Microsoft is reportedly hard at work finalizing the outlines of the next version of Windows, “Windows 7.0.” (That’s right, I’m not talking about Windows Vista; I’m talking about Vista’s replacement.) Windows 7.0 is slated to appear in the 2012 timeframe, but Microsoft has to bring its vision of that far-off Windows version into sharp relief early because of Windows’ position as the bedrock upon which all other Microsoft offerings rest. So, believe it or not, if an idea doesn’t make it into Windows 7.0 soon, it won’t appear at all.
Given that, I have a modest suggestion for the “common engineering criteria,” a set of prime directives for all parts of Windows. That suggestion is this: “Windows, please don’t interrupt me.” I suspect that once I clarify what I mean, you too will clamor for a more polite Windows.
Here’s what the start of a day at the computer looks like for me. I log on to my laptop, which of course takes about a minute. Windows displays my desktop, the Start button, the Start menu, and so on. I’m probably going to do a bit of work in Microsoft Word, so I click Start, All Programs, Microsoft Office—and things stop. It seems as if the Start menu always lets me have about two or three clicks, and then it stops responding. After a second or two, it adds insult to injury by collapsing the Start menu, as if to say, “Ha, ha, fooled you, silly human!” . . .
Register
