The first of I fear many Windows 7 EWs....

[Shalom]

So what would I get with a computer that's going on 5 years old? Oral sex?

(I don't do modern games, really, and nothing I do use is limited by my hardware.)

For a computer that old, you'd probably want WinFLP (Windows Fundamentals for Legacy PCs). It's a special version of XP that's got most of the bells and whistles taken out (like that damn dog that comes out and wags its tail during file searches). Intent was so that large corporations with thousands of PCs running Win98 could get modern software on them without having to buy thousands of hardware upgrades. The hardware requirements are about the same as Win95OSR2; I ran it for a while on an Abit BH6 with 384MB RAM and a 1.4GHz Celeron, and it was faster than 98 on that machine. Just for the halibut I even installed it on a machine with a 2 gig CF card in lieu of a hard drive, and it worked; the footprint for a full install is about 1.6 gig.

It's not available for sale anywhere, so you would have to download it from, shall we say, alternative distribution channels, but as far as legality is concerned, I think if you have a license for XP you should be able to use this legally as well, similarly to BartPE (which like WinFLP is based on XP Embedded). (IANAsoftwareL)

(It does have a few limitations, e.g. for some reason they forgot to include /dev/null, which I know sounds like a joke, but I'm serious, it's not there. Lack of that device can break some things in strange ways, but you can always add it in the device manager by copying null.sys from another copy of XP...)

[Nohbody]

For a computer that old, you'd probably want WinFLP (Windows Fundamentals for Legacy PCs).

I was mostly joking. With the occasional quirk aside, my installed copy of XP Pro is doing just fine, and I don't really have a reason to change OS.

(And, BTW, while my system isn't new, it's not terminally decrepit, either. Athlon XP 3K+, 2GB RAM, 320GB SATA HD)

[MadMike]

I tried Vista on other people's machines, and hated it. I never thought anything would get me to give up XP, but I've been playing with the beta and release candidate for Win7 and love it. I already have it on pre-order. This is the first time I ever pre-ordered any Windows OS. My first PC came with 3.11, and I didn't get Win95 until after it had been out for over a year. Then I had another one built, with Win98 already installed. Around 2003, I finally upgraded to XP.

I'm not exactly trusting of the upgrade versions, so I always get the EOM versions. Of course, that means I have to buy hardware, but that gave me the perfect excuse to upgrade to quad-core.

[lordlundar]

<looks at all threads where there's a mention of Windows 7>

Isn't it funny how EVERY thread that has a mention of Win7 tends to swing about recommendations toward buying it?

[otakuneko]

I tried 7.

I wasn't impressed. Benefit:Annoyance ratio was way off: 0 apparent benefit to Off-the-Scale annoyance. 7-x64 performed no better on my Phenom than XP-32 did (or the XP-64 I'm now running). I don't understand why people think 7 is the second coming. I actually tolerated Vista more than 7--at least Vista could be made to look and feel more like XP. 7 removes a lot of the "classic" options. Grrr.

[Nohbody]

EOM

End of Machine? Sounds about right for Windows.



(Yeah, I know you meant OEM. Just yanking your chain a bit. )

[Demolition Man]

I tried 7.

I wasn't impressed. Benefit:Annoyance ratio was way off: 0 apparent benefit to Off-the-Scale annoyance. 7-x64 performed no better on my Phenom than XP-32 did (or the XP-64 I'm now running). I don't understand why people think 7 is the second coming. I actually tolerated Vista more than 7--at least Vista could be made to look and feel more like XP. 7 removes a lot of the "classic" options. Grrr.

Most of the classic options are still there. The only one that has been removed entirely is the classic start menu. Everything else from the taskbar to quick launch can be changed/added back to classic with a little work.

[MadMike]

End of Machine? Sounds about right for Windows.



(Yeah, I know you meant OEM. Just yanking your chain a bit. )

*sigh* That's what happens when I post where while I'm hammered.

[lordlundar]

*sigh* That's what happens when I post where while I'm hammered.

But those are the best ones!

[MrsEclipse]

This is the first I've heard of Windows 7. I may need to buy a new computer soon if I can't get this one restored to it's factory original state, and I wasn't looking forward to buying Vista and downgrading to XP (If I can't even factory-restore a PC, how the hell do you expect me to downgrade!) The best thing I found on a Vista was a demo of Purble Place on my bro's compy, and that mysteriously disappeared. I miss it!

Athough all of a sudden [link=http://xkcd.com/528/]this[/link] comic makes a little more sense. Hey, why don't you write an operating system that's just a Hitler and give it to him. He'll probably thank you.