Is Windows 7 worth the buy? Is it that much better than XP?

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XP is slowly (oh so slowly) being phased out of support. I would never suggest anyone go out and get Vista (though the problems with the OS are fairly overblown; the biggest problem with Vista was the unfriendly way it introduced the OS changes from XP), Win 7 is, at least in my opinion, a relatively reasonable evolution from someone comfortable with XP.

Beware though, like all OS products, you'll need a few months to get used to the differences. Don't try it and trash it without giving it time to grow on you.

Basically Windows 7 has a much better GUI, but runs a lot of unnecessary processes to make sure you aren't trying to modify the OS illegally or reverse engineer the code. But if you have a reasonably fast PC, then it really doesn't matter much. It also has some issues with older programs, especially some games, but this seems to have been improved somewhat in Service Pack 1. It really depends on what you use your computer for. If you can give me a better idea of that, then it would be easier to compare.

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"Those who calculate greatly will win; those who calculate only a little will lose, but what of those who don't make any calculations at all!? This is why everything must be calculated, in order to foresee victory and defeat."-The Art of War

Based on these two responses - thanks for them, by the way - I probably won't buy Windows 7.

I typically use OSX, actually, and just use a VM running XP when I want to run windows programs. Basically, I only use the VM for tygem .

I just heard that some people kind of like Windows 7, and it seemed kind of trendy. From a practical standpoint, I'm happy with what I've got already.

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Not sure about the Mac version, but the Chinese Tygem client runs well on WINE. Strangely the English one does not. OSX Lion looks amazing, but Macs are too overpriced and too hard to upgrade for my tastes.

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"Those who calculate greatly will win; those who calculate only a little will lose, but what of those who don't make any calculations at all!? This is why everything must be calculated, in order to foresee victory and defeat."-The Art of War

In this respect, I absolutely agree that you don't need to move to Win 7. Partially because of its age, XP will be a much more stable platform for a VM. Part of my work requires the use of both an XP and a Win 7 VM, and the XP is by far the most useful for me.

Side note: I'm also working on a Vista machine for my daily work. I have no issues with Vista ... but I'm almost on the extreme end of the power-user scale and can micromanage the OS on a fairly low level.

It works fine for me, FWIW.

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We don't know who we are; we don't know where we are.
Each of us woke up one moment and here we were in the darkness.
We're nameless things with no memory; no knowledge of what went before,
No understanding of what is now, no knowledge of what will be.

Windows 7 is actually quite good. As someone with an affinity to Linux (my laptop and my secondary desktop are Linux boxes), saying that doesn't come easy. Vista was, in many ways, a complete mess, and XP was clearly better. W7, though, not only comes with a better GUI (which is really nifty), but also makes far better use of the available resources and is surprisingly stable and secure (for a Windows OS). I actually reboot my Windows 7 desktop only every few months, which was completely unthinkable in Vista (and XP too).

For your purpose, though, you really don't need it. I don't even know how well it would work in a VM. Just to run the Tygem client, XP is absolutely sufficient.

I used XP since SP1(~2002), but moved to W7 last year. I've no problems with it, really, at least nothing I wouldn't of had with XP to begin with anyway. Played plenty of old games(BG2, D2, SC:BW etc.) and no trouble.

I guess if you have a slower/older computer, you might have issues with some background processes or whatever, but most of the 'flashy stuff'(i.e. Aero) can be turned off and the look can be tailored to however you wish. I made it look exactly like '98 at one point, but got bored of it and now it's a bit sleeker.

I presume prior usage of a Windows-PC.

If you have a well running XP-PC, apply "never change a running system". Exceptions: Drivers for new hardware are not available. So the remaining question is: XP or W7 for a new PC? The answer is simple: W7 because it does have the modern drivers incl. trim for SSD. Exception: You have old hardware, can't use VM and can't find new drivers.

Vista had an advantage over W7: The system backup did work. For W7, I recommend usage of a third party program for that purpose. Otherwise, W7 is slightly better than Vista, except for 1 or 2 tiny details you would not notice unless you had Vista.

Of course, W7 has a different GUI from XP, but who cares? My W7 looks as if it were W98SE. GUI is a non-issue, except that it shall not annoy. It is possible to configure W7 so that it almost does not annoy the user (like by deactivating animations).

W7 compared to XP has these two major changes:
- The code was fundamentally rewritten and so bugs are less frequently an object for serious malware attack.
- The security design is much better.

Let me explain the security a bit.
- The kernel is protected.
- Windows and Program-Files directories are protected.
- User accounts can be created but the user has to do this by himself.
- Internet programs can be put into a sandbox by means of Integrity Levels but only power users with too much time will be able to do it.
- W7 Professional and above allows Software-Rules (Software Restriction Policies or alternatively AppLocker) but only power users with too much time will be able to do it.

If you are a power user with security concern, then W7 can be configured as more secure than Linux, Android, Mac-OS. Otherwise W7 is about as secure or insecure as the other OSs.

Compared to XP, the security of W7 is much better even in its default state. If you don't care today, you might need to care in a few years when the exponential malware growth overruns all XP machines faster than Windows Updates can prevent it.

Conclusion: XP was a good Windows at its time but there is little reason nowadays to buy XP instead of W7 while there are reasons to buy W7, even if you use trivial GUI and default security.

As a power user with security concern, I am delighted of Vista and W7 capabilities but disappointed by the need of time-consuming configuration. There is no simple "Choose Highest Security and White-listing" button yet.

Since you are a Mac user, you would not wish Windows yet because the user-level configuration simplicity is missing. x86 on tablets consume too much energy. You might wish to follow development though. The GUI's simplicity of W8 might be yet closer to Android and Mac-OS.

Thanks for the responses, everyone.

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be immersed