The Last Days of Windows 7

[JMH]

The Last Days of Windows 7, Part 1

In just a few short days at the BUILD conference in California, Microsoft will finally take the wraps off Windows 8 and we’ll see exactly what they’re going to offer us for a desktop operating system over the next three years. This means that we’re in the final few days of Windows 7 being ‘top dog’, and I thought I’d take the opportunity to have a look back over the operating system.

Tomorrow I’ll look at all the new features that Windows 7 introduced and try to examine the impact they have had on the end-user experience, especially on tablet devices. Today though let’s look at what Windows 7 did for Microsoft.

The Last Days of Windows 7, Part 1

The Last Days of Windows 7, Part 2

In just a few days Windows 8 will be formally unveiled by Microsoft at their BUILD conference in California, so we’re in the final few days of Windows 7 being top dog. Yesterday in part 1 of this article series I wrote about how Windows 7 had reversed Microsoft’s fortunes and only a single year after its release, had silenced all the company’s Windows critics. It was extremely quick to sell and sold many more retail copies than any other version of Windows before it. But what actual new features did Windows 7 bring to the table and how did it improve over XP and Vista?

The Last Days of Windows 7, Part 2

 

[MadSupra354]

Allot of people, including me, are keeping 7. IMO, the only thing that isn't perfect with 7 is it's looks.

 

[Boastree]

I put Windows 7 on this computer brand new right out of the box-both the computer and the os. I have NEVER seen it lock up, have NEVER had to force a reboot, and have done, watched, listened to and played anything and everthing i have wanted on this machine. Zero problems! I do not care about fluff or features...I care about performance. MS got this one right...it will be hard to get me to move on.

 

[Layback Bear]

I will be watching on the Windows 8 forum before I make my decision.

 

[wb4bbc]

Windows7 has been excellent and I have had zero problems with it. I had moved off Windows and to OSX when Vista came out and I had nothing but problems with it. But when Windows7 came out, I gave it a try and never looked,back. my next desktop machine will be Windows based. As you can say I have drunk the Microsoft Koolaid, and found it yummy. I looked at Linux and even Freebsd and while they are improving, I find Windows on my Lenovo Laptop to be the perfect OS for me.

 

[gwolf]

Being totally an 80 year old beginner How do I get my machine to call me to attention when I get an incoming Email

 

[WolfSoul]

"Last days".. is that a joke? It's barely a few years old

 

[whs]

I plan to run Win8 Beta in Virtual Box and if they come out with a nice 7" tablet, I will buy that. And from there we will see.

 

[xxxdannyxxx]

Not sure I'll be making the jump to 8 too quickly. I like 7, it works, and for me has run without issue for 2 years.It will take some big improvements now to budge me off 7.

Danny

 

[Win7User512]

I plan to run Win8 Beta in Virtual Box and if they come out with a nice 7" tablet, I will buy that. And from there we will see.

Yeah, I am eagerly anticipating the beta too.

 

[beauparc]

Like others here, my Win7 system has been totally solid since the OS was installed.

The chance of me upgrading to Win8, which looks like a kid's toy, is remote in the extreme.

I have a feeling that Win7 will become the new XP, in that people will continue using it for as long as possible, or until MS removes all support.

 

[alphanumeric]

I can't see spending money twice just to upgrade what I have from 7 to 8, but in another year or two, if I build or buy a new system, I can see getting windows 8 for it. Assuming of course that it doesn't end up being Vista SE, if you catch my drift.

 

[linnemeyerhere]

Ah yes I'm very much looking forward to purchasing W7 Ultimate family pack for a deep discount as W8 hits.

 

[Darkhaund]

why are they releasing W8 so fast?

W7 i just getting established!!!!

 

[PwnFrnzy]

I will give Windows 8 one year until I make my decision whether to upgrade or not. I love Windows 7, but watching other peoples experiences after one year should be enough time to think of my final decision.

 

[Chilidawg]

The folks in Redmond seem determined to have us buy new operating system every 3 - 5 years. At present I see no need to upgrade without a really compelling reason.

 

[bigcitycat]

It will be a long time before you can run custom themes in windows 8. I am sticking with 7. I would test 8 on a dual boot though.

 

[Win7User512]

why are they releasing W8 so fast?

W7 i just getting established!!!!

MS has to start a real, serious OS lifecycle, since the last OS release schedules have been terrible. When was the last time they made a release date prior to W7?

 

[MilesAhead]

Not sure I'll be making the jump to 8 too quickly. I like 7, it works, and for me has run without issue for 2 years.It will take some big improvements now to budge me off 7.

Danny

After being burned by Vista preSP1 I insisted on running Seven with settings that worked in Vista. Such as prefetching only boot files, no swap etc..

Finally curiosity got the better of me and I changed Seven prefetch options to the default pair of '3's. I gave it a one GB page file, and set Superfetch to delayed start. It's running very smoothly. Of course I'm not about to let it index my drives. Sticking with Everything Search.

Still, it's smoother than I expected. Setting Superfetch to delayed start just avoids the disk churning for a long time at boot. After I open a few apps then the Standby memory uses all I have as expected.

 

[Lebon14]

"Last days"? They are dreaming... OMG. Windows 7 is by far the best OS Microsoft has ever released.