Downgrade plan for Windows 7 PCs | Hacker News Reader

Downgrade plan for Windows 7 PCs

news.bbc.co.uk

10 pointsCalmQuiet15 comments

Windows XP, released to consumers in 2001, was also granted a lifeline to ensure that it could be used on so-called netbooks - cut-down net-capable laptops that are proving very popular.

What amazes me is how good XP really was. When I look back at what I was using as "Desktop Linux" in 2001...

Aside from a few security enhancements along the way, XP seems to be evolution apogee for the MS Windows line. Don't get me wrong, the Windows 7 beta looks good, but my first thought seeing it after Vista was "ahh finally, it works as well as XP!"

I think you memory is a bit selective. XP is good now after 3 service packs, and MB of upgrades. Actually it's not really good, just mature. Everyone seemed to hated it before SP2 came out. Before then security was really, really bad. If you were to put a pre-SP2 copy directly on the internet, it would probably compromised within the hour. And then Vista came out, your apps/hardware couldn't run (which is much better now BTW), and suddenly XP is the greatest thing in the world outside of OS X.

Even still, SP2 was released in 2004. I would (and did) run 2004's Windows over 2009's Ubuntu any day.

Even on a day you don't have a net connection? What would you do, play solitaire and code in notepad? Ubuntu comes packed with goodies.

Ehh, to a degree. Many of the default games are similar to the type that would come bundled with Windows 95. The better games need to be installed (as they would on Windows), and even then they're mostly just OK.

Robots is the only bundled Ubuntu game that really interests me. Chip's Challenge on Windows 95 rocked.

You had to install chips challenge. And there's always wine... but Ubuntu also has a "Chips Challenge Engine Emulator" that if you had the original copy of the game, you can play on Ubuntu too :)

I actually prefer Ubuntu, but I guess that's a matter of taste.

A few security enhancements may have been an understatement. Security was really bad. They basically had Win95 security in an internet world and it caught them off guard.

I was thinking more about its usability and basic functionality. It ran on wide range of hardware and grew very well with the hardware. One can still load it up be quite happy with the user experience even all of these years later.

And yes, my memory is selective. I started running linux with slackware (Kernel 2.0.0) and never had any windows boxes directly on the internet; always behind linux boxes. I always was a little mystified by everyone's horror stories.

This is common practice from Microsoft.

From Windows XP EULA: Use of Previous Version Of Software. In lieu of installing and using Microsoft Windows XP Professional SOFTWARE, you may install, use, access, display and run ONE of the following versions: Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional, Microsoft Windows NT Workstation version 4.0 or Microsoft Windows 98 (Second Edition) (”Downgrade Software”) on the COMPUTER, provided (1) you agree that Downgrade Software support will NOT be provided hereunder by Manufacturer, MS or Microsoft Corporation, their affiliates or subsidiaries: (2) you agree that neither Manufacturer, MS nor Microsoft Corporation will provide you with the Downgrade Software or media; (3) you may not loan, rent, lease, lend or otherwise transfer the CD or back-up copy of Microsoft Windows XP Professional to another end user, except as otherwise provided in the transfer provisions of this EULA….

Can anyone think of another operating system that has users pining for the ability to trade the new version in for the old?

I seem to remember a lot of large institutions and techies kept using Windows 2000 for years after Windows XP came out.

I was in a large up-to-date teaching hospital the other day, and all their networked PC stations were running Win 2000 with some third-party specialized hospital information systems software.

I'm on a project writing browser-based pharmacy management software for hospitals. I have to make it work in IE6 because later IE version don't run on Windows 2000.

IE6 - Kill it with fire!

Might be a pain for IT to replace with Firefox, but is doable. I did this for a 60-year-old and then skinned it just like IE so the difference was barely noticeable.

I guess I meant a different operating system (OSX, NeXT, Be, Linux, etc.) not just a different version.

I know of many large companies that stayed with Windows 2000 until it was clear that their only upgrade path didn't include Vista.

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