upgrade to windows 8 or stay at 7?

[User Name missing]

Its possible that I could upgrade my new laptop to windows 8, but not sure if I want too. All the other PC's I have is either win 7 or XP that I try to connect over the network for file sharing and such. Right now I have the laptop setup comfortably and really don't want to start from scratch again. But I haven't read up much on the win 8 interface so I'm not sure if its worth the time and trouble.

 

[Psychopete]

If you have no problems with what you have, I don't see why there's any reason to bother with it.

 

[cvar]

Win7 is stable and works great. I've not used Win8, but almost all reviews I read are terrible. Besides being ugly, Win8 was meant for a touch-screen phone/tablet, not a desktop/laptop PC. Stick with Win7.

 

[User Name missing]

I'm convinced, easy enough. I've read just a lil about in the latest game informer and it appears to be a completely rehauled style of windows (even worse than comparing XP to Vista).

Since thats through, could anybody explain to me why my new laptop (win 7) doesn't see my older laptop (using XP) on the network, then by some fluke, it miraculously appears after I gave up and moved on? The new laptop will be up and running already but the older one I leave off until needed (basically a media server if you will). I turn it on, log in then go to the new one and no matter how much I F*** with it, I cannot see the older laptop. So I give up, do something else then take a peek and it sees the laptop. Even after I reboot the new laptop, it still doesn't see it until some amount of time later.

The new laptop will see my F-I-Ls laptop (also running win 7) at anytime, but never the older one.

 

[Mazda]

I would at least upgrade your XP machine to Win7. I believe sometime next year or in 2014 Microsoft will stop support of XP.

As for your problem I am by no means a computer guy anymore but my kids laptop used to do the same thing until we loaded something from the network setup wizard on a thumb drive to the xp machine and haven't had a problem to date.

Bryan

 

[nutpantz]

From what I have read win 8 is a Bastard child of desktop and mobile device.. It's Microsoft way of getting you ready to buy all their stuff in the soon to happen tablet and phone wars.. Win 8 desktop ,win phone 8, win tablet 8...
They planning on the idea that in 10 years no one will have a desktop.
So they are training you to buy their stuff now (use it ,buy it ,keep buying it because it's the only thing you know).(oh the win phone works just like my win desktop)

Windows 7 is the best Microsoft OS next to XP.(by best I mean overhead of the OS) that is still modern.

if you want to stay with microsoft you may as well upgrade as sooner or later they will come out with a "feature"that only works on a win 8 or newer OS... (direct x11 anyone?)

But they are losing market share fast, mostly because no one is buying desktops or laptops....

The power to put a man on mars and hold the entire written works of man...traded for "mobile"

 

[cvar]

Win7 does File & Printer Sharing differently than prior versions (eg, WinXP). Win7 prefers using a "Homegroup", which works beautifully but ONLY between Win7 machines. Switching everything to Win7 was easier.

http://lifehacker.com/5262706/setup-file-and-printer-sharing-from-xp-to-windows-7

 

['93BajaSport]

Re Upgrading the OS:
Microsoft's major Windows OS revamps follow a relatively consistent pattern of two good systems followed by one that sucked.

Win3.1 was good.
Win95 was good.
Win98 sucked.
Win2k was good.
Win XP was good.
Vista sucked.
Win7 is good.

This suggests Win8 follow in Win7's successful footsteps. However, all the reviews I have read suggest that Win8 will break the pattern. Here's one of them:

http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/gadgetbox/usability-expert-finds-windows-8-pc-confusing-954680

This is an especially big turnoff for me:

Windows 8 is optimized for content consumption rather than content production and multitasking. Whereas content consumption can easily be done on other media (tablets and phones), production and multitasking are still best suited for PCs. Windows 8 appears to ignore that.

I guess if you want to cripple a useful computer by turning it into an iPad with attached keyboard, Win8 will do the job.

Re File and Printer sharing between XP and Win7:
There is a small disconnect between the two systems, but it's not that difficult to access an XP machine with 7 or vise-verse. There are lots of online resources outlining how to set it up. Yeah, it's easier to network two machines with the same OS, but it's hardly as much work as upgrading one.

 

[Psychopete]

Win3.1 was good.
Win95 was good.
Win98 sucked.

What did you not like about 98SE? It worked better than 3.1, 95, and ME. I thought 95 was junk, and always opted for the command line over using 3.1 at all - only when it was a software requirement.

 

[martin]

Why don't they make android for desktops? Having to keep learning new stuff is hard on us old folks.

 

[nutpantz]

I think some one forget "windows me " THAT SUCKED
3.1 was pointless and next to useless other than as a launcher for DOS.


office productivities don't require a quad core processor and 8 GB of ram... Neither size the web... Unless you like flash...
So what's left? Mind blowing games..?
Yep.that's about it.

No one wants you to create content on anything but a word processor.
Video editing? No might be a pirate.

 

[nutpantz]

Why don't they make android for desktops? Having to keep learning new stuff is hard on us old folks.

Android is less then 5 years old...it is the new stuff..

Android on a desktop
It would like having a 500 HP fuel injected funny car that had a governer on it limiting it to 40 mph.
it might look and be blazing fast compared to walking... But what a waste of an engine, tires and Chassis.

 

['93BajaSport]

I think some one forget "windows me " THAT SUCKED

I thought it fell in with Win98 since it was Win98's fat younger sibling.

 

[97RangerXLT]

Win 98SE was a fairly decent OS if you didn't stress its limits. (no weird third party drivers or hardware that had weird drivers). 98SE was a considerable improvement over 98 first edition. 98SE also was considerably better in controlling hardware and had a much better file system than 95. 95 could only recognize up to 2gb of harddisk, if you had larger you had to put it into 2gb or smaller partitions to use all the space. Win ME was a dumbed down version of 97, it sucked worse than Vista and Vista is pretty bad. XP was Microsoft's redeeming point after ME. At work we still use XP Pro as our companies main O/S. My computer at work has a label of "Vista for business" on it, but the IT department has decided that Vista is its own headache and maintenance issue. I love Win 7, I wish they would deploy that at work. much better interface and setup than XP even, and I do like XP.

As said, the homegroup option really makes sharing printers and communicating with other win 7 computers a snap.

Win 8? I have not experienced it, but the reviews Ihave read say it is a sharp learning curve. time wil tell if it is Microsoft's red headed bastard stepchild or not, but I think they will have to really outdo themselves to remove that title from Vista or ME..

AJ

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

What did you not like about 98SE? It worked better than 3.1, 95, and ME. I thought 95 was junk, and always opted for the command line over using 3.1 at all - only when it was a software requirement.

Compared to the 3.1 Gateways in the typing classroom and the Apple IIE's that filled most of the computer lab the three Windows 95 computers were very nice (and highly sought after) in their day back when I was in middle school 1996-1999.

I have ran quite a few OSs over the years, I can't say as I have a whole lot of trouble with any of them. Out of date computers trying to do more than they were intended to will catch most of my complaints.