Poll: Which Windows? 7/8?

[thesilentman]

I am running Vista Home Premium and I'm currently in the process of updating my gaming computers' (yes more than one computer) OSes to something...more stable for game programming purposes. My choices are Windows 7 Professional and the Windows 8 Release Preview. I wanted to ask as I wanted a user's input on which OS could be the better one in terms of user friendliness and own game compatibility. So, which one fellow Escapists.

EDIT- Money is nothing for me

 

[yuval152]

I think you should try the release preview and then decide what to buy.

Even although windows 8 is pretty horrible you should try it, maybe you'll like it.

 

[Lucem712]

Well, even being a Linux user and lover, I would never recommend even the most entry level distro to someone who didn't have the patience and love for tinkering. (Also the lack of games and certain proprietary software)[footnote]Even so, you could always dual boot, if you are interested[/footnote]

So, I'd probably recommend windows 7 as I've heard it is very stable and nice, (not personal experience, just what I hear around the forums) and Windows tends to be hit and miss every other release, so there's that.

 

[Spade Lead]

I am running Vista Home Premium and I'm currently in the process of updating my gaming computers' (yes more than one computer) OSes to something... more stable for game programming purposes. My choices are Windows 7 Professional and the Windows 8 Release Preview. I wanted to ask as I wanted a user's input on which OS could be the better one in terms of user friendliness and own game compatibility. So, which one fellow Escapists.

EDIT- Money is nothing for me

Windows 7 is better than a Preview of a system no one knows anything about. That would be my recommendation.

 

[thesilentman]

Well, even being a Linux user and lover, I would never recommend even the most entry level distro to someone who didn't have the patience and love for tinkering. (Also the lack of games and certain proprietary software)[footnote]Even so, you could always dual boot, if you are interested[/footnote]

I actually use my Ubuntu persistence drive for work on more than Windows at times, but it's just that I've hit a roadblock trying to compile programs from source.

I think you should try the release preview and then decide what to buy.

Even although windows 8 is pretty horrible you should try it, maybe you'll like it.

Windows 7 is better than a Preview of a system no one knows anything about. That would be my recommendation.

True, but that was my rationale for asking for a recommendation as all I've heard about Win8 is that it's 7 with a new texture pack. And if I do like Win8, I may pay the 40 USD when it comes out.

 

[Yopaz]

No votes for Windows 8? I wonder why...

I voted Windows 7 because I can say for sure that I like it myself. I haven't tried Windows 8, maybe it's awesome, maybe it's not. It will likely have some issues that will be fixed in time when they are made aware of them by the community like pretty much any other Windows OS. Unless you plan on jumping to get DirectX 12 and the newest Internet Explorer I wouldn't choose Windows 8.

 

[Ed130 The Vanguard]

Well, even being a Linux user and lover, I would never recommend even the most entry level distro to someone who didn't have the patience and love for tinkering. (Also the lack of games and certain proprietary software)[footnote]Even so, you could always dual boot, if you are interested[/footnote]

I actually use my Ubuntu persistence drive for work on more than Windows at times, but it's just that I've hit a roadblock trying to compile programs from source.

I think you should try the release preview and then decide what to buy.

Even although windows 8 is pretty horrible you should try it, maybe you'll like it.

Windows 7 is better than a Preview of a system no one knows anything about. That would be my recommendation.

True, but that was my rationale for asking for a recommendation as all I've heard about Win8 is that it's 7 with a new texture pack. And if I do like Win8, I may pay the 40 USD when it comes out.

Windows 8 is more geared towards tablets and was built off the Windows 7 Phone OS found on Nokia products.

Personally I would recommend Windows 7, as it is shaping up to be the next Windows XP.

 

[Arina Love]

7, because 8's meto UI is ugly and unnecessary on desktop PC.

 

[kasperbbs]

I have windows 8 installed and it's not that bad once you figure out how the new 'start' menu works. Actually i prefer it over windows 7 because i had some problems with it that seems to have disappeared now, other than that its mostly the same, except for the boot/shutdown speed and the new task manager.

 

[Esotera]

For games, go for Windows 7. It is a relatively decent modern version of Windows that is probably the most user friendly so far, and most programs these days have support for it. It will also play games that are decades old.

Windows 8 might be able to do those things, but no-one has really tested out everything on it yet. Also, if you end up wanting to upgrade to 8, you can do it pretty cheaply, whereas buying a new copy of 7 will cost a lot...

 

[DoPo]

Voted Linux. My idea is that you should dual boot. Or even run Windows in a VM from inside. I do this with XP - it runs a wide range of games I want (mostly older ones) and it's not expensive (on the system....also money-wise) to have a VM with it and play stuff when needed. For newer titles, I am also dual-booting with Windows 7.

 

[DazZ.]

Windows 7.

I dual boot with Linux (Kubuntu) but it's worth having Windows 7 just for convenience of games.

 

[thesilentman]

So Windows 7 it is. Along with Ubuntu as a dual boot.