Before everyone loved XP, they hated it.

[Scar]

Yup, lots hated it until severel updates came out.  Same will be said for Win8 probably, but not after several updates.  Which is MS problem.  They cant release a good OS from the start and have to go back and make corrections.

 

Was Windows 7 hated when it was released?

[PNWDweller]

I think Neowin has a lot of success because of XP being around for so long and then the next generations of Windows continuing the trend. 

 

https://web.archive.org/web/20010202063000/https://www.neowin.net/

 

I remember the excitement to get XP and used the infamous FCKGW key before I actually had a chance to purchase it for myself.  Had a friend at work who had gotten his hands on the pirated copy and gave it to me.  I tried it and a few months later got it through a friend who got a deal through his job.  We got XP for something like $20 at the time and I had it that way ever since.  Busted the disk once and got a replacement.  Microsoft eventually blocked the product keys because of too many activations on my end over the years, but I never had any problem getting them to give me at least one more or so. 

 

I have just one machine here (My step daughter's PC)  running XP and only because it won't run Vista, or Win 7.  It has been powered off for a few months and won't be back on under that OS.  It might be time for her to learn Linux. :)

[knightracer]

Windows XP was a godsend after enduring through ME. Windows XP was the reason for me discovering Neowin.

[Nashy]

I remember when I first booted it.  I loved it from the get go.

[Max Norris]

Was Windows 7 hated when it was released?

There's always people who hate on new versions of stuff, this has been going on for decades.  Just a couple random examples from here:

 

Windows 7 sucks, going back to XP:

https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/836586-general-public-windows-7-sucks/

 

Vista sucks, going back to XP:

https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/571753-vista-sucks-for-now/

 

XP sucks, going back to 95:

https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/52126-return-to-windows-95-xp-sucks/

 

Dig elsewhere you'll find people bitching about different versions of MSDOS.  (Or whatever flavor of Linux, OSX, whatever.  Always the same. For a while I was on the "Linux sucks, going back to BSD Unix" bandwagon.)

[Orange Battery]

I loved XP - finally i could see video thumbnails and everything looked nicer than Millennium plus it was finally a stable OS thanks to its Win NT roots.  I know my scanner and printer no longer worked but I was only disappointed in the the hardware manufactures. 

[Dot Matrix]

Was Windows 7 hated when it was released?

A lot of users were upset that "It looked like Vista." I guess people were expecting Microsoft to suddenly abandon all the changes that they made with Vista?

[Noir Angel]

I loved XP, I loved Vista once I brought hardware that could run it properly. I liked Windows 7, I liked it when they brought in the Ribbon UI. Stereotyping people like myself as being unable to accept change is stupid.

[Orange Battery]

For me, Vista didn't offer me anything I need.  Explorer had no new functions, instead it had been limited and everything had been moved for no real reason.  7 done a lot to bring stability back but it didn't improve on Explorer for me.  A universal file tagging system and more file attribute editing facilities was something I always wanted but instead of adding more detail with each Windows release, MS seemed to just move the current standard option around or rename them. 

[Vykranth]

A lot of people hated XP, then Microsoft got their ###### together and decided to correct their flagship product, address the problems, make the product usable and more secure and fulfil the needs of their clients as any product should do.

Thus came XP SP2, which was a far better OS than XP RTM ever was.

[Dotdot]

Hated Xp at first, love it after UI improvements and SP1

Hated Vista

Love Win7 still use it.

No interest in Windows 8, mainly as I can`t be bothered to format. (Or buy it yet.)

[joker999]

[leesmithg]

Many users here ( and even more that you may support) have looked back upon XP as the greatest OS to come out of Redmond. But very few remember that before XP was loved, it was hated. In fact, it was more than hated, users loathed it. WGA (product activation), the Luna theme, and numerous other technologies had users in a fury, ready to pounce on Redmond as if they were a misbehaving child not listening to their mother (customers), in much the same way users are now with Windows 8. Thanks to the Flux Capacitor we know as the Internet, traces of the frustration can still be found. Ars Technica writer Peter Bright (@DrPizza) brought forth some of that evidence in a new article of his. 

 

Ready for a trip down memory lane? Let's take a look... Memory lane: before everyone loved Windows XP, they hated it!

It annoys me when people try and speak for me.

''Before everyone loved XP, they hated it.''

I enjoyed the beta, miles clear of the next best.

If you did not like it, then say that, don't speak for everyone.

[seta-san]

I didn't. I was an early adopter. I had a P3 866 Mhz, 512 mb ram, voodoo 3 3000 and was happy to have it.

[seta-san]

Was Windows 7 hated when it was released?

 

no. it was seen as a relief after vista. actually that's how microsoft's release cycle has been

 

Windows ME(hated) -> XP(loved)

Vista(hated) -> 7(loved)

8(hated) -> 9 (presumably loved)

[Knife Party]

I loved XP, I loved Vista once I brought hardware that could run it properly. I liked Windows 7, I liked it when they brought in the Ribbon UI. Stereotyping people like myself as being unable to accept change is stupid.

That pretty much sums up the whole thread. It's people like the OP who want to classify everyone a certain way to justify their position. So the OP claims "everyone" hated insert OS before they loved it. in order to prove a point about windows 8. I think some people just can't handle the fact that the larger part of the community and userbase for MS products asked for Metro not to be forced upon us now. And just like the Xbox One, all the decisions are being backtracked now by MS in an attempt to "listen to users" What a load of BS. This makes MS looks really weak for 2 reasons:

 

1. They aren't listening to the people who buy their windows, we have the purchasing power, so they should start opening their damn ears!

2. stop using closed source development and "this is the path we are taking" as an excuse for change for the sake of change

3. Desktop isn't legacy, that's a term peddled by people who aren't productive and want flashing tiles floating around.

4. Pragmatism of the path of windows goes out the window from the get go.

 

Honestly, if you are part of the minority who loves Metro, get real. The MAJORITY, says no. If you can't deal with it, then switch off windows to something else. See i'm applying the same logical some of our perceived "fanboys" are taking, not that they are fanboys, because i'll probably just get a warning for mentioning 'fanboy' since this is the premise for the creation of this thread, but whatever!

[Pallab]

Back when I didn't know better, my computer guy advice me to stay away from the "super-heavy and slow" WIndows XP. He convinced me to purchase Windows ME, and I would never forgive him for that. ME was a nightmare that would manage to go corrupt on its own!

[cork1958]

No offense, but some of those reasons are very weak.  The "Luna" theme could easily be disabled and you could use schemes similar to Windows 9x. The Windows activation...well...it is what it is and hasn't changed since.  The other growing pain was going to the NT kernel...but once again...that is what it is.  Windows 8, on the other hand, made unnecessary changes and forced a Frankenstein mash up of mobile and desktop interfaces.  Where as Windows XP was a success (by all accounts and longevity), Windows 8 is becoming the next Windows ME.  Granted, with each Windows 8 update they are improving it and with the return of the start menu and hopefully the ability to bury Metro into a deep dark pit where it belongs (for me anyways).

 

Right on and couldn't agree more with any of it, especially that last line about burying Metro! :x

 

As far as XP is concerned, I NEVER had a single issue with it from day 1 and loved it every day I had it installed. Easily the best OS that MS has ever came out with as exemplified by the longevity of it! Here's hoping Windows 7 last as long, if not even longer!

[LimeMaster]

Was trying to point the basis for the argument was flawed, I like Win 8.1 U1 w/ Stardock's Start 8 myself.

And I was just letting you know that people like and appreciate Windows Me and Vista nowadays. 

[+Warwagon MVC]

I miss that music - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lwuvmeFVJY

[LimeMaster]

 

 

:p

[+devHead Subscriber²]

I remember that I had Windows 2000 Pro, and absolutely loved it. I installed XP and thought it looked kind of like some kiddy OS, and there were certain things that I liked about Windows 2000, so I went back for a year or so. But I eventually came over to XP and stayed.

[Praetor]

well, i dunno about you guys but...

 

I've been using Windows since 95 (95, 98SE, ME, 2K, XP, Vista, 7 and now 8) and i still like it; you just need the right hardware for it and that's what gets people mad. Let me explain:

 

Windows XP when it was released i was using in something like 10 computers, in the faculty; 98% of those computers didn't had the necessary hardware to run it adequately but since it was such a newer OS with lots of cool and new stuff and me and my pals wanted to try, test and experiment with it, we didn't mind that sometimes those computers became slow, unresponsive or lacked some drivers. The previous versions that was installed was good and stable enough (2K), but we wanted to try this new OS so that was an know issue and we accept it.

 

Then i started to see some computers for sale, either pre-build from big companies like Compaq, Packard Bell or Dell or from small shops that didn't had enough RAM or lacked a better CPU to run XP in all it's glory (like 256MB of RAM with a crappy Celeron for example); therefor who ever bought those POS of computers and came from 2K was very displeased; me, on the other hand, having tried ME (the Windows OS i had for the least time in my computers ever, only a couple months) i couldn't be more happy to see a good, stable OS like XP.

 

That same mistake from OEMs was done again with Vista; in 2007 when i was testing Vista i had a powerful computer to try it and it run wonderfully; when Vista was released again i saw big brands computers with the confusing stickers "Vista ready" and "Vista Capable"; they were dog slow with Vista and i remember to think "WTH how could a 512MB computer be "Vista capable" ??". That slowness coming from XP and a general feeling of lack of drivers (i only had a few issues with non existing drivers, far less than i had when XP was released) was what killed Vista, in the consumer eyes, never minding that after Vista SP2 the OS runs like a breeze (and if one had a powerful computer then Vista RTM runned wonderfully).

 

So it's the lack of hardware requirements that kill the experience: OEMs that want maximum profit, regardless of giving the consumers a good experience, is what kills Windows. And still today i find incredible why some OEMs still ship new computers with Windows 8 with 2GB of RAM and a snail slow 5400 RPM drive - that's one good way to give that OEM and that Windows a public bad image.

 

True story: my mother in law bought a new cheap Asus laptop past year, thinking it was an OK laptop and called me because it was more slow than her decade old Windows XP laptop; when i saw that new laptop had only 2GB of dog slow RAM, a crappy 500GB 5400 RPM HDD, a bottom line AMD APU, Windows 8 x64 (WTH was that for, with only 2GB of RAM?) and the laptop was crawling after a factory reset because the bottleneck was everything, i talked her into returning that laptop and spend a little more into a better model. She didn't bought an Asus because since then she got a very negative image from that OEM.

 

That's one thing that Apple does it right: they give the best experience the consumer can have with their hardware; for some reason Windows OEMs that give the consumer cheap hardware with a bad experience (because of slowness and bad components) they expect the consumers to buy more stuff from them? Thats stupid.

[sinetheo]

Nope.

 

XP was not universally hated. It is not Vista nor Windows 8 folks.

 

Yes the Luna theme and steep requirements were annoying at launch. I used it on day 1 0 issues. I had to use blackICE firewall but my system had 384 megs of ram which was plenty. It ran good for its day.

 

XP took off fast by 2003 2 years after release. Now since Windows 8 is approaching the same time frame it is not moving up. XP offered great changes. Yes Windows 98 loyalists were out similar to the XP die hards today but in much smaller numbers. Businesses either adopted or hated the change due to app compabilitity. But its GPO and active directory and stability features made the sell for many.

[John S. Veteran]

Article is BS....Whistler was one of the most popular themes before XP was released, everyone was copying it, releasing different colors of it...I remember XP being well thought of.  Shame it never made it into the release.