PM (#9604)

    Some people think Windows 8 is the product of a genius? I think I learned something today...

    • (Score: 1) by CowboyTeal on Wednesday March 26 2014, @05:40AM

      by CowboyTeal (15) on Wednesday March 26 2014, @05:40AM (#21350)

      Evil Genius is still a genius.

      --
      Getting siggy with it.
  • (Score: 4, Interesting) by mcgrew on Sunday March 02 2014, @02:27PM

    by mcgrew (701) <publish@mcgrewbooks.com> on Sunday March 02 2014, @02:27PM (#9607) Homepage Journal

    I'm running Kubuntu on my main tower and W7 on this notebook. Windows needs feature parity with Linux. I can shut the tower's power off over night and just hit the power switch in the morning. It logs me in and reopens everything that was opened when I shut it down.

    Windows hides stuff from the user. Example, the first notebook like this one (later stolen from me in a burglary) it took me two months to find out how to shut off that awful "tap to click" feature. Rather than being in mouse control in the control panel, it was a dozen clicks down in an obscure, unlabeled icon in the tray.

    I installed Linux on that one, it took one minute to disable tap to click.

    The old joke used to be "your mouse has moved. You must now restart your computer." Windows has improved in this regard, but not nearly enough. In Linux you only have to reboot for hardware repair or kernel update. With Windows you have to restart it, sometimes twice, every time you install or remove a program. You have to reboot every single month on Patch Tuesday. With Linux, if there's an update you get a notification, one click and it updates while you continue doing what you were doing.

    But the stupid part is, it wouldn't be so bad if I didn't have to shut down all my files with a reboot, nor open them back up.

    I think rebooting is my biggest gripe with Windows. That, and I want my tools to be obedient. I shouldn't have to fight an OS to get it to do what I want it to.

    --
    mcgrewbooks.com mcgrew.info nooze.org
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 02 2014, @05:10PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 02 2014, @05:10PM (#9660)

      I can shut the tower's power off over night and just hit the power switch in the morning. It logs me in and reopens everything that was opened when I shut it down.

      1) Why not use hibernate?

      2) The tap to click "feature" is often controlled by the touchpad software.

      • (Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Monday March 03 2014, @04:31PM

        by Grishnakh (2831) on Monday March 03 2014, @04:31PM (#10104)

        2) The tap to click "feature" is often controlled by the touchpad software.

        That's another highly annoying thing about Windows. It's not consistent machine-to-machine, because hardware vendors load it up with a bunch of crapware tied to their hardware. Why should I need to use vendor-specific crapware to configure a touchpad, rather than using a configuration module built into the OS and accessible in Control Panel, which looks and works the same no matter what machine I'm on (assuming it has a touchpad)? On Linux, it's all the same; the userspace programs are part of the OS distro (KDE for instance has its own touchpad configuration module), and work using standardized interfaces with device drivers for devices from different vendors.

      • (Score: 1) by EvilJim on Wednesday March 05 2014, @12:40AM

        by EvilJim (2501) on Wednesday March 05 2014, @12:40AM (#11081) Journal

        1) because hibernate != reboot

    • (Score: 1) by umafuckitt on Sunday March 02 2014, @07:58PM

      by umafuckitt (20) on Sunday March 02 2014, @07:58PM (#9715)

      Absolutely. The rebooting is nuts. I recently had to do a couple of fresh Win 7 installs and the whole process takes A G E S because after it's installed it has to download updates. It downloads a few then it reboots. Then downloads a few more then reboots again. Painfully slow. Furthermore, there's still no way to uninstall multiple applications at once. So removing the crapware from a laptop can take an hour or so.

  • (Score: 0, Redundant) by east2idaho on Sunday March 02 2014, @03:39PM

    by east2idaho (3553) on Sunday March 02 2014, @03:39PM (#9629)

    They need to stop thinking like a monopolist.

    When MS introduced Windows 3.x, MS knew how to compete on features. The versions of Word and Excel available for MSWin 3.x were swiss army knives - able to open any remotely compatible files from competitors. Once MS drove a stake through the heart of WordPerfect and Lotus, the later MSOffice releases could not even open files from previous versions of the same applications. The difference was that in MSWin 3.x, MS was trying to convince their users to adopt their software. Once MS got critical market share, their focus changed from being useful to driving their users to spend more money on upgrades.

    As a monopolist, MS could depend on user lock in, and do horrible things to their users in order to make it harder to switch to alternatives - with the assumption that their users had no other effective choices. Once a monopolist mindset takes hold in the corporate culture, it is hard to break out.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 02 2014, @07:15PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 02 2014, @07:15PM (#9709)

      absolutely agree. monopolist mindsets are terrible for a company.
      i'm starting to see that in my current employer. they once were #1 in their market and developed all their own proprietary internal protocols and technology. now, years later, competitors are eating their lunch using industry standards. i've had marketing people say in meetings 'if we use industry standards, why would people buy from us?'. obviously, our marketing people have been relying on proprietary lock-in to keep our customers around for years, and that's about to end, and they have no clue how to sell without it.
      idiots.

  • (Score: 3, Funny) by zero_cool on Sunday March 02 2014, @03:50PM

    by zero_cool (2924) on Sunday March 02 2014, @03:50PM (#9630)

    Fork Debian and call it windows 9

  • (Score: 2, Interesting) by istartedi on Sunday March 02 2014, @06:06PM

    by istartedi (123) on Sunday March 02 2014, @06:06PM (#9686) Journal

    1. Revert desktop GUI to Windows 7 style, install Metro on appropriate devices only.
    2. BSD-based system that runs legacy applications (let's get real, they won't touch GPL code).
    4. Full Visual Studio suite a free download for anybody.
    5. No more crippled "Home" editions. One Windows, fully supported.
    6. Subscription-based patch support available after fixed-term EOL (e.g., free patches for 5, then you pay).

    If I had to give up one of these it'd actually be (2) the BSD-based system. Being compatible
    with the *NIX world (CRLF, bleh!) would be nice; but it would be a huge technical challenge
    to support legacy apps. They shouldn't give that up under any circumstance, since inertia is
    a huge part of their following.

    --
    Appended to the end of comments you post. Max: 120 chars.
    • (Score: 2, Insightful) by istartedi on Sunday March 02 2014, @06:12PM

      by istartedi (123) on Sunday March 02 2014, @06:12PM (#9688) Journal

      7. No more secure boot or any other crap that could brick hardware.
      8. Get rid of "hide file extensions of known file types" and other insecure defaults.

      --
      Appended to the end of comments you post. Max: 120 chars.
    • (Score: 1) by tangomargarine on Monday March 03 2014, @10:42PM

      by tangomargarine (667) on Monday March 03 2014, @10:42PM (#10298)

      Honestly I'm kind of curious why Linux doesn't just give up and default to CRLF in everything. I mean, CRLF should work perfectly on everything, basically, shouldn't it?

      Hmm...I didn't realize that Windows is basically the only major consumer system that uses non-LF. Classic Macs used CR and all the rest is historical or embedded/technical stuff the average consumer could give a flying fuck about.

      --
      "Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
      • (Score: 2) by istartedi on Wednesday March 05 2014, @04:51AM

        by istartedi (123) on Wednesday March 05 2014, @04:51AM (#11183) Journal

        A lot of the upper layer Internet standards like POP3 use CRLF. HTTP uses it. The interesting thing is that there is what they call the "robustness principle" in these protocols. Developers were advised to "generate conservatively and accept liberally". So. At one point I had to write an analyzer that accepted bare LF from a server written by Netscape. That, BTW, was not my only bad experience with code written by Netscape. I've heard some people say that the robustness principle actually leads to things not being robust. I think more people now are of a mind that you should reject anything that is malformed, thus compelling people to generate conservatively. I guess you could say the robustness principle is half broken: "generate conservatively" == good. "accept liberally"==bad. Trouble is, people didn't want implementations that would display error messages. They wanted it to "just work", so you get bloat to deal with all the crap that people generate, a larger attack surface for malware, etc... and the rest is history.

        Anyway, I digress. CRLF is in a lot of RFCs. I don't know who lead the charge on that. Perhaps nobody. Perhaps it's because there was a culture of graybeards that actually tested early protocols on line-printers and it just stuck.

        --
        Appended to the end of comments you post. Max: 120 chars.
  • (Score: 1) by Boxzy on Sunday March 02 2014, @08:37PM

    by Boxzy (742) on Sunday March 02 2014, @08:37PM (#9726) Journal

    It needs one, instead of that travesty I'm forced to use in windows 7.
    On XP I used Directory Opus for many happy years.

    Twin file windows, scripting, you can use dual folder trees.. oh so many useful things.

    NOW, when I'm doing major filesystem rearrangement I'm furious all the time. Here's an example, I want to copy or move hundreds of files from five separate folders on one HD to a different set of five folders on another HD. In Opus its easy, open each HD in a file browser window, right click and drag. In windows explorer, you have to open two copies of explorer.exe and the instant a copy operation completes ONE OF THEM CLOSES! FUCK YOU MS! stop closing programs I opened!

    --
    Go green, Go Soylent.
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 02 2014, @09:32PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 02 2014, @09:32PM (#9750)

    at the very least make paths /look/like/this

  • (Score: 1) by Hell_Rok on Sunday March 02 2014, @11:20PM

    by Hell_Rok (2527) on Sunday March 02 2014, @11:20PM (#9820) Homepage

    Work towards making everything work mostly independent.

    For instance, I should just be able to replace the window manager or desktop environment with one that works better for me.

  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by NovelUserName on Sunday March 02 2014, @11:47PM

    by NovelUserName (768) on Sunday March 02 2014, @11:47PM (#9826)

    Get rid of 'Charms.' First, this is a clumsy interface for a desktop/laptop. Menues work much better, let me use them without going through a layer of tablet interface. Second WTF is a 'charm!?' I get what menus and icons do, those names carry information about what the thing is. But I'm not at Hogwarts, so I have no idea what a charm is doing on my computer.

  • (Score: 1) by qwade on Monday March 03 2014, @12:36AM

    by qwade (1006) on Monday March 03 2014, @12:36AM (#9837)

    1. Never ever allow an application to bring itself to focus. Flash the taskbar, put a popup in the application window but don't switch from whatever I'm using to another app because it requests it. Goddamn that annoys me.

    2. Explorer UI to be re-written asynchronously. Sweet $deity the number of times I've had to wait for it to finish waiting for a response from something I don't care about (usually a mis-click on the empty dvd/cd drive). And if once instance locks up, all its siblings join it in a show of solidarity ... *muttermutter*

    • (Score: 1) by Solaarius on Monday March 03 2014, @05:58AM

      by Solaarius (127) on Monday March 03 2014, @05:58AM (#9917)

      YES!

      On my (Win8) work machine, I am constantly interrupted in the middle of typing something because of some completely unimportant pop-up.

      Would love it if there was no way for something innocuous to disrupt both my train of thought and my actual typing.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 03 2014, @12:40AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 03 2014, @12:40AM (#9840)

    This bullshit is why I no longer run Windows. More than once, I have had a perfectly good computer bricked because Microsoft suddenly decided it was no longer "genuine". I mostly run Linux, but still have some programs which don't yet work with Wine. Plus, having up to date Windows skills is still useful for me. But not if I have to go to TPB to get a cracked version of an O/S I already have. It just isn't worth the hassle.
     

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 03 2014, @04:18AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 03 2014, @04:18AM (#9900)

      The day I heard about product activation on an OS was the day I made a commitment to assure that another dime of mine never made it to Redmond.

      When I heard about M$'s dumb blame-the-user [google.com] attempt at copying sudo with Visduh, that convinced me that I had made the right decision.

      As for WGA, if I want my OS to be annoying, I can install that "feature" myself [linuxgenui...antage.org].

      ...and if you can get your system working by twiddling bits and you don't need soldering equipment, your system is NOT "bricked".

      -- gewg_

  • (Score: 1) by fadrian on Monday March 03 2014, @01:07AM

    by fadrian (3194) on Monday March 03 2014, @01:07AM (#9850) Homepage

    Different devices have different UI capabilities and the UI must change depending upon what is/isn't available. So make them react differently depending on what the hardware does.

    For instance, on a system with no touchscreen or touchpad for gestures, make the system act like Windows 7 and put whatever applicious interface onto Win 7 that you want. On a laptop with a touchpad or no touchscreen, add gestures, except when the touchpad is disabled; if it is disabled, have the device revert to a Win 7-like interface. If it's a laptop with a touchscreen, make it work like a tablet unless the touchscreen is disabled. That takes care of about 40% of the issue.

    The other 40% is about the stupid side swipe/active corners that are undocumented and (like most newer devices) has no commonality with any other device and bring up the equivalent of modal dialogs to disrupt workflow. Have these easily disabled. Have a personalization setting that makes all of the new stuff simple to remove without visiting three different screens buried two or three levels deep in the control panel.

    Of course, what do I know? I am not a UI "designer".

    --
    That is all.
  • (Score: 1) by HiThere on Monday March 03 2014, @01:26AM

    by HiThere (866) Subscriber Badge on Monday March 03 2014, @01:26AM (#9853) Journal

    I stopped using MSWind, even taking early retirement, to avoid agreeing to the MSWind2000 EULA. Apple soon copied enough of the bad features that I also dropped Apple. Now I won't even LOOK at a MSWind computer for someone. I'm a bit more flexible about Apple, as the last time I read their EULA it wasn't quite as bad. But I won't do anything that requires me to click an accept button.

    P.S.: IANAL, so perhaps to a lawyer they aren't quite as bad as they appear. But they could as easily be worse, so I just won't touch them.

    --
    Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.