windows: then vs now

[FlameChrome]

Windows has evolved a lot over the years it has existed, which caused for its growth, and loss of some users.
What caused you to use windows to begin with?
Do you still use windows to this day?
What was the most memorable change(s) to windows you have seen?

 

[Caite-chan]

I've literally used Windows for all of my life. I don't know what they use in schools now but I know it was always Windows when I was in school and I think at the time we used either Windows 95 or 98 and we were in 2003-2006. Like come on at least upgrade your systems if you want us to be the kids of the future...lol. Though I don't remember if it was XP or Vista that drop us so nuts that it made us go back to the previous version until the newer version came out. I want to say it was Vista that we skipped and waited for the next one to come.

 

[Pokedream.su]

Windows 8 was really garbage, I didn't mind windows 7, but windows 8 was the worst experience I've ever had with a computer bar none.

 

[Roni]

first experience with a computer that i can remember was XP. by golly was that the simplest OS to get into and just bang out a session of Club Penguin or random Flash games. looking at it now, it's so dated design-wise, but it was literally everything a casual internet user could need and then some. i never owned an XP computer myself however since my family was too poor to buy one back then, so i had to settle for mom's office PC and internet cafes. this is the most nostalgic/memorable to me because it was my childhood.

Windows 7 was the next experience for me (completely skipped Vista) and i loved it dearly as well. this was the OS we used for our first ever family computer back in 2012. Aero was so cool, but i had to constantly disable it and use the '98 theme to speed things up. our PC was that bad; it couldn't even run default Windows 7 by itself without having trouble lol. i skipped 8 too thankfully, as i was mostly using my phone and a Chromebook around the height of that one's popularity.

eventually i found myself first using Windows 10 on my gaming laptop that i got as a bday gift in 2018. the machine i was using was finally top of the line, and as a result my experience was finally relatively smooth. i became the most productive i've ever been, and it's translated to my own PC that i built and use right now.

most memorable change to me would have to be the start menu. it was literally perfect in XP and 7, unusable in 8, and went up to being "meh" in 10. always questioned why they needed to change something that, in my eyes, wasn't broken, but hey i've gotten used to the new one so far. can't wait for them to change it in the next iteration whoopee

 

[Mewtwolover]

Do you still use windows to this day?

Nope, I use Linux (Ubuntu) because it's technically better and respects the user's privacy.

What was the most memorable change(s) to windows you have seen?

Windows 8's "Modern UI Style", it was designed only for touchscreens but Microsoft forced it to everyone which made a lot of people angry.

 

[Megan]

The first PC I had ran Win95 on it. It was quite fun to mess around with it, but only for a short while. Lightning struck and so my PC bit the dust. A couple years later I got a new one with WinXP. Looking back it was probably a pirated version, though it ended up not mattering because I didn't have internet (and therefor updates) anyway. I used it until it stopped working.

Later I got a laptop with Vista which I upgraded to Win7 when I got to university. At that point I started using Linux so Windows started to lose significance. Having run that one into the ground I got a new laptop (the one I'm still using). It came with WIn7 but I upgraded it to Win10 only to abandon it immediately afterwards due to Win10 basically being unusable at the time...and because I started using Linux exclusively. Windows is still there, sitting, collecting dust.

I still have to use Win10 at work, though. I also have a two monitor HighDPI setup and it's kinda ok, I guess. Win10 definitely has gotten better, but there are still some issues. E.g. it seems like they still can't figure out how to do proper Multi Monitor+DisplayPort support.

 

[Tsutarja]

My first real experience with Windows was Windows 98. I can faintly remember the Windows 95 family computer when I was really young, but it was Windows 98 for me. Then I went to Vista from 98 (I was only 12-13 at the time and my parents didn't like that I wanted my own computer), then I dropped to XP for a bit, then 7 -> 8.1 -> 10.

Windows 10 is by far the best version of Windows. It's the smoothest than any other version, and that comes from having dual-booted between Windows 7 and Windows 10 on my desktop, I can notice the differences.

 

[Incineroar]

Aero, it was designed only for touchscreens but Microsoft forced it to everyone with Windows 8 which made a lot of people angry.

Aero debuted in Windows Vista and was basically perfected in 7 - it was the glass-like look that was present in the user interface. 8/8.1 didn't have Aero, they used a tile-based approach that was initially referred to as "Metro" internally at MS, and was later publicly called "Modern UI Style," but Aero returned in 10. The reason people hated 8 was because it was basically designed to work with a touchscreen but not everyone had one, and it was incredibly janky to use with a mouse only.

The first computer with Windows that I used was our home computer running XP. It was a pretty solid OS for its time, but as Vista came out it began to show its flaws, and when 7 came out, you'd be a fool to keep using XP at that point. My first laptop had Windows 8 on it, but once 10's preview builds came out I tried using it on another device and really enjoyed it. Once Windows 10 dropped, I installed it on all the devices I had that supported it, it was a significant improvement over 8 and 10 is what 8 really should have been - especially because Windows 8 was extremely touchscreen-based and it really just didn't work without a touchscreen. I keep using Windows purely because it's familiar to me, and it's the most accessible for me, although I do have some use cases for Linux, so I keep that around for the odd project or if I need a break from Windows for a bit.

 

[Mewtwolover]

Aero debuted in Windows Vista and was basically perfected in 7 - it was the glass-like look that was present in the user interface. 8/8.1 didn't have Aero, they used a tile-based approach that was initially referred to as "Metro" internally at MS, and was later publicly called "Modern UI Style," but Aero returned in 10. The reason people hated 8 was because it was basically designed to work with a touchscreen but not everyone had one, and it was incredibly janky to use with a mouse only.

Thanks for the information, I fixed my post.

 

[Uecil]

I didn't choose at first. My very first set up was Windows vista. My father set it up with me, before changing it to Windows 7.
I really enjoyed using Windows 7 a lot. It was one of my favourite operating systems, i had used so far. I have used MAC computers before (at University, school etc) and couldn't get use to it. Just wasn't my thing.
They had a lot of cool features on Windows 7, when I was a teenager. So it was fun to play around with them.
However, I now use Windows 10 and continue to do so.
I do like some of the changes, that do help to run specific programmes/software/apps.