Windows File Copying Does Not Make Sense

The simple act of moving or copying a file from one place to another ought to be the most basic of operating system tasks, right? Yet, somehow, this manages to get worse and worse with every version of Windows instead of getting better. The current version, Windows Vista, is downright stupid when it comes to making copies.

John Dvorak gets it absolutely right on Windows Vista's file copying annoyances, citing seven specific thing about it that he just doesn't understand. I, too, have grown to hate that rotating blue circle that indicates Windows is "thinking" about something.

Why is this so hard to get right?

Why can't Windows estimate the time it takes to make a copy reliably? Why does it abort if something goes wonky (Dvorak uses the example of the dreaded "long file name" problem, which can abort a file copy in the middle of an operation, leaving the job halfway done)? And how about that aggravating "Yes to All" issue, which keeps popping up question after question instead of understanding that you really did mean "Yes" to all those prompts?

I'll add another complaint to Dvorak's list of seven: Why does Windows take so long to "prepare to copy" a file? This seems to be even worse under Vista than ever before. It's as if Windows has never copied a file in the past and is just figuring it out for the first time, every time you do it. And don't get me started on how doing an operation over the network makes this even worse.

No action item here, just a good old-fashioned rant. Microsoft: Fix this stuff in Vista Service Pack 1! 

LINK: Windows' Words of Doom