No ability to make RAM drives

In DOS era it was so easy to make a RAM drive by loading RAMDRIVE.SYS using DEVICE or DEVICEHIGH command in the CONFIG.SYS file. Now when RAM is incredibly fast and cheap, there is no ability to make RAM drive without 3rd party software. Why?

To-do for Microsoft:

• Windows 7 should have built-in ability to make RAM drives

No IPX/SPX protocol

Why was the IPX/SPX protocol removed from Windows Vista and Windows 7?















Yes, I know that TCP/IP replaced it, but you still need the IPX/SPX protocol, if you want to play old DOS games in LAN.

To-do for Microsoft:

• Bring the IPX/SPX protocol back.

16-bit applications do not work

EDIT: 16-bit applications will work under Windows XP Mode in 64-bit Windows 7! Thank you, Microsoft!
16-bit applications do not work in 64-bit Windows. I copied edit.com and edlin.exe from 32-bit Windows 7 Beta 1's system32 folder to the system32 folder of 64-bit Windows 7 Beta 1.















I got these messages every time:

The version of this file is not compatible with the version of Windows you're running. Check your computer's system information to see whether you need an x86 (32-bit) or x64 (64-bit) version of the program, and then contact the software publisher.

The limiting factor is probably the x86-64 CPU architecture which do not allow to run 16-bit, 32-bit and 64-bit simultaneously in 64-bit OS. Still, it is possible to use VMware Server/Player or VirtualPC to run 16-bit OSes (like DOS and Windows 3.1) in 64-bit Windows.

To-do for Microsoft:

• For 64-bit Windows 7: Integrate virtualization/emulation of 16-bit software. Just double-clicking the 16-bit application should start it. Keep it simple.


• Keep the 16-bit legacy software (edit.com, edlin.exe, etc.)

No custom install

There seems to be no custom install in Windows 7 Beta 1. There was no custom install in Windows Vista either. It seems that they are not going to (re)introduce the custom install in Windows 7.

Why should one has to install e.g. printer drivers (~800 megabytes), if one does not even have a printer!?

To-do for Microsoft:

• Introduce four installation modes:
  a) Minimum installation (installs just the bare minimum of Windows 7)
  b) Normal installation (installs the most useful stuff for a basic user)
  c) Full installation (installs everything including legacy software)
  d) Custom installation (user can choose what to install)
  

32-bit and 64-bit versions, one disc

Both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows 7 could easily fit in one dual-layered DVD disc. I have seen no plans to integrate the 32-bit and 64-bit setups. Why should one have to buy twice the Windows to be able to install and use both versions? It makes no sense to me.

To-do for Microsoft:

• Integrate the 32-bit and 64-bit Windows 7 setups into one DVD disc.


• Setup should ask which version to install. The default choice should be (of course) the 64-bit Windows.

SAPI speakers for all the Windows languages

Windows 7's SAPI speakers do not speak all the Windows languages, e.g. Finnish. Afterall, there have been Finnish speech synthesizers for at least 20 years by now (e.g. MikroPuhe). Why not to license that technology from the 3rd parties and implement in Windows 7?

To-do for Microsoft:

• License the speech synthesis technology from 3rd parties or invent them yourselves so that Windows speaks all the Windows languages.

Speech Recognition for all the Windows languages

Windows 7 Speech Recognition does not understand all the Windows languages, e.g. Finnish. At least, there have been Finnish speech recognition software for Windows at least 10 years by now (e.g. Philips FreeSpeech Viva). Why not to license that technology from the 3rd parties and implement in Windows 7?

To-do for Microsoft:

• License the speech recognition technology from 3rd parties or invent them yourselves so that Speech Recognition understands all the Windows languages.