The five pillars of Windows 7 (Part 1: Specialized for Laptops)

I am glad that Microsoft is taking a strong stance on the notebook and mobile experiences. Considering that I use my notebook much more these days than my desktop, I hope that Microsoft does stick with these pillars. Unfortunately in Vista, we lost a few pillars that only got done in SP1. I am really hoping that Windows Seven captures the Windows 95 and 2000 magic we lost thanks to vunerabilities in XP and file copy issues in Vista. Here are a few things I'd like seen done in Windows Seven to put us back on top. 1. Major improvements in WMP. I think a lot of the functionality that we have in the Media Center and in iTunes needs to be adapted to WMP. We should have iPod sync and functionality added to WMP. If Apple refuses then remind them that a monopoly is illegal. To avoid those issues they should allow WMP to sync to iPod, have access to the Apple Store, all iTunes playback options, and open the iPod up to other stores. If not, take them to court and get it through legal means. Second, better built in DVD, downloaded movie content, and HD content. Allow a zoom function that takes away widescreen bars and blows up movies like the Xbox 360's function. Make sure all digital downloads have closed captioning and subtitle support in Seven. Make the next WMP fully compatable and functional with Blu-Ray and HD downloads. Third, an even better UI and a much better cover flow (Which Microsoft did before iTunes, Thank You Very Much.), with the entire cover with pages and addtional details. Have the digital library automatically assign better meta tags for year, genre, crossgenre's, etc... Fouth, a major overhaul of the equalizer in WMP is way overdue. I think the equalizer in iTunes is way better than WMP. Fix it so the equalizer functions a lot better, greater genre preset settings, much greater sound quality, and better recodnition and control with different speaker configurations. 2. Windows Version of iLife. Microsoft should develop and implement a new users suite much like Office that is specific to digital media. Photos, Music, Video, Website, etc... Except do it better than iLife. More functionality with less resources and code bloat. Better tie-in for third party options to avoid anti-trust issues. Find fuctionality that iLife does have and tie it in. Perhaps access to digital photo studios such as Kodak, Wal-Mart, Walgreens, CVS, and other photo retail outlets. Greater access to music tools that studios use. Windows has always had great 3rd party midi programs, how about a first party one that does it better. A major overhaul of Windows Movie Maker that trumps everything Apple is capable of. Including hiring former Apple programmers to give MS the edge. A nice coup would be to get Steve Wozniak to act as a consultant for this suite and making the total OS more likeable to Apple users. Make this Windows Digital Suite free to Ultimate users who pay for it as well as other Microsoft digital suites. (A student version of Office free would be nice in this suite package.) 3. New Video Game format. Windows needs to create a new platform for playing PC games that keeps the security up but gets the OS out of the way. Resolve all the issues from Vista and XP and better interoptability with 3rd party developers and stores. Also since Microsoft is owner of the Xbox platform, create a virtual Xbox application to play Xbox, 360, and other games directly in Windows. Direct access to the Xbox Live Store/platform would be a nice coup. 4. Strip WGA/DRM out of Windows. I think the only verification should be the OS install/reinstall proccess, service packs, and Microsoft related software. Get the rest of it out of Windows and keep it out. Its merely a hinderance and doesn't solve the greater issues of piracy. Best way to resolve piracy issues, lower the price in 3rd World Markets and heavily pirated markets. 5. Overhaul of the EULA agreement. I think the EULA is way too restrictive and is due for a major change over. First, lets start by not allowing Microsoft access to our PC's. Second, change that both the user and Microsoft jointly administer the Windows OS but that any code changes must be approved by Microsoft. Third, allow that a puchase of the Microsoft OS or Software allows you to install on 2 computers. This stuff is expensive and Microsoft needs to throw us a bone here. Include 2 product keys in each products so that any combination of 2 computers can install the suite. Also a family 4 pack with a discounted sale price would be very nice on both the OS and software products. Also, an addon to family pack for multiple computers would be nice. Allowing users greater access to speed up or slow down certain operations would be a major improvement. 6. Simplify the SKU's of Windows Seven. I think the 5 versions of Vista were completely unnecessary. Using a combination of what we had with XP and Vista it should be down to three. Home Premium(With Media Center Basic edition and all the security and tools of Ultimate.), Professional(Business and Enterprise Mixed into one that does the functionality of both, and Ultimate (With Media Center Advanced version and free access to suite options). 7. New System Tools. I would love to see something that helps you clean up your system but much more organized. Also a registry analysis and cleanup tool would be great. Build a Tweak UI that becomes an optional update would be a welcome change. Part of the clean up tool would be an install/uninstaller manager thats better than the existing one. Install/uninstall manager should keep track of every file associated with an install and away to delete or repair every file. 8. Remove code bloat. Nobody will argue that Vista was a monster. It ate up too much HD space and the 512 MB was just a bit too high for older machines. Now make sure that if you recommend 512 MB that the system runs a lot better than Vista did on launch. Shrinking down the core of Windows and all subsequent applications would do wonders to win over Apple and Linux diehards. 9. Windows Email Client improvements. I am sick of having a windows email client that can't even access hotmail! I think we as users should push Yahoo, Hotmail (Thats you, Microsoft!), and other ones to function inside a Windows Email Client. Do whatever security arrangements you have to with the vendors, but get it done. 10. Built in DVR in Media Center. Lets actually have this as an option that gets us free access to TV listings, preprogramming in advance, and options for standard definition and HD. Get with the video card makers nVidia and ATI to include HDMI, DVI, cable, and other prongs on all cards. Also, it would be nice if these video card makers included HD tuner built in cards and antenna to recieve the content. Microsoft could create new API's for this content and work with Intel, AMD, nVidia, ATI, and others to get this done. 11. IPTV. Its time to get everyone onboard with this. As long as you have internet, you should have access to HD IPTV signals with every local station and cable channel on this one. People pay for stuff all the time for content. Throw everyone who has internet a free bone here. I'm sure there are others, this is just a list to get the discussion going. I know a lot of this won't get into Windows Seven, but this is a wishlist that I hope Microsoft looks at. Enjoy.

Will there be virtual desktops (ala Linux or Mac) for which I have been waiting since Windows XP?

Actually, CodePlex has a newer version that's also compatible with Vista (but still compatible with XP too): http://www.codeplex.com/vdm it's a release candidate, but they say it's almost complete. worth a look anyway.