Windows 8 Has The Potential To Revive Old Systems

     Windows 8 Upgrade Information

Microsoft, one of the world’s topmost software companies in the world, has gained the reputation of offering some of the best software products for the customers and users. Microsoft was catapulted to fame mainly when they launched the Windows series of Operating System. With Windows, the software maker Microsoft gained unparalleled popularity.

Windows 7 is the most popular operating systems at present when we consider the OS market share. As per the statistics, over fifty percent of the Windows Operating System users in the world use Windows 7 for their OS use. Windows 7 was the OS, which replaced Windows Vista. Windows Vista did not do well in the market. Windows 7 rectified all Vista problems and became an instant hit.

Now, with the launch of advanced, modern and metro-ized Windows 8, Microsoft has introduced some really new features and changes. Especially the user interface is nothing like people have seen till date. Compared to Windows 7, Windows 8 has many new features. The main criticism Windows 8 has faced is the drastically different User Interface. Apart from that, there are many things advantageous of using Windows 8 powered systems.

                              Windows 8 OS

First and foremost, after many testing runs, it is seen that Windows 8 is really faster compared to Windows 7 in every possible way. When you consider the install, booting, sleep/resume, various file operations, features etc. you will get to know about the superiority of the new Windows OS in many aspects. The software giant has really come through on their promise that Windows 8 Upgrade would deliver a new level of performance and even function wonderfully on a modest hardware platform.  The minimum Windows 8 requirements are really modest, like a 1 GHz or faster processor, 1GB [32-bit] or 2GB [64-bit] of RAM, and a DirectX 9 graphics device with minimum WDDM 1.0 or higher driver. It would be great news for the old PC users that hardware upgrades are typically not necessary for accommodating Windows 8 OS.

In case you are wondering will this new operating system work on older computers, actually they will if these minimum hardware requirements are met. Many small businesses can really feel happy having older personal omputers due to budget constraints.  The great thing is that Windows 8 installation use only 10 Giga Bytes of space on your hard drive.  This way, Windows 7, Windows Vista and even the old Windows XP Operating System users may not have many issues. Windows 8 upgrade is not just a dream now, you can easily afford it.

Make The Upgrade From Windows 8 To Windows 8.1 OS

Windows 8 Upgrade Options

Recent market share figures indicate that many Windows 8 users are yet to make the upgrade to Windows 8.1. The percentage of the users still using Windows 8 comes just above 4%, while the Windows 8.1′s market share has crossed the 9% mark. It seems that just after making the Windows 8 upgrade, these users are not very keen on upgrading their systems any time in the future.

Windows 8.1 is like a Service Pack update for Windows 8 OS

Though marketed as a separate OS version, Windows 8.1 is actually just a Service Pack update, as far as Windows 8 users are concerned. This means that you need not bother about installing a new OS. You just have to use the Windows Update feature in the OS to upgrade to Windows 8.1. However, many Windows 8 users are under the impression that upgrading to Windows 8.1 will require a new OS installation.

This is the main reason why many of them hesitate to install this update so soon after the Windows 8 upgrade. They already went through the processes like creating a backup of all their important drive, writing an OS installation disc and so on when they installed Windows 8 and they are not very keen on doing all this again anytime soon.

Benefits of upgrading to Windows 8.1

Windows 8 Support Deadlines

There are certainly many benefits to upgrading to Windows 8.1. For one thing, Microsoft introduced many changes to the OS structure and the user interface in Windows 8.1. The OS is much more user friendly than it was before. Also, Microsoft introduced yet another update called Windows 8.1 Update 1, which added even more features to the OS.

Windows 8.1 has the Start button, Task Bar, the Quick Launch Bar and a reduced form of the desktop Start Menu, all of which are not present in Windows 8. Also, in Windows 8.1, you can enable the option for directly booting into the OS Desktop Mode.

Another reason you need to upgrade to Windows 8.1 is that Microsoft will soon end the support services for Windows 8 OS. You will get about one more year of support for Windows 8 from Microsoft. But, after January 12, 2016, only the Windows 8.1 versions will receive any support service from Microsoft.

Once you make the upgrade to Windows 8.1, the Mainstream support continues until January 9 2018, followed by Extended Support until January 10, 2023. So, make sure to upgrade your Windows 8 system before this date.

Microsoft To Make Up For Windows 8, With Windows 10

          Windows 8 Problems

It doesn’t bear reminding that Windows 8 flopped big, and on several counts. The last time Microsoft received similar flak was when Vista was out, but even that OS wasn’t as heavily panned. People who jumped in and did the Windows 8 upgrade have few good things to say about the experience, and the OS went on to become a major headache for the tech giant. But the Redmond-based software maker is set to turn things around with their Windows 10 release this year.

The latest update on their blog puts the count of preview users at over 1.5 million. This build of the upcoming OS has been out for tryouts since October, available as a free download to anyone with a Microsoft account. Simply registering with the Windows Insider program gets you the installer file, with wide choices available based on OS language and architecture. People have taken this up enthusiastically; current stats show that over 450,000 are “highly active” in the use of the new OS.

Where product previews are concerned, this is a first for Microsoft. No other program, including the Windows 8 upgrade preview, has been so well received until now. The development team is eager for the chance to fix as many bugs and errors as they can. There’s no better way to discover these than letting the users find them.

                 Windows 10 Release

The reports from users are generated automatically from crash logs, or sent manually using the Windows Feedback app. Microsoft’s Gabe Aul says this is helping appreciably with the shaping of the product. Citing an example, he mentioned a bug which the development team might not have been able to detect and catch using test automation. Said bug caused the OneDrive icon in File Explorer to change to the Outlook icon, making it confusing for users to access the former.

Many errors of this kind are being easily found and fixed with the help of feedback from Windows Insiders. At present, the company says they’ve been able to uncover and remove over 1,300 individual bugs in this way, since the Windows 10 preview was put out. On top of that, there have been many minor adjustments to the UI, to make it of more comfortable use to the target audience.

The next build of the OS will be revealed at an event held by the company on January 21. They’ll also be announcing a release date for the final version at this event.

Making Up For Windows 8

              The UI In Windows 8

Microsoft first announced their upcoming Windows 10 a few months back. Designed to reverse Microsoft’s fall in popularity, this OS does away with a lot of the shortcomings in Windows 8. The latter OS never achieved the same momentum as the former already has pre-release. Add to that the fact that most customers who did the initial Windows 8 upgrade, ended up detesting it.

The Windows 8 OS is well known for being a bad mix of two different interfaces. One of these is the regular desktop, which has been around for a seriously long time, and is what most Windows users around the world rely on. The other is the more modern tactile interface, called Metro. But Microsoft no longer calls the latter by this name.

After doing a Windows 8 upgrade, you got these separate environments dumped on you, in what Microsoft since euphemizes as a “duality”. Each of these environments had its own different architecture, help system, email program, setting panel, and way of use. Also, there was a different kind of application program for each. In the desktop, you had the regular programs, while the tiled Metro apps worked a lot like those in your iPad. Microsoft was dragging in the best of both, but apparently these weren’t meant to be in the same OS.

Most computers at the time didn’t have touchscreens, and this approach turned out to be excessive. Worse yet, the OS was panned by critics and longtime users alike, and worked poorly on both types of devices it was meant to run on. There are still more computer users worldwide who use Windows 7 instead, while only under a fifth of them use Windows 8.1 and Windows 8.

               Windows 8 Issues

Windows 10

At present, there is a technical preview of Windows 10 which you can download off the internet for free. This lets users try out the new operating system and speak out on any shortcomings before the real thing comes out next year. This must be the first time Microsoft is being so receptive of user suggestions, instead of simply looking at the trend.

Windows 10 has no annoying Start screen, but still retains the tactile app interface as part of a revamped Start menu. You have a lot of returning features from the Windows 7 UI, as well as some of the more congruent aspects of the Modern environment. It’s a huge relief that the latter doesn’t take over the way it did in Windows 8.

Windows 10 Vs Windows 8

             Windows 10 Release

The impending release of Windows 10 OS is something that millions of PC users are looking forward to, with many already preferring it over the unsavory prospect of a Windows 8 upgrade. Windows 10 has a lot to offer, and takes little away from the traditional Windows UI. It fixes one of the major Windows 8 issues, the absence of the Start menu.

Along current projection, Microsoft says, Windows 10 will be used to upgrade over 600 million PCs after it comes out next year. Windows 10 is already famed for its features set, thanks to the free tech preview Microsoft released at the start of October. Almost everybody loves it, although the available version does have many bugs and issues that need fixing. Microsoft had already been warned of these and other problems, and that users should only try it on a secondary machine. Despite this, the company has issued several patches and fixes after the problems were reported.

Manufacturers love it too, and have high hopes for the sale of this OS on new computer models due next year. Most believe that this will bring in a major boost to PC shipment health, which is currently in a dip.

For users of Windows 7, which is the last good OS from Microsoft, a direct jump to Windows 10 looks much better than a Windows 8 upgrade. Much of the hardware and software requirements are the same, and they’d also have the following to look forward to after an upgrade.

               Windows 10 Download

• A better Start button, with Live tiles on one side, and the usual program shortcuts on the other.
• A better visual style, borrowed from Windows 8, but not so different from the old one as to be discomfiting.
• More multitasking options using the new Snap Enhancements. Using this, there’s now the provision to use four apps at once on a single screen.
• A single platform for all applications, whether legacy Windows programs, or the newer Windows apps. And a single Windows Store to get the latter from.
• Multiple desktop manageability using the new Task View button.

The technical preview can be downloaded after signing up with the Windows Insider Program on the official staging site. Download the right ISO off the installation page, and set it up on a bootable drive. A few steps more, and you’re done with the installation.