#1 All folders show "name" "extension" "size" "date created" "date modified" and nothing else. All alterations made by the user are automatically filtered into the entire filesystem. Don't ever "guess" what a directory is for. Computers are shit at guessing things.
#2 When I try to change a .png extension to .jpg I don't want alerted that this will "make the file unusable". That is an insult to my intelligence.
#3 When I try to delete a file that another process has a lock on you TELL ME WHAT GODDAMNED PROCESS HAS A LOCK ON IT so I can kill it.
#4 The GUI should look like windows 2000, no fussing with silly transparent windows or Mac wanna-be bullshit. I avoid macs for the same reason I avoid the Candyland.
#5 All files are assumed to be text files unless otherwise associated with other applications. That is, if I click on phat.properties, load it into whatever phat.txt would have been loaded into, most likely notepad.
#6 I use notepad more than almost any other application. It's time to start giving it more features. I'll bet there are 100 hackers at microsoft who would love to make notepad into a new emacs.
#7 Port every popular unix utility (grep, locate, sed, whatever) to windows and let me run them from the command prompt.
#8 Switch backslashes to forward slashes.
#9 Bring back qbasic gorilla.
#1 Google Docs has a fantastic organizational tool which is much better suited to the task than a traditional file system.
#2 Why are we messing with file names anyway? Flickr doesn't force me to think about this problem.
#3 Why can't I unlink a file instead of deleting it? Why should I have to kill a process?
#4 shrug Beautiful is welcome if you don't suck down my resources too badly.
#5 Again, normal users are forced to interact with file systems far too often.
#6 If you like Emacs so much, why don't you just use Emacs?
#7 PowerShell comes with Windows 7... or you can install Cygwin.
#8 shrug both technically already work nearly everywhere.
You are proposing "solutions" to common problems you have had. Your solutions have a remedy nature to them. You exhibit the traditional Microsoft band-aid mentality. Microsoft's culture is designed around managing complexity. We're damn good at coming up with complex solutions to complex problems. We are very weak at deriving simple solutions to complex problems. However, more importantly, we are very weak at identifying important problems to solve, and hence simplifying the needs for solutions. It seems to me like you would fit right in here. That is not necessarily a good thing.
Not the point. Microsoft has had a blank-slate opportunity with things like calc and notepad but has squandered them. Why not make calc the world's best calculator? Why not make notepad the best text editor? Instead, those apps are just like the 1998 versions, while they've diddled with the meaningless start menu and control panel for probably 200 million dollars in man hours.
That's the real problem.
I know it's popular to assume Microsoft's incompetency, but that's not the case here.
Many engineers internally have proposed changes and provided patches that could drastically improve the functionality. However, the gatekeepers are incredibly conservative. Not only do they have to consider the legacy issues, but they also have to consider all of the ISVs who would kick and scream about anti-trust. The subset of the customer base who would truly appreciate a better notepad do not justify the risks.
Fwiw, since '98, notepad gained keyboard shortcuts and calculator had its backend rewritten to handle higher precision decimals. Both are simple utilities for simple tasks.
And you know what? The best calculator in the world, it has physical buttons. Or, it is Mathematica. Answering which is best depends completley on the question, and totally misses the point.
Microsoft does ship a more powerful calculator, also for free, as a "Power Toy". It is just about as powerful as you can get without competing against Mathematica or Maple. However, I'd assume they have not included it with the OS for fear of anti-trust complaints from Wolfram or Maplesoft. All that said, Windows 7 will include an upgraded calculator with a "programmer mode": http://www.online-tech-tips.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/w...
The funny thing is that NO ONE (that matters) complains about calc or notepad. Calc and notepad are completely inconsequential to IT decision makers and personal buyers. The start menu, however, has not scaled to support the shear number of applications the average user has. It is a pain point which IT administrators complained about on a routine basis. It also supports an insanely high level of customization which is 100% controllable by group policy and the like. The squeaky wheel gets the oil.
We? Do you work for Microsoft?
> Do we make decisions for our users and then complaints for not offering options?
That depends on what kind of decision is being made. Whenever you offer a choice it needs to be clear what tradeoff is being made. Why would anyone not want the recommended option? A better dialog would read something like this?
Do you want Windows to automatically download driver software for your devices? This works most of the time, but can cause problems with a few less popular devices.
__ Yes (recommended) __ No, I don't trust you idiots at Microsoft. I want to manage my drivers manually.
Do you want Windows to download realistic icons for your devices? Realistic icons look better, but use more disk space and RAM, and can have a negative impact on performance.
__ Yes, I'm all about the eye candy. __ No, I have the need for speed.
No. You make decisions for your users and then offer them options. Under "Options." Or "Control Panel," as you so bizarrely insist on calling it.
Oh, and you realize that for 90% of your users, "driver software" == Mario Kart.
The people who have more useful information are probably those that hop on OSes all the time and spend a majority of their time in pre-7 windows flavors.
I never played with W7, but I would probably be annoyed by that dialog box if I see it in a normal situation. Right now I can see two attacks to this problem.
First, for the config-philic person, allow them to choose during OS install whether they would like to be exposed to configs-galore. For those who don't just go with the defaults and allow them to enable configs-galore themselves later. The (cognitive) memory cost here is 1 item: where to find the option to enable configs-galore.
Second, pop up these kinds of window depending on how close the action is to the OS install. If it is within a few days, my memory of "fresh OS install" is salient and it would not be surprising for me to see config dialogs pop up here and there. If it was over 2 weeks though, I'm most likely coasting already and would hate to see something disrupt my flow.
Other than that, though, that dialog box looks fine to me. I don't find it the least bit confusing. In fact, the choices it gives are quite complete and pleasing as such.
/Mac user on a daily basis.