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 …
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I agree
Sounds like a duff HDD to me. Even a good HDD that has spun down can freeze your system for a couple of seconds while it spins back up.
i wonder....
if it still has the same useless UPGRADE system:
i dont like upgrading, i prefer clean install. you used to be able to just provide a serial from old OS version and do a clean install.
BUT i now have xp full, vista upgrade and win7 upgrade. if i need to do a fresh install i need to install XP (40 mins) then install the upgrade which can take much longer than fresh install. GRRR
1.44 MILLION files?
Learning the ropes on the first computer I ever met, I remember trying out
$ ls -lR | wc -l
ISTR that I was /astonished/ that it came to something like seventeen /thousand/
ok, ok, yes... I do know that is a very innacurate method of cournting files/directories, but I was only learning. I also know that my Ubuntu system has far, far more files than that. but not 1.5 million, even with me installing everything I find that looks even vaguely clever.
Oh! come to think of it, that's why I'll never be doing a Win8 upgrade anyway :)
Don't ever look in the C:\WINDOWS directory... the godawful unholy sludge of disorganised haphazardly named and located crap in there makes my eyes bleed. Pretty obvious the Windows devs, when asked where some OS libraries or files should live, started saying "Fuck knows any more, just call it whatever and chuck it in the windows directory" round about Windows 95 time, and have done so ever since...
Not just C:\Windows utter mess...
Don't forget the different versions of the same .DLL that installed over each other and broke whatever programs that used the other version. Although people got better really fast, and it was almost sorted by the Windows 99 version (er, 98-SE).
Beware, because old software still does that.
so we still need to pay?
why? In the age of free updates (android, PS3, et al) why do microsoft feel its OK to charge customers to upgrade to a newer version of windows? Surely it should be free by now?
@Mike Brown
Errr...
In the case of the PS3, the hardware and OS are supplied by the same company who decided to supply you with updates.
In the case of Android, it's open-source(ish).
In the case of Windows, it's closed source commercial software. Saying it "should be free" is like saying cancer "should be curable" - it requires a local context that is missing from your statement. It should be free because you don't want to pay for new versions? It should be free because the Alien Marmite Gods say so? What's your logic?
To be honest the upgrade procedure has never bothered me in the slightest what has always bothered me is the fucking hours of installing updates, patches, service packs and seemingly endless net framework updates we usually end up having to sit through. On this one I've got to give it to Apple (much as it pains me). One large combo update every so often with a few updates in between. Even on a reinstall of OSX it's basically install OS, install update combo and possibly a few program updates and it's job done. It's a shame it's such a dull OS.
Windows 2000 is stable. Now.
My laptops run either Ubuntu LTE, or Windows. The Windows ones have become extremely stable in the last year since they stopped doing updates to Windows 2000; since then, I can just turn the machine on and it, like, works! without using all the CPU and disc for 20 minutes on MS update, without insisting on a reboot, without any wizards bothering me. It's like it actually does the job it's supposed to, without stealing my time or electricity or attention.
You've woken the beast now, my friend!
"I can just turn the machine on and it, like, works!"
Are you one of my kids?
It either does work or it does not! It cannot "like" work, be similar to working, it works or it fails to work.
Re: Windows 200 is stable now
The moral is clear: If you want a stable installation of Windows 8, you can either wait a decade or two for it to become a moribund museum piece or you can learn how to switch Automatic Updates to "just tell me they are available". In your case, it sounds like the former will prove the quicker option.
Welcome to the party, Microsoft. I'm willing to bet that the process still won't be as easy as the Mac OS Lion upgrade.
Click, download, install. Job done. No silly questions, no fussing about.
@jzlondon
Yeah, "Click, download, install, job done" - except for the couple of gigs worth of updates including the bump to 10.7.2, several firmware updates and a recovery drive image update.
But hey, let's not let facts get in the way of OS preference pissing matches, eh?
You're kidding right?!
"Click, download, install. Job done. No silly questions, no fussing about.
House Rules Post your own message"
I have the misfortune to have a friend who switched to MAC and it's been nothing but a headache ever since he let it upgrade to Lion! The most infuriating issue on the list being the inability of the MAC to keep the WiFi connection alive!
I say "I" have the misfortune to have ... because I've moved from support his PC, which I knew inside out, to supporting his MAC which does things in weird illogical ways...
I've said it before
Microsoft is making a mistake not to keep supporting xp past the eol, if they wanted to profit, they could charge for security updates. I would pay as much as windows 8 per seat to keep production boxen going. But just like our crazy fucking governments (respectively) no person with common sense will step up and say, okay we are changing the law, the law sucked, with brevity, clarity, and speed here's the new law. It really is that simple, Microsoft can simply say, " the xp eol is nullified. long live xp, now give us more money for updates"
But can it install a few updates without requiring 3 consecutive reboots, during which it'll spend minutes grinding the disk incessantly before each shut down or letting you finally log in? Nope? Still not caught up to linux package managers then... :>
Until ...
... you can use a firewire or USB cable to enable target mode, the upgrade path is still too complicated. Apple figured this out about a decade ago.
Seriously, I've done about five or six Mac upgrades for myself + family + friends since then, and the Target mode makes this dead simple. Hook up cables, boot new computer, boot old one into target mode, choose what to transfer, and go make some coffee.
Help!!!!
I am new. I was suggested this site. I tried to post a new topic but was unable. Don't mean to hijack this thread but if someone could help me i would GREATLY appreciate it. I was given the task in class to eloborate on my lead role as a computer consultant.
Thanks for any help
Re: Help!!!!
At time of writing our forum is restricted (like Slashdot, say) to comments on articles. We will set up reader-generated forums in coming months.
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