CountryPlans Forum

   I'm still using XP on a 2005 Dell 600M. Have done a pile of updates......and the IE7 seems to be holding its own. I think a lot of what has been thrown out in the media and elsewhere is a bunch of booga booga, but was wondering how you folks feel about this. I use the free Avast antivirus also. Just curious what you guys have been experiancing.

You'd be surprised just how many companies are still using Windows XP.  Microsoft dropped support for it and there is still a big reluctance to move to Windows 7, never mind Windows 8.  (Windows 8 is useless for a desktop PC IMO).  I work as a computer programmer doing image processing for mainly industrial and medical applications.  Especially in the medical field, once a system has passed all the approvals and such changing anything becomes a logistical nightmare.  XP was released over 10 years ago... nobody in the industry wants to move to Windows 8.  Windows 7 is picking up mostly because of the 64-bit support.

IE is mostly based on what you are doing with it.  If you are mainly on websites like this, IE 7 is more than adequate.  If you are on sites that require different addons and flash and such then perhaps you need the newer versions. 

As some one that has tried them all - Oh Lord give me something like XP back.  I hope - so hope Window 8 on my lap top will morph into something over night - something more user friendly.  To me it runs a close second to Windows ME which crashed and burned a lot.  Windows 8 does not lock up and crash like ME did but it is about as user friendly as a rattlesnake or a cobra at least for what I use it for.

Or am I just getting old and set in my ways?  I use to look forward to changes and improvements knowing change is inevitable.  But in most ways they seemed improved.  To me Windows 8 is just a stake driven in the ground to build off of.  It will get better but right now I hardly feel the love....  You put up with it because it is on the 'puter         

It's not a "getting older" thing, it's a "lack of vision" thing on Microsoft's behalf.  The whole idea of Windows 8 is for mobile devices, they should have branched off with a desktop version and a mobile version.  I have made it crash plenty of time... the blue screen of death (BTOD) has been replaced by a stupid unhappy face   : (   .  I am not kidding... what kind of professional equipment should show you a silly unhappy face... simply unacceptable.  Since Bill left, things have gone south.  That said... Windows ME was TERRIBLE... right in line with this.  I think Windows 7 will be around for quite a while, and once you disable all of the silly bells and whistles (UAC and such) then it becomes much more usable (not as good as XP but better).  Any developer or math type person out there will know what I mean when I say just their new calculator is a nightmare to use.  If you have the same problem, you can actually copy the calc.exe from Windows XP and use it in Windows 7.  :)  I know that is all I use on my development system.