Windows 7 or 8?

[scaryjim]

Maybe I need to spend some quality time with 8 then. Not being a proper developer anymore I don't really have the excuse to switch at work

[dangel]

Maybe I need to spend some quality time with 8 then. Not being a proper developer anymore I don't really have the excuse to switch at work

Try the "oh s*** my hard drive just died I'll need to reinstall" ploy

[scaryjim]

Lol, laptop's only 6 months old, don't think they'll believe me

I am having no end of trouble with my home laptop and the SSD I won off Hexus though: woes for another day, that one. If I can't get it sorted with an image of my Win7 install I just might have to drop 8 onto it and see how I get on. If there was a metro version of Chrome out there I might not even notice...

[dangel]

Lol, laptop's only 6 months old, don't think they'll believe me

I am having no end of trouble with my home laptop and the SSD I won off Hexus though: woes for another day, that one. If I can't get it sorted with an image of my Win7 install I just might have to drop 8 onto it and see how I get on. If there was a metro version of Chrome out there I might not even notice...

Laptop you say? Well the hard drives in those die all the time

Works well on my laptop (gen 2 intel SSD below) as it's pretty much instant on - the mrs likes the whole metro thang because of the all the social media integration and the fact the apps look all er.. modern (they should use that.. modern ui? hmm) and flashy. I think if there's one benefit of the whole tablet-phone-desktop thing for desktops it's the per-formant nature of the OS overall and of course on laptops that's more vital (for power and because the hardware isn't as powerful).

[antispam246]

Once you disable the metro interface how disimilar is it to win 7?

[aidanjt]

Once you disable the metro interface how disimilar is it to win 7?

There is no disabling Metro. Microsoft purged all traces of the start menu, and you even have to implement a nasty hack just to force Win8 to display the 'desktop app' (yes, the 'desktop' is now an 'app') on login, so you can even use your taskbar overloaded with pinned applications just to make it somewhat funcitonal.

[FlubberNugget]

Metro is a fine alternative to the old start menu, as much as you want to detest it (because you can't be bothered to adapt to a new interface)
Personally, I would go with Win8 seeing as how cheap it is to upgrade, unless you seriously need to be using windows 7.
Win8 is also a lot more lightweight than Win7 in relation to ram usage.

There is no disabling Metro. Microsoft purged all traces of the start menu, and you even have to implement a nasty hack just to force Win8 to display the 'desktop app' (yes, the 'desktop' is now an 'app') on login, so you can even use your taskbar overloaded with pinned applications just to make it somewhat funcitonal.

It's almost as if people don't know how to use the run dialog anymore.
Also, protip! right click at the bottom left if you're using Win8, powermenu!

[peterb]

Metro is a fine alternative to the old start menu, as much as you want to detest it (because you can't be bothered to adapt to a new interface)

The software should be delivering useability to the user, not forcing the user to conform to the software.

Win8 is also a lot more lightweight than Win7 in relation to ram usage.

RAM usage is not a bad thing. When Win7 was launched, there was criticism because it used all the available RAM on a system. Which ignored the fact that using RAM is far more efficient than using swap files.

With regard to the UI, Apple have got this right. One UI optimised for desktop users, and another UI for tablets/phones and other touch screen devices.

Even the linux world (well Gnome) has fallen into this 'one size gits all' trap. Gnome 3 is a retrograde step for desktop use. Gnome 2 is far better.

[dangel]

RAM usage is not a bad thing. When Win7 was launched, there was criticism because it used all the available RAM on a system. Which ignored the fact that using RAM is far more efficient than using swap files.

If you are in fact referring to the caching of RAM to speed up the system then yes this is a good thing but that doesn't take away from the fact the 8 is actually more efficient - a great deal of work has gone into improving the actual memory footprint of the system (for example the OS actively seeks out duplicate pages in memory and removes them).

As an aside - the desktop has always been an application - that's why you can kill it and relaunch it at will (or even replace it entirely) - but it's more commonly called the shell. More misinformation I'm afraid.. I used to use http://www.astonshell.com/ back in the day.

[technodean]

This is taken form Freemake.com. top 10 features that will be gone.
http://www.freemake.com/blog/windows...-will-be-gone/

[BEANFro Elite]

Having had some extensive discussions with TheAnimus, I've decided that I'll install Windows 8 on my media PC when its out, but i'll definitely keep Windows 7 on my main rig.

It seems the interface will lend itself quite well to a media PC but perhaps in time it may find itself on my main rig, much like every other previous version of Windows eventually did, save for ME and 2000.

It does seem that with every new launch of Windows, there is a contigent of people that are stirred to a chorus of bellyaching, lol, sometimes I'm quietly the same, but these days I generally allow many of those comments to fall onto deaf ears.

But of course, if you don't like it, simply don't update to it.

[cam1986]

Window 7 gets my vote

[bazray]

Stick with windows 7 for now, in 6-12 months see if issues are sorted just in case its a vista mk2, or setup a dual boot and give it a try for free:

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/w...elease-preview

[Splash]

This is taken form Freemake.com. top 10 features that will be gone.
http://www.freemake.com/blog/windows...-will-be-gone/

From the article

As it’s clear from the list, most Windows 7 features described above don’t completely disappear in Windows 8, they are just replaced by the new modified ones

So changed then, not gone. About to start some testing of Win8 at work. Actually rather looking forward to it, rather than just accepting the countless "zomgWin8suxx0rs" posts around the internet I figure I'll check it out myself. Already dpme an amount of testing of Server 2012 which I've been very impressed with.

[pp05]

If you're going to purchase a laptop offering Windows 8 - should you be looking for a touchscreen or not from the get go... or will a trackpad enough...

[lapyiwin]

I would stick with windows 7 purely because I can't get on with Metro tiles.