[htyoung]

Seems like a lot of this stuff is available as free add ons to users
with enough 'saavy' to know how to customize windows to their liking.
Especially the powertoys. ISO recorder is one of them as well. Also, I'm pretty sure remote access, which he says you need gotomypc to use, has been available since windows 98. You just have to use a Live passport on each end. Two hotmail accounts will do.

[JimH443]

IMHO, an operating system should be drivers and user interface - period. Anything beyond this is bloat. The single feature that is even remotely "necessary" is an internet browser which then allows the new user to download any features that he/she may desire.

[arglborps]

As a matter of fact Apache has been bundled with every CLIENT version of OS X. As far as I know you only get IIS with any Windows Server version, not the client one, so you'll have to pay up quite a bit to get a full blown web server on Windows.

[arglborps]

4 Features Windows does have, but shouldn't


1) more than 70000 viruses


2) more remote exploits and other security holes than you could shake a stick at


3) DRM up your ass


4) Different UI, keyboard shortcuts and behaviour for about every single one of the millions of applications available for Windows.

[htyoung]

Actually, Windows comes with Windows Media Player.

[htyoung]

Actually, as long as you have a password on your account you can use Windows Remote Desktop Connection to remotely control a PC. I believe it comes with Vista (it came with my version of Vista Home), and Service Pack 3 adds it to XP. Way to go MS for doing this for free. Now I just have to learn to remote control Windows using Linux. I dual boot Linux on my laptop because its so fast for laptop purposes (browsing the internet, document editing), but there are still a couple things I need Windows to do and cant fool Linux into doing.

[htyoung]

Not only that, but he mentions Apache, which isn't a standard install on most basic Linux distros. So basically, you'd have to add it to Linux, just like you can add Apache to Windows.

[JenisysJohn]

Not the "Home" version of XP, and not the "Home Basic" version of Vista.

[htyoung]

Uh.. Not Home or home basic about what? Anything that isn't included in home or home basic is available as an alternative version. IIS can be forced into XP home and a limited version on Vista home basic, but then with apache available you wouldn't need top bother, but on the other hand, what would be the purpose of running a web server on Vista Home Basic or XP Home. Any enterprise corporation will have XP Pro or a server OS somewhere to run the web server. Any home user who would go to the trouble of enabling IIS on home basic or home could just get apache, or google a free web server. I think this is the reason MS didn't add IIS into its Home OSs (along with using it as an added feature to get you to buy the next level version of Windows. This article is basically garbage. Anything that is added into a non-windows OS can be done for free in Windows because the user base is so large that everyone from Adobe, to college students, is writing software for it. My suggestion to anyone concerned about Windows will remain the same, however. Duel boot with Linux and install Wine to run your Windows Apps, and then only boot into Windows when you have to do something that you can only do in Windows. My desktop and laptop would both agree.

[htyoung]

Oh yeah. remote access is a big part of Windows Live Mesh. It lets you share files over the internet and/or control your computers over the internet, by simply installing Mesh on all of your systems from www.mesh.com . I reviewed Mesh at www.suffolk757.com/blog

[sonofmoog]

I see the value of LiveMesh for remote access, but I still prefer Team Viewer. It can be had here:

Team Viewer Home Page

Put it on a U3 USB stick, and get remote acess to your home PC from anywhere.
It has built-in FTP, operates independent of IP address, and best of all, it's free for non-commerical use.

[shippou]

I agree that windows lack the features said, but I think that they are all biased. As a Linux user (Linux Mint by the way), I think that many features were missed, like the renamable "Start" button ( I renamed it as Windows 8), transparent panels, multiple panels, compiz fusion, a very powerful terminal.. the list goes on (just ask the Linux community). I do think that they are all Macs, and using only Linux, FreeBSD, and other OSs they said they had addressed as an excuse. I do think that they are only fueling the Mac vs PC battle. I admit Macs are cool (as I have seen one), but then let us PLEASE not be biased. Do not think that just because Windows and Macs have an upperhand in the OS wars we should be neglecting other OSs. Remember there are still a lot more out there (though not as famous), like Sun's OpenSolaris and Amiga.
And also to those who have commented on what PCWorld needs, I think you guy(s) are harsh in your judgements. I'm not asking for flames here, but then let us not miss the article's point. I really find the article entertaining, but I think that what really is lacking in the article is a bit of fairness and equality. And please let us not think of ourselves as perfect, for as the cliche says, nobody's perfect.

[ClemSnide]

I vacillated about this one, but decided to thumbsup it... mostly because of the pointer to the Stickies program, which I've used on the Macs since... hmm, not sure when, but it was back when Bill Gates was only a multi-billionaire instead of a multi-trillionaire. And the best piece of advice was for unified and standardized application menus, the lack of which is still one of the bad design choices in Windows. (I would, however, place it at the bottom of the screen, which is more consistent with the primary arc of attention.)
I'd also add to the wish list the ability to universally change the way information is displayed. Although XP and Vista come with some pretty decent tweaks to enlarge icon and descriptive text size, window titlebar size, etc., most dialog boxes are still in that miniature and hair-thin font that is difficult to see for even a moderately visually impaired user. (Yes, I've run the UI personaliztion control a dozen times and experimented with it like Dr. Frankenstein. My current fix is to keep a small magnifying glass near the monitor-- Windows' software-based Magnifier is nearly useless.)
The one disagreement I'd have is your endorsement for the Dock. As it installs it's probably the worst feature of Mac OSX! Unless you get really creative the trash can moves about as if it was trying to avoid things being placed into it. I wrote an AppleScript that trashed files-- its icon sits on the Desktop in the traditional place, and stays put so that files can be dragged onto it. Unfortunately it doesn't change its graphic when the Trash is full, or when you're actually ejecting a CD, but I can live with that.

[jimj]

My first thought when I saw this was, WOW, just what the world's most bloated OS (vista) needs, 18 more processes/features. But then I got to #17 (Standardized Ribbon/Menu) and had to agree that MS truly needs to do something with the overall poor organization of Windows, particularly its management tools and means of turning features on and off. And feature # 18 (Single File Application) also appealed to me, re simplifications for the user.

I really like the concept of 11 (Application Dock), but for those interested, you can duplicate an application dock to an extent with built-in features of Vista and earlier versions of Windows. I have 35 icons (for folders, files, programs, control panel, etc) located in 3 hidden edge mounted toolbars (on right, top, bottom sides) of my desktop which I can simply point to and launch with a single mouse click (windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/Help/5cca95d3-219a-436b-b016-831296b821ad1033.mspx). Got another 20 icons in the quick launch and special toolbars ([http://bucarotechelp.com/computers/wintips/93110202.asp]) located on the bottom taskbar. I have no Icons visible on the Desktop (Mac like?). I rarely ever click the start button/orb. I even have a computer shutdown button (that first runs CCleaner) located on one of the edge toolbars. Unfortunately, Win 7 deletes the edge toolbar feature.