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HP brings Windows 7 back 'due to popular demand' as buyers shun Windows 8

theinquirer.net

61–70 of 94 posts

Re: HP brings Windows 7 back 'due to popular demand' as buyers shun Windows 8

#61
post #55

The Windows 8 (especially post-8.1) pushback baffles me. If you put any effort at all into learning how to use it effectively, the acclimation period is definitely shorter than Win95 or WinXP was. I use it on a desktop machine with two 30" displays and only mouse/keyboard inputs (i.e. no touch). You certainly couldn't pay me $150 to go back to Win7 at this point. I even find that I use Metro apps on my desktop fairly…

From memory XP wasn't well received at first. It just hung around so long that people got really comfortable with it and didn't want to change.

Re: HP brings Windows 7 back 'due to popular demand' as buyers shun Windows 8

#62
post #55

The Windows 8 (especially post-8.1) pushback baffles me. If you put any effort at all into learning how to use it effectively, the acclimation period is definitely shorter than Win95 or WinXP was. I use it on a desktop machine with two 30" displays and only mouse/keyboard inputs (i.e. no touch). You certainly couldn't pay me $150 to go back to Win7 at this point. I even find that I use Metro apps on my desktop fairly…

From memory XP wasn't well received at first. It just hung around so long that people got really comfortable with it and didn't want to change.

Because it didn't offer much that Windows 2000 didn't provide?

Re: HP brings Windows 7 back 'due to popular demand' as buyers shun Windows 8

#63
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I use Win8 daily and have no issue using a mouse or my fingers, actually the mouse is far more accurate and faster so I fail to understand your statement.

Swipe gestures are a pain with a mouse, because you need to move the mouse to the right spot, click, drag in the opposite direction and then release, requiring a non-trivial amount of effort; and it just feels wrong when you're expected to do so regularly because you know there has to be a better way (like the way it used to work). Decades of desktop UI design focused on "discoverability" also mean that an unindicate…

If swipe gestures even work with the mouse in Windows 8, I didn't know it and it never occurred to me to even try, though now I'm curious to see what happens when I get back on my laptop. I never even considered trying. You don't do swipes if you have a keyboard and mouse in Windows 8, you use your buttons, menus, clicks, and mouse-wheel just as you suggest. Where did you get the idea that the Win8 interface required gestures?

Re: HP brings Windows 7 back 'due to popular demand' as buyers shun Windows 8

#64
post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From memory XP wasn't well received at first. It just hung around so long that people got really comfortable with it and didn't want to change.

Because it didn't offer much that Windows 2000 didn't provide?

I don't know this for a fact, but I think very few people were coming from Win2k to XP. Win2k was relatively niche, even in business, from what I can remember of my experience back then. It was essentially only the people who were running NT 4.0 Workstation before who used Win2k in the interim between that and XP.

Re: HP brings Windows 7 back 'due to popular demand' as buyers shun Windows 8

#65
post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I use Windows 8.1 on a desktop and it's fine even without mods. I can see how Windows 8 might have been a problem for some people, but for the most part 8.1 is 7 with a fullscreen start menu.

>for the most part 8.1 is 7 with a fullscreen start menu. And missing the non-full screen start menu. I hate going back to metro interface to launch an app, now I have to create shortcuts on the desktop. I used to simply type an app name in windows 7's launcher.

Win + S brings up a small search panel to the right of the screen. It's not full screen and it allows you to do exactly what you describe.

Re: HP brings Windows 7 back 'due to popular demand' as buyers shun Windows 8

#66
post #55

The Windows 8 (especially post-8.1) pushback baffles me. If you put any effort at all into learning how to use it effectively, the acclimation period is definitely shorter than Win95 or WinXP was. I use it on a desktop machine with two 30" displays and only mouse/keyboard inputs (i.e. no touch). You certainly couldn't pay me $150 to go back to Win7 at this point. I even find that I use Metro apps on my desktop fairly…

The problem with Metro is that it assumes the purpose of a laptop is to chat/email/tweet/check the weather.

Some people actually do something productive with laptops. Engineers are one category. Metro just laughs at them.

Re: HP brings Windows 7 back 'due to popular demand' as buyers shun Windows 8

#67
post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I use Windows 8.1 on a desktop and it's fine even without mods. I can see how Windows 8 might have been a problem for some people, but for the most part 8.1 is 7 with a fullscreen start menu.

>for the most part 8.1 is 7 with a fullscreen start menu. And missing the non-full screen start menu. I hate going back to metro interface to launch an app, now I have to create shortcuts on the desktop. I used to simply type an app name in windows 7's launcher.

> I used to simply type an app name in windows 7's launcher.

Me too... the process hasn't changed. Windows key -> first few letters of the app's name -> enter

Re: HP brings Windows 7 back 'due to popular demand' as buyers shun Windows 8

#68
post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>for the most part 8.1 is 7 with a fullscreen start menu. And missing the non-full screen start menu. I hate going back to metro interface to launch an app, now I have to create shortcuts on the desktop. I used to simply type an app name in windows 7's launcher.

> I used to simply type an app name in windows 7's launcher Why don't you still do that? That global search has only gotten smarter, it's definitely not been removed. You press the windows key, type 3 letters, hit enter and your app is running before your eyes even register the start screen having briefly appeared and gone. I couldn't imagine going back to desktop shortcuts -- I haven't had to move my hands off the k…

I do, but it switches me to the metro interface with a color change. Also it pulls metro apps first and only 2 apps then its like 2 settings apps and the 2 documents, but I want all apps.

Something like if I type "sky"

SkyDrive

Skype (metro)

..Some settings

..Some settings

..Some document

..Some document

Re: HP brings Windows 7 back 'due to popular demand' as buyers shun Windows 8

#69
post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But in Microsoft's vision of 2014, the number of systems being offered with Windows 7 should be zero.

What makes you say that? You have always been able to purchase previous versions for a few years after the release of the latest...

You've been able to buy it installed on a machine offered by a major hardware vendor and publicly offered in their catalog? Or just been able to buy the install disks?

Re: HP brings Windows 7 back 'due to popular demand' as buyers shun Windows 8

#70
post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>for the most part 8.1 is 7 with a fullscreen start menu. And missing the non-full screen start menu. I hate going back to metro interface to launch an app, now I have to create shortcuts on the desktop. I used to simply type an app name in windows 7's launcher.

Win + S brings up a small search panel to the right of the screen. It's not full screen and it allows you to do exactly what you describe.

Thanks, that's better. But still doesn't solve only 2 apps and 6 total search results. I looked over settings and can't seem to find to change that.
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