[jimmie57]

On my old desktop which I don't use on a regular basis I did a dual boot install of Windows 8.1 with Windows 7. Right now I have the automatic Windows 10 upgrade set for the Window 8.1 partition. Presumably because I'm not creating a new partition for installation the upgrade will work. But who knows? And I don't really care. But I will try it as soon as they let me.

I will be interested to know if that works.

 

[phrelin]

They'll pry my 7 from my cold, dead CPU.

The thing is, I have two 7 laptops and a dual boot 7/8.1 desktop, but we use our Surface Pro 2's 99.9% of the time and I don't understand the objections to 8.1. As i have it set up on the Surfaces, they are Windows Desktop computers that follow the pattern that goes way back, just with some minor changes from 7 to get used to - once you've set it up. AND...

Win 8.1 runs smoothly some Windows-98-minimally-upgraded-by-manufacturer-to-XT-then-abandoned software that I love which would not run on 7 no matter what I tried. I'll probably lose this with 10, but I may retain an 8.1 system somewhere.

 

[SayWhat?]

Are there any alternatives to Windows Media Center?
If you need the PVR (personal video recorder) features in Windows Media Center, then Media Portal is one alternative. If you just want a simple video player, I like MPC-HC (Media Player Classic - Home Cinema), but VLC will do the job. All three are open source and free.

MP has a channel guide and supports tuners? The others do not? I had VLP, but it was a long time ago.

I also have the player/tuner/guide/PVR that came with my Hauppage USB tuner stick, but it's fairly clumsy.

 

[dpeters11]

The thing is, I have two 7 laptops and a dual boot 7/8.1 desktop, but we use our Surface Pro 2's 99.9% of the time and I don't understand the objections to 8.1. As i have it set up on the Surfaces, they are Windows Desktop computers that follow the pattern that goes way back, just with some minor changes from 7 to get used to - once you've set it up. AND...

Win 8.1 runs smoothly some Windows-98-minimally-upgraded-by-manufacturer-to-XT-then-abandoned software that I love which would not run on 7 no matter what I tried. I'll probably lose this with 10, but I may retain an 8.1 system somewhere.

Some of the objections to 8 are essentially they've heard bad things about it, not necessarily that they've ever seen it themselves. Others hate it simply due to it not being the same. People hated Windows 7 at the beginning (particularly moving from XP).

One issue is that there were actually some systems compatible with 8 and not 8.1, either due to motherboard or processor.

 

[SayWhat?]

People hated Windows 7 at the beginning (particularly moving from XP).

As I recall, people liked 7 and were relieved they could finally upgrade from lower systems. I do remember there were some glitches with requirements and some older PCs were not capable of handling it.

 

[jimmie57]

I had a Laser printer that was an HP and Win 7 did not support it.
It worked on XP and Win 2000. I gave it away.

 

[inkahauts]

People hated windows 8 IMHO because of two things. it tried to move toward a mac system for storing files which is absolutely fine to me. But by also moving to giant tiles like a freaking tablet and making it impossible to see without doing something (no task bar for many apps) and multiple presses to swap programs most people thought it was stupid. And I have to agree with that part. Making it hard to swap visually for the non power user was a massive miscalculation IMHO.

 

[jimmie57]

People hated windows 8 IMHO because of two things. it tried to move toward a mac system for storing files which is absolutely fine to me. But by also moving to giant tiles like a freaking tablet and making it impossible to see without doing something (no task bar for many apps) and multiple presses to swap programs most people thought it was stupid. And I have to agree with that part. Making it hard to swap visually for the non power user was a massive miscalculation IMHO.

My son went from Win 7 to 8 and hated it. He only had it about a week and saw something on his laptop that said upgrade to Win 8.1 for free. He did that and he likes 8.1.

 

[Tom Robertson]

The whole WIndows 8 concept was hugely flawed in trying to equate the 3.5" 800x600 pixel screen experience with a 40" 4k UHD screen experience. They are never going to be the same environment.

And completely ignored, don't ask me how they blew it so badly, how people actually work in corporate environments. When working in a call center everyone had 4 or more windows open simultaneously--all positioned to be available for cut/paste, phone control, customer support, notepad, etc. Swapping screens was not productive.

Peace,
Tom

 

[SayWhat?]

^^ I had one set-up where we had four screens using one mouse and KB running 7 or 8 programs at once. Mission critical too.

That was XP Pro before 7 came out.

 

[jimmie57]

^^ I had one set-up where we had four screens using one mouse and KB running 7 or 8 programs at once. Mission critical too.

That was XP Pro before 7 came out.

There is a FREE program called Synergy that will run 4 computers and screens from one keyboard and mouse running Win 7.
My son uses it all the time when he is playing online games.

 

[dpeters11]

As I recall, people liked 7 and were relieved they could finally upgrade from lower systems. I do remember there were some glitches with requirements and some older PCs were not capable of handling it.

Quite a few hated the changes from XP to 7. UAC, the change from Documents and Settings to Users etc. Others didn't like the UI change.

 

[harsh]

It must be hard to live as you and not like anything or anybody.

It would absolutely be easier to ignore reality and assume that everyone has your back but that's not the world that we live in.

 

[harsh]

Quite a few hated the changes from XP to 7. UAC, the change from Documents and Settings to Users etc. Others didn't like the UI change.

The UI change could be "fixed", for the most part, by changing some of the default behaviors. Sometimes this required editing the registry. UAC, introduced in Vista, could not easily be fixed but it is what you get when security is an evolving afterthought with associated hits and misses.

 

[SeaBeagle]

Quite a few hated the changes from XP to 7. UAC, the change from Documents and Settings to Users etc. Others didn't like the UI change.

Also the menus and directory listings are much better on Windows XP.

Sent from my iPad 4 128GB using DBSTalk mobile application.

 

[phrelin]

I'm a little confused. Win 8 when first released had its problems.

But I run Win 8.1 and it boots to a normal Windows desktop and runs programs just like XP - not exactly in every way like XP, but pretty much. Sure I can press the "Windows key" on the keyboard and have an "app" tile screen appear. If I use the tiles to access most of the programs I use, they open in the desktop screen anyway.

I edit the registry and make a myriad of other technical changes in much the same way I did in XP/Vista/7. Sure I've had to learn some new things, just like I did moving from 3.1 to 95 to XP to Vista to 7 and like I will moving to 10. Heck, I had apoplexy moving from DOS to Windows.

Sometimes things don't work out. I have to note here that the 2007 HP 20" Notebook I mentioned above that I was spending hours on trying to make "upgradable" to 10 won't get there. Every time I tried to update the graphics card driver to a compatible system, I ended up with regular failures. Then my wife said asked me why I was spending so much time on a computer we almost never used....

 

[SayWhat?]

^^ That's because 8 was panned so bad and nobody wanted it. They capitulated, reconfigured it and called it 8.1, which was really 9, which may be why there's no 9 and they jumped to 10.

 

[dpeters11]

The only place I really hated the WIndows 8 UI was on a server.

 

[harsh]

The only place I really hated the WIndows 8 UI was on a server.

True dat!

Someone asked me if I was going to update my 2003 servers to 2012 and I told them that it wasn't going to happen on my watch.

I hate Metro on pretty much all platforms.

 

[phrelin]

And so it begins Windows 10 Automatic Updates Start Causing Problems.

The problem described in this Forbes piece is similar to the problem I had with that simple notification email. In this case, if you were a tester of the Windows 10 build process, my guess is they didn't send and install files piecemeal over a period of weeks. So literally this process has not been tested on, say, a random 1 million beta testers. So of course this will happen. It's not a surprise to me because in the process of trying to get my one computer to be compatible I simply could not get a driver to work on the video because it needed some older version intermediate software running to control the hardware and driver. That computer cannot be upgraded to Windows 10 because they want a different driver that can't be controlled by the old software and the new software won't work on the old card.

I am pretty sure our two Surface Pro 2's and the 2015 Intel Computer Stick will have no problem with the update. Since I have the old desktop dual booting with Win 7 and 8.1 my guess it will work. I'm not sure about the HP 2010 notebook which is running Win 7.

But the explanation in the article is somewhat disturbing:

And here lies the crux of the problem: many PC components and peripherals come with bundled software that automatically manages driver updates already. PC makers also often bolt on driver update management software onto their PCs (Lenovo is a notable example) which then has the potential to conflict with driver updates delivered by Windows Update.

Consequently unless Windows Update and third party driver management software receive updates at exactly the same time an ongoing battle of upgrading and downgrading can ensue between them. Third party software can be told to stop, but if the driver problem lies with Windows Update (as it does in this case) there's no way to stop Windows 10 reinstalling it once removed, which causes the problem to come back again and again.

What would have been perfect for me is to have had access to a Surface Pro 4 (or even a 3) built with Windows 10. Yeah, that's an expensive option but if I have any problems with our Pro 2's, like many here our "lives" are in those computers.

But I'm sure it will all go well. (That's me being totally out of character.)