win 7 pro or win 8.1

[radracing]

hi, I'm wanting to upgrade my win 7 home prem to win 7 pro or win 8.1 which would be the best I hear alot of bad things about win 8-8.1. I'm leaning to win 7 pro ???????????????? I need advice

 

[MrWhoopee]

What do you hope to gain by either upgrade? Will either one provide something that you need and don't already have?

 

[gregrocker]

Windows 8 is a touchscreen optimized OS which does not work as well on desktops with mouse and keyboard. For users who want the traditional desktop experience it is often frustrating, which is totally unnecessary since Win7 provides the perfect desktop experience and shows no signs of age.

I would base my upgrade decision on which of the actual features you may (or may not) need in the higher version. http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/14422-compare-windows-7-editions.html

Otherwise they are the exact same OS.

Since Anytime Upgrade is not available in Windows 7 now you'd need to buy a Professional key to insert into http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/95744-windows-anytime-upgrade-how.html to unlock the few extra expensive features you know for sure you need. The best prices I see for these are on Tiger Direct which regularly has Pro OEM for $135, Home Premium for $89. New Egg also stocks these.

 

[BJB]

Windows 8 is a touchscreen optimized OS which does not work as well on desktops with mouse and keyboard.

That's certainly true of the original Win 8, and to a lesser extent true of 8.1 too. However the 8.1 major update released this week, on the day XP support ended, has gone a long way towards making 8.1 desktop friendly and has also successfully integrated desktop and the modern interface. You need to try it.

It's put me in quite a dilemma as I have a new custom desktop on order and it's got me wondering whether my decision to stay with 7 is still the right decision. The only reason I can think of now to stay with 7 is aero, as on pretty well everything else 8.1 is either level or getting its nose ahead.

 

[gregrocker]

I have tried 8.1 and find the faux-Start button to be just as cumbersome when compared with the real Start button in Win7. What about 8.1 might we be missing?

This is not yet the update to return to legacy Start menu which was promised last week, just like it was promised in 8.1 and never delivered. Many classic start menus were disabled by 8.1.

Even with Classic Shell, you still must invest a lot of work in uninstalling the crApps to set a tolerable reader, picture viewer, media player, etc as defaults. In some cases these won't cooperate or lead to dead ends.

Understand that the intention of Windows 8 was to kill off the Start menu and desktop to provide the same experience as iPad where only approved apps are run from start screen. That they are attempting to cobble back on some of the desktop functions is because it is an utter failure, to try to convert a billion customers from the desktop perfected in Win7 to an iPad-knockoff OS.

 

[BJB]

Sorry, but those who resort to start menus like Classic Shell are simply wasting their time and money on 8.1 and might just as well stick with 7.

 

[Sir George]

hi, I'm wanting to upgrade my win 7 home prem to win 7 pro or win 8.1 which would be the best I hear alot of bad things about win 8-8.1. I'm leaning to win 7 pro ???????????????? I need advice

Your question goes along the path of "Which is better belt or suspenders?" It depends and answers will vary according to personal preference. I have both and prefer to use Windows 7. However, if I had a touch screen I may change that.

HTH

 

[BJB]

...Even with Classic Shell, you still must invest a lot of work in uninstalling the crApps to set a tolerable reader, picture viewer, media player, etc as defaults. In some cases these won't cooperate or lead to dead ends....

I just don't follow this at all. There is absolutely no need to uninstall apps in order to default to something else. Right clicking a pdf file for example and following Open with ..Set default program is all that is required.

Misconceptions about 8.1 abound.

 

[gregrocker]

I set up 8 about a dozen times during which I installed Windows 7 Start Menu for Windows 8 which no longer works in 8.1 and tried the faux Start button in 8.1 several times.

Even with the exact Win7 explorer Start Menu grafted on, it still opens the crApp version of reader, media player, picture viewer, etc. until they are either uninstalled or changed in Control Panel defaults which is much more work than consumers want to do.

I know how to Open With from right click context menu which is not a solution. Having an OS that opens your chosen programs by default without having to spend days reconfiguring these is what most consumers want.

 

[whs]

If you don't need any additional function, I would not upgrade at all - waste of money. But if you want to spend the money, on the desktop you are probably better off with Windows 7. But 8.1.1. (the latest upgrade) is not too bad either. It depends on how adventurous you are. I have both and get along with both. But 8.1 is best with a touch screen.

 

[Golden]

hi, I'm wanting to upgrade my win 7 home prem to win 7 pro or win 8.1 which would be the best I hear alot of bad things about win 8-8.1. I'm leaning to win 7 pro ???????????????? I need advice

Go with 8.1 Pro...its really not at all as bad as people make it out to be. Its pretty easy to fine-tune to your liking once you know how, and finding out isn't hard either. All you need to do is ask at EightForums

 

[Nigsy]

+1 for Windows 8.1.

Ignore the doom mongers and there reliance on the old start menu.....things move on. I have 8.1 on my work laptop (Not touchscreen) and after a little setting up find that it's actually quite user friendly. I'm not a fan of live tiles but the ones I use serve their purpose. The traditional desktop is there and easily accessed (live tile by default) the old windows key + D comb will get you to desktop as it always has and Windows Key +X will give you a menu to access to other functionality...control panel etc.

It really isn't that bad at all...and this is coming from a Linux user!

 

[SundRance]

Does Windows 8.1 NOT include Microsoft's new ribbon thing in Windows Explorer? If so, that would be fair reason to avoid any flavor of Windows 8. The new ribbon thing Microsoft is so infatuated with is intolerable to me. They went so far as to change WordPad and Paint in versions of Windows 7. It was a pretty simple hack to revert back to the older version of WordPad ... and I have an older version of Windows Live Mail that, thankfully, does not include the ribbon.

I'm pretty happy with Windows 7 and see no reason whatever to upgrade for upgrade's sake.

Best Wishes,
Rªnce

 

[whs]

I tend to like the ribbon. It gives you a certain commonality across different components. And in most components you can always hide it.

 

[SundRance]

Goes to show, each his own. I would have thought having standard menus, File, Edit, View, Help ... would be enough commonality. I find the ribbon lacks keyboard support. In fact, even in Windows 7 we've lost keyboard support, or at least there are functions for which there is no keyboard command. I am thinking about the little down arrow between the back and forward buttons and the address bar in Explorer. That's a great little item for which I have not yet discovered a keyboard way to activate.

I'm curious to see if Windows 9 (or whatever it will be called) contains features and an interface I can appreciate. And I am already looking into non-Microsoft solutions.

Be Well,

 

[indianacarnie]

Windows 8 is a touchscreen optimized OS which does not work as well on desktops with mouse and keyboard. For users who want the traditional desktop experience it is often frustrating, which is totally unnecessary since Win7 provides the perfect desktop experience and shows no signs of age.

I would base my upgrade decision on which of the actual features you may (or may not) need in the higher version. http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/14422-compare-windows-7-editions.html

Otherwise they are the exact same OS.

Since Anytime Upgrade is not available in Windows 7 now you'd need to buy a Professional key to insert into http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/95744-windows-anytime-upgrade-how.html to unlock the few extra expensive features you know for sure you need. The best prices I see for these are on Tiger Direct which regularly has Pro OEM for $135, Home Premium for $89. New Egg also stocks these.

 

[whs]

SundRance, It is always good to look at alternatives. But the grass is now always greener at the other side.

I am running a few Linux distros on the side (in virtual or from a stick) and some of them are really nice. But the learning curve is a lot steeper then e.g. moving fro 7 to 8.1. Plus there are a lot of programs in Windows we got used to - and those you do not find. You find other, similar programs, but those are completely different again.

I am a system guy and I like to tinker with those alternatives. And they may be good alternatives for people that do simple things like web browsing, mail or office stuff. But if you delve deeper into the functions, then you have to be willing to learn a lot more than when you switch within Windows systems - even from XP to let's say 8.1.

 

[SundRance]

I love operating systems. I don't play games and the like, but I do enjoy exploring operating systems, and trying to learn how they work and what they do. I do use specific programs too, and would want to try and modify them to run under a Linux system.

I've been playing with Disc images, but after the last couple of times playing around with some of the flavors available have just about bought onto the idea of duel booting. After than it would just a step away from leaving Microsoft behind. Especially if the three or four software packages I use a lot could be made to function in Linux. We'll see.

I do love Windows 7 and think it is the best operating system I've had the pleasure of playing with.

 

[whs]

Did you try to run the Windows program with the Wine in Linux ?

 

[SundRance]

Not yet. I'm happy with my rigs now and I have a machine in reserve. As long as I don't have to move away from Windows 7 and I can keep using application versions that don't use the ribbon, I'm content.

I'm thinking about portioning to duel boot other systems just to play with Linux versions. I guess if I go that far it's time to start testing running the few programs I do now use.

As I said, I really, really like Windows 7, and I won't upgrade to a new version without good reason.