Well, the blog has been quiet all summer. It is time to crank things up once more.
It is time to discuss Windows 8. Let’s skip to the conclusion first!
UNLESS YOU ARE PURCHASING A NEW COMPUTER, UPGRADING TO WINDOWS 8 WILL PROBABLY NOT BENEFIT YOU.
To do it safely (and in several situations to do it at all) will take a fair amount of work on your part.
This really applies to any computer user, but for Gardenware users in particular, proceed with caution.
If you are the adventurous type and insist on living on the bleeding edge (and you use Gardenware software), don’t upgrade to Windows 8 without calling us first to be sure that you have your data backed up to an external device and that you have a plan to restore it. Please read this article to learn what you may be facing and avoid an avoidable unfortunate experience.
(Sorry about all the heavy stress there, but we think it's important.)
Windows 8 is designed to lead the way, for Windows users, into the era of integrated computing with the operating system, or at least a version of it, on your computer, your tablet and your smart phone. They will all work the same way. Your data, or at least some of it, will be available to each of those devices. They will all have touch screens. Your tablet may well become your computer. It sounds intriguing and makes good sense. We will all probably end up there someday. The point is that “someday” isn’t here yet.
Windows 8 is available as an upgrade from Windows XP (on well equipped XP computers), Windows Vista and Windows 7. What you will need to do to make things work for you, however, depends on which exact version of Windows you are using. Below is a snip taken from the COMPUSA website.
Check it out for more information.
“Your upgrade
experience will depend on what version of Windows you currently have. For
example, if your PC is running Windows 7 Home Basic or Home Premium, your
files, programs and settings will easily transfer to Windows 8. If your PC is
running Windows 7 Professional or Ultimate, Windows XP or Windows Vista, you'll
need to reinstall your programs. Some features (like those that support
touchscreen) may require a new PC.”
To re-state a little more simply: Unless you are running Windows 7 Home Basic
or Windows 7 Home Premium, you will need to find all your programs and
re-install them.
Additionally, you will need to back up all of the files you want to continue using with Windows 8 (including your e-mail) and restore them after WIN 8 and your programs are installed. You will need to find all of your passwords for password protected programs as well as modem/routers, wireless internet, networks, social websites, your e-mail and everything else you use that requires a password. You will need to locate drivers for all the equipment you have that needs them in order to work such as printers, scanners, some auxiliary drives, some auxiliary screens, your graphics card, some microphones, etc. Basically you need to set up your computer all over again.
Windows Home Basic or Home Premium versions, however, will do an “overlay” installation and will, in theory, put all your programs, data, drivers, etc right back the way they belong. However, it is recommended that you back up all your data to an external hard drive and have all that other information available “in case anything goes wrong”. I suggest you check out Seth Rosenblatt’s article “How to upgrade to Windows 8” on CNET.
That article has a link to another CNET article on how to prepare your computer for Windows 8 that includes instructions on how to get back to where you were before installing Windows 8 – just in case you don’t like it.
My impression of WIN 8 so far…
I have had Windows 8 installed on my computer for a couple of months for the purpose of testing Gardenware. WIN 8 is installed on my computer as a “virtual machine” and is totally independent of my Windows 7 computer so I haven’t given up anything - yet. The opening screen and the way you get around is certainly different and to me was quite confusing at first. It seems that a number of things that I need from time to time are hidden or not obvious. Here is a link to a video that demonstrates about how I felt when I first experienced WIN 8. I went online and found a video short course to get me to the point that I had at least some idea of what to do next. Once I found that the desktop was available and very similar to Win 7, I became more comfortable. The opening screen with its “Tiles” is certainly much more like a smart phone than like any Windows system we have used and I can certainly see it leading to touch screens.
As I have read online and in computer magazines Win 8, like anything else technological, can be confusing at first but is just one more thing to learn to use and find your way around. Once learned I’m sure it will become second nature as the previous Windows systems have. Once you get past the opening “Tiles” things work very much like Windows 7, which is only an incremental leap from Vista and XP.
Gardenware Version 10 seems to work just fine on WIN 8. We have, however, had some problems with our installation routine. It has refused to work in a couple of instances but has worked in others. We have been working on that problem and believe we have a solution. It will require complete testing but hopefully we will have it ready to go before long.
Gardenware Version 32.123 (or any older version) will not run on Windows 8. We have maintained this version for customers who have older, less powerful computers. Anyone who has a computer that meets the Windows 8 specification can run Gardenware Version 10. But, again, don't abandon that older machine or operating system until you've made sure that your data will restore properly. Just call us!
Conclusion re-visited.
Unless you are purchasing a new computer, we don’t see any real benefit in installing Windows 8 at this time.
PS – If you purchase a new computer or decide to upgrade anyway, HERE for a rundown of shortcuts that are not obvious. HERE is a link to a very useful site with a lot of keyboard shortcuts to help get around WIN 8.
PS 2 – If you are on the desktop or in an application (we used to call them programs) and want to get back to the Start (Tiles) screen, just press the Windows key on your keyboard (the "wavy window" graphic).