Microsoft Tech Support and upcoming Windows 8

[N1LAF]

I finally got around to installing Windows 7 from a disk I bought while at UNH. Install was painless, but Windows Internet Explorer refused to download from the Microsoft website the Virtual PC and Windows XP Compatibility Mode. So, I took the Windows Tech Support route using the Chat option. If you have a problem with windows - use the chat, not phone, not e-mail. Tech support had me download another program, and I clicked on it to allow access to my computer, as well as another chat program separate from IE.

He spent a couple hours on my computer, he saw my problem, did some small updates, and got the XP Compatibility software installed and running. I gave him an earfull of the stuff that MS took away, and some other problems, which I was able to show him because he is seeing what I have on the screen. I told him on this one particular program, just would not install, no matter what compatibility mode i picked. He said try it, so I did. Son of a gun, the program that would refuse to run under Windows 7, ran, installed, and did not crash. This means that Microsoft is working on compatibility issues with software.

After I described what I liked about XP, and didn't like about Win 7, he said wait for Win 8, you will love it. Could Win 8 be what XP/SP1A was to Win 98SE? It sounded like MS got an earfull from unhappy Win 7 users, and will use Win 8 to correct Win 7 failings.

I like what I saw today in compatibility, and with tech support knowing what I liked from Windows, Win 8 may be promising. Their Tech Support is top notch!

[ad4mg]

The chat mode with MS is far superior to using the phone! I thought Windows 7 was quite an improvement over Vista. I also still think neither is as good as XP, in its 'Pro' version.

And, for me personally, Ubuntu has become a familiar friend. Been with it now since 8.04. Fast and efficient, with no issues I couldn't easily solve. Wine, VirtualBox, and dual-booting gives me all the access to Windows that I'll ever need. Both OS's are fine, I've just grown to like Linux better. Maybe it's the price ... :-D

[WØTKX]

You can download a Windows 8 trial version and/or play with virtual sessions here. Nifty,

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/server-cloud/windows-server/2008-r2-trial.aspx

[N8YX]

And, for me personally, Ubuntu has become a familiar friend. Been with it now since 8.04. Fast and efficient, with no issues I couldn't easily solve. Wine, VirtualBox, and dual-booting gives me all the access to Windows that I'll ever need. Both OS's are fine, I've just grown to like Linux better. Maybe it's the price ... :-D

What's looming on the horizon for us (me and 'DSG) with regards to OSes and such: For my development/home office spot I'm going to get a couple i5 or i7-class machines in the next year or so, and equip each with 8-16GB RAM. Dual boot capability.

The other computing positions in the house (3 in total) are going to be set up with thin client CPUs directly attached to their parent monitors. They'll talk to a pair of VM servers running some form of Linux as the host OS and with several concurrent virtual machines running at once. XP, Win7, Debian, Mint, Ubuntu, whatever MS server flavor I care to load.

Two more Shuttle MicroATX i5s with 8GB RAM each and Win7 are going to perform rig-control duties. I may virtualize these as well.