Windows Woes

Statwerk · Post by **Statwerk** » Mon Jul 20, 2015 12:14 pm

For some reason, my Windows 7 64 Bit system has never worked quite like it should -- certain VSTs never install right and this problem persists even if I format my hard drive and install everything fresh.

I believe that my install disk has some minor glitch.

This brings me to the next topic. I understand that, with the arrival of Windows 10, Microsoft has already begun to stop supporting Windows 7 (I read that free support was phased out in mid January). Might not be long before they cease distribution of security patches, so Win 7 users might prepare to jump ship.

Given that I need a new OS disk and Win 7 is being phased out, I am left to decide between the widely unpopular yet widely supported Win 8 or the promising new kid on the block, Win 10.

The obvious fear is that I might have to replace all of my software, which is quite an expensive endeavor.

Does anyone know if Win 7/8 products are generally compatible with Win 10? Or have they pulled the old song and dance where everything has to be replaced with each OS revision?

chrk · Post by **chrk** » Mon Jul 20, 2015 12:25 pm

Statwerk wrote:Microsoft has already begun to stop supporting Windows 7 (I read that free support was phased out in mid January). Might not be long before they cease distribution of security patches, so Win 7 users might prepare to jump ship.

Mainstream support has ended then, so no more new features.

Extended Support grants security patches for another five years.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/lif ... indows%207

tedlogan · Post by **tedlogan** » Mon Jul 20, 2015 12:25 pm

Well, for what it's worth, I've just upgraded to a whole new system running Windows 8.1 64bit. Had Windows 7 64 bit prior to upgrading. Everything works fine so far (Live, Max4Live, u-he plugins, all my other software). I don't really see what all the fuss is about the start menu, people really made a massive mountain out of a molehill. You can simply ignore the Metro interface and use the desktop purely. Start menu? Old relic. Programs pinned to taskbar is the way to go in my opinion. If you need the task manager, control panel etc you can simply right-click where the start menu used to be.

I can't imagine Windows 10 suddenly making everything obsolete. There will be bugs initially but I wouldn't worry too much about it.

If you buy Windows 8 now, you can upgrade to Windows 10 for free, with a year to decide if you wish to do so. Actually , owners of Windows 7 can upgrade for free too, but you say your disk is faulty, so unsure what will happen there.

Windows 10 being rolled out July 29th.

H20nly · Post by **H20nly** » Mon Jul 20, 2015 1:21 pm

The big complaints with Windows 8 were from the 8.0 version. 8.1 made it much more usable.

Windows 10 is truly nice. We used a pre-release for months at the office. Looking forward to the release version.

Haven't tested a slew of products and no DAWs on 10 but everything we threw at it from a business perspective worked well.

Chill - Step DnB · Post by **Chill - Step DnB** » Mon Jul 20, 2015 1:59 pm

I'm probably gonna make the jump to windows 10 ASAP. I'm on 7 64bit and its fine but win 10 actually looks great. Also noticed that the RME website already has a driver update for my sound card for win 10. As far as I'm aware the driver architecture in 10 is pretty much the same as 8 anyhow. I think 10 looks like a great operating system, but it is windows so I'm sure there will be glitches to iron out at the start - it's the nature of the beast with Microsoft OSs, unfortunately! So many different parts to get into sync with a million developers. Going forward, I can kinda see where Microsoft are wanting to go - a cleaner universal operating system which is updated like Mac OS X. They basically want everyone on win 10 within 3 years, trying to make a userbase that don't all have two or three versions of windows with different problems specific to their version. The most interesting thing about 10, however is the fact that it's the first all inclusive operating system that is totally scalable from a small phone to a large workstation - if they pull that off, that could be really good in terms of cpu use.

Statwerk · Post by **Statwerk** » Mon Jul 20, 2015 2:30 pm

Thanks for the input!

All things considered, I will probably just limp along for a week or two. Let Win 10 hit the market and then determine if I want to go with 8 or 10.

yur2die4 · Post by **yur2die4** » Mon Jul 20, 2015 3:07 pm

My perspective on this is, if you go with 10, you won't have to worry about transitions again for a while. 8 on the other hand, will inevitably either need to be bumped up to 10 (don't know if 10 will have minor version upgrades), or like 11 or something down the road.

Another incentive for 10 as opposed to 8 will be that most new software and hardware will likely make 10 drivers their priority. It'll especially proliferate in the next one or two years. You don't want to be in that situation where a certain vst or software comes out and it is 10 only.

BUT, the only thing making me hesitant currently is that I have not seen any confirmation that Live and Win 10 are good buddies yet. (Same with Maschine). Give me the green light on those and I'll be ready to roll

....hopefully software transitions (installs) will not be annoying. . .

tedlogan · Post by **tedlogan** » Mon Jul 20, 2015 3:35 pm

I read that Windows 10 will be the last, with it from thereon being upgraded as a continuing service. They say it will update Windows 7/8 automatically, once you've pressed the little white window icon that should be in your taskbar, bottom right. You can already pre-load to activate comes the 29th.

I would hang on first, and see how it goes and let other people crash-test W10 and Live for me

H20nly · Post by **H20nly** » Mon Jul 20, 2015 10:01 pm

Chill - Step DnB wrote:I'm sure there will be glitches to iron out at the start - it's the nature of the beast with Microsoft OSs, unfortunately!

um... that's the nature of the beast with ALL operating systems. Don't let the grass is greener bullshit infect the truth. Yosemite is still teething. If Macs ever were invulnerable at some point, that time is not the present.

Typically, the rule of thumb with any Windows OS is to wait for Service Pack 1.

The fact that Microsoft is making Windows 10 an available upgrade for all Windows 7 and 8 products is a good sign that it won't just hose all your software. One feature that has been slowly improving over the operating systems is Compatibility Mode. Using that can fix a lot of woes with older software versions.

*Note compatibility mode does not address 64 bit vs. 32 bit issues.

Chill - Step DnB · Post by **Chill - Step DnB** » Tue Jul 21, 2015 12:10 am

H20nly wrote:
Chill - Step DnB wrote:I'm sure there will be glitches to iron out at the start - it's the nature of the beast with Microsoft OSs, unfortunately!
um... that's the nature of the beast with ALL operating systems. Don't let the grass is greener bullshit infect the truth. Yosemite is still teething. If Macs ever were invulnerable at some point, that time is not the present.

Typically, the rule of thumb with any Windows OS is to wait for Service Pack 1.

The fact that Microsoft is making Windows 10 an available upgrade for all Windows 7 and 8 products is a good sign that it won't just hose all your software. One feature that has been slowly improving over the operating systems is Compatibility Mode. Using that can fix a lot of woes with older software versions.

*Note compatibility mode does not address 64 bit vs. 32 bit issues.

yes, i know - i use both mac and pc. my comments genuinely aren't an attempt to start the millionth mac vs pc debate on the web. the prospect of windows evolving into something similar to osx is a pretty cool proposition. and that is essentially what is happening - albeit not the only thing they are evolving into with win 10. microsoft have seen that cheaper or free incremental "updates" like the mac osx system are much better for consumers and probably much better for them, developers and hardware manufacturers to support. they've also gone for one completely scalable system, a "one size fits all" OS that also fits nicely into the type of system builder/custom modifier customer that benefits most from windows. i'm sure that apple OSX "updates" are essentially total "upgrades" most of the time, but they at least make it look and feel like computer operating environments are being updated rather than requiring a complete rebuild each time users have felt when they went up a windows version.

essentially microsoft are giving win 10 away free and there's more than a hint they want older windows to pretty much be a thing of the past... i am of the opinion that they are quite determined to do away with 7, 8 and 8.1 as soon as they can. i really can't remember them going about a re-do of their OS products that was quite so aggressively marketed as to be made free!

so, let's say microsoft ARE trying to kill off win 7 and 8 as soon as they can and then get everyone onto a windows product with an incremental upgrade cycle that's not a pain in the ass to do each time - where would the benefit really be in expensive upgrading to win 8 from 7? suppose only time will tell in what way it's all gonna work out and how successful it's all gonna be... but i really don't think it's just the marketing hype that's making me feel they may actually nail it for once

H20nly · Post by **H20nly** » Tue Jul 21, 2015 12:31 am

Agreed.

I'm looking forward to it...

Airyck · Post by **Airyck** » Tue Jul 21, 2015 5:07 am

Martin Gifford · Post by **Martin Gifford** » Tue Jul 21, 2015 11:28 am

You can keep Windows OEM with a broken hard drive. It's normally tied to the motherboard. Anyway, if you phone MS, they usually look after you.

Windows 10: Trouble is they are moving to a model where the operating system is focused on marketing products and services through the app store and the cloud, etc. So instead of being a invisible basis for your programs, they are trying to make it into an up-front marketing portal, which means distractions from getting work done. Also, they are making it work across all kinds of devices, including phones and tablets, so there will probably be extra bugs. Also, they are implementing a policy of compulsory updates. And there are privacy issues with accounts and cloud and whatever they sneak into the compulsory updates as time goes on.

H20nly · Post by **H20nly** » Tue Jul 21, 2015 2:01 pm

Uh Martin... are you talking about Microsoft or Apple...? Because what you described sounds like App Store, iTunes, iOS but it's a complaint about Microsoft that seems as though it's framed as Apple is better cuz they don't... Unless you're plugging for Linux.

Not going for the Apple vs. Microsoft flame war here... Just couldn't help but notice the shoe fitting duck quackingness of it.

login · Post by **login** » Tue Jul 21, 2015 3:18 pm

The compulsory upgrades are welcome, like really how much developers have to maintain support for old OS?

As people adopts windows 10, and this time is going to be fast since it is free, costs for sofftware developers will go down and new features could be adopted faster.

As long as MS keep updates as it has now and not breaking stuff Apple style.

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