People are keeping Windows 7 - Why?

[Psk]

Here's why people are sticking with Windows 7
https://www.zdnet.com/article/poll-results-heres-why-people-are-sticking-with-windows-7/

Comments:
-- I've tried Windows 10. I have a laptop gathering dust because some glitch in the update process has rendered it useless - only a "wait" circle ever appears if you power it up, and it will not respond to the function keys to bypass. I also can't afford losing control of when, how and why to update. And what's with this? Engadget: Windows 10 is installing Office web apps without asking permission.
https://www.engadget.com/wi...

It's like Microsoft is desperately trying to be the annoying IT Department that tells me I can't work today because they're going to do an update on my computer. If I wanted that, I'd work for a big Corporation, not myself.

-- 1) Skepticism of Microsoft intentions with regards to collecting of any data from users computers is healthy. NO ONE should ever just believe what a corporation says. The bigger it is the more incentive their is to lie or as the lawyers say "manage the truth".

2) Windows 10 was awful to start with as (is often the case with big tech companies) Microsoft decided what its users wanted instead of letting users decide. Jump ahead and several years and only after Microsoft compromised on some of the terrible changes it tried to force was it then able to start winning over some of the hold outs. Imagine how much better the world would have been if Microsoft had simply provided an improved Windows 7 in the form of Windows 10 instead of trying to change things users did not want changed.

3) Not everyone is keen to the idea of constant change/upgrade. There are security reasons for the upgrade but those just reinforce the notion that constant upgrades done to quickly are a self fulfilling prophecy. Perhaps if the singular focus were on making a solid OS first and then after figure out how many new bells and whistles can be added (and just forget about the spying garbage be it unintentional or otherwise) this upgrade debate would not have lingered on this long.

Windows 10 could have been a big win from the start. Its Microsoft's own arrogance and lack of respect for users that has allowed this Win 7vs Win 10 fight to go on for so long. They have only themselves to blame. So how is Microsoft likely to handle this in the future with the next Windows upgrade? Don't be surprised if instead of learning from this the decision makers at Microsoft seek ways to more easily coerce/force users into upgrading.

Why bother with trying to make customers happy when you can coerce them into compliance.

-- I agree with everything here. W10 is a vastly inferior system, and when W7 finally breaks or I lose it by some mischance, I'll try Linux or even Apple. So irritating that MS keep "updating" and producing what someone said is a downgrade. I was pleased to see that others are also planning to stick with W7 and Office 10 for the long haul!

-- W8 and W10 have been horrible. I personally never used them at all as my daily driver and I never will. But I had the displeasure of working on people's computers that had those Windows versions. If I were you, I'd just go to Linux and be done with it. Linux Mint, Zorin OS or KDE Plasma are good places to start. KDE Neon is a good one and got me off the W7 train. Try them in a virtual machine and see which works for you.

And guess what? I still use W7 sometimes in a virtual machine. I just keep it off the internet. It's the only way to not have to be concerned over security.

Also, on Linux, you can pass through a second video card into a virtual machine if you have a CPU and board that supports IOMMU. Which means that I don't have to dual boot. So, if you have hardware the supports it, you could still use W7 to game if needed in the same way. It's what I do. The games I play work great in WINE on Linux; especially with my AMD card which is just plug and play on Linux. No driver installing crap. My older Nvidia card I attach to my W7 virtual machine just because Nvidia's support for Linux sucks still. Anyway, unless I someday get a game that has anti-cheat in it, I basically don't need Windows anymore. Other than that, I've had no real issues.

Oh. And there are better alternatives for M$ Office. WPS Office, Softmaker Freeoffice or OnlyOffice are great options.

-- I can agree with every one of the complaints about Windows 10. I don't like the user interface, forced updates, or anything else about it -- and there is no feature of it that attracts me. W7, or 8.1 will do anything I intend to do, and many things W10 won't. I use several old programs on a regular basis (for which there's no newer replacement) -- it was difficult to make them run on what I have now, and impossible on W10.

I have one machine with W7 and two with 8.1, and intend to use them until they die, or I do. I don't know what will come next, maybe a Linux running a virtual copy of 8.1, or something else. Whatever it is, it won't be W10.

-- MS is using w10 as the vehicle to finally achieve absolute control of windows users.
next up monthly charges for using windows...and there will be no alternative. when is the only question
MS'only regret is that they didn't buy linux to kill it off...they still might try
the casual user sees w10 as not a big deal, except they will soon need to buy a new computer to support the w10 bloat...of course all needed to fend off hackers who are only able to penetrate their targets because the base OS is a mess.
serious users see w10 as a forced downgrade consuming time, effort and stability only possible when there is a monopoly in place...ATT&T used to do this stuff before they were pulled apart. It took a couple decades for the FCC to figure it out, hope gov can figure MS out sooner.

-- Ever since 2012, Microsoft has simply gone in the toilet. Really don't know what to say. It's not just Windows. Office has consistently declined in quality and usability since Office 2010.

Microsoft has proven it doesn't care about its loyal longterm corporate/enterprise/power user base, and is now trying to cater unsuccessfully to the "cool" and "hip" crowd.

On the plus side, I'll never purchase a Microsoft product again. It's not that I don't like them - I used to be (and still am) Microsoft's #1 fan. But their best software has all already been made, so why keep paying to downgrade? I'll be using Windows 7 and Office 2010 until I die. Thanks for saving me some dough, Microsoft!

[Psk]

More comments:

-- Oh, and I'll add that yes, I have various old Windows systems connected to the Internet. I have Windows 2000, XP, Vista, and 7 all fully online. I don't even think I have any antivirus on my W2K system. The best antivirus is your brain. Don't do anything stupid and you'll be fine. Microsoft is simply trying to use fearmongering and scare tactics to scare people off Windows 7. Most people, rightly, aren't biting.

IMHO, if Microsoft wants people to Windows 10, it should actually make a product that could be objectively considered an "upgrade" rather than a "downgrade". Stop blaming us for not buying your dung, Microsoft. It's your fault, not ours. You screwed up, we are simply doing the rational thing.

-- No reason to keep the W7 machine offline unless you're dumb enough to click on malware, really. I've never gotten a virus, and I've never used anything more rigorous than Defender/MSE, if at all. But if you'll get malware without antivirus, then maybe that's a good move. In my opinion, defeats the purpose...

I'm not even a gamer, so I couldn't care less about that aspect of Windows, except for the built in Windows games. Occasionally play Chess Titans or Solitaire in Windows 7 - those are classics.

-- I tried to upgrade my older laptop from 7 to 10. Completed almost the entire process, then was told that there was an incompatibility, and it reverted back to 7... but not the version I had before. A week later, the laptop crashed - I mean CRASHED! Saved the hard drive and ported over the files to a new computer, but the upgrade process was beyond time-consuming and, in the end, not worth the time.

On a related note though, 10 is bad. I regularly back up my data to thumb drives, but there is a something that makes the files corrupt. Can't figure out what it is, but have upgraded drivers, formatted drives, etc., and no fix in sight. Sure wish Microsoft would figure it out.

-- Windows 10 is unstable and has compatibility issues plus spyware issues. Our IT department has modified the agent string of browser on Windows 7 to be Edge for Windows 10 and all website work. Some sites did not work saying that unsupported browsers so IT changed that one line and everything works. I believe there are more Windows 7 in the world being used than ZDNet server logs or other servers capture. I know that our IT has use that same trick on Windows Xp machines that are need for our factory machines. IT was paying XP extend support and we did get IE11 for Xp during that support but now many sites are not working with IE 11 so IT used the same trick and everything is working again on most sites but some are not working for Xp. IT currently stop paying for Xp support about 7 month ago and have not gotten Windows 7 support since it was a big waste of money. MS is just making huge profits with these extended support for Xp and 7. This is why they are making Windows 10 be no compatibility to make more money. Companies should stop paying it and MS might finally do something about it to make Windows 10 better.

-- I am a huge fan of W7. Easy to navigate and I can do what I want. I started with XP and refused to upgrade to W7 for years. Now I refuse to upgrade even to W8 let alone W10!!! They can stick W10 in their arse....I will never change.

-- I can't tell you how many of my friends, relatives, and clients have had perfectly good, modern PCs borked by Windows !0 "feature" upgrades! I personally can't afford to move to Win10 because my PC is old and incompatible with it. I simply installed Opatch on my old Win7 machine and it works better than it ever did with MS digging at the guts of my system. Now I don't worry about updates, and even most of my applications are taken care of by Opatch. (although I do attempt to manually update those I'm aware of) Long live the micro patch way of living!!

-- -- I realize that you have included the "OTHER" option in your very first survey question, but this does not lend the weight, nor credibility, which explicitly including the following, glaringly missing, option would:

"WINDOWS 7 IS SIMPLY MORE SUPERIOR THAN ANYTHING MICROSOFT HAS PRODUCED SINCE."

It is a known fact, but supposedly well-kept (but not very) secret: most all surveys these days, on any subject, are skewed to reflect the confirmation-bias of those who commission the survey.

[Psk]

More comments:
--Windows 7 is PERFECT! I have not had the system crash since installing it in 2009. That's why I keep using it. I bought a near-bottom line HP laptop for my occasional personal travel needs, and of course it has Win10. I hate it! Mainly because of the frequent updates, but also because MS chose such a bland default screen appearance that I CAN'T change when I am using the usual utilities like Control Panel, System Info and other general maintenance items. Even Task Manager, which now shows a lot more details that I can't eliminate. Rarely do I ever want more detail than the Win7 Task Manager gave me. I installed a Classic Shell that makes the desktop and most windows look more like Win7, but that doesn't carry over to dealing with System Info and the like.

What I really object to is the lack of border lines around information blocks- all I see is a plain background with free-standing text titles and headers, with numbers or other info either underneath or at the side, but no borders to separate the various subject headers and data from other headers and data. More borders and boxes, PLEASE!

That's just part of my rebellion; I'll stop for now and hope that sinks in to some of the brains at MicroSoft.

I should add that I have not had a worm or virus infection in the last eight years or so, probably because I have a router with settings that protect by isolating my on-line activities, and a free anti-virus program, plus enough experience to not get hooked by phishing emails. I am not missing a thing by not getting Win7 security updates from MS.

-- Hahaha. Some of the equipment I repair still must have Win XP and a few pieces need Win 98.
The real world is not all about video games.

-- Windows 10 is everything that is wrong with software now. Test with your clients, keep adding (unwanted) features, but don't fix what preexisting. Make changes for the sake of changes. Updates that prevent your machine from even booting. I had upgraded to 10, but I'm back to 7. I need stability not what's being offered with Windows 10.

-- Win7 does everything I need and runs the older software I depend on. No forced updates that delete or mangle my preferences. As fast and secure as I can make it, with virtually no worries of intrusion by the baddies. Older scanner and printers work perfectly. I have backups of everything and even have a copy of the base machine as a virtual machine.

-- I bought new Win 10 equipment because of Win 7 phase out and ever since have lived in a state of fear about Win 10--with its forced defective updates and intrusions and confusions. I can't warm up to it and really miss Win 7 which I've kept on a laptop I don't use now. I think Bill Gates needs to return and shape up the company because it's getting quite out of control and going all over the place. It's one thing for him to be curing infectious diseases in Africa and another to be ignoring all the evils infecting computers at home and globally.

-- The IT dept has exactly that problem. Updates make the system not work with the hardware without hours of fiddling and talking to the hardware MFG, Then they get it going and another update comes out.

-- Horror stories of lost whatever and nothing really that I need that 7 doesn't supply. Now if I start having problems with browsers or downloading or moving stuff between devices I might consider it but there is no reason for me to do so at this time. It's not like I haven't tried it. I did and I hated the sub menus not to mention it seemed to drag my considerably decent laptop into slow mode. I still have it on 7 and it works like a dream and we are talking about a 12 year old HP 17 inch.

-- I use W8.1 instead. People should give it a try.

If you use Classic Shell Start menu, disable Indexing, and install Avast free (to disable Windows defender from running whenever if flippin well feels like it), W8.1 is great

-- Until I see a checkbox in Windows 10 for the option "Disable all updates until I choose to come back and uncheck this box", I'm not using it. I want my PC to boot up exactly the same as the last time I used it. No surprises. No driver update problems. No "new features". No features suddenly disappearing. Put another way, I want a "Leave my PC the **** alone" option, and until Win 10 has one, I'm not interested.

-- It works just fine for me. Why the need to force everybody to change. I realize that software engineers and high level managers have to justify their jobs but many people are fine using what they've been using for years.