Is Windows 7 RTM so good that SP1 needs no real improvements?

reghakr

Essential Member
Yesterday, Microsoft started the announcements about Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1. The one thing that struck me was the fact that Windows 7 will only get some minor updates and bug fixes from the Service Pack. Even though Windows 7 is sweet and looks very good from the beginning, I think there still are a few rough edges in the OS to work on. I was really hoping that Microsoft did some work to add some more sweetness to Windows 7. But I'm afraid that we have to wait a little bit longer. Here is my shortlist of issues to be fixed or better said features to be finished and enhanced in an upcoming update of the OS.

1. Libraries

Libraries in Windows 7 are a wonderful thing as long as your data is on the local system or made available offline with the offline files option. The problem is that this is exactly where the story ends. Many people have been plagued with the dreadful "this location cannot be added because it is not indexed" message when they try to add a network shared folder to their libraries. The current solutions are:
  1. Make the added location available offline
  2. Index the data on the server (therefore it must be a Windows Service)
  3. Complete disable the search feature for all libraries in Group Policy and lose file search in the start menu at the same time.
  4. Use an unsupported method by fooling the OS into thinking the data is local while it isn't.
Why not have an option to disable the indexing requirement per library? This is much less intrusive than option C, that removes more functionality than any user would want. You can also read about this in my blog at Link Removed - Invalid URL.

2. Libraries for system admins

Libraries are nice from the end-user perspective, but what happened to the administrator's perspective? Why can administrators still only redirect the My Document, My Pictures, My Music etc. folders and not configure the complete contents of the library. I would have loved to add the departmental share to the documents library for my users from a policy instead of fixing this by hand on each system. When I can configure libraries from Group Policy? Microsoft please also add the option to export and import library configurations as implemented in the Link Removed - Invalid URL?

3. Search support for Distributed File System (Dfs)

Distributed File System was once one of Microsofts first attempts to virtualize the network. Nowadays it seems that Microsoft is moving away from this really useful feature that allows administrators to hide the name of the actual file server from a user by creating a Dfs share. Windows Search that is needed to add file locations to a library doesn't work when you connect the shared folder through Dfs. Users have to connect to the actual file server and now the advantage of Dfs is gone. Microsoft, please add Dfs support to Windows Search.

4. Multiple sound devices per source in Windows

I have been a Media Center fan for quite some time. And this one really bugs me. In Windows XP Media Center I was able to connect my TV to the stereo jack of my PC and my receiver to the SPDIF connector and then play my media to both outputs at the same time. I then got stereo from the TV and Dolby Surround or DTS from the receiver. Since Microsoft changed the sound driver model for Windows Vista, I now have to choose which output I like to use. Now my Media Center is playing through the receiver all the time, because switching requires me to use the mouse or walk through the Media Center wizard to reconfigure the output. Microsoft, please enable multiple sound devices for a single application in Windows 7? Especially for Media Center.

5. Why did my system wake from sleep?

Now that Windows finally has a decent sleep option, most of my systems are no longer switched off when I don't use them. The only problem is that these systems sometimes seem to wake up for no reason at all. I already found out that most of the time the cause of the awakening can be found in the event log. I also found out that PowerCfg.exe allows to configure what devices can wake a system from sleep. Why did I have to dig into a command line to list the devices that can wake up my systems and fix this? This should be part of the control panel applet that manages power features in Windows 7. Microsoft, please extend the Power Management GUI with an option to configure devices that can wake the system from sleep. This is just my little wish list for Windows 7, but I am sure there must be more. It truly bugs me that the current announcements for SP1 do not mention any significant enhancements to make Windows 7 even better than it already is. Or am I just impatient and did Microsoft wait with the announcements that really matter?

Source: Link Removed - Invalid URL
 
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