A very wise decision for future operating systems would be to have them set up with a complex ala carte system.
That is, for Microsoft to *give away* disks that only connect the user with the Microsoft website with an interface and a complex system diagnosis.
Users can then select just what they want, when they want, direct from Microsoft, paying as they go. Users are provided a complex listing of features, with clear dependencies, and experts “out there” can easily publish popular configurations for things like home or business use and gaming.
Importantly, every bit of non-MS software then installed would have to automatically check with Microsoft to insure that it had all the OS support software it needed.
This could also mean that junk software that Windows installed that most consumers *don’t* want, like checking content for copyright licenses, would be right out. If users wanted that, fine. Microsoft could even include it for free, if they really want to kiss up to their corporate buddies. But don’t force it on people.
Otherwise, a user’s purchase would look something like a price list, so they could tell to a penny how much their OS would cost. Every time they changed their system, it would mean another connection to Microsoft, and possibly a small fee.
The advantages to both Microsoft and Users would be enormous. To start with, there would be frequent user verification, that would make pirating of MS products much more difficult. Microsoft could radically reduce the cost of its provision of OS disks, except to specialized users.
Every part of the OS could be kept up to date with both free and retail system upgrades. Microsoft could have a desktop icon that would include the price list. By being ala carte, even a new OS kernel could be as cheap as $75., because you would be getting just that.
Optimum users could have a continual Windows upgrade happening once each week, for just a few dollars. A system mirror could even be maintained by Microsoft for a fee. So if you had a crash, or needed to upgrade your hard drive, your executable and data files would be recoverable by download.
Finally, Apple computers have long had the advantage of an OS chip on their motherboard. If PC hardware was modified to have an OS chip as well, heavy encryption could be used so that only Microsoft could write to the chip via download, with accessory data only on the hard drive.
Get rid of that damned DRM anchor in the performance of new microprocessors, or forget my ever going to VISTA.
The very idea of having to get Microshaft's "permission" to change hardware components on MY computer makes me bristle. Just thinking about it!