Microsoft Windows notes
Caveats
Most if not all pages are just rough notes, and these pages as a whole are far from complete. More notes will be added in time, eventually, maybe.
If, from reading these notes, you conclude that I am off my rocker, you won’t be the first, and you may even be right.
No doubt there are a dozen and one reasons why none of this would ever work, but perhaps somewhere deep down there is a tiny fragment that could be used for something.
Contents
Overview
The frustration with the eternal Mac-versus-Windows arguments is that neither side understands either the opposing party’s operating system or indeed their own operating system. The apparent strength of the arguments is really only vehemance, built on a foundation of ignorance. Below are listed a few concepts of interest. More details are given on the Macintosh page as the Mac has always been far less well understood. Although Windows does contain a lot of good ideas, too many of them seem to be poorly conceived and implemented to a level well below their potential.
File type verbs
Although Microsoft seem intent on destroying this concept, file types in Windows have for a very long time supported “verbs”. That is to say, for a given file type, there can be more than one permissible action that can be applied to it. On a Mac, the Finder really only offered “Open” as a command. A file could also be dragged onto a printer icon to print it, and that was really about it. File type verbs allow all manner of interesting actions to be defined on a file type, e.g. “Enqueue” for an MP3 audio file, “Tidy” on an XML document or “Optimise” on a PNG image. The various verbs associated with a file type are not required to point to the same application.
Windows used to allow the user to create and edit file type verbs, but this has long since been removed. A major drawback to the verb system is the lack of mix-in. The operating system can add global verbs but the lack of file type hierarchy prevents this from being taken to its full potential. Windows 11 has drastically worsened the situation by deprecating verbs in favour of shell extensions, which are not only terrible for performance (the Windows 11 context menu in File Explorer populates slowly where it was instantaneous in every version of Windows before 11) but impenetrable to simple Registry updates and simple file type registration. Windows introduced a very clean, simple file type definition system that no longer works as all the verbs are ignored.
Right-drag
In certain situations, File Explorer in particular, dragging an item with the right mouse button causes a context menu to appear when the mouse is released. This is one of the few concessions towards single-handed operation, either for convenience, or for people with only one hand. This facility obviates the need to remember exactly what modifier key does what when managing files.
Function key shortcuts
Windows has a number of standard commands that are a simple function key away (except laptops that feel the need to steal all the function keys):
- F1
- Help, in what little is left in the world that still offers it
- F2
- Rename the selected item
- F3
- Find or find again
- F4
- Used by Ctrl+F4 (close MDI child) and Alt+F4 (close window)
- F5
- Refresh
- F6
- Cycle between major sections of a window
- F10
- Open menu bar or, as Shift+F10, show contextual menu
New
Windows 95 introduced the ability to create a new file in the current folder via File → New and right-click → New. This was a nice idea, but implemented in about the worst way possible. Non-technical users have no control whatsoever over this menu: it can only be configured by complicated and difficult Registry manipulation or by third-party software. The menu is sorted by filename extension but displayed as file type names, so the entries appear in a confusing order. Two entries for the same file type are not possible: you cannot populate it with different templates for different tasks. Removal of unwanted items by whatever means, especially Microsoft Office types, is constantly overridden by application updates that restore all the items you purged, as there is no way to disable entries.
David Catmull’s NewCM extension to Mac OS implemented this feature properly. The list of new types was controlled entirely by the user by way of a folder of templates that the user populated directly. There was no reason whatsoever why Microsoft couldn’t have implemented this feature the same way or by a control panel or preferences panel, and for over 20 years it has remained just as unintelligent as the day it was introduced.