We live in hope. Hope that Microsoft commits to a full new operating system this autumn rather than yet another feature update, as some predict. But most of all we hope that Microsoft creates an operating system that solves our frustrations, stops hitting us with ads and opens up new possibilities.
To find out what people wanted from the next iteration of Windows, we asked around. Lee Grant asked his customers. We put out messages on Facebook, Discord and X to discover what our readers desired, and have scattered those suggestions throughout this feature. And we asked our own contributors to share their thoughts.
We’ve broken the suggestions into a loose collection of headings to make them easier to navigate – easy navigation, who’d have thought people wanted that? – but really this is a collective howl of frustration and want.
Will Microsoft deliver? We continue to live in hope.
USABILITY & INTERFACE
PROMOTE WINDOWS GESTURES
I used to cry myself to sleep at night because I thought Microsoft had removed the “shake to minimise” gesture, where you grab a title window, shake it and all the other apps minimise to the desktop. What I didn’t realise is that it’s merely hidden the option away: search for “Multitasking settings” and you’ll see it there, bold as brass. And that’s my problem with Windows gestures. They’re genuine time-savers, but Microsoft has done such an awful job of promoting them that all the onus is on us, users, to seek them out. Whether people are using mice or touchpads, Microsoft needs to push gestures to the fore in Windows 12. TD
“FINALLY UPDATE ALL THE OLD CONTROL PANEL/DEVICE MANAGER/DRIVE MANAGER TOOLS TO THE MODERN APPEARANCE.”
RYAN THOMAS @RYFISH
MAC LEVELS OF COHESION
One of the great weapons that Apple has is that everything works, although it obviously has the advantage of controlling both hardware and software. Microsoft has attempted to create a more cohesive “experience” for its customers across Android, iOS and Windows through apps on phones and tablets and its own Phone Link system built into Windows 11. The trouble is that both are afterthoughts. With Windows 12, it has the opportunity to steal ideas from – sorry, be inspired by – Honor and Samsung that detect if a tablet or phone is nearby and then work out ways to swap files between them, or turn them into secondary screens. TD
