Windows 7 Momentum Grows, Shows No Sign of Slowing

People don't like 8 and now 10 because it's a tablet based OS with a shitty UI, missing features we want and including features we don't want. Not because we want to blindly jump on a bandwagon or aren't smart enough to figure out how to work it. I'd bet a lot of cash (if I had any) that pretty much all of us that are bitching about 8 have tried it or have it on a laptop or something and use it all the time.

Again when nearly a third of your consumer base is bitching about a product and "downgrading" to an older product, it's a lot more likely that your product is the issue.

The problem with these reports is they don't break out corporate from consumer. I fully expect companies to hold onto 7 for as long as practical. Consumers OTOH are crazy if they don't take a free upgrade. If 10 sucks they can always revert to a backup. You can upgrade again some other time.

I work for a large healthcare provider in MN and our IT dept is in the process if upgrading from Windows 95 to Windows 7 right now on all PCs. Scheduled to be completed by mid May. Over 100,000 computers.

I have Windows 10 running in a VM on Windows 7. My incentive to upgrade for free to Windows 10 from 7 is measured in negative numbers.

My main issues are with the 'flat look' of the Win10 UI and the general sense that whoever came up with the colour scheme for much of the UI (especially the Metro/Modern UI) section was at least colourblind if not plain blind. Then there's that the control panel got even more fragmented than it was in Win7 already, with bits and pieces scattered around the Desktop & Modern UI sections.

Windows 8 - 10 are schizophrenic OSes which have no freakin' idea of what they want to be when they grow up. This compared to Win7 which honestly isn't so different from Win2k, which I used for the longest time, and with which I have always been completely satisfied.

shawnoen said:

I work for a large healthcare provider in MN and our IT dept is in the process if upgrading from Windows 95 to Windows 7 right now on all PCs. Scheduled to be completed by mid May. Over 100,000 computers.

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Windows 95? Jesus fucking christ! That's just scary.

Elledan said:

I have Windows 10 running in a VM on Windows 7. My incentive to upgrade for free to Windows 10 from 7 is measured in negative numbers.

My main issues are with the 'flat look' of the Win10 UI and the general sense that whoever came up with the colour scheme for much of the UI (especially the Metro/Modern UI) section was at least colourblind if not plain blind. Then there's that the control panel got even more fragmented than it was in Win7 already, with bits and pieces scattered around the Desktop & Modern UI sections.

Windows 8 - 10 are schizophrenic OSes which have no freakin' idea of what they want to be when they grow up. This compared to Win7 which honestly isn't so different from Win2k, which I used for the longest time, and with which I have always been completely satisfied.

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How was control panel fragmented in 7? I just typed what I was searching for and it came up. Technically that's what I get in 8, but I've read that some things are set in places outside of control panel.

I still find it funny how people are crying about the flat look and claiming it is so ugly I used OSX the other day they finally went flat too, so that means all major OSes mobile or not are now on the flat look. Yet none of them have this huge negative vibe that people give MS the company that really kicked it off.

Well if it bugs you all so much wait 6 years and the style will change again I guess.

rudy said:

I still find it funny how people are crying about the flat look and claiming it is so ugly I used OSX the other day they finally went flat too, so that means all major OSes mobile or not are now on the flat look. Yet none of them have this huge negative vibe that people give MS the company that really kicked it off.

Well if it bugs you all so much wait 6 years and the style will change again I guess.

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Really? The response to Apple's flat theme was hardly universally positive.

The issue isnt so much the style (though personally I think flat is fugly), its the terrible execution. Modern UI still makes things more cumbersome by dividing things up all over the place. It was an absolute disaster at launch.

DeathFromBelow said:

Really? The response to Apple's flat theme was hardly universally positive.

The issue isnt so much the style (though personally I think flat is fugly), its the terrible execution. Modern UI still makes things more cumbersome by dividing things up all over the place. It was an absolute disaster at launch.

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An argument against the divided nature is fine but that's not what I am addressing. Ultimately the reality is no one has ever made an OS that is great. An OS is a tool that's it and part of that tools usefulness comes from security, modern features and so on, why I or any rational person would give that up just because a couple things are different places, we don't like the look or whatever is mind boggling to me. We aren't monkeys, this is hard forum we can learn the new location of stuff, and in many or most cases we can change locations or layout, that's what start 8 et al did right? The reality is the look of an OS is the very last thing that anyone should think is important and even if you did think its important I just outlined why your opinion doesn't mean anything because you have no remaining choices. And if going flat really was as bad as many people make out to be I find it even more baffling that all 3 major companies would not see that in all their focus groups etc..... Maybe the opinions of the people here are just the loud minority. It looks fine to me.

rudy said:

An argument against the divided nature is fine but that's not what I am addressing. Ultimately the reality is no one has ever made an OS that is great. An OS is a tool that's it and part of that tools usefulness comes from security, modern features and so on, why I or any rational person would give that up just because a couple things are different places, we don't like the look or whatever is mind boggling to me. We aren't monkeys, this is hard forum we can learn the new location of stuff, and in many or most cases we can change locations or layout, that's what start 8 et al did right? The reality is the look of an OS is the very last thing that anyone should think is important and even if you did think its important I just outlined why your opinion doesn't mean anything because you have no remaining choices. And if going flat really was as bad as many people make out to be I find it even more baffling that all 3 major companies would not see that in all their focus groups etc..... Maybe the opinions of the people here are just the loud minority. It looks fine to me.

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See my post at the end of page 2. The issue isnt simply the bad UI, 8 was a regression in features. They even made Media Center a payware DLC without making any improvements to it at all. The flat UI is really just the lumpy exterior of the turd.

DeathFromBelow said:

See my post at the end of page 2. The issue isnt simply the bad UI, 8 was a regression in features. They even made Media Center a payware DLC without making any improvements to it at all. The flat UI is really just the lumpy exterior of the turd.

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Sometimes I think Microsoft gets flack for natural market evolution. I love Windows Media Center and use it CableCard. But on just this forum once a week there's an article about how people are cutting the cord more than ever and at an accelerating pace. So over a decade ago Windows Media Center was cool and made sense. Now it's increasingly out of alignment with how people consume media. I think that's the crux of many of Windows 8's problems and perhaps even those of Windows 10.

It's been a classic problem for Windows but it's getting worse. There's just those that don't like where computing is going. Cloud and connected with less complex lighter weight applications. With smaller, mobile battery driven devices that are never used with a keyboard and mouse. I understand that for productive purposes we'll have keyboards and mice and laptops and desktops and in the case of PC gaming even for entertainment purposes as well.

But mainstream computing is fundamentally different now. And Windows has to incorporate these concepts and yes they belong on the desktop because they are everywhere else.

DeathFromBelow said:

See my post at the end of page 2. The issue isnt simply the bad UI, 8 was a regression in features. They even made Media Center a payware DLC without making any improvements to it at all. The flat UI is really just the lumpy exterior of the turd.

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Then by that argument you would say Windows Vista is what you are using right because it came with the most robust WMC before the gimped it for windows 7. Same with xbox controller support which degraded right?

rudy said:

I still find it funny how people are crying about the flat look and claiming it is so ugly I used OSX the other day they finally went flat too, so that means all major OSes mobile or not are now on the flat look. Yet none of them have this huge negative vibe that people give MS the company that really kicked it off.

Well if it bugs you all so much wait 6 years and the style will change again I guess.

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Microsoft didn't "kick anything off". They merely attempted to ape what was already popular in Web design circles for many years,. Unfortunately, Microsoft's version of "flat" ended up looking like something designed by Fischer Price with ugly, monolithic tiles in primary colors.

Just because Apple has also followed a flat trend isn't an excuse for the way Metro looks.

The worst is, MS isn't even trying to evolve it. They're just kicking the can down the road with gimmicks like shrinking the start screen to make people think that you gave in and put the real start menu back when in fact they didn't.

As far as OSes go yes they did kick it off starting with windows phone. Just because a trend started in another field doesn't mean MS didn't get it going in this field. Of course every design conceivable probably exists on web pages. But since MS had done this I have seen a lot of web pages switch over.

Apple and Google following suit does actually make it a good excuse because it probably just solidifies the point that you are an old geezer who doesn't like the new style. Don't change my stuff. I on the other hand realize that no one should give a rip because from the very beginning of the advent of the OS no one has had any meaningful impact or control of how an OS is designed aesthetically you get what you get, get over it. If you are one of the niche market that cares so much then install a custom shell or whatever and make it look the way you want. In fact if your so brilliant make one that everyone else will love and sell it. Every windows OS I can remember had old farts crying about the new look and trying to revert it.

Also MS is actually evolving and one would argue doing so faster than ever before since changes took place from 8 to 8.1 and images of continuity showing it changing with 10. https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/apps/dn393983.aspx

BTW if you dispute me LMK how manytimes in the history of windows has MS made that many UI upgrades in a mere 3 years.....

Hi All

It appears that Microsoft is committed to going the way of the hybrid if you will OS. As someone who's used Windows 8, as it came installed on my laptop I found that I didn't like it. Linux Mint is installed on it now. I find Linux Mint more to my liking. I have Widows 7 & Linux Ubuntu on my main machine. If I'm not mistaken, Windows 7 is to continue getting security updates until 2020. If by then Microsoft is still on the same path, & Windows 7 is no longer viable, it'll be time for me & Microsoft to part ways.

Already using windows 10 preview with classic shell. Been using classic shell since windows 7. A hybrid between XP/7 start menu is the best. Dual column with glass (less transparant) skin. The best a least to me Having the same start menu since windows 7. Classic shell makes it consistent for years to come

Dwango said:

If Microsoft does decide to give Windows 10 away for free for it's first year I don't see any reason for anyone (outside of large corporations) to stick with Windows 7.

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I bet a relatively small number of people actually do the free 7-10 upgrade. I won't.

Most people only "upgrade: by buying a new PC, and Win10 being a free upgrade won't really change much.

rudy said:

In fact if your so brilliant make one that everyone else will love and sell it. Every windows OS I can remember had old farts crying about the new look and trying to revert it.

Also MS is actually evolving and one would argue doing so faster than ever before since changes took place from 8 to 8.1 and images of continuity showing it changing with 10. https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/apps/dn393983.aspx

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exactly. This is like all the whiners who endlessly bitched about 7 not having the windows 95 menu, because it allegedly took up too much space, but unless you have very few apps installed, the 95 menu eats up a lot of real estate (regardless of whether you organize your start menu or not).