A Wish-list for Windows Vista
In a provocative opening statement, Jason Brooks of eWeek gives his “wishlist” for Windows : “If it were possible to remake Windows with a magic, Windows-morphing wand, standards support and sensible security would be part of the imaginary makeover.”
He begins by defining the role of an operating system :
Along with managing hardware, which Windows does pretty well, the primary jobs of an operating system are to run applications ~ a task that Windows performs perhaps too well ~ and to manage installation and updates of those applications ~ a duty that Windows doesn’t handle nearly well enough. Windows boasts the broadest application support of any operating system in existence, but this support unfortunately extends to all manner of unwanted applications, such as teeming hordes of spyware and malware.
The first step, he says, is to introduce the limited-privileges mode enjoyed by users of Linux and Mac OS. Windows Vista has that in hand.
Step two “is building into Windows a rigorous, broadly embraceable software management framework, such as the one Debian GNU/Linux offers.” This is not yet included in Vista. But there’s still a year to go.
Similarly, standards support and compatibility across a range of protocols is de rigueur. Wouldn’t that compromise Microsoft’s proprietary base though?
The same goes for Windows Media Player. “Our ideal Windows would spare us from having to manage QuickTime, WMP and RealPlayer installations on the same box.”
Finally, Windows needs a bigger IQ ~ maybe EQ too ~ “Along with our dream Windows giving users more credit for their intelligence, we’d love to see Windows be more intelligent itself. With Vista, Microsoft is doing some interesting things with desktop search and with information categorization.”
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