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When Vista came out I tried it on a VM for a few weeks and then made a dual boot partition on my main machine and then hardly ever booted back to XP - although I really liked XP and keep it on my file and print servers at home. Vista gave me almost no problems after the initial new interface learning - I must have had sufficiently compatible hardware - or avoided the problem by leaving all my old hardware attached to the aforementioned XP machines.
When Windows 7 came out I tried it on a VM for a few weeks and then made a dual boot partition with my old Vista 32-bit and my new Windows 7 64-bit. I have since almost never booted back to Vista and the XP partition went when I replaced it with Windows 7. Windows 7 is great, it recognizes everything, it plays well with everything I have ever plugged in (scanners, cameras, printers, weird keyboard extenders and other external devices of various kinds) and lots of old and new software, games and utilities - even though a lot of them are not 64-bit. I put it on three of my machines and have had zero issues after the initial interface learning (control panel changes, etc.).
This is more or less the pattern I have followed since DOS 3.30 (only skipping Windows ME) all the way up to Windows 8.
When Windows 8 came out I tried it on a VM for a few weeks and then deleted it in disgust. The only good feature seemed to be the fast boot and since I reboot all my machines annually, whether they need it or not, this isn't a world-beating feature for me. My two laptops both have a wonderful feature called "hibernate" that goes into effect when I close the lid on battery power - I never reboot (except, I admit, for MS updates - which often don't need a reboot).
I have VMs with various past versions of Windows and a couple of Linux ones (and a DOS 6!) that I occasionally run for software testing - or just for the fun of it, usually some game or other - so I am not unfamiliar with different and new and improved, just different, interfaces. The Windows 8 interface is just SO BAD!
Eventually I *may* need to go to Windows 8 for some as yet unforeseen reason but I am hoping that by then Windows 9 will be out, "metro" will be a long forgotten nightmare, and I can try it on a VM for a few weeks...
- Life in the fast lane is only fun if you live in a country with no speed limits.
- Of all the things I have lost, it is my mind that I miss the most.
- I vaguely remember having a good memory...
modified 9-Jan-13 11:04am.
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I do.
Hibernate works really well now, and saves me the 3+ minutes of profile syncing in the office. Now, it's only 3 minutes you say, but it pissed me off to no end.
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Just before Christmas I bought a 15" mac book pro with retina display.
Objective C is, erm, weird.
Other than that and the lack of a # key (sticking a £ symbol on the 3 key doesn't make a US keyboard a UK one)it has been pretty much plain sailing.
Even my NAS box just works with it.
After 20+ years of Windows I wish I had done it earlier.
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I've bouncing between using macs and windows machines at work. I have no idea what the fanboys are going on about. I just couldn't say one was superior to the other. For my money the macs crash every bit as much as their windows counterparts. Hey mac, see that wifi printer... hello mac? frozen huh? Sure I'd love to force reboot you again.
After taking a look at Objective C... Wow guys, we're buying Xamarin and/or Unity3d. We are not going near objective C.
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It is great combination of Visual Studio 2012 and Windows 8.Fast Just 10 seconds to boot the machine
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I switched from XP to Ubuntu and I'm feeling fine.
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I switched from shot glasses to steins, and I feel a bit dizzy.
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So did I and I'm feeling fine.
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I see no reason why I should move to 8. I can do anything I like on my win7 machine. I have no plan to move to 8 unless my win7 stops working (I don't see that coming anytime soon!).
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I concur.
- Life in the fast lane is only fun if you live in a country with no speed limits.
- Of all the things I have lost, it is my mind that I miss the most.
- I vaguely remember having a good memory...
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I use W8 on an Iconia Tablet and 2 desktop PC. It boot faster than W8. In the PCs I use it mostly in desktop mode although the new Metro interface is OK for me, I find it better then W7. For the tablet is perfect. All old applications that I had on W7 have been moved to W8 flawlessly (some of them written in Visual Basic 6.0) this has been a very good news for me (I didn`t expect it).
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Yes I'm using Windows 7 and Windows 8 now on different machines. The new, fast machine uses Windows 8, the older one Windows 7.
After every installation, the Windows 8 Machine need minutes to reboot. Five minutes is no exception. On the Windows 7 Machine it restarts with the same software within 30 seconds.
Windows 8 is buggy. The PC-Options weren't accessable for all users I set up after the first during the installation. I had to move the PC-Options to a subfolder and back again to the mainfolder of programms. After that, the rights were setup correctly and the users were able to access.
Windows 8 killed a partition while rebooting after a system update. I needed to use a special software to get the data back.
Many programms are buggy on Windows 8 - and slow.
Indesign on my Windows 7 Netbook with 4 GB and AMD Processor Dual Core with 1,4 GHZ is starting faster, than on my brandnew Windows 8 i7 quadcore 3,3 GHZ with 8 GB. So I opened the really good new Taskmanager. What is the machine doing? Quite nothing. The processor is running small, there is enought free ram, the drive is just about 10% of performance. But it takes longer to start.
I really need the first Service Pack, because it's the same as it was with Vista. Windows 8 is not funny to use, yet.
------------------------------
Author of Primary ROleplaying SysTem
How do I take my coffee? Black as midnight on a moonless night.
War doesn't determine who's right. War determines who's left.
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tbh I've not really noticed Win8...I'm in the desktop 99% of the time, so I get better progress dialogs and better task manager, oh and easier to use explorer.
I use the 'metro' to launch a few apps (and play the free games)
Most of the other metro apps I don't use, but there certainly are some massive usability issues for traditional mouse users. And not seen a metro app that could even come close in features to its desktop counterpart.
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Windows 8 is designed primarily for touch interface. Due to the high cost and lack of availability of monitors with touch capability it is not an attractive proposition. WIMP does not work well with Windows 8.
Conclusion, it may be ok for tablets and phones but it doesn't fit the desktop or server paradigms.
I will stick with Windows 7 for now and I am actively investigating alternatives such as Linux.
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I will consider it when my customers do.
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I have XP on bootcamp (on Macbook Pro) and don't use it much... but might have to upgrade to Win8 if a course demands programming using Visual Studio for XBox.
Imagination is the one weapon in the war against reality!!!
http://aniruddhaloya.blogspot.com
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I plan to update it before I finish university (since I can have it for free thanks to MSAA) but for now I'll stick to 7 since I don't know anyone who used it and I don't know if it's worth it
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Plan A was to buy a clovertrail tablet/dock pair to replace my existing netbook and get my feet wet; but between limited availability and reports of clovertrail having buggy drivers I've held off so far. I'm currently debating what to do; I don't want to start with an upgrade to my main system, and spending $1k for an ultrabook or light/moderate gaming laptop with Haswell only half a year out doesn't sound like a good idea either.
Dual-booting my existing netbook's an option; but without a more extensive dismantle+rebuild session than I feel comfortable with it won't let me fiddle with the touchscreen options; and I'm not sure if the touchpad has enough multitouch to fully sample the W8 offerings there either.
Did you ever see history portrayed as an old man with a wise brow and pulseless heart, waging all things in the balance of reason?
Is not rather the genius of history like an eternal, imploring maiden, full of fire, with a burning heart and flaming soul, humanly warm and humanly beautiful?
--Zachris Topelius
Training a telescope on one’s own belly button will only reveal lint. You like that? You go right on staring at it. I prefer looking at galaxies.
-- Sarah Hoyt
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I've been using windows for some time now and I think it gets better the more I use it.
I know it very popular to bash the metro UI and the non-existing startbutton. But the metro UI works fine if you use the keyboard more and the mouse less... I agree it's a bit schizophrenic with metro/old windows UI - but I'll live.
As for the missing startbutton, best thing that ever happend!
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Interesting how you said " - buy I'll live"
That's the philosophy everyone uses with Microsoft's product changes.
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He he, typo... but I know what you mean.
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But, sudden change made me ashtonished.
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Win 7 still is a good os for me.
Now, I'm using Win 7 and Fedora together.
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I've got it on one box - wishing I could undo it. All I do is tweak it such that it acts like Windows 7.
I don't have a touch screen.
I don't want a touch screen.
I work at home, code steadily, and eat at my desk.
My monitor is the only sanitary surface in front of me.
Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that. - George Carlin
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My monitor is the only sanitary surface in front of me
That is good, i like this
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