Windows 7 testers want their voices heard
Although the enthusiasts that are testing Windows 7 have been generally positive on the product itself, some feel Microsoft has been less than eager to receive constructive criticism.
The issue came to a head last month in regards to changes Microsoft was making to make its controversial user account control feature less annoying. While the company did eventually make some shifts to address security concerns raised by testers, for some, the notions has lingered that Microsoft just isn't all that interested in user feedback.
For its part, Microsoft is now trying to make a challenging point. It is trying to reassure the hundreds of thousands of people testing Windows 7 that their feedback matters. Engineering Chief Steven Sinofsky wrote a lengthy blog posting on the subject asserting that Microsoft takes in every piece of feedback it gets. At the same time, it is also true that the vast majority of suggested changes won't make it into the final version.
There are a number of factors at play. First of all, while the loudest chatter right now is coming from hard core techies, Microsoft is also designing for a broader audience that includes tech novices and first-time computer users as well as businesses, whose needs are also different. In some cases, Microsoft is making choices for the many, even though they may irk the few.
Second, although Microsoft is paying attention to all of the e-mailed suggestions, it is also keeping a close eye on what its hard data is showing--it gets reports on what is and isn't crashing. Many of the things it is most actively working to fix are the kinds of things that are affecting a broad swath of the user base.
Finally it is getting a little late in the game. Microsoft has already pronounced the beta version as feature complete and the bar is quickly raising as to what types of issues would actually merit a design change at this point.
"We are toward the end of the process," said Mike Angiulo, who leads the Windows PC Ecosystem and Planning team.
But some might say their feedback was never really solicited. After all, it was only last October that Microsoft first offered a test version of Windows 7 to a broad public audience.
Part of the underlying discrepancy, I suspect, is also an expectation gap. While it's probably true that Microsoft is open to feedback, the level of changes that it is interested in making probably differ from the kind of suggestions many people are interested in offering.
Microsoft does look for broader input, but it tends to solicit that earlier in the process and from a more limited group, such as the 3,600 people that went through Windows 7 usability testing as part of the product planning process.
That's not to say Microsoft isn't making any changes between the Windows 7 beta that was released in January and the release candidate version that will be made publicly available at some point in the not-to-distant future. However, the changes may seem minor and relatively few and far between.
One of the tweaks that Microsoft expects to make, for example, is to slightly shrink the size of the icons on the new taskbar to aid enthusiasts that want lots and lots of programs to reside there. For another, Microsoft plans to add a number of keyboard shortcuts that map to various new elements of Windows 7's graphical user interface. That's the kind of change that is easy to make, because those that want it can use them while everyone else won't even know they are there.
"That's a no-brainer," Angiulo said.
During her years at CNET News, Ina Fried has changed beats several times, changed genders once, and covered both of the Pirates of Silicon Valley. These days, most of her attention is focused on Microsoft. E-mail Ina. 
retarded into obliging you to use a password before even being able to click next.
otherwise everything else seems ok.
another thing, could be windows updates and "important updates" how about giving me the option to hide an update i do not what. doesn't seem to be there such as it was in windows xp by using the web interface.
Perhaps you had some other problems, of the 3 PCs in my house and 2 I use at the office not one has been reset more than once this month and they all function just fine on XP, Vista, and W7.
Is the last version of Windows you ran Win 3.1?
Sounds like he's using a really slow computer if windows is taking 5 minutes to switch between boxes. I am using a vista and xp on a laptop that has a pentium 4 running at 1.5 Ghz and it doesnt take that long to switch between windows.
Anyways if you are happy with your purchase of a Macbook. Then you should seriously compare its specs to the specs of your windows computer.
Alot of people need to understand the advantage of a Mac vs a PC and vis versa.
A Mac is simple, all the software, hardware, programs, ect come directly from Apple. Apple is able to have a complete (sans 20% of the software on the thing for compatibility sake) monopoly over their hardware and what runs on it. MS does not have this ability, not to stand up for one or the other.
PC's have the openness to use ANYTHING (MS's offerings being most compatible/widely used), while this has it's pros it has it's cons - conflicts that is. MS's office 97 might not agree will with another Program going in and clearing out what it sees as temp files, ect... Adobe's Reader might have issues loading with IE's browser with a certain toolbar attached. ect...
Safri, by contrast, while having no tool-bar add-ons, is just that. Safari. It is itself alone and nothing else. Firefox can run on Mac, but if FF has issues on Mac, apple will say the same thing that PC tech support says "Not our problem, not our program." which is simply more frequent for PC users.
Users. Remember that, not techs, regular people. They get frustrated constantly hearing "We don't support this..." "This isn't our issue..." "This is MS/Dell/Adobe/Mozilla/ISP issue, ect..." Apple is 'better' because they handle A to Q - everything else that can cause issues is limited. Granted, it still happens, but usually Apple can handle it. usually if something happens on a Dell that doesn't involve hardware issues (Which it rarely does) Dell can do jack, and squat about the issue.
The Goal with Windows 7 here, and Windows vista, is to try to stop these problems before they occur. that's why the UAC exists - to prevent people from installing spyware, before they install it. It may be "Annoying" but I have to admit, it has saved my wife's computer twice thust far. Once from a prompt that looked very much like Norton Anti-virus ::waves at Anti-Virus 2009:: and again from something similar called Anti-Virus 360 - which I've seen on Other PC's and it's a nice one as far as virus's go.... on the other foot I've seen this STILL get in on other PC's, even with UAC, cause the key there is "User Access" it's the user that controls it.
As for Windows slowing down I wish there was a self tuning program that kept the pc running fast.
And also have a registry watcher that would watch every single registry entry made by third party apps so I can have a REAL TRUE uninstall so no ghostly remain are in temp folders or registry areas. A true modern OS should be able to repair itself or tell why a program is not working in layman language.
"Thank you for your comments. We appreciate your feedback. However, we really know best."
- by McDaveH February 27, 2009 4:19 PM PST
- I hope Windows 7 does work for you, I really do. Because if not, if it is just another weak attempt from MS to fix problems in a fundamentally unworkable/un-useful open product model that means they've strung you along...
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(13 Comments)FOR NEARLY TEN YEARS !!!!
amazing, you would have been waiting almost a decade for an OS on their promises and non-delivery and XP was looking old against OSX.3 Panther!
Why would anyone do that? Think about that when you chastise Mac zealots for being "fooled" by shiny things. Clearly it's possible to be fooled by other things!
Good luck with Windows 7
McD