My Windows 8 Wishlist

I might as well get started early, right?  Ultimately, none of this means squat.  Microsoft doesn’t read this crap anyway.  And given the degression of of beta program in general (see my previous blog post on this), I expect the next “beta” to end up being a “here it is, hope you like it, but don’t tell us what you think, we don’t care anymore”.

1. Pervasive Recycle Bin:
   It should become the “bin” for all things delete-able.  Including Scheduled Tasks, Registry Keys, and so on.  Anything that can be deleted from any part of or feature within the operating system should go into the bin and support undelete.
2. A Self-documenting Registry:
   Keys should be tied to descriptors in the same way they are (optionally) in Group Policy Objects.  Maybe it’s time to move the registry into a more robust data store while you’re at it.
3. Integrated App-V Client:
   Screw MDOP.  Just put the App-V client into the OS.  Make it pervasive and ubiquitous.  Imagine the potential savings for enterprise IT departments over current application conflict management issues.
4. Run IE in an App-V Package:
   As an extension of number 3 above, this would eliminate browser vulnerability exploits.
5. Close WMI structural gaps:
   Time to close the holes in the WMI (CIM) model.  It’s definitely a huge improvement over previous versions, but holes remain.  Logical to physical disk interface mapping would be a nice start.
6. UI on PowerShell:
   Just like Exchange 2007 and 2010 are UI shells on top of PowerShell, the same should go for the operating system itself.  This might go hand-in-hand with the next item actually.
7. Refactor all CMD Utilities:
   Shore up syntax consistency between all command utilities like REG, SC, NET X, NETSH, SHUTDOWN, MSIEXEC, etc.  Choose whether arguments will use a dash or a slash.  Whether hostnames will require \\ prefixes or not.  Use a consistent noun/verb structure.  Finish the PRINT command library (correctly?).  Maybe combine and consolidate with Sysinternals utilities.  For God’s sake: clean house!
8. Visual Time Synch Alerts:
   How about making the clock show an alert (symbol, red, etc.) when it determines that NTP synch discovery is failing, or NTP drift is reaching marginal limits, etc.?  Something to visually indicate there may be a problem with time sychronization.  Especially on domain controllers, but even on clients this could be useful.
9. I’m still thinking.  Check back later…