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 koitsuPremium,MVM
join:2002-07-16
Mountain View, CA
kudos:18
1 edit | reply to Gem
Re: What are the substantive reasons to reject Windows 8? I'm probably that "knowledgable member who runs XP" that you refer to. Whee. :P
My list of reasons for staying with XP, at this point, is somewhere in the low hundreds (in the 1xx range), and I'm not exaggerating in the least.
It would take me weeks to create the full list of all the reasons (you are not the first person who would be inclined to ask me for such (I've had several)). Many of them are bugs in Windows 7 itself and have been fixed (even with SP1), and a good number are GUI or UI-related (read: not involving third-party software). These are outright bugs/flaws and not matters of opinion -- what is a matter of opinion, however, is how severe I consider them. They're major enough that they're deal-breakers for me when it comes to my own home workstatation, where I have no tolerance for fooling about.
Key pieces of information:
1) My previous job of 8 years was at Microsoft -- ironic -- where corporate policy mandated use of Windows 7. So I do have experience using it for 8-10 hours, 5 days a week, since its release. All I can say is that every day when I came home, I felt like hugging my XP workstation. I won't answer questions like "so if you worked there why didn't you tell people of the bugs?" as they open up a huge can of worms + requires discussion about how the company works/operates, how things are organised, etc. and I'm not at liberty to discuss those. All I'll say is that yes, I did try to find the teams responsible for each and every issue, but was unsuccessful.
2) The Windows kernel (and generally device drivers) has greatly improved in highly positive ways since XP. The kernel improves in every OS release in excellent ways -- it's all the other crap (the stuff you and everyone else has to deal with) that makes me grit my teeth and want to stab myself.
3) There are only a handful of features in Windows 7 that I wish I had on XP. The negatives for me, however, easily outweigh the positives. I will say, however, that 7 was a tremendous improvement over Vista (particularly with regards to DWM/DCE -- Vista was a sick disgusting performance-destroying joke in this regard).
4) I do not dare try Windows 8. The more I see stuff like this, the less I'm inclined to try it. I have numerous friends who have tried 8 (one for an entire 3 months) and have gone back to 7 for multitudes of reasons; their rants to me, often of a highly technical nature, hold a lot of weight. Sure, Metro is an indicator of how absolutely out-of-touch certain developers/designers are with technical users of a desktop GUI-based OS, but I'm not going to shell out money (or effort for that matter) to inundate myself given what my experience was like with 7.
Basically the bottom line is that on XP, I can run the applications I need without any intervention or under-the-hood nonsense going on, I have a GUI/interface that works/looks like what I want/is responsive/is minimal, and overall can get a lot more done easier/quicker than I can in Vista, 7, or (almost certainly) 8. I can accomplish tasks without having to fight with the system. It's my workstation, it therefore needs to meet my needs.
My copy of Windows 7 Ultimate sits happily collecting dust on a shelf (and no it's not for sale), and I will not be buying (or using) 8; I'd go the *IX (FreeBSD or Linux) route before turning my workstation into a device requiring a fist fight every time I'd try to use it. Remember: computers are tools that are supposed to make our lives easier, and technology is supposed to improve in positive ways -- when either of those things prove untrue, one must ask oneself "is this worth it".
--
Making life hard for others since 1977.
I speak for myself and not my employer/affiliates of my employer. | | |
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| said by koitsu:I'm probably that "knowledgable member who runs XP" that you refer to. Whee. :P
My list of reasons for staying with XP, at this point, is somewhere in the low hundreds (in the 1xx range), and I'm not exaggerating in the least.
It would take me weeks to create the full list of all the reasons (you are not the first person who would be inclined to ask me for such (I've had several)). Many of them are bugs in Windows 7 itself and have been fixed (even with SP1), and a good number are GUI or UI-related (read: not involving third-party software). These are outright bugs/flaws and not matters of opinion -- what is a matter of opinion, however, is how severe I consider them. They're major enough that they're deal-breakers for me when it comes to my own home workstatation, where I have no tolerance for fooling about.
Could you at least list a few of them, maybe a top 5 technical reasons you dislike Windows 7? Or is it really just the Windows 7 UI that you dislike?
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less talk, more music | |
 pnjunctionTeksavvy ExtremePremium
join:2008-01-24
Toronto, ON
kudos:1 | reply to koitsu
said by koitsu: I do not dare try Windows 8. The more I see , the less I'm inclined to try it. Hah yeah in my limited experience the only part that was truly offensive were the terrible native Metro apps. For me it was the garbage picture viewer. Ugly, confusing, and in the end less capable than the windows 7 or XP versions. Now as an 'advanced' user I would just install 3rd-party apps that I like better, but it's a shame the average user gets stuck with that touchscreen-pushing crap.
I think I could actually grow to like the start screen thing. On Windows 7 as I increasingly multi-task I'm finding the desktop icons increasingly annoying to use since it requires me to minimize everything I'm doing to use them. (Here's a question: can anyone tell me the purpose of the desktop peek on the side of the taskbar when all you can do is see all the icons you want to use, but not actually use them?) In theory once I got that start screen set up with all my common shortcuts, it would be easier and faster to use than desktop icons.
As far as windows 7 vs XP, there are only a few reasons why I like 7 more these days. The task bar is a bit better with the big icons, the live previews and right-click actions (like recent documents in word, tasks in outlook, most visited pages in browsers, etc.). In general windows 7 is prettier with the themes and transparencies. It's better than XP at finding what you want if you just hit start button and start typing. I think some of the Explorer features like being able to click on any level of the path to go there are new? (Took me a while to get used to this instead of the Up button which disappeared, but it is better as you get exactly where you want with one click.)
Still these are pretty minor I could go back to XP and not miss them too much. | |
 BlitzenZeusBurnt Out CynicPremium
join:2000-01-13
kudos:2 | I was making toolbars due to programs covering up desktop icons since 9x. | |
 CylonRedPremium,MVM
join:2000-07-06
Bloom County | reply to pnjunction
I am finding with Win 7 I am using the desktop icons less, now that I can pin programs/files on the Start button and the Start button acts like I would expect it to. It was the reason I hated the XP Start button and would only use the classic Start button - the XP start button had very frustrating tendencies.
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Brian
"It drops into your stomach like a Abrams's tank.... driven by Rosanne Barr..." A. Bourdain | |
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