I'll be sticking with 7 until I'm either forced to update (which will probably happen) or something equally nice looking and amazingly functional comes along. Sticking with this!
He helped me set up my current desktop and gave me some software, gear and a lot of tips and advice. I trust the guy implicity because this computer is at least in part his own handiwork. When he says "don't waste your money and get this unless the company eventually forces you to" then I listen. He knows more in one pinkie finger about computers and operating systems than I do in both hands put together. If and when Microsoft basically forces people to switch over to 8 or a successor because it will no longer support the older systems then fine. It's not like I'd have much of a choice at that point. But until then 7 Ultimate does everything I need it to, is easy to navigate and offers a lot of good features that I've spent time getting used to. I like it. A lot.
I dont get the Win 8 hate. Yeah, Metro isnt great, but overall its like Win 7 with a couple enhancements.
I wouldn't dismiss it so quickly. Now that Microsoft is going to put back the start orb so you don't need a 3rd party hack for it, it's easy to get used to Windows 8. And it's fine for general purpose use. Plus, performance wise it is an improvement over 7 and it is reputed to provide a longer battery run time on portable devices. However, what I *don't* like is the licensing changes that Microsoft has planned. Microsoft intends to eventually move all of their productivity software to a usage based licensing fee by default, rather than perpetual. And Adobe is already starting to do this as well. Windows 8 helps facilitate it. You can go perpetual, but end up paying a huge amount for it (hence, they're nudging people into paying less in the short run but more in the long run). For that reason, I am not moving to Windows 8. I have Windows 7 and Ubuntu, and plan to get a Hackintosh Intel laptop with OSX Mountain Lion.
Well, I'm going from a woefully out of date Athalon/Windows XP system to an i5/Windows 7 one, so I think I'll be OK without Windows 8.
So that means users will have to pay a monthly fee in order to keep using Windows? Man, that sucks. I take it Win 7 doesn't have that problem? (I also hope it doesn't have that insane "activation" scheme that Win XP had.)
I just don't see Windows users putting up with having their own OS require a subscription. Office365 is different, it's not a core requirement for operating the computer. Having the OS be a subscription is straying dangerously close to extortion - i.e. "keep paying us money or your computer won't work".
I sure wouldn't tolerate a monthly paid subscription for a simple OS. If something like that goes down expect a major fertilizer landslide to happen and rock the industry.
No, the OS won't have a subscription. But certain software packages will, like "Windows365". I did a little more digging and apparently I'd been given some misinformation. The Windows 8 operating system facilitates Windows Apps, something that Windows 7 can't do. And apparently there will be apps that bill based on usage, rather than perpetual. I also read this blurb on InfoWorld that Windows 8 sales have been falling off rather rapidly, in stark contrast to how Windows 7 sold in its first year. It'll be interesting to see how Microsoft is going to react to this. Maybe much of the apprehension for Windows 8 was the dramatic change to the UI, so with 8.1 I wouldn't be surprised if they run another ad campaign. They did one when Vista first fell on its face (then was later damage controlled by providing much better 3rd party driver support). The "refreshed" Vista turned out well. I still use it on one of my laptops and it's virtually indistinguishable from Windows 7 (discontinuing the Aero theme). Btw, if any of you are interested in alternative UI widgets, check out Rocket Dock. I use it for both Vista and Seven. It provides a Mac-like toolbar that is highly customizable. Really terrific and helpful for reducing the number of desktop shortcuts.
They're "apps" as in the same thing that Apple does for iPad. In essence, what that means is that Windows 8 will be the only Windows OS going forward that will have the ability to download "apps." If you're using Windows 7 or earlier, you'll just have to download programs to your desktop or laptop.
I'm using Windows 8 on my laptop, the plan was originally to partition off some of it's 1tb hard drive and put Ubuntu or Mint on there but the UEFI is a pig to get round to install it. And I can't be arsed taking the time to disable it to attempt the install. But I have installed a start button and go straight to desktop and I actually don't mind it. There are somethings that are actually improvements on Windows 7 there.