Windows 7...Upgrade to 8.

I have just had an e-mail from Microsoft to download an upgrade to windows 8 from windows 7 for £25.
Would this be beneficial.
What would be the pitfalls ,if any?
Why would I want to?
Has anyone done it?

 

I am a user who waits for the first service pack to come out before purchasing any new stuff, as I like to think they have ironed out the initial problems then.

 

Windows 8 is totally different to any other windows version. It takes a while to get use to and helps to have a good memory to remember shortcuts. You need to make sure your printer and scanner are compatible, chances are they work fine if working on win 7.

I hated it initially but after setting up over 200 it grows on you, however I only have it on 1 of my 5 pc's. It is my least favourite version.

 

Shiney, your mates offer good advice. I have upgraded 2 clients computers and there was some software that wasnt compatible. A clean install is always best and quicker to install. Upgrading older computers is never a good idea.

 

Shiney, Does that have anything to do with the recording of programmes on the telly?
I too still have my old Betamax recorder and it works just fine. Not going to upgrade this just yet.

 

I've not seen Windows 8 yet. I don't really expect to for a couple of years, because in industry, despite the Microsoft sales pitch, businesses don't tend to be the first to jump, unless they are 'Nu media' businesses (which is not really my sector - my sector is more about making solutions that work reliably).

As for what Beta testing is....

<Geek mode activated - be warned>

In software development, there are various stages of testing that happen before software is publicly declared to be 'ready'. The developers themselves will test their own work and convince themselves (often incorrectly) that everything works to spec. That stage has no name. It doesn't deserve a name.

After a bit of internal to'ing and fro'ing, and 'rework' the software reaches a point where it stands a chance of getting through...

Alpha testing. This is usually internal. In a larger firm there will be a dedicated team to do this. In a smaller team it will be your peers that do it. More faults will be found, and more 'rework', followed by more alpha testing before it passes. Then once it passes, it goes to ....

Beta testing. By this stage, everyone in the company thinks it probably works. They don't trust it enough yet to say its ready for mass market, but it 'seems ok'. Tolerant, patient geeks will get their hands on it and play with it. They'll chat about it and complain and whine, but also (if you're lucky) praise it a bit. This is an important stage for two reasons. Firstly it gets a wide range of different users using it in a range of ways you never thought of. Secondly it gets it out onto a wider range of hardware/software configs than you can possibly accommodate in the dev environment. It is absolutely certain that issues will turn up in beta testing, and these issues can be addressed in time for....

Official release. This is where mass market starts to pick it up. For many it will be fine, but for some there will be issues, some will be serious and have to be fixed asap, so we get....

Service Pack 1. This will plug security loopholes, random crashes, and that annoying user interface feature your UX person was convinced the mass market would really love. From here it will largely be fine.

 

We've had 2 laptops die in the past 5 weeks, so now have 2 new ones with Windows 8 on, a bit of a shock at first but soon started finding my way around. At least there's my daughter's Windows 7 laptop and my XP netbook if I hanker for retro.

I have been considering downloading some free software that will reintroduce a Windows 7 style Start Button. Anybody else done this?