Windows 8 vs. Windows 7

Neil79

Neil79

Neil79

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http://www.techspot.com/review/561-windows8-vs-windows7/

Most of the other tests saw little to no difference between the two operating systems. This was especially true for the gaming benchmarks, but most surprising on the IE tests which we figured would have shown a big advantage for IE10, but not so.Both AMD and Nvidia seem to be on top of their drivers for Windows 8 from day zero, as we were able to achieve the same level of performance in Windows 8 as we did in Windows 7 using the GeForce GTX 670 and the Radeon HD 6570.

From a performance standpoint Windows 8 appears to offer a solid foundation from the get-go. Although there are only a few select areas where it is faster than Windows 7, we are pleased that it's able to match it everywhere else. Looking beyond benchmarks, Windows 8 appears more polished than Windows 7, even if you plan to live on the desktop and aren't too fond of the Start screen, general usage is smoother and appears to be faster on Windows 8, which I found most noticeable on our somewhat underpowered Athlon II X4 system. If anything, it's a great start, now the Metro/Modern style will have to prove itself as a cross-platform OS that marries desktop, laptop and tablet PCs.
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Good guide here, was going to post it in the other threads but felt this important enough for people to discuss without being lost. I for one feel there is no reason to use windows 8 atleast at this current time, more especially as i'm an ssd user boot times hardly matter anymore.
 
It seems there is little reason to upgrade for the sake of new features, but it is good to know that the next time I want to format and start all over I can upgrade to Win 8 without any fears of there being problems.
 
Useful article thanks for posting it. I will try installing Windows 8 on a separate machine and get used to it before putting it on my main pc.
 
Will Windows 8 really be 8? Just wondered because Windows 7's kernel was version 6.1.

Will it still have the hybrid quick launch / task bar from 7? I really liked that. Everything on 1 bar and no need for desktop icons.
 
Monserrat said:
Will Windows 8 really be 8? Just wondered because Windows 7's kernel was version 6.1.

Will it still have the hybrid quick launch / task bar from 7? I really liked that. Everything on 1 bar and no need for desktop icons.
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Version 6.2 I believe, and yes the taskbar is there. I would actually say its essential given that the start menu is now gone. I definitely have a lot more apps pinned compared to Win 7.
 
Definitely 6.2. I don't think they want to increment the major number as it causes compatibility issues with a lot of software that checks the OS and looks for <=6.x
 
If I go with 8, I'll definitely still be heavily using Rocket Dock...

I'm not sure how I feel about the lack of the start menu though, although I guess to be fair, I tend to search for Programs not on Rocket dock...

kd
 
ChileanLlama said:
Definitely 6.2. I don't think they want to increment the major number as it causes compatibility issues with a lot of software that checks the OS and looks for <=6.x
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Not at all. They use what's called "semantic versioning" for the kernel. Windows 8 is a minor release from a kernel point of view. Windows NT is a highly mature kernel and so major releases are few and far between these days...
 
NathanE said:
Not at all. They use what's called "semantic versioning" for the kernel. Windows 8 is a minor release from a kernel point of view. Windows NT is a highly mature kernel and so major releases are few and far between these days...
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Accept what you're saying, and agree in the main, but MS have said themselves they have kept to 6.x for the reason I mention.

http://windowsteamblog.com/windows/archive/b/windowsvista/archive/2008/10/14/why-7.aspx

"We learned a lot about using 5.1 for XP and how that helped developers with version checking for API compatibility. We also had the lesson reinforced when we applied the version number in the Windows Vista code as Windows 6.0-- that changing basic version numbers can cause application compatibility issues."
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Actually that just reinforces my point. Semantic versioning is designed for that very purpose and clearly Microsoft only relatively recently discovered it (at least their kernel team).

If you have made no breaking changes to an API then a minor point version release will suffice. If you have made breaking changes to an API then you need to do a major point release.

Vista's NT 6 kernel *did* contain breaking changes (lots of them), including a whole new sound driver and graphics driver model. That's why it ended up being NT 6.0.
 
ChileanLlama said:
You're 75% of the way there if you only use it for Search.

If you do give it a go, just give yourself plenty of time to get used to the changes.
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I tried out the CP, even wrote a review on it for the uni paper...

Having a touchscreen it certainly wasn't bad... but I'm not sure I really want to swipe my fingers all over my screen... guess I could use a stylus... But then I have to be in arm's reach of the screen :S

I don't know, small things bug me about metro... using scrollbars, it doesn't scroll smoothly... how have Microsoft still not worked this out...

This would be fine if you could scroll down, but because metro is a horizontal layout, you can't scroll with your scroll wheel (the current solution, as it tends to go fast enough that I miss the judders...)

There's definitely small things that bug me, but I might upgrade if I can get a student discount on it, especially considering the desktop is pretty much win 7 with me considering the lack of use of the start button...

Oh also whilst we're there... Shutting down is too laborious... Definitely be adding a shutdown button to rocketdock...

kd
 
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