Windows 7 Am I missing something?

[Alphanumeric]

I've been running Windows 7 on my laptop since it was released and really like it so far. Never ran Vista as my primary OS but did have it installed on a dedicated gaming desktop for a short period of time. Don't recall having that many issues with it like others have reported but maybe I didn't run it long enough to see them.

When I compare Windows XP Professional to Windows 7 I guess I'd have to say I prefer Windows 7 but can't really put my finger on any reason/reasons that would cause me to spend the money to upgrade. If getting a new computer any time soon I'll wait till Windows 7 is release but I see no reason to go get retail copies off the store shelves to upgrade the four user computers I maintain in my house. Guess there is no real reason to upgrade them all if I'm the only one that cares but from a support stand point I really like having all my user machines running the same OS.

As this forum is for Windows users I figured it would be a good question to ask here. What am I missing that are causing people to pay retail prices for these upgrades. Windows XP Professional is doing great for me. Can't see a reason to spend the money. Asked this same question on the official Microsoft forums for Windows 7 and it got completely removed as far as I can tell.

 

[Kyle]

Well, since I don't buy my copies of Windows, I can't comment on the price aspect, however, Windows XP IS an outdated OS, and soon enough if you try an upgrade hardware you're going to have issues with the lack of XP drivers, compatibility, or support. With the release of 7, it'll be a 9 year old OS, and there won't likely be support for it when there's a more viable, flexible, secure alternative.

 

[john3347]

I have Vista installed on one of the 8 computers on my home network and I am often, therefore, reminded every time I try to use it for ten minutes why it is the only Vista machine I will ever own. Windows 7 while, in my opinion, is a respectable leap ahead of Vista, it still has far too much of a Vista look and feel - and Vista file system disorganization. (How good does something have to be to be better than the train wreck called Vista?) While I can see buying Windows 7 to replace a single instance of Vista on a home network, there is also something to be said for replacing Vista with XP when XP is the "main" OS on a network. XP, due simply to its current market penetration, is not going the way of Windows 2000 for a few years yet. 2000 which arguably has been the best working OS ever from Redmond, was really only adopted by business and industry and never achieved the user numbers of XP. While 2000 was popular in industry "back then", and still is being used here and there, developers abandoned it a little quicker than they will XP. Microsoft desperately wants to find something to obsolete XP so they can sell a new product to all XP and Vista users, but I don't think they really have it with Windows 7. They are going to have to listen to the users and follow the users desires rather than following the developer's own wild whims before they solidly replace XP. Many Vista users will be standing in line to buy Windows 7 as a replacement for Vista, virtually all new computers will be preinstalled with windows 7 and those who buy a new car every year because the new car is new will buy Windows 7. Beyond that, Windows 7 will be rather mediocre in sales, though relatively better than Vista.

That's my story, and I'm stickin' to it.

 

[Alphanumeric]

Very good point Kyle. I think this will only be an issue though when XP is not being used heavily and the hardware manufacturers start to no supply drivers anymore. From the penetration XP has I still feel like it will be a long while for that to happen. When it does I hope to be in a financial position to upgrade to the latest Windows but I'd really consider moving to Ubuntu if I could get iTunes to be happy on it. By the way I love the ninja avatar.

I agree with you john3347.

 

[Kyle]

Truthfully, I think due to penetration of market, this won't be very long at all.
If companies pull the hardware plug on XP, that will almost FORCE a good percentage of those users to upgrade to Vista, or more likely, Windows 7. It would be a good move corporation wise, and I see it beginning to happen within a year of 7's release.

 

[Alphanumeric]

Truthfully, I think due to penetration of market, this won't be very long at all.
If companies pull the hardware plug on XP, that will almost FORCE a good percentage of those users to upgrade to Vista, or more likely, Windows 7. It would be a good move corporation wise, and I see it beginning to happen within a year of 7's release.

Very true. From what I've played with Windows 7 is great compared to what I've read of Vista. Overall I like the look of Vista/7 and almost prefer the UI "enhancements" compared to XP. Just not looking forward to being forced in to the upgrade and spending all that dough.

Thank you all for your input.

 

[Quill]

Windows XP

I really don't believe Winsdows XP will be replaced on the majority of desktops, especially corporate desktops, any time soon.

Whilst Windows 7 seems better implemented than is predecessor Vista, there are still going to be many issues new users will have to overcome. In the corporate arena compatibility issues will reign supreme. Whilst Windows 7 has better options to support backwards compatibility, it's by no means perfect.

I personally believe XP has a good few years to run. Official Microsoft support for the product will continue until April 8, 2014. Software vendors will continue to develop for the platform and hardware manufactures will continue to support their devices with appropriate drivers. Remember it's still possible to get many significant drivers for Windows 2000.

 

[kvic]

From my stand point I still think xp has a lot to offer,and has a few good years ahead, I think most people do the upgrade from fear that future hardware will not work properly or just have to be one of the first to get it,The only thing i can see is that it is much prettier then xp .Dont get me wrong I have had the first beta on 3 machines and all ran great with it,and I also have tried Vista on the same three machines but that was a total failure so I went back to good old xp, I mean some people say Vista runs great and I say great if you happy with stick with it, but it makes me wonder xp was out for how many years before Vista stepped in now after such a short time 7 is going to hit the market,makes me think Vista was a way for MS to get some money for the up comming 7 ,kinda like Windows ME before xp hit the market.So in short I think 7 will be the next great os like xp but if the prices are like Vista when it came out I'll sit it out for awhile.

 

[Joe S]

I'm another that doesn't see business going to Windows 7 any sooner than they absolutely have to. I work in a factory and out in the shops they have many pc's mainly to log time on jobs and download programs for the CNC machines. The majority of them are NT in my area they had 2 windows 95 units there until they finally died 3 years ago they were repalced with low end XP units and the old 15" monitors. If the existing systems do the job they aren't about to spend extra especially in a recession.
Joe

 

[Tepid]

Know one thing. XP is dead. MS do not support it anymore. No more main stream updates at all. This ended in April.
There is Extended paid support till 2014. And only very few very important crtical updates may be released till 2014. But any other important updates are done, gone, no more.

See Here ... Here is a better Link of Link Removed

There is nothing wrong with Vista. Zero, nada, nothing, zip, ziltch. It is the user, and their software vendor's.

All MS products are on a 5 year lifecycle. All of them. So, they are going to be putting out a new OS , new servers, new Office every 5 years. This has always been the plan. XP SP2 and other things stalled this plan out for Xp, but it was never, ever, ever ment to be in the cycle this long. Will something upset this 5 year Lifecycle plan in the future? could, sure. no telling.

But as of right now. XP is no longer supported by MS. If MS doesn't support it, be well sure that the OEM's, and other vendors will end their support as well. They aren't going to pay for support for an OS that is not supported through main stream and will no long receive general updates. It is a losing battle for them and their bottom line.

So, you take your own chances, as do all the Win9x/NT4 users out there do.

As a side note, OEM's and System Builders can not purchase XP licenses from MS anymore.
When they run out, they are out. I don't think you can buy an XP box from a Big OEM anymore, and most system builders are not building XP boxes anymore. They (MS) are no longer producing them. You can only get them on the after market.

Vendors will end support for XP pretty soon.

 

[stevae]

There is nothing wrong with Vista. Zero, nada, nothing, zip, ziltch. It is the user, and their software vendor's.

THANK YOU!!!!! IT'S ABOUT TIME SOMEONE STOOD UP AND POINTED OUT THE TRUTH.
i have run vista ultimate since vista's release, and have never been able to understand what some people are bitching about. i still have it on my computer as a dual boot, and it has run perfectly since the day i installed it. soooooooooo many people sound like spoiled little brats, that can't figure out how to play with their toys. imo, 80% of the people that have trouble with their computers, are suffering from operator error!!!! vista has always been very fast, run without errors, and i have never seen a blue screen from my vista os.
finally, on the other end of the spectrum, i will never understand people's love fest with xp. i used it while it was the main os, and it ran fine. but as soon as vista came out, it was clearly a much better option. when i see an xp machine now days, it looks like a 1941 ford, after i just got out of my bmw. people are going to do what they will do, but i swear some of these things are enough to make you question the psychological stability of them.

 

[Radenight]

THANK YOU!!!!! IT'S ABOUT TIME SOMEONE STOOD UP AND POINTED OUT THE TRUTH.
i have run vista ultimate since vista's release, and have never been able to understand what some people are bitching about. i still have it on my computer as a dual boot, and it has run perfectly since the day i installed it. soooooooooo many people sound like spoiled little brats, that can't figure out how to play with their toys. imo, 80% of the people that have trouble with their computers, are suffering from operator error!!!! vista has always been very fast, run without errors, and i have never seen a blue screen from my vista os.
finally, on the other end of the spectrum, i will never understand people's love fest with xp. i used it while it was the main os, and it ran fine. but as soon as vista came out, it was clearly a much better option. when i see an xp machine now days, it looks like a 1941 ford, after i just got out of my bmw. people are going to do what they will do, but i swear some of these things are enough to make you question the psychological stability of them.

The same thing is true for Windows 7.. There are tons of people and posts that are nothing but bitching about supposed Windows 7 bugs.. 90% of which are simply USER ERROR and NOT a bug..

I too still use Vista on 2 of my 5 pc's.. and will continue to do alongside Windows 7 after the retail goes live.. I really don't have a problem with Vista either..

 

[Mystere]

Know one thing. XP is dead. MS do not support it anymore. No more main stream updates at all. This ended in April.
There is Extended paid support till 2014. And only very few very important crtical updates may be released till 2014. But any other important updates are done, gone, no more.

This is simply not true. Extended support is not paid support. It just means there will be no new features added to it (no new service packs, for instance). More than likely, new versions of things like the .NET framework and what not will slowly drop support also. There will be security patches until 2014.

There is nothing wrong with Vista. Zero, nada, nothing, zip, ziltch. It is the user, and their software vendor's.

There are a few things wrong with Vista, but nowhere near as bad as most people make out. Some of those things were deliberate (For instance, UAC was deliberately made extra strict to force software and users to conform to the standard user model... something that had to be done to get software compatible with the way things re supposed to be).

As a side note, OEM's and System Builders can not purchase XP licenses from MS anymore.

Actually, they can. But Micrsoft charges a premium for it. For instance, I just saw on Dell the other day that you can order some machines with XP for $150 more. And of course netbooks come with XP and will have that option for some time to come.

 

[dam89]

EXACTLY nothing is wrong with Vista. I've been running it fine, no problems since its release... look at my spec.

 

[Mystere]

What am I missing that are causing people to pay retail prices for these upgrades. Windows XP Professional is doing great for me. Can't see a reason to spend the money.

Most people never upgrade. When their old computer breaks or gets too slow for them, they buy a new computer and it comes with whatever the latest OS is. I think something less than 5% of people ever upgrade their OS.

However, Windows comes in an upgrade version that is significantly cheaper than the full version, so i'm not sure i'd call that "retail prices".

There are reasons, though. Vista and now 7 are significantly more secure than XP is. If you've ever gotten malware or a virus (and some people get them frequently) this should appeal to you. No, 7 isn't invulnerable, but you have to go out of your way to be stupid enough to let most viruses in (the most common way in Vista or 7 is to run something from a pirate board, and to give it permission).

The security reason alone should be enough to make people upgrade. However, there are a ton of new features you might like. The new Media Center is lots better than XP Media Center, for instance. Frankly, I could never go back to XP anymore. Or Vista for that matter.. 7 just has me spoiled.

 

[Tepid]

This is simply not true. Extended support is not paid support. It just means there will be no new features added to it (no new service packs, for instance). More than likely, new versions of things like the .NET framework and what not will slowly drop support also. There will be security patches until 2014.

I stand corrected. My apologies. I re-read the Lifecycle Policy FAQ.