Am I the only exception or are there others?

[OldGuyGeek]

Not only haven't I had a problem with Windows 8.1 on the 5 machines that I have. It RESOLVED many of the earlier problems or functionality concerns that I had.

98% of my business productivity or utilities ran fine in 8.0, but a couple others benefited from the Windows 8.1 update. I'm guessing that's because there was an actual problem in 8.0. In some cases, Microsoft put back in legacy support for some routines that the software needed. The rest of the productivity stuff was updated by the manufacturer and was (and still is) working great after updating to 8.1

Take games for example. There were some game compatibility issues in 8.0. For example Max Payne 1 and Max Payne 2 wouldn't run. Even though I use Steam who keeps all their stuff patched regularly.

When the Developer release of 8.1 came out, I updated my test rig and ran tests on the few programs that had problems. Well, I had been working with Rockstar who was putting a test rig together to test Max Payne 1 & 2. Once I tested MP 1 & 2 on 8.1 and they worked flawlessly, Rockstar was very happy that they didn't have to do any work to update them. Almost all of the problems with other games went away as well.

By the way, I was very surprised how willing Rockstar was to troubleshoot the problem. Probably because they were still selling copies of MP 1 & 2 through Steam. But nice to see that level of support.

So, I believe that there are TONS of people out there like me who are very happy with Windows 8 and 8.1. Sure, there are going to be a lot more people being vocal with problems, but with an OS installed on and untold number of machines with infinite hardware configurations, there will be some difficulties.

I think Microsoft has done an excellent job with Windows 8 compatibility. Sure, they probably should have kept the Start Menu while providing the new Start Screen functions for touch systems. But that's another discussion.

 

[redlynch]

Ive had one stability issue on all rigs I have used it on. Have to say on my touch laptop Windows 8.1 is a delight to use and I wouldn't even dream of going back to 7. I have never understood why there is so much hate for it.

 

[Retexan599]

Windows 8.1 Works Well For Me

My Windows OS path was 98->XP->Vista->8.1. All of them were good for me. I had XP from 2002 to 2007; Vista 2007 to end of 2013; and now 8.1. Although people complained about Vista, I could never figure out what their complaints were about. In each of those cases, the OS was OEM, because my policy is to buy a whole new rig & software about every 5-6 years. So I never had the challenge of moving from one OS to another on the same hardware. And didn't have to upgrade from 8.0 to 8.1. And each of these was a desktop tower rather than a laptop [my 'laptop' is my iPad ].

I have often mused: what if Windows 8.1 was the legacy OS and Microsoft came out with a new concept to replace it with XP....what a howl would be heard from the community!

 

[redlynch]

Vista 2007 to end of 2013

Dear god, I don't think I could have done that, Vista was terrible, you missed a treat with 7

 

[workercp]

8.1 on my AMD x2 Athlon 64-bit

I am confused because I am having very few problems but the info I read says my processor shouldn't work with 8.1. I did a clean install with no problems. Everything works but I get an occasional BSOD and I haven't determined what's going on with that.

 

[popeye]

I am confused because I am having very few problems but the info I read says my processor shouldn't work with 8.1. I did a clean install with no problems. Everything works but I get an occasional BSOD and I haven't determined what's going on with that.

It really isn't supported on 64 bit as state here:
Microsoft confirms some older AMD processors do not support Windows 8.1 - Neowin

It may work better on 32 bit. Your BSODs are more than likely due to it being officially incompatible.