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Preston Gralla's picture
Preston Gralla

Seeing Through Windows

More posts | Read bio

January 12, 2009 - 4:24 P.M.

Why XP owners won't love Windows 7

164 comments

Microsoft is betting that Windows 7 will succeed where Windows Vista failed. But there's one group of people who most likely won't like Windows 7 any more than they do Windows Vista --- Windows XP users. Here's why.

One of the biggest complaints that XP users had with Windows Vista was its hardware incompatibilities. Older printers, scanners, network cards, and other peripherals simply didn't work with Vista. Here's the bad news: They won't work in Windows 7, either, because Windows 7 uses the same driver model as Windows Vista. So XP users will be out of luck.

XP users also tend not to be fans of Vista's Windows Aero and other interface enhancements that they dismiss as so much frou-frou. Guess what --- there's even more frou-frou in Windows 7, such as a new taskbar and a nice new feature called Aero Peek. (For more details, see "Review: Windows 7 Beta 1 shows off new task bar, more UI goodies.") Those features won't make XP users happy.

Some XP users I know simply don't like change. They'd like the old Windows Explorer back, or the Run box back, or would have liked to have seen the same desktop icons in Vista that were in XP. Even though Vista lets them customize it so that it had some old XP features, it was still different enough that they weren't happy.

Once again, Windows 7 won't make them any more happy. It's different than XP --- and as far as I'm concerned, better as well.

 

See Also:

IT Blogwatch:  Wow, bloggers quite like Windows 7

Windows 7: Continuing Coverage

 

What People Are Saying

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Win7 Won't always upgrade Vista

Submitted by Kelly on November 23, 2009 - 4:21 P.M.

I learned the hard and expensive way that Win 7 won't always upgrade all versions of Vista. For instance, Win 7 Home Premium upgrade will NOT upgrade Vista Business or Professional. Microsoft does not tell you this anywhere in their advertising, or with their upgrade advisor. All they deceptively tell you is that Windows 7 will upgrade Vista. Then, they let you spend all the money on the upgrade, at which time you go to install the upgrade, you are presented with an error message which says that your version of Vista can't be upgraded. Talk about deceptive!

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No XP homenetworking

Submitted by Templeton Ginko on November 11, 2009 - 1:06 P.M.

Forget about sharing files between yer new 7 pc and any xp pc's you may have, not going to happen out of the box.

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Windows 7

Submitted by Peta on October 30, 2009 - 10:54 P.M.

I think Windws 7 is fantastc!!! Pentium 4 1.66 Gh 1.75 G.RAM 128mb Radeon video card, and away we go!!! An old computer yes. But it runs Windows 7 like a dream. Just as fast as XP, but with better looks and lots more features. I DO like the eye-candy as well. I am not rich, just updated my hardware for a small fee and now have a really great operating system.
Love, Peta

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and yet linux still wups

Submitted by Anonymous on November 6, 2009 - 4:04 P.M.

and yet linux still wups windows seven's butt.

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Nobody sticks to old

Submitted by Kamil P on October 23, 2009 - 3:20 P.M.

Nobody sticks to old printers and scanners. It's cheaper to buy a new printer than a new ink. Unless you have an expensive scanner that would last for year. In that case there will always be drivers for those. That's how marketing works. The author of this article doesn't have much to say about the very technical background of WIN7. Looks like he never used it. The main question is...is it faster than XP ? If it is, the Vista users, the XP users will love it. No doubt about it. The looks and interface is not as important as quickness of the system. I think the author should use the windows 7 first and then think about optimizing the system, because right now has nothing valuable to say. Maybe it's a lack of knowledge.

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Consumptionalism is bad,,,

Submitted by Anonymous on October 28, 2009 - 6:46 P.M.

Consumptionalism is bad,,, m'kay... Idiot sounds like a typical MS Monkey.

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Yes, Stuff that works is not disposable.

Submitted by Anonymous on October 29, 2009 - 9:41 A.M.

I pass a working LaserJet II every day in the office. It works and refuses to stop.

I had a LaserJet III. It was a marvel of durability. I think it could print on a sheet of plywood. The LaserJet III was too heavy to bring with me from Europe, so it had to be sold. The replacement LaserJet 4 amazed me (Ok, appalled me) with the drop in build quality. Everything was lighter and thinner and felt more flimsy.

Years later my current Color LaserJet 2840 is so cheaply made the printer itself is virtually free. The sum of the cost of toner cartridges and image drum is greater than the cost of the printer. It gets moderate use, but in far too short a time it has started making new, odd squeaks and a strange, short, buzzing sound when it settles after it finished printing. I'm afraid it will die soon. I'm even more afraid of what will replace it.

I'd rather pay a little more for something and know it won't need to be replaced in a year.

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People who are crying about

Submitted by Cid D on October 20, 2009 - 9:33 P.M.

People who are crying about Windows 7's "inadequacies" are simply ignorant. If you just do a little research, you'll learn that Win7 does what you say it does NOT do and then some! Come on people, educate yourselves before you start spouting off ignorance! Windows 7 is the best of XP and Vista combined.

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educate youself before you

Submitted by Anonymous on November 11, 2009 - 11:18 A.M.

educate youself before you start spouting off ignorance...

ROFL. It DOES NOT support older hardware, as vista/7 contains a new driver model and API which simply will not run older drivers.

I love it when people imply other people stupid and have no clue what the hell they are talking about.

Oh, and finally ... I work for microsoft. I worked on Vista and 7.

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BS...

Submitted by Kronik on November 22, 2009 - 7:26 A.M.

You don't work for MS. Basic psychology dictates that people have more pride when talking about high profile jobs. When writing, hubris encourages proper grammar, syntax and diction. All parts of English your post lacked.

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