Is Windows 7 still the most beautiful OS by MS today?

[Rafael Mestdag]

As in aesthetically beautiful? Absolutely not, the interface is dated. Stable? of course.

I don't think the interface is dated. The interface is still very practical and in many ways a lot more practical than Windows 8.1 and 10. Windows 7 can still handle practically any sort of Windows user from the heavy gamer to the ones who do heavy video editing and even some programming.

As for its beauty, yes, I meant aesthetically beautiful, to me, Windows 7 is still the most beautiful OS by MS, in second place, in my opinion, comes Vista then XP.

When it comes to visual and interface I believe what happened with Windows after 7 was that MS tried to adapt to the tablets and phones interface and still have the usability and beauty of Windows 7. So far, I don't think MS has achieved it, Windows 10 still looks and feels more like a phone's OS than a desktop or laptop OS.

 

[USAFRet]

What's funny to me is this obsession over the OS interface.
Except for the incredibly rare instances of touching Metro, Win 7, 8.1, and 10 all look pretty much the same. I see my desktop.

And I use applications, not the OS. My main graphics application looks 99% the same on Win 10 as it does on Win 8.1. And acts 100% the same.

To each his own, i guess.

 

[Darkbreeze]

The bottom line too, is that using any of the MANY shell skins/interfaces out there, ANY of the OS's can look like, and have the functional menus/behaviors, of any of the other OS's. It's really a moot point. SOME kind of shell skin is going to be used no matter what. It's all called up by way of specific registry settings, and the programs that configure changes to those can make any OS look and act like any other OS, whilst still maintaining the core functionality of itself. So, use whichever you like and make it look however you like. That's all.

 

[Rafael Mestdag]

The bottom line too, is that using any of the MANY shell skins/interfaces out there, ANY of the OS's can look like, and have the functional menus/behaviors, of any of the other OS's. It's really a moot point. SOME kind of shell skin is going to be used no matter what. It's all called up by way of specific registry settings, and the programs that configure changes to those can make any OS look and act like any other OS, whilst still maintaining the core functionality of itself. So, use whichever you like and make it look however you like. That's all.

Even with the mods available on the net I don't think you can make 8.1 or 10 look as good as 7, even when you get the aero on 8.1 or 10 you still get the rough edges.

 

[LukeFatwalker]

People like Windows 7 now because it's stable compared to Windows 10, and Windows 8 was a mess and a half, but eventually it evened out. These OS' are all cyclical. Once MS nails the OS, they release a new POS OS that early adopters love and cynics are like 'It's no better than Windows [place OS here]'. In a few years people will be debating Windows 10 or Windows 11.

 

[dudeman509]

I understand the caching but the way I measure RAM usage is fresh boot. In Linux it depends on cached stuff and how much RAM you have, after a while. The more memory, the more is cached.
I did install Antergos with OpenBox couple days ago, I like it. Triple boot.
I like testing stuff out. Windows does not really allow that, in any meaningful way.

Win 7 is my favorite if I didn't say earlier. Gadgets the main reason. Why those got removed, I don't understand.

You do know that Windows "prefetches" frequently used stuff into memory as it loads, right?

 

[Lee-m]

I understand the caching but the way I measure RAM usage is fresh boot.

That would have been a valid way of looking at in in 1995

These days if you have loads of really free ram, your OS is doing something wrong. Windows and Linux alike. Just because windows 'uses' more right after boot is meaningless. If you have more it will use more. If you have less its just as happy.

 

[mamasan2000]

I understand the caching but the way I measure RAM usage is fresh boot. In Linux it depends on cached stuff and how much RAM you have, after a while. The more memory, the more is cached.
I did install Antergos with OpenBox couple days ago, I like it. Triple boot.
I like testing stuff out. Windows does not really allow that, in any meaningful way.

Win 7 is my favorite if I didn't say earlier. Gadgets the main reason. Why those got removed, I don't understand.

You do know that Windows "prefetches" frequently used stuff into memory as it loads, right?

You do know that that is the first thing I turn off, right? Superfetch, prefetch, all that junk.


I'd like to use my RAM for programs, not for the OS.

 

[Rafael Mestdag]

I understand the caching but the way I measure RAM usage is fresh boot. In Linux it depends on cached stuff and how much RAM you have, after a while. The more memory, the more is cached.
I did install Antergos with OpenBox couple days ago, I like it. Triple boot.
I like testing stuff out. Windows does not really allow that, in any meaningful way.

Win 7 is my favorite if I didn't say earlier. Gadgets the main reason. Why those got removed, I don't understand.

You do know that Windows "prefetches" frequently used stuff into memory as it loads, right?

You do know that that is the first thing I turn off, right? Superfetch, prefetch, all that junk.


I'd like to use my RAM for programs, not for the OS.

Do you turn it off because you use an SSD or what?

 

[dudeman509]

I understand the caching but the way I measure RAM usage is fresh boot. In Linux it depends on cached stuff and how much RAM you have, after a while. The more memory, the more is cached.
I did install Antergos with OpenBox couple days ago, I like it. Triple boot.
I like testing stuff out. Windows does not really allow that, in any meaningful way.

Win 7 is my favorite if I didn't say earlier. Gadgets the main reason. Why those got removed, I don't understand.

You do know that Windows "prefetches" frequently used stuff into memory as it loads, right?

You do know that that is the first thing I turn off, right? Superfetch, prefetch, all that junk.


I'd like to use my RAM for programs, not for the OS.

Why bother?

 

[SKIPPY PB]

XP then 7, then the rest in my book.

 

[JohnsonMcGee]

I've got a Windows 7 desktop and a Win 10 Laptop. IMO 10 is the 'prettier' of the two but the interface changes still took some getting used to from 7. The only thing bad about 10 I've encountered are some questionable privacy policies regarding Cortana and such and the lack of ability to set updates to manual download. Some unsung perks to 10 that I've noticed are how easy it is to get new peripherals working, driver installation is much quicker and more reliable than for 7.

 

[SKIPPY PB]

I tried Windows 10 Tech Preview and liked it bugs aside but still like the fact that XP and 7 feel more like driving a stick car where 8 and 10 feel like driving a sequential manual gearbox, basically no clutch pedal.

I hate when computer try to think for you. The tiles thing with Windows 8 I will never get used to or like. Its nice on an xbox or if I was 14 and all I wanted to do was play games. Win 10 was a decent mix, would you all say it is worth the free upgrade?

And if I did the free upgrade would I be able to install Win 7 on another HDD in the same rig and use the same license key to activate it?

 

[Rafael Mestdag]

So you think its an UP grade then?
interesting. As is motorycle esq car gear box.
No, you lose the 7 license key after 30 days.

I guess it will be an actual UP grade in a couple of years time, until then Windows 7 and even 8.1 will be better, at least 8.1 is more stable.

 

[Rafael Mestdag]

I have been under the impression W8, W8.1 and W10 use less r.a.m., less cpu, to achieve the same thing. Gaming benchmarks are supposed to show an improvement. Can anybody confirm or deny this?

I've never seen a remarkable difference in gaming performance between 7, 8.1 and 10.

 

[Lee-m]

Nah, if I shut down everything on my humble 8 gig machine (which rarely gets turned off)
I get down to ~ 1.7 gig in use briefly.
Holding browser pages open for hours is an invite to slow ville.

There is a difference between Free and Available. Just like Linux windows will pretty much use all your ram for cache. Check resource monitor, not taskmanager. You'll see most of your ram is in 'Standby' and has data in it.

 

[Luther Bird]

Again it's just my personal take on it, win10's search feature and tiles and all are supposed to be more advanced. Which is fantastic for those who find them helpful, to me it's clutter. I rarely use the search feature, I know where I put my files. Things like tiles and gidgets or widgets or whatever along with cortana can all go straight to the trash file imho. I realize ms tries to be a one size fits most and there's nothing against that. Just like the language packs, it makes windows more of a universal fit for people out of the box. Personally I don't speak 100+ languages so that's all wasted space and bloat when it comes to my personal system.

Well said. I don't want to turn my PC into a phone.