"Bob J Jones" wrote
| ?? Have I missed something? Start Menu and
| program menus cascade on Win98.
|
You both attacked and apologized on this one, but
I'm still trying to figure out what the heck you're
talking about with "cascading".
I've only dabbled
with Win10 UI, but I don't remember anything
especially novel about it. Unless you count
the "anti-3D" design trend, which is as trivial as it
is tasteless.
| Adobe Photoshop doesn't support XP.
|
| That's a red herring since it's not functionality "of" the operating
| system.
|
You said you were trying to think through your
stategy in the face of customers who aren't
buying new software from you. I daresay that new,
incompatible software versions is a big reason for
updating the OS.
You didn't explain how that relates to your
product, but it sounded like you have a new version
that requires Win10 and it's not selling. Personally
I'd go for carrot rather than stick: Add relevant
features instead of dead-ending old versions. Or
just accept that there's a limited market for the
2016 Farmers Almanac. But that's a big topic.
Before Microsoft started trying to sell Windows
as a service they acknowledged and defined it as
a platform. A platform for software and hardware
functionality. Windows is only supposed to be the
framework that makes it all usable. It's not supposed
to be a barking trinket salesman or a spyware,
marketing data dealer. That's all a semi-visible sideline.
The role as a platform *is* its functionality. So, isn't
support for new hardware types, and new software
that uses new APIs, the main reason to update?
I built a new Win7-64 box for my ladyfriend awhile
back because she does a lot of high quality photo
editing/printing and I figured the 64-bit would be
worth it. If she'd wanted the latest version of
Paint Shop Pro or Aftershot Pro, that would have
also been a reason to move to Win7. Thus, software
update as motivater to update Windows.
(Though 7 is still sitting there. She doesn't want to
leave XP for a theoretical, mysterious benefit named
"ram". Especially given that she's not finding that
she has to wait for operations on XP, which already
provides her with about 3 GB RAM. Her ridiculously
expensive photo prointer laos has XP drivers. I'm
not sure about Win7 drivers. I doubt it has Win10
drivers.)
| New games may not run on Win7. Newer
| hardware might be an issue. Those are *real*
| reasons why you might need to update.
|
| All red herrings unrelated to the question.
New games are related to DirectX updates. Game
makers are the ones who provide the breakthroughs in
functionality. And game fans are fanatical about
getting maximum gaming function. They want their
hot e-chicks to have convincing hair and their fast
battle action to be as fast as possible. (It reminds
me of people who used to spend thousands on
4-foot-high quadrophonic speakers in the 70s, only
to pump Black Sabbath through them. Silly, but
their gotta-have-it attitude funds development.)
| The question is what is inherently a functionality in Win10 (the OS) that
| isn't in WinXP or Win7 that is useful to you, as a user?
|
So far I don't need anything past XP. 64-bit will be
important at some point, but it's just now achieving
compatibility. And I wrote my own Explorer Bar for
folders that I'm quite fond of, but which only works
in 32-bit Explorer. So I'm in no hurry for 64-bit.
But I don't think I'm typical. Gamers want new.
Corporate types who think of their conputer as
synonymous with MS Office want/need regular
updates.
| Windows 7? Win10 has barely caught up with
| Win7 usage online. It's probably still far behind
| among offline machines.
|
| Huh? What does that mean?
|
The various survey companies that count computers
by putting web bug spyware on website visitors' machines
(scorecardresearch, for instance) announced just
recently that Win10 users were finally more numerous
than Win7 users. But that's online. (And of course
it's also very rough guessing. Fox, Victorias Secret,
ESPN, CBS, Facebook and BBC probably each show
different numbers and each have different relevance.
For instance, what does 7 vs 10 mean on Facebook if
phones are the vast majority of their visitors?)
Older Windows versions are used in vast numbers that
often don't get counted simply because they're not
considered part of the visible "market". That includes retail
cash registers, work computers in the corporate world,
etc. Computers for work are practical. If they still work
there's no reason to update. Architects, sign makers,
artists, scientists, retail stores, restaurants.....
Those are all people who are likely to be faced with
extortionary software costs if they buy a new computer.
(I once knew an architect using AutoCAD on Win3 in
the late 90s. He'd got it cheap as a student and the
Win98 version was crazy expensive.)
There was an interesting article awhile back. (Maybe
a year or so. I don't remember.) At that time, Win10
showed a bigger fraction at US gov't sites on weekends
than on weekdays. The conclusion was that they were
seeing the avoidance of Win10 in the corporate world
and the inevitable increase among retail buyers.
So the real numbers are close to 50/50 online for
Win10 vs Win7, and the real numbers for total machines
actually in use would probably show a much smaller
fraction of win10 machines.
| And Win7 is still supported
| by MS.
|
| This is true, but we are combining WinXP and Win7 where you're
semantically
| correct, but it's just a point if we bought too many arguments.
|
We? XP and 7 are different. The reasons to stay
with them are different. There's no credible reason
for most people to leave Win7. WinXP, however,
now requires some work to maintain. The question
of what Win10 offers, therefore, varies with each.