Windows 7 Taskforce

Support UK Spellings of words in searches

Submitted by alirobe on May 15, 2009 to Annoyance, Bug, Usability

Problem: When searching applications and control panel items, "Media centre" doesn't return the same results as "Media center", and "Colour"/"Color" are different. This could be confusing for people using incorrectly (more...)

Solution: Fix it.

Severity: High

Impact: Medium

Status: Not fixed

"Limited but Extensible" Utilities - allow web services in utilities

Submitted by alirobe on February 3, 2009 to Usability

Problem: When I use the snipping tool, I use it to produce a file, which I then save, then upload to an image host, then I copy and paste the link from the image host to whatever I want to do with it. Why?

Solution: Like Windows Live, Provide basic APIs to interested parties, or intergrate with web services, to allow direct integration into Windows utilities, thus reducing the need for the hundreds of duplicate utilities that litter the Windows application world.

Severity: High

Impact: High

Status: Not fixed

(6 comments)

Provide the ability to pin websites/web applications to the start menu

Submitted by alirobe on February 3, 2009 to Icons, Usability

Problem: Web applications such as Google Reader, Hotmail, and Office for Web Applications are used just like desktop applications by end-users. Why make the distinction between web-apps (including XBAPs) and desktop apps?

Solution: Provide a menu option in Internet Explorer that allows users to pin sites to the taskbar as applications.

Severity: Low

Impact: Medium

Status: Not fixed

(3 comments)

Podcast support in Windows Media Player

Submitted by alirobe on January 4, 2009 to Annoyance

Problem: There are podcasts in my music!

Solution: Cast them out into their own seperate area so that they don't play when shuffling or interfere with my music collection. Possibly even add full podcast support?

Severity: Medium

Impact: High

Status: Not fixed

(12 comments)

Winkey + Scroll for quick access to the magnifier

Submitted by alirobe on January 4, 2009 to Usability

Problem: Occasionally, I want to quickly blow up a small portion of the page to show to someone accross the room, or do some fine detail work in applications without zoom functionality. The magnifier is a great way to do this, but it takes too long to get to.

Solution: Implement a shortcut key (Winkey + Scroll) that opens the magnifier and enables the zoom setting to be modified by using the windows key and the scroll wheel - similar to the mac's zooming capability.

Severity: Medium

Impact: High

Status: Not fixed

(6 comments)

<Site Suggestion> Add a build number field for submission posting

Submitted by alirobe on January 4, 2009 to Annoyance

Problem: People are putting build numbers all over the place. People are reporting bugs on old builds, or bugs for new features in new builds

Solution: Add a build field for future reference, and so the site can be used once windows 7 is released.

Severity: Low

Impact: Low

Status: Not fixed

(6 comments)

Windows Media Center Music Viz: Slow, Shows Podcasts

Submitted by alirobe on January 4, 2009 to Annoyance, Bug

Problem: Windows Media Center's Music Playback screen (Build 7000) shows all my album artwork slowly scrolling upwards in the background. However, it slows performance to about 2fps on an Intel X3100. Also, it shows podcast (and presumably audiobook) artwork, (more...)

Solution: Prerender the album artwork then do a faded wipe to reveal it, or slowly remove the complex shadows and rendering effects used on the artwork once it is placed. Also, do not show album artwork for spoken word, podcast, audiobook and other obvious genres.

Severity: Low

Impact: Low

Status: Not fixed

(4 comments)

Put the Web Search feature back in the Start Menu

Submitted by alirobe on November 12, 2008 to Annoyance, Legacy, Usability

Problem: In Windows Vista, you could press the windows key, type your search term, press the up arrow, press enter, and search the internet. In Windows 7, this has been removed.

Solution: Put it back. Or put in some similar functionality to take its place.

Severity: High

Impact: Low

Status: Not fixed

(3 comments)

Better UI for Bandwidth Management

Submitted by alirobe on November 12, 2008 to Annoyance

Problem: In places with limited connectivity, or when using mobile internet services, Windows offers no easy way to turn off non-essential things like updates, and it doesn't offer any good bandwidth tracking.

Solution: Build in a front end for bandwidth management (to handle BITS transfers etc), update the task manager monitor with kbps and bandwidth totals, and add bandwidth tracking tools.

Severity: Medium

Impact: Medium

Status: Not fixed

(1 comments)

Ability to hide chrome in Internet Explorer

Submitted by alirobe on October 29, 2008 to Aesthetics, Annoyance, Usability

Problem: Internet Explorer's top section takes up too much room for modern web-based applications on wide-screen monitors. Google Chrome gets it right with the ability to remove all Chrome and use the browser like an application.

Solution: Implement a 'collapse' button which hides the unnecessary fluff of the browser to make space for browser based applications like the upcoming Office Web Applications.

Severity: Medium

Impact: Medium

Status: Not fixed

(8 comments)