why os windows 7

[jacksprat16]

is it just making money out of people wanting "the latest"or is there an advantage to go to windows 7 (when it's ready)
i have been using xp for years and all my friends the same,after getting all the bugs out of 96/98/2000 versions the xp has worked faultless ,it's never let me down,
my nephew is a business man, he was so fed up with vista he went on to apple mac,
are there problems with xp that i don't know about
ps i'm an average user, not games etc,

[Mobius1]

If you're happy with XP and don't feel you want a more modern user interface or play the latest video games then, really, there is no reason for you to upgrade. Eventually (2014) support for XP will be dropped and no further security updates will be created for it. At this point, it would be wise to upgrade if you hadn't already.

Windows 7 is better than Vista, as a product. However, whether it's "better" than XP is down to user preference. XP is uncommonly refined for a Microsoft OS and this has been a problem for Microsoft, as a replacement operating system is a hard sell if the last one was particularly good.

Bottom line, keep your XP for now, it's tried and true and you're not the only one who thinks so.

[fo3nix]

If it works for you, keep it. It works fine (by definition).

In my opinion, your main reason to upgrade would be lack of support. XP was supposed to lose Microsoft support last year (I think), but now it's continuing to 2011 or even later.

When Microsoft stop sending patches to cover security issues, you will need to upgrade. Until then, keep it.

[ACtheTROLL]

after getting all the bugs out of 96/98/2000 versions the xp has worked faultless

this sort of clarifies your puzzlement
you've listed three completely unrelated operating systems (except for the name...)

2000 became XP - but there were some significant differences

2000 was released because MS were panicking that XP was so late
vista was released ... because people hadn't seen a new OS for ages .... and apple were on the verge of releasing another killer

vista - is the basic platform ... and just like XP 7 seems to have got more right than wrong based on the mistakes of the first ... however so far that's based on playing with a beta release candidate ... not the real thing - so it could be totally different when it releases in october.

only rash fools and eejits will upgrade immediately
(I ordered mine two months ago!)
the problem eejits will be those jumping from XP with machines that are struggling already

and yes XP still takes some beating ... but that was what they (and me) said about 98se and XP.

My No1 machine will be 7ed (possibly dual boot)... but this little lappy is staying XP as will No2 machine and all the other clunkers I use.

work will go phase 1 in 6 months - and after a couple of years will go for broke.
I only run Vista in a virtual machine to keep my hand in