DescentBB

While building new comp., I want to upgrade from win xp. Win 7 is what is available now. With win 8 coming out this fall (maybe) should I stick with win xp for now or get win 7. I don't want to buy 2 OS so close together but need something better than xp and inherant ram limitations. So is win 8 vastly better than win 7 or only a little bit.?

Don't wait around for 8, there is no guarantee it will make the current release schedule and it is a fairly significant departure from the classic windows interface. It won't have a start menu at all, it won't load to the desktop by default, and the primary interface will be designed for touch screens. What Microsoft is attempting to do is unify all types of devices under Windows 8 so it will be running on smart phones, tablets and desktop PCs with no difference between them.

When a linux distribution recently tried the move to a touch screen interface, a non desktop UI called Unity, people died. Might be worse for Windows 8.

If your primary purpose is touchscreen use then you might want to wait. I personally wouldn't wait win7pro x64 is your logical choice. (OEM139.99)

Download the public win 8 beta if you want to give it a whirl, unless having no start button will make you panic

Don't bother waiting for Win 8. If history (of Microsoft's OS versions) has taught us anything, it's this:

1. Almost any new MS OS that includes a bunch of major changes will always be full of problems just out the gate. It will only become OK after SP1 or SP2 and even then remain problem prone. Examples: Windows 3.0, Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows ME, Windows Vista. NOBODY truly liked any of those except Windows 2000 which needed SP4 to finally be alright. Windows 95 was an exception (IMHO).

2. The next OS version (the version that is a revamped version of a major change implementing OS version) is much better but will still have several problems until SP1 at least. Examples: Windows 98 which came after Windows 95, Windows XP (after Windows 2000), Windows 7 (came after nasty Windows Vista). All three were/are good OS versions, but needed a crappy predecessor first.

Windows 8 is another "major changes" OS version, and is expected to be a "game changer" which means it will most likely be complete rubbish just out the door. ... and it's still a bit away.

Don't bother waiting. If it turns out to be good, you can wait until SP1 and get it with the "post release fixes" and it most likely will run on the same hardware you got anyway, so upgrading should be easy ... when Win 8 is eventually ready.

I still haven't managed to upgrade the family's box from Vista (ugh), and I'm still stuck on XP for lack of a real reason to upgrade. I have some catching up to do.

If you're not into the "new generation" of tech gizmos (smartphones and tablets), especially if you've had many years of experience on desktop PCs, are used to them and would find a significant overhaul to be a nuisance, then I would seriously recommend Windows 7 over waiting for 8. While the latter improves some things for desktop users, they're mostly incremental, and the learning curve is going to be quite significant.

As Bubbalou points out, there is a beta available if you want to take a look at it to figure out if it's your kind of thing.

I remember quite a few years ago (before Vista release) there was a talk about a "Blackcomb" release that would overhaul the way people use computers - while that nomenclature dropped by the wayside quite some time ago it's more or less what Windows 8 is. 7 might turn out to be the last big purely "WIMP" release... for better or worse.

OK I got the win 7 upgrade. While reading requirements one of them was to back up everything. Well I don't relish backing up anything so I thought I could simply create a new partition on my 1 terabyte drive and load it on there. Then copy stuff over. Is this do-able ?

Short answer: Yes. Just be careful not to install Win7 to your backup partition, of course.

Oh, and I'd suggest staying away from the upgrade path. If you boot from the Win7 upgrade disc, you can still do it as a clean install by formatting the partition first (there's a tool for that in the "choose where to install Windows" dialog toward the beginning of the process).

No, I'm not waiting for the new operating system. I already bought Windows 7 and love it.