[Dave_J]

Bought a new Hp Envy dv6 with a i7 quad core and 8 gigs of ram. Nice machine. The problem I ran it to was it had Windows 8 home. I tried to get all my equipment to work with it, printer, flat bead scanner, Digital camera, and the home DVR. None of the manufactures have updated software/firmware for Windows 8, Windows 7 yes but not 8. And there is no downgrade with Windows 8 Home, but I could upgrade to Windows 8 Pro and it has a free downgrade to Windows 7 Pro. Its only $89 more to upgrade. I took advantage of Costco's return policy and returned it and got my $899 back.

At work we use Lenovo Think Pads and they work OK for having a slow single core 1.6Ghz and 1.75 Gigs of ram. So I had one built that was almost equal the the Hp, with Windows 7 Home for $557 and free shipping. For $99 I can get a ram upgrade to 16 Gigs (8X2 chips).

 

[TwoWheelTim]

I took the plunge last wee also. W 8 is ok, I haven't had any problems, but it is really a lateral move for Microsoft. When W 7 came out I said, finally they built a usable OS. They are making a mistake to abandon the W 7 desktop, IMHO. They need to make the W 8 desktop look like the W 7, not some stripped down version, that is how you transitions a user interface. Good luck with the new PC. I bought an inexpensive Dell Inspirion 660s for the wife, she is getting used to it, with my help.

 

[Noth]

I am getting my finger in, so to speak, with Windows 3.. on a MS Surface that runs win 8 RT.. so more restrictive than win 8.. My wireless printer works.. evrything but my golf GPS and my TomTom works with it.. I use my desktop running Vista for those..or a netbook running XP..

 

[malahy1501]

Many of the "frustrated" :lol: have downloaded Classic Shell

The program is supposed to make the start up of Win 8 "look" like Win 7...start button, same menu's etc....allows one to transition to Win 8 on their time frame

http://www.classicshell.net/

I was one of the skeptics also, so bought a Win 7 to replace my 9 year Dell a few months back :wink:

Bill

 

[Dave_J]

http://www.classicshell.net/ I was one of the skeptics also, so bought a Win 7 to replace my 9 year Dell a few months back :wink: Bill

I hear ya Bill, my Dell with XP is 7 years old. The Lenovo I ordered has a AMD A10 prosesser, 8 Gigs Ram and a 750 Gig hard drive. It will take years for me to use 60 Gigs of hard drive. Microsoft will support Win 7 till Jan 14, 2020, by then It will be time get a new computer that interfaces with the chip in our heads, no need for a monitor with direct interface.

 

[Elliott Larron]

Windows 8, Is for touch Screen Devices, not Desktop PC,s One reason why i just stay with Windows 7, Untill a newer Windows comes out maybe windows 9 or 10 for desktops Applications, even with the Shell, Stuff, it crashes once in awhile, as with all Hacks, or fake backgrounds, ,

Elliott,

 

[cliffyk]

I bought a couple Win 8 Pro licenses when they were $40 a pop at Staples, installed it on a laptop along with Classic Shell and made it usable, however I will likely never be migrating to it. I'll be fully retired in three years (now working under a deferred retirement plan) and will at that time likely move to Linux, or Android if Google makes the rumored desktop version. I have a 32 GB Nexus 7 tablet and have come to REALLY like Android, a desktop version could break the Microsoft's monopoly on that segment.

My employer still runs XP on 17,500 desktops, and is slowly migrating to 7 (running Classic Shell there as well)...

 

[Dave_J]

My employer still runs XP on 17,500 desktops, and is slowly migrating to 7 (running Classic Shell there as well)...

I am in the same boat, employer has 1,000 of XP desk and laptops. The one I use in the field is a Lenovo Thinkpad that came with Win 7 but corprate downgraded them all to XP. :roll: :roll: X 1000.

 

[cliffyk]

Three+ years ago my "company" (a State of Florida Department) contracted with Gartner Group to get a handle on the cost for our organization to undertake a wholesale conversion to Win 7. Exclusive of licensing and hardware costs they estimated between $150 to $250 per user--$2,625,000 to $4,375,000--for installation and training. We then told Microsoft they could stick 7 in the same place we suggested they stick Vista, we are just now (last 4 months) been rolling out new machines with 7.

I don't think "8" will ever happen as there is a lot of Linux desktop testing going on at headquarters...

 

[Dave_J]

I have no problem going to Linux as in the military I was working with Unix systems for Arpanet with a company called BBN. Its time for some other company to take a bite out of the KING MS. I'd even go to Google Chrome OS.

 

[cliffyk]

In my time I have seen numerous companies that have, "owned" various segments of industries, become arrogant, complacent, self-important or however you wish to describe it--and loose that hold, sometimes even fail completely.

IBM invented and owned the open architecture Intel based PC market. Then they got greedy and introduced the re-engineered and hardware incompatible PS2 models, and never recovered from the massive NO that was the market's response.

Lotus Development's 1-2-3 was at one time the undisputed king of spreadsheet software, with the name "Lotus" being synonymous with electronic spreadsheets. They stuck their head in the sand and ignored the competition; Visicalc, Quattro, Supercalc, MultiPlan and then Excel--we know what happened to them. I believe Windows would not have "arrived" if not for Excel, in which Windows 1.0 was just as runtime environment for Excel...

Novell owned small system networking; completely ignored the Windows desktop, in fact went out of their way to make using Windows a grans PITA. So Microsoft got the desktop and eventually the operating system as well. If Novell had relinquished the desktop and embraced Windows 3.1a Windows NT Server would have never got off the ground (BTW the early versions of NT sucked, big time).

Polaroid owned instant imaging, lock stock and barrel. They too stuck their heads where the sun don't shine and ignored digital imaging. When they did finally get on board they took some cheap largely worthless Vivitar cameras and stuck a Polaroid sticker (yea, literally a foil sticker) over the Vivitar branding. The went the way of the dodo as well...

There are many many other examples, my gut tells me Microsoft is not invincible to this. It is true that big organizations die hard, but they do die...

Oh, and then there was New Coke...

 

[Sallybabe56]

Malahy1501, is there a cost to download the ClassicShell program? Does it or will it always freeze upon application? I just purchased a new desktop that has Windows 8 and I much prefer Windows 7 and would like to continue to use that if possible. Any other info you can supply would be greatly appreciated. Thanks Sally.

 

[cliffyk]

Classic shell is free, you may donate if you find it useful; it can be downloaded here--http://www.classicshell.net/.

I use it on Windows 7 as well as I like the "classic" (pre-XP) shell, I have not had any problems with it hanging up or misbehaving...

 

[Dave_J]

Just started setting up all my programs and hardware on this new Lenovo IdeaPad. Windows 7 is so much better, so far. Remembering all my passwords is a bear.