I currently use windows XP, would much rather use windows2000 but I have been forced in tousing itby my software. Only used Vista on a few occasions.I use my computer 8 to 12 hours a day.I mainly use my computer for work. For an operating system to be useful to me it needs to be:fast,stable,secure,have very few unnecessary features to simplify use and maintenance, it needs to be customizable so I can turn off useless features and enable the necessary ones (less is more),and fortunately for Microsoft it needs to becompatible with existing software.I do not want a MAC. I dont want touse my computer the way Apple wants me to use my computer, and then call it easy to use.I can barely stand iTunes and the iPod (it was a gift).The above alsoapplies to Microsoft.Specific Issues:Control Panel text/html menus - difficult to navigate, too much text information presented, and not sufficiently subdivided into sections, needed advanced options not easily available. Dialog boxes/property pagesforced only the necessary information to be displayed, and be highly categorized. Using text based navigation is a stepin the very wrong directingin my opinion. I have been disabling HTML view since windows98,nowI cant even disable it. I think there are better ways to helpnon-technical users.If those users wanthtml/text navigation, let them have it, but let me continue using dialog boxes, tabs and property pages.Complex/3d Graphical interface - looks very nice, however it is more tiring for the eyes, and requires more concentration to recognize the options/choices. Wasting time and energy on a good looking program of operating system is not at all a "benefit".3d/high resolution icons - similar to the above navigation is made more difficult. I recently used windows 2000 and noticed how much more quickly I recognized theicons and whereI needed to go.Control Panel Icons- too many displayed, same category iconslike display, input, networking, etc should be mergedCustomization - let me decide what I need and what I dont need. I dont thinkI need to go into specifics, other people have already done that.I do like many of the new features in Vista and Windows 7, especially extramonitoring tools.I recognize thatnew flashy features sell, more than boring things likestability and security. But at least give us morecontrol over them.BTW if you want to really help non-advanced users, create screen shot/app shotstep by step help topics with minimal amout of text. Possibly video tutorials as well.Thank YouTom

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