Assume that in the following text I can be wrong in every word because I just know very little about it.
I have heard that Windows 7 is normal OS but Windows 10 is closer to service and not OS and we don’t know if we wont that change.
We have bought several DELL computers with some distributor (may be OEM is the right shortcut here) version of Widows 7. I understand it that there are some information written in their hardware that identifies them to Windows 7 and activates it at once after it is installed (no keys need be written, no internet connection needed - not sure). We don’t consider looking for Windows 10 distribution being able to be installed on them. W only consider buying next computers with Windows 10.
Do you understand that when a hacker gets into your computer everything, including your credit card information, is compromised?
Can you say more clearly which is strange about what I wrote? I try to write as short as possible, giving only basic information.
Where from he can get my credit card information? I don’t pay in internet with credit card (with any other card) as I assume it is not save. I only pay with fast payments I assume safety level the same as logging to bank (second channel used).
Normal Win7 to Win10 upgrade is not free ATM. There was a way to upgrade, but it’s been more than 2years ago and it’s now not applicable.
Even if Win10 will activate with Win7 key.
Now Win10 is just a regular, fully functional desktop OS. Nothing to worry about.
It is still possible to get a free upgrade: I upgraded an unmanaged work computer (an older Dell that we use for data acquisition) from Windows 7 OEM license to Windows 10 just a couple of days ago. The license transferred without need to do anything. I also upgraded my 6 year old personal laptop computer last spring without a problem. (To take away some of the pain with the different user interface I install Open Shell in combination with WinAero Tweaker to configure things to my liking.)
Just download and run the media creation tool, ask to create media for another computer, and install from that media (usb stick or iso image). I was almost shocked when I was able to do all this though the remote connection to the work computer over a VPN client, and it went through all the reboots and came back without a hitch. The only complaint was a USB 3 driver that was removed, but inspection in device manager showed that it was replaced by another driver.
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I’m going to express a minority opinion here as well. I dislike that new versions will not work on older operating systems. Please note that I am not complaining about it, the programmers and developers can do as they like, and there is no basis for complaint unless you are either part of that effort or are putting up your own cash to fund it. I am simply offering an opinion and perspective that has not been expressed here yet.
I see the whole “upgrades” and “updates” thing as yet another planned obsolescence scam. It’s more of getting you to buy something new, to discard and replace an existing something that works perfectly well.
Built a new computer in 2006 when the motherboard died on my 486 machine, and was forced to discard windoze 98 and run XP. A few years back, two things happened at about the same time. AVG started demanding my email, and it became impossible to find another decent free antivirus that worked on XP. So XP became exponentially more risky for general online use, and that is now how people are being forced out of XP. I had also gotten a laptop that had come loaded with this windoze 10. Garbage. Mandatory, automatic “updates” that couldn’t be turned off. “Telemetry”. It didn’t take me long to wipe it and get windoze 7, which didn’t have any of that awfulness, and it was still possible to get a decent free antivirus that didn’t demand your email.
Linux? I had previously tried it, and still have it on another hard drive in the same computer that I run XP on (so I can boot into either OS). The concept behind linux is GREAT (free and open source, privacy and security built in). But it fails by not being user friendly. I’m not a programmer type, and everything in linux is command line gobbledegook. “Do” this, and “sudo” that. Yuck. And no firewire support! Having several pieces of firewire hardware, this is an essential feature to me. Sure, the developers see firewire support as a potential security issue, so at least make it so firewire support can be enabled or disabled at will, for those who want or don’t want it. That should have been a no-brainer from the start.
Unfortunately, this comment is ultimately the thread winner. Lack of support by decent free antivirus programs for the older operating systems is going to eventually force one to choose between the latest windoze privacy invasions and mandatory automatic updates, or the not user friendly linux. Being able to still run windoze 7 (or even 8) is only a stopgap measure that will soon end up going the way of XP and 98.
Because of this, and ONLY because of this, it doesn’t make much sense for further development of KiCAD to continue supporting the older operating systems. We will only eventually be forced out of them anyways. There is no logical reason to direct limited resources towards ensuring backwards compatibility with an OS that is about to fall victim to the planned obsolescence scam. In a perfect world, I’d be able to run the latest version on my XP machine, and backwards compatibility would always continue to be maintained. But the practical reality is unfortunately otherwise. I don’t like it, but I see it as a decision that is forced more by the hardware manufacturers and the antivirus makers (probably with a good amount of encouragement from bill gates), than by the developers of KiCAD.
Planned obsolescence is true in some sense, every commercial device and software must be abandoned in some phase because of commercial pressures and capitalism. Capitalism in some for is good but it has its downsides.
But it’s not a scam even if you don’t like it. Many companies would no doubt like to continue supporting their old customers, but it becomes a burden. It’s not practically possible to support several codebases or keep piling up know-how and equipment for all possible old device versions and models actively.
I always preferred the older business model of buying quality that was designed to last a lifetime. Only problem with that is repair parts eventually are no longer produced, and technology eventually makes it cheaper to replace something rather than repair it. And WHY that is a problem is because many times the new product does not do exactly what the old one did, performance is not as good, or some undesirable “feature” has been added.
Nikon has done an absolutely wonderful job of this! I absolutely love the superior build quality of the older manual focus lenses, and being able to use them with a modern digital camera. Best of both worlds. Brand loyalty well-earned.
You say that, but we don’t support Linux 2.6 era operating systems either. Is the Linux community running a planned obsolescence scam too?
Windows 7 absolutely has telemetry, they just didn’t document it nor provide a tool to let you see it. Under Windows 10 they wanted to comply with certain regulation among other things so it is documented and visible.
Yes and no.
Interchangeable camera lenses of quality last a lifetime or three and have an industrial standard connector to fit the camera body. By continuing to manufacture lenses with the standard connector, companies can sell their products to anyone with any brand of camera body that has the standard connector. If a company changes its connector, it will lose most of its market, hence, the standard remains.
Now the camera body is a different story…
How many bodies into which can you still stuff a roll of 35mm film?
Can you still buy 35mm film?
Have you tried to get the busted Charge Coupled Device replaced in your 10 year old Nikon camera body?
Have you tried getting replacement rechargeable battery packs or a replacement charger for that 10 year old digital camera body?
The usual answer is “sorry, we no longer service that model… go buy the new bigger, better, faster model”.
I didn’t think a great deal of your example, GoldenAge, but I do like your comments.
The utter waste of energy and resources with the world wide scam of planned obsolescence is killing this planet and electronics seem to be a major part of the problem.
Hmmm, I think I’ve had too many beers tonight; or maybe too few. Perhaps I should go and contemplate my navel 
PS.
I still have a protest button from my university days back in the early '70s.
It reads:
consume
be silent
die
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That is why in (I think) 2007 when buying digital camera body I selected Pentax - it is powered by 4x AA rechargable batteries. At first I had a problem that whenever it was needed the batteries were close to empty. But since Eneloops were introduced that problem disappeared.
Even car makers are only supposed to make spare parts available for 10 years, and this often does not happen in reality. A far more expensive purchase and huge materials/energy investment
Old software that is vulnerable to attacks does not “work well”. Cybersecurity is a never ending arms race. You lose the moment you stop.
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At some point legacy = boat anchor to innovation and progress.
KiCad is a good example, like most (all?) of the long established PCB CAD packages, it started off with roots in the 16 bit DOS universe, with all of the limitations of integer sizes that entails, affecting working grids etc
The reason a lot of use still use Windows 7 is that our PNP machines don’t work on anything beyond Windows 7 – and that is never going to change until we get new PNP machines which is years and years away.
Having the CAD software on the machine that runs it is very useful if not necessary. And no, VMs don’t work because the software writes directly to the serial or parallel ports.
The argument that Windows 7 machines are easily compromised is nothing more than Microsoft FUD (not to mention stupid). I find it hard to believe electronics people know so little about how computers work. A decent hardware firewall and up-to-date antimalware software is perfectly capable of protecting old systems for decades to come. There’s nothing magical or mysterious about it – at least to those who know something about computers.
This really sounds like developer arrogance and/or laziness and they don’t know or care who their users are or need.
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Why in the world are you using the computer running the PNP machine for design work? Computers driving equipment should only be used for that equipment, especially if we are talking computers embedded into machines by the manufacturer.
You are more than free to yell at the python maintainers for dropping Windows 7 support which is the primary driver of us dropping Windows 7 support.
Developer laziness? Seriously? You realize we do this for free right? In our personal time.
You are more than free to download the source code and fix it for yourself
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Anti malware is always reactive, new signatures after the malware is detected in the wild.
Your W7 machine had better not be fetching anything from outside that is executable, which includes pdf, Javascript,
Every time W10 gets a security update, the bad guys try to figure out what it was that got fixed and then see if it can be exploited on unpatched W10 and older abandoned OS like W7
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Professional users who need support for older systems can purchase support from KiCad’s dedicated service providers https://www.kicad.org/help/professional-support/