Hi Dark, Grin. Yeah, its pretty difficult to argue with that logic, because as you say its not what you can do for your PC but what your PC can do for you that counts. If it works, does what you need it to do, then it makes little sense to invest in new hardware and software to do the same thing, and you may actually end up with less than you had before in the end.
I know I've come off as a pretty pro Windows 7 user, but actually I've had a lot of mixed feelings about Windows 7. That is to say I've been able to see both the good and the bad firsthand. There are plenty of pros and cons to take into consideration here, and its not all good or all bad. Here is a quick list of some of the things I like and dislike about Win 7. Pros 1. Html Help Browser. One of the changes in Windows Vista/7 is that the help system consists of html files compiled into a chm file. The end result is that the help system contains links, headers, tables, lists, etc like you would expect with any web page and I find it more user friendly than Windows Help in XP. 2. XAudio2 API. Although, XAudio2 is still a bit buggy one of the huge advantages of XAudio2 is that it has support for 5.1 and 7.1 surround sound, and if you have the hardware for 5.1 surround sound movies, games, etc sound totally awesome on Windows 7 in 5.1 surround sound audio. 3. .NET 4.0 ready. Although, you can download .NET 4 for XP its not a full implementation, and its nice to install the OS and know all the .NET core components are preinstalled by default rather than separately. Windows 7 comes with a fully installed and working .NET Framework out of the box which I like since I do a lot of .NET development. 4. Pinning Program Launchers to the Taskbar. This one I've already explained earlier but it is very handy. You can quickly launch your favorite apps right from the Taskbar and switch between them using Windows+1 through Windows+0. Its faster than alt+tabbing through all of your open Windows. 5. Windows Search. The new Windows Search is a combo between run, search, and the Windows address bar. You can type in a program name, file name, or website and the search bar will automatically open it if there is a match. I find it very very handy, and think it is a very nice feature. 6. Burning CDs and DVDs. Its pretty handy being able to just open up Windows Explorer and be able to burn a CD or DVD without having to go out and by Nero, Roxio CD Creator, or some other third-party software. Its a pretty basic CD and DVD writing tool, but should serve most users needs. Cons 1. Windows 7 requires 1 GB of ram, about 4 GB hard drive space, and at least a 1 GHZ processor minimum, and if you want it to run good double that. That's nearly four times the resources of Windows XP or something like Ubuntu Linux. In short, that's insane. 2. Lack of VB 6 support. Since most accessible games are written in VB its something of a hassle to install the missing VB components when XP has them installed already. 3. Lack of 16-bit support. Unfortunately, there are still plenty of Dos games that are accessible, fun to play, but in a single stroke the 64-bit version of Windows 7 rendered those games incompatible with Windows making it more difficult to continue playing them on newer computers. 4. Issues with Sapi voices. While there are more 64-bit Sapi voices available now than there was two years ago it still continues to be a problem. If a person has a 64-bit version of Windows he or she will have to repurchase all of their favorite voices with 64-bit compatibility which isn't always possible or necessarily desirable. For instance, I got a disc with Openbook 8 and Jaws 9 with all the Sapi 5 versions of the Scansoft voices. When I attempt to install them on Windows 7 I get an error that they are not 64-bit compatible and the installation bombs out. As I paid for those voices I'm really really ticked off that I can't use them on my computer and the disc is basically useless on any new computer. 5. The Control Panel. If I leave the Control Panel in html view its impossible to find what I'm looking for unless I memorize where Microsoft put everything. Half the time I can't remember which link to click to bring up the settings I'm looking for because they are usually put in some place that doesn't make any logical sense to me. So like I said there are good things and bad things to be said about Windows 7. This is only an example of the pros and cons I've found, but how important the pros and cons are is completely in the eye of the beholder. It just depends on the person. However, its because of some of those cons that I continue to use XP in a virtual machine because I don't want to give up my Scansoft voices, 16-bit games, etc just for upgrading to Win 7. So sticking with XP for the moment is probably the most rational decision for most people. Cheers! On 3/11/12, dark <[email protected]> wrote: > hi Tom. > > But that you've said it yourself. Why should up put up with all the hastles > with windows 7 if there is no bennifit? yes, it might be able to use more of > a pc's hardware and bigger ram, but what is that bigger ram going to > actually do for me? > > To missquote a famous Us president, ask not what you can do for your pc, but > what your pc can do for you! > > when a lot of stuff can't! be done on xp, then is the point I'll considder > upgrading, when it will actually give me bennifits, but as it stands given > the huge amounts of hastle, stupid less accessible ui, and incompatibility > with many older programs, ---- I see little reason to at the moment. > > Five years down the line things may be different, and there may be some > convincing reasons to upgrade, but I don't see them at the present moment. > > As for borrowed time, well being as windows 7 64 bit has killed a lot of > compatibility with 32 and 16 bit applications, it's almost the other way > around as far as I'm concerned, upgrading would put you out on a limb. > > As to brousers, ie9 doesn't seem to be compatible with xp, sinse whenever I > go to the page the only package I'm directed to has an upgrade for windows 7 > along with ie9 and a statement that it won't run on xp, which is why indeed > I'm still using ie8. > > As to firefox I've been trying it recently but everytime I run it, it > crashes within about 30 seconds, with google, with wikipedia, even with the > audiogames.net forum. > > I haven't installed! any addons, this is just the basic program. > > i know it's got good reports, but clearly there is something in my pc it > doesn't like, ---- and frankly as I said,despite lots of websites screaming > about me using an incomaptible brouser I've only found one or two things > that won't work with ie8, most things are fine, ---- but it was because! I > was finding those issues that I was looking at firefox as an alternative, > but it just doesn't seem to work, which is why I call it unstable. > > beware the grue! > > Dark. --- Gamers mailing list __ [email protected] If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to [email protected]. You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://mail.audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. All messages are archived and can be searched and read at http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to [email protected].
