Thank the Lord we have till 2020

[mikeinreco]

I am a little concerned about my refurb biz since all this talk about Windows 10..........I have never even sold a computer with Windows 8 because of all the negative feedback it received............I use Win 7 for everything do...........It is so simple and straight forward........Anyway to get to my point I downloaded the Win 10 Tech preview and from what I have seen I really don't have much to worry about...........I know its a preview but it was sluggish and an overall Pain in the Butt to use..........When I first loaded it "Cortona?" or whoever the narrator was wanted to narrate my every keystroke........Talk about annoying........Oh well this is just an extra machine I am using for research, file sharing etc and I have already deleted the preview and back to Win 7.......The computer runs fine with 4GB ram and 2GHZ Core 2 Processor (I KNOW NOTHING SPECIAL)........Anyways anyone else tried this preview?........I will continue to direct my clients to Win 7 and make sure they know we have support at least until 2020.........I know Linux is out there and I am going to try it next but not sure how it will go over with the people buying my computers............Sorry to be so long winded just trying to stay ahead of the curve (a little bit)

[DakotaRog]

I use both Windows 7 at work and at home. The home puter I just managed to get Windows 7 by ordering on line, nothing left in the retail stores. I like it just fine. I don't why the software companies (have this problem at work with some of our more specialized software) can't just give some more functionality without changing nearly EVERYTHING. Bunch of control freaks!!

[mikeinreco]

I use both Windows 7 at work and at home. The home puter I just managed to get Windows 7 by ordering on line, nothing left in the retail stores. I like it just fine. I don't why the software companies (have this problem at work with some of our more specialized software) can't just give some more functionality without changing nearly EVERYTHING. Bunch of control freaks!!

Yeah its all about the money........I understand the latest and greatest but sometimes the old adage IF IT AIN"T BROKE DON'T FIX IT WORKS FOR ME!!!!

[mikeinreco]

I use both Windows 7 at work and at home. The home puter I just managed to get Windows 7 by ordering on line, nothing left in the retail stores. I like it just fine. I don't why the software companies (have this problem at work with some of our more specialized software) can't just give some more functionality without changing nearly EVERYTHING. Bunch of control freaks!!

Hp actually had such trouble selling WIndows 8 machines they went back to selling New Machines with 7........They send me emails all the time because several years ago I got a new Compaq/HP laptop for Christmas and registered it and have been getting emails ever since

[matador]

I actually run 8.1 on one of my office PCs (The others are Linux). With Classic Shell, it's not too bad. I think Win. 10 will be a pretty good hit.

Now, they won't offer 7 to the Registered Refurbishers forever. But, the good news- when they quit, your competition will run out pretty quickly.

[miked]

I have been using win7 and Ubuntu on a couple of my machines and am very happy having both OS on each computer. I really do prefer to work with Ubuntu but there are a couple of programs that work on Win7 but not on Ubuntu. I'm not into Ubuntu enough to use "Wine" to enable Windows based programs to work in Ubuntu.

My most recent "scrap" computer is an ASUS SonicMaster, intel core i5, 6GB ram and Win8. When I got it the battery had been chewed on(dog) and was missing the hard drive. I down loaded a copy of Win8.1 and put in an old hard drive. It worked as it should and the registering with Microsoft was automatic since the COA is in the BIOS. Very easy process.

I purchased a new 480GB SSD and re-installed Win8.1. I purchased the SSD because I had no previous experience with them.

I don't use the Win8 ASUS laptop for any serious troubleshooting/ebay management. I have found Win8 usable for playing on the web but not much else. I may attempt to add a Linux OS to this laptop.

Mike

[Kalvlin]

I too am selling Win 7 mostly. I also have sold Linux Mint and Xubuntu machines. It's is as easy to load and Windows, it's also mostly plug and play. They have a ton of free software available, A free Office suite that is compatible with MS Office. Mint still needs comparable specs to WIN7 to run good though. Xubuntu runs well on older machines - High end Pentium 4 with a few gig of ram.
But when I dont have a license for 7 to use I slap Mint on it . For Win 8 I have a tablet and I have 2 copies awaiting an installs, if configured properly it's not too bad- just sometimes takes more steps to get to the same place as Win7.
I am going to download "10" today and give it a spin.
miked- SSD are the way to go if you want speed. I feel the prices still need to drop more on those though.

[travistemple202020]

the one thing I don't know if there still doing that scared me was that any windows version when they roll out will 10 fully will auto dl 10 unless you turn off all your updates it will force it onto your machine unless so I hope that's not true cause as much as I hate 8.1 it works well enough on this with out changing to something that will have 2 yrs worth of bugs to fix before they release something new lol

[matador]

I've heard that they'll auto update to 10. The only reason I have a Windows machine is for Photoshop. If it weren't for Photoshop, I'd dump Windows like an old girlfriend.

Photoshop in Wine is a grey legal area, and I've heard that it doesn't work the smoothest, anyways.

[Scrappah]

Win 7 officially hit end of life sometime in back in January. It's a complex thing, but from what i understand it's now in the extended support phase ? Not really sure what the ramifications are but i did notice a couple of changes. It seems like it's a problem to buy win 7 retail versions. The most noticeable thing was that Microsoft closed down the win 7 download link they had available through Digital River.

It was pretty nice when it was there. All you had to do was download an ISO of whichever win 7 version you wanted and burn it to an installation disc -or- thumb drive. Next ... install it onto a machine that had been wiped then update. After you were sure that it installed correctly and was running right you entered the product key and authenticated it. ~ All done ... piece of cake ! ~

It seems that now you must first enter a product key then download an ISO right from Microsoft. Haven't tried that to see how well that works yet.

I can see why Microsoft keeps trying to re-invent itself to keep their product fresh and new but it's getting silly. Reminds me of how Miley Cyrus took a wrecking ball to her career just to stay in the public eye lest some other pretty young face emerge to take her place.

Microsoft already understands the predicament they've gotten themselves into so the scuttlebut is that they're looking to change over to a subscription service where you use their OS and pay for it on a yearly basis. It's worked well for a lot of other software companies.

Really don't have an opinion on win 10 except that they skipped win 9 altogether. Sounds like they're trying to keep up with Mac version 10 ?

[pjost]

I've heard that they'll auto update to 10. The only reason I have a Windows machine is for Photoshop. If it weren't for Photoshop, I'd dump Windows like an old girlfriend.

Photoshop in Wine is a grey legal area, and I've heard that it doesn't work the smoothest, anyways.

Matador, just curious why you aren't using Gimp in Linux. I have only played with it a little, but wondering what it won't do that photoshop will. I've got Photoshop, CorelDraw, and now Gimp (thanks to your help) and I haven't seen anything it won't do in my limited use of Gimp.

[matador]

I'll migrate to the Gimp at some point, but the interface has a little bit of a learning curve for me. I've been running Photoshop since Elements v.4 on Windows 98, so old habits die hard. I also use Dreamweaver (I make websites between the two of them), and the slicing options in Photoshop are something that I have to have. I'm sure that the Gimp can do it, but I haven't taken the time to learn it yet. Before I upgrade my computer, I'll force myself to learn. I'm not going to dole out that kind of money to Adobe again!

At the Gimp, I'm like the teenager who just learned how to drive stick. I can get it done, but it's not refined yet!

Oh, Scrappah, nice pun, but Microsoft, as bad as they may be, will never be this bad:


If you'll excuse me, I'm about to wash my eyes and ears with soap.

[Scrappah]

Oh, Scrappah, nice pun, but Microsoft, as bad as they may be, will never be this bad:

Quite true ! Bill Gates could never pull that one off !

Maybe Cortana or whatever her name is ?

[matador]

I was going to respond with a "Siri saying seductive things" video, but that led me to the dark side of YouTube.

So, ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Conway Twitty!


matador: "Do I need to explain that joke?"

[Scrappah]

<------ Scratches head.

Ummmm .....

Miley & Cortana = eye candy ?

Bill Gates in a collar,halter, and leather thong riding the ball = Just plain disturbing on so many level levels ?

[hobo finds]

You need your I phone for your apple watch to work! Why buy the watch when its all on your phone in your hand?

[directrecycle]

if i understand correctly you can update win 7 to win 10 free once it gets going

[matador]

If Microsoft holds the course, DirectRecycle is right- Windows 7 or 8.1 should upgrade. XP won't. I haven't looked into Vista yet...

[KzScrapper]

Wait...you mean to tell me there are other Windows OS after XP.

Someday this Low Tech Scrapper will upgrade...Not so much me I worry about but my wife needs constant tech support and that onus falls on me.

[Scrappah]

Here are the details on the win 10 upgrade.

Windows 10 - Microsoft Windows