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Ask HN: What are you doing about Windows 7?

5 points by Silhouette ↗ HN
So, RIP Windows 7: 22 July 2009 - 14 January 2020. Or not?

It seems that larger businesses with enterprise-level IT management have mostly been migrating to Windows 10. So have some smaller businesses and home users, perhaps tempted by the offer of a free upgrade, wanting some new functionality that 10 offers, or simply concerned about security and future-proofing if they stay with an old OS that is no longer supported.

It also seems that many other smaller businesses and personal users have not moved to Windows 10. With the usual caveats about accuracy, various sites attempting to track OS market share still have Windows 7 on roughly 1/4 of all desktops with no obvious sign of accelerated migration by December 2019, which translates to hundreds of millions of active users. Possible reasons for this have been much-discussed for as long as Windows 10 has been around, and many of them haven't really changed and remain a concern or even a deal-breaker for some users.

So, what have past or present Windows 7 users among the HN community been doing? Have you willingly (or begrudgingly) upgraded to 10? Have you switched to another platform? Are you planning to stay with 7 for now despite the lack of further support?

6 comments

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Nextgrid
I recommended macOS to my non-tech friends and some made the switch. For the rest, when they only need a browser I've installed Elementary OS on their machine.

My tech friends were already running either macOS or Linux for the most part so I don't have to worry about them. Personally I switched to macOS since Windows 10 was first announced.

forgetfulusr
What does lack of further support mean to a user? Will browsers start breaking? Games stop working? I haven't DLed/installed updates on my Win7 for years now, will this be the same?
Silhouette
What does lack of further support mean to a user?

That's the (m|b)illion dollar question, isn't it?

I'm not sure anyone really knows the answer yet.

a3n
Semi truck cabs often have a communications/GPS/electronic logging terminal called a "Qualcomm" because that's what it says on the bezel.

The ones in my company run Windows XP, and the functional software is by Omnitracs, part of Qualcomm in some way.

The only sense of urgency I've seen for leaving these behind is from the recent debacle at the end of last year, when a huge chunk of truckers were forced to use paper logs for a month or two (eight days max is legal) because of an Omnitracs update related to the GPS rollover back in April. I'm just an end user, so I'm sure I have some details wrong. I also have my paper logs, dutifully kept in case asked for them.

In other words, the software running on the OS is important to users/owners, and which version of Windows is running is probably irrelevant, especially if you're a captive customer.

My understanding is that my company is going to build its own ELDs, based on tablets. Oh. Joy.

a3n
> What are you doing about Windows 7?

Same thing I've been doing for the last ten years or so, using Linux.

ntw1103
I was using Windows 7 for my personal laptop, but switched to Ubuntu a year and a half ago. I have been pretty happy with Ubuntu as a replacement. There was some configuration required, but after that it has been smooth. The only downside I've come across is gaming support. While I've been able to get most games working without much issue, There are a couple of titles that are very unstable, even using Steam's proton. I'm not really a huge gamer, so this isn't a big issue for me. The real test will be switching my mom over. I've already switched her over to using Kdenlive for video editing, and she likes it.