Jan. 13 marks the end of mainstream support for Windows 7

RBS7 said:

jimbo45 said:

Hi there

Some of you long time users really SHOULD have a look at W10 -- it unlike W8/8.1 will be almost identical to W7 in use for desktop users, has some very decent features not available in W7 and will run in general a lot faster and with a lot more security even on older hardware.

I could see a reason for people NOT wanting W8 but I can't really see ANY reason whatsoever to avoid the upgrade to W10 as and when it appears in due course -- always assuming that the price is right.

I challenge a lot of W7 users to tell me what they CAN'T do in W10 that they CAN do in W7 (apart possibly from some really old legacy programs).

Even on the previews I haven't found stuff that won't work on W10 that works on W7 -- Even things like SAPGUI which isn't officially supported even on Windows 8 works fine on W10 preview.

I'm not saying W7 is rubbish --far from it - probably one of the best OS's ever to be developed for mass use - but it's time to move on - especially with newer hardware.

The only previso is cost of course -- and also always remember that you can continue to run the OS as a VM for as long as you want irrespective of support dates.

Cheers
jimbo

Jimbo IMO Windows 10 is nothing like Windows 7, it is cumbersome, ugly and at this point very little of it works. I believe Windows 10 is a dog, it strips the best of Windows 7 and strips the best of Windows 8, and creates a new hodgepodge of garbage. Besides, 2 years after it is out, they will design something different and drop it, just like everything else they create.

I drive a 1998 Windstar Ford (no company parts, etc), it is older then XP, Vista, Win7, 8/8.1, I use it everyday, it runs great. Why would I get rid of it

I was just reading negative comments about win10 such as you can not turn updates off or select just some updates. People seem to be saying user control over the OS is going to be more limited-restricted.

sdowney717 said:

I was just reading negative comments about win10 such as you can not turn updates off or select just some updates. People seem to be saying user control over the OS is going to be more limited-restricted.

sdowney,

The way I understand it, turning off updates or selecting just some updates is just limited to the preview not to release to manufacture or retail version. I am not sure the following applies to the current build of windows 10, I think you could actually disable windows update using group policy.

I know one thing that I can do on Windows 7 is play a DVD, something that you can't do on Windows 8.1 or Windows 10 and you can run older programs like Office 2007, I have a feeling that would not be supported on Windows 10

Windows 7 + Office 2010 is still the best combo i recommend to non-geek users in my social circle.
I myself can use 8.1 and office 2013 all i want and feel cool but that doesn't change the fact that seven is still the solution for mainstream user.

8.1 needs some serious fine tuning before it comes close....
But still one issue remains. It looses icon thumbnail cache every other day thus rendering the feature pretty much useless. And microsoft haven't fixed it despite 3GB worth updates 8.1 got since its release.

Jody Thornton said:

jimbo45 said:

My whole feeling is that W7 should have had an SP2 and W10 should have been the next OS - W8/8.1 is a one way trip to nowhere.

I'm a tad surprised because I thought you were a big supporter of Windows 8.1 and the Surface tablet PC. I guess I just don't see what all the hoopla is about Windows 10 (especially over 8x). Everyone over at the Ten Forums seem orgasmic over Windows 10 so far. I actually like the 8.x UI better (the caption buttons especially) and I find Windows 8.1 very fast.

It just seems that everyone is in love with the 10 TP and I don't get what all of the fanaticism is about. I run Vista VERY happily right now, and I'll move to Windows 8.1 with Classic Shell, once April 2017 rolls around (unless Server 2008 R1 patches can be back ported to Vista, then I'll stay on it longer.)

Not everyone Jody Thornton. I don't get it either. I do like windows 7 and I also like lubuntu 64 bit Linux with xfce desktop and wine 32 bit installed. Some xfce desktops look like windows 98se. That is why I like it. I also like lubuntu/xfce because I can use wine to run older windows 16 bit software.

I am also waiting on the windows 10 catch. By that I mean what is device lifecyle policy and what is windows as a service.

jimbo45 said:

Hi there

Bing ????? Never used it.

Not sure how people set up their computers but apart from a smaller Menu (W7 menu takes up a ridiculous amount of space on a large monitor) and different background colour there's almost no difference in my desktop layout between W10 and W7 - other than the touch keyboard I have enabled in W10.

A lot of the gripes like Bing and Ms accounts instead of Local accounts are probably because people haven't done a basic R.T.F.M and have just pressed Next, Next etc without looking at what they were doing.

I HATED Gadgets and AERO is simply eye candy which probably will be bought back at the next release.

I really don't like the HUGE W7 start menu --it's fine on a small laptop or monitor but gets quite frankly REDICULOUS when viewed on a 50 inch screen !!!.

W10's menu at least is re-sizeable so it doesn't look so ridiculous on a large monitor. You can also delete all those Metr apps on the right side of the menu too if you want a "classic Text" looking menu.

My point is that corporations will upgrade - and to skip W8 is a a good idea - going to W10 is the best route for them. Most of their users will simply have no problem in using the computer just like they've always done.

I really use the Storage spaces feature a lot too -- not available on W7. I have large multi-media libraries and being able to span them across many DIFFERENT SIZE volumes (unlike RAID) gives me far more flexibility too --- I'm not sure how you would manage say a 3 TB Video data base on W7 unless you had large HDD's -- and even then what happens when the disk is full. With storage spaces you just dynamically add another one so your DB can be several HUNDRED TB in size if you want it that large.


By all means keep using W7 - but while it will get security updates for a while forget any nice new features from being added - and that includes hardware too.

Anyway I've said my piece on this -- I'm absolutely NOT against W7 - was one of the best OS'es ever produced - but time moves on. The way I use computers now is so totally different to how I used them when W7 was first released - I probably couldn't have even imagined back then the things I can do now - and having a decent common platform IMO is also a great idea.

Cheers
jimbo

I think everybody gets what your take on this is Jim , problem is the overwhelming majority imo do not feel the same way.

Microsoft just keeps going too fast , all support for Win 7 should continue , i know just off the top of my head people that have bought new computers equipped with SP1 rather recently , around a year now .

Now they read about Microsoft ending mainstream support , thats BS on the highest level .

My Win 7 system boot's up in about 6 seconds with an SSD installed , never an issue , bottom line is if your going to put out an operating system you better support it FULLY just like the previous version .

Not by having an attitude that since your Win 8 was a flop and your expectations were proven to fall far short that you must now go even faster and cut mainstream support for Win 7 even earlier than you would have otherwise.

Thats making your customers pay for your mistakes and that my friend is BS.

If Windows 10 really had groundbreaking new security protocols to finally pull Windows out of the dark ages from being so vulnerable i would consider it .

The malware World has exploded and it is mostly to due with uneducated end users but everyone knows Windows could have been designed to be much less vulnerable.