🚀 go-pugleaf

OS/2 Wish List -- Last Updated: 94-01-06

This is the OS/2 Wish List, compiled from OS/2 users worldwide from networks
such as the Internet and Fidonet.  This document hopefully represents the
direction in which OS/2 users would like OS/2 to go and the tasks that must
be accomplished to get OS/2 there.

Previously, I gave credit to any author I took quotes from by putting the
quoted section in double quotes ("").  As the list expanded, this became
more and more difficult because I wanted to quote from more and more users.
Thus, I have decided to not give any additional credit for direct quotes
apart from listing the contributor's name below the wish.

Attached to each item is the name and address (or multiple names and
addresses if the item was requested by multiple people).  The first address
is the first person asking for the addition; any additional addresses are
people asking for the same or similar addition to OS/2.

The items listed are in the order in which they were received.

Please mail any additions to evanc@spatial.synapse.org (Internet) or
Evan Champion @ 1:163/590 (Fidonet).  Please try to make sure that your full
name address are in the message body; it makes it a lot easier for me to put
your name in the Wish List.  If you are replying with a list of items in the
Wish List that you support, please mail me the item titles (preferably in
the order in which they appear in the Wish List).

Any requests posted to UseNet or a FidoNet echoarea will probably not be
read by me, and as such will not make it in to a list.  I try my best to
pick up the postings to various places, but I only guarentee that your
request will be make it in to the list if I get it through Internet mail or
through Fido Netmail.

In addition, my news feed was down all this week, from January 3 to January
7, 1994, so very little news got to me.

The Fido addressing problem should be solved by the time you read this.  I
did not make it in to last week's nodelist; I should be in it now.  Sorry
for the problem but it was out of my control.

The next release of the list will be a major revision in an attempt to solve
the anarchy that now fills the list.  The next version will have separate
sections for each major group (ie: File Systems, Shells, Multimedia, etc),
and I will also take this opportunity to clean up some of the wishes, remove
redundancies, etc.

And a final thank-you to all the contributors!

DRIVER SUPPORT
  3rd party driver support must be improved; IBM should do everything
  possible to get 3rd party vendors to support OS/2 and must do
  everything ensure the same high-quality drivers we get from IBM for 3rd
  party vendors.  Possibly, a driver testing centre should be set up to give
  free testing of device drivers for compatibility with OS/2 systems.  In
  addition, a volunteer device driver testing group (perhaps based on Team
  OS/2) could be created to do free testing of device drivers.  IBM could
  manage a database with each member's configuration and would be made
  available on request for the manufacturers of the drivers.  This solution
  would satisfy everyone by providing a low-cost yet very diverse test bed
  for device drivers.

  Babak Masalehdan (tillman+@pitt.edu)
  Luca Regoli (mc0280@mclink.it)
  James Gurganus (gurganus@ecn.purdue.edu)
  Dimitri Vulis (dlv@bwalk.dm.com)
  Venone Shiu (h9218919@hkuxa.hku.hk)
  Ian Timms (itimms@ariel.ucs.unimelb.edu.au)
  Joshua Samuel (josh@werple.aphana.org.au)
  Robert Bononno (bononno@acf2.nyu.edu)
  Patrick Duffy (duffy@theory.chem.ubc.ca)

SYMETRIC MULTIPROCESSING
  Optional symetric multiprocessing (SMP) should be part of the base system,
  or if costs prohibit such a move, should atleast be part of the CD-ROM
  distribution.

  Babak Masalehdan (tillman+@pitt.edu)
  Luca Regoli (mc0280@mclink.it)
  James Gurganus (gurganus@ecn.purdue.edu)
  Jani Patanen (japa@mits.mdata.fi)
  Robert Bononno (bononno@acf2.nyu.edu)
  Patrick Duffy (duffy@theory.chem.ubc.ca)
  Andrew Longton (f347.n109.z1.fidonet.org)

GLOBAL CHANGE OPTION FOR THE WPS
  There should be a way to change the setings of all objects of the same
  type to the settings in the currently selected object.
  For example, the user should be able to 'make all folders look like this
  one'.

  Babak Masalehdan (tillman+@pitt.edu)
  Luca Regoli (mc0280@mclink.it)
  John Heiden (jheiden@uoft02.utoledo.edu)
  Jerry Freeman (n6140299@henson.cc.wwu.edu)
  Joshua Samuel (josh@werple.aphana.org.au)
  Robert Bononno (bononno@acf2.nyu.edu)
  Patrick Duffy (duffy@theory.chem.ubc.ca)
  Bjorn Fahller (bjorn@ludd.luth.se)
  Al Dhir (adhir@betelgeuse.iagi.com)


INI EDITOR
  An INI editor should be included as part of the base system.

  Babak Masalehdan (tillman+@pitt.edu)
  Luca Regoli (mc0280@mclink.it)
  John Heiden (jheiden@uoft02.utoledo.edu)
  Joshua Samuel (josh@werple.aphana.org.au)
  Jani Patanen (japa@mits.mdata.fi)
  Patrick Duffy (duffy@theory.chem.ubc.ca)
  Al Dhir (adhir@betelgeuse.iagi.com)
  Andrew Longton (f347.n109.z1.fidonet.org)

TEXT-MODE EDITOR
  A text editor that can be used when booting from floppies must be included
  for emergency measures. I recommend using the same editor that comes with
  IBM DOS 6.1 which is based on TinyEd, an IBM EWS product.

  Evan Champion (evanc@spatial.synapse.org)
  Luca Regoli (mc0280@mclink.it)
  John Heiden (jheiden@uoft02.utoledo.edu)
  James Gurganus (gurganus@ecn.purdue.edu)
  Ian Timms (itimms@ariel.ucs.unimelb.edu.au)
  Joshua Samuel (josh@werple.aphana.org.au)
  Robert Bononno (bononno@acf2.nyu.edu)
  Patrick Duffy (duffy@theory.chem.ubc.ca)
  Andrew Longton (f347.n109.z1.fidonet.org)

COMMON INSTALL/UNINSTALL PROGRAM
  A single, common install and uninstall program should come with OS/2 and
  IBM should insist that all 3rd party vendors make use of it.  This install
  program should even be used for the OS/2 installation.  I recommend the
  one that comes with IBM SearchManager/2.  Whichever install program is
  chosen, it MUST have the ability to selectively install software - down
  to individual productivity applications, and the user should have the
  option of where to install each individual package (possibly down to the
  application level if the configuration would allow it).  This install
  program must also support CID and allow LAN adminsitrators to create their
  own CID scripts.  When uninstalling, all traces of the program's existance
  should disappear, including entries in any system INI file (ie: OS2.INI)

  Evan Champion (evanc@spatial.synapse.org)
  Steve Martin (dlomas.com)
  Luca Regoli (mc0280@mclink.it)
  John Heiden (jheiden@uoft02.utoledo.edu)
  Dimitri Vulis (dlv@bwalk.dm.com)
  Jani Patanen (japa@mits.mdata.fi)
  Bjorn Fahller (bjorn@ludd.luth.se)
  Per M. Hanser (perhans@mmf.ruc.dk)
  Mike Salo (1:282/108)
  Robert Bononno (bononno@acf2.nyu.edu)
  Patrick Duffy (duffy@theory.chem.ubc.ca)
  Andrew Longton (f347.n109.z1.fidonet.org)

NEW FILE SYSTEM
  This new file system should have: access control lists (security)
  supporting user, group and other access; must be journaled; support
  extended attributes greater than 64K; caches greater than 2 MB; immense
  file system size (in the terabyte range) and must have excellent
  fragmentation resistance.  It should support 255 character disk labels to
  coincide with the proposed new disk handling scheme (see later in the Wish
  List).   It should also have a new file type called 'Abstract' (in
  addition to 'File' and 'Directory').  This will support shadows (symbolic
  links) and imbedding objects in to the filesystem.

  This file system should be positionned as a replacement for HPFS; in fact,
  a program to convert HPFS filesystems to the new filesystem as well as
  from FAT to the new file system non-destructively should be provided.

  Evan Champion (evanc@spatial.synapse.org)
  Luca Regoli (mc0280@mclink.it)
  James Gurganus (gurganus@ecn.purdue.edu)
  Patrick Duffy (duffy@theory.chem.ubc.ca)
  Bombim Cadiz (cadizht@csgrad.cs.vt.edu_
  Bjorn Fahller (bjorn@ludd.luth.se)

INSTALLABLE FILE SYSTEMS FOR REMOVABLE DEVICES
  Installable file systems must be made available for removable devices,
  including floppies.  It is unaccepable for a user with optical disks to be
  forced to use FAT instead of another file system (ie: HFPS)

  Evan Champion (evanc@spatial.synapse.org)
  Luca Regoli (mc0280@mclink.it)
  John Heiden (jheiden@uoft02.utoledo.edu)
  James Gurganus (gurganus@ecn.purdue.edu)
  Dimitri Vulis (dlv@bwalk.dm.com)
  Venone Shiu (h9218919@hkuxa.hku.hk)
  Joshua Samuel (josh@werple.aphana.org.au)
  Patrick Duffy (duffy@theory.chem.ubc.ca)
  Bjorn Fahller (bjorn@ludd.luth.se)
  Al Dhir (adhir@betelgeuse.iagi.com)
  Andrew Longton (f347.n109.z1.fidonet.org)

MOVEMENT OF SHADOWS IN TO THE FILE SYSTEM
  The Shadows are one of the most complex parts of the WPS because often
  users don't understand that a shadow only exists in the desktop.
  Therefore, shadows (or 'symbolic links') should become part of the file
  system. This could be accomplished with a new file system (see above) or
  additions to an existing file system.  Shadows should also stand out more;
  for example, they could have a slightly different icon (as templates do),
  or the icon text could be in italics.

  Evan Champion (evanc@spatial.synapse.org)
  Lew Jensen (lrj@helios.tn.cornell.edu)
  James Gurganus (gurganus@ecn.purdue.edu)
  Dimitri Vulis (dlv@bwalk.dm.com)
  Joshua Samuel (josh@werple.aphana.org.au)
  Patrick Duffy (duffy@theory.chem.ubc.ca)
  Bombim Cadiz (cadizht@csgrad.cs.vt.edu)
  Bjorn Fahller (bjorn@ludd.luth.se)
  Al Dhir (adhir@betelgeuse.iagi.com)
  Andrew Longton (f347.n109.z1.fidonet.org)

MOVEMENT OF INFORMATION FROM THE OS2.INI TO THE FILE SYSTEM
  Icon information etc. should be moved from the INI files in to the file
  system in the form of extended attributes.  This will allow users to
  retain system settings even when replacing the operating system as all the
  necessary settings are kept along in the application's extended attributes
  which can be backed up, and would solve the problem of the ever-growing
  OS2.INI file.

  Evan Champion (evanc@spatial.synapse.org)
  James Gurganus (gurganus@ecn.purdue.edu)
  Joshua Samuel (josh@werple.aphana.org.au)
  Patrick Duffy (duffy@theory.chem.ubc.ca)
  Bjorn Fahller (bjorn@ludd.luth.se)
  Al Dhir (adhir@betelgeuse.iagi.com)

LONG FILE NAMES IN FAT
  All filesystem calls should rely on the LONGNAME extended attribute for
  FAT filesystems,  making long filenames transparent to the user, just like
  they are for HPFS filesystems.

  Evan Champion (evanc@spatial.synapse.org)
  Joshua Samuel (josh@werple.aphana.org.au)
  Robert Bononno (bononno@acf2.nyu.edu)
  Patrick Duffy (duffy@theory.chem.ubc.ca)
  Bjorn Fahller (bjorn@ludd.luth.se)

MULTIPLE INPUT QUEUES
  Having OS/2 grind to a halt because of a process holding the message queue
  for too long just isn't acceptable.  Every OS/2 process should be assigned
  its own, independant message queue - that way no single process can keep
  the user from interacting with the system.

  John Freeborg (johnf@persoft.com)
  Cheng-Yang Tan (cytan@tristan.tn.cornell.edu)
  Luca Regoli (mc0280@mclink.it)
  John Heiden (jheiden@uoft02.utoledo.edu)
  James Gurganus (gurganus@ecn.purdue.edu)
  Venone Shiu (h9218919@hkuxa.hku.hk)
  Joshua Samuel (josh@werple.aphana.org.au)
  Jani Patanen (japa@mits.mdata.fi)
  Jack Petrilli (jack.petrilli@rose.com)
  Patrick Duffy (duffy@theory.chem.ubc.ca)
  Joseph Skinner (joe@jsnode.equinox.gen.nz)
  Bjorn Fahller (bjorn@ludd.luth.se)
  Danny Vezeau (spice@bmerha2f.bnr.ca)
  Andrew Longton (f347.n109.z1.fidonet.org)

A SIMPLE, ROCK SOLID INSTALL PROCESS
  OS/2 has in the past had a reputation for a terrible install process.
  Whether many of the problems have been solved or not, the fact remains
  that many people still have problems, and even more people fear installing
  OS/2 in the first place because they have heard about the 'OS/2 Install
  Monster'.

  In addition to just installing the operating system, the install program
  should do some initial hardware testing and provide useful feedback to
  the user about what to do to correct any problems.  Things to be checked
  include:
    - cache memory (works or not)
    - change line in diskette drives
    - proper operating of parallel port
  and anything else that could cause problems for OS/2 down the line.

  John Freeborg (johnf@persoft.com)
  Luca Regoli (mc0280@mclink.it)
  John Heiden (jheiden@uoft02.utoledo.edu)
  James Gurganus (gurganus@ecn.purdue.edu)
  Dimitri Vulis (dlv@bwalk.dm.com)
  Joshua Samuel (josh@werple.aphana.org.au)
  Mike Salo (1:282/108)
  Robert Bononno (bononno@acf2.nyu.edu)
  Patrick Duffy (duffy@theory.chem.ubc.ca)
  Bjorn Fahller (bjorn@ludd.luth.se)
  Andrew Longton (f347.n109.z1.fidonet.org)

RELIABLE WORKPLACE SHELL BACKUP/RESTORE (OS2.INI AND DESKTOP DIRECTORY)
  There needs to be a way to backup and restore the Workplace Shell setup,
  including things like the desktop and object settings.  Possibly this
  could be achieved more easily through the movement of desktop information
  from the INI files to the filesystem where they can be easily backed up
  using any backup software.

  John Freeborg (johnf@persoft.com)
  Luca Regoli (mc0280@mclink.it)
  John Heiden (jheiden@uoft02.utoledo.edu)
  Joshua Samuel (josh@werple.aphana.org.au)
  Robert Bononno (bononno@acf2.nyu.edu)
  Patrick Duffy (duffy@theory.chem.ubc.ca)
  Bjorn Fahller (bjorn@ludd.luth.se)

MAINTAINING THE NUMLOCK STATE (AS DEFINED BY THE BIOS)
  On bootup, OS/2 should leave the NUMLOCK state alone, as it is defined in
  the BIOS.  For machines without a BIOS option for NUMLOCK, the NUMLOCK
  state could be defined by an environment variable (for example, 'SET
  NUMLOCKSTATE=[ON|OFF|DEFAULT]')

  Marko Teittinen (marko@cs.umd.edu)
  Jerry Freeman (n6140299@henson.cc.wwu.edu)
  Jani Patanen (japa@mits.mdata.fi)
  Bjorn Fahller (bjorn@ludd.luth.se)

CHANGING THE GRAPHICS DRIVER ON-THE-FLY
  Being able to change the graphics driver on the fly would be a big plus.
  This means that the system should not have to be rebooted to handle the
  new driver, and all video changes should take effect immediately.

  Marko Teittinen (marko@cs.umd.edu)
  Luca Regoli (mc0280@mclink.it)
  John Heiden (jheiden@uoft02.utoledo.edu)
  Joshua Samuel (josh@werple.aphana.org.au)
  Robert Bononno (bononno@acf2.nyu.edu)
  Patrick Duffy (duffy@theory.chem.ubc.ca)

COLOURFUL ICONS
  The default icon set in OS/2 is a bit bland and unappealing.  A splash of
  colour would really improve the looks of the WPS.

  Cheng-Yang Tan (cytan@tristan.tn.cornell.edu)
  James Gurganus (gurganus@ecn.purdue.edu)
  Dimitri Vulis (dlv@bwalk.dm.com)
  Patrick Duffy (duffy@theory.chem.ubc.ca)
  Bjorn Fahller (bjorn@ludd.luth.se)
  Andrew Longton (f347.n109.z1.fidonet.org)

SCROLL-BACK BUFFER FOR OS/2 WINDOWS
  A scroll-back buffer of user-definable size should be available for OS/2
  windows.

  Cheng-Yang Tan (cytan@tristan.tn.cornell.edu)
  Luca Regoli (mc0280@mclink.it)
  John Heiden (jheiden@uoft02.utoledo.edu)
  Dimitri Vulis (dlv@bwalk.dm.com)
  Patrick Duffy (duffy@theory.chem.ubc.ca)
  Joseph Skinner (joe@jsnode.equinox.gen.nz)
  Bjorn Fahller (bjorn@ludd.luth.se)
  Danny Vezeau (spice@bmerha2f.bnr.ca)

MOUNTING DRIVES INSTEAD OF HAVING DRIVE LETTERS
  Drives should be mounted as directories off of the boot drive.  For
  programs that are not designed to handle such a system, the root drive
  could be called 'C:', and all other drives would be accessed using a
  directory path

  Lew Jensen (lrj@helios.tn.cornell.edu)
  Luca Regoli (mc0280@mclink.it)
  Joshua Samuel (josh@werple.aphana.org.au)
  Bjorn Fahller (bjorn@ludd.luth.se)

MAKE '/' AND '\' ACT THE SAME FOR DIRECTORIES
  Users should be able to change directories using either '/' or '\' as
  directory separators.  This would require changing the command-line switch
  delimeter to '-' from '/'.

  Lew Jensen (lrj@helios.tn.cornell.edu)
  Joshua Samuel (josh@werple.aphana.org.au)
  Patrick Duffy (duffy@theory.chem.ubc.ca)
  Bjorn Fahller (bjorn@ludd.luth.se)

SUPPORT WILDCARD EXPANSION IN THE SHELL
  The OS/2 command shell (CMD.EXE) should provide wildcard expansion.  For
  example, a user should be able to 'cd \desk*' to change in to '\desktop'.
  This simplifies application development as well, as each piece of software
  doesn't need to have wildcard expansion routines.

  Evan Champion (evanc@spatial.synapse.org)
  John Heiden (jheiden@uoft02.utoledo.edu)
  James Gurganus (gurganus@ecn.purdue.edu)
  Dimitri Vulis (dlv@bwalk.dm.com)
  Joshua Samuel (josh@werple.aphana.org.au)
  Patrick Duffy (duffy@theory.chem.ubc.ca)
  Bjorn Fahller (bjorn@ludd.luth.se)

COMMAND ALIASES IN CMD.EXE
  The OS/2 command shell (CMD.EXE) should support command aliases.  This
  allows users to alias a complex or cumbersome command with a short, simple
  name.

  Evan Champion (evanc@spatial.synapse.org)
  John Heiden (jheiden@uoft02.utoledo.edu)
  Ian Timms (itimms@ariel.ucs.unimelb.edu.au)
  Joshua Samuel (josh@werple.aphana.org.au)
  Patrick Duffy (duffy@theory.chem.ubc.ca)
  Joseph Skinner (joe@jsnode.equinox.gen.nz)
  Bjorn Fahller (bjorn@ludd.luth.se)

LIST/KILL PROCESS COMMANDS
  As part of the base operating system, a command to kill processes must be
  provided.  There must be some means to kill off a program that has gone
  awry quickly and simply.  A simplified version of the 'procs' command
  should also be provided to allow users to find the process they need to
  kill without having to search through the masses of information that
  'procs' provides.

  Evan Champion (evanc@spatial.synapse.org)
  Luca Regoli (mc0280@mclink.it)
  John Heiden (jheiden@uoft02.utoledo.edu)
  James Gurganus (gurganus@ecn.purdue.edu)
  Dimitri Vulis (dlv@bwalk.dm.com)
  Joshua Samuel (josh@werple.aphana.org.au)
  Jani Patanen (japa@mits.mdata.fi)
  Patrick Duffy (duffy@theory.chem.ubc.ca)
  Joseph Skinner (joe@jsnode.equinox.gen.nz)
  Bjorn Fahller (bjorn@ludd.luth.se)
  Danny Vezeau (spice@bmerha2f.bnr.ca)
  Richard Bononno (bononno@acf2.nyu.edu)

UNICODE
  Unicode support should be included in the base operating system.  This
  would also remove the need for a different double byte character set
  version of the operating system.

  Michael John Raine (michael-raine@uiowa.edu)
  Dimitri Vulis (dlv@bwalk.dm.com)
  Venone Shiu (h9218919@hkuxa.hku.hk)
  Robert Bononno (bononno@acf2.nyu.edu)
  Bjorn Fahller (bjorn@ludd.luth.se)

STANDARD DATE TIME AND NUMBER FORMATS
  The system date time and number formats (as defined in the Country object
  in the System Setup folder' should be used everywhere in the operating
  system.  Reading huge numbers like those returned by CHKDSK and DIR
  which are currently not broken up by the 1000s separator and ambiguous
  date formats are almost enough to drive the user insane.  To implement the
  standard formats the OS/2 API and REXX API must be expanded to handle the
  conversion of date, time, floating point and integer numbers, currency,
  etc. to and from string formats.

  Evan Champion (evanc@spatial.synapse.org)
  James Gurganus (gurganus@ecn.purdue.edu)
  Joshua Samuel (josh@werple.aphana.org.au)
  Bjorn Fahller (bjorn@ludd.luth.se)
  Jerry Freeman (n6140299@henson.cc.wwu.edu)
  Luca Regoli (mc0280@mclink.it)
  Patrick Duffy (duffy@theory.chem.ubc.ca)
  Thomas Mack (mack@ips.cs.tu-bs.de)

MOVE TO THE MICROKERNAL FOR INTEL OS/2
  While I recognize that the OS/2 kernal is insanely optimized for the PC, I
  think it would be best to move the whole architechture to the IBM
  Microkernal, for uniformity with other OS/2 platforms, for
  better memory protection as device drivers would run in user space and
  could not crash the whole machine and the capability to dynamically load
  and unload device drivers without rebooting and for the countless other
  advantages of microkernal technology.

  Evan Champion (evanc@spatial.synapse.org)

FASTER BOOT OFF FLOPPY
  Booting OS/2 off floppy takes forever.  An unexperienced user could think
  that the computer has crashed while booting.  Something should come up
  telling the user that something is happening, rather than 'Please Wait'
  for a few minutes.  A big improvement would be booting off a single floppy
  instead of the current two, which would also make the boot process much
  faster.

  Evan Champion (evanc@spatial.synapse.org)
  John Heiden (jheiden@uoft02.utoledo.edu)
  Joshua Samuel (josh@werple.aphana.org.au)
  Patrick Duffy (duffy@theory.chem.ubc.ca)
  Bjorn Fahller (bjorn@ludd.luth.se)
  Danny Vezeau (spice@bmerha2f.bnr.ca)

BETTER SVGA IN DOS WINDOWS SUPPORT
  OS/2 needs better SVGA support for DOS window sessions.  All resolutions
  supported by a card should be available for windows.  As long as a window
  would not cover more area than available on the desktop it should be shown
  (or perhaps a method for 'squishing' the windows to make them fit on the
  desktop could be developed).

  Tedman Leung (tedman@sfu.ca)
  John Heiden (jheiden@uoft02.utoledo.edu)
  Joshua Samuel (josh@werple.aphana.org.au)
  Robert Bononno (bononno@acf2.nyu.edu)
  Patrick Duffy (duffy@theory.chem.ubc.ca)

SEEMLESS CONVERSION OF LF->CRLF OR DROP CRLF, REMOVE CTRL-Z FOR END OF FILE
  The PC is the only computer I know of that uses carriage return-line feed
  to denote the end of a line - everyone else just uses the linefeed.
  Because of growing diversity, the PC is forced to work with computers of
  all different architechtures, and exchanging text becomes quite difficult
  when documents can't even be viewed properly.  I propose two solutions -
  one, very radical, is to get rid of CRLF totally.  The second, and probably
  the more livable option, would be to change the 'type' shell commmand to
  be able to view text with only linefeeds properly.  CTRL-Z as a file
  terminator is another PC-only idea that is a major inconvienience to those
  who work with multiple platforms, and it is not even necessary as
  text files do not need to be terminated with a CTRL-Z to be read properly.

  Evan Champion (evanc@spatial.synapse.org)
  John Heiden (jheiden@uoft02.utoledo.edu)
  Joshua Samuel (josh@werple.aphana.org.au)

JUMP-SCROLLING FOR SHELL WINDOWS
  Windows currently scroll too slowly - jump-scrolling, whereby only what
  can be put to the screen in a reasonable amount of time is shown, would
  improve performance dramatically.

  Evan Champion (evanc@spatial.synapse.org)
  Luca Regoli (mc0280@mclink.it)
  John Heiden (jheiden@uoft02.utoledo.edu)
  Joshua Samuel (josh@werple.aphana.org.au)
  Patrick Duffy (duffy@theory.chem.ubc.ca)

RESIZABLE SHELL WINDOWS
  Being limited to fixed resolutions (80x??) is an unnecessary limitation
  for shell windows.  They should be changed to be dynamically resizable -
  simply pull on the resizing borders to resize the screen.  During the
  process, the title bar could change to show the current resolution.

  Evan Champion (evanc@spatial.synapse.org)
  John Heiden (jheiden@uoft02.utoledo.edu)
  James Gurganus (gurganus@ecn.purdue.edu)
  Robert Bononno (bononno@acf2.nyu.edu)
  Patrick Duffy (duffy@theory.chem.ubc.ca)
  Joseph Skinner (joe@jsnode.equinox.gen.nz)
  Bjorn Fahller (bjorn@ludd.luth.se)
  R S Rodgers (rsrodger@wam.umd.edu)


RESIZABLE FONT FOR SHELL WINDOWS
  Similar to having dynamically resizable shell window resolutions, there
  should be dynamically resizable font sizes.  The amount of text that could
  be shown a one time in the window remains constant, but the font size is
  changed (using the resize borders).  This should be an option in the
  titlebar menu and not default behaviour.

  Evan Champion (evanc@spatial.synapse.org)
  Luca Regoli (mc0280@mclink.it)
  John Heiden (jheiden@uoft02.utoledo.edu)
  James Gurganus (gurganus@ecn.purdue.edu)
  Patrick Duffy (duffy@theory.chem.ubc.ca)
  Joseph Skinner (joe@jsnode.equinox.gen.nz)
  Bjorn Fahller (bjorn@ludd.luth.se)
  R S Rodgers (rsrodger@wam.umd.edu)
  Andrew Longton (f347.n109.z1.fidonet.org)

DISPLAY POSTSCRIPT
  PC's have become powerful enough to handle display Postscript, and
  definitely the next generation of PC's - the PowerPC's - could handle
  display Postscript with no problems at all.  With fonts playing an
  increasingly important role, it is important for what is on the screen
  to look as much as possible as printed output.

  Evan Champion (evanc@spatial.synapse.org)
  Venone Shiu (h9218919@hkuxa.hku.hk)
  Robert Bononno (bononno@acf2.nyu.edu)
  Patrick Duffy (duffy@theory.chem.ubc.ca)

ADD OPTIONS TO SHELL NOTEBOOKS
  Add options to the notebook for shells for shells specifying the default
  font, default window resolution, initial INSERT/OVERSTRIKE mode, NUMLOCK
  setting, etc.

  Evan Champion (evanc@spatial.synapse.org)
  Luca Regoli (mc0280@mclink.it)
  James Gurganus (gurganus@ecn.purdue.edu)
  Jerry Freeman (n6140299@henson.cc.wwu.edu)
  Patrick Duffy (duffy@theory.chem.ubc.ca)
  Joseph Skinner (joe@jsnode.equinox.gen.nz)
  Bjorn Fahller (bjorn@ludd.luth.se)

RIGHT MOUSE BUTTON ACTION FOR PROGRAMS THAT DON'T USE IT
  The commands in the toolbar menu (at the top left corner of each window)
  as well as the menubar (in the case of PM application) should form a
  right mouse button pop-up menu for applications that do not explicitly
  support the right mouse button.

  Evan Champion (evanc@spatial.synapse.org)
  Patrick Duffy (duffy@theory.chem.ubc.ca)

OPTIONAL DEDICATED SWAP PARTITION
  For performance reasons, a dedicated swap partition option should be
  available in addition to the regular swap file option.  This would
  use an entire logical drive for swapping instead of having to constantly
  resize a swapfile on a regular drive, causing fragmentation in addition
  to the inherently slower process of file I/O over device I/O.

  Evan Champion (evanc@spatial.synapse.org)
  James Gurganus (gurganus@ecn.purdue.edu)
  Joshua Samuel (josh@werple.aphana.org.au)

INTEGRATION OF REXX QUEUES WITH API QUEUES
  Why must there be two separate queues in OS/2 - the system queues invoked
  using the API calls and the REXX queues?  Would it not make more sense to
  have both use the same queues?  The transmission between the API calls and
  REXX could be done using shared memory which is freed after the element is
  taken off the queue.  All that would be passed through the queue would be
  the address to the shared memory segment.  This would not only remove the
  confusion as to why there are two separate queues, but would allow the
  user to create very powerful yet simple software with REXX-based clients
  talking to a C-based server using queues.

  Evan Champion (evanc@spatial.synapse.org)

TEXT-MODE MULTI-TASKING
  From fullscreen DOS or OS/2 sessions, CTRL-ESC should bring up the
  a text version of the task list rather than switching to the desktop.
  Pressing ALT in a fullscreen session should bring down a text the
  equivalent of the toolbar menu for a windowed session, with functions to
  mark, copy, paste, change settings, etc.  Switching between fullscreen
  sessions should not require switching to the desktop as an intermediate
  step.

  Richard Roderick (richard@kira.csos.orst.edu)
  Dimitri Vulis (dlv@bwalk.dm.com)
  Francois Menard (1:257/445)

TEXTUAL USER INTERFACE)
  Provide a text user interface API, a type of textual Presentation Manager.

  Richard Roderick (richard@kira.csos.orst.edu)
  Francois Menard (1:257/445)

UPDATING DOS CODE
  OS/2's DOS code should updated to IBM DOS 6.1 or higher and should include
  full DPMI 1.0 support.

  Jerry Freeman (n6140299@henson.cc.wwu.edu)

SINGLE COMMAND LINE
  It is an extreme annoyance not to have all of OS/2's features accessible
  from ONE command line.  This means the ability to run OS/2, DOS and
  Windows applications from the same command line.  This would also help
  decrease storage requirements by removing 99% of OS/2's DOS utilities
  (all except for SVGA.EXE) as the OS/2 versions could be run seamlessly.

  Evan Champion (evanc@spatial.synapse.org)
  R S Rodgers (rsrodger@wam.umd.edu)

SHUTDOWN UTILITY
  There must be a utility to shutdown from the command line.  By default,
  it should ask to confirm whether to shutdown the machine or not, but thre
  should be a command line option to unconditionally shutdown.  In addition,
  it should have the ability to reboot the machine automatically at the end
  of a shutdown.  This could then be called by remote users (say, on a
  network) who could reboot a troubled machine without having to go down to
  the system.

  Steve Martin (steve@dlomas.com)
  Luca Regoli (mc0280@mclink.it)

DEFRAGMENTATION UTILITY
  It is unacceptable to have to boot DOS in order to defragment a DOS
  partition - especially when many DOS defrag utilities mutilate extended
  attributes.  A defrag utility for HPFS would be nice as well.

  Steve Martin (steve@dlomas.com)
  Luca Regoli (mc0280@mclink.it)

PROVIDE BASE WORDPROCESSING ABILITIES
  A small wordprocessor should be included with the operating system.  It
  would have to support things like multiple fonts, bold, underline, etc.

  (this might be a good way to show off OpenDoc -- EC)

  Steve Martin (steve@dlomas.com)

MORE ON-LINE DOCUMENTATION
  The provision of the 'User Guide' and 'Installation Guide' as INF files
  would be much appreciated.

  Steve Martin (steve@dlomas.com)

MORE INTEGRATION OF THE WPS AND REXX
  The ability to query and control objects is greatly needed in REXX.  This
  means passing data to and from an object, as well as doing things like
  instantinating objects (for example, opening a WPS folder).  Being able to
  query objects would make it much easier to document and compare object
  settings.

  Steve Martin (steve@dlomas.com)
  Andrew Henry (bspahh@ss1.bath.ac.uk)

INCLUDE MORE EWS PROGRAMS IN THE BASE PRODUCT
  Especially in the case of the CD versions, a lot of the very useful IBM
  Employee Written Software should be included.  This means things like
  TinyEd and EXDESK.  In fact, sending along the whole EWS collection would
  be a good idea.

  Steve Martin (steve@dlomas.com)

BETTER INTERNET SUPPORT
  IBM needs to provide better support to people on the Internet.  This means
  assigning people to monitor the Usenet newsgroups (comp.os.os2.*), making
  available Internet-addressable mailboxes for IBM support, making IBM
  support board message areas Internet accessible and especially keeping
  the IBM Internet site complete and up to date (software.watson.ibm.com).
  This means that EVERYTHING available on IBM's Support BBS in Boca Raton
  should be on this system at the most 1 day after it appears in Boca
  Raton.  Of course, making the IBM's Support BBS Internet-accessible would
  be the optimum solution.

  Evan Champion (evanc@spatial.synapse.org)

MAKE THE OS/2 TECHNICAL LIBRARY AVAILABLE ON THE INTERNET
  Releasing the complete IBM OS/2 Technical Library on the Internet would be
  greatly appreciated by all OS/2 users.  If this is not possible,
  atleast the OS/2-specific parts should be released.  This includes such
  items as the Redbooks.  They are chocked full of useful information for
  any OS/2 user and would be put to good use by many people.

  Steve Martin (steve@dlomas.com)

ANY FONT IN SHELL WINDOWS
  Any font, be it bitmapped or an Adobe Type 1, should be available in shell
  windows.

  Evan Champion (evanc@spatial.synapse.org)
  Luca Regoli (mc0280@mclink.it)

AUTOMATIC TRUNCATION TO 8.3 FILENAMES IN DOS/WINDOWS APPLICATIONS
  Currently, OS/2 will only show filenames that are 8.3-compatible in a
  DOS/Windows session, which is an extreme problem for those of us with HPFS
  drives and like to use the long filename feature to its full potential.

  John Heiden (jheiden@uoft02.utoledo.edu)
  Larry Caldwell (larryc@teleport.com)

CHANGE CTRL-ALT-DEL MEANING
  The first CTRL-ALT-DEL should bring up a window asking the user whether
  they would like to kill the application that had the keyboard focus at the
  time of the CTRL-ALT-DEL, reboot the machine or cancel.  The second
  CTRL-ALT-DEL will unconditionally reboot the machine.

  James Gurganus (gurganus@ecn.purdue.edu)

EXTENSIONS TO THE DIR COMMAND
  The DIR command should optionally:
    - show the .COMMENT extended attribute
    - show the number of HPFS extents used by a file

  Dimitri Vulis (dlv@bwalk.dm.com)

SYNCING UP DOS AND OS/2 UTILITY FUNCTIONS
  All command-line utilities, such as DIR and FORMAT, should have the same
  functionality as those included with IBM DOS 6.1.  This means the same
  command line options and the same behaviour (for example, COPY should ask
  before overwriting an existing file, FORMAT should be able to QuickFormat,
  etc.)  Whether OS/2's way of doing things or DOS's way of doing this is
  chosen, they should both be the same for compatibility and consistency
  across platforms.

  Dimitri Vulis (dlv@bwalk.dm.com)

C2 SECURITY IN BASE SYSTEM
  Optional C2 security should be available in the base system, complete with
  a file system to handle file permissions.  Support for even higher levels
  of security would be great, as a separate product.

  Dimitri Vulis (dlv@bwalk.dm.com)

SWITCHING FULL-SCREEN TO WINDOW MODE FOR OS/2 SHELLS
  The same ALT-HOME functionality available to DOS shells should be made
  available for OS/2 shells.  There are features that a full-screen shell
  can do that a windowed one can't - then again, with DOS shells, there are
  resolutions that can be handled in full screen mode that can't in windowed
  mode; OS/2 just says 'I can't do that' and pauses the window until it goes
  full-screen again. Why not do the same thing for OS/2 shells?

  Dimitri Vulis (dlv@bwalk.dm.com)
  David Mackintosh (1:163/557)
  Mattison Narramore (jmn@gandalf.rutgers.edu)
  Andrew Longton (f347.n109.z1.fidonet.org)
  Francois Menard (1:257/445)

SUPPORT FOR 8-BIT CODE PAGES FOR CYRILLIC AND GREEK
  OS/2 should have the same 8-bit code pagers for Cyrillic and Greek that is
  provided for IBM DOS.

  Dimitri Vulis (dlv@bwalk.dm.com)

RECOVERY DISK
  OS/2 should allow the user to create a 'Recovery Disk', with only the code
  needed to get the particular installtion of OS/2 up and running off
  floppy.  The user should be asked during the install process if they
  want to make the disk, and should have the option later on of doing it
  with a command line utility.  This disk could be used instead of the 2
  install disks in order to boot faster.

  Dimitri Vulis (dlv@bwalk.dm.com)

APIS FOR ALL STANDARD SCSI FUNCTIONS
  OS/2's API function set should be expanded to include any standard SCSI
  device, such as CD-ROMs, scanners, tape drives, etc.

  Dimitri Vulis (dlv@bwalk.dm.com)

STANDARD TAPE FILESYSTEM
  A standard tape-backup filesystem should be created to allow sharing of
  information on tape between OS/2 configurations.  The filesystem should be
  set up to allow multiple backups on one tape and should allow the backup
  of any information stored on a disk filesystem, meaning support for long
  filenames, extended attributes, security, etc.

  Dimitri Vulis (dlv@bwalk.dm.com)

VERBOSE COPY/MOVE/DEL FOR SHELLS
  The copy/move/del etc. commands should, by default, show each file being
  processed.  An option to process quietly ('/Q' perhaps) should be
  available for those not interested in seing each file being processed.

  Manolo Hernandez (manolo@rcf.rsmas.miami.edu)

MOVEMENT OF OS/2 LOGO TO AFTER PM GETS STARTED
  Moving the OS/2 Logo to just after PM gets started (as the first thing
  that is shown on the screen) just makes more sense - the graphical
  environment is up and running and all the routines are there for showing
  bitmaps.  In addition, it would allow more colourful OS/2 bitmaps to be
  shown on startup without pain.

  Evan Champion (evanc@spatial.synapse.org)
  Jerry Freeman (n6140299@henson.cc.wwu.edu)
  Mike Salo (1:282/108)
  James Gurganus (gurganus@ecn.purdue.edu)

RANDOM BACKGROUND SELECTION FOR THE WPS
  A list of desirable backgrounds could be selected for the WPS and upon
  startup, the WPS could randomly choose a background to display.

  Jerry Freeman (n6140299@henson.cc.wwu.edu)

PROCESS CONTROL AND SHUTDOWN COMMANDS FOR REXX
  REXX should have commands to allow process control (starting new tasks,
  killing tasks, setting process priority) as well as a command to shutdown
  the system.

  Luca Regoli (mc0280@mclink.it)

INCLUSION OF EPM SOURCES (*.E) AND ETPM COMPILER
  The EPM sources (*.E) and ETPM compiler should be included in the base
  operating system, or if size is to prohibiting, should atleast be
  available on the CD version.

  Luca Regoli (mc0280@mclink.it)

TURNING THE SHREDDER IN TO A TRASH CAN
  The Shredder needs to be turned in to a trash can, meaning that files put
  in it need to be recoverable.  This means tighter integration of the WPS
  object with the SET DELDIR= option.  Files should remain in the trash can
  until they are explicitly cleaned out (as an option in the object and a
  command line utility).  When there is not enough space to perform a
  function, the operating system should first see if there are files that
  could be cleaned up to make room.  If so, the user is asked if it is
  alright to remove files, and then proceeds to make space.  If the user
  says 'no', or there are no files to remove, the write fails normally.
  Files would be removed in chronological order, starting with the oldest
  files and proceeding until enough room is made or there are no more files
  to remove.

  Luca Regoli (mc0280@mclink.it)

MULTIPLE-LINE CONFIG.SYS ENTRIES
  CONFIG.SYS entries should be allowed to span multiple lines to enhance
  readability and ease of editing the CONFIG.SYS with editors that can not
  handle the long lines.  Entries that span multiple lines could, for
  example, be enclosed in double quotes ("") or the end of a line could be
  delimited with two pipes (||).

  Luca Regoli (mc0280@mclink.it)

BOOT DRIVE SELECTION
  There should be a variable in the CONFIG.SYS to denote the boot drive,
  which could be used for anything (such as LIBPATH entries or entries in
  the OS2.INI) that knows it will always be running from the boot disk.
  This would give a sort of disk independance for boot disks and make the
  task of transfering configurations much simpler.

  Luca Regoli (mc0280@mclink.it)

LIST VIEW FOR OBJECT SETTINGS
  There could be a list view for object settings - it would basically be a
  dump of all the possible settings there are for the given object, sorted
  alphabetically and not grouped together in notebook sections.  This would
  make it very easy to find a particular setting when you don't exactly know
  where to look (but you know what to look for).  As many as could fit on
  one notebook page would be shown at a time, and arrows at the bottom of
  the notebook would allow flipping between pages.

  Jerry Freeman (n6140299@henson.cc.wwu.edu)

SLIM OS/2
  There should be an OS/2 that will run in less than 4 MB (ie: start up in 2
  MB, but for performance run in 4, much like OS/2 starts in 4 now but for
  performance people use 8).  It should also use less disk space.

  Ian Timms (itimms@ariel.ucs.unimelb.edu.au)

ENHANCED TASK LIST
  There should be a 'Details' view of the task list, showing more
  information about a program - ie: priority, memory usage, idle time, CPU
  usage, process ID, parent ID, command line parameters, etc.

  Ian Timms (itimms@ariel.ucs.unimelb.edu.au)

STARTING PM APPLICATIONS 'MINIMIZED'
  The feature for starting a program minimized should be enabled for PM
  applications.

  Ian Timms (itimms@ariel.ucs.unimelb.edu.au)

CHANGING THE ROLE OF STARTUP.CMD
  STARTUP.CMD has become useless with the introduction of the WPS.  Its role
  should change to that of a program that is run every time an OS/2 window
  is opened.  It should contain all environment variables (rathern than
  having them in the config.sys), so that they can be easily changed without
  rebooting the machine.

  Evan Champion (evanc@spatial.synapse.org)

SECURE SYSTEM FILES
  Display a warning every time a system file (typically one in the \OS2
  directory) is going to be replaced by an application.  To implement this,
  a file holding the names of files that should not be changed without
  giving notice to the user could be used.

  Ian Timms (itimms@ariel.ucs.unimelb.edu.au)
  R S Rodgers (rsrodger@wam.umd.edu)

CONTROLLING PROCESS PRIORITY
  Command line utilities for setting process priority should be available.

  Ian Timms (itimms@ariel.ucs.unimelb.edu.au)

FULL ANSI X3.64 SUPPORT
  The complete ANSI X3.64 terminal specification should be enabled for OS/2
  shells.

  Evan Champion (evanc@spatial.synapse.org)

VT-100 SUPPORT
  OS/2 command shells should have VT-100 support.

  Evan Champion (evanc@spatial.synapse.org)

SUPPORT OF ISO 8859.1 CHARCTER SET (ANSI, CODEPAGE 1004)
  OS/2 must support the ISO 8859.1 character set, used in other operating
  systems such as UNIX.

  Frank Behrens (frank@sax.sax.de)

TAPE DRIVERS
  Tape backup drivers should be included as part of the base system.
  Atleast drivers for SCSI tapes should be included.

  Joshua Samuel (josh@werple.aphana.org.au)

ON-THE-FLY COMPRESSION
  An on-the-fly compression scheme should be included as part of the base
  system.  The compression algortithm should be filesystem independant.

  Joshua Samuel (josh@werple.aphana.org.au)

WIN32S SUPPORT FOR WINOS/2
  Win32s support should be included as part of the base system to allow
  users to run such applications as MathCad 4.0.

  Jerry Freeman (n6140299@henson.cc.wwu.edu)

ADDITIONAL FILESYSTEMS
  OS/2 should be able to read/write NTFS partitions, some common UNIX
  filesystems and Macintosh disks.

  Dimitri Vulis (dlv@bwalk.dm.com)

PEER-TO-PEER IN BASE SYSTEM
  The base OS/2 kit should include some sort of peer to peer networking as
  an option.  Basic TCP/IP networking would be good for cross-platform
  networking.

  Dimitri Vulis (dlv@bwalk.dm.com)

REVAMPING THE PRODUCTIVITY FOLDER
  The productivity folder should not only be made up of useful applications,
  but should also be a reflection of what OS/2 is capable of.  They should
  be technology statements.  This means that the applications should be
  usable, should be SOM-based, support standards like OpenDoc when
  applicable, etc.  They are often the first exposure a user has to OS/2
  applications, and IBM should do everything possible to make sure it is a
  positive first step.

  Dimitri Vulis (dlv@bwalk.dm.com)
  Bjorn Fahller (bjorn@ludd.luth.se)
  Danny Vezeau (spice@bmerha2f.bnr.ca)

MIGRATION DATABASE MAINTENANCE
  Included in the Migrate program should be a method for updating the
  database to change settings as well as adding and deleting programs.

  Jani Patanen (japa@mits.mdata.fi)

OPTIONAL DISABLING OF MENU DROP DOWN ON RIGHT ALT KEY
  On many international keyboards, the right ALT key is used to type special
  characters such as brakets.  An accidental slip on the keyboard while
  doing an ALT key combination can cause the toolbar menu to drop down, and
  is a real annoyance.  For people using international keyboards, an option
  either the Country object or Keyboard object should determine whether only
  the left ALT key or both ALT keys should bring down the menu.

  Bjorn Fahller (bjorn@ludd.luth.se)
  Per M. Hansen (perhans@mmf.ruc.dk)

BACKGROUND COLOUR ON ICON TEXT
  Icon text should have the background colour underneath in order to be able
  to see the text with some bitmaps.

  Bjorn Fahller (bjorn@ludd.luth.se)
  Per M. Hanser (perhans@mmf.ruc.dk)

DEFAULT VIEW OPTION IN OBJECT SETTINGS
  Any object for which the type of view can be variable (for example, a
  folder can be viewed in the 'Icon' view, 'Tree' view and 'Details View')
  should have a default view option.

  David Mackintosh (1:163/557)

UTILITY FOR FINDING THE OWNER OF A RESOURCE
  There should be a utility to show the program and process ID of the owner
  of a particular system resource, be it a pipe, queue, device, file, drive
  or any other system resource.  For example, assuming the program was
  called 'OWNER.EXE', the user could type 'OWNER \PIPE\MYPIPE' and find out
  that it is owned by 'MYPROGRAM' running at PID 135, along with any other
  useful information.

  David Mackintosh (1:163/557)

AN ON-LINE, IN-DEPTH DESCRIPTION OF THE CONFIG.SYS
  There should be an on-line, in-depth description of the CONFIG.SYS
  consolidated in one INF file.  This file should have descriptions of each
  and every valid command in the CONFIG.SYS, along with useful tips and
  recommendations.

  David Mackintosh (1:163/557)

AUTOMATIC CONVERSION OF WINDOWS ICO FILES TO OS/2 ICONS
  Windows ICO files should be automatically converted to OS/2 icons, or
  there should atleast be a utility included in OS/2 to allow turn the icons
  in to OS/2 ones.  This is required for DOS software that comes with
  Windows icon files.

  Mike Salo (1:282/108)

ADD GRID/CHANGE THE MEANING OF ARRANGE
  There should be an imaginary grid of user-defined size behind a window
  when the window is in 'Non-grid' Icon view.  Arrange would move the icons
  to nearest point on a the grid.  In addition, there should be an option in
  the window settings for to always snap icons to the grid.

  Mike Salo (1:282/108)
  Danny Vezeau (spice@bmerha2f.bnr.ca)

CD WITH A DRIVE CHANGES CURRENT DRIVE
  In a shell, using 'CD' with a drive (ie: 'CD D:\MYDIR') changes the
  current drive as well as the directory.

  John Heiden (jheiden@uoft02.utoledo.edu)

CHANGING THE WAY DRIVES ARE NAMED
  Instead of calling disks 'A:', 'B:', 'C:', etc, disk devices could be
  referenced internally as 'FDx:' for floppies and 'HDx:' for hard drives.
  This would allow an unlimited number of available partitions.  Device
  aliases could be created to alias back 'FDx' and 'HDx' to the DOS
  equivalents to allow older software to work while allowing those who have
  surpassed the 26 available drives to use their full capacity.

  Disk labels, currently an unused feature of the filesystems, could be used
  as device aliases as well.  For example, if a disk label is 'MYDISK', the
  drive could be accessed as 'MYDISK:'  This would make accessing disks much
  more intuitive.  When used on a FAT or HPFS drive, the disk label could
  only be 11 characters (as that is the current disk label size).  Any new
  filesystems should support 255 characters and the APIs to support the
  new drive schemes should support 255 character labels.

  John Heiden (jheiden@uoft02.utoledo.edu)
  R S Rodgers (rsrodger@wam.umd.edu)

SUPPORT FOR MORE THAN 2 CODEPAGES
  There must be support for more than 2 codepages.  As OS/2 becomes more
  widely used internationally, people using different character sets must
  be able to communicate easily.

  Franz Behrens (frank@sax.sax.de)

'EXPAND ALL' FEATURE FOR TREE VIEWS
  The user should be able to expand all branches of a tree in a Tree view.
  The '*' key is recommended for consistency with Windows.

  Jerry Freeman (n6140299@henson.cc.wwu.edu)

MORE INFORMATION FOR DRIVE OBJECTS/DISK TREE VIEWS
  Below the name of the drive in a drive object (ie: 'Drive C') the
  amount of free disk space should be shown (note: this should only be
  shown for disks that are writable; no matter how long you look at a
  CD-ROM, it will always say 0 bytes free).  In a Tree view, below each
  folder name, the  number of files in the directory and the size of the
  contents should be displayed.

  Jerry Freeman (n6140299@henson.cc.wwu.edu)
  Joseph Skinner (joe@jsnode.equinox.gen.nz)

NEW 'MORE' UTILITY
  The OS/2 'more' utility is showing its age and should be replaced with a
  faster and more feature-packed version.  It should be able to get a
  filename to read from the command line (ie: you should be able to type
  'more myfile'), it should NEVER scroll when showing a full page (should
  clear the screen and show the full page), should have forward and backward
  movement using 'UP' and 'DOWN' arrows for moving single lines and 'PAGE
  UP' and 'PAGE DOWN' for moving entire pages.  'SPACE' would move forward 1
  page, 'RETURN' would move forward 1 line.  It must have some kind of
  search capabilities.

  David Mackintosh (1:163/557)

ADDITIONS TO SHELL COMMAND HISTORY FUNCTIONS
  Pressing 'PAGE UP' in a shell should print out the complete
  available command history.

  If the user uses the new 'PAGE UP' function or the 'UP' and 'DOWN'
  arrows when there is already a command partially entered on the command
  line, the shell should try to match the the first part of the command with
  something in the history.  'PAGE UP' would show all items in the  history
  that start with the partial command, and 'UP' and 'DOWN' would move to
  the next match.  Partially completed commands should be matched up to the
  current cursor position only.  If there are no matches, the system moves
  forward or backward as usual and 'PAGE UP' returns 'No Matches'.  In order
  to implement this feature, OS/2's shell will have to stop moving the
  cursor position to the end of the line after searching in the command
  history.

  David Mackintosh (1:163/557)

ALLOW OPTIONAL ANSI KEY REMAPPING WITH COMMAND HISTORY ENABLED
  It is undesirable to have OS/2 only allow either ANSI key remapping or
  command history for shells.  This is an unnecessary limitation and should
  be removed.

  Ian Timms (itimms@ariel.ucs.unimelb.edu.au)

SAVE CHANGES MADE BY THE PALETTES IN THE SYSTEM SETUP FOLDER
  ALL IBM software, including the help system and INF files, must support
  saving changes to fonts definitions, colour schemes etc. made by
  performing a drag-and-drop from any of the various 'Palette' objects in
  the System Setup folder.  This includes the 'Font Palette', 'Colour
  Palette' and 'Colour Scheme' objects.

  Ian Timms (itimms@ariel.ucs.unimelb.edu.au)

USE THE PM METHOD FOR COPY AND PASTE IN SHELL WINDOWS
  OS/2's current method for doing copy and paste's from a shell is very
  awkward (first you have to go in the toolbar menu, select mark, mark the
  text, select copy, go to the window, select paste...)  A much simpler and
  more natural method should be used, namely the one implemented for PM
  applications.  The user simply selects the text they want to copy and then
  press the standard PM CTRL-INS to copy and SHIFT-INS to paste.

  Luciano Veronese (veu@necsy.it)
  Danny Vezeau (spice@bmerha2f.bnr.ca)
  Mattison Narramore (jmn@gandalf.rutgers.edu)

OPTIONAL 'KEYBOARD FOCUS FOLLOWS THE MOUSE SUPPORT'
  Optionally, the user should be able to enable X11-style 'keyboard follows
  the mouse pointer' support.  The active window and keyboard focus are
  changed as the mouse pointer moves from one window to another.  Note that
  the new active window is not brought to the surface, only the keyboard
  focus changes.

  Evan Champion (evanc@spatial.synapse.org)

FILENAME COMPLETION IN SHELLS
  Pressing 'TAB' while entering a path in a shell would try to perform
  'filename completion', that is, fully resolve the path.  The first 'TAB'
  would find the first match for the partial command; subsequent 'TAB's
  would cycle through the items that match, until it runs out of matches at
  which point it restarts at the beginning.

  Mattison Narramore (jmn@gandalf.rutgers.edu)

PM CONFIG.SYS MANAGER
  For the novice, the OS/2 CONFIG.SYS is a fiersome beast.  A PM CONFIG.SYS
  manager is required to help the user get their machine configured as they
  need it hassle-free.

  Patrick Duffy (duffy@theory.chem.ubc.ca)

LICENSE 4OS2 FROM JPL SOFTWARE AS OS/2'S DEFAULT SHELL
  Most of the shell wishes could be easily solved by replacing OS/2's
  command shell 4OS/2 by JPL Software.

  Patrick Duffy (duffy@theory.chem.ubc.ca)
  Francois Menard (1:257/445)

OPEN PARENT FOLDER
  The ability to open a folder's parent should be available in the 'Open'
  section of the right mouse button menu.

  Ari Huttunen (ari.huttunen@hut.fi)

CLOSE OF THE CURRENT FOLDER WHEN OPENING A CHILD FOLDER
  Both accessible through the 'Open' section in the right mouse button menu
  and by an accelerator key should be the ability to close the current
  folder when opening a child folder.

  Ari Huttunen (ari.huttunen@hut.fi)

USE FONTS LIKE DLLS
  A font should only be kept in memory as long as there is a program using
  the font; keeping fonts loaded forever is a waste of valuable system
  resources. After the last process to use a font is terminated, the font
  should be unloaded.

  Bjorn Fahller (bjorn@ludd.luth.se)

CASCADABLE MENUS
  The user can add items to the right mouse button menus, even sub-menus,
  but the user can not add sub-sub menus.

  Bjorn Fahller (bjorn@ludd.luth.se)

ASSOCIATE VIEW.EXE WITH INF FILES
  Associating VIEW.EXE with INF files will make starting INF files from the
  WPS much easier for the user.

  Bjorn Fahller (bjorn@ludd.luth.se)

RESET SCALING OF MOUSE SPEED, KEY REPEAT SETTINGS ETC.
  The current scale used for mouse speed, key repeat delay, etc. is much to
  slow for most users.  As most users use the settings at their fastest
  rate, there is not much point in having the settings there in the first
  place.  To make them useful, the fastest speeds need to be many times
  faster than those available now.

  Joseph Skinner (joe@jsnode.equinox.gen.nz)
  R S Rodgers (rsrodger@wam.umd.edu)

FIX THE HANDLING OF '*' AND '.' IN A SHELL
  The current handling of '*' and '.' in a shell are terribly outdated,
  being remenants of the old FAT filesystem.  The following is how they
  should be interpreted.

  '*' = select all files
  '*.' = select files ending in a '.'
  '.*' = select files starting with a '.'
  'myprog' = execute a program named 'myprog'
  'myprog.' = execute a program named 'myprog.'

  Not that it is not exceptable for '*' to equal '*.' and for a program
  named 'myprog' (no extension, as they are not required with free-form
  filenames) to only run when it is started as 'myprog.'

  Evan Champion (evanc@spatial.synapse.org)
  Thomas Mack (mack@ips.cs.tu-bs.de)

SEPARATE DOS DEVICE DRIVERS FROM THE OS/2 CONFIG.SYS
  It is unnecessarily complex to have OS/2 device drivers included in the
  same file as DOS device drivers.  A file named CONFIG.DOS should be
  used to hold DOS device drivers instead.

  Thomas Mack (mack@ips.cs.tu-bs.de)

NEW BOOT SECTOR
  The current OS/2 boot sector is next to useless.  It displays a cryptic
  message that few people bother to even look up.  A new boot sector
  that just skips over the disk and continues the boot process if it can't
  boot OS/2 should be implemented.

  Evan Champion (evanc@spatial.synapse.org)

DYNAMICALLY LOAD/UNLOAD DEVICE DRIVERS WITHOUT A RESET
  OS/2 should allow device drivers to load and unload as desired by the
  user.  Implementation details under the current kernal are uncertain, but
  it could easily be done under the IBM Microkernal.

  Patrick Duffy (duffy@theory.chem.ubc.ca)
  Danny Vezeau (spice@bmerha2f.bnr.ca)
  R S Rodgers (rsrodger@wam.umd.edu)

ALLOW DIRECT MODIFICATION OF INI FILES WITHOUT COPYING THEM
  Having to re-copy INI files to change them is terribly wasteful and
  should be corrected.

  R S Rodgers (rsrodger@wam.umd.edu)

IMPROVED SHELL WINDOW CLOSING
  A shell that is not running any software should be closable without asking
  the user for confirmation.  When a program is running, the user should
  be asked for confirmation to close the window.

  R S Rodgers (rsrodger@wam.umd.edu)

VECTOR ICONS
  Allow vector graphic files in addition to bitmaps and allow the icon to
  be scaled to a fixed size no matter what the resolution is.

  R S Rodgers (rsrodger@wam.umd.edu)

MAKE ALL FILES EXECUTABLE
  Any file should be executable, no matter what its extension.  The
  operating system should first determine whether whatever the user asked it
  to open is actually an executable.  If it is, the program starts normally.
  If not, the file is assumed to be some sort of data file, and the
  operating system tries to find the creator of the file and starts it,
  instructing the creator to open the file.  If it can't find the creator,
  it should return back an error message saying that the file was not
  executable and the file's creator could not be found.  The current rules
  for special file extensions should be removed as they are not appropriate
  for a free-form filename system.  Something like a REXX script or batch
  file that generally has no file type could be started as 'cmd rexxscript'.

  Evan Champion (evanc@spatial.synapse.org)

UTILITY TO VIEW/SET EXTENDED ATTRIBUTES
  A utility should ship with OS/2 to allow the user to view and edit a
  file's extended attributes.  This would be particularly necessary if all
  files are considered executable, as the user may want to specially assign
  creators for files so they can be automatically opened, or to allow a REXX
  script or batch file to run without having to run 'cmd rexxscript'.

  Evan Champion (evanc@spatial.synapse.org)

CHANGE WHEN INTERNAL SHELL COMMANDS ARE EXECUTED
  Internal shell commands (like copy, del) should only be executed after
  searching the path for the program.  This would allow people to replace
  the default commands with their own versions.

  Evan Champion (evanc@spatial.synapse.org)

IMPROVE THE ICON EDITOR
  Using ICONEDIT to edit multi-mode (16x16, 32x32, 40x40, 64x64) 16 and 256
  colour icons is awkward.  Re-arrange the menus so that it is easy to
  switch between different icon formats.  Make the editor automatically show
  all icon sizes and colour depths.  Use the first icon created as a base
  for all other icons and provide a way to paste from one icon format to
  another.

  Andrew Longton (1:109/347)

USE THE CD-ROM VERSION OF OS/2 TO PROMOTE OS/2-SPECIFIC SOFTWARE
  Include sample OS/2 programs from commercial and shareware vendors (demos,
  product information, etc.) with an easy way to order these programs or 800
  numbers to call for more information.  Optionally, each company could pay
  for the space used on the disk (which would also subsidize the cost of the
  disks) but small vendors and shareware authors that produce OS/2-only
  software should have the opportunity to be listed at little or no charge.

  Andrew Longton (1:109/347)

PROVIDE A SEPARATE OS/2 SOFTWARE CD WITH OS/2 ON CD-ROM
  Ship each version of OS/2 on CD-ROM with an extra CD of vendor software.
  Each disk would contain fully featured OS/2 applications that work for a
  limited number of uses (say, 10 uses).  After that, the application must
  be paid for (by using an 800 number).  When ordering the application, the
  user receives a key to unlock that application so it can be used unlimited
  times, and the user would have the opportunity to order manuals etc. on
  the phone.

  Evan Champion (evanc@spatial.synapse.org)

UPDATE THE OS/2 CD-ROM VIDEOS
  Each full release of OS/2 should come with a totally new set of videos.
  They should emphasise human interaction, wild technology and something
  that could be used as an in-store demo (an introduction to OS/2, perhaps)
  or something that uses the word 'OS/2' in a way that makes the user think
  about it.

  Andrew Longton (1:109/347)

ADDITIONS TO MMPM/2
  Add a 'loop' button to the video and audio players.  More video formats
  should also be supported (ie: MPEG 1 and when finalised, MPEG2; FLI; FLC).

  Andrew Longton (1:109/347)

--
EVAN CHAMPION ==================================================
Team OS/2 Member!        To add your ideas to the OS/2 Wishlist,
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada  mail to: evanc@spatial.synapse.org
================================================================