tkcas01 wrote:
I don't normally ask technology questions on here, but the good cross section of folks probably has some good insights...
My Mom is 82 years young and her computer just died. Over the years she has gone from Vista to XP to Win7. Most new computers come with Windows 8.1 and 10 will be out later this year.
Thing is, the last couple of years she has gotten increasingly less interested in learning new things. I tend to be her "tech support" remotely and also have Win7 with no plans to upgrade.
Question is, other than the Desktop layout on Windows 8, is there really that much difference once you start running familiar apps? She mainly uses Thunderbird for email, Internet Explorer, and a little Office 2010 here and there.
Wondering if we should let her give a go on Windows 8.1, or to downgrade the new system to Win7 before installing/configuring all her apps.
I'm 70 and use Windows 7. I will not be going to Windows 8, 8.1 or 10. I tried 8 and 8.1 and didn't like it. I see nothing in Windows 10 that I find worth the change.
We old folks are adverse to change for the sake of change. If any of the other flavors of Windows offered me something worth while I would give more consideration to them, but they don't.
My opinion is to do your Mom a favor and don't frustrate her with a change as drastic as Windows 8. I really don't know how you would upgrade a Windows 8.1 system to Windows 7 as MS is no longer selling a license for Win 7 Premium. (Yes, I said upgrade to Win 7)
As has been said HP is still selling systems with Windows 7 Professional, I just bought one and waiting for delivery. I will be replacing the 13 year old XP system that my wife is using with the Win 7 I'm using now. It was a fight to get her to change but I promised that except for the faster speed she will be able to do the same things she likes to do.
This brings a question to mind. I don't know what system your Win 7 is but it may be a good time for you to get a new system and give yours to your Mom. The one I have now is a dual core AMD and my new one is a HP Envy with a 4th Generation Intel Core i7-4790 processor quad-core 3.6GHz, 8MB Shared Cache, 8 GB RAM, 1 TB HDD, which I managed to get for a very reasonable price. On the other hand maybe you would be happy with a new 8.1 system with a free upgrade to win10 when it's released..
As soon as 10 is released or the stock runs out Windows 7 will be gone unless you buy a refurbished system.
By the way, good for your Mom and still using a computer and good for you to help her with your support. You're a good Kid! ;)
on Edit:
I just noticed that some one posted that a friend purchased a Win 7 license, or at least the Install. It is probably an OEM and I would be very careful in purchasing something like this. A lot of these things being sold can not be activated on MS because they are not Genuine and may be a pirated copy.
