Windows XP forum: Poll: Do you plan to install Windows 7?

I just built a non-OEM computer and installed Windows Vista Home Premium and recently updated to service pack 2. Last I heard Win 7 was still in Beta version. I never install any beta software. Plus I am a firm user of tried and tested free software and I just spent a bunddle on this build up. So unless Microsoft offers a final version of Win 7, not beta, and at a price I can afford, I will keep using Vista. Hell I still had XP 10 months ago before I built my latest tower. I am still enjoying the increased performance in Vista over XP. I will most likely keep using Vista until it eventually goes the way of all previous OS's. I still live by the phrase: "If it still works, don't fix it".

Hi Steve:
This is in reply to your excellent article October 23, 2009 in our Simcoe Reformer. Your article on Windows 7 was A plus but Microsoft once again was not. I have two laptops with vista on and one desktop with xp pro. I could not install windows 7 on my laptop with vista ultimate because I bought windows 7 pro. I installed it on my desk top and it was easy. Having said that and being all excited. This would all end quickly when we tried to print something. I have 2 HP laser jet 1012 printers attached. One is to my xp pro desk top and the other to my vista laptop. Windows 7 does not recognize the drivers on these HP printers. There is no update to these drivers if ever at this time. Here we go again, Microsoft new software $300.00 and opps new or fairly new printer to work with Windows 7 . Does Microsoft care or is it just about them and (Fxxxxx) the other manufacturers. Some businesses will have to replace maybe 6 to 10 printers and maybe their fax machine. Come Microsoft gives a break, you (Sxxxxxxx) us on vista and no break with the upgrade. Maybe apple can start doing our businesses. No viruses either.
Bob
I have just installed

Yes, I have been involved in the beta testing and the RC testing and I have loved every minute of it. I have been a staunch follower of XP almost from it's inception. I have been involved with computers since the true core memory days and have seen every stage of development. I have been a PC fan since the original IBM models came out. I have seen Microsoft put out some really awful OS releases just to keep up with an Apple release (DOS 4.0 instantly comes to mind along with it's Windows counterpart ME) but I have to say they have truly done a good job of field testing 7.

I have an "older" laptop (heck anything more than 6 mos old is "Older") which I was told by the Vista Upgrade adviser couldn't be upgraded to that OS but it has been running the 7 Beta and RC7 just fine thank you! True there are some of the more esoteric features, available in 7-Ultimate that my machines hardware won't handle but I'm not ready to get rid of my old friend just yet so I will go along with the 7-Premium instead for it.

Just do the upgrade by the rules established by the manufacturer, don't try any "shortcuts" because you think you are an "eggspert" and the upgrade/install should go just fine.

I am a little annoyed that they didn't design the final product to include the RC7 as an upgradeable product instead of just Vista but what the hey, when I installed the Beta and the RC7 I had to do them as clean installs intead of upgrades so I have gotten the procedure down to a near science by now.

And yest it's true that MS has 8 in development already, because like Igor in the move Van Helsing, "It's what they do!". Bill Gates keeps his people busy constantly designing the next two operating systems as a rule. By the time one OS has been released they are well on their way to the next and the one after that at least at the conceptualization stage as well.

Personally I don't play the keep up game. I only change my OS when I see definite advantages to it, when the OS has features I truly like and can't emulate with the one I already have. Even after my wife and daughter acquired PCs with the Vista OS and liked it (overall at least), I didn't find it useful enough to want to change my laptop to get it. After installing the Beta and RC7 however I was instantly enamored of this new system. After comparing it to Vista I will agree that it is indeed an overhauled Vista but it is that overhauled that it the important keyword. This is Vista that works the way Vista was supposed to with the addition of many new features besides. Just as XP is what ME was supposed to be and more so 7 is what Vista was supposed to be and more.

For the average consumer they will see a marked improvement in the performance of their equipment. My wife has a PC with 4gb of Ram and a 2.8 Ghz dual core Intel processor on which she does a lot of media intensive work, it is a fast machine but even she was impressed with the Beta when she tried it.

I believe that most consumers will find the little extra effort needed to upgrade from XP will be worth the effort and for current Vista users it should be a nearly seamless, effortless upgrade path. As a caveat, any time you do a major software upgrade do a full backup first so you have a fall back point in case something does go wrong in the process. It can save a lot of hair pulling and foul language in the long run. My personal favorite is Acronis True Image but their are a lot of other great backup products available as well.

Good luck and happy computing!

I THINK I am going to upgrade from Vista, but really I'm torn. I LIKE Vista, and I think that most of the badmouthing of it originates from a sort of "sour grapes" thing where a lot of bloggers fashioned themselves as gurus with XP and Vista changed enough stuff around that the little weenies couldn't pretend to be gurus anymore, so they decided to trash it. Groupthink set in and it became common knowledge that Vista was some sort of horrible thing.

There were other problems, mostly involving third-party peripheral drivers that were caused by lazy or stingy manufacturers, most notably and surprisingly HP, who didn't make the effort to support legacy hardware. But these had nothing to do with Vista itself, and indeed Microsoft gave third-party vendors more lead time before Vista's commercial release than anybody should ever have needed.

Also, a lot of people tried to install it on machines that didn't meet, or that just barely met, the minimum system requirements to run it. They were disappointed with the results and decided to blame Vista, although all new O/Ses have been designed for computers with greater capabilities than their predecessors since the Abacus 2.0 had more wires and more beads, and all those beads couldn't be installed on the fewer wires of old version 1.0. Ever try installing XP on a 386? It's analogous to what a lot of people tried to do with Vista.

But I was an early adapter of Vista back in 2006, and in all the time I have used it on my computer, a Core2 Duo E6600 machine with 2GB of RAM, it has never crashed, not even once. This is despite the fact that I put the thing through its paces constantly, doing movie editing, high-end graphics, and program compilations, often simultaneously while listening to music on WinAmp. I had high-availability Unix machines I administered at NASA that couldn't even approach that level of reliability (we rely instead on redundancy). XP certainly couldn't.

But Vista suffers from another "flaw," to wit: XP was actually good enough, the first GUI O/S from Microsoft that could make that claim. Remember how it was a good day if your Win98 machine would only crash once?

But Vista is WAY better than XP. After growing accustomed to Vista, going back to an XP machine (which I've still got a couple of) feels as clunky and frustrating as it used to feel when going back from XP to a 98 machine. When installed properly on a machine with the capacity for it, Vista is elegant, smooth, crisp, fast, and utterly, totally reliable.

The only reason I may upgrade is that I like to have the latest and best, and I am confident that 7 is actually an upgrade, albeit largely achieved by shunting off support for older, legacy software into a virtual XP environment instead of accommodating it natively. That's a bit of cleverness that I admire and something Microsoft seems to have forgotten that they did long ago starting with 98, allowing you to run things in a command prompt window.

Yes, I do loathe Vista, and wish my newer systems had come loaded with XP. I've continued to experience compatibility issues with Vista and find the quirks irritating and time consuming. I no longer have access to the full features of my top-of-the line all-in-one color laser printer because of Vista, which I consider a typical crap Microsoft product.

At the same time, I have limited faith in any "promise" of a Microsoft offering . . . so I have no plans to immediately upgrade until I see sufficient assurance that any unintended bugs and errors--inevitable companions of a Microsoft delivery--have associated solutions and patches available. "Once burned, twice shy" doesn't begin to describe the Microsoft experience. Perhaps "always burned" would more accurately summarize our wary dance with the platform.

I never update to a new OS, until I'm convinced all the bugs have been worked out. I'm sticking with Vista for now; although I am keeping a close eye on "7" for the future, as I don't like Vista at all....too many compatibility issues for me.

Bill and his missus ( melanie ? ) would only put my bleeding cash into good deeds somewhere , so NO to me updating to 7 . His conscience is pricking him as he reaches old age so he thinks being a philanthropist is going to gain him points on his way to wherever . I have got news for Bill Gates and his like . greedy b------ .
Get a big yacht like Mr Allen and sail away .......

As I cycle through computers, I find it useful to install Linux on the ones whose Windows version is no longer current. That way I have an up-to-date system running on each box. Linux is also more fun since there is so much open source software available for it that I can always be learning something new (without having to pay a few hundred dollars for the privilege). I'll always have to have at least one Windows box, but the rest run Linux.

I gave just bought a XP box, running 64-bit.My friend had just bought a 32-bit XP.His was commercial, not a downgrade.I would never 'upgrade' to 7,unless my computer-guy told me of some advantage.He been testing beta 7,and so far he says "no".

Saving on cost of hardware as I built or upgrade my PC myself (it so easy), from HP based computer PC to Acer, to plain Vanila Clone built by me with top quality component but not over the top in order to get them all under $1500.00 including top quality monitor from HP monitor to DCDi by Faroudja.

All our PC have at least 3 GB or RAM all are at least Dual Core or Quad Core and all are 64 bits capable PC from the get go and at least all have one or more HD of 500GB for storage and they range from XP home to Vista Home Premium.

All getting the upgrade to Win 7 Pro as we decided we wanted the remote access PC included without further upgrade and other usefull feature to us as well, daughter now learning PC programation altought she is still in her enfancy when it come to PC building and repair (funny when you think that most teanager that I do know don't know the inner working of their MAC or PC but are so good at onlines gaming, punn intended lol, I must admit that if they want a games very bad they become expert to make it work on any kind of OS if they have too lol.

So the need create the reason to learn, I guess it is why Mac only need to know how to turn it on just kidding.

I am sure MAC would cause me less grief but knowing my kids relationship about their game any computer is as good as another as another as long as it could play their latest games if not well it is not good anymore.

No point for me to pay twice to be told in 2 to 3 years life span that they want a new computer Mac or PC.

At least this time they did the hassle to go trough the updrade themself and yes now if they do need a hardware upgrade I force them to read and present a business case report to me and only when I am convice of the cost value they do it by themself and pay half of it. Best way to cooldown their wishes lol.

All our PC have now Win 7 Pro x 4 PC 64 bits upgrade from Vista/XP home premium and are happy of their result and progress and yes my son is already playing his old games made for XP one day after his install, mind you I did make sure he did is own work first lol. Export backup and import altough quite easy as he did use the export feature built in the OS.

Anyway my own experience wasn't bad with Vista because we did not compromise on the hardware for any of our PCs, meaning good component at first and less bell and wistle half of the cost was bear by my kids (they need to learn money does not grow on tree).

Going to give the older ATI PCIe Video Card to my less fortunate sister, that is why I find it so great with PC anything and everything could be recycled, even combined to make almost a new PC from Linux to MS to none profit group or less fortunate friends and relative.

No plans to upgrade to Windows 7. A colleague is having continuous problems/errors and malfunctions, having been requested to upgrade/change from XP to Vista to bring her in line with the rest of the office computers. Can anyone provide any ideas on how to ensure that these issues are eradicated? Is there an established method for installing the VISTA platform when XP has been originally installed (without losing any of her vital office files and applications etc?

I subcribe to a trade magazine (PC World), since, 2000, also articles are available on-line at pc.world.com. I read an article in June of 2008, that stipulated the dis-continuance of support for XP from the Microsoft Update site. With the recent launch of Windows 7, the phase out of support for XP is close. What this mean to me is, all updates will cease soon, rendering XP obsolete. Understand the importance of updates, when you re-install Windows XP no updates will be available to bring the system to SP2, SP3, which are nothing more than another version of XP or Upgrade. For those earlier XP users (2003), from SP1 to SP2/3. With no updates patches and fixes no longer exist. Microsoft will be forcing the XP faithful, to let go. For that reason I am now going begin my study of Windows 7, and eventually perform the upgrade on three home computers, priced at $150. I held out, since, Windows Vista introduction in 2007. Thru research, I am convinced its time to let go of OLD FAITHFUL Windows XP, was a dam good Operating Systems. I believe Windows 7 is nothing more than Windows XP SP4 and SP5, with a touch of Windows Vista.

To" frappyjohn: One of my favorite quotes are, "What constitute an emergency on your part, does not, constitute an emergency on mine". Tried to ignore the spill you gave on LINUS OPERATING SYSTEM, expecting, better from Microsoft. This forum is great to hear what others are doing. I may try it. Thanks!

Linux is ok to great depending of what you intend to do and how must you are willing to re learn also, Win 7 is great when it come to Windows world.

Ok here my own experience, 64 bits run my 32 bits MS Office Pro Suite 2007 just fine, meaning is work great, I lost one component and I don't know the benefice of Visio as I never used it prior on Vista or XP anyway, Excell, Access, World, Power Point, Outlook all working great Palm Conduit access are working do their sync, old but it is working on a 64 bits and that mean something to me.

Games; Crysis work just great Call of Duty modern warfare great also, BF2, under 64 bits also and btw Crysis games is the benchmark right now for how your PC will support demanding games if your computer could run Crysis w/o problems well your PC will handle Win 7 like it is just a breaze,

Mind you I don't own any crapy hardware here, meaning I know the in and out of all my 4 PC and Server and all my PC have twice the OS minimum requirement for Vista or Win 7 that include the 64 bits for the RAM my personal desktop have 4 GB Ram and if every the motherboard die on me after the 3 years warranty I just put it out and put a new one but as it is an Asus it probably endure the life expectency of Win 7 and more.

All our family PC have migrated to Win 7 Pro and my best benchmark are wife and family approval for satisfaction and I could assure you that you it work just plain and simple on a good PC after all PC has been driven by the constant increase of MS OS in power and games are also a constant driven force in the market.

No home owner need a one GB Video card for only watching video, but their prices are dropping constantly as we speak a top of the line cost almost half this year and will continue to go down and they handle Crysis w/o problems.

If your computer meet and exceed minimum requirement, my suggestion is time 2 that minimum requirement as it was same for XP at beginning follow by Vista = requirement time 2.

Apple is same it will run but prior to snow it will fly on a Power PC.

So that constant truth remain in evey OS now matter wich one.

If you only do email and surfing the internet a full integrated Motherboard with graphic onboard will do the trick just make sure you have PCIe for eventual needed Video Card for games if wanted one or two PCI slot free for maybe a TV Tuner later (Onboard TV Tuner are always better as they do not the CPU computation for decoding and encoding, ATI TV tuner will be a good example of that, other do the same also, just make sure they specify it and that they are compatible Vista or better Win 7, My actual ATI TV tuner 500 series just work great under Win 7 64 bits and ATI are prompt to release and support for their recent hardware any new MS OS).


Other very good at support their hardware regarding drivers are the following; Brother, Logitech for example, the funny thing is that MS own hardware are not supported when it come to a new OS, well this have been my own experience regarding MS Sidewinder Josystick and games pad built for 98 not supported after that, not even in XP.

Very good Motherboard are the none generic motherboard for drivers support, i.e. Asus, Gigabyte, MSI.

Dell could be very problematic if needed to upgrade one other failling part of their hardware as they are using proprietary solution that make their hardware not compatible with the rest of the industry, i.e their motherboard use a lot of not industry standard when it come to simple connection.

HP have sometime quality issue, Gateway also; a lot of Gateway refurbish PC System offer at Major retailer online are a good sign that a quality problems exist with that manufacturer..

Anyway Win 7 is not an upgrade XP SP4, you could argue it is Vista donne right but certainly not XP, especialy the 64 bits edition of Win 7, actualy Win 7 and 2008 Server RC2 share the same kernel and drivers fondation, so technically your PC could become a server without major modification if meeting the requirement spec.

All I know by my own experience for the last 8 month that Win 7 have worked great for me and family also.

If I ever go Apple it will be a desktop configuration as I learn I need free access to the hardware to save money in the long run, a good PC technicien will easy double the cost of my original purchase on any kind of hardware and in my case not worth the spending when it is only one screw for a video card and side panel and they never install me the latest drives and most of the time let windows OS install a generic drivers instead, so 10 to 15 min work could represent 100 to 150 dollars without any additional benefits to me and even less performance as I will be required to uninstall the software that is most of the time not updated also and drivers.

You are most welcome.

Glad this could help you to sort it out.