Did You Notice the Shortcut Template Change in Windows Vista?

An integer part of the evolution from Windows XP to Windows Vista was focused on enhancing various details across the operating system. They might be just anodyne items, but they do tend to make life a whole lot easier. Still, while some are indeed lending a helping hand with functionality and improving user experience there are also those that prove to be nothing more than a waste of time. The Flower Power, oops, I meant to say the Flower Garden version of Minesweeper is just such an example. You can easily turn Minesweeper into Flower Garden via Game and Change Appearance, although why would you want to do that? There are additional touches across Windows Vista, and the modification of the shortcut template is one of them. In Vista, you will notice that when creating a shortcut, the name will be "Product - Shortcut," whereas in the past versions of the operating system, it was "Shortcut to Product". There are two explanations for this.

"The first reason is globalization. The template "Shortcut to X" made X the object of a preposition. In some languages, this may require changes to X (for case) or to the word "to" (based on grammatical properties of X). Constructing sentences from phrases is a dangerous endeavor due to language issues like this, and the new formulation sidesteps the issue by not trying to make a phrase out of the result. The second reason is sorting. With the new format, the shortcut sorts next to the original object, making it easier to find. (This is particularly helpful when you're in an auto-sort view. "Hey, where's that shortcut I just created? Oh well, I'll just make another one.")," explained Raymond Chen, a developer on the Windows Shell team at Microsoft.

There are also other touches designed to improve the overall quality of the operating system. The Snipping Tool for example is a nice addition. But also the use of BitLocker in the absence of the Platform Module 1.2, the Check Boxes for multiple selection, the evolution of the Windows Live Gallery and the Sidebar. Out of all the items mentioned above, the Sidebar has the greatest potential, but it is underperforming so far, because of the lack of high-quality content. Microsoft has left the creation of Sidebar Gadgets to third party developers when it should have taken matters firmly into its own hands.