Windows 8 - another MS disaster waiting to happen?

[uberman]

Win 7 is hardly a resource hog. It is much more optimized that Vista, and It actually runs better on some hardware than XP. Windows 7 has so many more useful features than XP.
How do you mean less configurable? And Tamper resistant is a good thing. Ever hear of Secuirty?

What you said is exactly why I skipped Vista and stayed with XP. So did the people I advise, though many were given free Vista upgrades. They're still happy with XP and heard of displeasure with Vista.

 

[JeffreyLebowski]

It is for me...

Linux geeks have been saying Linux is the future since it started having a GUI. It hasn't panned out and will never work as Linux itself keeps diverging. Red Hat, Ubuntu, Mint, ect, ect.
You'll never get any kind of adoption rate with that kind of approach. I say this and I have an Ubuntu laptop at home. It's ok to play around with, but when you need to do real work, Turn to a Windows computer.
Let's not forget, MS's core customer is businesses. As long as MS doesn't make a drastic change, they'll be the dominant OS for a looooong time.

 

[JeffreyLebowski]

What you said is exactly why I skipped Vista and stayed with XP. So did the people I advise, though many were given free Vista upgrades. They're still happy with XP and heard of displeasure with Vista.

I hope those people didn't pay for your advice.
So they've heard of the displeasure with Vista? But never used it. Typical.
I and many people used Vista from the beta stage and never had any issues other than the driver model having changed so some older devices were not supported. But that's the price of PROGRESS. You have to let some old pieces of crap go.

 

[uberman]

I don't charge friends for advice.

Sometimes I fix their computers. IT technicians make money. Friends work for free.

That's my usual response when I'm asked if I'm the technician.

I am concerned about finding replacement hardware for my WIN98SE machines in the future.

 

[Oyeve]

I hope those people didn't pay for your advice.
So they've heard of the displeasure with Vista? But never used it. Typical.
I and many people used Vista from the beta stage and never had any issues other than the driver model having changed so some older devices were not supported. But that's the price of PROGRESS. You have to let some old pieces of crap go.

Really? In my Information Management circle (28+ years now) I have not come across a worse OS since Windows NT 3.5 and Millenium. Vista is was and will always be horrendous on any platform, whether on desktop, server laptop. Regardless of HW Vista was nothing but a slow buggy and horrible OS. I would rather deal with DOS 4.x than vista. It goes much further than its non support of old legacy HW. It just plain sucked.

 

[lxskllr]

Really? In my Information Management circle (28+ years now) I have not come across a worse OS since Windows NT 3.5 and Millenium. Vista is was and will always be horrendous on any platform, whether on desktop, server laptop. Regardless of HW Vista was nothing but a slow buggy and horrible OS. I would rather deal with DOS 4.x than vista. It goes much further than its non support of old legacy HW. It just plain sucked.

I must be one 1337 son of a bitch then, because Vista always worked fine on the machines I used it on, and it's still my primary Windows O/S. My only complaint is the magical changing folder views. I suspect I can fix it, but don't care enough to bother.

 

[Griffinhart]

Really? In my Information Management circle (28+ years now) I have not come across a worse OS since Windows NT 3.5 and Millenium. Vista is was and will always be horrendous on any platform, whether on desktop, server laptop. Regardless of HW Vista was nothing but a slow buggy and horrible OS. I would rather deal with DOS 4.x than vista. It goes much further than its non support of old legacy HW. It just plain sucked.

That's funny, in my 25+ years of IT work, I haven't had that same experience. Vista was just fine and didn't deserve the rap it got, and I know several people that still use it and have zero complaints about it. It wasn't suitable for older hardware with 1GB or less RAM, but everthing else, it ran fine and performed well. Then again, I always found XP to be dog slow on anything less than 1GB of RAM as well.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Seems too fast for another OS imo, but MS tends to release a couple OSes in a bunch, look at Windows 2000, ME and XP. Basically came out around the same time more or less.

I'm still on XP, if I build a new computer I'll go to 7, but as of now I have no reason to upgrade.

 

[Nothinman]

What you said is exactly why I skipped Vista and stayed with XP. So did the people I advise, though many were given free Vista upgrades. They're still happy with XP and heard of displeasure with Vista.

I put Win7 on the same laptop I had XP on and Win7 ran just as fast, if not faster. It's been a decade already, XP just needs to die.

I am concerned about finding replacement hardware for my WIN98SE machines in the future.

You should've been concerned with replacing Win98SE at least 5 years ago.

Linux geeks have been saying Linux is the future since it started having a GUI. It hasn't panned out and will never work as Linux itself keeps diverging. Red Hat, Ubuntu, Mint, ect, ect.
You'll never get any kind of adoption rate with that kind of approach. I say this and I have an Ubuntu laptop at home. It's ok to play around with, but when you need to do real work, Turn to a Windows computer.
Let's not forget, MS's core customer is businesses. As long as MS doesn't make a drastic change, they'll be the dominant OS for a looooong time.

Choice isn't the problem, there's probably more SKUs of Win7 than there are big distros of Linux. I've been using Linux 100% at home for over a decade now and at work for most of that as well. I can only think of one thing that hard requires Windows in my day to day job and maybe 3-4 where Windows is better for a reason or two.

 

[smartpatrol]

Vista ran great if you had the kind of hardware it was designed to run on, i.e. 2GB+ memory and something better than a netbook processor. The only serious performance issue it had was slow file copying, which got fixed in one of the updates.

Most of the people bitching about it either:
a. bought a POS $400 laptop with too little RAM or
b. were just jumping on the anti-MS bandwagon

 

[Throckmorton]

then don't upgrade. What is MS suppose to do? wait until their competitors have completely left them in the dust? Maybe they should have just stuck with DOS 3.1 and been done with it? The new trend is smaller, therefore tablets and small laptops are gonna leave MS far behind if they just stick with Windows 7 and x86 architecture...cause the large desktops arent doing as well as they used to sales wise.

Many apps still work on older versions of Linux and OSX just the same as apps work on XP. Use what you like and leave it be. Tech will always move on without you regardless.

You're missing the point. When MS stops selling Windows 7, you won't have a choice...

 

[Zargon]

I put Win7 on the same laptop I had XP on and Win7 ran just as fast, if not faster. It's been a decade already, XP just needs to die.



You should've been concerned with replacing Win98SE at least 5 years ago.

this.

vista was just fine, I used it, I only upgraded because I could get upgrades for 30 bucks thanks to academic pricing

 

[ShadowVVL]

never noticed a difference between vista and windows 7 except vista seems to have a few errors when after installing updates.

 

[Mem]

Anyone else wondering why the hell MS is leaking windows 8 info already?

their focus should be migrating XP users to Windows 7 - which is a fantastic OS - and pushing new stuff on top of Win 7 - not as an entirely new OS.

I will be using Win 7 much like many people hung on to XP - until I'm forced to change.

I think Windows 8 is going to wind up just like Vista - hardly used

I disagree,who gives a damn about XP users if they want to stay on a 10 year + OS that's full of more holes then you see in space who cares?

I always upgrade OS because I like to try new things,I had great times with Vista(very stable OS that I used for beta games testing,glad I don't listen to people who are clueless about Vista) until I had the urge to try Win7 ,again another very good OS and builds on Vista.

I probably try Win8 as well but its not like you are forced to upgrade your OS,its like video card manufacturers nobody bitches they release new models every 6 month to a year or so,its common knowledge Microsoft have already stated they are going on 3 year cycle so its not like its a big surprise.

Btw if you don't want to upgrade Windows there is always Linux Distro's(I'm a linux user too) that are free and are very stable plus excellent alternative to Windows as long as you are not a gamer.

When you consider how much a new Windows OS costs and how many years you get out of it ,its really a bargain(until you look a Linux Distro's ).

 

[Mem]

What you said is exactly why I skipped Vista and stayed with XP. So did the people I advise, though many were given free Vista upgrades. They're still happy with XP and heard of displeasure with Vista.

Don't take this the wrong way but XP users that have never tried Vista have done more damage with FUD then they will ever know,those that have tried it in most cases blame the OS when it was something else ie manufacturers driver or software issue,end of the day I've used Vista for many years and really have no time for those people that spread FUD,I have tried them all believe me ie Dos 6.22,Win3.1,Win95,98,ME,2K,XP,Vista,Win7 and dozen Linux Distros.

putting xp on any of my computers is the equivalent to giving them aids!

Lol..well I rather stick Linux Distro on my PC then use XP ,actually I did years ago .

 

[RobertPters77]

LINUX is the future!!!

No.

For years the 'Gospel of Linux' has been preached by the 'Faithful.' And for years they promise and promise how Linux will lead us to the promised land of IT. But no... They LIE!

Linux is a false god, It's stain on the soul of the world of technology. Those who worship and praise the gospel of Linux are nothing more than heretics! They insult the one true god!

Linux and all Unix must be purged from the face of the earth! This filthy impure software, does not deserve to exist!

Kill them all! Let Bill Gates sort 'em out!

 

[NeoV]

Vista wasn't fine when it was first released - after a series of patches/upgrades it became a nice, stable O/S, but it wasn't fine upon launch, even on new machines.

Agree with the guy talking about Windows ME - MS should give anyone who paid cash for that pile of shit their money back, plus interest.

 

[lxskllr]

Vista wasn't fine when it was first released - after a series of patches/upgrades it became a nice, stable O/S, but it wasn't fine upon launch, even on new machines.

Funny, I was using it from beta2, and I didn't have problems with it. I'll admit some of that might have been luck with drivers. All of mine worked fine, but that isn't MS's problem either way. Any shortcomings regarding drivers are the individual manufacturer's fault.

Agree with the guy talking about Windows ME - MS should give anyone who paid cash for that pile of shit their money back, plus interest.

There wasn't anything wrong with ME either. It was as good as 98SE. The problem is it wasn't as good as 2kPro, which it should have been based on. Taken on it's own, it was as good, if not better than the previous CONSUMER level O/Ss, but it wasn't as good as it could have been taking all the tech at MS's disposal into account.

 

[Nothinman]

No.

For years the 'Gospel of Linux' has been preached by the 'Faithful.' And for years they promise and promise how Linux will lead us to the promised land of IT. But no... They LIE!

Linux is a false god, It's stain on the soul of the world of technology. Those who worship and praise the gospel of Linux are nothing more than heretics! They insult the one true god!

Linux and all Unix must be purged from the face of the earth! This filthy impure software, does not deserve to exist!

Kill them all! Let Bill Gates sort 'em out!

I don't know how much of this is a joke, but IMO an open OS is the future even if it's not specifically Linux. Trusting all of your eggs to a basket owned by someone else with no clear way to transition to another vendor is just plain stupid. You would have thought that we would've learned our lesson about "too big to fail" companies already.

But Linux is making big inroads in the form of Android, so even if it doesn't end up taking over the desktop itself it'll likely have a large chunk of the personal market in phones and tablets.

 

[ImpulsE69]

I hope those people didn't pay for your advice.
So they've heard of the displeasure with Vista? But never used it. Typical.
I and many people used Vista from the beta stage and never had any issues other than the driver model having changed so some older devices were not supported. But that's the price of PROGRESS. You have to let some old pieces of crap go.

I think you are missing the real point of why people don't upgrade.

A. Not everyone is technically savy
B. It costs to "try" an OS
C. It also takes time to migrate all that data to the new OS
D. Some of those applications no longer work with new OS

Now, you can argue progress all you want, but the mass are the late adapters that eventually run the market, not the bleeding edge. EVENTUALLY they will all upgrade due to force, not for want. I have Vista on one system and yes it is CRAP. From day one. I still run XP with NO issues (even all these internet woe bs that everyone keeps talking about). I run Win7 with NO issues. Why do I run 3 different OS's because MS segments their own market in the forced complete upgrades of OS. Sure it is progress, but it's also a pain in the ass. Other than geeks (which I am one), no one enjoys upgrades.

 

[Maverick6969]

putting xp on any of my computers is the equivalent to giving them aids!

What - are you nuts?? Giving them Win ME would be the equivalent to giving them AIDS!

 

[Maverick6969]

There wasn't anything wrong with ME either. It was as good as 98SE. The problem is it wasn't as good as 2kPro....

That truly has to be one of the most non accurate statement I've seen on this forum made by a senior member. Windows 2000 hardly holds any relevance. Even if W2K was never released, Win ME would still be deemed as a POS operating system that it was by people that are even half way tech savvy. There is no F'ing way that Win ME could be compared to Win 98 other than the fact it was built on the same platform (Win9.x family). It was nothing more than a dumbed down version of Win98 and I consider it as one of the worst scourge released in Microsoft's history.

 

[Maverick6969]

I can only think of one thing that hard requires Windows in my day to day job and maybe 3-4 where Windows is better for a reason or two.

As much as I love trying out new software & learning new things, I still haven't been bit by the Linux bug. (not yet anyways). One thing that makes me stick with Windows exclusively for now is that the fact that I don't own a gaming console. Hence the only "gaming" fix that I get to have is my gaming rig.

Over the years, I have tried a couple of different distros here & there. My first one was Mandrake (about 8 years ago). It was OK - didn't really blow my socks off. If I had a linux expert show me the ropes, i might have stuck with it longer and explored the world of Linux. These days, the only linux stuff I use is to use PCLinux OS (or any live CD that I have on hand) to recover data from HDDs that are going south or test HDDs that are possibly failing. There is value in Linux there. But for me personally, to use it everyday as my main OS.... it's just not there.

 

[catilley1092]

Dell already tried out Linux, twice i think,they customized a version of Ubuntu last time i believe...however, it never really sold very well, even in the midst of the Vista hate years. People in general just did not or will not grasp Linux and instead were wanting Dell to offer XP models, so thats when Dell got into it with MS over continuing to license XP. Once 7 came out, i think the idea of a company like Dell switching isn't likely to happen unless MS never releases another OS or everyone hates W8 in which case they will stick with W7.

That's right, Dell made a half-assed effort to push Ubuntu. They didn't really give it the exposure it needed to succeed, nor were the computers that were offered that great. Plus, they didn't even offer a printer bundle, or anything to sweeten the deal for potential Linux buyers.

I run both Windows 7 Pro & Linux Mint 11, and can honestly say that Mint holds it's own against 7. Except with gaming, which I don't care for anyway. Linux is not that hard to use, if one can run the FF (or Opera) browser, that is plenty enough to begin to learn Linux. Of course, there are differences, but that's with anything.

Windows 8 is not intended to replace 7, but is going to be targeted at select users. Windows 7 in the end will go down in history bigger than XP has. Windows 8 may pull some users off of XP, which will be a good thing. Whether it's a disaster or not, we'll all soon find out.

Cat

 

[Nothinman]

As much as I love trying out new software & learning new things, I still haven't been bit by the Linux bug. (not yet anyways). One thing that makes me stick with Windows exclusively for now is that the fact that I don't own a gaming console. Hence the only "gaming" fix that I get to have is my gaming rig.

Over the years, I have tried a couple of different distros here & there. My first one was Mandrake (about 8 years ago). It was OK - didn't really blow my socks off. If I had a linux expert show me the ropes, i might have stuck with it longer and explored the world of Linux. These days, the only linux stuff I use is to use PCLinux OS (or any live CD that I have on hand) to recover data from HDDs that are going south or test HDDs that are possibly failing. There is value in Linux there. But for me personally, to use it everyday as my main OS.... it's just not there.

I don't own a gaming system either, my phone is my primary gaming machine =) and WINE has handled the 1 or 2 Windows games I've tried over the past few years.

But once you get used to having a real package manager with everything installed and updated via 1 place it's hard to go back to Windows without wincing. Having to use Google to find software, wonder if the binary is infected with something or bundled with some random toolbar on purpose, etc is just a huge PITA compared to Linux. Windows still doesn't do multiple desktops well and while the taskbar grouping helps, it's not nearly enough.