[Odal3]

XP Pro guy here.  Installing Windows 7 in the summer.  If XP had better functionality for solid state drives (ie. trim) and large hard drives (>2 TB) I would not be switching.   

I miss XP as well, and I prefer win 7 over 8. The touch screen functionality on 8 is nice once I got used to it, and figured out how to get back to "normal" looking desktop. I still haven't used it enough to find all settings, etc. and always have to search to find things (which works but not always convinient).

[WireNut]

I had Win XP SP3 now I have Win 7 Ultimate. Give me back my XP.

 

[GentleBender]

I miss XP as well, and I prefer win 7 over 8. The touch screen functionality on 8 is nice once I got used to it, and figured out how to get back to "normal" looking desktop. I still haven't used it enough to find all settings, etc. and always have to search to find things (which works but not always convinient).

In Windows 10 the touch interface is very much improved since there is a setting for tablet mode. Work very well with my Surface Pro 2 that I picked up cheap on Amazon with 8GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD.

[FullRangeMan]

I have been using the Win 10 beta on my Surface 2 Pro and have been quite impressed. Much better to use than the Surface running 8.1. They have made the touch screen interface more like an iPad, so you don't necessarily need a mouse and keyboard unless you are working in Word or creating documents. (You can use the onscreen keyboard, I suppose) I like the virtual desktops that you can setup and customize what you want on each. Cortana seems good at dictation and quick questions (an MS version of Apple's Siri). Haven't spent too much time with the Spartan browser or whatever they are calling it now. So far I like it. Doesn't take much to be better than "Windohs" 8 or 8.1 though. 

OK Bender you know it all.
In the IE W10 the top bars are transparent like in the W7?

In the W10 how the users files are grouped together in the folders?
By alphabetical order as in the W7 or as in XP?
Thanks Bro.

[bladesmith]

I had Win XP SP3 now I have Win 7 Ultimate. Give me back my XP.

 

X2...

[GentleBender]

OK Bender you know it all.
In the IE W10 the top bars are transparent like in the W7?

In the W10 how the users files are grouped together in the folders?
By alphabetical order as in the W7 or as in XP?
Thanks Bro.

Far from knowing it all.  I've only spent a small amount of time in W10, but here are some screen shots that may help. Remember that many or all of these features will change before release. Let me know if you have other questions. I'm posting this from my Surface 2 Pro running W10! 

[FullRangeMan]

Thanks Bender for your help.
Seems you visualise files as a List.
I visualise files as Icons size large.
I can see your files are in alphabetical order as in W7.
Thanks alot.

[GentleBender]

You can easily switch view modes as you can see in the top left of File Explorer.






Here is a screen shot of the desktop without touchscreen mode enabled.

[FullRangeMan]

Hmm, what this traffic cone icon?
You dont use Firefox?

[srb]

Hmm, what this traffic cone icon?

VLC Media Player

[Jon L]

1. Lack of the Start screen and the Metro mode - This was the single biggest pissoff factor for most people. And a very valid reason too. But this can be easily solved by tools like Classic Shell.

Speed. Boot times are have reduced dramatically - it actually rivals boot times of tablets.

Agreed 100x.  I too truly hated Win 8 when it came out..Until I installed Classic shell and simply used my computer pretending to be Win 7, ignoring the touchscreen/tablet functionality, etc. 

Then I realized the bootup times were MUCH faster than Win 7, even if SSD was used for both Win 7 vs. Win 8 (tried on same machine).  I recommend people to try Win 8 with classic shell before lamenting Win 7 or Win XP (have/had both). 

BUT, I am truly alarmed if microsoft is trying to go to the subscription model.     Many in the photography world are simply HATING the subscription model Adobe has forced on us with Photoshop CC (creative cloud).  I, like many others, have refused to pay monthly fees for CC and have stuck with all-paid CS versions; but as time goes by, Adobe is laughing at our face by releasing new features and functions for CC version but NOT releasing updates for the CS version, which we paid $$$$$ to buy user rights for previously.     To make matters worse, users of CC are reporting server problems, system slow-down problems, etc.

[JimJ]

I had Win XP SP3 now I have Win 7 Ultimate. Give me back my XP.

 

You couldn't pay me to go back to XP. On all the 7 machines I've used, I've yet to have to rebuild the OS.

With XP, it was a quarterly occurrence...

[GentleBender]

Thanks Bender for your help. (No problem)
Seems you visualise files as a List. (Yes. More information per inch, incredibly more helpful with the the 10.5 inch screen of the Surface.)
I visualise files as Icons size large. (See below)
I can see your files are in alphabetical order as in W7. (You can easily change that in any version of Windows or Mac to how you like things sorted.)
Thanks alot.

Agreed 100x.  I too truly hated Win 8 when it came out..Until I installed Classic shell and simply used my computer pretending to be Win 7, ignoring the touchscreen/tablet functionality, etc. 

Then I realized the bootup times were MUCH faster than Win 7, even if SSD was used for both Win 7 vs. Win 8 (tried on same machine).  I recommend people to try Win 8 with classic shell before lamenting Win 7 or Win XP (have/had both). 

I agree that Classic shell is awesome, but most users may not be savvy enough to know the options there are. Most Windows users I know are far from power users and could possibly download and install a virus instead only creating more bad will for Microsoft. WHY did they ever think that removing the Start Button was a good idea?! I see no upside.

You couldn't pay me to go back to XP. On all the 7 machines I've used, I've yet to have to rebuild the OS.

With XP, it was a quarterly occurrence...

Unless you are disconnected from the internet, I would not recommend XP due to security issues that will not be solved. Sometimes you just have to move on. You always have people that refuse to move on to new and better things (example vinyl lovers). Oh crap that is me!  Boot times are great in Win 8 and Win 10, and once you use an SSD as your boot drive you will find it hard to go back.

[JimJ]

I had to buy a new laptop this year, and it came with a 256 SSD - my first experience with one. Very, very impressed

[Bemopti123]

You can easily switch view modes as you can see in the top left of File Explorer.






Here is a screen shot of the desktop without touchscreen mode enabled.

I am very impressed with the visuals of Win 10.  I honestly disliked Win 7 and even the older XP because I felt that the user interface seem dated, asides from its functionality.

Win 8.1, I felt how many people stated, is much faster, better BUT, the Metro theme with the plethora of icons, to me, it seems as the organization is quite random in how the tiles are made up.  Yes, it might eliminate clutter BUT, it also hides so many elements.

Being a person that uses Mac OSX primarily for everything, I do not get nearly enough practice in Window 8.1

I am up for the upgrade but only after they work out all their kinks, perhaps revision 1. 

PS:  Does anyone remember the disaster that was Windows Vista?  What a bloody disaster it was. 

Paul

[JimJ]

I like the interface of OSX a lot...I just don't want to go Mac for everything :-p

[GentleBender]

I use Mac 95% of the time. I have five Macs and most of them have Parallels installed and at least one version of Windows (one running Yosemite has 7 Pro and 8.1 along with Mavericks). I like both operating systems and really find very few big differences between using them. Mac machines have been the best and most reliable Windows experience I've ever had and for that reason it is worth it for me. They both have strengths and weaknesses.

Macs are not a good choice if you are a gamer or like customizing/tinkering. You could buy a much better gaming rig with the money buying PC and there are not many GPU choices for a Mac. I'm not a fan of Apple soldering chips to the board removing my options of upgrading RAM and SSD drives as needed. At least they haven't done that to the Mac Pro yet. The competition leads to better OS and hardware for all of us. If there were only one, where would they both steal borrow all of their new ideas?

Vista was the new Windows ME. Anyone remember that one? 

[riffer]

You couldn't pay me to go back to XP. On all the 7 machines I've used, I've yet to have to rebuild the OS.

With XP, it was a quarterly occurrence...

Wow; I guess I wasn't the only one then 

I would schedule a rebuild every quarter.

Windows 7 - only with a new motherboard/cpu etc.

Windows 10 - I signed up for the update, but I will take a wait and see attitude.

[Phil A]

PS:  Does anyone remember the disaster that was Windows Vista?  What a bloody disaster it was. 

Paul

Yep - still have a laptop with it.  Luckily I just bought it for video calibration along with a colorimeter and it is just once every couple of years when I actually use it (I update the virus protection every couple of months and then it sits).

[jonbee]

From what I've seen, MS finally seems to be getting its head around the interface. Win 7 was very traditional PC-ish. Win 8 was an attempt to "catch up" to the usability of Macs, but was a terrible design, both annoying dedicated Windows users and getting no converts from Apple.
Since Ballmer left, MS has really gotten religion and is executing better in the consumer space.
I may delay moving to 10 for awhile (the free update is available for a year) until programs like JRiver are fully tested on it and the first service pack is out.
I use (and continue to dislike) Win 8 on my Surface Pro2, which I do like a lot, but use 7 on my other machines.