You may have to buy a new PC!

[vasa1]

One of the alleged "revelations" about Win 8 is that a new hardware kit will most likely be needed to experience it.

If true, the transition from XP to Win 7 may be affected.

Companies may give more serious consideration to shelving their Windows 7 plans, though, if they believe that Windows 8 will raise the bar to the extent that it will require another hardware upgrade only two years from now.

It may at least be reason to examine more closely whether Windows XP can hobble through to 2012.

Source

[Sope]

Interesting.

It sounds to me like they are implying Win8 will have more advanced capabilities like "proximity sensors and facial recognition", but these fancy extras will require more advanced and expensive hardware that most people, especially businesses, can do without quite happily IMO.

[deya]

As far as I'm aware, XP will have extended support until 2014, not 2012.

Out of all the people I know who use PC's, for business and for home use, still only one of them uses Win 7. Most users run their machines until they have a severe hardware failure and are forced to replace them with which ever OS is the latest version, Vista or Win 7, especially businesses.

[Sope]

Someone named GaryCoffman has left a comment on that article which maybe sums it up for a large majority of businesses.

[deya]

What GaryCoffman has said there pretty much sums up what business users that I know think. I know Win7 is growing in popularity, maybe that's more of a regional thing, but in my part of the world XP is still the most used OS, by far. I don't know of one company that's in any rush to change that either.

Times are hard for many businesses here at the moment, and they'll probably get a little harder in the short term. They're all looking to save money, not spend it on new hardware. That's just the way it is at the moment.

[Sope]

Of course, from a personal home computing point of view, the upgrade from XP to Win7 is a worthwhile one IMO.

Regarding the latest extra hi-tech features reportedly in Win8, I don't feel the need for a PC that recognises me when I sit in front of it anytime soon! I'm yet to be convinced of the need for a touch screen monitor either.

[vasa1]

Originally Posted by deya

...
Out of all the people I know who use PC's, for business and for home use, still only one of them uses Win 7. Most users run their machines until they have a severe hardware failure and are forced to replace them with which ever OS is the latest version, Vista or Win 7, especially businesses.

Off-topic quite a bit, but the staying power of the much despised IE6 also has something to do with the reluctance to change.

I was reading somewhere about how the various quirks of IE6 and its ramifications make it difficult for many businesses to switch to anything else.

[deya]

Well here's one business that's switching; IBM names Firefox its default browser

[Doobie]

Originally Posted by Sope

It sounds to me like they are implying Win8 will have more advanced capabilities like "proximity sensors and facial recognition", but these fancy extras will require more advanced and expensive hardware that most people, especially businesses, can do without quite happily IMO.

Businesses have no interest in facial recognition for their computers used by the grunts. These people are so interchangeable and changed so often that facial recognition would be more of hassle that its worth. Besides, current facial recognition programs can be fooled with a photograph.

It doesn't take much CPU power for facial recognition, even for something that can't be fooled by a photo. Besides, when authenticating a person, the computer doesn't need to be doing anything else. Hardware wouldn't be an issue except for irrational managers who might want constant authentication.

This article is silly. Businesses aren't going to wait for Windows 8, now that Vista/7 is mature. Even if they were interested in facial recognition, they'd want the new bells and whistles on 8 to be around a year or two before taking the dip, just to make sure there won't be a problem. Look how long it took IBM to dump the browser of its nemesis to pick up Firefox as the in-house browser.

[HeWhoRocks]

Originally Posted by Sope

Of course, from a personal home computing point of view, the upgrade from XP to Win7 is a worthwhile one IMO.

Regarding the latest extra hi-tech features reportedly in Win8, I don't feel the need for a PC that recognises me when I sit in front of it anytime soon! I'm yet to be convinced of the need for a touch screen monitor either.

My laptop has facial recognition capabilities: guess how often i've used it
What i want to know is what happens if you get mugged or something and your face isn't recognisable? You get locked out?