Microsoft to offer dual upgrade path for Windows 8 Microsoft will change its upgrade procedures when it introduces Windows 8, offering a simple system for home users and a more technical option for IT staff. Redmond said it wants to make the upgrade path easier, since the Windows 7 introduction saw some users complaining that the process was too complicated. To ease the …
Based on what happened with my Vista PC, and assuming the Window 7 is the same. Gradually the Windows 7 OS will get slower and slower for no obvious reason.
You will carry out heroic levels of defragmentation, clearing out old applications and disk 'clean up', to no avail.
But the system will still take 10 minutes to boot up, and run at about the speed of an advancing glacier........ One day you will think I can't stand this any longer.
Oh yes on that day I installed Ubuntu which has run fine ever since ....... I guess the answer is there is absolutely no reason to upgrade Win7 to Win8.
I've been running 4 Win 7 rigs at home now since virtually the day the os was launched (two stationary and two laptop pcs.). They get defragged *very* regularly plus the usual spring cleaning. You know what? For the first time *ever* since and including Win95 I have never, repeat, never had do a reinstall because of any real sign of slowing down from *any* of them. They are also the only four machines that I have had responsibility for this last decade and a half or so which have never once even threatened me with a BSOD - something that was not exactly a rare occurrence with all previous Windows systems I've had. Strange that - hmm?
Oh - it IS quite possible to get BSODs on Windows 7; I used to get them regularly, probably 1 a day on average... almost always when running games.
You simply need to run an ATI graphics card and _seriously_ overclock the CPU; BSODs ahoy... though I can't really blame MS for making my system unstable on that front, was a combination of too much overclocking and the questionable quality of the Catalyst drivers.
Patched up Catalyst and turned the overclock down slightly and everything is fine now; Windows 7 is the best, most stable, OS MS have come up with so far IMO ... but is it worth upgrading from XP for anything other than games (since DirectX 11 isn't available on XP)?
New PC with Windows 7 great ... worth upgrading from a solid XP install for just running office apps; possibly not.
Well, actually, now you come to mention it I did have one crash with one of our machines - I had mercifully forgotten it. I downloaded and installed (you guessed it) the latest driver update from ATI on the lappie I use as my test-bed for such things. It keeled over during boot-up as a result of that shite. Didn't in practice matter given that I had run back-up first but it was a touch irritating. -:)
Because its the newest, latest and greatest OS from M$ to date. For example I have been keeping an eye out for information on the browser and I have found this:
Not only is it great for games, it is also great for porn, surfing the net, porn, chatting on Farcebook, porn, pirating music movies and games, more porn, viruses, yet more porn and the ability to do this* for you as well
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHy7DGLTt8g&feature=related
Oh yeah did I forget to mention porn? With Ballmer in attendance to watch it with you?
*Yes I know its old but I couldnt resist.....
Because innovations introduced in the Microsoft software won’t be available on Windows 7. It never ceases to amaze me that you non-technical staff seem to want to your retain old-fashioned and obsolete software.
Working on the leading edge of technology, as I do, every day I am surprised by the massive advances in both functionality, and performance of the new software. As the technological leader of the software industry much of this is produced by Microsoft. Clearly windows 8 will be a huge advance.
@Titus I have heard the only reason that companies use Ubuntu is because they are trying to save money, much the same reason as people who install Linux. At the end of the day this is a false economy, and they always end up getting a proper Windows OS in the end.
Vista was a downgrade from XP in terms of technology and functionality.
Don't you DARE expect people to honestly believe Microsoft keep producing better technology. This has been proven time and time again not to be true.
Remember: Microsoft has never had an interest in enabling consumers. It wants to ring-fence and squeeze money out of consumers. It was a pioneer in this field and Apple stood on its shoulders.
... web specialist ... seriously?!
"I have heard the only reason that companies use Ubuntu is because they are trying to save money, much the same reason as people who install Linux."
You are taking the piss, right?
IF you were a web specialist you would probably NOT be running Windows on your servers - you'd probably be running some variety of *nix (better yet FreeBSD for a web server).
Windows for workstations, fine, Active Directory is useful for office-wide control/updates, whatever ... but the only reason I've ever encountered for using Windows on a web server is for fleecing clueless clients for extra cash... "Yeah, we run industry standard Microsoft software, you've heard of Microsoft right, well, yeah - we use their web servers - it's a bit more expensive but you get what you pay for..." (or words to that effect).
I'm guessing you're one of _those_ "web specialists" - the kind that, if you were in the building trade, you'd be running down the street being chased by Dominic Littlewood.
Dear Claire Web Specialist,
Got a good investment in M$ shares have you? That's the only reason I can see why you're spouting the drivel that you are!
As a company that plays catch up most of the time Microsoft is only of importance really on the desktop and some areas of the server market where you want to employ staff who don't need the skills to run a proper UNIX set up. You as a "web specialist" must know that most of the servers running sites out there and *NIX systems. When you look at smart phones and other devices too M$ very much has a catch up position.
Sure for the average home user who wants a cheap laptop and an operating system on it to browse the web, reply to e-mails, play a bit of games, and watch porn windows is good enough. In fact I finally bought a copy of Windows 7 for gaming (dual boot my machine). But the users also don't need to upgrade to the latest and greatest if the OS does what they need it to do. What would Windows 8 give them on top of what they have?
For the company with a mass install of 'doze they've all just spent money finally to upgrade from XP straight to Windows 7 (bypassing the abominable Vista). They're not going to pay out again for 8. In fact I predict 8 to be the next Windows Vista.
As for Ubuntu. My elderly father copes quite happily with it on his netbook (he's in his 70s) after having several Windows machines and hardly using them. Again all he wants to do is browse the web, read e-mail, and watch iPlayer. The company I work for has standardised on Ubuntu on the desktop (because we are mainly developers and so need a reliable operating system - Windows if needed is run in a VM under Linux). This is not an issue for us because we have IT staff who actually know what they are doing and haven't done some M$ "learn which boxes to click" course.
I will be sticking with my "old-fashioned and obsolete software" in so much as I will not be upgrading my Windows 7 installs in the foreseable future. I would rather keep a stable current install than risk getting the bleeding edge. Its the reason why I haven't installed Lion as the main OS on my MacBook Pro yet. These things are tools and as such I need a reliable tool.
Melanie (Senior Software Consultant)
Umm, define a 'proper Windows OS'. Do you mean one that 'works', such as Windows Vista? Or perhaps following the example of many Redmond developers who use ...err ... Ubuntu.
Microsoft fanbois and fangurls notwithstanding, what exactly is a Windows 'web specialist' please? One who codes in just .Net?
@CD001 Why do you think it is appropriate to insult people on comment boards? I have never been chased down the streets by Dominic Littlewood. Perhaps you should stick to factual arguments rather than personal attacks.
@Cyberspice As a woman yourself I am astonished that you would wish to persist with the age old stereotypes of IT, it is complicated, needs some bizarre code, or should be developed in arcane technology. If you google Unix systems it was developed in 1969…………… need I say more!
On your point with regard to Ubuntu maybe Technophobe is your ….. Anyway I take exception to you describing my course as an ‘M$ "learn which boxes to click"’ course. Code like javascript has to be written and have the correct syntax to work well!
> given how badly Vista works perhaps Microsoft should have fixed it before releasing Windows 7.
Windows 7 *was* the fix for Vista.
The brand was so damaged by that point, they had to change the name.
Shame, really - the original specs for Longhorn looked *very* good. What was eventually released as Vista didn't come close to meeting them...
Vic.
>>If you google Unix systems it was developed in 1969…………… need I say more!
O Sancta Simplicitas! Clare, if you google the word "computer" you will find that the mathematician John von Neumann credited for its invention (or, rather theoretical foundation of it) died in the fifties, ergo..... ? As far as the same Unix argument goes, do you know that the Microsoft Windows is almost entirely written in C and it's descendant C++ languages? Did you google to learn that C was created almost simultaneously with Unix, for which it was designed? Moreover, if you start counting all the ideas and technologies MS borrowed from Unix, you better use a calculator with arbitrary precision. There is still a lot ideas belonging to Unix and its descendants that Microsoft remains blind and deaf to. This is not a constant behavior, though. They often first deride an idea and then ooops .... 20 years later all of a sudden they borrow it (and might simultaneously manage to even patent it!!!) . To mention just a few, multi-user capabilities, a go and powerful shell (Pshell), permissions (still broken though), GUI-less CLI-only servers....
@Clare (fool)
"If you google Unix systems it was developed in 1969…………… need I say more!" You what?! Do you honestly think for one second that code has not been maintain and re-written many times over?
If you honestly think that Unix (and I'm guessing you also mean Linux) today is what it was in 1969, then I think you need to shut your mouth and get some coding experience under your belt, because you clearly have none at the moment.
Just because you choose to code in out of date languages from the last century does not give you the right to be so insulting. If you could communicate effectively people might take your opinion a bit more seriously. If it is any of your business I have a lot of coding experience, and a higher education qualification to prove it. The college however chose to teach programming a 21st century language.
> Just because you choose to code in out of date languages from the last
> century does not give you the right to be so insulting
Perhaps not. But your insistent ignorance (or is it trolling?) certainly does.
> I have a lot of coding experience
Somehow I suspect your definition of "a lot" would differ from mine. And that of many people here.
> a higher education qualification to prove it.
Send it back. You were ripped off.
> The college however chose to teach programming a 21st century language.
I very much doubt that. There really aren't very many of those...
Vic.
No, no, she does program in a 21st century language (well if you ignore Frontpage 98 etc) http://forums.theregister.co.uk/forum/1/2011/07/06/swiss_italian_police_anonymous_roundup/#c_1113062
But lets forget FP98, and bow to her incredible depth of knowledge as a web specialist who sees the web as a "curse" on modern society, and let her rant and froth all the more.
So I had to check you out, check to see if you troll elsewhere.
It was odd to see a web specialist saying the see the internet as a curse on modern society, but when I saw this post http://forums.theregister.co.uk/forum/1/2011/07/06/swiss_italian_police_anonymous_roundup/#c_1113062 I understood it all.
You "program" in Frontpage 2002 and you think that gives you insight into complex architectures like operating systems, I laughed so hard I nearly wet myself.
You do seem real, a single mum with teenage children, you hate porn, supported people who incited violence in the England riots as just being teenagers, yet support wholesale blanket censorship, those last two points, when you really think about it are contradictory, apparently you support full self expression for teens who advocate attacks, but you think the human naked body is too disgusting to be seen, let alone bother to think about people self expression when it comes to the naked body.
But all in all as someone who "programs" in Frontpage 2002, you get no little respect from me when you post anything on a subject that involves any technical aptitude or understanding.
Again your puerile personal attacks detract from any point that you are trying to make.
In response to the one technical comment you have made in the 21st century IT professionals need to take a more holistic perspective on the full life cycle of services supplying business functionality. The objective is that IT delivers services to the business. It is the means to an end not some sort of hobby for the ‘IT Staff’. With Microsoft Windows systems the complex architecture of the Operating system doesn’t need to be considered.
On your other point about the riots I don’t support all of the actions of the people involved, but you have to sympathise. Listening to the stories from the protestors they clearly identified themselves as being socially excluded youths who have been disenfranchised by the rest of society.
I don’t follow your argument about this support being contrary to my attitude towards porn. Do you know many women that don’t consider porn to be sexual objectification? Given the rest of your comments I guess the question should be do you know any women? You get no respect from me at all!
If, as current publicity suggests, there are no major new features in Win8, the transition will probably be more like Vista->7 than XP->Vista. The latter was dreadful, but the former was well worth it if you had the money to spend.
In fact, probably the best possible reason for *any* software upgrade is when the vendor says, "We haven't done much this time, just ironed out a few bugs and smoothed out some of the accidental pessimisations.".
You said it yourself, it's stable! What proper windows user would want that eh?
Joking aside, I'll probably upgrade my home machine pretty early on, partly because I'm a glutton for punishment, and partly because I'll have to support it sooner or later, so I might as well get a head start.
That said, Win 7 ran pretty much fine out of the box, and the only problems I've had seem to be hardware based, there's benefits in using Vista as a large scale beta test after all.
@ AC,
it doesnt figure in it at all
@Sureo and @Error Message,
you dont, but please dont start moaning if / when MS or other developers start making Win8 only products
@George 24
Couldnt agree more, the number of SKUs available on win7 was daft, at least we didnt end up with the E editions as well
Can we have an 'Uber Geek' mode please.
You know the one where you get out of our face and let us do what we want to.
No nagging, 'are you sure'
no enforced secutiry updates
No metro
Classic by default (ok, I can hear the groans)
Some of us really want to just get on with our work
Oh, and a way to actually make the latest versions of Office comply with the UK Disability discrimiation Act. Blue on dark blue fails miserably. Don't you know that the human eye has less blue receptors than Red or green? Grey on Dark grey does not work either.
Whatever Microsoft may do, they always bend over backwards to make their OS configurable. UAC can be disabled, windows update is optional, themes are switchable. So why assume you're going to be forced to use Metro this time around? There is no indication to me this will be the case.
It is far more likely they will do their usual and jiggle the start menu / taskbar, explorer etc. but it will function more or less like it always did. And anything in the desktop (the desktop tile) will also function more or less like it always did. So you could ignore metro entirely if you wished. That stuff is mostly for tablets and replacing existing gadgets anyway.
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