Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

18 Features Windows Should Have (but Doesn't)
PCWorld Magazine ^ | Monday, April 28, 2008 10:00 PM PDT | Robert Strohmeyer, PC World

Posted on 05/01/2008 5:11:26 PM PDT by Swordmaker

Some of the coolest OS features are nowhere to be found in Windows XP or Vista. Here are 18 brilliant features that Microsoft should beg for, borrow, or steal—plus tips on how you can add many of them to your PC now.

Love it or hate it, Microsoft Windows is the world's most dominant operating system. But when you look at some of the hot features found in competitors such as Linux and Mac OS X, both XP and Vista can seem a little incomplete.

From intuitive interface features like Apple's application dock and Cover Flow to basic media capabilities such as ISO burning, Windows often falls short on built-in goodies. And some features that other operating systems offer by default—such as 64-bit processing and business-networking tools—equire a premium-version license in Windows.

(Excerpt) Read more at pcworld.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Computers/Internet
KEYWORDS: msn
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 121-133 next last
To: Swordmaker

This may all be true, but I probably use about 10% of the features on my computer. This sounds like an additional 18 features I would never use.


41 posted on 05/01/2008 9:39:37 PM PDT by Larry Lucido
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: LibFreeOrDie
I KNOW that!

OK. Thanks!

I'll will remember your method when I need to do it on a PC. It seems a lot simpler than the way they do it now.

42 posted on 05/01/2008 9:49:53 PM PDT by Swordmaker (Remember, the proper pronunciation of IE is "AAAAIIIIIEEEEEEE!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 35 | View Replies]

To: Doohickey
Are you kidding? Backup and Restore in Vista performs the exact function you provide, and best of all it’s in VHD format so you can mount it.

Does it? Don't think so. Have you actually used Time Machine?

43 posted on 05/01/2008 9:51:58 PM PDT by Swordmaker (Remember, the proper pronunciation of IE is "AAAAIIIIIEEEEEEE!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 38 | View Replies]

To: Pearls Before Swine
I don't think that needs to be part of the operating system, as it can easily be supplied by aplications, many of which are free. You can easily add freeware viewers, and if I remember correctly, OpenOffice is thinking of adding the ability to create pdfs as well.

Integrating PDF support at the OS level makes it available to any application, and easy for developers to implement. It's built into the Apple print driver architecture. I can create a PDF of literally anything I can print, as easily and a lot faster than printing.

That means I can send anything I do to anyone, viewable on just about any desktop machine and most PDAs. It's also amazingly handy for relatively simple print jobs -- if I need to print something larger than any of my printers can handle, I just print to PDF and take it to Kinko's on a flash drive. I don't have to go through all the preflighting, don't have to worry about gathering up the supporting files.

It's a much more elegant approach than making the user hunt around for freeware apps and wait for a version of Open Office that might offer PDF support someday if a programmer feels like implementing it. It's not a critical feature, but it's very very nice.

Its still early, but I'm beginning to believe that MS botched the introduction of Vista more than the system itself by trying to convince people it would run on the last generation of hardware. Remember the "Vista Ready" and "Vista Compatible" stickers which have led to some class action lawsuits?

Apple, on the other hand, released an OS revision that runs, and runs well, on the last few generations of hardware. Imagine that.

44 posted on 05/01/2008 10:03:40 PM PDT by ReignOfError
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 19 | View Replies]

To: Swordmaker

Two people at work have asked me to try to sanitize their (Windows) virus problems. I got started on the first one, and have identified it; it’s one of those ever-helpful “install now” online things I suppose. I get to edit her registry tomorrow, and maybe fool with boot.ini, I’m just overjoyed. ;’)


45 posted on 05/01/2008 10:10:09 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/_______________________Profile updated Monday, April 28, 2008)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: JSteff
Gee I would never have known that from teching support calls from Mac users. All had great trouble with basic operations.

OTOH, I've never dealt with anyone from tech support that could handle requests for assistance about anything more complicated than basic operations.

46 posted on 05/01/2008 10:14:47 PM PDT by Richard Kimball (We're all criminals. They just haven't figured out what some of us have done yet.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 30 | View Replies]

To: LibFreeOrDie

Ironically, that’s still far more complex than it needs to be if all you want is one screen shot. But then, it’s Windows. Everything is more complex than it has to be.

1: Hit PrtScreen.
2: Go to the Start menu, select Run, type in “paint”, hit enter.
3: Hit Control-V, then go to the File menu and select Save As.
4: Save in whatever format and location you want (so long as Windows supports it).


47 posted on 05/01/2008 10:24:14 PM PDT by Spktyr (Overwhelmingly superior firepower and the willingness to use it is the only proven peace solution.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 35 | View Replies]

To: SunkenCiv
I get to edit her registry tomorrow, and maybe fool with boot.ini, I’m just overjoyed. ;’)

I hate dumpster diving... but sometimes it is absolutely necessary.

48 posted on 05/01/2008 10:37:28 PM PDT by Swordmaker (Remember, the proper pronunciation of IE is "AAAAIIIIIEEEEEEE!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 45 | View Replies]

To: Swordmaker

Have you ever used backup and restore in Vista?


49 posted on 05/02/2008 12:56:34 AM PDT by Doohickey (I'd rather be free than have the government keep me "safe".)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 43 | View Replies]

To: RayChuang88
11. Application Dock (Mac)

Substitute - Object Dock

I have a Mac and use this on my work PC. It's not nearly as good but it's a reasonable substitute.

50 posted on 05/02/2008 4:26:30 AM PDT by Wyatt's Torch (I can explain it to you. I can't understand it for you.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Swordmaker; rdb3; Calvinist_Dark_Lord; GodGunsandGuts; CyberCowboy777; Salo; Bobsat; JosephW; ...

51 posted on 05/02/2008 5:24:47 AM PDT by ShadowAce (Linux -- The Ultimate Windows Service Pack)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Swordmaker

Adding MKS Toolkit and ActivePerl go a long way toward making Windows tolerable. :-)


52 posted on 05/02/2008 5:52:40 AM PDT by NCjim (The more I use Windows, the more I love UNIX)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: NCjim

Not to mention SlickEdit...


53 posted on 05/02/2008 5:53:38 AM PDT by NCjim (The more I use Windows, the more I love UNIX)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 52 | View Replies]

To: MediaMole
"A Windows web server on the home desktop. -- That will end well."

I was thinking the same. lol

If anyone is going to run a web server at home, they would be well advised to use Apache.

54 posted on 05/02/2008 5:54:09 AM PDT by KoRn (CTHULHU '08 - I won't settle for a lesser evil any longer!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: Swordmaker

Windows still doesn’t do ISO burning? Wow. Does anyone know if you can create an ISO with out 3rd party tools on Windows? Unix has had that since forever. (”dd” is one of the oldest commands.)


55 posted on 05/02/2008 6:13:22 AM PDT by zeugma (Mark Steyn For Global Dictator!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: politicket
The one most important feature that Microsoft has and all of the others are missing is:

*** MARKET SHARE ***

You can credit Bill Gates for getting the original DOS as the standard for government work, thereby requiring anyone who wanted to work with the government to have it as well.

Not better, just government better.

56 posted on 05/02/2008 6:34:45 AM PDT by SlowBoat407 (It's a fine line between Guardian Angel and Stalker.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: ReignOfError

Your points about printing to pdf are well taken. I use that quite a bit on Linux. I also print to postscript a lot, because I have tools that will let me do a lot of things to it later like reorder the pages for booklets and such. I really like the portability of PDF files, the only drawback being that unless you have Acrobat, you can’t edit them.


57 posted on 05/02/2008 6:35:30 AM PDT by zeugma (Mark Steyn For Global Dictator!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 44 | View Replies]

To: zeugma
I really like the portability of PDF files, the only drawback being that unless you have Acrobat, you can’t edit them.

Bug, or feature? PDFs let you send along filed in a read-only format, and if you have the original source document, you can always make revisions. But you do raise the valid point that that Apple print driver only includes in a PDF what you can print -- you cannot, for example, add hyperlinks. There's still a market for the full Acrobat package.

58 posted on 05/02/2008 6:48:55 AM PDT by ReignOfError
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 57 | View Replies]

To: Swordmaker

My personal pet peeve is that what people think an OS does ends up being an endless grab-bag of “features” many of dubious worth. Stickies notes being an OS function? That type of thinking is the *problem* not the solution.

The best thing any OS can do is to do what it does best (schedule processes, manage memory, manage devices, run some background processes, provide a file system) and then GET THE HELL OUT OF THE WAY.

Decouple the OS from the UI, the applications, the services and leave that out of kernel space. Erect a firewall between OS and applications so that a problem in an application doesn’t bring down the whole box.

Certainly in the microsoft world, the trend has been the exact opposite. Exhibit A, the integration of the browser with the OS.

This is exactly the wrong approach, IMHO.


59 posted on 05/02/2008 6:58:08 AM PDT by 2 Kool 2 Be 4-Gotten
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Doohickey

You have to have Vista Business or Ultimate for that feature, it’s not included in the Basic or Premium versions. Microsoft should have only had 1 version of Vista (Ultimate) if you ask me, and leave it to the users if they want to turn off Aero for performance gains etc., but since they didn’t they hurt sales and make it difficult to distinguish the features in discussions like these.


60 posted on 05/02/2008 7:07:15 AM PDT by Golden Eagle
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 38 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 121-133 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson