Windows 7: Windows 8 then back to Windows 7 and why

I was a beta tester for almost 18 months of windows 7, it was pure joy. From the beginning of Windows 8 I felt that Microsoft was going in the wrong direction for PC's and in a bad way. Nether the less I installed windows 8 when it came out last year. From the start it felt wrong.



Promise, easy to use

Reality, not intuitive for a laptop without touch screen, not friendly

Promise better battery life

Reality, I had 1 to 2 hours less on my I5 compared to Win 7 ( yes latest drivers, the laptop was manufactured May 2012)

Promise Compatibility

Reality, some programs do not work with windows 8

Aero is gone

Native Start button gone

Annoying start screen

UGLY design, In my opinion the UI is a step in the wrong direction, MS thinks this look modern, I think it looks 1920's and windows 7 looks 3000's futuristic in fact most Scifi shows computers looking like windows 7 with see through and glass effects not plain colors and blocks

Annoying "Desktop" screen that if you go to grab a program window may cause you to loose your classic desktop and open the annoying useless Windows 8 desktop or as I call it "Tablet screen"


WIndows 8 was not designed with the PC in mind it was designed for Tablets and phones clearly MS thinks you should not be buying PC's but tablets and phones only for work.

OK OK Microsoft some of us have serious work to do and need a real computer to work on, again MS misses the mark and the target completely

Well you have just convinced me not to go there and am now thinking the Linux based stuff is another and probably better alternative if a change was needed.

I tried the 8 when it was in beta form and yep I agree that the look wasn't / isn't right and yep it is for those wretched phones and tablets rot.

I am just about to try out he Zorin OS on an external as an alternative as I have been using Ubuntu for fixes and quite like it. Mind you I try and avoid those in depth conversations re the inner workings of the Linux based stuff as I am not that clever

Right now 7 is the only OS in my tiny mind and I am going to stick with it.

If I could run Windows programs on Linux I would use it, its the only reason I stick with MS OS is because of program choice

Well Howdr a mate sent me this today and is the Zorin I posted, and it seems that it is compatible with Windows quite a bit but I really haven't got down to using it yet.

Having fun with Zorin

Another alternative to a M$ program is Kingsoft's Office. Now the version I have loaded is reasonably simple but is also compatible / comparable with the M$ product and the paid for version looks as good as M$ Office and at half the price.

Download Professional and Free Kingsoft Office software for your PC < near the bottom of the listings and there are just the separate parts thereof available if you don't want it all