How can we make Microsoft listen? (a serious question)

Question

The Windows 7 Beta identified a host of minor problems with the new user interface, and hundreds of people took the time and trouble to point them out, thinking they were being helpful.
The RC has addressed virtually none of them.  Not only does this mean that Microsoft wasted everyone's time by inviting feedback and then ignoring most of it; it also means that W7 will be launched with a host of silly niggles that stop it being a really great product.  This is such a wasted opportunity!!
I'm not talking about major architectural changes here, such as re-introducing the XP-style Start menu.  I understand why MS won't do that.  I'm talking about the really silly, annoying little things that surely could be fixed, and which DO NOT undermine or dilute Microsoft's vision for what they want Windows 7 to be.
I won't list them all here - this forum is full of them for all to see for themselves.  But I can give a few examples, to illustrate my point:
1/ Place the mouse pointer over an icon in the taskbar for a non-running program.  It takes ALMOST TWO SECONDS for the tooltip with the program name to appear.  Now that my most commonly used programs are merely icons - without labels - in the taskbar, I occasionally need to remind myself what program an icon represents.  A two second speed bump is a damn nuisance. 
This is such an obvious fault, and must be so trivial to fix, I can't honestly believe MS is seriously thinking of leaving it unfixed for launch.
2/ This one refers to stacked icons in the taskbar (representing a program with multiple windows, of course).  For these, hovering over the icon, and clicking on it, do exactly the same thing (bring up the little preview pictures).  This is IN DIRECT CONTRADICTION to the behaviour for non-stacked icons (a program with just one window), in which hovering over the icon shows the preview, and CLICKING ON THE ICON BRINGS THAT WINDOW TO THE FOREGROUND.
In other words, for non-stacked icons, the hover and click have two distinct functions, both of which feel entirely logical and "smooth".
The obvious question is "OK, but which of the windows should be restored when clicking on a stacked icon?".  The answer has been arrived at independently numerous times by different commentators: the most recently opened window.  This makes good sense ergonomically - there's a good chance that the most recently opened window is the one most likely to be wanted, anyway.
So, the functionality for stacked icons should be: a/ hover shows the preview pictures; b/ click restores the most recently viewed window.
This would then "feel" TOTALLY CONSISTENT with the behaviour for non-stacked icons, and would be a great shortcut.  And again, it has been suggested countless times by some very thoughtful and intelligent commentators.
Here's how the taskbar icons would work, in summary:
a/ Non-running program
Hover: show program name in a tooltip
Click: launch and bring to the foreground
b/ Running program, single window
Hover: show preview picture
Click: bring window to the foreground
c/ Running program, multiple windows (stacked icon)
Hover: show preview pictures
Click: bring most recent window to the foreground
Totally consistent, fast, "smooth", and suggested by countless commentators.  It is simply better than the current arrangement, and yet is consistent with it and must be perfectly feasible to implement.
3/ Here's a simple one: open an Explorer window.  Make the folder navigation pane (on the left) fairly narrow.  Now try to navigate to a deeply nested folder.
Problem!  The pane no longer has that auto-sideways-scroll that was introduced with Vista, but NOR DOES IT HAVE A HORIZONTAL SCROLL BAR.  The only thing you can do is drag the handle to make the pane wider.  What a bodge!
4/ Gadgets can no longer be "guarded" from maximised windows.  I understand why MS thought the gadget bar was superfluous, but it had one great feature: it made sure gadgets were (or could be) always visible. 
It's no good setting the gadgets to "always on top" because that hides parts of the window you are working on.  Now, I can no longer glance across to the calendar, the weather, the exchange rates, the news feeds; I have to un-maximise the window I'm working in, or steer my mouse to the Desktop Peek button.  Time wasted!  It's just another clunky speedbump, and totally unnecessary.
I could go on, but you've got the idea.  There are countless little issues like these that MS has received MASSES of highly consistent feedback on, and yet (for some reason) insists on leaving broken.
Dear Windows 7 development team: we are on your side!  We want W7 to be utterly brilliant!  Most of us are intelligent, experienced "power users" and we have useful things to say.  We are your customers!  Please, what can we do to make you pay attention to these annoying little issues that take the gloss off an otherwise superb product? 
At the very least, use your E7 blog to tell us why you want our gadgets to get hidden, why we can't scroll the folder pane in Explorer, why we've got to wait almost two seconds for a tooltip, why we can't single-click restore the most recent window, etc, etc.
Pretty please??
Steve Thackery
(Thack)
PS: Yes, I know you can alter some of these behaviours with subtle registry hacks.  But for 99% of users that's a non-starter.  (And in any case, it can cause unwanted side effects, as I found out when trying to change the mouse hover/tooltip delay).  We want W7 to work properly out of the box.

Answer 1

Hi Thack
Your comments are welcome.
Besides posting your comments here, you also need to post it in the official feedback thread. These poasts really are sent directly to the beta team and they really do read them. The more feedback they get on specific changes, the more likely those changes are to be implemented.
Go to the following thread. Click the Reply Button on the first post and write your comments.
Have Comments about Windows 7 RC?
All of the posts in that thread are collected, periodically and sent directly to the Beta Team.
Hope this helps.
Thank You for testing Windows 7
Ronnie Vernon MVP