The future of MS Windows

I am concerned about the future of Windows. It seems to become more of an
entertainment medium than a work platform. Are serious people slipping and
sliding and pinching their fingers on a computer screen?

I do not like Win 10, especially the emphasis on being force-fed into the MS
World of apps and add-ons and game downloads and music downloads. I do not
need all this crap. I also do not like the privacy concerns with windows 10.
They remind me of the ubiquitous invasion of privacy that is so common with
Google. George Orwell, here we come.

Currently I am using Windows 7 and I am very happy with it. However, my
desktop computer is getting more than 10 years old. What can I do if my
computer breaks down for good?

If I buy a new windows 10 computer, will I be able to remove windows 10 and
install Windows 7 from my install DVD? Will the hardware that is necessary
to run windows 10 preclude me from installing and running windows 7?

Life is getting too complicated. The simple life is best. No, I do not like
all the garbage programs on modern smart phones, either. This is all stuff
I can do fine without. Why do I need a GPS locator? I have never been lost
in all my life. etc., etc., etc.

www.rationality.net

"Walter E." wrote in message
...
I am concerned about the future of Windows. It seems to become more of an
entertainment medium than a work platform. Are serious people slipping and
sliding and pinching their fingers on a computer screen?

I do not like Win 10, especially the emphasis on being force-fed into the
MS World of apps and add-ons and game downloads and music downloads. I do
not need all this crap. I also do not like the privacy concerns with
windows 10. They remind me of the ubiquitous invasion of privacy that is
so common with Google. George Orwell, here we come.

Currently I am using Windows 7 and I am very happy with it. However, my
desktop computer is getting more than 10 years old. What can I do if my
computer breaks down for good?

If I buy a new windows 10 computer, will I be able to remove windows 10
and install Windows 7 from my install DVD? Will the hardware that is
necessary to run windows 10 preclude me from installing and running
windows 7?

Life is getting too complicated. The simple life is best. No, I do not
like all the garbage programs on modern smart phones, either. This is all
stuff I can do fine without. Why do I need a GPS locator? I have never
been lost in all my life. etc., etc., etc.

I agree totally. Windows 2000, XP, Vista and 7 represent evolutions of a
basically sensible way of working. The Windows 8 happened and since then
Microsoft seem to have suffered from corporate idiocy and megalomania,
trying to force people to do things "the Microsoft way" and no other way. I
thought MS was bigger than that: if I wanted "you will do it our way and no
other" I'd go for Apple :-)


They still haven't grasped the fundamental thing: not everyone wants to run
Windows on a touch-screen computer on a small screen. Some of us want to use
a mouse and a large, high-res screen, and don't welcome a dumbed-down user
interface which has had subtlety removed because it's got to be usable on a
small screen.

All it needs, and *surely* it can't be difficult to achieve, is to have a
toggle under Control Panel | Personalisation to choose either
mouse-and-high-res-screen UI or touch-and-low-res-screen UI depending on
which platform you are running it on. Everything else can stay the same. All
I want is my proper Windows XP/Vista/7 start menu, standalone user IDs,
proper right-click on a start menu item to be able to copy and
paste-shortcut it onto the desktop etc. Having set the standard which has
stood the test of time from Windows 98 to Windows 7, they need to make sure
that users can choose, if they want, to have that UI in every version of
Windows from now until the end of time.

Fine, bring out new UIs etc if there is a demand or you think you cna so it
better, but make them *in addition* to the legacy modes. Only ever add
features, NEVER NEVER NEVER remove any. Don't require people to re-learn
anything whenever they move from one version of Windows to another.

I'm not against progress. Far from it. But I am against enforced progress
which removes things as well as adding things.

And why did they have to remove Windows Media Centre? Of the various PVR
packages it seems to be the best - better than NextPVR and proprietary
packages that come with manufacturers' DVB-T adaptors. Next PVR really is
di it lacks elementary "are you sure" protection when you are about to
delete a recorded file or a scheduled recording, and when I suggested this
on their forum (since it is a standard metaphor used on any software where
you are about to do something that you might regret) I was shot down in
flames by the admin on the basis that "I don't like/need that feature so
I'll never include it - subject closed".

"Walter E." wrote in message
...

I am concerned about the future of Windows. It seems to become more of an
entertainment medium than a work platform.

People have noticed this paradoxical feature of Windows since
the 1990s. Office work (word processing, spreadsheets and
filing) prompted huge investments in software and hardware
since the 1980s: but more profit has been gained in the 21st
century from trivial or entertainment applications (cf. Twitter,
Facebook etc.) than from office work.
--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)

On 02/19/2016 02:36 PM, Ken1943 wrote:
On Fri, 19 Feb 2016 20:18:04 -0000, "NY" wrote:

"Walter E." wrote in message
...
I am concerned about the future of Windows. It seems to become more of an
entertainment medium than a work platform. Are serious people slipping and
sliding and pinching their fingers on a computer screen?

I do not like Win 10, especially the emphasis on being force-fed into the
MS World of apps and add-ons and game downloads and music downloads. I do
not need all this crap. I also do not like the privacy concerns with
windows 10. They remind me of the ubiquitous invasion of privacy that is
so common with Google. George Orwell, here we come.

Currently I am using Windows 7 and I am very happy with it. However, my
desktop computer is getting more than 10 years old. What can I do if my
computer breaks down for good?

If I buy a new windows 10 computer, will I be able to remove windows 10
and install Windows 7 from my install DVD? Will the hardware that is
necessary to run windows 10 preclude me from installing and running
windows 7?

Life is getting too complicated. The simple life is best. No, I do not
like all the garbage programs on modern smart phones, either. This is all
stuff I can do fine without. Why do I need a GPS locator? I have never
been lost in all my life. etc., etc., etc.

I agree totally. Windows 2000, XP, Vista and 7 represent evolutions of a
basically sensible way of working. The Windows 8 happened and since then
Microsoft seem to have suffered from corporate idiocy and megalomania,
trying to force people to do things "the Microsoft way" and no other way. I
thought MS was bigger than that: if I wanted "you will do it our way and no
other" I'd go for Apple :-)


They still haven't grasped the fundamental thing: not everyone wants to run
Windows on a touch-screen computer on a small screen. Some of us want to use
a mouse and a large, high-res screen, and don't welcome a dumbed-down user
interface which has had subtlety removed because it's got to be usable on a
small screen.

All it needs, and *surely* it can't be difficult to achieve, is to have a
toggle under Control Panel | Personalisation to choose either
mouse-and-high-res-screen UI or touch-and-low-res-screen UI depending on
which platform you are running it on. Everything else can stay the same. All
I want is my proper Windows XP/Vista/7 start menu, standalone user IDs,
proper right-click on a start menu item to be able to copy and
paste-shortcut it onto the desktop etc. Having set the standard which has
stood the test of time from Windows 98 to Windows 7, they need to make sure
that users can choose, if they want, to have that UI in every version of
Windows from now until the end of time.

Fine, bring out new UIs etc if there is a demand or you think you cna so it
better, but make them *in addition* to the legacy modes. Only ever add
features, NEVER NEVER NEVER remove any. Don't require people to re-learn
anything whenever they move from one version of Windows to another.

I'm not against progress. Far from it. But I am against enforced progress
which removes things as well as adding things.

And why did they have to remove Windows Media Centre? Of the various PVR
packages it seems to be the best - better than NextPVR and proprietary
packages that come with manufacturers' DVB-T adaptors. Next PVR really is
di it lacks elementary "are you sure" protection when you are about to
delete a recorded file or a scheduled recording, and when I suggested this
on their forum (since it is a standard metaphor used on any software where
you are about to do something that you might regret) I was shot down in
flames by the admin on the basis that "I don't like/need that feature so
I'll never include it - subject closed".

If they make the same thing happen in the corporate world they will
get killed. I think I could move to Apple computers (except for this
privacy crap which I don't condone) but the prices for hardware are
too high or Linux except the programs don't have the same polish.


Ken1943





There is a free utility called Classic Shell which will turn the GUI
into one similar to that of Win 7. There is also another called Start
10 that is similar

Per Walter E.:
Currently I am using Windows 7 and I am very happy with it. However, my
desktop computer is getting more than 10 years old. What can I do if my
computer breaks down for good?

If I buy a new windows 10 computer, will I be able to remove windows 10 and
install Windows 7 from my install DVD? Will the hardware that is necessary
to run windows 10 preclude me from installing and running windows 7?

Buy one or more copies of Win7 - just make sure they are the flavor that
can be installed on one machine, then another if/when the 1st machine
goes belly-up.

I tend not to buy new PCs. Right now I have maybe a half-dozen cases
and when I need a "New PC", I buy a mobo, a CPU, an SDD and whatever
else and assemble a "New" PC.

It's not rocket science - and if I can do it, it's not *too* much more
complicated than something a chimp could be trained to do...

Also, Win 8.1 can be lived with. Set it to Classic Menus and get one
of several $5.00-or-so add-ons that bring back the Start menu - and you
have something that basically duplicates the Windows 7 experience.
--
Pete Cresswell

On 02/19/2016 01:52 PM, Walter E. wrote:

I am concerned about the future of Windows. It seems to become more of
an entertainment medium than a work platform. Are serious people
slipping and sliding and pinching their fingers on a computer screen?

I do not like Win 10, especially the emphasis on being force-fed into
the MS World of apps and add-ons and game downloads and music downloads.
I do not need all this crap. I also do not like the privacy concerns
with windows 10. They remind me of the ubiquitous invasion of privacy
that is so common with Google. George Orwell, here we come.

Currently I am using Windows 7 and I am very happy with it. However, my
desktop computer is getting more than 10 years old. What can I do if my
computer breaks down for good?

If I buy a new windows 10 computer, will I be able to remove windows 10
and install Windows 7 from my install DVD? Will the hardware that is
necessary to run windows 10 preclude me from installing and running
windows 7?

Life is getting too complicated. The simple life is best. No, I do not
like all the garbage programs on modern smart phones, either. This is
all stuff I can do fine without. Why do I need a GPS locator? I have
never been lost in all my life. etc., etc., etc.

www.rationality.net

I am not a Windows fan: I use it on a couple of machines because there
are programs for which there is no Linux equivalent. BUT I have upgraded
those machines from Windows 7 to Windows 10 and installed Classic Shell,
and I have no problem using it with a keyboard and trackball.

Perce

On 02/19/2016 04:26 PM, (PeteCresswell) wrote:
Also, Win 8.1 can be lived with. Set it to Classic Menus and get one
of several $5.00-or-so add-ons that bring back the Start menu - and
you have something that basically duplicates the Windows 7 experience.
+1. I've tried 4 of them and bought 2of those $3-$5 ones. On windows
8.1 I loved it. If I wanted to, I could get to the Apps menu, there were
a few that I kinda liked the presentation of. NASCAR for one, and
about 3 card games.

Per Big Al:
On windows
8.1 I loved it. If I wanted to, I could get to the Apps menu, there were
a few that I kinda liked the presentation of. NASCAR for one, and
about 3 card games.

The one I have and like is called "Start8"
--
Pete Cresswell

En el artículo , Walter E.
escribió:

I am concerned about the future of Windows.

I'm not. M$ are circling the plughole, and about time too. Shonky bug-
ridden software forced on the masses using licensing conditions
Stalinist Russia would have been proud of.

--
(\_/)
(='.'=) Bunny says: Windows 10? Nein danke!
(")_(")

Walter E. wrote:

If I buy a new windows 10 computer, will I be able to remove windows 10
and install Windows 7 from my install DVD? Will the hardware that is
necessary to run windows 10 preclude me from installing and running
windows 7?
Unknown. Any new device would have to have Win7 support for chipset,
drivers, etc.
There is no guarantee for backward compatibility, especially since Win7
is two operating systems removed from the current.

If you've a retail Windows 7 DVD(not OEM) then you do have transfer
rights to use on a different device...whether or not it will work is the
risk you would take -- and that risk should only be taken after ensuring
you can get back to the as-received condition the device was in on first
use.

Life is getting too complicated. The simple life is best. No, I do not
like all the garbage programs on modern smart phones, either. This is
all stuff I can do fine without. Why do I need a GPS locator? I have
never been lost in all my life. etc., etc., etc.


The ecosystem is changing as well as the target market. Whether we like
it or not, smart devices aren't going to disappear and their growth
pattern will be forward looking with respect to o/s, not backward.

There is nothing wrong with continued use of Win7, but like all o/s it
will become obsolete in favor of later.

--
....winston
msft mvp windows experience

In message , Don Phillipson
writes:
"Walter E." wrote in message
...

I am concerned about the future of Windows. It seems to become more of an
entertainment medium than a work platform.

People have noticed this paradoxical feature of Windows since
the 1990s. Office work (word processing, spreadsheets and
filing) prompted huge investments in software and hardware
since the 1980s: but more profit has been gained in the 21st
century from trivial or entertainment applications (cf. Twitter,
Facebook etc.) than from office work.

Interesting thought/observation.

Reminds me of the same thing happening with hardware, I suppose about 20
years ago?, when it became clear that the main thing driving
developments in hardware - especially graphics cards and sound, and
processor power - was gaming. This was decidedly bemusing to those of us
who had little interest in it (no criticism of those who do is implied,
however).

Both hardware (mainly processor power, I guess) and software passed a
point where they were more than adequate for what you call "office
work", and also many home applications other than gaming and video
processing, a long time ago; but the returns on making and selling the
_same_ over and over again aren't as big as those available by
"improving" the product, even beyond the needs of that part of the
market, so "improvements" - in hardware capabilities, or the OS catering
for e. g. touch screens - are going to happen, so we've got to live with
it/them.

Proprietorial retention of legacy code grates somewhat - in other words,
it'd be nice if the code behind some of the more ancient OSs could be
released (legislation, anyone - 15-20 year, maybe?), so that a secondary
support market could grow up for those not wanting the latest of
everything, but still wanting support - but I guess Linux has evolved to
fill that market.
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

What has happened since 1979, I suspect, is that the spotting of mistakes has
become entirely associated with mean-spiritedness, snobbishness and
judgementalism. But...can be...funny and interesting.
Lynn Truss, RT 2015/2/21-27

En el artículo , J. P. Gilliver
(John) escribió:

Proprietorial retention of legacy code grates somewhat - in other words,
it'd be nice if the code behind some of the more ancient OSs could be
released

M$ has made the source code for DOS available.

--
(\_/)
(='.'=) Bunny says: Windows 10? Nein danke!
(")_(")

On 2/19/2016 1:52 PM, Walter E. wrote:
I am concerned about the future of Windows. It seems to become more of
an entertainment medium than a work platform. Are serious people
slipping and sliding and pinching their fingers on a computer screen?

I do not like Win 10, especially the emphasis on being force-fed into
the MS World of apps and add-ons and game downloads and music downloads.
I do not need all this crap. I also do not like the privacy concerns
with windows 10. They remind me of the ubiquitous invasion of privacy
that is so common with Google. George Orwell, here we come.

Currently I am using Windows 7 and I am very happy with it. However, my
desktop computer is getting more than 10 years old. What can I do if my
computer breaks down for good?

If I buy a new windows 10 computer, will I be able to remove windows 10
and install Windows 7 from my install DVD? Will the hardware that is
necessary to run windows 10 preclude me from installing and running
windows 7?

Life is getting too complicated. The simple life is best. No, I do not
like all the garbage programs on modern smart phones, either. This is
all stuff I can do fine without. Why do I need a GPS locator? I have
never been lost in all my life. etc., etc., etc.

www.rationality.net
One of the biggest problems with buying a new computer and them putting
W7 on it, is the driver availability. W7 drivers for brand new hardware
just might not be available because manufactures don't want to pump in
money to make the newest hardware back compatible.

Art Todesco wrote:
On 2/19/2016 1:52 PM, Walter E. wrote:
I am concerned about the future of Windows. It seems to become more of
an entertainment medium than a work platform. Are serious people
slipping and sliding and pinching their fingers on a computer screen?

I do not like Win 10, especially the emphasis on being force-fed into
the MS World of apps and add-ons and game downloads and music downloads.
I do not need all this crap. I also do not like the privacy concerns
with windows 10. They remind me of the ubiquitous invasion of privacy
that is so common with Google. George Orwell, here we come.

Currently I am using Windows 7 and I am very happy with it. However, my
desktop computer is getting more than 10 years old. What can I do if my
computer breaks down for good?

If I buy a new windows 10 computer, will I be able to remove windows 10
and install Windows 7 from my install DVD? Will the hardware that is
necessary to run windows 10 preclude me from installing and running
windows 7?

Life is getting too complicated. The simple life is best. No, I do not
like all the garbage programs on modern smart phones, either. This is
all stuff I can do fine without. Why do I need a GPS locator? I have
never been lost in all my life. etc., etc., etc.

www.rationality.net
One of the biggest problems with buying a new computer and them putting
W7 on it, is the driver availability. W7 drivers for brand new hardware
just might not be available because manufactures don't want to pump in
money to make the newest hardware back compatible.

Just built a brand new desktop PC. Put Windows 7 on it. It ****ing rocks
so you were saying? No driver problems with either Windows or Linux
Mint. nVidia disagrees with you and provides drivers for Vista, 7, 8 and
10. So does Intel. Same for Realtek and the USB 3.0. Course I didn't get
one of those new Intel Only for Windows 10 processors but I don't need
that much power.

--
John Q. Public

As Art, Pete and Winston have described, if you're
not a bit handy then you're out of luck. If you want
to keep access to Win7 you need to research any
machine you want to put it on, whether it's a store
bought computer or one you make. You need to figure
out what your hardware is -- motherboard, graphics,
audio -- and find Win7 drivers for those items. Only
then can you plan to install Win7 on that box. And as
Winston pointed out, if you don't pay through the nose
for the full retail version you only get one install. Basically
you pay about an extra $100 for an insurance policy,
in case your first box dies.

So it could get expensive. You can buy a new computer
for about $300. It will cost almost that much just to buy
a Windows 7 retail disk. Which is all the more maddening
given that you've already paid for a Windows 7 license.
you're faced with giving Microsoft $300 to be able to
keep using the product you already paid for.

We're all facing this transition. The big money is in
consumer services. "Cloud" may also stick around. MS
is still making a fortune with their Office suite, but only
because they maintain incompatibility so carefully. If
they didn't then Libre Office would quickly replace MS
Office.

It's hard to know how it will all pan out. Macs are not
likely to ever become a more palatable (or affordable)
option. They've always been a "consumer services"
operation. Linux is not likely to ever become as usable,
with as much software, as Windows has been. And if
Microsoft can drag their business customer base into
the world of spyware online services then they won't be
going back to selling software.

So, if you want options for as long as possible then
you need to be handy. As John Q. Public said, it is doable.
But it requires time and research. I recently built a new
XP box for myself. About $300 worth of stuff from
Tigerdirect. Most things still have drivers available for
XP. Win10 usage only recently nosed past XP, and Win10
is not a hit in the corporate world, so XP drivers should
be around for awhile. All the more so for Win7. But you
do need to pick the components and check them out for
driver availability.

If you want to buy a Win7 disk and
install to an OEM computer it might be more complicated.
A computer is really just a few parts assembled inside a
case. It's easy to make one. But OEMs can create a
bottleneck. Dell, for instance, repackages drivers and
and created their own system. Some of their hardware
is even custom made. A Dell is good for business owners
who want easy maintenance and don't have an IT person.
One can just go to the Dell site, let them scan the
computer, and do what they tell you to. But Dell is a very
bad choice if you want options. I first discovered that
when I salvaged a Win98 Dell to get a very good graphics
card. It turned out the "card" was actually a special chip,
using a socket that only existed on the Dell motherboard!

Incompatibility with hardware/drivers/software can get
very complicated.