I agree that file versions (He incorrectly called it a Journaling File System in the artcile) were a great feature in VMS, and I too would trade it for all the dancing paper clips in the world.

It makes me wonder if any usability work at all ever went into Windows development that instead of things like that we get the dancing paper clips instead.

Posted by: Ralph on April 14, 2003 12:45 PM

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Yeah, that Journaling File System? Good idea, but they sell that "feature" as MS Visual SourceSafe.

Posted by: Francis Wu on April 14, 2003 01:03 PM

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Milestone file structure, groupable and linkable icon structure like Apple "piles" http://citeseer.nj.nec.com/context/222192/0 on steroids.

Posted by: (the other)JS on April 14, 2003 03:02 PM

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I think sometimes we forget that many Windows users have extremely basic requirements, and while I don't like to defend Windows, I think they do some very basic usability very well.

What I would like to see is different Windows versions/features suited to different audiences. My grandmother doesn't need file journalling or a better task manager (or a lot of the other current windows junk) - it would just be confusing - but I do want it, and more.

Posted by: on April 14, 2003 07:23 PM

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Interesting. Pity installs universally ignore user profiles, instead working from the perspective of limited hard drive resources. Or that the OS itself has general use profile templates.

Most grandmothers aren't aware of what computers can allow them to do. They simply have no idea. Just try watching those in that age group target items designed for and by youngsters. Doubleclick is in some cases quite out of the question (one misses the old adjustment of setting larger "drift" and time limits between clicks one and two). Or use a mouse -- a sight sure to get anyone with a passing acquaintance of industrial design to thinking.

None of these systems deal adequately with age accessibility -- curious when so many do backflips over accesibility to smaller size groups.

Posted by: (the other)JS on April 15, 2003 10:35 AM

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Most of all, be sure you have double panes for energy savings. Thermal curtains also help a lot, as normal curtains do little to retain heat.

Posted by: on April 16, 2003 01:10 AM

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1. Better search and find
2. List of repeatable tasks - My Tasks - i.e. things that I do on a regular basis i.e. it learns my common behaviours and sets my PC up accordingly
3. Faster startup
4. Undelete or mulitple rollbacks
5. Voice commands for certain tasks

Posted by: daniel szuc on April 19, 2003 10:18 AM

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