With the end of free Win 10, should us 8-bit veterans abandon Win 7?

slipkid · 17 Jul 2016

Well, the title of the thread says it all. Are we obliged to abandon an OS that has worked for us, in order to move into the future with Win 10?

The question I have is what will the landscape of desktop computing be in four years?

With the dramatic move to cloud computing coupled with the attendant plunge in desktop computer sales, what does the future hold for us grey haired 8-bit veteran?

"Think young" I heard the other day on CNBC. I suppose I need to commit one of the 5 machines that I use on a weekly basis to Win 10 and take the plunge.

What do you think?

A 46 year veteran of personal computers.

MilesAhead · 17 Jul 2016

If you have a guinea pig PC then you may as well take the plunge. Although in the same situation I might try to multi-boot W7 and W10 so you may ease into it.

For myself I only have a Laptop. It came with W8.0. I almost exclusively use desktop applications. I may click on the weather program in the start page just to see how the forecast compares. But that is about it.

I feel the "device OS" attitude will be that I am an ignorant "user" who needs stuff foisted upon me for my own good. For that reason I only intend to obtain OS later than 7 because it is on the thing I buy. Yet another no choice operation.

When I get desktop PCs again I hope to run W7 and Vista on them. Also Linux and have them all nice and untidy sprawled on a large workbench. networked together, using up all the room in the room. :)

I hope the day is not too far away.

The only curiosity I have is how it might be to program a "modern app" for a smart phone. But I have the feeling it would require xaml or some other thing that feels more like markup script composition than programming. The main reason I never did much with html. But I digress... :)

But just think how embarrassed you would be if after all the MS attempts to give you the OS for nothing you ended up paying for it down the road!

tommyg562000 · 17 Jul 2016

Upgrade to Windows 10 :)

slipkid · 17 Jul 2016

What are desktops for me our laptops in docking stations with 14-15 inch screens.

I will try Windows 10 on one of the four screens in my home office workplace and will lock down all the privacy issues that have come to the forefront.

indianacarnie · 17 Jul 2016

Your choice. I , speaking for MYSELF love 10 and can't imagine going back to 7. Which I was on almost from the first day of Beta release. I'm sure you can go back through my posts and find me saying the exact opposite from this opinion but I've been converted. I have yet to have any major problems with it and zero bsod's. Fast, secure and (pretty much) user friendly, what more could you ask? My

slipkid · 17 Jul 2016

I decided to place Windows 10 on an 8-year-old Lenovo laptop. I have turned every privacy setting I can find to "off." I am surprised at the speed increase. No BSOD so far. More investigation required, but I am guardedly impressed.

Lite2 · 17 Jul 2016

I upgraded my PC from 7 to 10 and really liked it for boot time and general peppyness. Went back to 7 because of Canons lack of support for my imageclass all in one scanner. Went to HP's Pagewide, on the way now. Can't wait to reinstall my Win 10 image and have a working scanner again. I use classic shell to make the start menu look like Win7 which I prefer.
Never had a problem with the release versions of Win10 as far as stability, more of personal preferences.

truckinguy · 18 Jul 2016

I went to 10 from 7 with the free upgrade. That went fine. But I don't like 10 at all. Especially the task bar setup. Amount other things... And the obnoxious start menu. ....I fooled with it for 12 hrs and reverted back to 7 via Reflect.... this is on my Dell E6530.

michael diemer · 18 Jul 2016

Windows 8 was the beginning of the end of Microsoft computers for me. Windows 10 was the death knell. I am using Windows 7 on my music computer, but only because I have to. Fortunately, my music creation software is in the process of becoming Linux-able. I do my browsing on another computer, which currently has three different Linux OS's (Ubuntu, Elementary and Deepin). My W7 install on that computer is basically storage for Windows documents, plus my music files. I continue to update it as it has three years of support left. When I am able to do my music on Linux, I will probably wipe out all vestiges of windows and be done with Microsoft for good.

The Cloud? %&$* the Cloud.

margrave · 19 Jul 2016

I had to upgrade my work laptop to Win 10 because the team has taken advantage of the new version of Docker, which has no support on Win 7. The laptop is relatively new (one year old). The upgrade was painless.

I proceeded to make the same customizations to 10 that I did to 7:
- Classic Shell (to rid me of the start menu layout that XP/Vista/7 foisted on me ... which I hated, and which only got worse with each new OS version).
- Task bar fix: eliminate jump lists and "pins".
- Fix desktop background.
All of this was fairly easy. And the system ran well.

But I'm not ready to do this on my six-year-old desktop at home. It was a moderately high end desktop when new, but I'm worried about Win 10 compatibility. And, since there's nothing pushing me to make a change, I think I won't.

Aside from that work laptop, I've never upgraded any OS. I get the new OS only when I buy a new computer.