Looking forward to Windows 8, what Microsoft missed in Windows 7, Part 5

Mike Halsey | Nov 16, 2009 | Comments

Tip: Click here to run a free scan for common PC errors

It’s been a long time since I’ve written one of these articles and in the interim Windows 7 has been launched a much applauded by the press and public.  I too have warmly received Windows 7, mostly because I was using either the irritating and sluggish Vista, or the insecure XP before.

But now that we’re about a month in I believe it’s time for the Windows 7 bashing to continue if we’ve got any hope of getting the Windows 8 we all need and deserve.

The problem with Windows 7 is that, in many areas, it was rushed.  Microsoft did not take a holistic approach to developing the operating system, it’s features and it’s interface.

I’ve spoken before about Libraries being an excellent example of this.  You can add folders to libraries, even on Homegroup connected PCs, but why can’t you filter those folder by content type, or have a library of all your Adobe Acrobat (.PDF) files?  This is a very annoying omission and one that makes the otherwise excellent Libraries feature much less useful than Microsoft would like it to be.

Another example I’ve spoken about is search.  The search facility in Windows 7 is awful.  Just compare this to the search facility we first saw in Windows XP, with helpful drop-downs and context sensitive search.  You can’t search by multiple parameters at all in Windows 7, and the search commands themselves are so complex that even the most hardened Windows 7 user will only ever use a small fraction of them because you need to carry a paper list around with you.

But there’s one bug bear that’s recently been truly annoying me and that’s the context menus when you click on a file.

contextmenu1

What is missing in this menu?  With Windows 7 Microsoft have introduced the new ‘superbar’ onto which you can pin programs for easy launch and so they’re easier to find.  Now let’s set aside for a moment that friends have all said to me that A) You could do this in XP and Vista with the quick launch area anyway and B) That this is an acceptance on Microsoft’s part that the Start Menu is no longer an acceptable way to find and use programs.

My problem is you you can right click on a program once you find it in the Start Menu and pin it to the taskbar, but you ought by the same logic be able to right click on a document and do the same.

This should, if the functionality were included, automatically pin the document to the jumplist for the program on your taskbar and, if the program is not already pinned to your taskbar, pin it there for you.

It’s an excellent example, if any more were needed, that Microsoft should have spent more time developing their new interface and functionality ideas.  We can only hope they take these ideas on board and spend a bit of time getting them right for the launch of Windows 8 in 2012.

Subscribe To RSS Feed Updates

('DiggThis’)

Leave A Comment: Comments

Filed Under: Discussion • Misc • Windows 8

Tags: • • • • •

Need Windows 7 Help? Click Here
Next Post: »»
Prev Post: »»

About the Author: The author of the new Windows 7 Power Users Guide, a how-to guide for non-technical Windows users on how to get the best out of Microsoft's new operating system, with step-by-step and quick guides. You can follow Mike on Twitter or on his own website The Long Climb

  • Admin_RobertCity
    I think they were too busy creating something to make the Vista haters shut up and get the XP users to move away from 2001 and come to 2009-10.
  • Stephen
    A few things:

    1) The allegedly user friendly search function in XP was pretty useless for genuinely complicated searches. For the average use, clicking on the start menu in Windows 7 and typing what they want to search is all they will ever do. Beyond that, the search function in Windows 7 is much more powerful and takes all of five minutes to figure out if one is supposedly a power user. If one integrates search connectors (a five second google search and right click to install), it offers far greater power and reach than anything that has been offered by Microsoft in the past. FWIW, I personally think, typing search and then clicking on the place to type your search and choosing your search filters is really pretty easy (an option that immediately appears below the search box).

    2) If all of your friends think that the old quick launch approach is in any way equivalent to to the new task bar, your friends wouldn't appear to be very bright or observant. This is the most obvious point of departure from Microsoft's previous OS offerings, and is both far more sophisticated and powerful. It is not simply mini linear start menu to launch apps.

    3) I guess it is too difficult to click on the file name and drag it to the taskbar where it will then be automatically added to the correct jumplist for jumplist compliant programs? Instead, lets add more code and bloat the next OS a bit more so that you can right click and pick something off of a context menu to achieve something that can already be done by dragging an object. Sorry but the goal has been to make the OS more object driven and less menu driven.

    Stephen
  • kevinmbaron
    Your issue with search is just a waste of time. I've never cared about search and i never will. Because i know how to organize. I'm will bet good money i have more junk spanning my 7 hard drives then anyone here. Yet I know where everything is, i mean everything. Search is for people that have 40 icons on there desktop. People who have no idea where anything is. It doesnt take much effort to organize your pc life.
  • You can still pin documents to the taskbar.... all you have to do is open up the file in view format and then just drag and drop it onto the task bar!
  • Jim Bob
    Wow, there are some real jerks here who are beyond-excessive Microsoft fanboiiis.
  • Bob
    if you want a library of pdf's make a new library the tab is next to the organize tab or if your pdf's are in the documents library already click on the little triangle next to the type tab and select pdf then only the pdf's will show up....
  • Tel
    @ Mike Halsey,
    I believe you can pin a document to the taskbar/superbar and it does indeed pin the Application (if it's not already there) and then pin the document in the jumplist. Yes it's not a right-click function. You have to physically drag it on to the bar but what's the issue with that?
  • 1. The search issue is a non-issue for 99% of the worlds PC users.

    2. Pinning a document to the taskbar is not the correct way of using Windows. In saying that, it WAS possible in one of the early alphas/betas (can't remember which) but it confused too many people, so they removed it.
  • Frank Nursery
    My question is this. Why would I want my OS pinning programs to the taskbar for me? Windows already takes too much upon itself to do many things I DO NOT want it to do. Let's not add another. If I want an application on the taskbar, I will put it there. And in re: to GTRoberts, I did not know there was a "correct" way to use Windows.
  • windows.user
    I like the history feature of programs pinned to the start menu. Open Office Writer, dream weaver and all my other applications now have the popout menu with all the documents I opened in them and I also have the ability to pin these items to the top of the list.

    I find this much more easier and less cluttered than putting all my document shortcuts in the start menu.

    For the quick launch bar or whatever it is called now in Win 7 I do what I did in XP and Vista. I create new folders and pin them to the task bar which makes it VERY easy to find my most used programs and nicely sort my application and documents without cluttering the task bar.

    I also have the main software I use pinned to the task bar too but if I put too many on it, clutter is too much for me.

    If you add the Start Menu to the Send To folder would that not allow you to move documents to the start menu? Not exactly what you wanted and is an extra step of opening the Send To popout menu but that would work no?

    I think that the search in Win 7 is better than Vista's, I agree it isn't perfect.

    I just recently moved to using my Win 7 based laptop as my main computer system, moving from Windows XP. I NEVER would of done this for Vista. I prefer the classic XP style theme to the new more stylish ones but I have to admit that I get more done and can get to things easier using Win 7 than I did with XP. Damn it... I luv my XP puter but Win 7 won me over after Vista had me almost moth balling my laptop, now it is reversed.

    I guess I am in the minority when it comes to preferring the old XP style explorer without the bread crumbs. Once I learned the new bread crumb navigation it is simpler to back track hierarchy but I still reach for the back button wishing it was same as the go up one level that XP windows explorer had.

    Hate on me if you want, I just prefer some of the older XP features over certain Vista style navigation and theme features.
blog comments powered by Disqus