When Windows 7 is dead in 2020 what OS will you migrate to??

[Lessss]

When Windows 7 is dead in 2020 what OS will you migrate to??

[Dauntless]

Will it really be necessary to migrate?

[TheBeastie]

Just use Windows 10, the latest versions allow the "Start Menu" back more or less
https://www.howtogeek.com/197836/8-ways ... tart-menu/
Or you use free opensource http://www.classicshell.net/ to bring back the Start Menu..

With Windows 10 its easy to download from MS directly for free https://www.microsoft.com/en-au/softwar ... /windows10
and I have seen a fair amount of folks just activate it with a free activator, just use something that passes Kaspersky anti-virus or something similar.
Kaspersky antivrius is from Russia and is designed to overlook hack/programs that activate MS software for free but don't actually contain any nasty trojans/spyware.

Or even just use online dodgy online non-Microsoft KMS activator servers and run will run your Windows 10 install as an enterprise edition, you just need to download an opensource activator script..

The only other important with Windows 10 is disable Fastboot/Fast-startup so that every time you reboot windows, you actually do get a fresh clean reboot everytime you reboot. In the age of SSD drives the Fastboot idea is just a dumb idea.
https://www.howtogeek.com/243901/the-pr ... rtup-mode/

There has never been an easier time to use MS products for free, risk-free, at least for home personal use, it would seem...
The reason why its so easy to use MS software for free is the fact MS would rather let you use their latest software for free (with a dash of dodginess) rather than lose anyone to the competition like Apple and Linux etc.

[Chalo]

The way Windows 10 was pushed on unsuspecting people, I have to believe it is malware.

[e-beach]

Probably windows 11 or what ever Microsoft offers as a malware....err I mean an os.

[dustNbone]

I'd bet money 2020 comes along and there's still too many people using Windows 7 for MS to actually abandon it.

As it sits I basically use Windows 7 as a game launcher, and Ubuntu to get things done.

[neptronix]

I'm not budging from windows 7. I'll use it until i can no longer use it.
Windows 7 is only dead when compilers stop compiling for it. I expect it to last for longer than 2020. I haven't installed a single patch other than .net runtimes since SP1 because Microsoft has been sneakily crippling the OS ever since.

Second choice would be Linux. Look up Valve's Proton library for game compatibility in Windows. Apparently it runs pretty well.

I run linux on my laptop and do web development and linux server administration on it. Love it, other than the fact that Ubuntu still needs some refinement.

You couldn't pay me to use Windows 10. I value my privacy and control over my own hardware more than money.

Hell, if i could, i'd go back to Windows 2000. There's an OS that got out of your way and didn't treat you like a child and respected your privacy. It only consumed about 64mb of ram. I miss those days.

[Chalo]

Hell, if i could, i'd go back to Windows 2000.

That's the last one I trusted to only do what you wanted it to do.

[dustNbone]

At this point, if people don't have an absolute need to run Windows, I do my best to get them using something else. I'm referring to the (too many) people that I have somehow found myself responsible for providing computer related services to.

If you're not a gamer, or have some professional need to use a particular piece of Windows software, there's nothing to gain from continuing to use it. Here is why.

DISCLAIMER: These points are relative to other modern desktop operating systems, not previous versions of Windows. All versions of Windows share these traits to some extent, improvements as well as regressions have been made over the years/decades.

-It's not easy to use, that's just a matter of familiarity. Other desktop (and mobile) UIs have advanced far beyond it in terms of consistency and usability.

-It's a bloody security nightmare, always has been (at least as long as it's been connected to the Internet) and as far as I can tell always will be. The process for applying updates/patches is arcane by modern standards. It's a patchwork of separate procedures for Windows itself, and all the various software that it runs, if a program even has a function to update itself short of redownloading a new version of some .exe file from the authors website. (Seriously, what the hell kind of gong show is that?)

-It's slow, and performance degrades over the life of an install. People compensate for this shitty performance by throwing stupid amounts of computing power at it, wasting money and electricity. Fixing this by doing a fresh install is extra painful because of the total lack of standardization for things like location of user data, making saving/restoring it a real hit and miss experience most people would rather do without. Not to mention the process of gathering hardware drivers just to get it up and running again. Ever install Windows to find your network adapter isn't supported out of the box, because almost none are? Show stopper until you get those drivers on a USB stick or something so that you can continue downloading more .exe files from more websites to get the rest of your hardware working. A decent OS (all of them except Windows) will support most common hardware without additional drivers.

-It's just not necessary to run that much code on your computer to get things done anymore. What most people these days need is a good platform to run a full featured Web Browser well (i.e. Firefox or Chrome, not whatever hunk of crap MS includes). That's where the magic happens nowadays. People need their GMail, youtube, facebook, etc to work. All web apps. Windows is about the least suitable platform for this. I mean seriously it's like 20GB+ of code after fresh install, to do what exactly? A modern Linux desktop install is like 1/4 that size, and actually includes some real functionality. Chrome OS is a couple of GB, the Android I just installed on my phone was under 500MB.

[spinningmagnets]

I have two laptops, long story I won't bore you with. My main laptop is an old Toshiba using Windows, because I have to.

Backup laptop is a Dell with Linux Ubuntu on an SSD. Here's my thread from 2014

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=62503

[1JohnFoster]

... or have some professional need to use a particular piece of Windows software

I have to use Windows 10 + Sharepoint for work. It's like wearing a helmet of inward spikes with a built in salt-hopper on top. Its impossible to consistently link files unless they're in the same directory. You can't send hyper links to co-workers because every path includes the user's name. Any solution to standard paths gets repeatedly broken. If your internet slows down, you can barely type. Try to work offline and you'll be guaranteed conflicted files.

The irony is they decided to go with Sharepoint for "security" reasons

Years ago I tried Linux + open office. But almost all the files I sent or received from Windows/MS office users were screwed up so I had to give up. I loath MS office, several times a day I think of the millions of people around the globe whose entire lives are being wasted.

[dustNbone]

I'd give LibreOffice another try, even just under Windows. OpenOffice has been defunct since 2011, but development has continued and the import/export filters work much better now.

A few large organizations got tired of the insane costs of licensing MS Office, etc (not to mention growing discomfort with vendor lock-in) and threw substantial sums of money toward LibreOffice development instead.

[Dauntless]

Hell, if i could, i'd go back to Windows 2000.

That's the last one I trusted to only do what you wanted it to do.

Is that the one that was NT? NOT able to run a lot of consumer software but good for a lot on esoteric stuff in the Video world.

Linux has only ever probed useful to me on dedicated systems. A big catch-all system always has things that are t good enough. The movie 'Titanic' had something like 150 Silicon Graphics systems opeating in Linux churning out effects, but they were writing whatever add-ons they needed.

I wish I had people with these alternate systems around so I could SEE what they really do. I feel like a Windows slave.

[dustNbone]

Windows is still based on the NT core, the last one that wasn't was Windows ME, which was based off the Win9x (DOS) core.

They continue to have NT version numbers. Win2k is NT 5.0, XP is 5.1, Windows 7 is NT 6.1, 8 is 6.2, 8.1 is 6.3. For Windows 10 they decided to bump it up to NT 10.0, cuz hey, why not.

You can see this version number when you open the Command Prompt.

The only thing that really changed from Win2k to XP was the GUI skin, which went from the Win95 style to the "Luna" one. Alot of people hated that, and hence they yearn for the days of Win2k. Even though you could just switch it back in the settings. I'm not sure about Win10 but I know up to Windows 7 at least you can still use the "Classic" (Win9x/2k) style.

Under the hood though, Windows is still very much the same as it was 20 years ago.

As for trying out a Linux desktop, it's pretty easy these days. Get an Ubuntu image, write it to a (ideally fast) USB stick and boot from it. No installation necessary, no changes to your existing system, fully self contained.

I do the same things with it that most people do with their computers, use Firefox to interwebz, watch streaming or downloaded video, listen to music, edit photos, play some games, chat on Discord. And obviously porn.

[LockH]

Hehe... Yer "survey" doesn't mention Windoze Ten PRO (watt I'm currently booting...)

Accountants (where I "cut my teeth" using computers for "book" keeping)/companies tend to gravitate towards "watts cheapest"? IE/EG were I a "Apple" user I would have been a starving accountant...

[dustNbone]

Cheapest is

http://www.gnucash.org

Running on top of

https://www.ubuntu.com/desktop

[Lessss]

1JohnFoster --> https://www.webdavsystem.com/sharepoint ... tegration/

Dauntless --> there will eventually be a security hole and no patch for it. So unless you are going to air gap it off the internet then yes migrating will be necessary.

[TheBeastie]

Windows 10 just came out with a major update that just got released.
And maybe all that spying of Microsoft on Windows 10 users has paid off, as they have finally offered a "built-in" dark-mode for the "Windows File Explorer"
Before, the only way to make this happen was to use very dodgy hacks on Windows files, and I believe it came at compatibility costs.
Now all you do is which on the "High Contrast" mode.

https://www.cnet.com/how-to/windows-10- ... -features/

https://cnet4.cbsistatic.com/img/j_plU4 ... update.jpg


Just trying to tempt people to the darkside.

[neptronix]

That same update is said to deleted the user folder for a lot of people.
Not the first time that's happened.

I've been a PC technician since the mid 90's and i don't remember a Windows update that ever did anything like that until 10 came around.

[flat tire]

Modern windows is needed for the newest hardware support and to do some VR/AR stuff. No problem upgrading for specific application; nobody is forcing me not to use linux osx or templeos for my desktop. I don't mind running new windows for VR. For everything else the penguin is on top.