Go For Windows 7 or Windows 8.1?

[NHHEMI]

When I got my new computer a few months ago I too had to decide between Win7 and Win8. I was very happy with my old system with XP but with MS discontinuing support I knew it was time. I ended up with Win8 as they only had a desktop I wanted in stock with it. I HATED it at 1st being honest. That stupid Metro desktop SUCKS and MS doesn't allow for you to configure it the way you want( typical of them )!

I ended up installing Start Menu 8 by IOBIT( it is free - don't pay for another brand - link below )and now it behaves like a traditional Windows OS and is very fast. Metro is still there but you can shut it off/hide it with SM8 and use a traditional desktop as default. I recommend this product over ones you pay for.

http://www.iobit.com/iobitstartmenu8.php

Win8 takes a bit of work to setup so it is normal but once you do it works very well IMO. I keep getting a popup offering a free upgrade to Windows 8.1 but I have not done so yet. My system is working fine and I don't want to mess with it.

 

[ZeeOSix]

I called Dell this morning to see if they could change my order to put Win 8.1 on the machine instead of Win 7. It has only been 2 days since I ordered it, but I was told it was too far along in the production process to change anything. Dell did however give me a $50 credit for the price difference based on which OS was loaded - Win 7 was actually $50 more than Win 8.1. So that's nice they offered a $50 credit back on my purchase.

I told her to just keep the order as is and send me the computer. She said I could actually return the computer for a refund and Dell actually would pay for the return shipping. They would give me full credit back and I could then re-order the machine with Win 8.1. Sounds like a big hassle, but an option. Or I could later upgrade to Win 8.1. Not sure what the cost would be. Or I could just use Win 7 until Win 9 hits the streets. Lots of options.

After reading more inputs here, it sounds like Win 8.1 can be setup to look and operate like Win 7 with Start8 or similar add-on program. I wanted to get this computer ordered due to some discount time limits, but my own fault for being a little too anxious to get this new computer on order.

 

[ClutchDisc]

Originally Posted By: NHHEMI
I keep getting a popup offering a free upgrade to Windows 8.1 but I have not done so yet. My system is working fine and I don't want to mess with it.

There is just another M$ kicker! Win 8.1 just makes your system worse. Back when I was still running Win 8 I decided to do the 8.1 update... That was a big mistake! The update made all sorts of annoying little changes that drove me crazy. I ended up resetting the OS to factory it was so bad.

Now for the real kicker - You paid M$ for Win 8 to be supported for a while.. Well M$ decided that they don't want to put the effort into updating both Win 8 and Win 8.1, so they decided that they will just cut updates for Win 8 in 2016 unless you update to 8.1 before then. So basically, unless you update to a version that you don't necessarily want, your operating system will suffer the same fate 2016 that Win XP did this year! And, if you did do the update to 8.1 before, about a month and a half ago if you didn't do the 8.1.1 update you would have had your support ended in just one months time!

Link here

I'm glad I found Linux.

 

[Win]

Originally Posted By: Garak

You do know that most ATMs run a Linux OS of one sort or another, don't you? They can't afford a blue screen of death every three hours.


I thought banks and ATM's were OS/2's last stand? or has it finally gone off into history?

 

[Win]

Originally Posted By: ClutchDisc
The freedom Linux gives you is simply amazing. I pity anyone who is still enslaved by Windows

(Linux fawning omitted)

That is just the start of my list, I could go on and on...



I googled word perfect for Linux and what came back looked like a major PITA hassle and was more expensive than real Corel Word Perfect for Windows which works great.

I googled point of sale Linux software and saw some promise there but I doubt that it is anywhere close to POS software from the real vendors that works great, albeit at a pretty hefty price.

I googled QuickBooks Linux and it looks like it is non existent on that platform, so as far as I can tell Linux looks to be pretty much the toy operating system it's always been, albeit with somewhat better driver and fanboy support these days.

 

[Win]

Originally Posted By: ClutchDisc

... For example, you can't get to "Computer" from the document window anymore, you have to go through a bunch strange steps to get there.. I've heard 8.1 update 1 is even worse, but I haven't tried it because I got rid of 8.



????? Huh?

You can on all my Windows 8 machines.

Windows 8 works fine. I have it on some machines with touch screens running POS software, and some machines that are old school with a mouse. It's fast and stable.

Have you even used it?

 

[ClutchDisc]

Read a few posts back and you will see that yes I have used it. I don't know why they made it so that you couldn't get to computer from that window, but that's how it was for me. They renamed it something like "my pc" and made it hard to get to. Maybe it was fixed in 8.1 update 1.

 

[ClutchDisc]

Originally Posted By: Win
...so as far as I can tell Linux looks to be pretty much the toy operating system it's always been, albeit with somewhat better driver and fanboy support these days.

I have to ask you, have you even used it? It's not a "toy" operating system at all. It's a stable OS that works very well.

 

[Mystic]

I have tried a Linux O/S and I was not impressed, although that was several years ago. I waited and waited and waited and waited and waited, checking again and again to see if there was ever support for my printer and scanner, and support never happened.

For something like 15 years or more the Linux proponents have been predicting that Linux will soon replace that awful, Dark Empire, Microsoft Windows. 15 years is like centuries in computer time. So I guess the good Jedi lost and the Dark Empire won.

I think Linux is good for some things. A lot of servers are running Linux operating systems. And Linux is good for some special purposes. And if a person is just using a computer for the internet, email, and Facebook, Twitter, things like that, I think a Linux computer can be fine.

For me, I need a computer for more than that. I work on photos and create videos and print out photos using a PHOTO printer, and I scan negatives and slides and prints using a QUALITY scanner, and for me Windows is the answer.

Microsoft Home and Student Edition Office costs about $130.00 or so and is compatible with 90% of everybody. It even comes free I think on some of these Windows tablet computers. I would rather use a program that is compatible with 90% of everybody. To me that makes sense. OpenOffice was a decent program and then it went downhill. So now LibreOffice or whatever is being recommended. So is the same thing going to happen to it?

I am willing to try different things but I am NOT willing to wait centuries to have hardware and software compatibility and be able to do the things I want to be able to do. So I will stick with Windows for now. I will use whatever technology works for ME! Regardless if that technology is made by Microsoft, Apple, Oracle, or whoever. I am not a fan boy of any of these corporations. I will use whatever works.

 

[Win]

Yes, I had something (Ubuntu?) that I could load from a memory card that I played with a couple of years ago, and before that I think was Redhat back in the OS/2 days

It was junk with very poor hardware support back then and I couldn't tell that much had changed, honestly.

Better than the old days when you had to spend weeks searching BBS's for a cd rom or printer driver, and then spend nights trying to make them work, but it's still junk.

There may be niche applications where it's commercialized and works fine, but it's light years away from being mainstream.

 

[Hokiefyd]

Originally Posted By: ClutchDisc
I don't know why they made it so that you couldn't get to computer from that window, but that's how it was for me. They renamed it something like "my pc" and made it hard to get to.


They simply renamed "My Computer" to "This PC". It's not terribly difficult to get used to.

 

[uc50ic4more]

Originally Posted By: Win
I googled word perfect for Linux

Originally Posted By: Win
I googled point of sale Linux software

Originally Posted By: Win
I googled QuickBooks Linux


You expected for-profit, closed-source software vendors to contribute to the ecosystem of a free (as in freedom) OS?! That's some time spent you ain't getting back. Freedom is very off-putting to these people.

If something is not available on the Linux platform people will rush to somehow ascribe "blame" to Linux, as though Linux is a person who is charged with making applications. It is a kernel, atop which people can freely **choose** to write applications. If Adobe does not port Photoshop to Linux that is squarely Adobe's decision.

With hundreds of Linux distros and dozens of kernels out there, who in their right mind would make a for-profit application for it?! It would cost a mint just to support, never mind keep up with in therms of API's and such. Linux is chaos and vendors want stability for more PROFIT.

Originally Posted By: Mystic
So I guess the good Jedi lost and the Dark Empire won.


Was Linux competing with someone?! For what prize? I think, Mystic, you are missing the point of open-source software! The capitalists always win the game of greed; where everything is reduced to a value-assigned commodity and artificially restricted and denied to people in order to drive up its value. Free software plays no such game so it is hard to characterize it, with so many flocking to it every day, as "losing"... Losing what? The game of revenue and MORE MORE MORE for ME ME ME and YOU CAN'T HAVE ANY? Tux the penguin does not ask anything of you: it is there for free, offering what it is to you for you to either use or to not use. "Freedom", we call it. The open-source community is not at all offended, nor suffers in any way when someone chooses to chain themselves to proprietary software.

 

[ClutchDisc]

^^^ Well said uc50ic4more!

 

[CarbonSteel]

Originally Posted By: uc50ic4more
Was Linux competing with someone?! For what prize? I think, Mystic, you are missing the point of open-source software! The capitalists always win the game of greed; where everything is reduced to a value-assigned commodity and artificially restricted and denied to people in order to drive up its value. Free software plays no such game so it is hard to characterize it, with so many flocking to it every day, as "losing"... Losing what? The game of revenue and MORE MORE MORE for ME ME ME and YOU CAN'T HAVE ANY? Tux the penguin does not ask anything of you: it is there for free, offering what it is to you for you to either use or to not use. "Freedom", we call it. The open-source community is not at all offended, nor suffers in any way when someone chooses to chain themselves to proprietary software.

While some see MS as a huge evil empire (I dislike them at times too) there is no arguing they do make decent software. We have over 20,000 installations on client machines world-wide and the support/learning curve for Windows/Office is unbelievably cheaper than if we were go Linux/Open Source. IT is NOT just the out of the box costs that have to be considered--that is a drop in the bucket as compared to loss of productivity across the organization as well as the lack of compatibility with our clients. Our platform is stable, secure, and works very well due to the standardization that we have designed in and deployed. All of our employees receive Office 2013 Professional/Visio/Project for $29.95 to use at home. While I do not "blame" Linux for anything (and have used it), as it stands presently (at least in the majority of the business world) MS is the chosen platform. I have no beef with either system, but despite the opinion in this thread, MS does work or like many others, it would have folded shop by now.

 

[CarbonSteel]

Originally Posted By: ZeeOSix
So if you use Start8 and setup Win 8.1 right it will look and operate just like Win 7 ... visually speaking?

Looks like Win 7 to me

 

[daman]

7

 

[Garak]

Originally Posted By: Win
I thought banks and ATM's were OS/2's last stand? or has it finally gone off into history?

There may certainly be some that way. However, I've had the pleasure of being allowed to witness a few ATMs booting up over the last couple years, and at least at that institution, the ATM ran on a Linux kernel. Interestingly, all the retail lottery terminals in this province run Linux, too.

 

[Mystic]

I have long been an Apple fan and I have used Apple Computers a very long time. I own an iMac in addition to a Windows computer.

For me even Apple is becoming impossible to work with. I like Mac OS X and in many ways it is a superior operating system to Windows. But a computer is more than an operating system. A person does not turn on a computer and just stare at the pretty GUI of the operating system. Applications are important.

Apple is very secretive and I have no insider information and no idea what they are going to do. I really liked Apple Aperture software for working on photos. But I had to switch to Adobe Lightroom. Many, many loyal Apple customers who were using Apple Aperture software have long since switched. Apple has allowed Aperture to fall behind Lightroom and it is very possible that Aperture may well be abandonware. Supposedly Apple is going to come out with some software next fall. Perhaps just a new improved version of iPhoto. Well, iPhoto does not cut it for my needs. Now sure, I can run Lightoom on my iMac. I can also run Lightroom on my Windows computer. So why do I need the Mac? People who need for software and hardware to do things cannot wait for Apple, Linux, or anybody else to supply workable software.

People can hate and condemn Bill Gates, Microsoft, and Windows all they want, and they can call Microsoft the evil empire, and all of that mumbo jumbo. But at least Windows has software and hardware support.

The Windows Supersite has been reconfigured somewhat but in the past there were always these Linux fans and Apple fans hanging out there trying to convince people to switch to Linux and the Mac. Why would these people hang out all day long at Windows websites? Were they jealous?

Now Windows does have its annoyances and there is a lot of malware that can infect a Windows computer and all of that. But I have to return to my Windows computer again and again to get my stuff done. There was a time, a long time ago in the past, that I would turn to the Apple Computer to get my stuff done.

Always remember, if you want to do a lot of things with a computer, that a computer is more than an operating system. Applications, software and hardware are important. The computer, no matter how elegant the operating system, is nothing without software applications and the ability to use quality hardware. Now if a person has very limited needs for a computer, a Linux operating system computer is fine. If you want to do a lot with a computer, you probably really should use a Windows computer.

 

[hatt]

Originally Posted By: 2010_FX4

While some see MS as a huge evil empire (I dislike them at times too) there is no arguing they do make decent software. We have over 20,000 installations on client machines world-wide and the support/learning curve for Windows/Office is unbelievably cheaper than if we were go Linux/Open Source. IT is NOT just the out of the box costs that have to be considered--that is a drop in the bucket as compared to loss of productivity across the organization as well as the lack of compatibility with our clients. Our platform is stable, secure, and works very well due to the standardization that we have designed in and deployed. All of our employees receive Office 2013 Professional/Visio/Project for $29.95 to use at home. While I do not "blame" Linux for anything (and have used it), as it stands presently (at least in the majority of the business world) MS is the chosen platform. I have no beef with either system, but despite the opinion in this thread, MS does work or like many others, it would have folded shop by now.
Of course MS make decent software. They're racking in $billions every year. I wonder what would happen if a large company would set aside 10% of the money they send MS each year to pay a couple geeks to customize open source software to meet their needs.

 

[Mystic]

Windows already meets their needs. It would take years and billions of dollars to make Linux operating systems workable in the workplace-in the business world.

I remember when we replaced our computer equipment at work. I and others worked directly with a programmer to setup the new computer equipment. That programmer hated Microsoft with a passion and was very pro-Linux. But he had to use Windows software to program the computer equipment. There was no Linux software available to do the programming.

I kind of laughed to myself but I did not say anything to the programmer. I have seen it time and again. The know-it-alls always seem to have to use Windows, so matter how much they may dislike Microsoft.

There have been, to the best of my knowledge, two companies that have developed very successful desktop computer operating systems. Microsoft and Apple. Other operating systems have been used for special purposes, for servers, and things like that. Probably about 99% of all DESKTOP computer operating systems in the world are either Windows or Apple. And the majority are some version of Windows.