If you love Windows XP, you’ll hate Windows 7 by Ed Bott

[Barman58]

If you love Windows XP, you’ll hate Windows 7 by Ed Bott

If you love Windows XP, you’ll hate Windows 7

Posted by Ed Bott


My colleague Jason Perlow has been playing with Windows 7, and he hates it. The sad thing is, all the things he hates are improvements, in my opinion, which just goes to show that you really can’t please everyone. But what’s sad to see is that every setting Jason describes as broken is in fact easily customizable so it works the way he wants it.
The crux of Jason’s complaint is simple: “I learned how to use Windows in 1998. Don’t change a thing.” Here’s his main argument in a nutshell:

I find it difficult to believe that Windows 7 was created to be easier to use than Vista — if anything, they’ve introduced a number of UI changes that make the system much harder to navigate, particularly if you’ve never used Vista and are going direct to Windows 7 from Windows XP, which is the path that many users will experience.
​

Yes, there’s a learning curve........

More ...

 

[Airbot]

I find 7 to be streamlined and quite intuitive and user friendly. I don't even miss Vista already.

 

[Barman58]

Hi Aaron,

I think Ed Bott does too,

It's the first Entry in the "Most inappropriate Post Title Contest 2009" :devil:

I found the actual article quite refreshing - answering some common mis-conceptions

 

[DiamondNRG]

I am sick of XP-fanboyism. I wish it was legal to hunt them.

 

[Barman58]

Hi DiamondNRG,

Actually I think it will be when the season opens, I think that's at the end of June this year

 

[DiamondNRG]

Very nice! I had forgotten that ... will it be bow only at first? I can't wait for hatchet season!

 

[garysgold]

I have a feeling there are a lot of Jasons out there. This was part of the problem with Vista and we're going to have to deal with it again for many who will upgrade from XP.

Gary

 

[johngalt]

Until everyone moves away from XP, we'll continue to have this problem.

I know a user who didn't move to XP until 2006 - and another who still uses Windows 98. These sort of folks are slow to change, and until it is literally forced onto them they refuse to make the change.

It is one of the reasons these forums will continue to be valuable not only this year, and the next, but well into the next decade.

 

[Barman58]

Well said John, As usual,

What really worries me is some of the comments you hear to articles like this, eg where one poster was waiting for windows 7, to be usable with XP era hardware.

Now I used XP for a long time, without problems, and a lot of others before that, but people have to realise that times, and hardware, change and so therfore do operating systems.

I think, unfortunately that a lot lot of the XP holdouts are going to suffer when they eventually "have" to move on, and find the whole jump to windows 7 too much.

But as you say it's important that places like The Vista and Seven forums exist to ease their passage "to the dark side"

 

[johngalt]

Well, there needs to be a qualification to that statement to begin with.

XP era hardware runs the gamut from early generation P4 all the way to the early generation Core 2 Duos - so, saying XP generation hardware is simply a misnomer.

FWIW, though, I am pretty sure that W7 would run, albeit slowly and without a lot of pizazz, on older P4 machines. Whether any of us would *like* it at those slow speeds is a question better left to those who actually try this and work with it on a daily basis....

 

[Barman58]

Point taken John,

With XP's long life Hardware changed quite a bit during it "era"

I think it would struggle on some of the XP machines I've worked on recently, 180MHz Celeron's with 256MB ram and 40GB Hard disks , mind you XP isn't exactly lightning fast on those specs .

When it comes down to it most non business users will Upgrade when they purchase new hardware so should have a smooth out of the box experience, which is where I personally think what we've seen of Seven improves on Vista at the same state of development ...

and Seven should have a smoother ride in the market unless the major OEMs decide to offer downgrades to Vista for $150 extra :sarc:

 

[johngalt]

ROTF - you mean they'd have to offer a $150 *rebate* to get folks to use Vista....

 

[djhallucn8]

But as you say it's important that places like The Vista and Seven forums exist to ease their passage "to the dark side"

Yes, the dark side, I like it, I like it a lot!

 

[garysgold]

and Seven should have a smoother ride in the market unless the major OEMs decide to offer downgrades to Vista for $150 extra :sarc:

ROFLMAO

One thing is sure. Soon they'll only have a choice of Vista or Seven so things should get a hoppin' 'round here.

Gary

 

[smarteyeball]

I'm pre-exhausted at the thought of all those Vista bashers adding 7 to the list....

duh, Vista is sh*t and so is Seven ,duh.

At least my response is well rehearsed: "No it isn't".

That's all the patience I have for fanbois. I'd rather use my oxygen to breathe

 

[Abhimanyu]

I Changed Directly From Xp to Windows 7.. n am loving it!

 

[Barman58]

I Chaneged Directly From Xp to Windows 7.. n am loving it!

Nice to see an answer from somebody who actually tries Windows 7 before comenting

I'm pre-exhausted at the thought of all those Vista bashers adding 7 to the list....

duh, Vista is sh*t and so is Seven ,duh.

At least my response is well rehearsed: "No it isn't".

That's all the patience I have for fanbois. I'd rather use my oxygen to breathe

Quite agree Smarty - but I do feel we should at least try to edumucate 'em

 

[Joan Archer]

Well I'm one of the ones that didn't start until 1998 with Windows 98 and I've always wanted the next in line when it comes out but finances dictate otherwise.

I've gone from 98, WinME still running, XP still running and now Vista but as I've only just got that it will be a few years before I'll be able to move to Windows 7.

I just love new technology and gadgets and usually when a new OS is being developed love all the articles and reading forums like this and finding out what it's going to be like when it's in production.
OK so I'm usually a couple of years behind the launch when I finally get my hands on it but that's due to finances and having to wait until I have the funds to buy another machine then whatever I'm using at the time gets handed down to my husband, I know I'm selfish but I want to play with the new, he wouldn't know what to do with it anyway

 

[renthor]

WinME still running

............Wow, that is quite the accomplishment.

I think it really comes down to that anyone who is used to the way something works will probably not like any changes that are made in the next version. At least immediately. Especially some of us older users who are used to the way things have been for over a decade. Let's face it, the basic OS of Windows hasn't changed THAT much between Win 95 and XP, even Vista to some extent (the largest change to Vista, I feel, was the UAC).

The way Windows has worked hasn't changed drastically in regards to the UI, and Win7 is the first iteration of Windows to do so.

I don't know, I guess most people are just resistant to change, they become comfortable with the way something works, and then when it changes and they can't do what they are trying to do either because it's been moved elsewhere, or the way to do it has changed, they get upset and hate the new system.

 

[DiamondNRG]

Weird, Windows ME didn't work for me the day Microsoft released it. Big pile of crap code that it was

I don't even feel the Windows 7 UI is hardly any different.