Any advantage to windows 7 over XP?

[Red Squirrel]

My parents will be buying a new PC and they know XP better so I'll probably put that on it, but I'm wondering if there is any big reason I should go to 7, and can 7 be made to look like XP as far as where everything is? My dad freaks at the smallest changes. Either way he will freak since even win2k to xp may have a few changes even after putting classic start menu and such, so if there's any real good reason to go with 7 I might do that. Is there?

They only use it for browsing the internet and email.

 

[nickbits]

7 is decent. I think you should got for that rather than xp. Keep them current. My mom who isnt too great witg comps adjusted pretty quickly.

 

[tcsenter]

Windows 7 can be made to sorta look like a bit more like Windows XP in some places, but it will be substantially different. Even the classic XP-like Start Menu is more like Windows 98, not XP. e.g. there is no start panel that shows recently used program shortcuts, just the cascading menu.

Windows 7 can be more secure if you use standard user accounts. Other than that, not a lot going for it for relative to Windows XP for users who aren't pretty-GUI enthusiasts.

 

[nemesismk2]

I will give you two reasons, directx10 and directx11

Windows 7 is everything Vista should of been, I didn't upgrade from Windows XP until Windows 7 was released and I am glad I did. Upgrading to Windows 7 from Windows XP was a breeze, it found all of my hardware and installed drivers and I didn't have to do a thing.

You can turn on Windows Classic with Windows 7 and it looks just like Windows XP

 

[rudder]

For browsing and email... no need to spend the extra for a win7 license. Please you can run it on lesser hardware. Just use firefox and constantly update and all will be good.

But I guess since he is buying a new PC likely it will have 7 on it.

 

[Nothinman]

The search box in the new Start Menu is worth it by itself IMO. It takes a bit to get used to it, but now I get even more frustrated when I touch an XP/Win2K3 machine.

 

[Mem]

I will give you two reasons, directx10 and directx11

Windows 7 is everything Vista should of been, I didn't upgrade from Windows XP until Windows 7 was released and I am glad I did. Upgrading to Windows 7 from Windows XP was a breeze, it found all of my hardware and installed drivers and I didn't have to do a thing.

You can turn on Windows Classic with Windows 7 and it looks just like Windows XP

Funny I found Vista upgrade(obviously clean install) from XP very smooth(Vista x64) anyway Win7 upgrade I did was also smooth(its not rocket science to get everything running smooth),main reason I can give for Win7 over XP is better security,longer life span for the future,looks 10x better then old XP,has a lot of nice new features over XP(use Google to find all the info).

Basically no brainer go for Win7.

 

[ShawnD1]

Don't do it. Microsoft somehow managed to rip off the most annoying features of Mac OS and break half of the features in XP and Vista. Instead of having a quick bar (shortcuts), a task bar (running programs), and a system tray (background programs), it now has the dock menu. Shortcuts and running programs look the same. You'll minimize something, forget that it's minimized, and wonder why the computer is using 3gb of ram to do nothing. Oh it's because I have 10 firefox windows open and didn't know it.

Here's your familiar Windows XP/Vista desktop. Nice, clean, organized.
http://img15.imageshack.us/i/vistadesktop.jpg/

Here's Windows 7 running the same number of programs. It looks like shit. Notice how MSN messenger no longer sits in the system tray; it takes up 2 spots on the dock menu. Shortcuts (the ones not highlighted) don't stay on the left side anymore, they just go wherever the hell they want. It makes the system harder to use because the shortcuts are never in the same position twice.
http://img14.imageshack.us/i/windows7t.jpg/

Driver support is horrible. My HP Laserjet 1012 printer works great in Windows XP, good enough in Vista, and it flat out doesn't work in Windows 7. My printer/scanner (HP 1500?) works great in XP with proper drivers, works as a plug n play device in Vista, but is not detected by Windows 7 as a scanner.

I also put a video on youtube to vent my frustration with Windows 7's complete inability to work with network locations. Unless you know the exact folder path and can type it in the address bar, you're fucked. It can connect to network locations, but only if they are typed in.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDqCPIWmUgk

This is Windows ME all over again.

 

[Chiefcrowe]

For increased security alone i'd switch to 7.

 

[Binky]

The search box in the new Start Menu is worth it by itself IMO. It takes a bit to get used to it, but now I get even more frustrated when I touch an XP/Win2K3 machine.

^^ This!!!

No more calls about "I just installed blah blah and I CAN'T FIND THE DAMNED THING!"

Click start, type something, done. Learn to love it.

 

[Mem]

Don't do it. Microsoft somehow managed to rip off the most annoying features of Mac OS and break half of the features in XP and Vista. Instead of having a quick bar (shortcuts), a task bar (running programs), and a system tray (background programs), it now has the dock menu. Shortcuts and running programs look the same. You'll minimize something, forget that it's minimized, and wonder why the computer is using 3gb of ram to do nothing. Oh it's because I have 10 firefox windows open and didn't know it.

Here's your familiar Windows XP/Vista desktop. Nice, clean, organized.
http://img15.imageshack.us/i/vistadesktop.jpg/

Here's Windows 7 running the same number of programs. It looks like shit. Notice how MSN messenger no longer sits in the system tray; it takes up 2 spots on the dock menu. Shortcuts (the ones not highlighted) don't stay on the left side anymore, they just go wherever the hell they want. It makes the system harder to use because the shortcuts are never in the same position twice.
http://img14.imageshack.us/i/windows7t.jpg/

Driver support is horrible. My HP Laserjet 1012 printer works great in Windows XP, good enough in Vista, and it flat out doesn't work in Windows 7. My printer/scanner (HP 1500?) works great in XP with proper drivers, works as a plug n play device in Vista, but is not detected by Windows 7 as a scanner.

I also put a video on youtube to vent my frustration with Windows 7's complete inability to work with network locations. Unless you know the exact folder path and can type it in the address bar, you're fucked. It can connect to network locations, but only if they are typed in.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDqCPIWmUgk

This is Windows ME all over again.

So you blame driver support on Win7?...try blamming HP ,I have always hated their driver support (thats why I'm a Canon user ).

I run my MSN in " Vista compatibility mode" on Win7,end of the day calling Win7 " Windows ME all over again" is really unfair IMHO,I think a lot of users here will agree with me on that,remember no OS is perfect and you are asking the impossible to have an OS that pleases everybody,however Win7 builds on XP, Vista etc.... and is a very good OS in my experience.

 

[Blazer]

parents going to the net, use vista [non admin] with a password and explain what UAC is and how to use it, 64 bit would be better. just my opinion.

 

[JackMDS]

Here's your familiar Windows XP/Vista desktop. Nice, clean, organized.
http://img15.imageshack.us/i/vistadesktop.jpg/

Here's Windows 7 running the same number of programs.
http://img14.imageshack.us/i/windows7t.jpg/

Driver support is horrible. My HP Laserjet 1012 printer works great in Windows XP, good enough in Vista, and it flat out doesn't work in Windows 7.

On Drivers. The manufacturer of OS' can not rewrite drivers for every 3rd party device that it is out there (in some cases it might be even a legal problem to do so).

It is up to the device' manufacturers to decide whether One wantsd to support Win 7 and submit drivers for it.

HP probably do not have interest in supporting this device on Win 7, or just was too slow to submit the specific driver in time to be available during the release time.

As for the look of the desktop. It is very easy to achieve such look on Win 7. Actually because of the additional controls in Win 7 it can be made even looking better.

In general people have few Choices.

1. To Learn himself how to do this.

2. Ask for help.

3. Post useless complains that says more about the state of mind of the complainers than about the product.

P.S. The image above is Not Win 7 RTM it is Win 7 RC.

So if One is so disappoint (you can never please every one) No harm done it was free.

 

[Nothinman]

Instead of having a quick bar (shortcuts), a task bar (running programs), and a system tray (background programs), it now has the dock menu.

I like this a lot better than the old system.

You'll minimize something, forget that it's minimized, and wonder why the computer is using 3gb of ram to do nothing. Oh it's because I have 10 firefox windows open and didn't know it.

It's MS' fault because you can't keep track of what you have running? And on top of that, you don't have to pin things to the dock and the icon changes when apps are running. It's not really hard to tell when something's running.

Driver support is horrible. My HP Laserjet 1012 printer works great in Windows XP, good enough in Vista, and it flat out doesn't work in Windows 7. My printer/scanner (HP 1500?) works great in XP with proper drivers, works as a plug n play device in Vista, but is not detected by Windows 7 as a scanner.

The only thing I've had not work out of the box so far was sound in my laptop and that was fixed with some Google and XP drivers.

I also put a video on youtube to vent my frustration with Windows 7's complete inability to work with network locations. Unless you know the exact folder path and can type it in the address bar, you're fucked. It can connect to network locations, but only if they are typed in.

I have no idea what this even means, I can browse all of our SMB shares just fine.

This is Windows ME all over again.

No, This is what windows should've been 10 years ago. I still don't like it as much as Linux, but it's finally getting there.

 

[Soundmanred]

I used to be a die hard XP user. "Vista sucks, etc"
I got Win7 from my brother in law who works at MS and I love it. It took a minute to get used to since I skipped Vista (other than using it on others machines).
Now I love it and can't imagine using XP again (other than the XP Virtual Machine thing). It's smooth, fast, looks great and I haven't had any problems (not even with my HP printer, LOL).
I read alot of tips on how to improve things and now it's OS heaven.

p.s. it runs all of my games too, no problems, even my Konami Collector's Series games (Contra/Castlevania)

 

[CrimsonWolf]

The search box in the new Start Menu is worth it by itself IMO. It takes a bit to get used to it, but now I get even more frustrated when I touch an XP/Win2K3 machine.

windows key + typing = instant program/document access and full of win

After getting used to Windows 7 at home, it sucks using XP at work.

Just try leaving Windows 7 on the new computer (guessing that's what it comes with). Besides, the manufacturer might not even provide support if XP is on the computer so that would leave you stuck with problems that come up.

As for making Windows 7 look like XP, I've never tried it because I appreciate the new interface, but some Googling found this. Changing back the taskbar in particular might be helpful for your dad.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2303791/how_to_make_windows_7_look_more_like.html?cat=15

 

[Nothinman]

windows key + typing = instant program/document access and full of win

I still find myself hitting Win+R a lot out of habit, but yea.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Here's Windows 7 running the same number of programs. It looks like shit. Notice how MSN messenger no longer sits in the system tray; it takes up 2 spots on the dock menu. Shortcuts (the ones not highlighted) don't stay on the left side anymore, they just go wherever the hell they want. It makes the system harder to use because the shortcuts are never in the same position twice.
http://img14.imageshack.us/i/windows7t.jpg/

Woah seriously? There's not a way to fix that? That is in fact brutal. Also does it force "grouping" or can that be turned off? That's a feature in XP I always turn off. Why do I want to click twice to have a window come up? I rather see all my programs individually on the task bar. If I tend to have a lot open (like when I worked at help desk) then I will just make the start bar bigger.

If that can't be fixed that's enough to even turn me off from using it myself. That's just so disorganized and ugly. Hopefully there is a way to fix that though...

I will most likely be building this PC so it wont come with an OS, so I'll just put whatever they want. I might get more then 4GB of ram so the more I think about it, going with a newer 64-bit OS may be better. I need to start playing with win7 more in a VM. I did not even download yet to play with, I'm behind.

Drivers is another thing, hopefully it picks up their stuff ok, they have an older scanner and printer. I remember going from win2k to XP it was brutal. Had to buy all new peripherals because nothing worked. Hopefully it's not that bad going from xp to 7.

 

[Modelworks]

Don't do it. Microsoft somehow managed to rip off the most annoying features of Mac OS and break half of the features in XP and Vista. Instead of having a quick bar (shortcuts), a task bar (running programs), and a system tray (background programs), it now has the dock menu. Shortcuts and running programs look the same. You'll minimize something, forget that it's minimized, and wonder why the computer is using 3gb of ram to do nothing. Oh it's because I have 10 firefox windows open and didn't know it.

OS currently have no enforcement on how a programs looks or interacts with the desktop. They let programmers have freedom but at a cost. You end up with an OS that resembles everyone painting with their own brush and nothing working like everything else.


I am still waiting for an OS that has applications where I can freely resize the text or layout without it breaking applications. Something so simple as being able to use any font without breaking something is absent from most modern OS. If I want to put my toolbars in the middle of the screen, upside down or have the windows scroll horizontally I should be able to.

If you look at something like the windows interface and how little you can really customize it, it is sad really with all the scripting languages we have, all the graphics and cpu power that we cannot implement the ability for users to do what they want with the interface.

 

[JackMDS]

Woah seriously? There's not a way to fix that? That is in fact brutal. Also does it force "grouping" or can that be turned off? That's a feature in XP I always turn off. Why do I want to click twice to have a window come up? I rather see all my programs individually on the task bar. If I tend to have a lot open (like when I worked at help desk) then I will just make the start bar bigger.

If that can't be fixed that's enough to even turn me off from using it myself. That's just so disorganized and ugly. Hopefully there is a way to fix that though...

I will most likely be building this PC so it wont come with an OS, so I'll just put whatever they want. I might get more then 4GB of ram so the more I think about it, going with a newer 64-bit OS may be better. I need to start playing with win7 more in a VM. I did not even download yet to play with, I'm behind.

Some of the complains in the original post that you quoted are Not true, and the others are just a matter of how the Right Click Menu option are checked.

.

 

[Nothinman]

I rather see all my programs individually on the task bar.

You do see all of your programs, but when you've got multiple windows of the same program they get grouped. I actually don't know if you can toggle that because it would be a huge waste of space to do so.

If that can't be fixed that's enough to even turn me off from using it myself. That's just so disorganized and ugly. Hopefully there is a way to fix that though...

It's more organized, with XP you have absolutely no control over the order of the taskbar entries other than the order that you run things. The XP taskbar is complete shit compared to the Win7 dock or whatever they call it.

You end up with an OS that resembles everyone painting with their own brush and nothing working like everything else.

Which is what the various HIGs are supposed to fix, however MS doesn't even follow their own HIG. It's kind of funny because Gnome, KDE and OS X are all individually more consistent than Windows.

I am still waiting for an OS that has applications where I can freely resize the text or layout without it breaking applications.

Generally this is already there, if something isn't resizeable it's because the developer explicitly disabled that. IIRC GTK apps don't even let you set constant values for controls, it's all relative so that they resize well.

If I want to put my toolbars in the middle of the screen, upside down or have the windows scroll horizontally I should be able to.

I understand what you mean, but more customizability usually means more code so the more "unique" things, like having a toolbar in the middle of the screen and upside down, are ignored because it's not worth the effort.

 

[Red Squirrel]

It's more organized, with XP you have absolutely no control over the order of the taskbar entries other than the order that you run things. The XP taskbar is complete shit compared to the Win7 dock or whatever they call it.

How is it more organized? Just look at the screenshot. The VNC service for example is not even in the same spot as where all the services and systray icons should be, they're all over the place. That's nasty. systray should not be mixed with task bar, that's just stupid.

 

[HeXen]

I will give you two reasons, directx10 and directx11

dx10 is worthless. dx11 is too considering there is only like 1 game out that uses it and the visual differences of both compared to dx9 is not really all that.
pluse most dx10 games suck. Crysis, FC2? omg those are terrible.

Some would love to argue my comments but seriously, there are hardly any games that really use them considering how many games are released each year and the price to enter dx10/11 is definitly not worth it. Maybe in a couple years or when a new console releases so developers will at least port games that use more hardware features.

So those are very poor reasons to upgrade to W7. The best reason is better security but really there is not 1 single thing you can do in W7 that you cannot do in XP with 3rd party software aside from Direct x.

 

[ShawnD1]

On Drivers. The manufacturer of OS' can not rewrite drivers for every 3rd party device that it is out there (in some cases it might be even a legal problem to do so).

It is up to the device' manufacturers to decide whether One wantsd to support Win 7 and submit drivers for it.

HP probably do not have interest in supporting this device on Win 7, or just was too slow to submit the specific driver in time to be available during the release time.

Can you imagine how angry the OP's parents would be if they bought a lovely black and white laser printer and discovered that it didn't work because they chose to install Windows 7? This is not a legacy product. This is a brand new printer that you'll see in any Best Buy or Staples. Wait a couple years and Windows 7 will have real driver support.

As for the look of the desktop. It is very easy to achieve such look on Win 7. Actually because of the additional controls in Win 7 it can be made even looking better.

In general people have few Choices.

1. To Learn himself how to do this.

2. Ask for help.

3. Post useless complains that says more about the state of mind of the complainers than about the product..

This isn't like Vista where you can go into display settings and make it look like Windows 95 if you want. Setting it to "best performance" and disabling themes doesn't do anything. That whacked out dock menu is what it will look like.

I have no idea what this even means, I can browse all of our SMB shares just fine.

Watch the youtube video I posted. If you know how to fix this bullshit, please tell me. I started a thread about that issue on Anandtech and a few other sites and so far not 1 person has told me how to fix it.

 

[lxskllr]

This isn't like Vista where you can go into display settings and make it look like Windows 95 if you want. Setting it to "best performance" and disabling themes doesn't do anything. That whacked out dock menu is what it will look like.

You don't have to use the dock as is. When I was testing it, I set it up like Vista. Any non geek that used my machine would have assumed it was Vista they were running.