Buy Windows 7 now or wait for Windows 8 - Page 2

I'm sure MS will make windows 8 stable, its the user experience I don't think will be worked out till the next major release.

This is true, MS has hooked me up twice with new keys at no cost.

Where does Windows Bob fit in?

Bob fits right in there with Win Me in my opinion. Well at least someone else thinks Win Me was an Epic Fail...
http://blog.ziggytek.com/2010/02/05/...ys-windows-me/

Oh I do agree with you guys, I think Win 8 will be a great OS, will I jump right out there and buy it, no. I'll wait til the first SP1 is released at the very minimum.

Interesting article on winsupersite about the new Win 8 UI.

http://www.winsupersite.com/article/...0032012-143133

Fantastic article.

'The Summary: Basically Windows 8 offers almost nothing extra (and actually detracts from) the desktop users' experience.

Well, I agree that it is an excellent article, but I disagree with your summary. Windows 8 will offer a different experience for desktop users. I actually like it thus far.

And there is stuff under the covers (e.g. Storage Spaces) that will prove attractive. In fact, if I see an App in the Windows Store that replicates the centralised/single instance client PC Backup function of WHS, then I suspect that I'll be dumping WHS 2011 in favour of a Windows 8-based solution.

I expect to upgrade my desktop to Windows 8. But my HTPC will remain on Win7. I see no reason to pay $100+ to gain nothing with WMC8.

We can agree to disagree. Most HTPC users aren't using servers or WHS. For those people who are (I happen to be one of them) then I agree that Storage Spaces looks interesting.

I think the author basically summed up his feelings in the last 2 paragraphs...


Edit: I thought this sentence was very interesting and telling as well...


I agree. It looks like M$ is trying to make a tablet OS since maybe they feel like they missed out with the iPhone and iPad and their thinking is this is their way back to dominance. I can't help but think that the desktop PC user (or HTPC user in our case) might be getting left behind.

I totally agree with the author that many of these things should have been an addition to (and not in place of) Windows 7 which just works well for desktop PC users.

I do think Windows 8 has a lot to offer for HTPC users. With Windows 8, the start menu, perhaps the most fundamental part of the OS's interface, works well from 10 feet away. And the Windows 8 app store might just be come a de facto mainstream app store for HTPC users. I've already switched my HTPC's to Windows 8 and I like it quite a bit. I can't wait until we see more apps.

I also happen to agree with Thurrott's summary, but the point is that one can either choose to see yourself as a dinosaur doomed to extinction, or seize a new direction and see where it takes you.

With a few regrets (WMC, and what I see as a retrograde and clumsy Windows Explorer), I am actually excited about Windows 8. I think it has a chance to take desktop users forward into a world where multiple form factors sharing a common DNA will actually work.

I'm not so sure they are trying to create just a tablet OS as they are trying to create a common interface OS recognizing that most people are using multiple types of devices - desktop, laptop, tablet, and smartphone.

It's sort of like when they began to create a common office application interface with MS Office, and people said "but I like using Wordperfect and Lotus and don't need a common interface." Well their early efforts were not great, but eventually they did a pretty good job, and eventually they completely took over the office application business as a result.

I think the writer is wrong when he calls desktops "dinasaurs" (oh, and the same issues exist for laptops which are also keyboard-centric devices and certainly are not "dinasaurs"). It's not that no one is going to use a keyboard, it's that they are ALSO going to use touchscreen devices, and this is MS's first shot at trying to marry the two. I don't expect the first effort to be without flaws, but I also don't blast them for trying.

Oh, and I do agree that they see this "common interface" as their means of maintaining their dominant position.

You are right in your main point.
And that Win8 is not going to be another Vista.
The problem is it will be the opposite of Vista.
Vista was a technologically advanced OS that was not efficient enough for low end hardware.
Win8 is a dumbed down OS that is very efficient on low end and mobile hardware.
The move from Win7 to Win8 is more likely to resemble the move from windows mobile to windows phone 7 than anything that happened on the desktop.

I think with the new Windows 8 release clearly geared towards tablets, you will see a huge increase in tablets over the next couple of years. For two reasons, there will be cheaper and more versatile tablets then what Apple has offered. And the laptop/desktop PC will become mostly a business product.

I completely agree, the desktop is much more comfortable to use then a laptop. You get a full size keyboard that you can position where you want, a mouse vs trackpad, and typically a larger and higher quality display. Nope unless you need portability I much prefer a desktop. As for tablets they are basically for consuming media, the lack of keyboard really limits there use, and personally I find a mouse to be quicker and more accurate then touch.

Thurrott does not call desktops "dinosaurs" - he calls the users of desktops who are unwilling to change "dinosaurs".

That's a very different thing.

Update: Thurrott has a new opinion piece up:

http://www.winsupersite.com/article/...king-pc-143155

And here, he does indeed call a traditional desktop PC a "dinosaur".

And I still agree with him. He's talking about the forthcoming Slate devices that can act as Tablets (with both finger and pressure-sensitive stylus touch), that can also plug into multiple monitors with keyboard and mouse.

This flexibility puts these devices into a separate class from both the traditional desktop PC and the Apple/Android Pads.

I had an inkling of what this would be like with my old HP TX2000 Tablet PC. The next-gen hardware with Windows 8 is what my next PC will be. Not a desktop, not a Pad, but an origami-like device that will flex to meet my needs for the task at hand.

all the press indicates Windows 8 is for moving forward to the cloud based computing/tablet lifestyle.

I don't like the fluffy stuff. They have been trying to recreate an Apple experience on the PC since Windows was introduced and it's always a PITA for anyone that actually wants to make decisions about how their PC operates and where things are stored.

They want the PC to be an appliance.

It's all about control. Taking it away from users, that is.

Actually, he said this...


"These devices" are slate tablets and ultrabooks.

I could've sworn he called laptops dinosaurs. The guy is clearly into tablets - or anything new. So in his mind, anything that is not new and exciting is a dinosaur .

Thurrott has just about every type of machine even servers considering he makes his living writing about Windows.