News - Microsoft discontinues then resumes Windows 7 retail sales

[HEXUS]

Redmond did the hokey cokey this weekend.

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[mercyground]

Given the HORRIBLE interface on Win8 i sure as hell wont be upgrading. Roll on Win9?

When I eventually upgrade my laptop (nice little Hp 8510p) to something abit more fierce (Where the hell are all the decent AMD APU laptops? I have ZERO desire to have a intel gfx solution nor do i want N****ia in my laptop. Learnt my lesson after NV burned (hah epic pun) anyone who had a santa rosa laptop with NV onboard.)

[crossy]

Still maintain that if Microsoft want to push Windows7 refuseniks then offering some kind up trade-in deal would be the way to go. Yes, I know there's an "upgrade" pack - but that looks like Windows 8, not 8.1, plus if I was doing a Windows 8.1 install/upgrade then I'd really want to do some kind of Transfer-My-Account type setup. So do some backup of the user account, erase the machine, put windows8 on then put apps plus my user account back.

Kids keep telling me that I really should "upgrade" because 8's easier once you get into it. If there's notable performance benefits then perhaps I will in the new year. I'm certainly not going to switch if there isn't a benefit to make up for being shackled with MUI/Metro.

And as to the Windows7 on/off issue in the article - nice to see Microsoft are still at it!

[DemonHighwayman]

I'll certainly not be upgrading my main system from windows 7 to windows 8 or 8.1. I put windows 8 on my htpc because all it had was win xp and the early windows 8 upgrade made sense in that I could add an SSD to the system in the future and have working garbage collection all for €30.

Windows 8 is a horrible flawed OS and MS reinstating the start button only(without the menu), to me just seemed to be them giving a big middle finger to all the people who asked for it to be reinstated.

I'm not sure how it stands now but gaming performance was less on windows 8 than on windows 7, I did read somewhere a few weeks ago that windows 8 or 8.1 was better now. If it is, that's one small thing win 8 has going for it, but for me thats not enough of a reason to "upgrade" from windows 7 on my main PC to an OS that's trying to dumb down the consumer.

[pollaxe]

I've just rolled back to Windows 7 on my Wintendo gaming rig. That said, I'm still having horrible problems with nVidia drivers and Black Screens of Death. (I'm running two GTX 670s in SLI.)

I was using 8.1 but, despite being marketed to the contrary, I've found Windows 8 to be very unstable and unrepairable when it goes wrong. Too many 'the drive where windows is installed is locked' and 'media inserted is not valid' messages when I've tried to repair or refresh the installation.

I'm quite out of love with Microsoft at the moment.

[Animus404]

I'll upgrade to 8.1 When I upgrade my desktop significantly, and by that I mean a motherboard upgrade. Until then I'll continue to enjoy 7 on a desktop and 8.1 on everything else.

[Otherhand]

Maybe it's because I jumped straight to 8.1 and didn't have to witness the growing pains of 8.0, but I've had no serious problems at all with Win8, and there are a lot of things I like about it. It's nothing absolutely shocking or revolutionary, but it feels odd when I get on a Win7 machine now.

You never see Metro unless you want to, since you can boot straight to desktop mode (and it boots much faster). The most glaring thing is that the Start button only made a partial return in 8.1, since its right-click menu is not remotely the same. However, if you want the Win7 Start menu, you can install StartIsBack for less than $3. No, you shouldn't have to pay to have that feature, and yes, it is a bit humiliating to hand over money for that. But if you want it, it's there. I'm getting by fine without, so far.

The second ridiculous omission is a real guide to Win 8. It's possibly the least well-documented Windows yet, perhaps because they want to push the idea that it's intuitive. It's not, but everything major you need to learn can be learned in 30-60 mins with Google. That's not good enough though - Microsoft really should have invested in producing a decent guide to highlight the various key combinations you need to know, new shortcuts to important parts of the OS, etc.

[abychristy]

XP-1, Vista-0, 7-1, (8&8.1)-0, 9-1 ?

[Kjnowak]

XP-1, Vista-0, 7-1, (8&8.1)-0, 9-1 ?

They do seem to adopted the classic Star Trek film model haven't they?

[edzieba]

I'd stake a large amount of money on the uptick in Win 7 adoption not being due to consumer Start Screen refuseniks, but to businesses completing their Win7 rollouts prior to the end of XP support.

[Vimeous]

Win7 uptake increases will be business catching up before the April XP deadline.

[freedomzero]

Windows 7 is still the best 'desktop' OS in my opinion.

[Saracen]

Still maintain that if Microsoft want to push Windows7 refuseniks then offering some kind up trade-in deal would be the way to go. ....

I won't say that that won't work, not least because to some degree it probably would.

But, I suspect "refuseniks" could be split into two main subgroups :-

a) not especially PC literate, not bothered about what runs the PC as long as something does, don't kniw how to upgrade, and possibly not even that Win8 exists, and

b) PC literate, aware of Win 8 and the issues, and have consciously decided to not upgrade, or have upgraded to Linux, of some flavour.

I put myself in group b), maybe a subset of group b). There is NO offer that MS can make that will induce me to go Win8, unless it involves me not needing MUI, and being able to avoid it entirely.

So, Win 8 plus a free copy of Start8 might tempt me.

But short of a Start8-type transformation, all but one of my machines are not going Win8, period. I have one machine where I need to be able to test under Win8. That has Win8 .... on a removable boot drive. Unless I need Win8, I boot on a different drive, often Win7.

If MS offered to upgrade ALL my machines, free of charge, if I use Win8 and MUI, my answer would be "no". If they offer me Win8 free, and £100 cash, per machine, it's still "no". If they offer me $50m, I'll take it, and upgrade all my machines. Then, I'll give them all away, retire to a desert island, and pretend that neither PC's nor the internet exist. I will still be a MUI-free zone.

As long as MS insist on trying to shove MUI down my throat, like it or not, I'm not going Win8 without something, like Start8, that de-MUI's it. And that's that. I will, if need be, spend the time converting OS, and applications, to Linux, but MS can stick MUI where the Sun don't shine, for my part. I'm sure MS won't be terribly bothered about that .... but how many others have similar intentions? Dunno.

Several times I've looked in John Lewis at new laptops. What has stopped me, so far, is Win8. I am NOT buying a laptop that comes with Win8. If there is an upgrade MS could offer that would tempt me, it would be to upgrade a Win8 laptop to Win7.

As for Win9, well, we'll see when the spec of a shipping version becomes clear. But unless it has at the very least an option to de-MUI it, they can stick that, too. And I'm not seeing any signs in the MS mood music that they will consider doing so. In which case, I will shortly be an MS-free zone, both for OS and Office.

[Montysaurus]

When they introduce an OS that meets my needs above and beyond Windows 7 then I will consider an upgrade. If Steam OS gets off the ground, I will have no reason/need for any version of a Microsoft OS

[zdn1042]

I'll stick with 7, thanks. I'll wait for one more year then upgrade to 9(?).

[aidanjt]

When was the last time Microsoft actually did something right? Windows 7? That's a long long time to be going with a heap of stumbles and trips along the way.