5 ms·

Windows 7 is older than Windows XP was when 7 was released. Think about that.

by oldienotgoldie 7y ago

Mirioron 7y ago
And 10 still feels like it's in beta.
- flatiron 7y ago
  I have 10 in a VM and whenever I boot it up I always shake my head and wonder who the heck would want to use this. I feel if you put a KDE desktop and said “here’s Windows 11” most people would say how great the update was.
  - lostmyoldone 7y ago
    I absolutely don't understand what people who claim "Windows 10 is great!" are seeing, it's feels absolutely surreal! It's a mess from a UI perspective, and from any other perspective, it's basically the same OS it has always been.
    - deleted 7y ago
      [deleted]
    - HenryBemis 7y ago
      Since I can't add Windows7 on my laptop, I am hanging on (like the cat in the poster) to Win8.1. I am using this "Classic Shell" tool that gives me the Win7 look/desktop/menu/etc. Don't Windows 10 have a similar tool? I've heard from IT folks that Win10Pro does a better job as an OS on CPU/RAM management, and that once you cut out all the crapware (enhance privacy/stop services/use firewall/etc).. doesn't this make it "better"? I am thinking to run Win10Pro on VM to see if I can make it half-decent. As another writer mentioned above, it won't be far that we won't be able to find hardware that runs in previous Win versions.
      - NeedMoreTea 7y ago
        The nearest I've seen is Stardock's Windowblinds that gives a very rough approximation of 7 (among other themes). Not aeroglass, and I guess is limited by what 10 allows them to do, but what I saw looked like Win-7-flattened. I'd prefer a more convincing copy, complete with Aeroglass. I haven't tried it as I have memories of Windowblinds from the days of XP ... it was fragile and flaky. They might have fixed that, but I'm wary. I really dislike that modern OS's decided theming is verboten, and all must wear the party uniform.
      - jotm 7y ago
        Startisback++ iirc. I actually don't have a problem with the UI, since I only use the start menu and the good old file explorer. Feck those UWP apps.
      - windexh8er 7y ago
        Classic Shell is now developed under the name Open-Shell. I was discussing how I debloat non-LTSC instances to a very Microsoft-centric friend and he showed me how Open-Shell is one of the first pieces he installs to take it back to any form of normality. I did inform him he still needs to debloat the spyware/junk and disable telemetry. I've generally found Geek Uninstaller [1] and O&O ShutUp10 [2] work well together to take out the majority. [0] https://github.com/Open-Shell/Open-Shell-Menu https://github.com/Open-Shell/Open-Shell-Menu [1] https://geekuninstaller.com/ https://geekuninstaller.com/ [2] https://www.oo-software.com/en/shutup10 https://www.oo-software.com/en/shutup10
        klingonopera 7y ago
        All this work... for something I paid for! ...yeah, well, might as well use Linux then, if I'm going to spend the same time configuring both. At least with Linux, I'm fighting a shortage of developers and a lack of official support, and not the OS itself.
    - jotm 7y ago
      Nothing's great about Win10 (7 is just as good, hell even XP would be fine if it was still maintained haha) The software available is great beyond doubt
    - qwerty456127 7y ago
      I use Windows 10 (home edition) at work and have no real problems. There is Win7-like panel, Explorer for files and the command prompt - what else do you need? They have spoiled the configuration dialogs - finding where to tweak something would be hard if I couldn't just Google it, but you just configure it once and forget it. Mysteriously it has also never shown any ads to me although I didn't do anything for this. Windows 10 is not great but it's ok. And I totally love the option to enable keyboard input autocomlpletion (if only I could also enable this on Linux and Mac) - that's amazing when you have to write in foreign languages.
  - oldienotgoldie 7y ago
    People who can't distinguish between Windows 10 and KDE are also not bothered by what HNers complain about: that there is a shortcut to install Candy Crush in the start menu or that the interface is accommodating to tablet usage.
    - asveikau 7y ago
      You forgot that it spends more time scanning for viruses than performing useful work.
  - dkarras 7y ago
    Been running a hackintosh for more than a decade, but had to install windows 10 after a long hiatus (for a family member's computer) last week. It installs, I press start and there is an ad (or something) for Candy Crush there? Like seriously? UX is overall a mess. I couldn't even manage to disable updates (to do them manually). I do 3-4 month long computations or uninterrupted data collection sometimes, how is that supposed to work even with auto-restarts and all? I use Linux for all server stuff but man, macOS spoiled me for desktop.
    - qwerty456127 7y ago
      Why exactly do you not use Linux for desktop? I use Manjaro with KDE and am totally happy, it feels better than Mac (I also have). The only problem is you can't run the latest Visual Studio and Adobe CS.
      - dkarras 7y ago
        I do operate linux desktop machines but not as my main driver. As much as I like Linux and OSS in general, the community just does not have UX and design experts. They are not part of the community. As a consequence, all desktop environments in Linux is "programmer art". I have an eye for design and UX in general, and Linux desktop feels like a Frankenstein's monster of features with no coherent logic. Now windows is like that too. Not as bad but still... I also use lots of proprietary software that won't run in Linux (for audio and gfx work) - especially for audio, linux audio stack is and has always been a mess. That said, even if all those software ran comfortably, the desktop experience alone is a dealbreaker for me personally. With macOS, I have a unix and a solid very well thought out desktop experience so I get the best of both worlds. Also with hackintosh, hardware is also cheap (use good old PCs I assemble myself) so overall it is the best of all worlds for me.
    - pcdoodle 7y ago
      10 really sucks. The only work around I've found is server 2016 with desktop experience.
      - 7y ago
antisthenes 7y ago
And if WinXP had support for DX11 and more than 4GB of RAM, I'd gladly stay on it. Software shouldn't be developed for development's sake.
- squarefoot 7y ago
  "Software shouldn't be developed for development's sake." Probably new training contracts are a good incentive to change things every now and then. Win8 and beyond UIs is the best possible example of a bullet meeting a foot: for the first time I found actually easy to convert some non tech people to use Linux, which in the XP era was at least for common users next to impossible. Messing up the UI wasn't an error, they planned it, but in the end the change was so radical that it could bite them in the butt one day.
- HenryBemis 7y ago
  You and Steve Gibson! (and me, and anyone who doesn't like the crap MS is trying to pull with the constant spying).
- anto64do 7y ago
  > and more than 4GB of RAM https://ryanvm.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=10547 https://ryanvm.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=10547
  - zamadatix 7y ago
    PAE is a bit limited, they actually released an x86 64 bit version of XP that worked with more RAM properly and out of the box.
- zamadatix 7y ago
  And improved filesystem support and an improved CPU scheduler and a redesigned security model and a new network stack and an accelerated compositor for larger/faster displays to work and DPI awareness and proper support for SSDs and UEFI boot and... Point being by the time you actually make XP into something modern it turns into the thing you think you hate.

Windows 7 is older than Windows XP was when 7 was released. Think about that.

Mirioron 7y ago

And 10 still feels like it's in beta.

flatiron 7y ago
I have 10 in a VM and whenever I boot it up I always shake my head and wonder who the heck would want to use this. I feel if you put a KDE desktop and said “here’s Windows 11” most people would say how great the update was.
- lostmyoldone 7y ago
  I absolutely don't understand what people who claim "Windows 10 is great!" are seeing, it's feels absolutely surreal! It's a mess from a UI perspective, and from any other perspective, it's basically the same OS it has always been.
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
  - HenryBemis 7y ago
    Since I can't add Windows7 on my laptop, I am hanging on (like the cat in the poster) to Win8.1. I am using this "Classic Shell" tool that gives me the Win7 look/desktop/menu/etc. Don't Windows 10 have a similar tool? I've heard from IT folks that Win10Pro does a better job as an OS on CPU/RAM management, and that once you cut out all the crapware (enhance privacy/stop services/use firewall/etc).. doesn't this make it "better"? I am thinking to run Win10Pro on VM to see if I can make it half-decent. As another writer mentioned above, it won't be far that we won't be able to find hardware that runs in previous Win versions.
    - NeedMoreTea 7y ago
      The nearest I've seen is Stardock's Windowblinds that gives a very rough approximation of 7 (among other themes). Not aeroglass, and I guess is limited by what 10 allows them to do, but what I saw looked like Win-7-flattened. I'd prefer a more convincing copy, complete with Aeroglass. I haven't tried it as I have memories of Windowblinds from the days of XP ... it was fragile and flaky. They might have fixed that, but I'm wary. I really dislike that modern OS's decided theming is verboten, and all must wear the party uniform.
    - jotm 7y ago
      Startisback++ iirc. I actually don't have a problem with the UI, since I only use the start menu and the good old file explorer. Feck those UWP apps.
    - windexh8er 7y ago
      Classic Shell is now developed under the name Open-Shell. I was discussing how I debloat non-LTSC instances to a very Microsoft-centric friend and he showed me how Open-Shell is one of the first pieces he installs to take it back to any form of normality. I did inform him he still needs to debloat the spyware/junk and disable telemetry. I've generally found Geek Uninstaller [1] and O&O ShutUp10 [2] work well together to take out the majority. [0] https://github.com/Open-Shell/Open-Shell-Menu https://github.com/Open-Shell/Open-Shell-Menu [1] https://geekuninstaller.com/ https://geekuninstaller.com/ [2] https://www.oo-software.com/en/shutup10 https://www.oo-software.com/en/shutup10
      - klingonopera 7y ago
        All this work... for something I paid for! ...yeah, well, might as well use Linux then, if I'm going to spend the same time configuring both. At least with Linux, I'm fighting a shortage of developers and a lack of official support, and not the OS itself.
  - jotm 7y ago
    Nothing's great about Win10 (7 is just as good, hell even XP would be fine if it was still maintained haha) The software available is great beyond doubt
  - qwerty456127 7y ago
    I use Windows 10 (home edition) at work and have no real problems. There is Win7-like panel, Explorer for files and the command prompt - what else do you need? They have spoiled the configuration dialogs - finding where to tweak something would be hard if I couldn't just Google it, but you just configure it once and forget it. Mysteriously it has also never shown any ads to me although I didn't do anything for this. Windows 10 is not great but it's ok. And I totally love the option to enable keyboard input autocomlpletion (if only I could also enable this on Linux and Mac) - that's amazing when you have to write in foreign languages.
- oldienotgoldie 7y ago
  People who can't distinguish between Windows 10 and KDE are also not bothered by what HNers complain about: that there is a shortcut to install Candy Crush in the start menu or that the interface is accommodating to tablet usage.
  - asveikau 7y ago
    You forgot that it spends more time scanning for viruses than performing useful work.
- dkarras 7y ago
  Been running a hackintosh for more than a decade, but had to install windows 10 after a long hiatus (for a family member's computer) last week. It installs, I press start and there is an ad (or something) for Candy Crush there? Like seriously? UX is overall a mess. I couldn't even manage to disable updates (to do them manually). I do 3-4 month long computations or uninterrupted data collection sometimes, how is that supposed to work even with auto-restarts and all? I use Linux for all server stuff but man, macOS spoiled me for desktop.
  - qwerty456127 7y ago
    Why exactly do you not use Linux for desktop? I use Manjaro with KDE and am totally happy, it feels better than Mac (I also have). The only problem is you can't run the latest Visual Studio and Adobe CS.
    - dkarras 7y ago
      I do operate linux desktop machines but not as my main driver. As much as I like Linux and OSS in general, the community just does not have UX and design experts. They are not part of the community. As a consequence, all desktop environments in Linux is "programmer art". I have an eye for design and UX in general, and Linux desktop feels like a Frankenstein's monster of features with no coherent logic. Now windows is like that too. Not as bad but still... I also use lots of proprietary software that won't run in Linux (for audio and gfx work) - especially for audio, linux audio stack is and has always been a mess. That said, even if all those software ran comfortably, the desktop experience alone is a dealbreaker for me personally. With macOS, I have a unix and a solid very well thought out desktop experience so I get the best of both worlds. Also with hackintosh, hardware is also cheap (use good old PCs I assemble myself) so overall it is the best of all worlds for me.
  - pcdoodle 7y ago
    10 really sucks. The only work around I've found is server 2016 with desktop experience.
    - 7y ago

antisthenes 7y ago

And if WinXP had support for DX11 and more than 4GB of RAM, I'd gladly stay on it. Software shouldn't be developed for development's sake.

squarefoot 7y ago
"Software shouldn't be developed for development's sake." Probably new training contracts are a good incentive to change things every now and then. Win8 and beyond UIs is the best possible example of a bullet meeting a foot: for the first time I found actually easy to convert some non tech people to use Linux, which in the XP era was at least for common users next to impossible. Messing up the UI wasn't an error, they planned it, but in the end the change was so radical that it could bite them in the butt one day.
HenryBemis 7y ago
You and Steve Gibson! (and me, and anyone who doesn't like the crap MS is trying to pull with the constant spying).
anto64do 7y ago
> and more than 4GB of RAM https://ryanvm.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=10547 https://ryanvm.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=10547
- zamadatix 7y ago
  PAE is a bit limited, they actually released an x86 64 bit version of XP that worked with more RAM properly and out of the box.
zamadatix 7y ago
And improved filesystem support and an improved CPU scheduler and a redesigned security model and a new network stack and an accelerated compositor for larger/faster displays to work and DPI awareness and proper support for SSDs and UEFI boot and... Point being by the time you actually make XP into something modern it turns into the thing you think you hate.