Windows 8 is the new XP

This new version of Windows is a disaster. Power users can't wait to replace the UI, and businesses are avoiding it like the plague. I'm talking, of course, about Windows XP. Ah, how quickly we forget.

This new version of Windows is going to be a disaster, pundits say. It will be completely rejected by businesses, who will stick with old versions even after Microsoft drops support for
them.

And its new interface is so hideous and unusable that customers who are forced to use it will trip over themselves finding ways to restore the old Start menu.

I am, of course, talking about Windows XP, which was released 11 years ago this week. It lived down to all those insults and dire predictions for years before it finally and implausibly became a success.

Source: ZDnet

 

[Dave76]

Good article, the similarities are definitely there.

And you do hear the same things at every release.

 

[robinbredin]

My local A+E department at my hospital is still using win 2000 pro in it's computers. So I say win10 for consumer, and win 7 for business users.

 

[TerryE]

It may come down to a "leeser of evils" scenario.

Back around 2001 or 2002 we were going to skip XP and go with whatever came next. Next came Vista, of course, but by the time it appeared we were planning an XP rollout, for reasons beyond just Vista. We never did implement Vista.

Windows 7 is in the planning/testing stages but bear in mind that it's a pretty big leap from Windows XP. Before Windows 7 can be rolled out completely, each department needs to test its applications, as a standard user, in a Win7 environment. The other big change in our case is that the desktop systems will be 64-bit, not 32-bit as XP is for us.

There are surely hundreds of applications and thousands of laptop and desktop systems. Before we're able to completely move to Windows 7 we'll have to be sure that every last application has been tested and/or updated for Windows 7, and just about every machine in the company will be replaced by a standard-image Windows 7 machine.

The hardware plan calls for a complete replacement of desktop and laptop systems every five years. I'd estimate then that no plans for Windows 8 will even be considered for at least three or four more years in our environment.

An OS upgrade seems simple enough for a home or small business environment but the complexity grows exponentially as the number of applications and systems grows. Major software vendors may need time to cerfity their applications with Windows 8. Sometimes a new version is required, and that of course mandates testing of its own.

Naturally, of course, predating all this is training of support staff on the new OS, before which the support staff members need to be identified, before which project management and funding have to be established. Nothing like that is going to happen overnight, and I'd say that the vast majority of businesses would wait for SP1 before they even think about considering the new OS.

In summary: don't hold your breath waiting for a mass adoption of Windows 8 in the business world.

 

[tcman50]

I have been using microsoft os's since windows 95, i have no desire to put windows 8 on any of my 4 computers. nuff said

 

[Arpan]

In summary: don't hold your breath waiting for a mass adoption of Windows 8 in the business world.

That's what Mr. Ed Bott says in this article: The adoption rate may not be rocketing high right after the release but Windows 8 has enough in it to become a champion gradually in the coming years.

 

[chev65]

Actually Windows 7 will be the new XP, no doubt about it.

And I said that as soon as I saw Windows 8 many months ago.

At the time I was ridiculed "not here" for making such an outrageous statement.

Now everyone is saying it....

 

[Arpan]

Actually Windows 7 will be the new XP, no doubt about it.

And I said that as soon as I saw Windows 8 many months ago.

At the time I was ridiculed "not here" for making such an outrageous statement.

Now everyone is saying it....

I don't get you. Has your post got anything to do with the article?? And where is everyone saying it?? The article says Windows 8 is the new XP.

 

[JOD]

Seeing the much of rejection of W8, this article came as a smooth wave of comfort - in the end, only time will tell. I wish MIcrosoft the best with these Windows 8, for me it would be well deserved. Change is always uncomforting for the masses (and that includes bussiness too).

 

[Colonel Travis]

And you do hear the same things at every release.

No, you don't. Find me the criticism of 8 you heard for 7. Find it for XP. Look at the stories Bott links. There's a pattern but he doesn't explain it. This is from CNN in 2001 about why businesses weren't upgrading to XP:

A Computerworld survey of 200 IT managers and decision-makers shows that more than half (52.5 percent) don't intend to migrate to the new operating system.


Another 25 percent say they're undecided.


The chief reason? They're in the process of migrating to Windows 2000. The number two and number three reasons cited by 155 IT managers who either don't plan to migrate or don't know if they will move to Windows XP were "no need for new features" and "cost," respectively.

Also - when was XP released? In late 2001 at the start of a big recession. Gee, that's exactly when I want to spend money. I mean, c'mon. This is Bott story is embarrassingly bad.

It's misleading to suggest the reviews of XP were like 8. Here's a bunch of them, which Bott ignores:

CNN was raving about it when the beta came out in March - "promises to be the best preinstalled version of Windows yet."

CNET - 4 out of 5

FiringSquad - 85/100

PC mag - 5 out of 5

Mike's Hardware - phenomenal

New York Times - state of the art


If 8 could stand on its own and be awesome, you wouldn't be seeing stuff like this Bott story.

 

[Coke Robot]

I have to point out that recession, compared to this last one, that was almost a hiccup. Then again, markets ALWAYS recede naturally, nothing no one can do.

Leaving that aside, yeah 7 will be the modern day XP and will become a nuissance for Microsoft when they have other plans. I don't even see a mass upheavel to Windows 8 at all. This is simply due to Windows 7's deployment, planned deployment, and recently completed deployments. As someone said earlier, it takes a LONG time for such a thing to happen.

But factor in that about 33 precent of polled enterprise plan to go to 8, and most will skip; Windows 7 and 8 will be in an enterprise in conjunction. Windows 8 will be on any new PCs bought, namely tablet PCs, along with the current fleet of Windows 7 machines.

But this doesn't go to say Windows 8 doesn't have a place in the enterprise, that's not true. An enterprise considering ipads would probably go to tablet PCs for the sake of capability and costs. Smaller businesses might take up Windows 8 on their machines as they see the UI isn't too difficult to learn and the features and performance isn't something to set aside.



It ultimately comes down to each individual business. A large one won't take up 8 most likely, smaller ones might. Some will have both 7 and 8.

 

[Coke Robot]

And you do hear the same things at every release.

No, you don't. Find me the criticism of 8 you heard for 7. Find it for XP. Look at the stories Bott links. There's a pattern but he doesn't explain it. This is from CNN in 2001 about why businesses weren't upgrading to XP:

A Computerworld survey of 200 IT managers and decision-makers shows that more than half (52.5 percent) don't intend to migrate to the new operating system.


Another 25 percent say they're undecided.


The chief reason? They're in the process of migrating to Windows 2000. The number two and number three reasons cited by 155 IT managers who either don't plan to migrate or don't know if they will move to Windows XP were "no need for new features" and "cost," respectively.

Also - when was XP released? In late 2001 at the start of a big recession. Gee, that's exactly when I want to spend money. I mean, c'mon. This is Bott story is embarrassingly bad.

It's misleading to suggest the reviews of XP were like 8. Here's a bunch of them, which Bott ignores:

CNN was raving about it when the beta came out in March - "promises to be the best preinstalled version of Windows yet."

CNET - 4 out of 5

FiringSquad - 85/100

PC mag - 5 out of 5

Mike's Hardware - phenomenal

New York Times - state of the art


If 8 could stand on its own and be awesome, you wouldn't be seeing stuff like this Bott story.

Pretty much what you said points to a strong parallel to XP and 8. Not many people need the new features of 8, and not many businesses have budgets allocated for that.

And also, XP had some good and bad about it. I remember a lot of "oh wells" with the Luna interface of XP, and how it was so kept secret that a false UI was put into the beta to thwart off apple or Linux developers. It actually looked like 8 and looked WAY better than that plasticky looking thing. There was the good with stable code and security from Windows 2000 and building off of NT 5 kernel. Which kind of sounds like vista and 7. Yet, not many mitigated to it till later when vista wasn't a choice to take.

Now, you point out to a lot of good about XP, but don't believe 8 is any good to stand on its own. I find fault with that as there IS a good amount of good about Windows 8 that seems to be voluntarily ignored or what.

 

[Colonel Travis]

Pretty much what you said points to a strong parallel to XP and 8. Not many people need the new features of 8, and not many businesses have budgets allocated for that.

Nah, look - the question isn't: "Do I need new features?" I guess there are some people who don't care about new features but they're in the extreme minority. Who wants to be driving a Model T right now unless you're in a Model T club? The question is: "Why did they make the new features this way?" I want new features in an OS. I want them in just about everything I buy. I'm about to dump my old smartphone for a new smartphone with a ton of new features. Can't wait. I've said this over and over (not that anyone cares) but it matters what the changes are. Brink could require everyone on this site communicate in Latin. That's change. Change is always good, right? No. It matters what the change is. Change acceptance can be subjective, yes. We all know a lot of people love 8. But there's a poll on this very site that indicates the lovers of 8 here can't even crack the 50% mark. That's not an outlier, either. Can someone find me a significant poll that says more than half of the respondents love and/or will upgrade to 8? I'm sure there's one out there but I've never seen it.

Now, you point out to a lot of good about XP, but don't believe 8 is any good to stand on its own. I find fault with that as there IS a good amount of good about Windows 8 that seems to be voluntarily ignored or what.

Sorry, let be more clear about what I meant. 8 can stand on its own to a lot of people, yes. But if it could match the enthusiasm of 7, you would not be reading stuff like Bott just posted. It would be self-evident and Bott would have been posting stuff like - 8 is matching or exceeding even 7's reception.

I have to point out that recession, compared to this last one, that was almost a hiccup.

Doesn't matter. XP was released in 4Q 2001. That's when corporate profits - which were already in decline from the stock market bubble explosion the year before - took a severe hit....





...which also meant businesses didn't invest in new stuff:


This is significant, which Bott just blows off.

 

[Coke Robot]

Pretty much what you said points to a strong parallel to XP and 8. Not many people need the new features of 8, and not many businesses have budgets allocated for that.

Nah, look - the question isn't: "Do I need new features?" I guess there are some people who don't care about new features but they're in the extreme minority. Who wants to be driving a Model T right now unless you're in a Model T club? The question is: "Why did they make the new features this way?" I want new features in an OS. I want them in just about everything I buy. I'm about to dump my old smartphone for a new smartphone with a ton of new features. Can't wait. I've said this over and over (not that anyone cares) but it matters what the changes are. Brink could require everyone on this site communicate in Latin. That's change. Change is always good, right? No. It matters what the change is. Change acceptance can be subjective, yes. We all know a lot of people love 8. But there's a poll on this very site that indicates the lovers of 8 here can't even crack the 50% mark. That's not an outlier, either. Can someone find me a significant poll that says more than half of the respondents love and/or will upgrade to 8? I'm sure there's one out there but I've never seen it.

Now, you point out to a lot of good about XP, but don't believe 8 is any good to stand on its own. I find fault with that as there IS a good amount of good about Windows 8 that seems to be voluntarily ignored or what.

Sorry, let be more clear about what I meant. 8 can stand on its own to a lot of people, yes. But if it could match the enthusiasm of 7, you would not be reading stuff like Bott just posted. It would be self-evident and Bott would have been posting stuff like - 8 is matching or exceeding even 7's reception.

I have to point out that recession, compared to this last one, that was almost a hiccup.

Doesn't matter. XP was released in 4Q 2001. That's when corporate profits - which were already in decline from the stock market bubble explosion the year before - took a severe hit....
View attachment 9807




...which also meant businesses didn't invest in new stuff:
View attachment 9808

This is significant, which Bott just blows off.

http://www.eightforums.com/general-discussion/7361-will-you-upgrade-question.html

http://www.eightforums.com/general-...s-8-users-you-using-3rd-party-start-menu.html

Here is what you might be looking for...
As for features goes, what you say, if applied to every new release, can be blown over for something else later on. If going from 2000 to xp, there wasn't a huge feature set to upgrade to and could be waited out for the next version, vista. vista offered little to the tablet feature wise other than a glassy UI and crappy performance, and that was definitely skipped out on. Going from vista to 7, there literally are about three features off the top of my head that would warrant an upgrade. Going from xp to 7 however, yeah, that upgrade could definitely be worth it feature wise. If going from 7 to 8, I think of about eight possible reasons/features to upgrade to. Sure, you could change for the sake of change if you want. No one is saying that you have to change for the sake of change.

And sure, Bott kind of did blow off economic conditions. Although, I wonder if there are any charts to show trends about Windows 7. That has been received with open arms in the enterprise it seems, and seems to have been deployed and in current deployment for a few years now, when economic conditions seem questionable.

 

[Colonel Travis]

Coke - what I asked for was specific: find me a significant poll that says more than half of the respondents love and/or will upgrade to 8? The first poll you mentioned - I already mentioned it and pointed out that it can't even crack 50% at this place. In fact, that's the reason I asked the question. The second poll you linked is not 100% irrelevant but it's close since it's geared to people already using 8.

Agree with your last paragraph. In fact, you might be able to say the very same thing about 7 and a recession as you did with XP and a recession, but we're just not gonna know for at least a couple years.

 

[Dave76]

I've heard criticisms of every new OS, including Windows 7, there were/are many people that complained and didn't like it.
Many spent endless hours trying to make Windows 7 look like XP, most of them failed, completely corrupting it in the process and then complained that it didn't work and was slow. They went back to XP, where they wanted to be anyway.
No problem, if you like an OS use it, if not then don't.
It's not an issue for me, everyone has my permission to use the OS they want

 

[TerryE]

It's not an issue for me, everyone has my permission to use the OS they want

Thanks for that, Dave. I feel better now!

 

[Arpan]

It's not an issue for me, everyone has my permission to use the OS they want

Thanks for your permission, Sir. I may start using Windows 9 soon

 

[TerryE]

Tough choice: Ubuntu or Linux Mint?

 

[pparks1]

I would say Linux Mint, as I cannot stand the Unity interface that Ubuntu has moved to.