Windows 8 Will Run Windows 7 Software Just Fine
Don't worry, businesses, Microsoft is keeping things cool.
While the jump from Windows XP to Vista resulted in some compatibility headaches, the move from Vista to Windows 7 was far more pain-free. What will the upgrade to Windows 8 be like? According to Microsoft, it'll be easy.
“The gateway to get to Windows 8 is Windows 7, and we will have backward compatibility with Windows 7 embedded into Windows 8. That's something that we're very committed to. But that's a really important first pillar,” Kevin Turner, Microsoft's COO said at the Worldwide Partner Conference 2011.
Despite having a slick new tile interface, the desktop underneath for Windows 8 appears to closely resemble that from Windows 7.
Tami Reller, Corporate Vice President and CFO, Windows & Windows Live said earlier that Windows 8's hardware requirements will be similar, or even lower, than the ones for Windows 7.
“For our business customers, your customers, this is an important element because the ability of Windows 8 to run on Windows 7 devices ensures that the hardware investments that these customers are making today will be able to take advantage of Windows 8 in the future. And there's beautiful hardware in the market today,” Reller said.

Troll much?
No one is forcing you to get it.
I wonder if they will make any solution to run x86 programs on ARM systems. But I think it'd probably be too difficult.
Troll much?
Assuming the tile interface is remote/Kinect friendly, I can see this as being ideal in a couch and television setting. I'll be able to run any software I want, but might not necessarily have to grab a mouse and keyboard each time.
f***ing THANK YOU.
you vista nay sayers, if you set up vista right, its faster than xp, though with vista set for fast speeds, xp does more.
they compare vista with bloat to windows 7 which is mostly vista without all the bloat. and vista takes a few seconds longer with bloat to boot than 7 without... something is wrong there.
but personally, all that i want is xp with new features.
i don't want a ui change, you nailed it
i don't want you to move around setting that were the same way, that we all got to know sense windows 95, and move them not because you came up with a better way, but because you want to move them.
Well, that's what it is. Human brains haven't evolved in the last 15 years, and it shouldn't take the retards at Microsoft attempt after attempt to figure out where things go.
You should be able to set up tests, see how people react and where people expect it, and create a good model the first time. Not keeping screwing it up time after time and decide there's yet another place for it to go. What's that mean when you move it to another spot? It means you screwed up where it was every other release, for all the years since Windows was made. So, it's flagrant incompetence.
By the year 2000, they should have long ago known where things are intuitive, and not had to change it each release. They do this to fool the idiots of the world who see things moved and figure it must be an improvement. If it looked the same, even if it worked better, Microsoft probably figures people wouldn't think it was different, so they couldn't sell it as easily. So they screw things up so it looks different, even though it admits blind incompetence that they couldn't get it right for 30 years, just so people buy into it being new, different and improved.
That type of change no one needs. A less bloated, less slow, less buggy OS is what people want and need. But, Microsoft doesn't care about that, it just needs to look different so it looks new.
Little wonder they fail at virtually everything they don't have a monopoly in. Even in their former monopolies, they are losing market share. OpenOffice is gaining, Apple is gaining, and IE isn't even a monopoly anymore its lost so much market share. It's only a matter of time before it ceases to even be the market leader. Let's hope the same can be said of Windows one day, but that day isn't any time soon.
"If it ain't broke, don't fix it till it is!"
This is exactly the problem with people. People are reluctant to change (it's a linear correlation to age) and accept something new. Sure, Windows XP can probably do many things that Windows 7 can. If we're all so reluctant to change, might as well stay at Windows 3.1 and be done with.
However, do you realize that we're moving towards the era of augmented reality (perhaps not in your lifetime, not even mine I guess)? As hardware advances, so should software and as technology progresses, so should human's mindset and the ability to accept.
Talk about 6 - 7 years back, when smartphones first came out, stylus was the bridge between phone and human interaction. Now, it's no longer necessary. The same goes for PC. Gradually, they will do away with your keyboard and mouse. There will always be a group who stay and whine about it, but accept it, this is technology and we have to deal with it.
A think a good chunk of businesses still run Windows 3.1, but I could be wrong.