Images purported to show Windows 8 are making the tech news rounds. Microsoft's next OS release is still likely to be at least a year away, and you can be sure to find the first fact-based coverage on it here at PCMag.com when it becomes a reality confirmed by Microsoft. You can also read about the leaked views of Windows 8. We can think of a bunch of things that we'd like to see in the next version of Windows, and the Office "ribbon," which features prominently in the supposedly leaked images, while nice, isn't among the most important.
Microsoft needs to make some aggressive moves with its flagship OS if it wants to stem the tide of Mac "switchers." Below are my 20 suggestions for Windows 7's successor. Of course, while it's partly a pie-in-the-sky list, some items here seem to be on Microsoft's roadmap, and so have a good chance of making it into the OS. Not everything on Microsoft's roadmaps always makes it into each release, however (many of the original goals for Windows Vista famously fell by the development wayside).
Read my list—which is broken into wishes for performance improvements, hardware support, software support, and system tools—then let me know in the comments below the story which of my Windows 8 desiderata are the most important to you, or which particular Windows wishes of yours I've missed.
Performance Improvements :1. Make startup really fast: - I run Ubuntu and Windows 7 in a dual-boot configuration on the same Core i7 desktop, and the difference in startup time is remarkable. The Ubuntu startup takes 15 seconds, while the Windows takes 45. Furthermore, those times—measured from the instant the BIOS screen switches to loading the OS to the moment the desktop appears—are actually a bit misleading: Ubuntu is ready for work soon after boot, whereas the Windows system takes a while for the blue doughnut to stop spinning so that I can actually do something with the system. Windows 8's full startup needs to be at least as fast as that of competing operating systems.
2. Better Power Usage: - Laptops are only as good as how long their batteries last. Windows 8 could even take advantage of GPU processing to cut down on power consumption. The Internet Explorer team's claim that IE9 is more efficient with batteries, indicates they're at least thinking in this direction, which is encouraging.
3. Get Rid of the Registry: - This is a perennial favorite with our Editor-in-Chief Lance Ulanoff, who wrote that if Windows virtualized everything, the registry would die." And he has a good point. The registry is a vestige from an early time in computing history, when disk space and memory were far less plentiful, and it was advantageous for apps to share resources. Of course, this is a tall order, with negative implications for backward app compatibility. But perhaps more system virtualization could be used to handle the registry needs of those legacy apps.
4. A Journaling File System: - I still occasionally find Windows performing a CheckDisk if something untoward happens. A Journaled file system records any changes to the file system separately, so it would make handling crashes resulting from things like power outages much less of a problem.
5. Partition Resizing: - I'd also like to see easier partition resizing. Sure, you can resize some types of partitions in Windows 7 and Vista, but there are too many cases where it doesn't work. Of course, you could use a third-party utility like our Editors' Choice, Paragon Hard Disk Manager Suite 2011, but that will set you back nearly $300. Windows 8 needs to build in this capability.
Better Hardware Support:6. Blu-ray playing and authoring: - Blu-ray support is one area where Windows beats Mac (which doesn't offer it at all). Windows 7 lets you write and read data to Blu-ray disks, which is a good start, but it can't play Blu-ray movies. To play Blu-ray disks, you have to install a third-party app like Cyberlink's PowerDVD. It's ridiculous that Windows machines ship with Blu-ray players but without a built-in way to actually use them to watch movies. If Microsoft adds that functionality, a lot of people who travel with Blu-ray-drive-equipped laptops will thank Microsoft. A real blue-sky feature would be for Windows to include Blu-ray-authoring software, too. Even the simple ability to create titles, menus, and chapter screens for Blu-rays, would give Microsoft a leg up on Apple in this area.
7. Integration with a Tablet Version and Windows Phone: - Though it makes some efforts in multitouch interface capabilities, Windows 7 is far from ideal for touch input used on tablet computers. The talk of Windows 8 using a Windows-phone like "Metro" user interface makes me hopeful that Windows 8 will take a good step towards making touch input smoother. Our mobile analyst, Sascha Segan, has bemoaned the lack of integration in Windows 7 with Windows Phone, and the lack of Device Stage support for mobile devices in general. Windows 8 needs to seriously beef up and streamline this integration.
8. Get Smarter About Drivers: - Too often I'll have Windows check if a piece of hardware has the latest correct driver installed, and the OS comes back saying everything's fine, even though it's using a generic driver rather than a vendor-specific driver. On numerous occasions I've done a fresh installation of Windows 7 on a laptop, for example, and the resolution won't be the native resolution of the display, because Windows is using a generic display driver. Why should we still have to hunt for drivers on hardware vendors' sites? I even ran into a case where a popular HP printer was supported perfectly by Ubuntu, but Windows wouldn't retrieve the right driver, even though it could identify the printer model number. This is also a common problem with USB memory sticks. Windows 8 needs to be at least as good as Mac and Linux in correctly and automatically installing hardware drivers.
9. Built-in Camera Raw Support: - Why can I view raw files from my Canon DSLR from Mac OS and Ubuntu without any extra effort while doing so in Windows 7 requires hunting on the camera maker's site and running through an installation procedure? Windows 8 should include built-in support for all the major camera raw files—Canon, Nikon, Pentax, and Sony, at least.
10. Support Kinect Input: - Or maybe some kind of "mini-Kinect" that lets you say goodbye to the mouse, and maybe even the keyboard. We're ready for Johnny Mnemonic input! And failing that, how about some more touchpad gestures like that you find on the current crop of MacBooks; these become second nature, and really can speed up program and Web navigation.
11. Better Network Tools: - Why should I have to download separate software tools to see which apps are slowing down my Internet connection? Or whether someone is stealing my bandwidth by jumping onto my Wi-Fi router? Windows 8 should include tools that warn you about either of these conditions.
12. A Decent Software App Store: - Here's another example of where Microsoft could take a hint from its Mac competition. Apple is in the midst of trying to transfer the massive success of the iPhone App Store to its Mac desktop platform, and Microsoft would be wise to emulate this strategy. The Mac App store brings advantages like the ability to install purchased software on multiple machines and it also provides a unified update process. Of course, Microsoft could never completely unify the enormous wild and wooly world of Windows Apps, but an app store option for the major software makers would be a boon to PC users everywhere. Again, the chance of getting a new app store seems good if the speculation on leaked Windows 8 features is to be believed, but the proof is in the execution.
13. Support Outlook Exchange Accounts: - If Microsoft's competitor, Apple, can support Microsoft's corporate mail server, why can't Microsoft's own operating system. Windows Live Mail should be able to hook up to an Exchange server. Period.
14. A Built-in PDF Reader: - There's no reason Windows can't display PDF documents without requiring the users to install extra software. There's no love lost between Adobe and Apple (which refuses to support Flash on its hottest mobile devices), and yet PDF reading is another built-in capability of Mac OS X.
15. Make Crapware Off Limits to PC Makers: - This one step will relieve a world of hurt among users of new PCs. If Microsoft insisted that manufacturers not load down new PCs with junk software, there would be a lot more satisfaction among users of the OS. Of course, the inclusion crapware is one way manufacturers can sell machines cheaply. Maybe a middle ground would be a Clean PC logo program that tells what users they're getting—a crapware free machine. The Signature program is a good start, but it should be an option on all new Windows 8 PCs.
