Get a PC with a Win8 alternative — Windows 7

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	BEST PRACTICES[/size][/font] Get a PC with a Win8 alternative — Windows 7[/size]
	By Michael Lasky Given Microsoft’s blitzkrieg advertising for Win8 and retailers’ obsession with selling the next new thing, you could easily conclude that new Win7 PCs are no longer for sale. You’d be wrong. You won’t find Win7 systems at the big-box stores, but major PC manufacturers still offer them online. You just have to know where to look.

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The full text of this column is posted at WindowsSecrets.com/best-practices/get-a-pc with-a-win8-alternative-windows-7/ (paid content, opens in a new window/tab).

Columnists typically cannot reply to comments here, but do incorporate the best tips into future columns.[/td]

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Try as I may, I fail to see the purpose (least of all need) to be constantly chasing the latest version of MS Windows. Is vers. 8.x **really** that much of an improvement over Windows 7? – and just how much of that “improvement” comes from the fact that it’s delivered on the latest (faster) hardware? How soon we forget the great one-liner going around late last fall; “Windows 8, the perfect gift for someone you hate”. Okay, so finally there’s a workaround for that truly awful tiled interface, but still the question begs itself, why now? It’s true that Windows 7 is approaching 4 years old, but at my (Fortune 500) employer with nearly 10,000 laptops & PCs in use, we’ve barely been on W7 for much more than 18 months. We cannot afford the risks associated with being early adopters of any new O/S and by the same token, we also cannot justify throwing the baby out with the bath water.

The upgrade we finally made from XP to W7 was compelling more so from the need to stay current with applications than from any performance improvement of the OS. Here in Corporate America there has to be a **compelling** reason to make the change and so far no one has been able to convince me that such a reason exists. It is true that all of the new laptops are now coming in with Windows 8 preloaded, but in order to maintain the sanity of our desktop support analysts we endeavor to standardize on one OS at a time and today that (officially blessed) OS is W7. There is no redress or petition from the stipulation herein laid down and presented: All new laptops are immediately retrofitted with W7 (Enterprise) as soon as they come in from the loading dock. Why? Mainly because of the compulsory need to have only ONE O/S that you’re trying to support, and secondly because there is no justification (none whatsoever) to go the other direction (upgrade existing machines). Our laptops (and desktops – the few that remain) are all on a 3-year replacement cycle with approx. 1/12 of them being replaced every quarter. I’m sure at some point a management decision will be made to move forward, but the way changes occur in big shops like mine, I can promise you that it’s not likely to happen anytime soon. We (and likely most other large corporations) won’t be endorsing Windows 8 for at least another couple of years or longer. Right now there just isn’t a sufficient business case to justify it.

This is the same reason we’re still using Office 2K7 and IE8. Those who have to support these enterprise apps will understand without need of any further explanation.

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I’m surprised they come in with Win8 preloaded. Surely there are enterprise solutions that would allow Win 7 to arrive preloaded?

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I’ve spied the W7 laptops at Newegg.

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I’ve spied the W7 laptops at Newegg.

I see mostly refurbished models there. Dell has new ones.

@FUN Downtown — Business and Enterprise contracts may allow a downgrade of Windows 8 Pro or Enterprise to Windows 7 Pro or Enterprise. That’s about all businesses are being offered. And only until October, 2013 or shortly thereafter.

-- rc primak

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I see mostly refurbished models there. Dell has new ones.

Did I say “Newegg?” How about Amazon– a whole slew of them there:
http://www.amazon.com/s?ie=UTF8&page=1&rh=n%3A565108%2Cp_n_operating_system_browse-bin%3A2287320011

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@FUN Downtown — Business and Enterprise contracts may allow a downgrade of Windows 8 Pro or Enterprise to Windows 7 Pro or Enterprise. That’s about all businesses are being offered. And only until October, 2013 or shortly thereafter.

I get that; I was just wondering if there are millions of Win8 systems going out and then being converted to Win 7 for business conformity and use; and being counted as Win8 sales?

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I get that; I was just wondering if there are millions of Win8 systems going out and then being converted to Win 7 for business conformity and use; and being counted as Win8 sales?

There have been a number of articles published since W8’s release which mention this scenario.

I would think that it’s pretty normal behaviour for many large enterprises, buy whatever is easily available, then install from the company image.

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I get that; I was just wondering if there are millions of Win8 systems going out and then being converted to Win 7 for business conformity and use; and being counted as Win8 sales?

Quick answer — yes!

-- rc primak

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I get that; I was just wondering if there are millions of Win8 systems going out and then being converted to Win 7 for business conformity and use; and being counted as Win8 sales?

Quick answer — yes!

I just heard confirmation of this padding process. The Tech-Vets podcast, Mike Smith wanted to purchase 20 Windows 7 upgrade license keys for a business client. Got the keys and upgraded one and the second one would not work, called Microsoft support….the rest of the keys are for Win 8! Was told that that’s the way it worked, would have to downgrade each subsequent licence to Win 7 from 8. Since these are all identical systems he told them to take a long walk off a short dock in this case and will just clone one system to the rest. They didn’t say if that negates the 19 to 1 count W8/W7 that is actually 0 to 20, they probably didn’t know how Microsoft is going to “count” that, my guess is it will still be 19 to 1.

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You say–And only the full-retail version includes both 32-bit and 64-bit discs in the same package;
One correction–there are no Full versions available at retail stores. All retail versions–both in stores and downloads from Microsoft–are upgrades and require a qualifying version of windows on the hard drive before installing. The only full version is the OEM System Builder and that is only available from a few online retailers like Amazon and Newegg. Many users have found this out after being assured by an uninformed store clerk that they are buying the full version of win 8.

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