Today i decided to stop work on RedKite, for a few reasons:
I am slightly saddened by this, but now i can spend time on my next major project, which is a decent IRC Client for Windows.
(just a quick note, i wrote this quickly, so there may be mistakes, and badly worded bits, so please tell me so i can update it)
I have been using Windows, and Windows 7 for a long time now, but like any operating system it has flaws and problems.
The biggest problem that some of my friends have encountered is upgrading from a previous version to Windows 7. They need to make the upgrade system more flexible, removing issues such as upgrading from Business to Home Premium which currently requires a clean install. Upgrades also take a lot of time and can be unsuccessful.
There are various installer systems for Windows, all of them different. As a user i would really like one underlying installer system that EVERYONE would use. I’m not saying they all need the same UI, but they should all use the same underlying technology, which should be Windows Installer.
They also need to add a auto updater protocol in this so that people can keep their software up to date via one interface. Something similar to Windows Update. This will keep people up to date, which means more stable software, more secure software, but also a way for companies to potentially advertise upgrades to newer versions, and the best bit of it all, the user gets a better experience.
This might also help improve Problem 1, as if everything uses the same installer system, then its easier to migrate programs across.
I know some projects like NSIS wouldn’t like this, but there are plenty of open source Windows Installer based systems for creating installers, e.g. WIX.
Those are the main two issues i see today, there are of course other issues, but they are minor.
Windows 7 has really improved on performance, but there is always more you can do.
Also i would like to be able to install a base version of Windows e.g. Professional, then buy licenses for the extras that appear in higher versions like BitLocker, without having to pay for all of the other extras that come in Ultimate. This would unleash new avenues of revenue for Microsoft, as well as helping to make Windows more modular.
If you have anything to add to this, or that you would like to suggest, then please comment, and i might make a follow up post.
I have been working on RedKite for the past few days and am making some headway towards version 0.2
Here’s the latest Screenshot of it
It still desires a fair amount of work in the UI department, but i have decided to concentrate on functionality until i can find a good design for the UI, or someone creates a good design.
All feedback is welcome.
I was recently using this theme which is based on a RSS of the images used on Bing worldwide.
And i was looking at one particular image of Dartmoor (Devon, UK) and thought it fitted in nicely. So here it is all packaged up for you to use.
Screen Shot:
Note i am using Fences which provides the boxes on the right of my screen, its really rather cool and i know it copies a feature from KDE4, but its rather useful.
Last night i started to learn python, and to practice my new skills, using IronPython i wrote a script to convert a CSV timetable into a iCal file. All the details are here.