Microsoft Makes Fun of Older IE versions To Promote IE9

It's not that Microsoft writes terrible software, it's that they deliberately cripple things like HTML5 which threaten to establish a new non-proprietary non-Windows platform as the standard to which all software will be written.

Disclaimer: I work for Microsoft. Also, ;)

Yup, exactly: Ashtray in the car is full? Well buy a new car then! (I'm exaggerating, but you get the point: most stuff is built shoddy and unrepairable - for you to buy new shoddy and unrepairable stuff to replace it)

I know there are some things that Windows 7 does better, and many things it does different, but the chart doesn't include anything I'd consider a compelling reason to switch, based on the usages we see.

From the chart:

Find files and programs instantly.

People don't use Windows search to find their files and programs. They go to their desktop. Or to "My Documents" (or "Documents"). They go to that one folder where they always dump everything. And then they scroll through it and pretty quickly find what they're looking for because it's still in the same place it's been every other time they've gone looking for it.

Open programs and files you use most in a click or two.

The programs and files that people use most are always on their desktop, regardless of whether it's Windows XP or Windows 7.

Connect to any available wireless network in just three clicks.

Of all the complaints we hear about using a computer, this isn't one of them, except when the wireless network was incorrectly set up and the WEP key was entered into the hash boxes, which confuses the hell out of XP depending on the contents of the hash. (XP will sometimes think the wireless network is expecting a security certificate and will complain that it doesn't have one.)

Navigate lots of open windows more quickly.

This is a power user problem. Most of the people we work with have just a few windows open: email (Outlook, typically), a web browser (Chrome, if they're one of our clients), and then either Word or Quickbooks. Typically.

Easily share files, photos, and music on your home network.

Ha ha. People share photos on Facebook now. Very few of our home clients have anything that any reasonable computer nerd would consider a "home network".

Print to a single printer from any PC in the house.

I literally don't understand what Microsoft is trying to claim here. Windows XP works fine with sharing printers, and besides, I think most printers sold now have network capabilities built-in.

Manage printers, cameras, and other devices better.

Better how? Again, not a problem that people actually seem to have, and certainly not something that 7 does so much better that it's got a reputation for being "compelling" here.

Organize lots of files, documents, and photos effortlessly.

Again, how? Organization comes down to the user's habits, not the operating system. Last I saw, Windows 7 still used the same files-and-folders paradigm that XP did. Am I missing something huge here? Are files "taggable" now?

Built-in defense against spyware and other malware.

Funny, that still hasn't stopped Windows 7 from being infected. Oh, and Windows Defender was pushed to XP as an update ages ago.

Help keep your data private and secure.

Again, HOW? What does 7 do here that is fundamentally different from XP?

Manage and monitor your children’s PC use.

OK, this has actually come up, and Windows 7 does have some nice features for this. However, there have also been plenty of third-party tools for doing the same with Windows XP.

Designed for faster sleep and resume.

Who cares?

Improved power management for longer battery life.

More dependent upon hardware than software, and I see almost as many power cords as laptops every time my Go club meets at Starbucks.

Create and share movies and slide shows in minutes.

Amongst our clients, the people who actually do this are exclusively Mac users.

Get the most realistic game graphics and vivid multimedia.

...If there are no XP-compatible drivers for your video card, that is.

Stream music, photos, and videos around your house.

We have maybe two or three clients out of several hundred that do this kind of stuff. One uses Apple TV, I don't know what the others use. Again, not exactly a must-have for a lot of people.

Connect to your home PC media library while you're away.

People have been doing this since long before 7.

Touch and tap instead of point and click.

Oh yay?

Well, that's a nice resource. IMHO, 70% of that list is "improved this and that", which is understandable; another 20% are actual reasons which would make me consider an upgrade, and the remaining 10% is just mumbo-jumbo ("print from any computer in the house" - I mean, was this point left in the feature list since Win98?). I agree that 64-bit support is practically nil for XP, and its security record is horrifying; this was much improved in later OSes. I guess it's a "something for everyone" kind of comparison :)

I'm not being obtuse, I'm trying to drive home a point that seems to be impossible for those of us who live behind a computer to understand: that for many people, the computer is a tool, just like their TV, just like their microwave, just like their car, just like their wrench set.

They want to use the same tool for as long as they possibly can, to get the maximum value out of it. They do not understand why computers are the only tools which seem to need constant attention and maintenance, even more than cars.

And I don't really think they're wrong, either. If anything, I think that the mobile phone and tablet markets are proof that computers are becoming more like tools, not less. So why can't we -- the programmers and developers and designers and engineers behind these tools -- accept that?

We need to stop demanding that people treat computers completely differently from all of their other tools.

Well, then how come every other new browser runs on XP, with all the nifty new features like WebSockets, if it's impossible? Hint hint, nudge nudge.

That's a limited OS (legally, not technically) - an evaluation version, to be precise. "Don't want to buy Win7 (right now)? Buy Win8 (in a little while)!" just substitutes one expenditure for another (IANAL, but it doesn't look like you could use an evaluation version of Windows for an unlimited time).

But getting to try IE10 and IE10metro is useful, I agree.