Neowin has published an open letter to Microsoft on Windows 8. So guys, what's your opinion?

Dear Microsoft,

Congratulations on recently releasing the Windows 7 release candidate. As I've mentioned before, it's looking to an excellent product and have given my reasons why I think people should upgrade.

But let's pause for a moment and look ahead to your supposed next version of Windows, Windows 8 since it's already in planning stages. Now that you've gotten a way to get some kind of backwards compatibility in your OS virtually, this presents an opportunity to rebuild Windows from the ground up and turn it into an excellent product. Here are some ideas I think should be implemented into the next version of Windows:

One version, one price
There's no need so different editions of Windows. It can get confusing to the end user. Just keep it to one edition and one price, say, $129 for example.

Get rid of the registry
The registry is an outdated Windows component that is very confusing to work with. Sure, it does have some advantages like for tweaks and things, but surely there must be a more efficient way to implement the heart of Windows.

Make a new web browser from the ground up
While I do think Internet Explorer has been moving in the right direction, the Trident engine is old and insecure. But I see you're working on a new web browser codenamed "Gazelle" that's supposed to be better than Internet Explorer. This gives you the opportunity to make a brand new web browser from the ground up and possibly give the competing browsers a run for their money. By the way, please make a better UI, I still think IE 8's is a bit messy.

Consider replacing Windows Media Player with your Zune software
Don't get me wrong, I do like Windows Media Player and have it as my default media player, but I've also used your Zune software, and think it's excellent. But don't take my word for it, Paul Thurrott thinks so as well. If Zune is one of your big products and it's going international, why not replace Windows Media Player with your Zune software?

Make applications easy to install and uninstall
Let's face, sometimes applications can be a pain to install and uninstall. DLL files, registry keys, all kinds of stuff scattered everything. I'm sorry but I have to pick out OS X as an example here. To install an application, the user simply downloads the .dmg file, drags it into the application folder, and they're done. To uninstall, they just drag that application from the applications folder into the trash bin. See how easy that is? No DLL files, registry keys to deal with.

With these ideas in mind, the next version of Windows could become an excellent product. Granted, Windows 7 isn't even out yet, and we got a ways to go before its successor is out, but in the computer world, there's never a perfect product, only there's always room for improvement in the future. I wish you all the best with your future products!

Sincerely, Kevin, a long time Windows user

Access to the registry is defined through windows API functions, therefore the registry (in theory) could be removed, and the functions changed so that the programs that use the registry never know they're using files instead of the registry. Abstraction is a beautiful thing.

The registry needs removing because it's inconsistent. To hold settings, we already have ini files, config files, local settings, roaming settings, and the registry. To exemplify the inconsistency, consider programs that run at startup. To run a program at startup for just you, you can place an entry in the "startup" directory in your start menu, or you can enter a registry value at "HKCU/Software/Microsoft/Windows/Explorer/Run". Then if you want to stop a program running at startup, you need to check both of these places in order to find the link. In this case, the registry is completely redundant as everything that can be done in the registry can be done using shortcuts and the startup directory.

The registry (IMHO) should be removed and all configuration settings should be handled using the local/roaming settings directories. This way, it provides easy access to settings, and your registry settings can move around with you if your on a network.

Imagine how easy it would be to change explorer's behaviour if all of the configuration data for (for example) explorer was in "Explorer.ini", and how convenient it would be if those changes followed you round on every computer you sat at!