My current OS (operating system) is Windows Vista Ultimate-64 (Version 6.0, Service Pack 1). I am generallyhappy with this OSand consider it to be a major upgrade over Windows 2000/XP. I wish to comment on what I would expect from Windows Version7.0 (as opposed to Windows Version 6.1). In my opinion, the biggest shortcoming in Windows 6.0 is the difficulty in diagnosingcomputer performance problems. Computers and their operating systems are now so complex that even Vista support professionals havedifficulty determining if a problem, such as slow boot time, sluggish internet performance, or system instability, is due to a hardware, BIOS,operating system, or application problem. In evaluating the performance ofthe operating system, they have difficulty determining ifa problem mightrelate toinvalid registry keys, device drivers, orcorrupted system files. This is not intended to imply any criticism of Microsoft support personnel. The ones I have dealt withhave beenoutstanding individuals. In cases where a Microsoft support person may be unable to positivelydetermine the source ofthe problem the customer is, in effect, thrown to the wolves. For example, there are numerous software companies sellingregistry cleaning and repair software, but it isquestionablewhethertheir claims are valid or ifthey areselling snake oil. There area few companies thatsell very expensive"low-level" diagnostic software to testhardware but, apart from advertising, there is little information available to helpsomeone determinethe actual capabilities and limitations of theseproducts. I would like to seemore powerful and usefuldiagnostic utilities built into Windows 7.0. It seems to me thata computer'soperating systemis the logical placeto contain all of the diagnostic tools required to determine if a computer performance problem is hardware or software related and to determinethe origin andnature ofany problem. A customer should not have to purchase expensive software havingquestionable or unknownvalueto troubleshoot elusivecomputerproblems. By the way, the msinfo.exe utility in System Information needs to be fixed. Every file I attempted to send to a support professional was "corrupted". Mostpeople are doing relatively simple thingswith their computers, such as surfing the Internet, sending email, maintaining personal records, storing photos,and doing homework.A basicfunctioning computer is more important tothem thana plethora ofglizy features. Most people cannot afford tospend hundredsor thousands of dollars to havesomeonetroubleshoot a computerproblem that probably has a simple butelusive, cause.They should alsonot have to spend hundreds or thousandsof dollars purchasing softwarefrom unknown companies that may notbe helpful or that may createeven worse problems. Secondly, I would prefer that Microsoft did not advertise and include otherutilities with Windows that are not very useful. For example the defrag utility that shipped with Vista did not provide any Windows baseduser control or any graphical progessdisplay. The DVD Maker utilitydoes not permit you to copy .iso and some otherfile types. And the Restore Point Utility that shipped with Vistaonly allows you to image your entire system, as opposed to your boot drive. Some of these utilities may have been upgraded since Ilast used them,but the point is I would prefer that Microsoft either included utilities comparable in functionalityto third party utilities or simply stated that "we provide hooks forcertain types of utilities but you should purchasethem from a third party". I was advised by a Microsoft employee to post these types of remarks on one of these forums. My remarks are primarily intended for the Microsft Windows policy makers anddevelopers, however. Sincerely, pmw

Great read, a job well done. I fully agree with you and although I'm not yet capable of writing a similar lengthy reply, I will quote myself here and save some witty prose for another day. ;-)Frop said:(...) Shipping a 'new, fresh and easy-to-use' OS in 2009/2010 without instant network functionality is like shooting yourself in the foot.Admittedly, the stakes are very high as this time around everything has to work right out of the box. It also seems like a logical explanation as to why the beta is already this damn good.