No added value over 7 and could be much worse.
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I have bought a new notebook in april with Windows 64 installed and at the moment it works for me. Also I am tired of new version windows not being compatible with older software (especially games) and hardware.
I need a new PC anyway and have been using an older laptopt with an older version of Windows. So, for me, both the new PC and Windows 8 should go together.
At the same time, I am unsure about what should be my next purchase. Now, I use a Macbook and an iPhone 3GS. I really wood like to keep up my skills on Windows and its applications, but definitely will use Apple products more. Then, there is the tablet. What to do there? Maybe it will be possible to buy an iPad and cut down on using iPhone for the Internet?
Whoever thought our life would be so full of upgrades to new technology.
.....I'm quite happy currently using Windows 7 Home Premium (64 bit) which is plenty fast for me, a 66 year old. Whether we like it or not, there's no doubt that with age comes a general slowdown in digital (that's fingers!) dexterity and peripheral vision - key elements in the hand and eye co-ordination which appears to be a major requirement for this new operating system.
For a younger generation with experience gained through years of video gaming, this will be a breeze as the necessary skills are already honed to perfect the moves in navigating around Windows 8. But for us lesser and closer-to-be mortals, who have laboriously crafted their two-finger typing abilities on an Imperial Typewriter, this is too much activity going on simultaneously in one relatively small space.
It does look great, but not for me.
I'm in the same age group. Although I use my laptop a lot, I'm quite happy with Windows7. Whenever I need to get a new laptop it will come with Windows 8 installed....that's soon enough for me.
I'm with you except that I am a generation older than you and just the thought of learning a new system is almost more than I can stand. It has taken me 10 years to learn Windows XP to the point where I feel very comfortable with it. Every time my wife runs into trouble with her computer which has Win 7, I tell her that I can't help her because I don't know the system. I will be staying with XP until April of 2014 and then my plan is to use a very cheap e-machine that I have for internet but keep my old machine for everything else. Hopefully Microsoft will keep Win 7 active for as long as they have XP. If not, then my online days will be over.
I took the leap Monday and installed Windows 8 Pro. I didn't do a clean install due the complex system I have and the number of programs and hardware that would have to be re-installed. I chose the upgrade from Windows 7, keeping existing settings and files. This process took longer almost 55 minutes. The install asked one question, uninstall MS Security Essentials? The anti-virus is now part of the OS. I did the whole install within Windows 7. Upon completion Metro appeared, when I flipped to my desktop it was as the same original 7. Wallpaper, folders and programs were all there. MS Office, Chrome and Firefox. IE10 is remarkably fast. So far I'm extremely pleased, almost high.
Should I need a new machine I would " downgrade" to Window 7. This is a worse travesty than Vista. Gimmicky, not intuitive, unnecessary learning curve( I love learning where it makes sense, here it does not),absolutely not intuitive, ugly- unaesthetic. I wish I could get away from Microsoft.
I was going to upgrade but a few articles came out the last couple of days that made me change my mind. I could not find out if my Pentium Dual-core Vista Busines/XP Pro machine was compatible until Oct 26th when Microsoft released the compatiblility tests. My disk drives were not compatible and I do not know how to search for other drivers. I wanted to upgrade so I could add this machine to a Workgroup that my 2 WIN 7 machines are on. Reading the blogs - it does not appear that WIN 8 works on Workgroups. Maybe I am wrong but I'll wait and see what shakes out.
I bought the $40 upgrade and I plan to convert my other two pc's. I like having the latest and greatest. I love being the geek in my crowd.
I'm running Windows 7 64 bit to unlock my multiple processors and massive amount of ram. I am happy with what I have since all my software and hardware work with my current version. Upgrading would mean at least a few items would no longer be compatible, at least until drivers are updated, and I do not need to spend money for compatible hardware yet again.
I still have a desktop and never want a touch screen. It seems that Microsoft is trying to force people to change whether they want to or not. Oh yes, you can get apps to have the desktop and oh yes, you can get an app instead of getting a media player... I have always kept up with Windows and Office but am getting quite tired of the continual new versions.
I've been through 98, 2000, Millenium, XP, Vista and now 7. I'm happy with/used to 7 so have no desire to change to 8 until I'm forced to, and have no desire whatsoever to switch to anything fruity-named and much more expensive.
Haven't heard much good about 8 so far, really, at least nothing that makes me say "Yeah - give me 8".
I'd never, ever touched a computer until at 60, I got my first laptop - Vista Home Premium, (32 bit)...In retrospect, I'm grateful for the very steep learning curves, and at times outright overhangs that that experience gave me, because I'm of the absolute belief that Vista Users were all used by MS as crash (and didn't it?...often!!) test dummies for Windows 7 testing. But now with W7...it's heaven.
Why should we give Bill Gates more money to wallpaper his mansion with 100 dollars bills?
I was until I tried it. I currently have Windows 7 on my laptop and I like it. I downloaded and installed Windows 8 CE on my desktop as a dual boot with Vista. I was constantly switching to the desktop from Metro. If you don't have a touch screen, Metro is a lot of trouble and I could not get use to the fact that everything is different. Not that it was terribly hard to get use to but I like my old Windows.
If Microsoft wants to improve Windows they could fix it so it isn't so vulnerable to viruses and malware.
Originally I decided to upgrade my new laptop to 8 asap. Since I have had my old favorite XP for so many years I decided to make the jump to 8, basically bypassing 7.
Then I started hearing mumblings about things like Windows Genuine Advantage which 'inspects' the hard drive & files & transmits it all back to some base. In Australia we already have a gov't setting laws& regs in place forcing ISP's to save every internet keystroke & all browsing for 7yrs incase the person is linked with crime. This Advantage thing aids in that process even more apparently.
Also all my recently purchased hardware & software purchased for this new laptop won't run on 8 apparently. The camera, printer, router, games, external hard drives. It's a lot to have to upgrade. I'll make do with 7 for few yrs I think.
having been through every windows since 95 even me and vista i have to say that ms made a mistake that could have been avoided,all you had to do to unify windows was give me the ability to never have to boot into metro on a desk top and this would have been a huge success,one windows to rule them all desktop os,tablet os,and phone os but dont force me to use a portable os half the time on a keyboard and mouse desktop system
all i ask is the ability to choose what os i run where and on what
Without a touch screen, there is not much difference other than the lay-out in my humble opinion. I have Microsoft Windows Vista and it has worked since 2007. That is at least 5+ years of reliable operations. The only time I had to install was usually because I navigated to an unknown site. Hopefully, I through the grace of Jesus Christ........ I am able to keep it stable, up, and running for the remainder of my lifetime. Another 40 years is not too much to ask I hope.hehe
Smart people know to skip unnecessary "upgrades" and keep using what they have, if it works for them. I skipped Windows ME (kept using 98SE), skipped Vista (kept using XP), and just recently migrated all of our PC's from XP to 7. I do not see any benefit to using Windows 8 with a standard (non-touchscreen) desktop or laptop, and I don't care for the new UI. If any of our PC's fail, and I am forced to buy a Windows 8 machine, you can be sure I'll wipe the hard drive and load Windows 7, just as I replaced Vista with XP back when Vista was out.
I have a number of computers in this house all running different OS's.
The two main ones I have is my laptop which runs Puppy Linux and does just what I want, plus as it runs from CD anything goes wrong such as a virus, or bad software I can just reset it and get the CD to wipe out all the bad files.
and my desktop which runs Windows Vista 64-bit which isn't too bad. I've seen the 32-bit version of Vista and was really glad I chose the 64-bit version as the 32-bit version is appalling but the 64-bit version with decent hardware is actually really good.
I also seem to notice a pattern in Microsoft Windows - you get a bad version then you get a good version...
Windows 3.1 (bad version no network support) - Windows 3.11 (major improvement)
Windows 95 (bad version, lacking in a lot) - Windows 98 (Win95 fixed!)
Windows ME (rushed XP for the millennium) - Windows XP (What ME should have been)
Windows Vista (32-bit appalling, 64-bit not bad with good hardware) - Windows 7 (Vista fixed)
Windows 8 ...we'll have to see if it follows the pattern.
Normally with any Windows OS you should give it at least a couple of months before attempting to upgrade that way they should have ironed some of the bugs out and at least produced 1 or 2 service packs.
So with Windows 8 I'm going to give it a couple of months and see how it goes first, at the end of the day it's a lot of money to spend on an OS when it first comes out if it's going to quickly end up a redundant OS with MS expecting you to fork out again for the fixed OS, just glad their hardware is a lot more reliable, I've had my X-Box 360 for years, Sidewinder joystick, Microsoft Trackball and even an MSX computer.
I upgraded old XP to Winows 8, but kept my Windows 7 as a dual boot. As because I am a teacher in computer skills I do have to keep on top of things. One thing I am sure about is that most of the companies won't upgrade to Windows 8. Simply because it differs too much from the older versions. People will need to be trained using Windows 8 and that is nowadays too expensive in the economic times of today.
I think that you'd be appalled by the number of Businesses and Companies who are STILL clunking around using XP Professional as their mainstream operating system, and who still hail XP as the be all and end all!! Beggars belief...
I am a Linux man for over 4 years now and while I still have a WinXP I am pretty sure about 80% of my installed installed software won't work with Win8. So, no thank you.
No
Windows 7 is All most of us need
the new `Metro' interface is meant for Tablets and Touch screen devices
the lack of the familiar `start' button is frustrating for most (try using it with a Mouse)
Microsoft should keep supplying Windows 7 for a lot longer than it plans
as it has Proven to be a Better stable ,easy to manage platform than anything else
it has released or face the Prospect of Losing the `Market' to Apple ,LInux [eg Google Chrome OS]
I see no reason to do so. Vista (64-bit) is doing the job fine right now, and the changes in WIn8 seem to be primarily for the touch-screen device market. If one day I upgrade my hardware, I will probably reconsider or be forced to.
... I won't be "upgrading" to Windows 8, let alone not biting for Windows Vista or Windows 7.
Why?
Because my current Core-2-Duo 8400 3GHz machine, with 3GB RAM and Windows XP SP3 does everything I want to do, does it well, and so far without fail in nearly FOUR YEARS. I use Lightroom, Photoshop, WordPerfect suite, and a hundred other programs with 3 TB of hard drives holding tens of thousands of files.
When and if something blows up and I need a new machine, then MAYBE Windows 8... but not until.
I also drive a 20-year-old Mazda pickup.
Why?
Because it runs like a clock, has NEVER failed me, and costs next to nothing to keep on the road. Besides, I haven't made a car payment in nearly two decades.
Again, when and if this vehicle's parts fall out on the highway and leaves it beyond repair, THEN and only then will I be looking for newer wheels... but not until.
All you characters who jump on the hyped-up "latest and greatest" products (which are RARELY genuine improvements) simply have more money to burn (and time to waste fooling with them) than I do. I cannot believe you actually NEED any of this stuff... you just WANT it so you can "keep up with the Joneses."