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#21
Unifex, I agree absolutely with everything you have written. Nice post!
Unifex, I agree absolutely with everything you have written. Nice post!
It really doesn't matter what anyones opinion is. Microsoft is on this path and will not be changing it.
You have two options, stick with Windows 7 until it no longer works for you, or get on the new platform. Windows 7 will only be supported for another 5 years.. which is a long time for sure, but 5 years comes pretty quickly. Remember, Windows 7 was released 6 years ago. You can keep using it after it's no longer supported, but you'll be at increased risk from malware and other attacks.
What's more, IE will become less and less supported as well, so you will find more and more sites that want you to be on Edge (you will of course be able to use Chrome or FF, but even Chrome drops support.. for instance, Chrome is dropping XP support this year).
So you can either cling to the melting iceberg of Windows 7 for dear life, or just bite the bullet now.
Surely, the world goes forward and eventually one has to get up to date. On the other hand, from a users perspective, change for the sake of change makes no sense. For example, I still keep an old XP laptop and moreover use it more or less regularly. Not for work, but for a few very specific tasks. I have no other machine for those tasks. It does its job and whether or not Google and Microsoft support XP makes no difference to me whatsoever.
Now, at work we get standard Linux boxes, but I prefer to use Windows, so I use my new laptop. Is there any particular reason why? Actually no, both systems will do what I have to do equally well (I really don't care is one is few nanoseconds faster than another). But, I find Windows more familiar and while I'm sure I can tune the Linux box to give me the same experience, I don't want to waste my time on that.
Now this familiarity is important to me. At work, I use computers as tools. I really don't care which OS is there as long as it runs the software that I need. But given that most OSs do the job, I choose the one which is more familiar, so that I don't have to waste time on getting used to something else. A brand new OS might actually have a few quirks that need to be worked out, so jumping to Windows 10 on July 29th might be OK on a test machine, but it's plain silly at work or on my main system at home.
Why didn't I use Windows 8? Since there was too much change where there is no need for change. Mobility, touch, voice, it's all nice and dandy, but it won't help me write 50-page documents or diagonalize large matrices. Sure, maybe 100 years form now, one will be able to simply tell a computer "hey, what's the 10th eigenvalue of that matrix I have on the board?", but for now that's just on Star Trek. The desktop experience does not really need that much change. Do I need all those live tiles? No, I don't. Do I want to have Aero? Yes, I do, I like how it looks and I like to have some of the windows transparent. Was there any task that was important to me that could be done better (or faster, etc.) on Windows 8 as compared to 7? I don't think I can name even one. That's it, to me that means that there was no need to switch to Windows 8. It's the same with Windows 10. If 5 years from now Windows 7 will no longer be adequate to my tasks - I will switch in an instant (and I will know what to do, that's why I am testing 10,). But to change the OS today, just because at some point down the road it will be necessary - I don't see any logic in that.
Security improvements alone are a good reason to upgrade an OS. And keep in mind.. no one is forcing anyone to upgrade to Win10.
The one place where Microsoft looks harder than any users of their software, is the future. They can lose money in the market to competitors in the short term, but not too far into the future.
There are new markets opening up and these force Microsoft to change their direction. If Microsoft still just made PC software, it would miss out on the opportunities for mobile computing and especially the mobile phone market. If it didn't branch out into the Cloud, there would be a smaller marketplace for independent software writers.
So far it has found the phone market very difficult to leverage, and every iPhone or Android mobile that gets replaced by another model from the same stable cuts Microsoft's profitability down.
Big firms can go bust, taking their flagship products down with them, ending up as just a marker in the history of failed business strategies.
Microsoft know what they are doing, and just because it upsets some of their long suffering users, they will not change their plan to be amongst the leaders in their field for as long as they can, whatever the direction that field leads in.
Now the question is, would you see your computing needs in the future being handled by old, well worn and comfortable software, or modern, fashionable, but a little tight and perhaps made of lighter material than you are used to? If the former, you are not paying a penny to Microsoft beyond your Initial investment - yet you still expect Microsoft to listen to you and do things the way they have been done in the past, because it suits you.
Or would you see Microsoft going down the drain because they did not change as fast as their rivals did? Then of course, there would be no new Windows to complain about, you would either be stuck, making do with what you have already, rapidly becoming more obsolete, or getting totally new kit to run unfamiliar systems, and retraining your whole business?
We owe a debt of gratitude to Microsoft because it has changed the world, making personal computing popular, usable and increasingly affordable and capable. Just because a few features you liked in the past have not made it into the newest build, it does not stop you from continuing to use your old system until you find that someone has written an app to fill the gap, or maybe you might just do it yourself and make your fortune.
"Write an app to fill the gap!"
Some on here naming no names since I don't want to get banned state that Windows 7 is old tech blah blah blah. Microsoft this......etc.
Since most corporate users have just moved to 7 from XP I don't see hospitals, schools, councils etc moving to 10 any time soon if ever. All the BS about new apps being the way forward. What new apps? I have not seen any nor do I ever need to. Win 32/64 is not going anywhere soon. Windows 10 is a steaming pile and the more you read into the "FREE" upgrade plan becomes not to free. Any change of the hardware could cause a reactivation which is not covered under the free upgrade. So change too much of your computer and you are dumped back to your old OS or you need to buy a key. See my post here.
RTM/GA or Insider - What are you going to do? - Page 5 - Windows 10 Forums
Look how they have changed their minds over the last few weeks. Yes you can have a copy of the OS for testing it. No you can't.
Microsoft cannot be trusted. Windows 7 is the peak of the OS and it is down hill from there. Windows 10 is a dumbed down OS for those who live in the mobile world. Unfortunately that boat sailed without Microsoft and they have Zero market share. This is going to be a colossal fail for Microsoft and the only Geeks who cannot see this are blinded by the Microsoft Kool Aid and think everything that M$ makes, says or does is bloody great. Not me I have been fair and have tested the software extensively to no avail.
Fafhrd, you have raised some interesting points, although I believe that we have palpably opposing philosophies. I do not feel any gratitude toward Microsoft whatsoever. Microsoft is a transnational business corporation. Its primary goal is to amass high sales revenue and profit margins; it's all about money, let us not be fooled into believing that this is not driving force behind Microsoft's core objectives.
I am hugely fond of a number of Microsoft's software products including Windows 7 and Office 2003, for example; however, I have no emotional attachment to Microsoft as a company. I agree with Indianatone in relation to Microsoft's obsession to compete in all contemporary computing markets including mobile technology and web search. I strongly contend that Microsoft is wasting its time in these domains. I feel that it will never adequately compete with Apple and Google in the mobile market, nor will Microsoft's Bing web search engine ever come anywhere near close to competing with Google's web search engine. In my humble opinion, Microsoft should admit defeat in these markets, stop spending large sums of money on Bing and its mobile computing range and concentrate on maintaining the incredibly high Windows operating system market share (approximately 90%) that it currently holds for desktop PCs and laptops; this market is the "bread and butter" for Microsoft. If Microsoft continues to try and compete with Apple and Google in the mobile computing market, by creating what I perceive to be mobile-centric operating systems, it could risk losing its intense domination in the PC and laptop operating system market, which would be a huge shame. Lastly, although tablet computer sales will probably supersede PC and laptop sales, PCs and laptops are here to stay; of that I have no doubt.