New
#81
I live in Portland, Oregon... This town is retro, retro, retro, we have several vinyl record stores, Walmart or our local Fred Meyer (part of the Kroger group) have DVD's and CD's and our Powell's books is world renowned. And CD's? what are you talking about? You can buy them on Amazon, Google, iTunes, in addition to the above I mentioned. My goodness, where is it that you live? You must not be an audio/video type person.
As for this part, Really? You act like no one else provides a desktop interface, I don't see Linux or OSX going away any time soon. Your loyalty to Microsoft is understandable, but there really are other options. As for a unified ecosystem Ubuntu has been doing this for years, I just don't see Microsoft dragging us anywhere, other than trying to keep up.
Last edited by Trust_No1; 05 Jul 2015 at 00:09.
HippsieGypsie, indeed, it took me a while! After I tested Windows 8.1 properly (not just on a Virtual Machine), it became abundantly clear that it is greatly superior to Windows 7 in every aspect except for some of the user interface (UI) designs, such as Aero. I cannot believe how fast Windows 8.1 boots up on my PC; it literally loads to the Windows Desktop in two seconds. The power off, "Shut Down" procedure is completed at an equally amazing pace.
As regards my comment about the UI, I like certain aspects of the Windows 8.1 UI better than Windows 7, such as the smoother Taskbar. However, I really needed to customise the setup to feel comfortable with it, so I installed Classic Shell and Aero Glass 8.1. Now, it feels extremely familiar and almost identical to Windows 7 in terms of the UI, but with amazingly improved system performance; I am extremely pleased with Windows 8.1! :)
Here is a screenshot of what my Windows 8.1 Desktop looks like after undertaking the aforementioned customisations.
Thanks for the information, Jeff. I have one extra question, if you don't mind. I assume that you're an accomplished Windows 8.1 user. In your experience, what practical benefits does Windows 10 offer over Windows 8.1? Do you see any improved system performance? From the evaluations on Windows 10 that I have conducted thus far, I am not overly impressed with Windows 10, to be honest; I stated "strongly dislike" in my original post on this thread, which I think was somewhat of an overstatement. All of my evaluations of Windows 10 have been conducted on a Virtual Machine, so my tests have, by no means, been comprehensive.
In my opinion Windows 8.1 Pro does everything that I need from an OS. It is also faster, at least on my PC, than every build of Windows 10 that I've tried. Also, I'm not ready to give up Media Center and I like having the Control Panel. That being said, I will keep my Windows 8.1 Pro install and do the Windows 10 upgrade over my Windows 7 install. I've had my Windows 7 install since Windows 7 was first released and it has become bloated with time. I could do a clean install of Windows 7, but figure I would rather do that with Windows 10, as it is the OS of the future.