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#10
It's just a naming game, Vista could have been called W7, the 1st W7 would then have been sp1, & the current W7 would be sp2 :)
I hated it, but less and less over time, added Classic Shell and am now quite impressed. It's fast, it works, it's stable, there's some very good stuff under the 'metro' layer. Still feel sick looking at and using 'metro' (on any non-touch), but time will tell if it can be useful, at least now do not have to see it, it's just an optional extra for potential future use.This! I HATE Windows 8.
As of right now, the official Microsoft lifecycle for End of Support is:
January 12, 2015 for mainstream support and January 14, 2020 for extended support
Of course, this is subject to change.
Windows lifecycle fact sheet - Microsoft Windows
Until Microsoft and OEMs resolve my Broadcom Bluetooth 2.1 not working (even with compatibility mode) on Windows 8, I won't consider upgrading to it.
Notice a patern Windows 2000 up to SP4 Windows XP SP3 Windows Vista SP2 Windows 7 SP1
I would rather pay for updates for Windows 7 than move to a brain dead OS like Windows 8. I have real work to accomplish and I can't do it in an acceptable way on Windows 8. I am the one doing MY work so MY way is the ONLY way that counts. If you can live with Windows 8, good for you. I can't!
Microsoft should have made two separate editions of Windows 8 for the two different types of user; very much like there is different editions of the same operating system for different needs of each user.
So, have Windows 8 Professional for Desktops and have Windows 8 Professional for Tablets, then everyone will be able to benefit from the better performance of Windows 8.
Microsoft has already made two separated editions of Windows. One for the desktop: Windows 7 and one for tablets: Windows 8. The only problem is they plan to kill Windows 7 rather than make it better.
They insist the future will only be workable for people who only want to consume content, bought only from them, using hand held battery powered toys. Unless they change their path, don't expect Windows 9 to be anything but more of the same. Windows 8 is not even as good as a Vista 2.0. It is Windows 1.0 rising out of the murky depths of ancient history stripped of nearly everything that made it useful and made much harder to use.
Microsoft seems to think they can survive satisfying teenagers and their mental equivalents who are tweeting, facebooking, watching videos, trading photos, etc. They hope they can get away with giving the finger to the very large population of computer users who do real work with real computers. This last group are the ones who actually create the valuable content that Microsoft plans to conscript and make a profit from. What is worse, the productive users are expected to create that valuable content working with a toy OS on battery powered toys bounded on every side by Microsoft restrictions.
IBM tried very much the same thing in the 1970s and got shoved unto a corner: hard. They got replaced by minicomputers and eventually PC desktop computers. They were almost dead until they re-invented themselves as a service company. They have yet to achieve their former glory of owning the word "computer" and the belief that "No one ever got fired for specifying IBM".
What IBM forgot and Microsoft seems to have forgotten, is that computer power in the hands of a productive individual makes them more productive and more effective. This happens only when they don't have to ask "mother may I" to do what they need to do with that power. The goal seems to be to convert the computer power into a leash around the neck of a user and a vacuum hose into the user's bank account. Thereby to charge a fee for every required "mother may I" request. I see no reason to fall down that rabbit hole.