Some folks did an .exe file by file of Win 7 once trying to say what each active .exe file actually does. Easily 10% of what Microsoft has loaded on your computer right now is active, but does things no one can determine what the heck it is that they are busily doing all the time.
Some belong to our government, I dare say. Some are MS internal projects tracking what you do so they can clip you better next time out.
It is amazing that all the MS OS products bulk 4-5 times larger than an equivalent Apple or Linux OS do size-wise, can only run on an Intel "hooky" chipset (and Apple and Linux run on anybody's chipsets) and MS OS products have at least 10% of their OS functions that nobody can identify what the heck they are doing.
And MS wants to fix what they have in your OS ALL THE TIME.
(is it really always that broken/flawed all the time ???)
And you guys are struggling to find the next MS version you can actually roll up to, so you can rush out to PAY them $100 to do the same dance for another 5 years. Then they will bleed you into their blood bowl yet again, and again.
Can you say "unhealthy dependent relationship" ???
Art is just what MS wants for a customer -- he's afraid to change.
Serowbot has tried to change in the past, but is unwilling to try again because it didn't work out flawlessly on the first try.
Serow makes a real good point -- the jump gap to Win 8 is a lot larger than the gap he saw going to Linux back when he tried.
Chrome OS was built for Art. It gives a no-brainer move that you only have to learn where things are located on the web just once (and on a Chrome box all of them are pre-located for you).
Spending over half the cost of a Chrome box to upgrade to another MS OS package (such as the ends in year 2020 Win 7) seems sort of silly. Just spend the extra $79 and have the Chrome box forever and get off the MS treadmill.
I may be very small, but I am very quick and I can still reach up and punch you in the balls with my little steel fists three times before you fall over .... WHAM !!! WHAM !!! WHAM !!! Chrome boxes are updated every time you use it, tiny tiny quick little biitty updates on a little bitty tiny quick Linux based OS product
Chrome OS wears the suit too, BTW, and is sand-boxed also (each thing you do is executed in a sand-box of its very own, so there is no data sand being tossed around by the players from one box to the next box).
Corporations and IT departments trust Chrome OS for their company's data.
The Chrome OS is naturally secure and virus free. The cloud thing no longer worries them. They mount their own data on corporate clouds now in preference to local hard drives. This fact should carry some weight with you as the IT people understand this stuff really much better than we plebeians types really do.
And, you do understand that Chrome boxes don't run out of time or go bad or get trojans/worms/viruses or require defragging or any of the other MS style bullshite?
If you want to keep your old box, fine, dual boot Linux Mint. If you want a new box, go get a Chromebox.
But get off the MS merry-go-round .....