Author Topic: Windows 7 or 8 (Read 22570 times)

Waitone · « **on:** August 19, 2013, 05:49:46 PM »

What says the APS geek trust.

XP support is getting a little ragged in preparation for the 2014 cutoff. I can upgrade to either Windows 7 or 8. W7 has a rep of being pretty close to XP. W8 has the rep of being unlike any other windows product due to its user interface. Evidently MS has figgered out it has a turkey in the oven and is promising W8.1 will be just like the legacy interface.

I have to upgrade. What says the APS geek trust.

charby · « **Reply #1 on:** August 19, 2013, 05:55:00 PM »

Win 8, that way you are on the curve instead of behind it with Win 7.

Win 8 isn't that hard to use, just start typing what you want to do and it will start giving you program icons.

Hawkmoon · « **Reply #2 on:** August 19, 2013, 06:04:29 PM »

I'm still on Xp for my primary desktop computer and my notebook. My wife's notebook is in Win 7, as an upgrade from the Vista that was pre-installed when we bought it. Win 7 is NOT at all like Xp, IMHO. Win 7 is the bug fix release for Vista.

That said, I am just about to order myself a new notebook, because it looks like this is my last chance to buy one with Win 7 rather than Win 8 installed. I haven't yet heard anything good about Win 8 (unless Charby's post above is supposed to be an endorsement).

lupinus · « **Reply #3 on:** August 19, 2013, 06:25:48 PM »

Of the two, I like 7 better.

BUT Windows 8 is better than a lot was made out on it initially. And I think they've either made or are planning to make some tweaks to make it suck a little less. Main flaw was the whole "ohhh touch screen clicky, you like yes?!" BS.

RevDisk · « **Reply #4 on:** August 19, 2013, 06:38:43 PM »

Quote from: Waitone on August 19, 2013, 05:49:46 PM

What says the APS geek trust.

XP support is getting a little ragged in preparation for the 2014 cutoff. I can upgrade to either Windows 7 or 8. W7 has a rep of being pretty close to XP. W8 has the rep of being unlike any other windows product due to its user interface. Evidently MS has figgered out it has a turkey in the oven and is promising W8.1 will be just like the legacy interface.

I have to upgrade. What says the APS geek trust.

Using Win 7 is like using a weird version of XP. Everything usually works, stuff is just all over the place and looks different. You get used to it, and it does have a couple of nice features. Sure, XP would be perfectly fine, but hey, Microsoft needs revenue.

Using Win 8 is like hitting yourself in the face with a frying pan. Constantly. Yes, you get used to the pain, mostly. But you're still being hit in the face with a frying pan. It's sorta like Vista. Except Vista looked better and made more sense. It's a good way to get behind the curve, though. A lot of people actually like being hit in the face with a frying pan, so it may actually be your cup of tea. Never know, give it a shot. Screaming rage or sobbing is a sign of an innovative product. On the other hand, there's virtually no productivity gains in the new OS but plenty of productivity losses.

(Some folks will note I'm being unusually positive about Windows 8. I'm not sure why either. I should be writing about it's negative points, but unfortunately my brain segfaults to save itself whenever I bring up that METRO IS THE $*%(# DEFAULT AND ONLY INTERFACE FOR SERVER 2012.)

Brad Johnson · « **Reply #5 on:** August 19, 2013, 07:06:28 PM »

Win7 is good. Stable, compatible, and does a fine job at playing nice with multi-processor CPU architectures. Win8 is like setting your head on fire, only a lot less fun.

Brad

Ben · « **Reply #6 on:** August 19, 2013, 07:09:59 PM »

Win 7 until Win 9 comes out. MS always alternates between good and crappy OS releases.

bedlamite · « **Reply #7 on:** August 19, 2013, 07:12:31 PM »

Since nobody has yet, I'll have to say neither. I switched to Linux about 5 years ago and have no regrets.

lee n. field · « **Reply #8 on:** August 19, 2013, 07:17:50 PM »

Quote from: Waitone on August 19, 2013, 05:49:46 PM

What says the APS geek trust.

XP support is getting a little ragged in preparation for the 2014 cutoff. I can upgrade to either Windows 7 or 8. W7 has a rep of being pretty close to XP. W8 has the rep of being unlike any other windows product due to its user interface. Evidently MS has figgered out it has a turkey in the oven and is promising W8.1 will be just like the legacy interface.

I have to upgrade. What says the APS geek trust.

Windows 8 is of de debbil.

RocketMan · « **Reply #9 on:** August 19, 2013, 07:23:04 PM »

Windows 8 is the spawn of Satan. Windows 7 is pretty decent, and a hell of a lot better than Vista ever could be.
This laptop I am on started out with Vista, which was pretty sucky. Upgraded to Win7 last year and happy I did. Works quite well, stable, fast, no lockups.

230RN · « **Reply #10 on:** August 19, 2013, 07:31:06 PM »

RevDisk commented,

Quote

Using Win 7 is like using a weird version of XP. Everything usually works, stuff is just all over the place and looks different. You get used to it, and it does have a couple of nice features. Sure, XP would be perfectly fine, but hey, Microsoft needs revenue.

Same here. Been batting my head against the wall with that "change for change's sake" marketing strategy, where just changing icons and structure constitutes "NEW!" and "IMPROVED!" I'm dreading loss of support for XP, 'cause I was hoping to get back to my virus-trashed XP machine.

And that internal indexing search function sucks down to 10e-8 Torr.

Yeah, I got a copy of "Windows 7 For Dummies," as well as Pogue's "The Missing Manual," but I'm tired of spending an hour looking crap up just to do a one-minute job.

Well, that's an exaggeration for the sake of illustration. More correctly, I should have said, "I'm tired of spending a half hour looking crap up just to do a thirty-second job."

Terry

RevDisk · « **Reply #11 on:** August 19, 2013, 07:40:09 PM »

Quote from: lee n. field on August 19, 2013, 07:17:50 PM

Windows 8 is of de debbil.

I expect more competence from the devil.

Perd Hapley · « **Reply #12 on:** August 19, 2013, 07:51:32 PM »

Quote from: RevDisk on August 19, 2013, 07:40:09 PM

I expect more competence from the devil.

AZRedhawk44 · « **Reply #13 on:** August 19, 2013, 09:33:54 PM »

Win8.

Rev is right about the ui suckage. But just add classic shell to your os and you have win7 with longer lifetime support.

Tallpine · « **Reply #14 on:** August 19, 2013, 10:26:41 PM »

Quote

Using Win 7 is like using a weird version of XP. Everything usually works, stuff is just all over the place and looks different. You get used to it, and it does have a couple of nice features. Sure, XP would be perfectly fine, but hey, Microsoft needs revenue.

Win 7 jumps between applications while you are typing - WTH

I'm sure there is a reasonable explanation, but I have work to do that doesn't include figuring that out.

Also, it seems like they have done away with a lot of functionality. Maybe they just hid it somewhere. Sure helps productivity to not have so many options I guess

I'm about ready to destroy every computer in sight right now and become a sheepherder

gunsmith · « **Reply #15 on:** August 19, 2013, 10:42:03 PM »

if I even look at a lap top with win 8 on it it turns off and gives all my passwords to my psycho ex girlfriend.

mtnbkr · « **Reply #16 on:** August 19, 2013, 10:46:30 PM »

Quote from: Tallpine on August 19, 2013, 10:26:41 PM

Win 7 jumps between applications while you are typing - WTH I'm sure there is a reasonable explanation, but I have work to do that doesn't include figuring that out.

Are you using a laptop with integrated touchpad? I've noticed touchpads becoming ridiculously sensitive in the last few years. I had a Dell laptop at work that would register "touch" with my finger hovering over it while typing, causing it to jump around apps and all like you're describing. My Lenovo isn't that bad for me, but is for my coworkers.

My desktops without touchpads don't have this problem. It's hardware, not Windows.

Chris

Brad Johnson · « **Reply #17 on:** August 19, 2013, 10:47:52 PM »

Quote from: Tallpine on August 19, 2013, 10:26:41 PM

Win 7 jumps between applications while you are typing - WTH

How'd you get it to do that? I've had W7 for a couple years now and it's never done that. Maybe I'm not using it properly?

Brad

AZRedhawk44 · « **Reply #18 on:** August 20, 2013, 02:04:29 AM »

Quote from: mtnbkr on August 19, 2013, 10:46:30 PM

Are you using a laptop with integrated touchpad? I've noticed touchpads becoming ridiculously sensitive in the last few years. I had a Dell laptop at work that would register "touch" with my finger hovering over it while typing, causing it to jump around apps and all like you're describing. My Lenovo isn't that bad for me, but is for my coworkers.

My desktops without touchpads don't have this problem. It's hardware, not Windows.

Chris

^^ This.

I can't stand laptops nowadays. The "eraser" should have won the portable pointing device war, not the touchpad.

In light of that unrighteous defeat, I tend to disable the touchpad and plug in a proper USB mouse, so I don't experience this phenomenon.

Hawkmoon · « **Reply #19 on:** August 20, 2013, 06:09:41 AM »

Quote from: AZRedhawk44 on August 20, 2013, 02:04:29 AM

I can't stand laptops nowadays. The "eraser" should have won the portable pointing device war, not the touchpad.

In light of that unrighteous defeat, I tend to disable the touchpad and plug in a proper USB mouse, so I don't experience this phenomenon.

Quoted for truth.

Touchpads drive me to distraction. Can't use 'em. Won't use 'em.

drewtam · « **Reply #20 on:** August 20, 2013, 06:52:54 AM »

HankB · « **Reply #21 on:** August 20, 2013, 08:46:01 AM »

My laptop and workstation at work both have Win7 x64 - it took a little getting used to from my XP machine at home, but it's a stable platform and works well.

My new PC at home has Windows 8 Pro x64 - just because it's not quite as awful as some claim, doesn't mean I like it.

I don't.

I can manage to work with it, but I really don't like the overall setup at all.

As long as we're on the topic of PCs . . . does anyone know of a source for the updates to Office 2000? MS stopped supporting it entirely, and it would seem that service releases 1 and 1a are no longer available from the MS site; I reinstalled it on my older XP box (the old versions of Excel and Word do what I want them to) when I upgraded the HD and while SR3 is seemingly still available, I need the earlier service releases or else the updater won't install SR3.

lee n. field · « **Reply #22 on:** August 20, 2013, 08:59:07 AM »

Quote

Win7 switches apps while you're typing

Never seen it, myself. Sounds like a touchpad problem.

Quote

Win7 == reduced functionality

Not that I can see. Stuff's in different places sometimes. Control panel especially.

The reorganized user files (c:\users\username\...) makes more sense to me than the older way ("C:\documents and settings"). Don't forget that NT put that whole thing under the Windows (well, "c:\NT) directory.

The only real problems I've seen with 7 are subtle privilege related problems. Some programs don't like UAC. There's a problem with mapped drives in a domain environment that I've run into a couple times and haven't solved yet that I think is a privileges related problem. And the "run as administrator" thing is an annoyance. (I am administrator. Says right there....).

8? I've had more than once, a Windows 8 computer decide it wasn't going to boot anymore, and not let me into the recovery environment where I have a small chance of actually fixing the problem.

Server 2012 installs the vague blob interface, but boots to the desktop and pins the file manager to the taskbar. I can live with that. Install Classic Shell, and away I go.

Our customers are very happy that we can get new systems with Windows 7.

Tallpine · « **Reply #23 on:** August 20, 2013, 09:23:21 AM »

Quote from: AZRedhawk44 on August 20, 2013, 02:04:29 AM

^^ This.

I can't stand laptops nowadays. The "eraser" should have won the portable pointing device war, not the touchpad.

In light of that unrighteous defeat, I tend to disable the touchpad and plug in a proper USB mouse, so I don't experience this phenomenon.

I always use a USB mouse and never the touchpad, but apparently that doesn't prevent the touchpad from randomly interfering. Never have this problem on XP.

I have one W7 laptop and two XP laptops (three if you count the one with the farked video).

mtnbkr · « **Reply #24 on:** August 20, 2013, 10:17:25 AM »

Your laptop is too new. You should stick with the same strategy that works for your trucks, older is better.

Chris

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Author Topic: Windows 7 or 8 (Read 22570 times)