Ballmer : our biggest gamble is the 'next version of Windows'

[Farstrider]

Umm wat? And then be seated for like next 2 - 2.5 years and watch the drama unfold!! lol :D

Yes the release cycle certainly seems to take about this length of time and then there is still no paradigm shift except for the billions that MS rake in!

The biggest problem for Windows 8 is that 7 has been so well received. It's gonna be hard to convince people to upgrade unless they do something radical, and MS can't do radical.

This comment makes plenty of common sense and would be hard to disagree with except for one thing, someone else also mentioned this, you will STILL have people/companies using Windows XP and Vista!

Can't wait until the Windows 8 fanboys pile on, and tell us how outdated Windows 7 is ... :rolleyes:

Ya I cannot wait! It will be the same mob that are screaming like girls about how great Win7 is! :sleep:

[Frylock86]

Can't wait until the Windows 8 fanboys pile on, and tell us how outdated Windows 7 is ... :rolleyes:

The problem here is that Windows 7 isn't 10 years old....

[Ci7]

The problem here is that Windows 7 isn't 10 years old....

wander how the computing landscape would look like after 10 years

when MS get around release Win8,9,10,11

10 year cycle is bad , bad bad!!!

[Farstrider]

The problem here is that Windows 7 isn't 10 years old....

...and it [WinXP] wasn't a ****up like Vista was! :whistle: Perhaps this accounts for its longevity, who knows??

Edit: Why is the swearword filter doing this?

I used the word:

cockup [ˈkɒkˌʌp]

n

Brit slang something done badly

vb **** up (tr, adverb)

1. (Life Sciences & Allied Applications / Zoology) (of an animal) to raise (its ears), esp in an alert manner

2. Brit slang to botch

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003

As far as I know it's no worse than using the word crap??

[hdood]

If you want people to stop using XP, then I suggest you put your money where your mouth is and start giving out free computers with 7, and footing the massive bill for companies to switch. We have three XP computers at the moment, so if you want, I will private message you my details and you can either ship me three new systems or transfer the money so I can buy them myself.

Thanks in advance for your generosity!

[Ci7]

If you want people to stop using XP, then I suggest you put your money where your mouth is and start giving out free computers with 7, and footing the massive bill for companies to switch. We have three XP computers at the moment, so if you want, I will private message you my details and you can either ship me three new systems or transfer the money so I can buy them myself.

Thanks in advance for your generosity!

alright then!

stick with your windows XP machine until 2020! no upgrades for you!

and enjoy no support at all ! ky ? thx!

[ViperAFK]

...and it [WinXP] wasn't a ****-up like Vista was! :whistle: Perhaps this accounts for its longevity, who knows??

I'm not even going to get started on how I don't think vista itself was a "**** up" and that its a decent OS(It was the fault of OEM's selling hardware that couldn't run vista worth crap as "vista certified" along with ridiculous media bashing, and hardware manufacturers providing terrible drivers, and all of this contributed back to the media bashing in a vicious circle) Well ok maybe I did get started :shifty:

The thing that was a **** up about vista and allowed XP such longevity was vista's very long dev time. Windows usually released new versions every few years. With vista it took SO much longer which allowed XP to get a massive adoption rate and the long time between XP in vista totally entrenched XP on almost every PC. Thats why XP is still around. If vista came out years earlier we would NOT have this situation. XP is not still popular because its a super amazing os (It WAS a great os in the day mind you, but now its simply outdated).

[hdood]

alright then!

stick with your windows XP machine until 2020! no upgrades for you!

I don't know about 2020, but I'll keep using them as long as they work. Why wouldn't I? Why would I spend lots of money on a new system or car or house or wife when what I've already got works just fine? Waste of money. If you think it's so important, you should give me the money.

[Duffydemon]

I don't know about 2020, but I'll keep using them as long as they work. Why wouldn't I? Why would I spend lots of money on a new system or car or house or wife when what I've already got works just fine? Waste of money. If you think it's so important, you should give me the money.

u spend money for new wife? :blink:

[Frylock86]

I don't know about 2020, but I'll keep using them as long as they work. Why wouldn't I? Why would I spend lots of money on a new system or car or house or wife when what I've already got works just fine? Waste of money. If you think it's so important, you should give me the money.

I think it is important as it helps you stay ahead of the curve. Some of us here are in the IT field and that gives us a huge advantage over those that want to sit around, waiting until the very last minute to upgrade, which usually doesn't go very well.

[.Neo]

u spend money for new wife? :blink:

He got her on Ebay.

[Tharp Daddy]

Ballamer should start wearing a V-neck to counter Steve's turtle neck.

[hdood]

I think it is important as it helps you stay ahead of the curve. Some of us here are in the IT field and that gives us a huge advantage over those that want to sit around, waiting until the very last minute to upgrade, which usually doesn't go very well.

I said the systems in question do absolutely everything I need them to do. Why would I spend money on new computers? The scenario I'm presenting here is not fictional, it's one that applies to most of the home users still running XP. They don't use it because they think it's better than 7, they use it because they can't or don't need to upgrade. The rest of the XP users are corporate.

[jakem1]

I don't know about 2020, but I'll keep using them as long as they work. Why wouldn't I? Why would I spend lots of money on a new system or car or house or wife when what I've already got works just fine? Waste of money. If you think it's so important, you should give me the money.

That's fair enough and there are obviously a lot of businesses out there that agree with you. However, the definition of working is slightly subjective and that's why businesses should consider upgrading. I can get my job done in XP but I'm much more efficient and productive in Windows 7.

Anyway, businesses aren't likely to replace hardware in this climate but when they do they will have no choice but to move to Windows 7. A number of my clients are running XP on computers that should have been replaced many years ago and they will be forced to upgrade sooner or later. Hopefully that will be accompanied by an upgrade from Office 2003 (which is also all too common I'm afraid) to Office 2007/2010 :)

[.Neo]

I can get my job done in XP but I'm much more efficient and productive in Windows 7.

In what way exactly?

[jason13524]

I don't know about 2020, but I'll keep using them as long as they work. Why wouldn't I? Why would I spend lots of money on a new system or car or house or wife when what I've already got works just fine? Waste of money. If you think it's so important, you should give me the money.

But you don't need money, you expect things for free.

[hdood]

But you don't need money, you expect things for free.

Yeah, I would prefer if he'd just send me the goods rather than money.

[jakem1]

In what way exactly?

In just about every way. The taskbar is infinitely more powerful, the window management features are smarter and more efficient, search is better, explorer is better, there are tonnes of little usability features that help, Windows Update is more powerful, the OS is faster, memory management is better, multi-core processor support is better. I could go on and on.

XP is a dinosaur and it shows. Working on Windows 7 is a breath of fresh air in comparison and that's why it's generally considered to be the best desktop OS on the market today.

EDIT: I've just reread the bit of my post that you quoted and I may not have replied to that very well. I'm more productive in Windows 7 because it gets out of my way. It doesn't bother me with lots of annoying messages, I can manage running applications more effectively, I can locate information faster, it doesn't slow down over time. Things that would take a number of steps in XP can be accomplished in a couple of steps in Windows 7. It's just really better in every way.

[Duffydemon]

He got her on Ebay.

so i can buy gfs from there? :shiftyninja: :laugh:

[hdood]

so i can buy gfs from there? :shiftyninja: :laugh:

If you do, you should know that cargo holds on planes actually are both pressurized and heated, so you can save a fair bit on airfare.

[.Neo]

If you do, you should know that cargo holds on planes actually are both pressurized and heated, so you can save a fair bit on airfare.

That's a great tip. Do you safe money when you buy them in batches rather than one at a time?

[Southern Patriot]

The biggest problem for Windows 8 is that 7 has been so well received. It's gonna be hard to convince people to upgrade unless they do something radical, and MS can't do radical.

I think that was the point that .Neo was trying to make. XP was, like 7, very well recieved, and when Microsoft was first developing Longhorn, they knew that it would take radical new features to get most users to upgrade. They started out trying to develop an OS that was a huge leap forward, and ended up with a big mess on their hands, which is why they had to scale things back for Vista. And since Vista wasn't a huge leap forward in many people's minds, along with poor media coverage, people were reluctant to upgrade. It seems that Microsoft has this kind of problem about every other major consumer OS release. Many people I know started out with Windows 3.1, skipped Windows 95 (or were very late to upgrade to it), quickly adopted Windows 98, skipped Windows ME, quickly adopted XP, skipped Vista, and quickly adopted Windows 7. I have a feeling that they will also skip Windows 8, but adopt Windows 9.

[Mr aldo]

This is just what I think Windows 8 might do, well, it is more of a wish.

I think there will be more cloud stuff. We are aware of a possible Windows App Store, which you would log in to, and licenses for software would be associated with, and on new computers, it would ask if you wanted to install all your applications. What if there is more integration with the cloud? What if a profile was actually a Roaming Profile, which you could then log in to on another Windows 8 computer, and there would be all your files, all your applications, all your settings, EVERYTHING come from the cloud.

When you edit a file/folder that would then be synced to the cloud, but you are always working from a local copy, but it is all still in the cloud, backed up.

Now of course it would be a subscription service... It's Microsoft's dream to do software subscriptions, that's pretty much what Office 365 is all about, because with the right plan, you actually get Office 2010 Pro along with the online services with a monthly price per user.

[Chaltalian]

Microsoft would be insane to give up on Aero. They need to stick with it, listen to user feedback and refine it. Just like Apple did the past 9 years with Mac OS X' Aqua.

Aero is definitely great and it should definitely be stuck with. Refining is definitely something that is important though. To me, some elements of the UI of Windows seems old and could use a small facelift. Such as the actual Windows buttons, the pop-up tray notification bubble, and the loading bars. Some other things as well, but I'd rather not mention. Is it just me that thinks this?

[Mr aldo]

Aero is definitely great and it should definitely be stuck with. Refining is definitely something that is important though. To me, some elements of the UI of Windows seems old and could use a small facelift. Such as the actual Windows buttons, the pop-up tray notification bubble, and the loading bars. Some other things as well, but I'd rather not mention. Is it just me that thinks this?

No, I completely agree.

Like with Windows Vista and Aero enabled, if you maximized, say an IE window, the transparent part of the window would no longer be transparent. What the heck was up with that? IMO, it almost made the window unusable, as the black frame attracted too much attention, and I couldn't focus on the important stuff which was what I was browsing for.

I personally don't mind the progress bars, I think they look quite nice and modern. What I think needs updating is hard drive information (The properties window for your C: drive and such) with the super old pie chart. Why does it look like it is original to Windows? Office has rather nice looking pie charts, use those!

Just simple stuff can be done (well, easier said than done, as always) to make the operating system not seem so old.

I just think Microsoft needs to start gutting Windows and start removing legacy crap... After all, do many people really need compatibility mode for Windows 95? Lol. I doubt it. Personally I think Microsoft should only keep the compatibility mode for 2 previous versions (not counting service packs). So on Windows 7, you would only have compatibility mode for Windows Vista (RTM, SP1 and SP2) and Windows XP (SP2 and SP3). After all, it's obvious it doesn't work too great, seeing as Microsoft has to have Windows XP Mode to support old Windows XP apps, because if Windows XP in compatibility mode worked right, it wouldn't be required, would it (I could be wrong though)?