Windows 8

[Yegolev]

http://support.microsoft.com/lifecycle/search/default.aspx?sort=PN&alpha=Windows+7&Filter=FilterNO

Extended support ends 1/14/2020.

[Trippy]

Is there a definite date for when Windows 7 isn't going to be available anymore?

Retail copies stopped October 30 2013. Originally they listed October 30 2014 as the end of OEM copies but they retracted that.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/products/lifecycle#section_2

[Reg]

Oh good. My current system is four years old and runs Vista and I know I'm going to want to get a new one in the next year or so. I was worried that I'd need to get one now before Windows 7 stopped being available.

[calapine]

Oh good. My current system is four years old and runs Vista and I know I'm going to want to get a new one in the next year or so. I was worried that I'd need to get one now before Windows 7 stopped being available.

Windows 8 plus a Start8/Classic Shell type of programme to avoid Metro isn't that bad. It's basically Windows 7, sans the Areo glass GUI.

[Stormwaltz]

I've had a Win7 upgrade package for two years and never installed it. I really should get around to that.

I updated from XP to Vista-64 long after MS had un-fucked it, so I've never been driven to leave it.

[MahrinSkel]

I skipped Vista except for a laptop that wouldn't run XP (put 7 on later).  Just unborked an Alienware for someone else that came with 8, by peeling the sticker off their old system and installing 7.  Graphics benchmarks jumped 10% with no other changes.

MS is so lucky to be in such a dominant position that the only alternative to buying their completely screwed up product is to buy a different version of their product.  A mistake like this would kill any other company the first time.

--Dave

[calapine]

The end of support for Windows XP is good news for Windows...7.



Windows XP lost 3.2% market-share between February and April. Windows 7 gained 2.0% in the same time, more than Windows 8.0 and 8.1 combined (1.6%).

And Windows Vista doesn't even get it's own graph.  

Edit: And I think it's funny to see a Windows version with under 10% market share. Time to make "2014 is the year of Windows on the desktop!" jokes! 

[Merusk]

That's pretty damn funny.  It's got less penetration than Vista or ME at this point doesn't it?

That graph is less rage inducing than the DA3 link I read earlier today where supposed computer professionals were bragging about still running XP at home.

[Yegolev]

XP has to go because I can't watch all of the Uverse streams on it.

[Lantyssa]

That's pretty damn funny.  It's got less penetration than Vista or ME at this point doesn't it?

I don't know, but those were honestly terribly buggy pieces of crap.  All 8 really needs is Win 7's GUI and it'd be a solid OS.

Unfortunately Microsoft seemed to think everyone would be using a touch tablet just because.

[MahrinSkel]

Microsoft apparently thinks that if they don't make the touch UI the mandatory one, application developers won't re-build their systems for touch UI.  If they don't get serious productivity apps onto Surface, it will go the way of every other effort to force Windows users into a gesture-based system.  And they desperately want to 'consolize' the Windows ecosystem, something that won't happen if they can't get people to stop thinking of their computing devices as "computers".

--Dave

[Surlyboi]

 

[Miasma]

Looks like a good chunk of people are also willing to swith over to mac instead of using 8.

[Ingmar]

Looks like a good chunk of people are also willing to swith over to mac instead of using 8.

Not really. Most of that growth in OS X 10.9 is replacing prior versions of OS X that aren't listed (most likely encompassed in the "other" category which you can see dropping by more than the rise in OS X 10.9.)

[Baldrake]

Most of that growth in OS X 10.9 is replacing prior versions of OS X that aren't listed (most likely encompassed in the "other" category which you can see dropping by more than the rise in OS X 10.9.)

Yeah, you could almost conclude that the chart is intentionally misleading, since OS X 10.9 was released Oct 22, 2013, so it couldn't help but grow substantially after that.

Having said that, it looks like Mac sales are up quite nicely, up 19% year over year in Q1 2014. That's not too shabby given that PC sales are trending lower.

[shiznitz]

It is amazing that given the flop that is Windows 8, Microsoft stock has done so well since its launch, +48% vs +31% for the market.  The market knew 8 would be shit and just wanted it out, like a big shit that is giving you gas.

[Ingmar]

Probably because investors see them making big profits and don't get hung up on just one aspect of the business.

[Surlyboi]

Probably because investors see them making big profits and don't get hung up on just one aspect of the business.

If that was the case, APPL would be over 9000.

[Thrawn]

I still don't even get all the 8 hate other than "ERMAGHAD METRO".  Now that I've used 8 a bunch at work I find it's faster on 7 at home to just use Windows key and search than the start button.

[Chimpy]

The problem with 8 (and 2012) is that they made too many sweeping changes at once, many of which were ham fisted and made things considerably less efficient and are harder to use than their 7/2008 R2 counterparts.

A lot of the design changes were change for the sake of change.

As far as how the OS performs, it is noticeably better at a number if things, yes. I don't think anyone would deny that.

[NowhereMan]

I've started to get used to it and the underlying functionality certainly seems to be a bit more stable than 7. That said it took a few months to start getting used to it, the Metro UI I still don't use at all and I really don't get why they'd change so many things for the desktop environment the way they did except for the whole 'change for the sake of change'. Which pisses people off as they have to learn new shortcuts and ways to access things efficiently without navigating through a load of new pages.

[Lantyssa]

Plus I work with... not bright... individuals.  While I can muddle through well enough until I'm familiar, it's a significant enough change that it would stop our shop dead in the water for a month.

[Merusk]

I work with accountants who don't even know how to start up a new spreadsheet in Excel.

Windows 8? Hahahahahahaha.

[Engels]

Same here. We even got new desktops with touchscreens for the staff, but Windows 8 was out of the question. They struggle with basic stuff, like turning a computer off vs restarting vs logging off, they are NOT going to handle Metro.

I use a combo of Win 8 and Linux Mint at work and I'm not unhappy with 8. It seems to run very nicely on older hardware, even better than 7 did, but good lord did they make you click 8 things in the place of 2.

[Merusk]

Thinking about it, Technological Illiteracy is the bane of the 21st century.

[Phildo]

It's also why I, and several others here, have a job.  Praise be to the job creators!

[Lantyssa]

True that.

I use a combo of Win 8 and Linux Mint at work and I'm not unhappy with 8. It seems to run very nicely on older hardware, even better than 7 did, but good lord did they make you click 8 things in the place of 2.

That's what baffles me about Win 8 and 2012.  The underlying stuff is actually good.  It is faster and better.

The interface is horrible though.  And that's the thing most people care about.  It's pretty obvious that the only people working on it had all the latest technology and were enamored with it.  None of them actually tried it in a typical work environment.

[Fabricated]

Where I work, people who bought Surface Pros (tablet size, touchscreen) like Win8, people who bought new personal desktops at home with it and have to use a keyboard+mouse with it hate the shit out of it. Metro IMO works well enough on a tablet, and is dogshit with kb+mouse.

[Ingmar]

I like it fine with a mouse, where I feel like it really sucks is with a laptop touchpad.

[Phildo]

I find it super user-unfriendly as well, even though I've gotten somewhat acclimated to it.

[Numtini]

Where I work, people who bought Surface Pros (tablet size, touchscreen) like Win8, people who bought new personal desktops at home with it and have to use a keyboard+mouse with it hate the shit out of it. Metro IMO works well enough on a tablet, and is dogshit with kb+mouse.

Someone politically connected with a funding source other than my budget decided that the Surface Pro 3 was absolultely necessary to make their life complete. I have never seen anything that does so many things poorly and in a more convoluted manner. It is in every way inferior to both a tablet and a laptop, but costs more than both put together.

[Ingmar]

Hm, we have a Surface for testing, and I actually quite like it. The pricing is a problem though, if it were reasonable I'd consider it for my next tablet. Like 95% of what I'd use it for is gaming stuff and it would be nice to have a tablet-form device that I could run Hero Lab on at the table. (On a platform where I've already paid for all the licenses.)

[MahrinSkel]

I had planned to avoid Win8 completely, but I need to buy a new laptop, and even where Windows 7 is an option, it costs an extra $100 or so (since my budget is fixed, this means it comes out of hardware features).  If I have to get 8.1, what's the best way of going about stripping all the touch interface out of it and making it act as much as possible like 7?

--Dave

[Numtini]

Start menu 8 is free and does most of it. Occasionally it bugs out, but it seems mostly ok.

[Chimpy]

I had planned to avoid Win8 completely, but I need to buy a new laptop, and even where Windows 7 is an option, it costs an extra $100 or so (since my budget is fixed, this means it comes out of hardware features).  If I have to get 8.1, what's the best way of going about stripping all the touch interface out of it and making it act as much as possible like 7?

--Dave

Give 8.1 update 1 a try first before going whole hog on removing everything, as they added a lot of the stuff back in. There are still quirks of the display that are annoying but it is a usable desktop OS now without a touchscreen.