Five Reasons It's Time to Switch to Windows 7 (Tomorrow is D-day for Windows XP SP2 users)

PC World ^ | 07/12/2010 | Tony Bradley

[SeekAndFind]

Tomorrow is D-day for Windows XP SP2 users. Granted, Windows XP SP2 will still work, but tomorrow is the last Patch Tuesday for the venerable OS which means it will become more unstable and less secure as time goes on. Simply applying SP3 will suffice to continue running a supported platform, but here are five reasons to consider switching off of Windows XP entirely.

1. Hardware Support. Windows XP is archaic, and it is designed to run on outdated hardware. As new technologies are introduced, it is unlikely that Windows XP will be compatible or able to take advantage of them. Windows 7 provides support for multitouch displays, and also has greatly improved memory and power management features.

2. Improved Drivers Installation. Windows 7 has a superior system for automatically detecting and installing drivers. Windows XP sort of has this capability, but more often than not the search for drivers yields nothing and requests that you insert a driver disc from the vendor. Install a new piece of hardware in Windows 7, and most of the time it will automatically be added along with the correct driver without any additional user interaction.

3.Security. Windows XP lacks many of the crucial security controls that have been introduced in Windows Vista and Windows 7. Looking at the vulnerabilities that have been discovered since the launch of Windows 7, the Windows 7 operating system is frequently unaffected, or when it is affected by the same flaw as Windows XP, the result of an exploit is minor while the Windows XP system will be completely owned by the attacker.

[Nervous Tick]

>> And that’s Ubuntu 10.04. (Let the flame wars begin)

Ubuntu is for weenies. The only OS worth running is a fully customized OS you have built yourself from Linux source. Of course, making it happen doesn’t leave you with any time to install any actual applications or get any work done, but who cares. Be a man and step up to the plate.

[gunsequalfreedom]

XP is a great operating system.

[null and void]

Better to wait till it is time to replace your HW and then get W7.

Or a Mac...

[randomhero97]

Lol. I must say touche good sir.

[Nervous Tick]

>> However, if it gets too unstable, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with my 98 in the next room.

I hear you! Why would ANYONE down rev 91 versions from Windows 98 to Windows 7? That’s insane!

[Cicero]

I like Windows XP and Windows 7, both.

My experience in the past has been that it’s best to avoid upgrading computers with new operating systems. Instead, every once in a while I get a new computer with faster hardware and the new system pre-installed. So, I’m still running XP on my older laptop and Windows 7 x64 on the new one.

I like Win7. And while I hesitated to get x64, it’s working well so far, and I remember the transition from 16 to 32. No use sticking with an older system when things keep moving on. Although I did like Windows for Workgroups 3.11, as I vaguely recall.

[ctdonath2]

WinXP?
Haven’t you upgraded to OS X yet?

[reagan_fanatic]

After switching to windows 7 about 4 to 5 months ago, I never even want to look at XP again. Windows 7 is great!

Same here. I've had it for about 6 months now. No problems at all.

[csmusaret]

I could open mebeam.com with Vista, but can’t with WIN7. Any ideas?

[softwarecreator]

I agree, W7 looks like a winner.

[AFreeBird]

I made the switch to.. OS X.

I figured 25 years with MS was enough.

Still have a Vista partition on my laptop, but the laptop runs Linux as the primary OS, and I only ever used Vista to run iTunes for the iDevices. No need for that any more.

[668 - Neighbor of the Beast]

Why don’t people just buy a new computer — all new hardware — with the new system installed, and just copy their old files to the new computer? I’ve seen people fuss over compatibility and don’t understand them at all.
When I get a notion to try Windows 7 I’ll just buy a notebook.
On second thought, I’m not toting a notebook around with me...until it’s small enough to fit in a gun! :)

[chris37]

You can purchase a pack that installs Windows 7 over your XP OS. It cost about 80$ less then what you would spend on Windows 7 if you did not already have a legit copy of XP. 7 also saves all of your old XP data, all applications that were installed, and it can run them. You can’t put it on single core rigs though, and I wouldn’t put it on an older system whose memory is too slow.

The HW driver finder is also very convienient. It actually works, unlike XP. Whatever device you plug in, 7 just auto downloads and then installs the correct driver, no fuss, no discs.

[tacticalogic]

I’ve been testing Windows7 at work and I must say that I like it as well. I’m still a Linux geek through and through.

Have you fired up Powershell on that W7 box yet?

[softwarecreator]

There’s only one OS worth switching to. And that’s Ubuntu 10.04. (Let the flame wars begin)

Personally, I feel Mint 8.04 is the best Linux distro out there. I see a version 9 has been released and will upgrade to it soon.

[chris37]

No ideas. I’m not familiar with that website, and I didn’t use Vista. I avoided that one as long as I could, but eventually gave in to Windows 7.

[668 - Neighbor of the Beast]

I like the way you think, NT. :)

[I cannot think of a name]

I think the EXACT press release was run about five years ago when Vista came out.

And while I agree with you on XP, if it weren't for the lack of Internet support, NT patch 5 was the most absolutely rock stable operating system Microscam ever produced. I still miss it (like when I try to kill off a misbehaving program).

[randomhero97]

Yep, I’ve written a few scripts with it. PS is pretty straightforward. I guess that’s what MS is pushing now because it’s built in with server 2008 as well.

[McGruff]

To most users,

Ignore these Microsoft Hating geeks. If you are happy with your current Windows keep it.