I just read a reasonably good review of Windows 7. But, there was one comment (stated better by John Dvorak) that showed a real non-understanding of computer software.

I still wish Windows 7 had dropped the System Registry, which slows down systems over time.

Right. Just drop it.

I agree that the registry is an obstacle, and I further agree that programs should be self-contained. But the notion of just "dropping" the registry is worse than ridiculous, it's inane.

Most software, and certainly almost all high-end, expensive, business-oriented software, relies on the registry to store dozens, even hundreds, of settings. Would the above article's authors ask Microsoft to render almost all of a user's software incompatible, and require almost all software makers to recode their applications to be Windows 7 compliant?

The registry can't just be dropped. That would be like dropping access to RAM, or dropping support for C++.

However, Microsoft might be able to ease programmers into a new direction.

Microsoft could change the API call so that it instead writes to an xml file located in the application's folder. This would mean that, on program un-installation, all registry entries would be removed along with the folder.

I admit, that would make me happy.