W7 Prediction

[lehnerus2000]

MS does not force anyone to upgrade ...

MS might not do it, but your employer can (and often does) do it.

 

[gregrocker]

A sobering experience today installing Win7 on several new laptops and realizing it is finally showing its age, as compared to Dual Boots with the TP that set up in half the time.

It's hard to break off an affair that's been as intense as the one with Win7. It has been quite a ride that never stopped even for a day since beta in 2009 and is one of the high points of my life. I took personally the insult that Windows 8 was its logical successor, feeling we'd landed suddenly in some alternative universe where a billion MS customers' preferences made no difference. I couldn't restrain myself from objecting passionately even though I felt I might be risking my MVP. But I knew it was really a show of profound loyalty and in the end MS has come around to provide the clearly logical successor.

So I am wistful. We have so much here to be proud of. I join you in lamenting the beginning of the end of the greatest OS ever, here in it's own Crowded House.

 

[lehnerus2000]

Not "down and out" just yet

So I am wistful. We have so much here to be proud of. I join you in lamenting the beginning of the end of the greatest OS ever, here in it's own Crowded House.

I wouldn't count W7 as "down and out" just yet.

MS still has plenty of time to "snatch defeat from the jaws of victory".

IMO, the last two updates for W10 TP (b9860 & b9879) have made the OS worse than W10 TP b9841 (which was pretty much perfect).

 

[MouseGolf]

It boggles the mind that people don't consider the "masses". They are the ones that will not like anything straying away from the familiar UI created in Windows 95.

Regardless of what country you are from, if you drive a car you don't want the steering wheel attached to the backseat, the shifter replaced with a touchscreen and the accelerator become a button you push on the dashboard. That's how different W8-W10 are in comparison to the way billions embarked on the Windows learning curve back in 1994.

Foolish for M$ to try and be "trendy", "faddish" or mimic someone else's OS.

 

[Barman58]

I do get fed up with the never ending "the last OS was best" circus thats comes round every time a new OS is released by Microsoft, I've heard it since early dos days. Enthusiasts like the majority of members here live up to their name by being enthusiastic either for or against, nothing Wrong with that the majority of windows users are not enthusiasts, they are home and business users who think windows is internet explorer or word or excel, they see what they use when on the computer, doing what the use the computer for. they do not spend all day worrying about aero or modern interfaces, if a tile can show them info they want or need they use it, if not they don't.

A lot is said about Windows 7 Being the best OS ever, I used it as my main OS from pre beta days, because it was a good evolutionary step forward from Vista, which was probably the more revolutionary OS. I think that the OS that made the most impression on me was Windows 2000, which spawned the eternal favourite XP, (Windows 2000 with a UI by Walt Disney), which was not a bad OS when they got to SP2, and ironed out all the bugs added when they re-packaged 2000 for the consumer market.

I spend 8-12 Hours a day in front of a windows machine and I see the OS for a hour or less of that time so interface bells and whistles are irrelevant to me, and this is more so of the majority of users who almost never do much at all outside of their applications.

As a point of interest I some months ago was running Windows 7 on my main machine and used RDP to link to a Windows 8.1 system and ran some applications, it was only when I went to log off about 6 hours later I realised I was in the Windows 8.1 environment and not windows 7 as I thought - That shows How much the OS UI is less important than the application UI for most of the time.

 

[mjf]

I think Windows 10 is already a better OS, faster and with improvements that I can use. It has kept me from returning to Windows 7 since the day I installed it.

From you Greg (your W7 interest etc) that is one strong endorsement. Compatibility with some of my existing software is probably going to be a disadvantage.

 

[gregrocker]

Good point Nigel about we here being enthusiasts and the difference vis a vis average consumers. Even then I think the Start screen was too much for (statistically) 85% of consumers

Michael I was introduced to TP product team at MVP Summit by Rob Brown who is top poster at MS forums as "the biggest supporter of Win7. If you convince him then you've done something." I replied that "I'm convinced." I then passionately appealed for a Clean Reinstall Reset on Win10 for factory OEM which is how most people get the OS.

They seemed interested and fully agreed that it is in MS's ultimate interest to have the OS in pristine form. I am convinced there won't be any interference at the least, something it took us years to achieve in 7.

I also argued that apps are a foreign currency most people won't use. I suggested A video introducing mail app might get these started as its a nice convenience to have all your mailboxes in one interface with such a big reading pane.

 

[MouseGolf]

Good point about we here being enthusiasts and the difference to average consumers.

Thank you. It's redundant for me to say this but anyone of us who participates in forums about Operating Systems, Overclocking, Firmware, Hardware etc. DO NOT represent the people in the world who simply power on a computer and go directly to their favorite programs/apps.

Those "masses" are the people we remote specialists help who get so angry that M$ strays away from something they could rely on, like the light switch next to the door on the right hand side.

 

[Barman58]

Greg I can remember an Outlook/Exchange Server Migration I was involved with a year or so back, approximately 7000 seats ( team of 10 engineers) - moving from a mixture of local machine and remote server (Hong Kong) storage to local server (UK) for a UK Company's Email/Calendar system. the systems were an eclectic mix of XP/Vista/W7 Machines which meant a slightly different approach for the migration. I was allocated to the top floor (excecutive & technical offices), so assumed I would be dealing with users with some computer savy - wrong !! I soon stopped asking "what OS are you running " and being treated like I was speaking in pigeon Serbo-Croat, and just suggested they grab a cup of coffee and i got on with it!!

We managed the migration in the allotted 10 days and got our bonuses

 

[alphanumeric]

Windows 7 was, is a great OS. It ranks up there as one of my favorites. I don't see the point in regurgitating it as Windows 11 though. Microsoft is moving forward not backward? IMHO, doing that would be step back.

If your already running Windows 7, would you actually pay again to use the same OS that's been rebranded and had features removed? I wouldn't.

 

[Layback Bear]

My three brain cells keep telling me they want W-10 to be the best operating system ever.
I don't know if that is going to happen but their is hope.

 

[lehnerus2000]

Interesting

As a point of interest I some months ago was running Windows 7 on my main machine and used RDP to link to a Windows 8.1 system and ran some applications, it was only when I went to log off about 6 hours later I realised I was in the Windows 8.1 environment and not windows 7 as I thought - That shows How much the OS UI is less important than the application UI for most of the time.

I can only assume that you weren't using the Start Screen in W8, otherwise it would be obvious which OS you were using.

Still I would've thought that the blinding Diamond White theme would have alerted you.

 

[Barman58]

Not really, I was working and moderating here - using Firefox full screen, which looks identical on both W7 and W8.1, I was in the one application for the whole period, which is what a lot of users do in their day to day work or home use.

 

[lehnerus2000]

Aha

Not really, I was working and moderating here - using Firefox full screen, which looks identical on both W7 and W8.1, I was in the one application for the whole period, which is what a lot of users do in their day to day work or home use.

That makes sense.

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

I would agree with an update of 7 - but not with your list of changes. Especiall the libraries which I think are a very useful feature. And I also want Aero as default.

And I don't understand John's long tooth. For the desktop, 7 is still the ultimate in my book. And who needs touch on a PC. I have 1 laptop with touch. I have yet to use it for the firat time.

I also disagree with removing libraries. Besides being useful, there is no need to get rid of them; if you don't want to use them, simply don't use them.

So what if Win 7 is long in the tooth? So am I. Does that mean I should be put out to pasture, even though I'm still functional (more or less :sarc: )? Win 7 still meets my needs and is compatible with all my software and hardware so I don't see why it won't for four or five more years.

 

[lehnerus2000]

Unless W10 is spectacular, I can see W7 lasting as long as XP (i.e. a decade or more).

 

[Barman58]

Windows 7 will carry on, in some systems for as long as people wish to use it and there is still suitable hardware available to run it on - but eventually it will be consigned to the past - like every operating system before it and in the future. It's called progress. No one is forced to upgrade an operating system on hardware that is still fit for it's purpose -

What we all have to accept is the windows 7 we have now is advanced as it will ever be - the possible hardware we will have in three or five years time will not be what we have now, what it will be I have not a clue, But I'm looking forward to finding out, it's one of the reasons I've been in this business as long as I have

I grew up in a world when a computer filled a large room, now I carry a device in my pocket that gives me access to more knowledge than was accessible on all the computers available when I was in school, and it makes phone calls too.

I like progress, I remember the past but I don't want to go back there

 

[Layback Bear]

I remember the family first phone hanging on the wall.
A party line with 8 to 10 homes on the same line. Any body could listen in on every bodies phone conversations, plus the operator.

Now we have phones that are also computers that you can carry in your pocket.
I like progress also but their is a downside.

Now instead of 8 to 10 people listening to your phone call, the whole world might be listening to your phone conversations and the NSA is the mother of all operators.

I guess I will just have to take the good with the bad and move forward.

As you can tell I do remember the past; I just don't dwell on it.

 

[MouseGolf]

If the navigation pane showed Documents, Pictures, Videos and Music would that not be the same as Libraries? What happened to Libraries in W10? They are redundant, that's why they no longer exist.

Libraries are merely a shortcut to the Main User Folders/Files.

 

[MouseGolf]

Right click your desktop and put your User Folder and Computer Icons back on the desktop and you have Windows XP again.