# If you have win 7, 8, 8.1



## AZ Jim (Apr 10, 2015)

You will be eligible for a FREE upgrade to win 10 later this year.  They ask that you sign in with a microsoft email for information.  I did so.  I have little problems with win 7 on my desktop but my win 8.1 on the laptop is a disaster.


http://www.pcworld.com/article/2873...a-free-upgrade-for-windows-7-and-8-users.html


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## Josiah (Apr 10, 2015)

What happened to Win 9?


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## AZ Jim (Apr 10, 2015)

There is no windows 9.  The screwed up so bad on win 7 and 8 that they designed a brand new operating system and those who know say it's gonna be their best.  We'll see but to get free upgrades is exciting usually they go into the hundreds.


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## Josiah (Apr 10, 2015)

I have't had any trouble with Win 7 I'm sticking with it. My last laptop is a MacBook so maybe I'll never see Win 10


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## DoItMyself (Apr 10, 2015)

AZ Jim said:


> The screwed up so bad on win 7 and 8 that they designed a brand new operating system and those who know say it's gonna be their best.



Windows 8.X I'll agree, but Windows 7 has been a solid operating system and currently holds a nearly 60% market share.  OS X 10 has been fairly stagnant at just under 3%, and nix combined only holds around 1.5%.

A "bad" OS doesn't get the lion's share of the market, especially in the corporate environment.  Most corporate licensees have migrated to Windows 7 (although there is still a small XP market), but many corporate licensees have refused to update to 8.X, mainly because of the metro interface.  Windows 10 is most certainly not a "brand new operating system", it's built on the same kernel version that started with Windows Vista (6.0).

Microsoft has a habit of making every other OS release successful.  Windows Millennium was a flop, Windows XP was a benchmark, Windows Vista was a flop, Windows 7 is solid, Windows 8 was mediocre, so if history repeats Windows 10 should be a good OS.



Josiah said:


> What happened to Win 9?



There is an issue with a lot of legacy code that uses something like the following:

if(version.StartsWith("Windows 9"))

This denotes Windows 95 and 98 and it was used to determine the version in order to run the legacy code when XP came out.  Skipping Windows 9 and going to Windows 10 solved the issue.  I can't begin to estimate the number of times I typed that line, in a dozen or so programming languages.

Keep in mind that there is also some internal code that refers to the actual kernel version number.  Windows 2000 was actually 5.0, and XP was 5.1. Vista was a totally rewritten kernel and the first kernel not to overlay an MS DOS subsystem, and was designated as 6.0, Windows 7 is 6.1, 8 is 6.2 and 8.1 is 6.3.  Windows 10 is 6.4, which designates it as being based on the 6.X code.  A "brand new" operating system would not have a 6.X internal version code.


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## AZ Jim (Apr 10, 2015)

I agree about win 7 and it is on my desktop but I would like it to be directly compatible with my laptop which is currently Win 8.1..


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## SifuPhil (Apr 12, 2015)

I'm satisfied with Win7/Ultimate - I won't be seeking to upgrade, at least not until the news is in.


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## Son_of_Perdition (Apr 12, 2015)

I also liked and used Win XP during the last few years of employment.  My job in tech support required I learn UNIX/Linux as well as OS X.  Vista was a disaster and fell off the drawing board before being adopted by my company.  They moved to Win 7 just before I retired and I never really got much experience at that time, but found it comparable to XP.  

Earlier I had migrated to Linux for various reasons after buying a Dell/Vista laptop in 2005.  I couldn't upgrade the drivers to 7 since the hardware was built for Vista.  I decided to try Linux and was happy to discover that it was seamless & free.  I kept it & Linux until a year & half ago (8 years until it became inoperable).  I bought an HP with 7 Pro loaded it came with an unused upgrade DVD for 8.1.  I used it for about 9 months and after security issues, the blue screen along with other problems I converted back to a Linux OS.  I like the ease of use, the security, the cost, the support and I was comfortable with it.

I have convinced a few of my senior neighbors give it a try and since most of them only require a portal to the internet.  They have found that it's an inexpensive easy move.  They play a few games, check their email and access the web for information, do a little online banking or shop at Amazon or Ebay.  None of us require the the graphical power of Apple or the need for the eye candy and versatility you get with MS.  They have been able to fumble around with LibreOffice and print off recipes.  

I used to do taxes and found that MS was a must but with the free online IRS sponsored sites as well as having the ability to file free state taxes here, the need to have MS was an unnecessary expense.  I now do my taxes, file and auto deposit my refunds for free.  A few have tablets, it seems more are now using their smart phones to take pictures for their kids, so the need for a powerful graphical game playing system is needless.


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## Don M. (Apr 12, 2015)

It seems that every Windows system release is either good or bad.  XP and W7 were very good, but Vista and 8/8.1 were a mess.  Sometime this Fall, MS will make W10 a free upgrade to existing W7 and 8.1 users...with the upgrade available for a year.  I imagine there will be a bunch of people taking this offer fairly early, but I will wait a few weeks and watch the reviews on sites like CNET to see how it is going before I commit.  At the minimum, before I upgrade, I will do a complete backup to my external drive, so I have good recourse in case the upgrade has issues.  I expect that within a year after the W10 announcement, MS will cease support and updates for W7, so it will be almost mandatory to go to W10.


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