Windows Vista is on the way, with the first beta soon to be released on 3 August. It may be too late to influence Microsoft, but I’ve put together the following list of features that would get me excited about the next release of Windows:

• Enforce at the operating-system level a rule that no application is ever allowed to steal focus. It really wrecks flow for me to be typing along at an article only to have the Office Assistant ask me a question, or my spyware scanner interrupt me to say that new updates have been downloaded, or whatever. No interruptions. Ever. That’s what I want.
• More reliable killing of applications. When I ctrl-alt-del, highlight an application, and click the end button, I’d like the app to end right then. I know I can go to the Processes tab to end the underlying process more reliably, but the mapping from application name to process name is not always clear.
• Longer battery life. This is more of a hardware problem. But Win XP actually does a good job at milking every minute from my batteries. Any further software improvements to extend battery life under Windows Vista would be most welcome.
• I’d like to see better integration with Linux/Unix. For example, build in really good ssh and sftp clients. Maybe bundle in a good scripting language such as Python.
• Ship Windows with some sort of built-in programming environment. I know it’s easy enough to install, say, Python, but interesting things might happen if we could count on all users to just have it already.
• Build in a stand-alone address book so that I can manage all my email contacts independently of whatever email program I happen to be using.
• Take a good, hard look at the Start menu. I think we need a new approach to finding and starting applications. When I got to Start->All Programs, my list is so long that it wraps into two columns. And sometimes I have to navigate through not one, but two folders before I can click on an executable. I wish I had a solution to offer here, but I can’t help but think there might be a better way.
• Throw in a really good text editor. Vim maybe? Just something more capable than Notepad.

I’m sure as soon as I post this that other ideas will come to mind.

What about you? What improvements (seriously, no jokes please) would you like to see in the next release of Windows?

A key benefit from having a weblog is that you can quickly and easily post your thoughts on a topic for all to see. Alas, lurking within that advantage is the risk that you might post in the heat of the moment something that you later regret. Last week I made such a post.

Friday last week, in response to the new name “Windows Vista”, I took a rather gratuitious potshot at Microsoft. It is true that I find their new product name uninspiring, and I really did immediately think of “station-wagon” (I’m old enough to remember the Vista Cruiser), but my post on the topic brought no benefit to anyone. If you’re one of the people who read my post, I apologize for its inflammatory nature. You deserve better. Next time I will make it a point to calm down a bit and consider my words more thoughtfully.

Related link: http://www.enterprisedb.com/

As a longtime, hardcore PostgreSQL developer, administrator, and
advocate, I was honestly irritated when I first heard of EnterpriseDB
(”EDB”). My pessimistic self figured it was another over-hyped
vaporware product and another lame attempt to take advantage of
PostgreSQL’s community and BSD license… that all changed after two hours of talking
with Denis Lussier (Co-founder and Chief Architect at EDB).

See, several years ago I started adding Oracle compatibility to
PostgreSQL with a project called NEXTGRES. It’s refreshing to see a
company such as EDB expanding on the same idea into fairly uncharted
(yet profitable) waters. Sure, several companies offer products that
translate SQL at the application/driver layer and PL/SQL to Java, but
few have the skill or vision to see the value in adding true blue
Oracle, SQL Server, and DB2 compatibility to the database engine
itself; this is what really sets EDB apart. I know, the next question
you will probably ask is, how is EDB’s PostgreSQL-based database going
to compare to Oracle? Here’s my answer.

The majority of Oracle users utilize approximately 80% of the features
Oracle database software provides. These users are generally using
Oracle because of PL/SQL (which is without doubt one of the most
powerful, albeit proprietary, database procedural languages), or
because their software vendor requires it. That being said, there
isn’t much in terms of actual Oracle features that PostgreSQL can’t
technically provide. So you’ve heard of PostgreSQL, but you don’t
know much about it and want to know more.

Unfortunately, PostgreSQL isn’t as well-known as MySQL in the open
source database arena. This is largely due to the fact that MySQL is
a smaller-scale pluggable database that requires almost no
configuration or knowledge of the system to install and administer it.
Similarly, MySQL was natively available for Windows much earlier than
PostgreSQL which made it easier for people to download and test.
PostgreSQL, on the other hand, requires you to do a little tuning here
and there and know a little bit about databases. However, PostgreSQL
offers an unparalleled array of enterprise database features and
standards compatibility in the open source database arena. This makes
it more than adequate to start building the additional functionality
most Oracle users require.

What EDB has done is recognize the power and wealth of standards the
PostgreSQL community and software supports. What the EDB folks are
doing is building a compatibility layer (”Redwood” mode) which handles
those features which are most commonly used by Oracle users (including
support of PL/SQL, Oracle data types, and proprietary Oracle functions
like DECODE, NVL, etc.) At the same time, they are looking at a
“Redmond” mode for SQL Server compatibility. Unlike some of the other
vendors, EDB is contributing back to the PostgreSQL community by
providing some funding for the development of the SQL/PSM standard.

My suggestion is that everyone keeps an eye on what EDB is doing;
they’re definitely going to turn some heads.

-Jonah

Comments, ideas, and questions are welcomed!