Windows Blew

You may recall my blistering review of Windows 8. A lot of people agreed with that negative assessment, which is why Microsoft -- in what may be the biggest rewind in corporate history -- is replacing 8 with something called Windows Blue. It's an update, it's a new OS...but most of all, it's a confession.

Windows...blew.

Here are things I want to see fixed:

1. Start screen replaced.

2. Farewell to Metro, or whatever they're calling it now. Put that thing on tablets. (And concentrate on small tablets that fit in a man's pocket. There's no reason Android should control that category. Surface Pro was a good idea, but too expensive. A pocket-sized tablet is good for books, music, and light browsing.)

3. Bring back Safe Mode.

4. Bring back Chess Titans. Include more traditional games: Reversi, checkers, backgammon..

5. Give us a clearly marked "off" switch. Place it on the Taskbar.

6. Improve navigation. Make sure that the user is always one click away from the desktop -- or, better still, never even leaves the desktop

7. Boot into desktop.

8. Desktop should have ready-made folders (with nice-looking icons) containing shortcuts to programs in varying categories. For example, I have separate folders for anti-malware programs, art apps, media-creation apps, and general utilities. This set-up makes favored programs easier to find without scrolling through the Start menu list of programs.

9. Keep the Win 8 task manager. Make it even faster.

10. The volume control needs a mono switch. Why? Because lots of YouTube videos have sound in only one channel.

11. Basically, give us Win 7 again -- but make everything faster and better.