I've used every version of Windows since Windows 98 and I've also used many different Linux distros over the years, but I always end up coming back to windows. At first, I hated Windows 8 but once I got used to it, I love it. I use the start screen for news, weather, email, Wikipedia etc. basically simple things and I use the desktop for everything else. Once I got used to not having a start menu, I don't even miss it anymore. My laptop doesn't have a touch screen but I think even the new UI works fine with a mouse. As far as stability, in my case it is just as stable as windows 7.
As far as apps, the Windows store still has a long way to go compared to Android and iOS as far as variety and quality, that's my only real complaint.
Think many enterprises are using Win 7 now, and that's what they're staying with. XP is end of life and unsupported in just a few months. 7 has been around long enough, proven to be OK unlike Vista. Enterprise users didn't hardly use Vista at all AFAICT, and 8.0, 8.1 are likely to be the same.
Like Mike I had used windows since version 3. I remember the nightmare upgrade to 95 from 3.1 and I remember the IE intergration of Windows 98. Going from 98 to ME which really sucked and 2000 which was ok. XP which changed the direction of Windows from the Unsecure 9x systems to a bit of security. Vista was a complete disaster. 7 was ok. I played with 8 when it first came out just to see all the hoopla. Personally though Windows would have to go to Open Source before I think I will ever install it again. I hate it. I don't like having to fork out all the money that is needed to keep a proprietary system functioning.(Virus Ware, Ad ware, and etc) I personally am happy with the system I use. Is it perfect probably not but for me its close enough.
Like Mike I had used windows since version 3. I remember the nightmare upgrade to 95 from 3.1 and I remember the IE intergration of Windows 98. Going from 98 to ME which really sucked and 2000 which was ok. XP which changed the direction of Windows from the Unsecure 9x systems to a bit of security. Vista was a complete disaster. 7 was ok. I played with 8 when it first came out just to see all the hoopla. Personally though Windows would have to go to Open Source before I think I will ever install it again. I hate it. I don't like having to fork out all the money that is needed to keep a proprietary system functioning.(Virus Ware, Ad ware, and etc) I personally am happy with the system I use. Is it perfect probably not but for me its close enough.
Vista was a complete debacle. Think main problem was manufacturers were forced to install it on machines that were only really suitable for XP. And as a result it often wasn't a good experience. It was the prospect of only being able to buy a Vista laptop that first got me into Apple Macs and an interest in Linux.
What really done Win 8 in for me is Microsoft making it extremely difficult to use a non-Chinese version in China. There's a special PRC edition of Win 8 that only works in Chinese, and I'm sure has Beijing government backdoor access as well. Last September I spent 8 hours in a Beijing computer store wrestling with the damn thing on a new Lenovo Thinkpad, that a fellow expat friend was buying. The end result being a pirated copy of Win 8 Pro and a crack to keep it activated. In China PCs are often sold without an OS, i.e. no Windows license. I bought a new Lenovo laptop like that, had Win 7 on it, but it wasn't activated and had no Windows license number activation sticker.
Win 8x is fine if you have a touch screen, though the pile of flashing boxes isn't aesthetically pleasing to me. I also question the need for a touch screen in a traditional laptop format. It's cool, but having used one? A good touch pad that keeps your hands by the keyboard and your screen cruft free is preferable. The big problem was MS's decision to ram that touch interface down every users throat whether they had touch or not. The arrogant decision to push the market to their view of the future instead of listening to what their customers want isn't working out as well as they expected. They are still operating like they have a massive resource advantage over the competition, which is long gone! The other major head winds they face are that most people don't desire that all encompassing multitool like OS anymore, nor do many desire hideously over complicated office suites to create simple letters and databases. With the rise of mobile OS's like Android and iOS, the "average" user expects simple and fast. MS has never been successful at simple and fast. They were way too late embracing mobile and will probably never catch up in that race. With the (surprising to me) rise of the Chromebook they also face a direct and imminent threat to their core business.
I wouldn't say I love *any* OS. I love my kids, my wife, my dogs, that cute checkout clerk at ... um ... n/m about that.
I am an IT manager for a small enterprise and I am not looking forward to deploying any 8.x machines, but that's not a function of capability or compatibility, but training and consistency. With everyone on the same system/version support is "to do this you x, y and then z." With a mixed environment, it becomes a support desk quiz before anything can be done.
I've been a Windows user since 3.0. I did have a machine with 2.0, but I wouldn't call myself a user, since it wasn't usable. I went 3.1, 3.1.1, 95, NT, 98, 2K (skipped ME), XP, Vista, 7 and now 8, as well as several server editions.
I've been a linux and Mac user almost as long. With Linux, I started with Red Hat 5.0, and (in no specific order) Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora, Mint, CentOS, Puppy and probably a few others. My first Apple product was an Apple III. I remember seeing a Lisa demo in an Apple store (It was in Toms River, NJ ... it was raining ). I used System 5, 6, 7, 7.6, 8, 9 and OS X in several species.
Now that I registered a 94.75 on the who-cares-o-meter, I'd like to say that I think Vista got a bad rap much like 8 get's ripped in the media. It's just too much different all at one time and it upsets the user base who frankly cannot learn new tricks easily.
Here's a bit I wrote (I swear it was on AF, but I can't find it for the life of me) in answer to the question, did the media derail Vista.
Vista was a "train wreck" and was "plagued by compatibility" issues because people are reactionary confrontational idiots jumping up and down like screeching monkeys ready to point their banana of blame at anyone or anything for their own deficiencies.
Vista wasn't’t well received more as a matter of perception than one of technology, as well as Microsoft trying too hard to accommodate manufacturers, vendors and distributors.
From a user standpoint, Vista [Aero] represented a huge cosmetic change and people, who had pretty much grown up on XP were presented with an OS that “didn't work right” even though much of what Vista brought was more efficient and better integrated into the OS. People resist change even if it is a change for the better.
The driver issue should have been laid squarely at the feet of hardware vendors who had the time, information and responsibility to provide working drivers for their products. Unfortunately, MS had a history of allowing poorly coded drivers to have access to levels of the OS they shouldn't have, so with XP, many vendors took shortcuts that went directly against Microsoft’s API programming recommendations. The Vista RTM enforced those recommendations and broke the crappy drivers. Vendors knew this, but I suppose they believed that MS would back down at the last minute. Kudos to MS for not backing down, and shame on MS for not enforcing those rules a long time ago.
It goes without saying that people hate UAC. But those same people are the ones that need it most and understand it least. It’s really an instance of MS trying to protect users from themselves and users figuring out ways to be stupid and still being able to point the blame elsewhere.
The biggest blunder IMHO was the “Vista Capable” certification. It was simply lowering the bar so vendors could move a lot of old inventory. Again, they knew Vista was coming and had plenty of time to deplete old inventory prior to the release, but people were clamoring for the ever-cheaper PC so cutting corners was a matter of course. Putting Vista on a P4 with 512MB of RAM is crazy, but they did it and pissed off a lot of users who couldn't run Aero … or run it well.
There were performance issues with network file copying, which have been addressed, but a small glitch does not negate everything in an OS.
So, did reporters derail Vista? It’s obvious they didn't help dispel any of the misconceptions about it or explain the necessity of the increased overhead but that’s really no surprise. Nor is it surprising that the general populace rallied around this seeming failure of a big company perceived as a tyrant. The press did what they always do … they pandered to their audience, present company included.
I must have really lucked out because I had a Vista desktop for two years and never had any problems whatsoever! I ended up selling it because I wanted a laptop so on to Windows 7 I went.
As far as Linux, I really love Linux Mint, but I've changed from wanting to experiment to just leaving everything stock lol. I just want to but a laptop, phone etc. and use it as is.
Too much hassle finding drivers in Linux. I have one windows 8 laptop and 8.1 smartbook. I also have a windows 7 desktop and a windows vista desktop. Windows 7 rules but I prefer Vista to 8.x. I can't think of a single thing about windows 8.x that I like. Nada, nothing. I can't imagine any big business using it. Windows me redux imo.
A year ago I had XP SP3. Last spring, thinking I had to get modern, I bought a Walmart PC with 8.0. I hated it so much that I returned it the next day and they bought my complaint. Between us girls, I admit that I didn't give it much of a chance. Then I tried Lubuntu, didn't think that universe was ready commercially, went back to XP. Then I destroyed that installation, and having a W7HP CD handy, switched to that. I just destroyed that too, trying to make dual-boot partition. So now I've reinstalled 7 again, and I'm content with it, if I could just learn to stop futzing with it.
I also have used Microsoft since Dos. In many ways I liked using the command prompt (once you learned it). Then you had the 9x systems where you had both the registry and Dos underneath it kept life interesting, (Remember the early PLUG and Pay.. Lol...??). You know I think NT4 gets a bad rap as many never seem to remember it. Yes you had many things manually but in some ways it was at least stable (during those years I had to support OS/2Warp it's cousin in code, more stable by the way) It's the grandad to today's systems in ways. I liked XP once the bugs got worked out. Yes Vista was a mess but that's because many folks stuffed it on hardware that could not handle it. 7 nice. 8 and 8.1 I am still out on. Server is a hole different puppy allot of holes and locking up until they finally got it fixed which took years. We ran Unix based servers because we did not trust W Server.
Yes as I have pointed out Windows kept money in my pocket and a roof over my head for years it's a Love, Hate thing. Sorry about being long winded.
I was trying not to show my age to much. As this was started as a Microsoft post. Allot of folks forget, the early Apple, Tandy(NOW.! try doing a document on this baby.... Lol... Just getting the margins set??). And yes many forget IBM had Allot to do with the start of Microsoft. I LOVED my data cards.... Lol!!! My dot matrix printers. I never got to mess much with the early Apples. We used apple Allot for publishing as early Microsoft could not handle it.
Of course I wasn't really going to use it for anything, just wanted to see if I could get it to work. I could always use NCR paper, then I wouldn't need a ribbon.
Of course I wasn't really going to use it for anything, just wanted to see if I could get it to work. I could always use NCR paper, then I wouldn't need a ribbon.
I missed the start menu at first but since all my frequently used programs are either pinned to my taskbar or on my desktop, I realized I never really used the start menu that much anyway lol.
That's probably why I had a good experience, it had already been out a while when I bought the PC so I'm sure it already had service pack 1.
From the user standpoint, SP1 only fixed two things in Vista which was network file copying (it took forever) and index priority. Until the initial search index was built it would bog down systems. If you were unlucky enough to own an HP machine with a specific integrated video chip (ATI, I think) the update sent your machine into an unrecoverable bootloop. It was again the case of the manufacturer not following the API rules, Microsoft not letting them get away with it and the user taking the hit.
I always enjoyed the fixes for fixes in Windows update then they get real serious and release a patch and then when it was almost unusable they do a Service Patch.... Lol... The stories of late night updates hosing other software It is awesome work never boring.
I'm willing to try anything, as long as I can afford it. My current desktop is a HP Core 2 Duo system with 2gb of memory and a 20gb hard drive that's already sharing two linux distros. If W8 will run on this setup and I can get a free copy, I'm willing to try it out.
I switch to linux some years ago and will not go back. I can't afford to keep buying Windows, though you get a free computer with it. I don't think its worth the money anymore.
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I went 3.1, 3.1.1, 95, NT, 98, 2K (skipped ME), XP, Vista, 7 and now 8, as well as several server editions.
