What features would you like to see in Windows 12?

We all know it's inevitable. The question is will it be any better than Windows 11. So how should it be different and what sort of features should it have?

Should it be an annual subscription? Should it be a bare bones OS that let's you choose what apps you would like from the Windows store?

Should it be limited to PCs that have TPM2? Let's brainstorm!

Scannerman said:

Should it be a bare bones OS that let's you choose what apps you would like from the Windows store?

Click to expand...

Yes.

It should also make pizza and wash dishes.

Ghot said:

Yes.

It should also make pizza and wash dishes.

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Well, they already have robots to do that sort of thing, but who knows? Perhaps the Windows store could furnish us with a pizza progie? Mmmm... Pizza!

I really do think it should be an annual subscription, say like $24.95 for the bare bones basic version. Good enough for school, perhaps note pad, paint, and a few basic programs. Grey keys have flooded the market and upgrading from older systems is insane. Microsoft, if they still own Windows, (TBH I really don't know if they do anymore) could really clean up on rogue programs and counterfeiting this way while still making Windows affordable for the average user. It's just a thought.

Ideally if nothing changes.
How many times can you tinker with the interface, let them do better with internal optimization.
Scott's First Law from Arthur Bloch's book Murphy's Laws states, “It doesn't matter if something goes wrong. It may look good...”

People like options and people don't want to pay for a whole lot of software that they will never use. Building and configuring your own PC can be an enjoyable experience so setting up your own interface with your own choice of apps and programs could be a rewarding and positive experience. I know this sounds a lot like a Linux 'distro' approach but when you think of it isn't that already what Windows is doing with all their various "versions" of the same OS? Admittedly, going bare bones is not a new idea but to me it makes a lot of sense.

IBM principle.
A machine should work, a person should think.
Microsoft principle.
Create a system that a fool can use,
and only a fool would want to use it.

abactuon said:

IBM principle.
A machine should work, a person should think.
Microsoft principle.
Create a system that a fool can use,
and only a fool would want to use it.

Click to expand...

Well, let me be among the first to admit that I am a fool. Nonetheless I have a "love/hate" relationship with Windows despite the fact that some here despise that reference. I would allow for the idea that my time might be better spent learning how to use Linux properly but old habits are hard to break. There are many good things about Windows and I wouldn't venture to throw out the baby with the bathwater but man, sometimes that bathwater gets so filthy that I don't think it's doing much for the baby.

If we were to have a bare bones OS and call it the baby. We could dress it up, grow it up, and raise it up in a way that could be more pleasing and productive for our own personal purposes. Perhaps then a subscription would not be such a bad thing. I'm just tossing ideas around. I would really like to see some genuine dynamic change in the next future Windows OS. I would like to see something as dramatically different as the switch from the older Windows to Win XP occur. I think the time is ripe for it. For me, Windows 11 turned out to be such a disappointment.

Optimization more than anything and choices, something Microsoft hasn't grasped still. When they introduce a new module, it's almost like they flip a coin to determine what files go where. Windows use to be modular and organized. But entropy is quickly taking control of it.

And please, drop the support for the relic apps. There is still Windows 95 code and resources in Windows 2024. How long are we going to carry that dead horse ?

holographic keyboard and screen.

I want the following: (Probably contentious for some)

Features:

1. Control panel gone and the settings panel fully finished and implemented. Disk cleanup gone, windows 7 imaging, old crap. Settings panel should allow multiple windows.
   
   
2. Default apps having a button to set an app as the default for all file types, just like in windows 10. For some reason this is only for browsers in windows 11.
   
   
3. Go back to the windows aero like era where the OS was beautiful (win vista, 7) to look at and pleasing to the eye instead of flat and boring looking. More native themes and look changes with an easy way to revert.
   
   
4. Better game mode, where unnecessary processes and things are restricted when games are played.
   
   
5. I want the store to be suggested as the way to download an app if you go to install vlc or something for example. This way the store can handle the updates and be less reliant on manually updating software. Of course still having the choice for desktop apps.
   
   
6. Start menu customization, bring back folders on the taskbar and allow position changes.
   
   
7. I want built in troubleshooters to make an appearance again, developed more, and more reliable. Solving issues like windows update problems etc.
   
   
8. Disk management sucks. It needs a major overhaul.
   
   Security:
   
   
9. I want tighter security, with admin protection as default.
   
   
10. I want smart app control enabled by default instead of being evaluation mode, and allowing it to be turned off for users that don't want it.
    
    
11. Windows defender should have PUP detection enabled by default.
    
    
12. Controlled folder access should have a better whitelist for applications, and allow easier control over the feature.

I would like it to allow the user to remove any application up to and including EDGE, as long as it does not break anything.

I would like it finished!

I would like to be able to directly access Device Manager on the first click on the This PC icon like it used to be.

I would like things like Co-Pilot and One Drive to be completely optional and not running in the background.

In other words if I want them I can go to the Windows Store to get them.

*edit* As an afterthought TPM technology should be completely optional and not a hardware requirement.