Windows 7 Feature Wishlist

Who knows, MS might be listening

As the title says, just list down features that aren't included in the beta, but you feel should be included in the final release.

Mine goes as follows:

• Aero peek for other browsers, like FF and Chrome - as it is now, Aero Peek only works for tabs in IE8, but not for other browsers. Or does this improvement have to come from the makers of the browsers and not from Microsoft? Whatever.
• Make sticky notes a gadget, not its own program - I don't want sticky notes taking up one icon in my taskbar...

Well, that's just it from me, for now.

It can be anything, from serious improvements to minor suggestions.

 

I believe that the app needs to be coded for aero peek support.

Greg

 

For the Aero Peek for the other browsers, that support has to come from the makers of the browsers themselves. Not Microsoft.

I'd like virtual desktop support in Windows 7, as I tend to have some 20 windows open during development under Vista. Granted, there are several freeware tools available that provide this but I'd like it to be built-in to Windows 7. Some cool animations to go along with switching desktops would be nice too.

 

I'd like a custom taskbar, i guess mods for this will come in time.

 

- I think that it should be easier to revert to the old style of taskbar.

- Messenger should be in the system tray where is belongs.

Hmm.. I'll think of more later.

Greg

 

You can get messenger in the system tray by running in vista compatibility mode.

 

This less of Windows 7 wish and more a future OS wish, but make it more web based. Why bother having a desktop at all? What good does do other than display a custom photo? Why not have a web browser as your "desktop" if you will? With more and more things like iGoogle and whatever MS's version of it is called why not make then your desktop? I'd rather have all my RSS feeds and weather than a picture I never look at anyway and icons I never use. And realize that Windows 7 does this with gadgets on the desktop in a way, but if you made the desktop web-based you could access it from anywhere.

Another nice feature would be a instant-on light version of Windows that has a web browser, email, IM, and word processor. If you need to do more just switch full version, if don't use the light version and save power.

 

That seems to be more of a linux based solution...

 

Yes, or it will be soon anyway with more instant-on OSs coming out, but how many people will really download and install Linux? Would it really be all that hard for MS to just to make it a standard feature?

 

Agree with the option to revert to the old style task bar. It should be an option in the settings menu, a simple check mark should revert it back to the classic style.

 

I stand corrected Maybe the popularity of the beta will push Mozilla/Google to update their browsers for Aero Peek compatibility? Or am I pushing it?

Ok, this may not have to do with the OS itself but Microsoft, please please please, 2 versions is enough. Home and Professional. Period. Call it whatever you want, just make sure to stick to these two target markets. Home for personal use, Professional for business use. Agree or disagree?

 

I agree, although, I wouldn't be upset if they added Ultimate that has both the home and business features. Anything beyond those three though is too much. Maybe calling it Home & Business rather Ultimate might be less confusing though.

 

I think that those are the versions, plus one for netbooks.

Or so I've read.

And I realize that Messenger can be put in the system tray via compatibility mode, but it should be by default.

Greg

 

I want the battery to show percentage or time left in the battery bar instead of just the symbol. I hate having to download something to show that.

 

If I hover the the mouse over the battery symbol it shows percentage left.

 

I'd like to be able to have the option to just have the time without date on the taskbar. I have seen one screen shot of 7 with only time but I haven't figured out if it can be done without messing with registries.

 

I know, I want it to show the percentage without me having to do it.

 

Indepent toolbar for each monitor.

Multiple workspaces.

 

I'd have to g for the multiple desktops/workspaces, I men even osX finally got it when will windows wake up to this one .
Second in importance is default opton in all windows to make it stay on top of other windows, mkes it so much easier in a lot of things to be able to just stick a window on top...

 

I think you can do this in Windows as well but its not like a default option of the OS. If you want it then you would have to get it, kind of like Windows Live.

What do you mean by sticking a window on top

 

Simultanious Multi-Focus and Multi-Input.

 

Do you mean like just an Active Desktop (think Windows 98/IE4 where you could have a live web page as your wallpaper) or an actual web-based OS where your stuff would be accessible from a web browser on any machine? Because isn't Microsoft Azure supposed to incorporate some of the latter? I admit that I'm confused by Azure, but it seems to me to be sort of a cloud-based desktop from anywhere sort of thing. Is that what you mean?

The instant-on thing might be cool, especially on a notebook. Most desktops are probably on all the time anyway, but it'd be handy to just fire up your notebook in 5 seconds and check your email. There are actually some ASUS desktop motherboards that do this with Linux embedded on a chip. Instant on access to a web browser and internet connection. I don't have one of these boards, so I can't comment on the usefellness of it. But I'd bet that if MS came up with a similar BIOS-based mini-OS, they could get motherboard makers to run with it. Seems like a good idea.

 

a built in ISO burner...

 

Windows 7 already has a built in ISO burner. All you have to do is double-click on any DVD or CD ISO image then you will see a little helpful applet that will enable you to burn the image to a blank disc.

 

Multiple desktops would be a very welcome feature for me.

Also, "rolling up" of windows as available in several Linux desktop environments - double-click (or some other mouse input) and the contents of the window disappear except for the window's titlebar - would also be useful. I find that feature quite useful in certain cases.

 

Might happen for Firefox or Chrome, though if it requires a specific Win7 version I doubt it'll happen. Microsoft can make multiple versions of IE without too much difficulty (64-bit, 32-bit, IE6 for Win98, IE6 for XP - a version number only tells so much), but most other browsers have one version for each platform. Look at Firefox 2 - half a year after FF3 and it's no longer supported. IE6 is still supported and probably will be for quite awhile yet. I especially doubt Opera will support this, as it already has tab previews (even on Windows 95!), if somewhat slow ones, and it's the lone common browser that still supports all the 32-bit versions of Windows. But although I liked it with IE with 2 tabs running, for a main browser like Opera is for me I don't think I'll miss it much. I never use the previews now, anyway - I just use the title of the tab, or the icon if the tab bar is crowded.

The one thing I miss most so far is the WMP Toolbar. The one-click play/pause/forward/backward buttons are simply more convenient than the preview's wait-for-the-preview, then click buttons. I generally use the media buttons on my laptop instead anyway (just did it this sentence without even thinking of it first), so I can live without it, but it's still nice when my hand is on the mouse. Or if I didn't have the dedicated media buttons. So I think it's certainly a nice option to have.

You can try the XP Power Toy for multiple desktops and see if that works. I'm running XP at the moment so I can't test it immediately, but some of those tools at least ought to work on any version of Windows, provided there's not version checking.

Which reminds me, the XP Powertoy Calculator would be really nice to have in Windows 7 if the existing one doesn't work. The new functionality in the Win7 Calculator is nice, but the graphing capabilities of the XP one will be much more handy for me in practice. *adds to wish list*

I have to disagree on the "rolling up" feature - that was my favorite removed feature between Mandriva 2008.1 and Mandriva 2009.0. I'd rather have the ability to quickly maximize or unmaximize by double-clicking - half the time unmaximizing is good enough to get at whatever might be behind the window that's on top. But really, it's much more convenient to just use the Taskbar (or Alt-Tab) to get to whatever other program you want rather than minimizing/un-maximizing/"rolling up" a program. Usually it saves a click; it rarely would add one unless you have tons of programs open.

If you're minimizing to get at desktop icons, there are probably more efficient methods to open whatever program you want. I set up shortcuts to my most-used programs in a folder that's in the system path in XP so I can just do Win+R (Run), and type "opera" or "civ3" or something similarly short to open a program; Vista and Win7 offer typing in from the start menu that is about the same quickness and saves the trouble of setting it up or typos. And probably at least half the time the program you want will be in the most-used list on the Start menu. I keep hardly any icons on the desktop these days.

I'll admit some of my antipathy towards the "rollup" feature is from MacOS 9 when it repeatedly made me think a program was closed when it wasn't, or not stating up when it should be (but actually was already started but rolled up). And that generally everything in MacOS 9 got a bad taste from all the bombs in the operating system (the OS 9 equivalent of bluescreens or Guru Meditation). But even in Mandriva 2008, I find myself wanting to maximize more often than looking at what's behind a program. Certainly multiple desktops helps with this - with five desktops I can spread my work out all I like and not have overlapping windows - but the Start menu certainly wasn't inconvenient in Mandriva, either, and it's a far cry from XP's, let alone Windows Seven's.

Which reminds me of a Mandriva feature I would like to see: tabs in the Command Prompt. It's immensely more handy than having a whole bunch of windows open, just as it is in browsers. Mandriva 2009 improves on them with having new ones open in the same folder as the previous one you were on, and it'd be nice if Microsoft got that right the first time around.

There's at least one more feature that was either added or removed in Vista from XP that I'd like to see remove/added, but I can't think of it now - forgot it while typing about Mandriva. Might come back to me later.

 

I'm not really sure what I mean anymore. Probably something between to too. The desktop just feels like wasted space to me.

The instant on is what I'd really like to see. I've been looking for a instant-on OS and have yet to find one I like. Slashtop, isn't widely available, and can only be used on select systems, HpyerSpace, I hate the subscription plan, Latitude-On, aside from only being on select Latitudes is at this point just plan bad. I do have a little hope for Cloud by gOS though. Still if MS would just one, and one that would sync and work well with Windows I'd be really nice.

 

you know, this nice feature where you right click on a window title bar on in the menu and select stay on top (or float in other OS's) and if you do it you can make any window just stay on top of all other windows? For example, lets say I have a word document opened and I'm writing with it full screen but I would still like to have a terminal window on top of that even if it's not in focus to monitor something. Or maybe a messenger window or a browser with a tv program. It's a really useful thing to be able to put whichever application to stay on top of everything. So far in windows you can only do that with a select few (like real player and I think media player) but in most OS's this option is a default action in a window title bar menu.

 

One feature that I'd like to see is the ability to "break-away" the notification area of the taskbar to somewhere else, or even hiding it altogether.

 

I second that.

I have been using a light multiple desktop program Virtual Dimension on XP, but it doesn't seem to work well on W7.

I also need more Desktop customization options, like those you have in Linux (KDE or Gnome). The fat frames of opened windows on W7 are simply not acceptable for me work customs.

 

What I want is quite simple: I just want my folder options to stay the way I set them. Vista's arbitrary reordering of my folder properties has annoyed me more than anything else about it. If I set my folder to 'Document' view, then that's how I want it to stay. I don't want to open that same folder a day later to find that it is in 'Large Icon' view or some other view that I did not specify. Does that belong in this thread?

 

I want the ability to play my blu-rays in the media center. I love everything else about my HPTC, just not that one thing.

 

A way to bake fresh cookies straight from the optical drive

Realistically though, I wish they brought back software explorer which was a part of Windows Defender. Made it easier to deactivate startup programs.

 

For sure the battery display time, I depend on that when I'm off the charger

 

Notebook Hardware Control does it for me (+ adds some extra juice after undervolting). It works under W7beta, thought I am not able yet to make it to auto startup.

 

it is solvable and documented how on www.treakguides.com or so (they have a special vista thread that's awesome).

dunno if win7 is any better in that regard..

 

I was wrong here! Someone in another thread has pointed it out to me that the desktop customization is possible from Control Panel > Personalization > Widows Color. So, M$oft has already fulfilled in W7 one of my wishes. Cudos to Bill.

 

Thanks, Dave. I'm definitely going to take a look at this.

 

me too.

MS should include native h264 support.

 

It is. I haven't had any problems with Explorer not remembering folder settings.

Also, the fix for Vista never really worked for me...

 

I agree with Matt - Win7 does seem to have fixed that big problem. At least I haven't noticed it forgetting anything yet - and considering how often Vista did, that probably means it's fixed. But if it weren't, that would definitely belong here.

The Vista "fixes" never worked for me, either, but I quit Vista after SP1 Beta. That it still isn't fixed is appalling - using XP you get so used to the OS remembering stuff like that, and they've been leaving that broken for two years now in Vista!?!? Maybe that'll be one of the hotfixes in Vista SP2 - it certainly should be. But that's something I'd believe when I saw it (were I still using Vista).

Vista SP2 is supposed to include native Blu-Ray writing, so it's plausible Win7 Media Center, or even Vista SP2 Media Center, will have native Blu-Ray playback support.

 

I hear you, Apollo. I sure hope that they address the problem with SP2, but my gut feeling is that they will not. I don't know why I feel that way, but I do. It's so annoying. Just today, I set up a folder to 'Document' view and closed it. I went back to it literally 5 minutes later, and it was automatically set to a different view. That's just ridiculous and annoying.

Also, I've read around between the time I made the post that you responded to, and many, like you, have reported that the fixes did not work for them either. I don't think that I'm going to waste my time. I'll just patiently wait for SP2 and, further down the line, W7. We'll see what happens.