HP Warns Customers Not To Downgrade Win 8 PCs to Win 7

[CaedenV]

[citation][nom]Cirdecus[/nom]Exactly this. They've been the worst tech company when it comes to drives. Their printer drives are horrendous. Half the drivers on their website for supported products say "use windows update" lol.This is a pretty bold move for them to go this low.[/citation]
PCL drivers are great on HP products and will give you 90+% of the functionality without the hassle of their terribly written drivers.

 

[fuzzion]

Win8 aka Win ME 2

 

[shqtth]

HP is gay, business machines should not have windows 8 on it, and its a media OS.

 

[Onus]

A coworker part-times at Staples, where they've switched to selling all Windows 8 stuff. He says they've had quite a few returns.
HP is such a mixed bag. On one hand, I got absolutely flawless tech support when I worked on my wife's friend's HP laptop which had a failed HDD; absolutely minimal hassle, no script-readers, just a replacement drive (and recovery media) sent right away, under warranty. OTOH, their Universal Printing drivers are a Universal Failure. Relying on Windows Update for driver support is also an abdication, as heavily-firewalled sites are SOL.
It's a mess.

 

[cookoy]

Downgrading from a newer os to an older one is generally not a good idea. I'd rather just take the time to learn how to use win8 instead to spending time downgrading it to win7 and face potential issues later on. Win8 does seem alien at first, but it's not that hard to figure out how things work. Learning new things is a lifelong process. Win8 is just one of those new things.

 

[safcmanfr]

[citation][nom]DRosencraft[/nom]This isn't a Win 8 problem, this is a HP problem. HP is making a bad decision not supporting 7 longer. I mean, I'm fine with 8, but seriously, it's only been out for what? Two weeks? I think Win 8 is fine, but come on, what idiot thinks that everyone should switch in just 2 weeks. It's almost like HP is trying to kill itself off. There is absolutely no reason to rush to abandon 7 so quickly, especially when we know that 7 itself will still be receiving support from MSFT for at least a little while longer. Just a bad move.[/citation]

umm, I think you misunderstood the statement.

If the PC was bought after October 26th (and therefore with Win8 installed) then you will not get support if you downgrade them to Win7.

However, any PCs bought with Win7 preinstalled will still get support.

 

[jaquith]

This is a consumer issue and not a business problem.

According to the FAQ, the company fully supports downgrades for commercial-based machines.

HP's business lines particularly their EliteBook are shipping with Windows 7 Pro -- "(available through downgrade rights from Windows 8 Pro)"

Businesses won't adopt Windows 8 for some period of time as many of them still rely on Windows XP for older application support, and Windows 7 is slowly being adopted. Windows 8 ships with IE 10 and cannot be downgraded to IE 9 or earlier. The problem, many corporate sites relay on features no longer available and the desktop & 'metro' IE are different which poses even more problems. Short of pointing out all of the problems this technet summaries many of the changes - http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh846773.aspx

 

[shqtth]

[citation][nom]DRosencraft[/nom]This isn't a Win 8 problem, this is a HP problem. HP is making a bad decision not supporting 7 longer. I mean, I'm fine with 8, but seriously, it's only been out for what? Two weeks? I think Win 8 is fine, but come on, what idiot thinks that everyone should switch in just 2 weeks. It's almost like HP is trying to kill itself off. There is absolutely no reason to rush to abandon 7 so quickly, especially when we know that 7 itself will still be receiving support from MSFT for at least a little while longer. Just a bad move.[/citation]


Yes HP is stupid. Just another reason why a company like HP killed Web OS. The company is run by morons.

 

[hate machine]

Don't see the big fuss about Win 8. Seemed pretty legit and awesome to me. Have it on my Surface and on both my home pcs. Hell my company which is currently making the transition to Win 7 is already looking about jumping past that and we are working on new WinPE Images of Win 8 and training programs.

 

[shqtth]

More business for me, more business for levono. I forgot I can be an authorized reseller for lenovo. sound like a good idea

Customers hate being forced to change their OS. customers like to be able to make decisions on what software to install and who to buy it, hence why people like an open OS. Force people and they will run to another company/os.

 

[redeye]

move the mouse to the lower left hand corner... and BOOM start icon appears, allowing you to get to the start page... or the windows key...
alt-f4 to turn off then computer...

yes a bit of a learning curve, and it is not that awful, but I am going to stick with win7 (because for now, it has a warm-and-fuzzy felling to it)... when that is gone i'll boot up the 14.99 sale win8 i have installed and proceed.

 

[bllue]

Well fair enough. Companies shouldn't be forced to support old OS. Should a company be required to support Vista, XP drivers if youv'e downgraded from the more recent OS? No.

 

[Guest]

Wow, there's alot of Windows 8 / MS fans boys on Tom's these days.

Anyone who switches to a new OS as soon as it comes out as their primary OS is a freaking moron! Plain and simple. So all you Winblows 8 fan boys out there, take a hike!..... at least until we get Winblows 8 Sp1, or Sp2... and the start button back.

I would never buy from HP anyway and at the company I work for, we always format the HP boxes anyways before use and load our own XP/7 images on them. Anyone that uses a pre-loaded OS from HP probably shouldn't be using a computer in the first place. Can we say Bloatware 101?

My 2 cents

 

[drwho1]

What do they mean by "downgrade"?
/sarcasm

 

[RaQin]

So frakking what HP...HP service is crap anyways, HP driver-sets are always lacking, and HP willingness to really get behind Win 8 is likely to be the same as it was to get behind HP's own tablet...If the track records holds true, HP will be the first company to revert to Win7.

 

[bystander]

There is no need to overreact. This message was not meant for most of you. Tech people can still use Win 7 just fine. You just won't get assistance from HP if you run into troubles.

 

[bystander]

[citation][nom]JacekRing[/nom]I was building a PC around the time Vista came out, I went to the store and purchased a copy of Vista Pro (Was $299 I believe). Installed it, and was so pissed off after 3 days that I reformated my hard drive, threw Vista in the trash and went and bought XP Pro (Was like $159 if memory serves) and installed that.The fact that you use Vista, and are OK with it. Well that just shows that you know nothing about computers, and should not be commenting on whether or not to use Windows 8.I have not tried Windows 8, I'm waiting for SP1 to be released then I'll give it a try. Should be building a new gaming system by then anyway, my old gaming system (i7 960, 8 gigs of ram, dual GeForce 660TI cards in SLI, 64 gig SSD) will become my new workstation I use for work. I'm self employed.[/citation]
Just because you had 1 bad experience with Vista, does not mean that others had bad problems with Vista. I used Vista for years, and had far fewer crashes and problems than I had with XP. Keep in mind, at release there were more problems than a few months down the road, after manufacturers got their drivers in order. The other problem some people had was not having enough RAM for Vista.

You almost have no experience with Vista, according to what you wrote. So your opinion means less to me than someone who has more experience.

 

[lp231]

[citation][nom]DRosencraft[/nom]This isn't a Win 8 problem, this is a HP problem. HP is making a bad decision not supporting 7 longer. I mean, I'm fine with 8, but seriously, it's only been out for what? Two weeks? I think Win 8 is fine, but come on, what idiot thinks that everyone should switch in just 2 weeks. It's almost like HP is trying to kill itself off. There is absolutely no reason to rush to abandon 7 so quickly, especially when we know that 7 itself will still be receiving support from MSFT for at least a little while longer. Just a bad move.[/citation]

If you think HP is bad, ever looked up Sony driver support?
Their drivers are more strict such as if you have a laptop running win 7 32bit and you want 64bit.
And if there is no 64bit drivers for it, then you're out of luck as the 32bit drivers will not work.
Their installer some how first the OS you're running and then if it's 32bit, the installer continues. If not, the installer stops.

 

[ddpruitt]

All HP is saying is that it won't support PC's running a non standard configuration. Your still free to do what you want with you PC, just don't expect them to pay people to help you with. HP like other OEMs is moving on to an OS that MS will support for them, rather than yesterday's child. Time to move on people.

The people whining about this have obviously never taken support calls of any type before (or they really sucked at it). Ever spend an hour trying to fix someone's computer over the phone with no success? Then you find out they did something that completely changes the picture? That's what HP is trying to avoid. Who knows what kind of compatibility issues will exist when you downgrade and use driver's designed for something else.

Do you expect HP to provide tech support for your home-built system? Same thing. Keep the machine in a configuration they have experience with and they'll help you, don't and you're on your own, same as always.

 

[jimmysmitty]

[citation][nom]rantoc[/nom]So what they are saying is that they don't want extra support calls and because of that the customers are encouraged to not use their PC as they want.Gotta love the company's those days![/citation]

They are warning the customers. A company cannot gurantee anything someones does to their machine. Here at my shop, a local business, we do the same. If a customer buys a PC from us and installs their own OS, we don't support it since we didn't do the work and cannot gurantee it. Same with hardware.

I understand from a companies perspective and it was the same with Vista/7. I have done so many OS reinstalls and drievr support is very limited to the OSes they had on there. I had one Sony Vaio laptop that had Vista drivers only for 32bit and most drivers for laptops are proprietary.

Still 8 is not nearly as bad as people were making it out to be and overall I have been enjoying it.

 

[lp231]

[citation][nom]JustPosting73[/nom]Wow, there's alot of Windows 8 / MS fans boys on Tom's these days. Anyone who switches to a new OS as soon as it comes out as their primary OS is a freaking moron! Plain and simple. So all you Winblows 8 fan boys out there, take a hike!..... at least until we get Winblows 8 Sp1, or Sp2... and the start button back.I would never buy from HP anyway and at the company I work for, we always format the HP boxes anyways before use and load our own XP/7 images on them. Anyone that uses a pre-loaded OS from HP probably shouldn't be using a computer in the first place. Can we say Bloatware 101?My 2 cents[/citation]
Idiot, there is the beta and release preview. It's been out for more than a few months. Users that jumped onto Windows 8 mostly likely already tried those before getting the RTM.
I used the beta as well as RP and after checking out tutorials (which didn't take more than half hour), I was able to use Win 8 like it was Win 7. So with that, I'm going to get Win 8.

 

[jimmysmitty]

[citation][nom]JustPosting73[/nom]Wow, there's alot of Windows 8 / MS fans boys on Tom's these days. Anyone who switches to a new OS as soon as it comes out as their primary OS is a freaking moron! Plain and simple. So all you Winblows 8 fan boys out there, take a hike!..... at least until we get Winblows 8 Sp1, or Sp2... and the start button back.I would never buy from HP anyway and at the company I work for, we always format the HP boxes anyways before use and load our own XP/7 images on them. Anyone that uses a pre-loaded OS from HP probably shouldn't be using a computer in the first place. Can we say Bloatware 101?My 2 cents[/citation]

Most consumers are not anywhere near tech savvy, therefore they use what it comes with as they don't know any better.

As for your first comment, are you serious? Windows 7 was a great OS even before SP1. Probably one of the first from MS that didn't really need any SPs to make anything better, unlike XP/Vista. 8 is pretty much 7 SP1 SE with Metro.

As for the Start Button, I do miss it and still find myself going to it it when its not there but overall I can work pretty fast in 8 still and IE10 alone is a pretty nice jump from IE9 (can't wait till it comes out on 7).

 

[thillntn]

OEM products are made to run a specific OS, if you want to build your own pc to run other OS, just do a little research, build a clone and run whatever you want. You will have to do your own support on it,but it should be a better experience than a limited OEM product(depending on what you buy and how you configure it). I call HP Harry Potter, cause it is magic when they work right(in my opinion).

 

[bigdragon]

HP is warning its users not to downgrade to Windows 7? Looks like an upgrade to me. I don't want my desktop or laptop behaving like a tablet! I already have a tablet that behaves that way! Metro is far more annoying than Flip 3D or UAC in Vista. HP should treat its home customers the same it treats its business customers. I will be shocked if their sales don't slip as a result of Windows 8 just like what happened with Vista.

 

[Guest]

Bor business customers that require Quickbooks Pro..as of 2 days ago..there is no compatible version that works with windows 8. Even the 2013 version is not.