It's not yet time to panic

I'll let you know when it is.

Support for Windows 7 expires in January 2015 (cue ominous music).

But it's not yet time to panic. Nor is is Microsoft's latest nefarious plot to get you to switch to Win8(.1).

Extended support, meaning security patches, continues until 2020. Then it will be time to panic. (*)

Unless, of course, Win9 flops as badly as Win8(.1) did. then Win7 will become the Next XP, and extended support will be itself extended past its ten-year expiration date.



(*) Having kept a promise in short order, I am disqualified from running for any political office.

Quote: Nareed

I'll let you know when it is.

Support for Windows 7 expires in January 2015 (cue ominous music).

But it's not yet time to panic. Nor is is Microsoft's latest nefarious plot to get you to switch to Win8(.1).

Extended support, meaning security patches, continues until 2020. Then it will be time to panic. (*)

Unless, of course, Win9 flops as badly as Win8(.1) did. then Win7 will become the Next XP, and extended support will be itself extended past its ten-year expiration date.



(*) Having kept a promise in short order, I am disqualified from running for any political office.

I am happy with my XP machine. Actually I am also happy with my ME machine.

Quote: GWAE

I am happy with my XP machine.

I like the XP interface better than Win7's about 90% of the time. But some software runs slow on XP now, some doens't run, and too many webpages can even make it crash.

Quote: Nareed

I like the XP interface better than Win7's about 90% of the time. But some software runs slow on XP now, some doens't run, and too many webpages can even make it crash.

I have found this to be true.

If buying a computer today, what to get?

Quote: odiousgambit

I have found this to be true.

If buying a computer today, what to get?

I switched back to Mac several years ago, after a decade in the windows world, and I've never regretted it. The current Mac Mini is getting pretty long in the tooth, but if a Macbook Air fits your needs, it's been updated pretty recently. I've written a lot of code on my 4 year old 13in 'air.

Quote: odiousgambit

I have found this to be true.

If buying a computer today, what to get?

Linux (available free as a download or minimal cost shipped to you on disk) and a partition so you're dual bootable into either OS at will. You'll boot into Wincrap less often with every passing week. I couldn't find anything but Win8 readily available when I had to replace my desktop quickly, and have a few things that occasionally still do need to run on MS-trash Pigware verX.

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Quote: DrawingDead

I couldn't find anything but Win8 readily available when I had to replace my desktop quickly.

If you get Win8.(1) Pro, you have upgrade rigths to Win7.

It's still not time to panic, but it's looking like time to be concerned.

Not about Windows 7, not directly. It will remain secure, or as secure as it's been thus far, until at least January 2020. What worries me now is the desktop.

When Windows 8(.1) (may its bits be crushed) came out, an enthusiastic sector of the tech press talked a great deal about the desktop as being "legacy." In computer terms this means, more or less, a feature or part of an older system carried over into a newer one. The clearest illustration would be DOS, which got carried over into Windows 95. One more of you might remember, perhaps, are floppy drives. Even as late as 2008 or so, they came standard in most desktop PCs.

The thing about legacy environments, applications, equipment, etc is that they stop being developed, stop getting support, and slowly die of obsolesence.

And that was what most bothered me about Win8(.1): that it might be the first step in getting rid of the desktop in favor of a less useful environment.

As Win8(.1)'s shortcomings came to light, that is to say as large numbers of people refused to adopt it, the tone of the press changed. "Legacy" was largely gone, replaced isntead with loud assurances that Win8(.1) was indeed a perfectly good desktop OS. The latter happened even more as the 8.1 (formerly "blue") upgrade came along, and it went well past its climax by the time Update 1 came along.

Now that Windows 9 is in the news, with more definitive information from official and unofficial sources, and with the knowledge the desktop will be restored along with the start menu, the word "legacy" is being aplpied to the desktop again.

How much this matters is hard to say. But I'd say a great deal of Win8(.1)'s troubles come from very negative comments, reviews and news coverage in the tech press, and on the rest of the media as well.Obviously the tech media is not of a single mind regarding the desktop.

The battle over the interface isn't over yet.