Feedback and Engineering Windows 7

Artykuł
02/25/2009

Just about every email we receive and every comment we get comes with feedback—something to change, something to do more of, something to do less of, and so on. As we’ve talked about in this blog, acting on each one in an affirmative manner is easier said than done. What we can say for certain, is that we are listening to each and every comment, blog post, news story, MS Connect report, Send Feedback item, and of course all the data and telemetry. This post kicks off the discussion of changes made to the product with an overview of the feedback process. We'll get into specific changes shortly and we'll continue to return to the theme of changes in the Release Candidate (RC) over the next weeks. Yesterday on the IE Blog, you saw that we'll be updating IE 8 on Windows 7, and there we also talked about the feedback process in general.

Feedback about Windows 7 of course starts before we've written any code, and by the time we've got running code thousands of people outside of Microsoft have provided input and influenced the feature set and design of Windows 7. As we've seen, the input from even a small set of customers can often represent a wide variety of choices--often in alignment, but just as often in opposition. As we're developing the features for Windows 7 we work closely with PC makers, enterprise customers, and all types of customers across small business, education, enthusiasts, product reviewers and industry "thought leaders", and so on. We shape the overall "blueprint" of the release based on this wide variety of input. As we have design prototypes or code running, we have much more targeted and specific feedback by using tools such as usability tests, concept tests, benchmark studies, and other techniques to validate the implementation of this blueprint. Our goal with this level of feedback is for it to be representative of the broad set of Windows customers, even if we don't have a 1:1 interaction with each and every customer. Hopefully this post will offer some insights into this process overall--the tools and techniques, and the scope of feedback.

In the first few weeks of the Windows 7 beta we had over one million people install and use Windows 7. That's an astounding number for any beta test and while we know it has been fun for many folks, it has been a lot of work for us--but work that helps to raise the quality of Windows 7. When you use the beta you are automatically enrolled in our Customer Experience Improvement Program (anonymous feedback and telemetry, which is voluntary and opt-in in the RTM release). Just by using Windows 7 as a beta tester you are helping to improve the product--you are providing feedback that we are acting on in a systematic manner. Here is a sense of the scale of feedback we are talking about:

During a peak week in January we were receiving one Send Feedback report every 15 seconds for an entire week, and to date we’ve received well over 500,000 of these reports. That averages to over 500 reports for each and every developer to look through! And we're only through 6 weeks of using the Windows 7 beta, even though for many Windows 7 already seems like an old friend.
To date, with the wide usage of the Windows 7 Beta we have received a hundreds of Connect (the MSDN/Technet enrolled beta customers) bug reports and have fixes in the pipeline for the highest percentage of those reported bugs than in any previous Windows development cycle.
To date, we have fixes in the pipeline for nearly 2,000 bugs in Windows code (not in third party drivers or applications) that caused crashes or hangs. While many Beta customers have said they are very happy with the quality of Windows 7, we are working to make it even better by making sure we are fixing the issues experienced by such broad and significant usage.
To date, we have recorded over 10,000,000 device installations and over 75% of these were able to use drivers provided in box (that is no download necessary). The remaining devices were almost all served by downloading drivers from Windows Update and by direct links to the manufacturer's web site. We've recorded the usage of over 2.8M unique plug-and-play device identifiers.
On a personal note, I've received and answered almost 2,000 email messages from folks all around the world, just since this blog started in August. I really appreciate the discussion we're having and am doing my best to keep up with all the mail.

We have a variety of tools we draw on to help inform the decision making process. A key element that we have focused on quite a bit in Windows 7 is the role of data in making decisions. Everything we do is a judgment call as ultimately product development is about deciding what to get done from an infinite set of possibilities, but the role of data is essential and is something that has become far more routine and critical. It is important to be super clear—data is not a substitute for good judgment or an excuse to make a decision one way or another, but it most definitely informs the decision. This is especially true in an era where the data is not only a survey or focus group, but often includes a “sampling” of millions of people using Windows over the course of an extended time period.

A quick story from years ago working on Office, many years ago before the development of telemetry and the internet deciding what features to put in a release of Office could really be best described as a battle. The battle took place in conference rooms where people would basically debate until one or more parties gave up from fatigue (mental or otherwise)—essentially adrenaline-based product development. The last person standing, the one with the most endurance, or the one who pulled an all-nighter to write the code pretty much determined how features ended up or what features ended up in a product. Sort of like turning feature design over to a Survivor- like process . I’m sure many of you are familiar with this sort of process. The challenges with this approach are numerous, but inevitably features do not hold together well (in terms of scenarios or architecture), the product lacks coherency, and most importantly unless you happen to have a good match between the “winner” and the target customers, features will often miss the mark.

In the early 1990’s we started instrumenting Word and learning about how people actually used the software (this was before the internet so this was a special version of the product we solicited volunteers to run and then we would collect the data via lots of floppies). We would compile data and learn about which features people used and how much people used them. We learned things such as how much more people used tables than we thought, but for things very different than tables. We learned that a very significant amount of time the first suggestion in the spelling dictionary was the right correction (hence autocorrect). We learned that no one ever read the tip of the day (“Don’t run with scissors”). This data enabled us to make real decisions about what to fix, the impact of changes, and then when looked at the goals (the resulting documents) what direction to take word processing.

Fast forward to the development of Windows 7 and we’re focused on using data to help inform decisions we make. This data takes many forms and helps in many ways. I know a lot of folks have questions about the data – is it representative, how does it help fix things people should be using but don’t, what about doing new things, and so on. Data is an important element of making decisions, but not a substitute for clear product goals, meaningful customer engagement, and working across the ecosystem to bring Windows 7 to customers.

Let’s talk a bit about “bugs”. Up front it is worth making sure we’re on the same page when we use the much overloaded term bug. For us a bug is any time the software does something that someone one wasn’t expecting it to do. A bug can be a cosmetic issue, a consistency issue, a crash, a hang, a failure to succeed, a confusing user experience, a compatibility issue, a missing feature, or any one of dozens of different ways that the software can behave in a way that isn’t expected. A bug for us is not an emotional term, but just shorthand for an entry in our database representing feedback on the product. Bugs can be reported by a human or by the various forms of telemetry built into Windows 7. This broad definition allows us to track and catalog everything experienced in the product and do so in a uniform manner.

Briefly, it is worth considering a few types of data that help to inform decisions as some examples.

Customer Experience Improvement Program. The CEIP covers the full set of data collected on your PC that is provided to Microsoft in an anonymous, private, and opt-in manner. During the beta, as we state, this is defaulted on. In the retail product of course this is optional. During the course of the beta we are seeing the data about usage of new features, where people are customizing the product, what commands are being used, and in general how is Windows 7 being used. You’ve seen us talk about some of this data from Windows Vista that informed the features of Windows 7, such as the display resolution being used or the number of accounts on a machine. There are many data points measured across the product. In fact, an important part of the development cycle is to make sure that new features are well instrumented to inform us of usage during beta and down the road.
Telemetry. While related to CEIP in the programmatic sense, we look at telemetry in a slightly different manner and you’ve seen this at work in how we talk about system performance or about the diversity of devices such as our discussion of high DPI support. Throughout the course of the beta we are able to see how boot time evolves or which devices are successfully installed or not. Important elements of telemetry that inform which bugs we fix are how frequently we are seeing a crash or a hang. We can identify software causing a higher level of issues and the right team or ISV can know to work on the issue. The telemetry really helps us focus on the benefit of the change—fixing a bug that represents thousands of customers, a widely used device, or broadly used third party software has a much bigger impact than a bug that only a few people, lower volume device, or less used software product might address. With this data we can more precisely evaluate benefit of changes.
Scenario based tests. During the course of developing a feature we can take our designs and prototypes (code, paper, or bitmaps) and create a structured study of how customers would interpret and value a feature/scenario. For example, early in the planning of Windows 7 we created a full working prototype of the taskbar enhancements. With this prototype we can study different types of customers (skill levels, familiarity with different versions of Windows, competitive product customers, IT pro or end-user) and how they react to well-defined series of “tasks”. This allows a much more detailed study of the feature, as one example. As with all tests, these are not a substitute for good judgment in broader context but a key element to inform decisions.
Benchmarking studies. As we transitioned to the pre-beta we started to have real code across the whole product so we began validation of Windows 7 with real code in real world scenarios. We call these studies benchmarking because often we are benchmarking the new product against a baseline of the previous version(s) of Windows. We might do a study where we see how long it takes to share a printer in the home and then compare that time to complete/success rate with a Windows 7 test using HomeGroup. We might compare setting up a wireless network with and without WPA. We have many of these types of benchmarks and work to make sure that we understand both the progress we’ve made and where we might need to improve documentation, tutorials, or other forms of assistance.

This type of feedback all represents structured feedback in that the data is collected based on a systematic study and usually has a hypothesis associated with it. We also have the unstructured feedback which represents the vast array of bug reports, comments, questions, and points of view expressed in blogs, newsgroups, and the Send Feedback button—these are unstructured because these are not collected in a systematic manner, but aggressively collected by any and all means. A special form of this input is the bug reporting done through the Connect program—the technical beta—which represents bug reports, feature suggestions, and comments from this set of participants.

The Windows 7 beta represents a new level of feedback in this regard in terms of the overall volume as we talked about above. If you go back and consider the size of the development team and the time it would take to just read the reports you can imagine just digesting (categorizing, understanding, flagging) issues let alone responding to them is a massive undertaking (about 40 Send Feedback reports per developer during that one week, though as you can imagine they are not evenly distributed across teams).

The challenge of how to incorporate all the feedback at this stage in the cycle is significant. It is emotional for us at Microsoft and the source of both considerable pride and also some consternation. We often say “no matter what happens, someone always said it would.” By that we mean, on any given issue you can be assured that all sides will be represented by passionate and informed views of how to resolve it, often in direct opposition to each other plus every view in the middle. That means for the vast majority of issues there is no right or wrong in an absolute sense, only a good decision within the context of a given situation. We see this quite a bit in the debates about how features should work—multiple solutions proposed and debate takes place in comments on a blog (people even do whole blogs about how things should work). But ultimately on the Windows development team we have to make a call as we’re seeing a lot of people are looking forward to us finishing Windows 7, which means we need to stop changing the product and ship it. We might not always make the right call and we’ll admit if we don’t make the right call, even if we find changing the behavior is not possible.

Making these decisions is the job of program management (PM). PMs don’t lock themselves in their offices and issue opinions, but more realistically they gather all the facts, data, points of view, and work to synthesize the best approach for a given situation. Program management’s role is making sure all the voices are heard, including beta testers, development, testing, sales, marketing, design, customer support, other teams, ISVs, IHVs, and on and on. Their role is to synthesize and represent these points of view systematically.

There are many factors that go into understanding a given choice:

What is it supposed to do? At the highest level, the first question to ask is about how is something supposed to work. Sometimes things are totally broken. We see this with many many beta issues around crashes and hangs for example. But there’s not a lot of debate over these since if it crashes in any meaningful frequency (based on telemetry) it should be fixed. We know if it crashes for you then it is a “must fix” but we are looking across the whole base of customers and understanding the frequency of a crash and also whether the code is in Windows, a driver from a hardware maker, or software from a third party—each of those has a different potential resolution path to consider. When it comes to user interaction there’s two elements of “supposed to do”. First, there’s the overall scenario goal and then there’s the feedback of how different people with different experiences (opinions) of what it should do. As an example, when we talked about HomeGroup and the password/passphrase there was a bunch of feedback over how this should work (an area we will be tweaking based in part on this feedback). We of course have specifications and prototypes, but we also have a fluidity to our development process such that we do not have 100% fidelity before we have the product working (akin to architectural blueprints that leave tons of decisions to be made by the general contractor or decided while construction is taking place). There are also always areas in the beta where the feature is complete but we are already on a path to “polish” the experience.
How big is the benefit? So say we decide something is supposed to behave differently. Will it be twice as good? Will it be 5% better? Will anyone notice? This is always a great discussion point. Of course people who advocate for a change always are convinced that the change will prevent the feature from being “brain dead” or “if you don’t change this then the feature is dead”. We see this a lot with areas around “discoverability” for example—people want to put something front and center as a way of fixing something. We also see many suggestions along the lines of “make it configurable”. Both of these have benefits in the near term of course, but both also add complexity down the road in terms of configurations, legacy user interface, and so on. Often it is important to look at the benefit in a broader context such as how frequently something will be executed by a given person or what percentage of customers will ultimately take advantage of the improvement. It is not uncommon internally to see folks extrapolate instantly to “everyone does this”!
How big is the change? Early in the product cycle we are making lots of changes to the code—adding new code, rearchitecting, and moving things around a lot. We don’t do so willy nilly of course but the reality is that early in the cycle there is time for us to manage through the process of substantially changed code and the associated regressions that will happen. We write specifications and have clear views of features (scenario plans, prototypes, and so on) because we know that as the project progresses the cost of making big changes of course goes up. The cost increases because there is less time, but also because big change late in the cycle to a large system is not prudent engineering. So as we consider changes we also have to consider how big a change is in order to understand the impact across the system. Sometimes change can be big in terms of lines of code, and lots of code is always risky. But more often the change is not the number of lines, but the number of places the code is connected—so while the change sounds like a simple “if” statement it is often more complex than that. Over the years, many have talked about componentization and other systems engineering ways to reduce the impact of change and of course Windows is very much a layered system. The reality is that even in a well layered system, it is unlikely one can change things at the bottom and expect no assumptions of behavior to carry forth through subsequent upper layers. This “defensiveness” is an attitude we have consistently throughout our development process because of the responsibility we feel to maintain compatibility, stability, performance, and reliability.
How costly is the change relative to the benefit? Change means something is different. So any time we change something it means people need to react. Often we are deliberate in change and we see this in user interface, driver models, and so on. When new are deliberate people can prepare and we can provide tools to help with a transition. We’ve seen a lot of comments about new features that react to the cost of change. Many times this commentary is independent of the benefit and just focuses on the change itself. This type of dialog makes it clear that change itself is not always good. With many bug reports we hear “this has been in Windows for 3 versions and must be fixed in Windows 7”. Over many releases of Windows we have learned that behaviors in the system, particularly in APIs, message order and semantics, or interfaces might not be ideal, but changing them introduces more complexity, incompatibilities, and problems for people than the benefit of the change. Some view these decisions as “holding us back” but more often than not it would be a break from the past one day only to create a new past to break from the next. The existing behavior, whether it is an API or a user interface, defines a contract we have and part of building a release is making sure we have a well understood cost/benefit view, knowing that as with any aspect of the system different people will have different views of this “equation”.
In the context of the whole release, how important is this issue? There is the reality that all decisions need to be made in the context of the broader goals of the release. Each release stands for a set of core scenarios and principles that define the release. By definition it means that each release some things will change more than others and some things might not change at all. Or said another way, some parts of the system will be actively worked on towards a set of goals while we keep other parts of the system more or less “stable” release over release. It means that things you might want to see changed might not change, just because that is an area of the product we’re not mucking with during Windows 7. As we’ve talked about, for Windows 7 we put a lot of work into various elements of system performance. Aside from the obvious scenario planning and measurement, we also took very seriously areas of the system that needed to change to move us forward. Likewise, areas of the system where the performance gain would not be significant enough to warrant change do not change that much. We carry this forward through the whole cycle as we receive data and telemetry.
How does the change impact security, reliability, performance, compatibility, localizability, accessibility, programmability, manageability, customizability, and so on? The list of “abilities” that it takes to deliver windows is rather significant. Members of our development team receive ongoing training and information on delivering on all of these abilities so we do a great job across the product. In addition, for many of these abilities we have members of the team dedicated full time to delivering on them and making sure across the product we do a good job. Balancing any change or input against all of these abilities is itself a significant undertaking and an important part of the research. Often we see input that is very focused on one ability which goes counter to another—it is easy to make a change to provide customization for example, but then this change must also be customizable for administrators, end-users, and PC makers. Such complexity is inherent in the very different scenarios for usage, deployment, and management of PCs. The biggest area folks see us considering this type of impact is when it comes to changing behavior that “has been in the product forever”. Sometimes an arbitrary decision made a while back is best left as is in order to maintain the characteristics of the subsystem. We know that replacing one old choice with a new implementation just resets the clock on things that folks would like to see be different—because needs change, perspectives change, and people change.

These are just a few of the factors that go into considering a product change. As you can see, this is not something that we take lightly and a lot goes into each and every change. We consider all the inputs we have and consider all the data we can gather. In some ways it is easy to freeze thinking about the decisions we must make to release Windows 7—if you think too hard about a decision because you might start to worry about a billion people relying on something and it gets very tricky. So we use data to keep ourselves objective and to keep the decision process informed and repeatable. We are always humbled by the responsibility we have.

While writing this post, I received a “bug report” email with the explicit statement “is Microsoft going to side step this issue despite the magnitude of the problem” along with the inevitable “Microsoft never listens to feedback”. Receiving mail like this is tough—we’re in the doghouse before we even start. The sender has decided that this report is symbolic of Microsoft’s inability or lack of desire to incorporate critical feedback and to fix must fix bugs during development. Microsoft is too focused on shipping to do the right thing. I feel like I’m stuck because the only answer being looked for is the fix and anything less is a problem or further proof of our failure. And in the back of my mind is the reality that this is just one person with one issue I just happen to be talking to in email. There over a couple of million people using the beta and if each one, or for that matter just one out of 10, have some unique change, bug fix, or must do work item we would have literally years of work just to make our way through that list. And if you think about the numbers and consider that we might easily get 1,000,000 submitted new “work items” for a product cycle, even if we do 100,000 of them it means we have 900,000 folks who feel we don’t listen compared to the 100,000 folks who feel listened to. Perhaps that puts the challenge in context.

With this post we tried to look at some of the ways we think about the feedback we’re getting and how we evaluate feedback in the course of developing Windows 7. No area is more complex than balancing the needs (and desires) of such a large and diverse population—end-users, developers, IT professionals, hardware makers, PC manufacturers, silicon partners, software vendors, PC enthusiasts, sysadmins, and so on. A key reason we augment our approach with data and studies that deliberately select for representative groups of “users” is that it is important to avoid “tyranny of the majority” or “rule by the crowd”. In a sense, the lesson we learned from adrenaline -based development was that being systematic, representative, and as scientific as possible in the use of data.

The work of acting on feedback responsibly and managing the development of Windows through all phases of the process is something we are very sincere about. Internally we’ve talked a lot about being a learning organization and how we’re always learning how to do a better job, improve the work we do, and in the process work to make Windows even better. We take this approach as individuals and how we view building Windows. We know we will continue to have tough choices to make as everyone who builds products understands and what you have is our commitment to continue to use all the tools available to make sure we are building the best Windows 7 we can build.

--Steven

Comments

Anonymous
February 24, 2009
@Steven It's actually funny that there is nothing to report in the bug department. I am using Windows 7 in production now, yet from the same machine I can perform my hobbies. Very Cool when you can push the limits and not have a crash, I am glad that your team has had such a hands on approach to building this OS.
Anonymous
February 24, 2009
Mamma mia GREAT POST!! Congratulation Mr. Steven
Anonymous
February 24, 2009
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Anonymous
February 24, 2009
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Anonymous
February 24, 2009
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Anonymous
February 24, 2009
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Anonymous
February 24, 2009
I've been submitting feedback using various tools about one noticeably broken bitmap in system file leading to Windows Explorer Classic interface back/forward arrows display problem since Vista beta 2. Many things have changed, bitmaps were moved into new file, but it's still broken. :(
Anonymous
February 25, 2009
The frustrating thing about all my feedback on Microsoft Connect is that most of the time I got one reply: "You should create a DCR. This is not a bug.". My response: "How can I create a DCR?". And I got no answer... And there are sites like the Windows 7 Taskforce. Where users discuss and most of the time come to a consensus. There is 1 issue that "will be fixed" and 4 things that are fixed. One feature request was marked as "fixed" when in fact it's not. Out of over 500 entries. Most of these things wouldn't be hard to implement: Adding 1px borders around elements, changing bitmaps, changing colors and so on have NO impact on stability and don't have to be localized. I don't get why MSFT doesn't change those things. If only to make Windows look more polished. But in the end you guys are still on the right track. Windows 7 feels and looks better than any version before. If you continue to make improvements at this pace Windows 10 will be almost-perfect. Btw: I need three hours on average per 100 bug-reports.
Anonymous
February 25, 2009
Very informative article (if a bit long;) As Google's Marissa Meyer said it in her IO'08 keynote (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6x0cAzQ7PVs), that user testing finally allows us to transform usability and UI design from an art into a science. While a great designer can intuitively resolve most obvious problems, user testing and bucket testing, of which telemetry is an example, allow us try to really measure, in hard numbers, what the best solutions are. That won't put designers out of their jobs, since there are classes of problems that user feedback rarely solves (i.e. innovation.)
Anonymous
February 25, 2009
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Anonymous
February 25, 2009
of those 7.5M that didn't need drivers, how many were VM's?
Anonymous
February 25, 2009
Steven, In every manner in life, there are people who will always find something to argue, and look at the tree, not the forest. We believe, we, as Beta Testers, Tech entousiasts that our feedback and our work, is going to be considered, whether nothing from our suggestions happens. This is because, we are just customers, not Operating System designers and trust your desicions. The "thing" you did with the Feedback on windows 7 Beta is something that is absolutely positive, and will change the way later products from microsoft being developed. Keep up the good work, try to focus on the actual feedback and don't let anything "bashing" frustrate you, cause trolls won't apreciate anything either way, but us will ! Best Regards, Manos, Greece
Anonymous
February 25, 2009
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Anonymous
February 25, 2009
Great discussion of what is clearly a passionate topic for you.
Anonymous
February 25, 2009
Good reading. The beta is probably thick on skilled IT hobbiests. If you ask me how I like W7, I'd say it's great. If my boss asks me if we can roll it out, I'd say no way. We have this application that requires IE6, and vendor X, Y and Z don't support Vista/W7. In the workplace, Vista/W7 breaks too much stuff; I don't see how W7 solves that. Telemetry measures quantity, but not quality. For example, the new Explorer library function has greatly improved Media Player's usability. The library in Media Player is completely dysfunctional. But the combination of Explorer's library, and Media Player's "Now Playing" mode, is workable. So Media Player usage is up, but it's not because of Media Player has improved. That's the kind of thing that would be hard to extract from telemetry.
Anonymous
February 25, 2009
@solaris: "File Previews, File Visualisation (Coverflow), Gadgets, Style (the superbar looks like the dock in tiger)" Not everyone cares about file previews. By that I don't mean Windows should have great file previews, but simply that personally I don't consider that a priority at all. I barely keep any photos on my PC, and the text files I work with (PHP, Javascript, CSS etc.) can't really be previewed as a thumbnail. Same thing with coverflow-like interfaces, which are directed at visual thinkers working with images. I do think Windows could use some Mac-like features, like a more consistent user interface, very good bundled apps, or details like making it easy to create screenshots. But if I was to decide, at the moment I'd focus Windows development on speed and reliability, more than fancy previews.
Anonymous
February 25, 2009
@Steven, This is post good. But I would like to remind you few obvious things (really without trolling): You're speaking about complexity, dependencies and similar things and problems connected with it. Please note, that you made it. You don't have clear barriers among applications and system, applications can change Registry keys belong to other one, etc. etc. The faster you will change it, the faster you will be able to decrease number of problems & reports and the faster you will be able to react on market needs. You can't start from symptoms, but you should rather start from roots. Your system would be built using new rules (they don't have to be totally different - NT architecture good implemented is OK) and it will use some kind of virtualization for existing win32 apps (sandboxing or other form). You can say - it will cost and need time. OK, but - how many USD you're paying employees for resolving current issues ? Many can be avoided. Of course, some of your apps will have less meaning then. IE for example. But currently - you need to pay employees for creating "N" version and lawyers for depense against other companies. Maybe it will possible to implement less DRM then too. But once again - many customers are afraid of protections put into WIndows 6.x, many are notifying, that they affect them somehow even when shouldn't Maybe it's time to change it ? Of course, you will have your own opinion and I respect it. But once again: your company want to earn money and you should go rather way, which allowed to create windows xp than way, which allowed to created windows vista.
Anonymous
February 25, 2009
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Anonymous
February 25, 2009
@marcinw -- it would be really great if you didn't randomly toss in a comment about DRM in every post. It does not add very much to our dialog.
Anonymous
February 25, 2009
@Steven, I really try to forget about it and don't write about it, but when I use Vista/Seven : these systems remind me about it too often even I don't anything connected with playing music or watching videos. And my words are words from really annoyed customer (in this topic). Additionally I know many people, who said - we will not switch from Win 5.x to 6.x because of it (and they're not making something illegal too). Maybe it will be good to start dialog about it too ? Please note, that many other companies are resigning from it...
Anonymous
February 25, 2009
I can't say anything but the best about Windows 7 even tho I am Linux user for past decade. As I always was saying. Windows 7 is an upgrade from Vista just like from ME to XP (remember ME? that thing was I think waist of money). Steven, you write a lot! Took me so long to read it ;) but the more I read about it the better explanation I got. Sorry I am use to shot blog posts. You guys have a great year and I hope I'll get the copy of Windows 7 by end of the year. You know where to find me :)
Anonymous
February 25, 2009
marcinw marcinw marcinw e stop troll'n roll
Anonymous
February 25, 2009
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Anonymous
February 25, 2009
Wow. A fantastic post Steven. I work in Software development so understand the points you're making. The numbers very much say it all.
Anonymous
February 25, 2009
@Domenico, If there is something wrong in my words, please show it - I will be more than happy, if you will demonstrate mistakes there.
Anonymous
February 25, 2009
@marcinw I have never seen a part of your , one post of appreciation. you do not look only at what you want , Windows is a product for all , and I can tell you that this beta is greater than the quality any other commercial operating system and not. If you want a dress made to measure, you must hire a personal tailor.
Anonymous
February 25, 2009
Great blog, enjoyed reading it.
Anonymous
February 25, 2009
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Anonymous
February 25, 2009
@Domenico, Build 7000 seems to be between XP and Vista, today I have even put it into state (by installing patches or disabling services), where each UAC required action is blocked (you can't click Manage on Computer, install software, you can't change UAC level, etc.) - report about it was sent using "Send feedback". I would like to remind you, that market seems to adopt Vista slower than previous Windows and there were reasons of it. I'm trying to show sometimes, what and how was done wrong (when there is possibility, that it will be repeated). I'm very sorry, but you haven't showed, what exactly was wrong in my words (we could discuss it then). And I must notify, that I'm not the only one person writing about some disadvantages and areas to improve in current solutions. As summary, I will say - I like new toys :) When this one will be great, I will write only good words about it :)
Anonymous
February 25, 2009
@solaris I believe one of Apples biggest issues is they communicate HORRIBLY!! They pushed out 200+ MB's worth of patches almost three days apart back in August of 2008 and caused nightmares for security professionals in the industry. If Microsoft did that they would have been BLASTED!!!! Apple is like the "Barack Obama <--just an example" of the IT industry right now and can do no wrong. However, over time and the increase of Apple devices on the market, this too will fade and the hype will be gone. Microsoft is very deliberate and communicates greatly with security and IT professionals via their channels very very well. Every patch with Microsoft is communicated, tested and they work with their community well before it gets released. Apple does NOT do this at all. I have so many examples why Apple is horrible to their user community because they use them as their TEST LAB. With that said Microsoft could learn that they should have saved some "features" for a "wow" factor during release. This is one thing Steve Jobs does well. Until release he has everything very tightly controlled. Also, Microsoft could learn to have a consistent UI and I think W7 is a step in the right direction on that front. But hey lets not forget...telemetry drives Microsoft innovation nowadays. :)
Anonymous
February 25, 2009
@jetblueISAM Thank you for your kind words overall. I can offer some assistance to you on your wishlist. Run As is discouraged for security purposes, but it is still available using shift+right-click. You can create and customize a Quick Launch tool bar: http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-7/add-the-quick-launch-bar-to-the-taskbar-in-windows-7/ is one location that has the full instructions. On the “Manage Network Adapters” I recommend adding ncpa.cpl to the quick launch bar. I apologize this isn’t what you are asking for exactly. On GINA, the add-in mechanism for login was redesigned for Vista, which Windows 7 inherits. Any ISV or IHV that used GINA is encouraged to use the new interface: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/cc163489.aspx Cisco for example has done this in their Vista compatible VPN client. Jon DeVaan
Anonymous
February 25, 2009
After reading this article, it would seem that there would be a great benefit to having a beta 2 before locking into the release candidate. One of the comments here was about how there seems to be no response to the Windows 7 taskforce suggestions, but I would guess that some of these suggestions have been looked at, and we just need a chance to use the latest build to see this. It's unfortunate that the public beta is the only opportunity to submit feedback with the hope that a large change will take place. Please don't rush 7.
Anonymous
February 25, 2009
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Anonymous
February 25, 2009
Could Microsoft put some effort in the XPDM graphics driver layer? For laptops upgrading the graphics card is not an option. And from Vista -> 7, the compatibility with these older drivers has deteriorated. I hope the engineers get enough telemetry data from the broken installs on such systems. Or get around talking the few graphics chip builders to update their drivers to the new stricter rules.
Anonymous
February 25, 2009
I can attest that to the folks I've encountered that have used Windows 7, they are very pleasantly surprised at the quality of the Beta build and the potential for the final product. All the users I've spoken to are itching to get the RC and it does span the userbase from the basic skilled users to the more advanced users. I'd also like to thank Microsoft for respond to issues very quickly. The IE 7 update has improved some issues. However, I'm now getting the same amount of crashes as in IE 7 on Windows Vista. I hope the RC version of IE 8 improves upon this. However, I do love the recovery feature that allows me for the most part to resume whatever I happen to be working on. This is very useful and helps you cut down on wasted time. I would have to agree that Microsoft does need a few rabbit's in the hat, a few aces, and a joker's in the deck of a "Wow" must have features that neither Linux or Apple has. A couple of these game changers or the killer app to movtivate folks who need something extra. In Windows 95, it was the clean UI that was the must have. In Windows 98, it was the tight integration of IE plus WMP that was the game changer. In Windows 2000, the NTFS switch and new driver model that was the must have. For Windows XP, besides streamlining 2000, it was the emergence of new technologies and stability. For Vista users, the security was supposedly the big sell, but it wasn't communicated and there was no "Wow" app considered a game changer. It was percieved as slow and it was correct. Here we are slowly approaching Windows 7 RC, and there is a lot of promise with Windows 7. However, there isn't that killer apps, game changers, aces, jokers, etc. I really do hope between now and the RC, Microsoft has something hidden to spring onto users. Some set of killer apps that make the case. Those of us using the beta have been pretty much sold. I'm really speaking for the average joe, the not so technical user, the Mac skeptic, and other users who might not get it. Steven and Jon, just something for you guys to think about and cook up before Windows goes to RTM. Thanks.
Anonymous
February 26, 2009
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Anonymous
February 26, 2009
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Anonymous
February 26, 2009
Thanks for this great post! This will surely encourage beta testers to submit more and higher quality feedback. You can at least count me in for that!
Anonymous
February 26, 2009
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Anonymous
February 26, 2009
I hope you've done something about WMP 12's UI since build 7000. Features aside, WMP 11 had a more sensible design and looked much better.
Anonymous
February 26, 2009
I've been a beta tester since Windows NT 4.0, and I completely sympathize with the Windows dev team, however I decided to resign my beta tester credentials after receiving "will not fix" responses to the vast majority of my Vista bug reports and all of my Windows 7 bug reports. I guess the inability to successfully run vanilla .vbs logon scripts without first turning off UAC isn't critical to Microsoft. And that's fine, I understand that you have to have your priorities. Some of my bug reports are stupid cosmetic things (those usually get fixed), and some are not. If MS is going to consistently flag the stuff that is actually >important< as "will not fix", then I'm not going to waste my time or yours continuing to file bug reports when the outcome is already known.
Anonymous
February 26, 2009
Great post. No one serious about release a product can just add in every suggestion. Months of delays (because extra features/changes always add more unexpected bugs!) vs. an early and controlled polished release. I know what I'd choose! Marcinw - you're talking nonsense. The DRM in Vista doesn't effect me because none of my devices or windows media files are DRMed. In fact iTunes probably has actively running DRM code since I do actually buy songs/apps from the store. You must understand that code doesn't slow down your system unless it's being constantly executed or it has large amounts of data in memory. Vista may have built in DRM, just like the iPod and even the Mac OS X contain code to control what hardware the OS will run on (a form of DRM if you ask me). If you won't a totally "open" non DRM system, then use one you can view the source code of, like Fedora. However say goodbye to interoperability with all your devices, graphics cards, sound cards and online stores. You either live within the ecosystem and accept that your operating system will contain some DRM, or move to a different platform (or, as you've suggested, stay with an antiquated, and soon to be not-supported OS for ever and ever). DRM = Minor issue. Move on.
Anonymous
February 26, 2009
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Anonymous
February 26, 2009
About this question... The removal of being able to use 0 as a blocking IP address in a HOSTS file I've got $20 bucks that says it was removed for one of two reason.because it was the
Anonymous
February 26, 2009
Let me try again. About this question... The removal of being able to use 0 as a block ing IP address in a HOSTS file I've got $20 bucks that says it was removed for one of two reason. Because they also removed 1234567 as a valid IP to make it more obvious that you were being hacked. I don't know if the 1234567 form is compatible with IPv6.
Anonymous
February 26, 2009
IPv6 is, AFAIK @ least, driven by a DIFF. driver than tcpip.sys (iirc, it's "tcpip6.sys" & tcpip.sys is for IPv4) as far as drivers go @ least... Also, IP addresses in IPv6 are a LOT longer than the 4 section IP addresses IPv4 uses, so I wouldn't say it's that... Speculation's fine & dandy, but I'd like to know the REAL answer for: 1.) Why 0 is no longer working as a blocking IP address in a HOSTS file in VISTA or Server 2008 & 2.) Why has the PORT FILTERING gui front been removed from the configuration GUI in VISTA &/or Server 2008? Again - doing so, makes NO sense for either efficiency (in regards to #1 (hosts file)), & also for LAYERED security (in regards to @2 (Port Filtering)). Let's hear the REAL answer to this, from "the horses mouth", in the folks from Microsoft! Thanks... APK
Anonymous
February 26, 2009
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Anonymous
February 26, 2009
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Anonymous
February 26, 2009
"the reality is that early in the cycle there is time for us to manage through the process of substantially changed code and the associated regressions that will happen" This is precisely why there should be two betas for what is considered not as big a major release as Windows Vista. "There over a couple of million people using the beta and if each one, or for that matter just one out of 10, have some unique change, bug fix, or must do work item we would have literally years of work just to make our way through that list." This challenge can be solved by implementing a Digg/Aero taskforce-like system of fixing "bugs" (Sorry Connect doesn't do the job because it's limited to tech beta participants). Doesn't Microsoft see its potential? "rule by the crowd" is what is exactly needed to set things right in most of the cases. Lastly, all the product teams (right from Windows Media to WNDP) should blog and respond to feedback.
Anonymous
February 26, 2009
While we as users understand how incredibily complex and difficult it is for the Windows teams to make even a small change while minimizing its negative impact on users, as far as removing features are concerned, clearly the best approach IMO is to not remove them even when they are not being replaced by something else. Take for example the classic Start menu, or the Software Explorer in Windows Defender. Having that additional code wouldn't have added to the product's complexity as much as it would now affect millions of users who were used to it and wouldn't want it to change at any cost. Once you "give" a feature to users, you have a moral responsibility to NOT TAKE IT AWAY. Wherever features are removed, it is best to keep them as an alternative choice forever, follow the additive model as far as possible, not the destructive one which throws away things based on management "decisions". Microsoft does not even provide a rationale behind each and every feature removal; these lists are only complied by users who used them in their day to day activities and one fine day discover that it's been pulled and are helpless without it. If you really follow this additive model where no features (that make up these lists) are removed, Microsoft will see a very huge numbers of users who are holding back merely for removed features, migrating to the newer operating system. As a aside, did Microsoft ever think why before Windows Vista, there was not such a huge number of (www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Features_removed_from_Windows_Vista). The features removed list is itself a bug report for a beta for things that are getting overlooked or removed without careful thought, but Microsoft is hardly doing anything to justify their removal, let alone add them back as they were in previous versions of Windows. As a matter of fact, most of the comments on this post are regarding crippling/dumbing down/removals. Anyways, I'm despondent about seeing them back ever at this stage of the beta cycle, moreover "telemetry drives Microsoft innovation nowadays."
Anonymous
February 26, 2009
The beta stage is more about checking several tasks, and catch problems rather than extensively changing the way particular software works.
Anonymous
February 27, 2009
http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1143349&threshold=-1&commentsort=0&mode=thread&pid=27012231 Take a read, Microsoft... APK
Anonymous
February 28, 2009
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Anonymous
March 01, 2009
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Anonymous
March 03, 2009
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Anonymous
March 07, 2009
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Anonymous
March 10, 2009
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Anonymous
March 10, 2009
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Anonymous
March 15, 2009
Well, I another way to evidence this changes and improvements , in Windows 7 64 Bit exepecially RC Build: Absolute Performance : Improve Very very well Boot of windows 7 Improve very very well preview of open applications in Supertaskbar ( when mouse is passed over preview of open programs , the preview of programs it does not follow in real time , the advances of real applications operations), Fix this bad bug , it seems being a bug or lag latency of Direct 3d. In other words , eliminate all Lag or Latency or slow performance Of Api Direct 2d-Direct Write- Direct 3d , for fast desktop composition in all scenarios !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Complete All Api: Graphics Infrastructure: Direct Write-Direct 2d- Ui Animations- Direct 3d , for extreme performance to end ALL lAGS OF AERO INTERFACE in windows 7 64 bit!!!!!!!!!!! Complete all api and module for Support Multicore and many core Machines extreme scalability , in windows 7 64 Bit !!!!!!!!!! And in the and i note for you another way, that in windows 7 64 bit, Directx 11 for GpGPU and Api and Module for Multicore , do are the imperative Voice!!!!!!!!!!!! Optimize code and bugs of all setions: Interface ( no lag , fast , usability , all extreme) Fas Speed on ( Boot , many many applications open contemporary , " see Many and multicore optimizations" , with alla Api of case) Eliminate Bugs relative to Supertaskbar , with usability supertaskbar extreme !!!!!!! Thank you !
Anonymous
March 18, 2009
Well , dear windows 7 Team , i write for another words , for improve windows 7 64 bit system in RC Build. If Possible , make it : Gui : Improve speed of Aero gui ( Eliminate all lags and latency of flip 3d , preview of open applications , make it preview in real time ) , improve memory management of DWM !!! Improve DWM , so that video memory occupation , remaining costant in TIMES , after that All Applications Graphics are closed !!!!!! Performance General: Improve performance of windows 7 64 bit in this areas: Boot !!!! Gui , same in the top !!! MUlticore optimizations !!! And OVERALL , make a windows 7 performanve, remaining ever COSTANT IN TIMES !!!!!!!!!!!!! Stability : Make a great stability in windows 7 64 bit !!! The major stability in Windows History !!!! conjugated both Performance and Stability and overall costant IN TIMES !!! Small Note : If possible change positions of flip 3d open windows , not oblique positions , but frontal positions , similar to EXPOSE ' , and do make the user possibility to change keybord shortcut of flip 3d ( it will be good idea , to activate flip 3d with ONLY ONE keybord shortcut and not combination of 2 keyboard shortcut ). And remaining flip 3d active also when shortcut is released , while deactivate it push newly shortcut . If it possible !!!! Thank you !!!
Anonymous
March 23, 2009
I founded same kind of bug in vista ultimate x64 like described > http://www.designisphilosophy.com/windows-7/windows-7-beta-report-part-1-bugs-20090202/. Downloaded to desktop autocad 2009 student version (2.5GB). for testing I did: I right clicked to run as administrator.after that theres lot file file io and everything is hunging.Mouse showing loading forewer. after I managed to go taskmanager and killed explorer.exe. Then when I started explorer again only internet explorer was in taskbar,another programs were missing like firefox,pspad editor etc. Also live messenger was not in systray. This is a serious problem. Same problem happens with catalyst drivers before run as administator automatically promts. But it so much smaller file that file io doesnt last so long that everything hangs thats why i havent noticed this bug yet. If someone at microsoft wants to contact me for solving this problem in windows i would be gladly to help. Y know where you get my email as Im registered to here. I did`t know were else to submit this.
Anonymous
March 23, 2009
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Anonymous
March 24, 2009
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Anonymous
March 27, 2009
Dear windows 7 Team and dear Mister Sinofsky, so this is that I have to say you: Continue Yor good job on windows 7 64 bit , for RC , these are imperative :

Complete all Api of windows 7 64 bit and finalize and activate also , the Multithereading Processes on windows 7 , for improve brutally power of Boot Speed and Multicore Performance on windows 7 scenarios!!!!
Attenction!!! Today Open Cl library of Kronos Group are reality !!!! ( See Havok Engine on Open CL , with Power of Computation of Graphic-Phisyc and AI) , on GPU !!!!!!!!! I HOPE THAT MICROSOFT DIRECTX 11 HAVE SAME POWER OF OPEN CL AND SAME OPEN CL , ALLOW TO COMPUTE ON GPGPU , GRAPHIC-PHISIC AN AI !!!!!! IT SEEMS THAT WITH DIRECTX 11 YOU ARE FAR IN COMPARISON TO OPEN CL !!!! SO COPLETE DIRETX 11 AND ALLOW WITH THEM , GPGPU COMPUTATION POWER , WITH COMPATIBILITY ON ALL GRAPHICS ENGINE ( HAVOK 6.5-PHISYX AND ALL) ATTENCTIONS, THIS IS MUCH WAIT ON DIRECTX 11 POWER , YOU DON'T DISAPPOINT USERS HOPES ON DIRECTX 11 !!!!! WITH DX 11 , HLSL DO MUST HAVE GREAT POWER AND EASY MANAGEMENT , ALLOW USERS AND DEVELOPERS , TO COMPUTE ALL ENGINE AND ALL APPLICATIONS POWER ON GPGPU !!!!!
COMPLETE MULTICORE POWER SUPPORT ON WINDOWS 7 64 BIT SYSTEM , FOR NEW ERA OF POWER WITH WINDOWS 7 AND IMPROVE COMPATIBILITY AND MANAGEMENT OF HARD-DISK DRIVE FILES WITH ENABLE ANOTHER SPEED BOOST !!!!! 4)SALL UI COSMETIC CHANGES : CHANGE IF POSSIBLE, FORM OF START BUTTON , FROM CIRCULAR TO SUARE , BECAUSE , I REPEAT, CIRCULAR FORM NOT IS GOOD WITH FLAT TASKBAR OF WINDOWS 7 !!! IF POSSIBLE CHANGES OTHER ICONS , WITH FORM SQUARE OR FLAT , FLAT !!! FLAT FORM IS SIMPLE REFINED , OBLIQUE ICONS ARE UGLY !!!! AND IF POSSIBLE , CHANGE FLIP 3D BUTTON , WITH ONLY ACTIVATE SHORTCUT KEYBOARD, NOT COMBINATION OF TWO SHORTCUT OF KEYBOARD !!!! IT'S SIMPLE WITH ONLY ONE KEYBORD BUTTON !!!! ALL THESE API AND CHANGES , IT IS PRESENT IN WINDOWS 7 RC OR RTM !!!! THANK YOU.

Anonymous
March 28, 2009
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Anonymous
March 31, 2009
I think your Microsoft XPS Document Writer has a lot of potential - hope people remember to use it. just installed 7 (7057) and forgot to install nitroPDF from print.. although have it online. I saw XPS but never used it, today I made the 'accident' of using it because nitro was not there - IT IS GOOD!
Anonymous
April 16, 2009
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Anonymous
May 04, 2009
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Anonymous
May 05, 2009
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Anonymous
May 09, 2009
This is a good perspective. Of course, I have a suggestion. :) It has seemed to me for some time that one underlying assumption should change: that one family of Windows needs to satisfy all the user communities you list. I don't believe this to be the case. As a professional user (graphic design and web development) I have certain needs that are not only not met, but are actually interfered with by the consumer/homeowner features that I call "The video game as User Interface." Things like window animations or Flip 3D only slow me down. It's not a matter of system speed, it's that an animation takes time, no matter how fast the CPU or GPU run. I not only don't need, I absolutely don't want media center code cluttering up my work system. As "Tier 0" tech support (aren't we all?) for friends and family, I see many complexities in Windows, essential for Enterprise deployment, that have absolutely no value to the home user. But there they are, and the home user is baffled. Telemetry in and of itself, without differentiating home user from professional user (not to mention IT pros), can lead one far astray. Office 2007's ribbon may, in the very long term, turn out to be quite useful for the home user. For people who know how to run Office, in my own experience, it's a nightmare. (I didn't upgrade because all the tools I use were mostly impossible to find when I tried out 2007.) Worse, there are hundreds of thousands of users who run Word and Excel by following step by step notes from the help desk or people like me, to do simple tasks like print, save, open and change documents. All of those carefully crafted How-Tos were swept away. So my beef is not "you absolutely should fix X". There are lots of "X" and viewpoints are individual. It's that telemetry only gives aggregate data, heavily weighted to the home user, who is overwhelmingly in the majority. There are other user communities whose needs are far, far different, and the professional communities in general, necessarily in a minority and who are neither home users nor enterprise IT users, seem to be getting the short end of the telemetry stick.
Anonymous
May 09, 2009
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Anonymous
May 13, 2009
I installed Windows 7 RC on my computer, which equipped with 3gb ram, intel Q6600 processor and a geforce 9500gs. I tried some programme and games without problem. But when I tried the game crossfire (downloaded on http://www.subagames.com/), which i played on vista, there was a dumping error and windows shut downed. After that I have a problem to restart or restore my computer.
Anonymous
May 21, 2009
Just in case you care for user feedback look from this post and below: http://blogs.msdn.com/e7/archive/2009/05/02/a-little-bit-of-personality.aspx#9598140 don't forget this one: http://blogs.msdn.com/e7/archive/2009/05/02/a-little-bit-of-personality.aspx#9598179
Anonymous
June 04, 2009
Hi Win7 engineers, We need environment variables for: UsersDefault UsersDefaultAppDataLocal UsersDefaultAppDataRoaming I hope those EVs can be add to Win7. Thank you.
Anonymous
June 10, 2009
It would be really great if somehow before Windows is released if the ability to manipulate the taskbar was simpler. I use a tablet PC quite often and use both portrait and landscape screen orientation (depending on what is comfortable). When I am in landscape orientation it is easier to have the taskbar on the side. When it is in portrait orientation it is better on the top or bottom. This allows for more screen room to write. It would be so easy if somehow there was an option to have the taskbar automatically move to those positions when I switch orientations. If that is not possible, then it would be nice to at least have to have "Auto-hide The Taskbar" and the "Taskbar location on screen" options in the drop down menu when you click on the taskbar (alon with "Lock the taskbar"). Even if this was all that was possible that would make Window 7 Top Noche for me. OTher than this suggestion, I think that Windows & has turned out well. Is this even the right place to leave this kind of feedback? Is is too late? Thanks.
Anonymous
June 18, 2009
Please make Windows 7 tell us when it is fully booted up and when it is fully ready for shutdown (standby). Sometimes my computer is very busy loading WinXP long after it appears to be finished (intense hard drive activity). If I try to do something, it is clear that the processor is busy. Nothing much shows up in the task manager.
Anonymous
June 21, 2009
If that is not possible, then it would be nice to at least have to have "Auto-hide The Taskbar" and the "Taskbar location on screen" options in the drop down menu when you click on the taskbar (alon with "Lock the taskbar"). Even if this was all that was possible that would make Window 7 Top Noche for me. OTher than this suggestion, I think that Windows & has turned out well. Is this even the right place to leave this kind of feedback? Is is too late? Thanks.
Anonymous
June 21, 2009
necessarily in a minority and who are neither home users nor enterprise IT users, seem to be getting the short end of the telemetry stick.
Anonymous
June 21, 2009
Also live messenger was not in systray. This is a serious problem. Same problem happens with catalyst drivers before run as administator automatically promts. But it so much smaller file that file io doesnt last so long that everything hangs thats why i havent noticed this bug yet.
Anonymous
June 21, 2009
Office 2007's ribbon may, in the very long term, turn out to be quite useful for the home user. For people who know how to run Office, in my own experience, it's a nightmare. (I didn't upgrade because all the tools I use were mostly impossible to find when I tried out 2007.)
Anonymous
June 24, 2009
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Anonymous
June 24, 2009
Our goal with this level of feedback is for it to be representative of the broad set of Windows customers, even if we don't have a 1:1 interaction with each and every customer.
Anonymous
August 01, 2009
why does not "Windows 7 32 bit" support 4 gb ram or above, it should support. I have used about for two mounths Win7 32 bit, it works really good and stable, no problems with programs and drivers.
Anonymous
August 16, 2009
Hi there, it would be great to have a progress bar or in any case to identify the remaining space while adding files in a DVd or CD before burning it. Cheers
Anonymous
November 05, 2009
Hi, ( i dont know if this is the right place for this request, but...) I would dearly love to be able to match the basic desktop icons colour scheme to my glass colour. Just the 6 main ones: computer, libraries, recycle bin etc. I tried adding a colour overlay to the icons, but the definition loss of the .ico files was a bit terrible. Failing that, can we have an option to use .png files instead of .ico files. Thanks heaps.
Anonymous
November 13, 2009
try and create custom icons or change your desktop color scheme
Anonymous
November 13, 2009
and make sure not to save image file to a lower resolution
Anonymous
February 24, 2010
Not only 7 but in all the previous versions of windows also there is one problem that can be seen. In all the windows there is an application to defrag your hard drive but not registry. I have used 3rd party softwares for this purpose but they did nothing but damaged my computer. What if microsoft add an application like this in windows? Microsoft can judge their windows better than any 3rd party software so I think that can help users a lot to improve performance.
Anonymous
March 04, 2010
It would be great to have a progress bar or in any case to identify the remaining space while adding files in a DVd or CD before burning it. Very Cool when you can push the limits and not have a crash, I am glad that your team has had such a hands on approach to building this OS.
Anonymous
March 07, 2010
The main advantage of x64 is that it can attribute more than 4GB RAM. Because you only have 3GB it isn't really necessairy. Still, I'd go for 64-bit because 32-bit will disappear at one moment. You can as well change architecture now
Anonymous
March 23, 2010
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Anonymous
April 18, 2010
Thank you for this interesting and informative blog.
Anonymous
April 27, 2010
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Anonymous
May 05, 2010
i think.......It would be great to have a progress bar or in any case to identify the remaining space while adding files in a DVd or CD before burning it. Very Cool when you can push the limits and not have a crash, I am glad that your team has had such a hands on approach to building this OS.http://livestreamfree.net/
Anonymous
May 07, 2010
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Anonymous
June 18, 2010
The Win7 navigation pane is hard to keep up with when jumping around as it does. The old XP style was much better.
Anonymous
November 19, 2010
new drivers package uploads on http://www.releasetoday.com/
Anonymous
April 13, 2011
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Anonymous
April 13, 2011
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Anonymous
May 08, 2011
I am finding Windows 7 very frustrating and confusing when trying to copy files to a backup drive. Suddenly after years of one question - do you want to overwrite these files, with the answer being yes - I am now subjected to a barrage of long and confusing questions, double checking each step, asking yet again and then demanding administrator access to copy the files. I have to read a long explanation of each step and try and work out what is going on. I also notice that sometimes, after answering all these questions, the copy does not work. Or at least Windows Explorer shows the files on the backup drive as still being from a previous date. When I check the file it seems to be the updated one, but the date on it is older than the recent copy that was, in theory, copied over. So, unsure whether or not the copy has worked I have to go through the copying process again. Why the cross examination? Why not allow a copy to happen as simply and easily as it did in XP? And why does the date and time of a file not update in Explorer sometimes?
Anonymous
August 21, 2011
I can't believe that still today 2011 the calendar of windows operating system, isn't accepting the import of any iCal formats or other formats, to can show the user upcoming events!!! now we still need to install 3th party apps/calendars etc. :(((
Anonymous
November 12, 2011
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Anonymous
November 12, 2011
The comment has been removed

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