Windows 8 to windows 7

legoman62

I too upgraded to Win 8..strange at first but you soon get used to it.
Start/shutdown different but I believe an update (Windows blue) will addres this and make things much better:D
http://www.pcworld.com/article/2031946/deep-inside-windows-blue-10-coolest-features-in-microsofts-leaked-os.html

J_B

Surely you 'upgrade' to Win 7 and 'downgrade' to Win8???

;-)

Lifeforms

J_B wrote: »

Surely you 'upgrade' to Win 7 and 'downgrade' to Win8???

;-)

+1 I consider it to be a vista, one to skip!

Lum

Windows 8 is vastly superior under the bonnet, it just has a terrible UI that you need to fix with third party mods.

Yes it's annoying, no the new UI should not exist (or should at least be optional) but it's not worth spending 50 quid to buy Windows 7 which doesn't even perform as well when you can fix it with very cheap software, with a free option as well.

patman99

More than one major manufacturer ships Win 8 kit with the 3rd-party start-button & Metro removal tools pre-installed.
Also, Siemens are in the process of replacing all their Win XP PCs with new kit. They will be using Win 7 Pro.

Lum

Big corporates are a rather different and always lag behind. Most of my larger customers have literally spent the last 3 or 4 years working on Windows 7 compatibility with all the specialist software they rely on. Some of them are reliant on literally over 10,000 different applications from thousands of different vendors, some of which no-longer exist, and they are just now getting it all together enough to make the move to Win7. No way are they going to junk all that work, stick on XP for even longer and re-start the whole process once more with Windows 8.

I have some customers who were still using Windows 2000 in 2011, hell back in 2009 I helped one customer migrate a Windows NT4 SP5 box to Windows XP!

Basically what I'm saying is don't read too much into the fact that large corporates aren't moving to the newest OS straight away.

SnowTiger

Lum wrote: »

Windows 8 is vastly superior under the bonnet, it just has a terrible UI that you need to fix with third party mods.

Yes it's annoying, no the new UI should not exist...

Is this the Start menu thing again? It's blown completely out of proportion.

Windows 7 - press the Windows Key or move pointer to bottom left of the screen and left tap to get a huge list of things most people never use.

Windows 8 - press the Windows Key or move pointer to bottom left of the screen and left tap to get a customizable list of things you regularly use.

It's surprised me how attached people are to the long, cumbersome, list of applications offered by the conventional Start menu.

Windows 8 UI isn't "terrible". It's very similar to Windows 7. Apart from the Start menu, I'd be surprised if most users could tell the difference between Windows 7 and Windows 8.

New UI? Metro? Users don't have to use it. Chrome, Firefox, Thunderbird, LibraOffice, VideoLAN. Everyone's favourite apps/programs run on the desktop in Windows 8, just as they did in Windows 7. Their windows can be resized, moved and layered just as they could in Windows 7.

I would suggest you try Ubuntu, but if you think Windows 8 UI is "terrible" you'd really hate Ubuntu.

Maybe not, though. Is everything Linux still cool?

isofa

Lum wrote: »

As for the downgrade rights thing. It's a bit of a red herring for most people here I think. As you say it only applies to Win8 Pro and the majority of people buying laptops for personal use are going to end up with Home, not Pro.

Well not really, especially as the OP states they had Windows 8 Professional...

We've downgraded 10 laptops recently in this way we purchased for a project which must been 7 not 8 - easy to do, quick call to MS.

macman

Why downgrade when you can just install Classic Shell and get the Start button back? It will then look like Classic, XP, or W7; whichever you prefer.

KxMx

SnowTiger wrote: »

Is this the Start menu thing again? It's blown completely out of proportion.

Windows 7 - press the Windows Key or move pointer to bottom left of the screen and left tap to get a huge list of things most people never use.

Windows 8 - press the Windows Key or move pointer to bottom left of the screen and left tap to get a customizable list of things you regularly use.

It's surprised me how attached people are to the long, cumbersome, list of applications offered by the conventional Start menu.

Windows 8 UI isn't "terrible". It's very similar to Windows 7. Apart from the Start menu, I'd be surprised if most users could tell the difference between Windows 7 and Windows 8.

New UI? Metro? Users don't have to use it. Chrome, Firefox, Thunderbird, LibraOffice, VideoLAN. Everyone's favourite apps/programs run on the desktop in Windows 8, just as they did in Windows 7. Their windows can be resized, moved and layered just as they could in Windows 7.

I would suggest you try Ubuntu, but if you think Windows 8 UI is "terrible" you'd really hate Ubuntu.

Maybe not, though. Is everything Linux still cool?

I agree. I have some niggles with Windows 8 but overall it is fine.

If I want the desktop I just hit the button on Metro and within a millisecond I am there.

Yet some get their knickers in a twist because it's not there instantly.

Well you can get there pretty darn close to instantly!