Windows XP, great new look

[Arthur]

My old way of launching programs was quick and efficient - Win key followed by letters. Can't do this in Windows 7.

The new way is just as fast IME. In 7 you can press the Windows key and type the first few letters of the program name to launch it. For example, Windows Key + No, will open Notepad. You can do this without touching the mouse or looking at your screen.

 

Also, if you have applications pinned to the taskbar, you can press Windows key + 1 to 9 to open each program (going from left to right). On my computer, Internet Explorer is Win Key + 1.

[jsnetman]

Whatever the good and bad of Microsoft operataing systems, we have to admit that MS is in most schools, I have already found I have been forced to windows 7 because certain functions were failing on XP SP3, offline files was one. Whether this is a policy by MS to force businesses/education to go to an upgrade is debatable or whether it was my lack of troubleshooting the problem. We are now all win 7 and server 2008r2 and I can honestly say our support calls have reduced dramatically, it just works and is very stable. There are many hurdles and of course the cost of doing so, but over the next few years everyone will have to upgrade.

[Arthur]

Windows Live Essentials works perfectly well here.

Microsoft have dropped XP support for the latest version of Windows Live Essentials (Wave 4). I don't use it myself because iLife on my Mac is far better. I can see a lot of other software developers doing the same between now and 2014. Adobe would be a good bet with CS6 or CS7.

 

Considering the problems with IE5, IE6, IE7 and IE8 I can't see anyone rushing out to replace their machines and operating systems just to run IE9.

Your question was "Which apps are incompatible with XP?" I was just listing the ones that will not work at all on XP. What problems are you referring to with IE?

 

Obviously no one will replace their computer just to run the latest browser from Microsoft, but they might, if for example they bought an expensive printer/MFD which only has drivers for Vista and 7.

 

Considering Microsoft put their faith in HD-DVD I can understand why they don't support Blu-Ray.

How do people play and burn Blu-Ray's on their Windows PCs if Microsoft doesn't support it?

 

It was reported recently in the media that 76% of businesses are still running Windows XP for many reasons. Calling them "Luddites" is very ignorant and shows how little you know about computing in the wider field.

There are two very different groups of people who are still using XP - home users and businesses. I was referring to the people in the first group - particularly those who refuse to learn anything new even when there are better or faster ways of doing the same task. I am fully aware that a lot of businesses cannot upgrade to newer OSs due to software and hardware compatibility issues. My school even has software which will only work with Internet Explorer which is incredibly frustrating when you normally use different web browsers (Firefox, Chrome & Safari).

 

I've just logged into the MS Licensing Centre and there are 25 choices of Windows 7 to download.

Were you counting the N and VL editions in that 25? These are just minor variations of the other editions.

 

So much for your "single DVD with all editions of Windows 7".

As you well know, there are only six editions in total - Starter, Home Basic, Home Premium, Professional, Ultimate & Enterprise. For most people the first five editions are the only ones which count and these all fit on a single disc. The only reason Enterprise isn't included on the same disc is due to the way it is licensed, not because it won't fit. It will if you use Microsoft's ImageX tool. To do the same with Windows XP is much more difficult, although not impossible.

 

Just because pupils might run 7 and Vista at home (probably because it came pre-loaded and they didn't get a choice to get XP) doesn't mean its the "perfect" OS. They also use PS3s and XBOXes and Wiis, but that doesn't mean we have to teach that technology to them in school.

Windows 7 is by no means perfect, but it's a lot better than XP in many ways. Students at my school are constantly asking why are we still using XP. In our case, it is because we are stuck with CC3 (for the time being at least). When you are using an OS which is older than some of the students, you know it's time to upgrade. Would you seriously use Windows NT4 Workstation when everyone else is using XP?

 

One of the problems with students using newer OSs at home compared to what the school has, is when the software they use no longer works with XP. Windows Live Movie Maker is very good example. Students do thier homework in this, bring it into school and then can't open the project file because it is incompatible with XP Movie Maker - we can't install WLMM even if we wanted to because it doesn't run at all on XP. The further a school falls behind technology-wise, the worse it gets for the students, staff and the IT people who support the network.

[webman]

The new way is just as fast IME. In 7 you can press the Windows key and type the first few letters of the program name to launch it. For example, Windows Key + No, will open Notepad. You can do this without touching the mouse or looking at your screen.

 

On my computer it takes longer to search than it would have done to hit Win key and 2-3 letters to launch it. I hit Win, type a few letters of the program, wait for it to bring back the result (2-3 seconds), then choose the right one if more than one result is returned.

 

I do use it; but I prefer my old way as it worked well for me.

[Arthur]

On my computer it takes longer to search than it would have done to hit Win key and 2-3 letters to launch it.

It seems a computer with a fast HDD or SSD makes all the difference when it comes to searching from the start menu. On mine, it takes less than 2 seconds to launch a program via this method.

[webman]

In that case I'll have to source a faster hard drive

[DMcCoy]

Win + P = Presentation mode selection. This looks great for whiteboard machines! Currently I am thwarted at most attempts to make cloning the screen easy by MS, ATI, Nvidia or a combination.