[ChrisPlatt]

Microsoft supported 98SE until 2006. That's when I upgraded to XP. I'm not worried...

Chris

[monochrome]

Users who must have the latest and greatest pay top dollar to be guinea pigs for all the new bugs.
My modest requirements allow me to function well one generation (or more) behind what's current.
I have heard Windows 7 is an improvement over Vista, but I won't upgrade until XP is no longer supported.

Chris

I'm still running WinNT on this machine, although I guess I need to move up to the latest XP version for the support.

Nope, Windows 2000 Pro is running just fine.

(I actually have it only on my two tertiary PCs, while my main laptops run OS X. Kids' laptop has Vista Home Premium, but no plans to upgrade that one).

[Denis]

The biggest think about WinBlown upgrades is that there is always specialty software that gets left behind. I really don't like having to replace an $20,000-40,000 piece of equipment because Bill Gates farted. They haven't gotten a WinBlown right out of the gate yet. Every time bigger faster hardware comes out Microsux finds a way to choke it down.

So how many times have you replaced your DSLR body in the past 6 years or purchased new ones. Can Pentax come out with a DLSR that will last or be satisfactory for 10 years+ with no firmware updaest? Software is barely keeping up with hardware designs. MS does not control hardware. Drivers for such new hardware is not written by MS. Buy quality hardware and you will get quality written drivers which will not affect your computer OS performance. This is like blaming the camera for the lack of photo composition. These are human made software and hardware items, they will fail or become obsolete. If we had perfect cars and drivers, we would not have breakdowns or accidents therefore no requirements for mechanics or insurances or warranties, dream world! Sometimes we fail in logic and common sense and expect to have everything but pay nothing.

[Blue]

So how many times have you replaced your DSLR body in the past 6 years or purchased new ones. Can Pentax come out with a DLSR that will last or be satisfactory for 10 years+ with no firmware updaest? Software is barely keeping up with hardware designs. MS does not control hardware. Drivers for such new hardware is not written by MS. Buy quality hardware and you will get quality written drivers which will not affect your computer OS performance. This is like blaming the camera for the lack of photo composition. These are human made software and hardware items, they will fail or become obsolete. If we had perfect cars and drivers, we would not have breakdowns or accidents therefore no requirements for mechanics or insurances or warranties, dream world! Sometimes we fail in logic and common sense and expect to have everything but pay nothing.

I haven't replaced them. If you go back and look at what I said, you will realize that more the "consumer" users rely on certain platforms. When you have thousands in lab equipment and there isn't support for drivers anymore, it may not be feasible to change out 100,000s in instrumentation just to go to 7. Hell, I'm still trying to deal with lab equipment that can't run on Vista Ultimate. However, your Pentax argument is a strawman one considering I'm using lenses soem of which are 1, 5, 10, 15, 25 and 50 years old on my K200d, and K20d (which are the first Pentax dSLR). We still use the Nikon d70s in the lab.

Or put it another way, my sarcasm was the fact that it is ridiculous to have to update every damn thing every 2 years because of a platform like windows. We shouldn't be replacing every thing that rapidly due to environmental stewardship. All I'm saying is these platform upgrades should have more reverse and forward compatibility.

Edit: I'm sorry to see you have bought into the "consumer" mentality.

Edit: Edit: I probably have every version of windows disks all the way back to 3.11 mostly the Pro editions.

[sebberry]

Apple touts themselves as having an advantage that they make the software AND hardware and everything is designed to work well together.

This is why Microsoft has the Windows Logo program. The "Designed for XP, Vista, 7, etc..." logos on harware boxes show that the hardware has undergone pretty tough testing to ensure optimal compatibility with the operating system. While Microsoft doesn't make or control the hardware, they do set the standards when it comes to compatibility.

Again, buy good hardware and you will usually get a good result.

[RoxnDox]

You're in the dark ages with XP!

This is not always a bad thing, though. Doing an OS upgrade is good thing - WHEN/IF you need the new capabilities, or you need software that only runs on the new version, or you buy new hardware not supported by old OS, or things like that. If you can do everything you need to do on an older, stable, OS, there's no need to change. I have used my computers for an average of 4 years after End-of-Life support for their respective OS's, and upgraded only when I had to do so.

(snippped)
Everyone wants to blame Microsoft and Vista for their problems but never their choice to buy crappy hardware.

Umm, No. Some yes, Everyone No. I blame Vista for certain choices the designers made that made it a resource-hog, and I blame marketing people who pushed the OS enough that it was made the only available option when purchasing hardware that was perfectly sufficient for XP but insufficient for Vista. The hardware wasn't crappy, it was fine - for XP. It was marketing that removed a valid choice of OS from being offered by the manufacturers.

Me, I'll likely be keeping an eye on W7 and seeing how it does. I'll probably upgrade next time I replace a PC at home (which could be a few years).

Jim

[Wheatfield]

The biggest think about WinBlown upgrades is that there is always specialty software that gets left behind. I really don't like having to replace an $20,000-40,000 piece of equipment because Bill Gates farted. They haven't gotten a WinBlown right out of the gate yet. Every time bigger faster hardware comes out Microsux finds a way to choke it down.

A friend of mine just upgraded to Apple's Snow Leopard OS.
His Epson 2400 printer no longer works as Snot leopard doesn't support the Epson driver, so it's not just Windows that sometimes buggers people.
Anyway, he's back to whatever Mac called their prior OS.

Edit: It may actually be support for printing to some recent Epson printers from PS4 that is broken.

[Das Boot]

It's probably just a matter of time before Apple releases an OS for a standard PC. It's been rumored for a while now. People can install it now, with some modification, to a standard PC albeit within certain hardware specs. Maybe Microsoft is trying to clean up its act with 7 before it happens.

[flippedgazelle]

It's probably just a matter of time before Apple releases an OS for a standard PC. It's been rumored for a while now. People can install it now, with some modification, to a standard PC albeit within certain hardware specs. Maybe Microsoft is trying to clean up its act with 7 before it happens.

Do you think Apple would be willing to cede that much control? I mean, if there are serious problems with stability or compatibililty, even if it's not Apple's "fault", their reputation will take a big hit.

[flippedgazelle]

So how many times have you replaced your DSLR body in the past 6 years or purchased new ones. Can Pentax come out with a DLSR that will last or be satisfactory for 10 years+ with no firmware updaest? Software is barely keeping up with hardware designs. MS does not control hardware. Drivers for such new hardware is not written by MS. Buy quality hardware and you will get quality written drivers which will not affect your computer OS performance. This is like blaming the camera for the lack of photo composition. These are human made software and hardware items, they will fail or become obsolete. If we had perfect cars and drivers, we would not have breakdowns or accidents therefore no requirements for mechanics or insurances or warranties, dream world! Sometimes we fail in logic and common sense and expect to have everything but pay nothing.

Quality companies like HP have abandoned supporting equipment, including expensive large-format plotters, when new OSes are introduced.

Unfortunately, during the design of a new OS, there is always a compromise between supporting legacy products and moving forward with a new paradigm. When Apple 1st introduced OSX, they basically screwed a bunch of legacy equipment owners, but it was the only way to move forward. Windows does an awesome job of enabling legacy support, but the drawbacks of this philosophy include code bloat and the inability to design "from the foundation up".

[jezza323]

ive been running win 7 since not long after the RTM came out (a few months). it is a really great OS. Everything just seems to work

only problem i had was the version of Autopano Pro i had did not run at all on 7. a newer version solved that pretty simply though

[flippedgazelle]

The biggest think about WinBlown upgrades is that there is always specialty software that gets left behind. I really don't like having to replace an $20,000-40,000 piece of equipment because Bill Gates farted. They haven't gotten a WinBlown right out of the gate yet. Every time bigger faster hardware comes out Microsux finds a way to choke it down.

That's not really MS's fault, though. Mfr's have the opportunity to write new drivers. However, driver development costs $$, and if people can hang on to "legacy" equipment, they won't need to purchase new equipment, which reduces revenue.

Win2k/XP has been around for a decade - a very good run for an OS.

From a personal standpoint, I haven't had serious issues with an MS OS... ever, starting with MS-DOS 3.3. Much of the Windows-related woes are due to shoddy equipment, which is unfortunately foisted on a public who, for the most part, doesn't know any better.

[Das Boot]

Do you think Apple would be willing to cede that much control? I mean, if there are serious problems with stability or compatibililty, even if it's not Apple's "fault", their reputation will take a big hit.

I could see Apple doing it as long as they have a certain control over the hardware. Not unlike the Windows Logo Program, but much more limited. Only certain chipsets, processors, and video cards. No minimum requirements, just requirements. Hell their OS is based on Linux, it wouldn't be too far of a stretch. They could also limit the functionality of the OS as not to lose their core business.

[p0opstlnksal0t]

I haven't replaced them. If you go back and look at what I said, you will realize that more the "consumer" users rely on certain platforms. When you have thousands in lab equipment and there isn't support for drivers anymore, it may not be feasible to change out 100,000s in instrumentation just to go to 7. Hell, I'm still trying to deal with lab equipment that can't run on Vista Ultimate. However, your Pentax argument is a strawman one considering I'm using lenses soem of which are 1, 5, 10, 15, 25 and 50 years old on my K200d, and K20d (which are the first Pentax dSLR). We still use the Nikon d70s in the lab.

Or put it another way, my sarcasm was the fact that it is ridiculous to have to update every damn thing every 2 years because of a platform like windows. We shouldn't be replacing every thing that rapidly due to environmental stewardship. All I'm saying is these platform upgrades should have more reverse and forward compatibility.

Edit: I'm sorry to see you have bought into the "consumer" mentality.

Edit: Edit: I probably have every version of windows disks all the way back to 3.11 mostly the Pro editions.

im sorry to say that this OS upgrade may not be for you. Im sure MS understands this, its not MS job to code driver for your ancient hardware... the fact that this OS supports as much as ive plugged into it is just amazing to me... i have old crusty dot matrix printers and even an old pentium 133mhz with 4gb hard drive with a cut down version of windows 7 on it.... now that we have pc's that can utilize high bandwidth memory throughput and 64bit architecture, id say a good windows OS is in order. I would even be surprised if you couldnt get your ancient hardware to work in "xp compatibility mode" have you even tried it yet, or are you just jumping the gun?