Windows 8 Pre-Alpha build 7312-FAKE

Night Hawk said:

You would surprized to hear that many actually consider XP to be the flop and prefer Vista! Personally I found it far more stable despite being the larger new version at the time.

With 7 seeing the XP mode Win 8 and/or what comes later would likely see a Vista mode due to newer versions no longer able to programs(not too many) written for Vista and then later for 7.

People moving up from Vista to 7 won't be disappointed at the need for all new softwares while we will have to wait and see if 8 will be the same in that sense. The Vista mode would work the same as the XP mode run on the Virtual PC.

I also liked Vista better than XP. Now, don't get me wrong. When I finally upgraded to XP from 98, it was like a miracle from God! No more BSODs, no more errors, everything WORKED! It was the greatest thing ever. Thats when I really started messing with computers. There will always be a spot in my heart for XP.
Enough people liked Vista that including a Vista mode would not hurt sales for two reasons:
1) You don't have to USE it.
2) People liked Vista, so if they upgrade, they can still use it.

Windows 8 is M$ real chance to open up the board. With Windows 8, they could make a killing. If Seven does as well as we all hope (and they hope) it does, then if they make 8 even better.............
What they need to do, imo, is really open up to customization. Offer the corporate version without it, but for home, ult, etc, give up built in customization tools. Make it easy to design your own icons, swap around TaskBars and offer a sexy little dock as well. People that complain about the GUI, give them a way to change it! Seriously. Think about it. How many people think it is time for a GUI change? How many of us would choose something different if it was available?
At install (or first startup) give us options (with previews) of GUI choices, with the ability to switch quickly and easily. Have three or so choices, with more downloadable from the website, and tools to change and make your own!

Just think about that idea, and what it could do for Windows 8.

~Lordbob

grouchpunk08 said:

+1 on liking vista better than XP. I just never had all the problems that other people "said" they had. I much prefer vista to xp.

I waited until SP1 and didn't have any of the problems people were complaining about. I liked how it worked better than XP. I also found it faster and prettier.

~Lordbob

I put SP1 right on without problems when that was first out plus was running the SP2 beta for 6 months straight. But I still ended up seeing two clean installs of Vista once SP2 was final. 1)clean install on drive with Reflect backup image made 2)total install on VPC including all updates, SP1+SP2 included

I had also skipped over ME or 2000 and actually ran 98 until the XP SP1 was out there. The big problem seen with 98 would be occasional lockups of Windows usually during a game there. I never saw half the driver error and others seen with XP.

After any good stretch even following one or two repair installs XP was wiped and redone too often. I kept things going on XP however while seeing far more problems with it in 6 months then with Vista for the last 2yrs.. Vista still had a few being the new kid on the block while generally it ran trouble free rather then troublesome.

7 is also new but seeing a new MS approach that should see improvements in what comes next! They finally have something better to work with.

The problem seen when Vista first came was the simple fact that so much time had passed that people were accustomed to a smaller version of Windows until at first seeing all the new Vista themes there. For those who ran it for some time they found the same things I was finding namely a new larger version where a good 2gb of memory suffices for most but much larger now seen on a 4.7gb dvd rather then the old 700mb capacity cd.

The main problem? The passing of time saw a leap rather the typical small steps when each newer version came out in the past. People found themselves adding 2gb more of memory to the existing 512mb that came with their prebuilt machines. 7 while even larger has seen things reduced as well as tweaking the OS like the WaitToKillServices found lower at 12000 compared to XP and Vista's 20000?!

Guess who first noticed that one! Shut Down -Speed Up

I suspect MS didn't want to lower that down too far to make it look like 7 was a rocket while Vista was a turtle. 7 is also snappier in other areas as well. The next Windows would likely see the same 12000 or maybe eve 10000 setting there just to get sales going on that one since 7 so far is coming out on top!