Windows 8

That all depends. Some new versions are mainly improved versions of the previous version correcting some of the problems of that previous version, which was the case of the migration from Vista to 7. Other times it's a major departure from the previous version, which was the case going from XP to Vista.Therefore, the major pain you experienced transitioning from XP to 7 also involved that major transition from XP to Vista. I also made that transition (XP to 7) a few years ago. I still am not as productive in 7 as I am in XP. I have text file archives that I need to search, but Win7's search has been completely screwed up, so I cannot perform those searches. grep no longer works on the command line, so I don't even have that tool anymore. I have just recently discovered the existence of FINDSTR, but haven't had the time to experiment with it yet. And, yes, I have tried some third-party search utilities, all of which were just as bad as the native utility (eg, went to a specific directory, verified the existence of a file in that directory, did a search for that specific file's name, and search could not find it with both hands and a flashlight). WinXP's search is a dream to use and very effective. Win7's "improved" search is a piece of crap. And when I experience networking problems Win7 is a nightmare, whereas XP is a dream to work with.I have been a software engineer since 1982, working mainly with embedded software. The newer versions do not allow some of our development tools to work. That robs us of the ability to support our products. As a result, we need to maintain older versions of Windows and have to be very creative in finding ways of working around Microsoft.I was also in the Navy Reserve, now retired. Every time a new version of Windows would come out, the Navy would immediately order that nobody buy until they could test it out thoroughly to determine the detrimental impact of using it. Usually, they'd have to adopt it anyway since our vendors wouldn't supply us with anything but the new version. Private sector companies experience the same problems and the same reluctance to adopt.What migrating to 8 would involve, I don't know. I only adopt when I have to buy a new computer for home. My main problem with every single version was "Where the hell are they hiding it this time?" Like being able to change the shell's PATH environment variable. Though now with networking problems in 7 it's trying to find a dialog to do some useful troubleshooting. The only actual improvement I found in Win7 was that the help utility finally became helpful.That idiotic tiled interface on Win8 is the biggest obstacle for me. Really stupid waste of real estate! I talked with a user and he said it always started up that way and you had to then move to an alternative screen which completely changed how to get to anything useful. Another user was complaining about unexpected changes in how email was being handled, such that an email that he thought had been sent wasn't.I successfully dodged the Vista bullet and probably will do the same with 8, since the next time I buy a computer I'll have to deal with the "improvements" of 10.

Yes, you definitely have a point there.I trained as a computer repairman through the USAF starting in 1977 and started working on my BS Computer Science in 1978 (awarded in 1979). Before I was even discharged (I took terminal leave), I started working as a software engineer in August 1982 and have continued in that profession until my civilian retirement in 2017. I have worked in different languages (Pascal, C, C++, PL/I, Java, Perl, et.al.) and assembly languages (TMS 9900, 8048) and operating systems (IBM 370/S, Data General, VAX, MS-DOS, Windows (1.0 to Win7), UNIX, and Linux).I simply cannot use Apple software. It defies all logic. Every attempt has resulted in disaster. For example, in a dance class I had recorded the previous week's routine on my camera, so I transfered the AVI file to my thumb drive. The studio had a brand-new Mac. How to open the flash drive? Where's the fracking right button? Eventually, somehow, we got to where we could try to run the file. "AVI? Not invented here!" Complete and utter disaster.I once bought an iPod. I like it. Especially the track wheel. I remember having gotten my new cable controller and pining that it didn't have a track wheel. Well, iPods no longer have track wheels. I have no use for an iPod without a track wheel.With my iPod, I had to load iTunes on my Windows box. Hate it! Oh, it used to be OK. I could set it to the details view (the only usable view there is). But then an "improved upgrade" took that away. Big ugly useless icons! I later upgraded again and I think that details came back, but I just don't want to look anymore.I help a dance teacher one evening a week. She has some of her songs on an iTouch/iPod (the one without the track wheel) and some on her iPhone. I often (depending on the gender balance of the class -- usually more women than men, but sometimes, especially for salsa, more men than women) have to DJ. More than once, I tried to treat her device like an Android (my phone) and it just goes into an absolutely crazy state.A friend at work (a fundamentalist Christian, and yet a really good guy despite that) works with Windows all day and then goes home to a wife who only uses Mac. He has often expressed his frustrations about that.

Oh really? OK, genius, try to explain this one.I have a subdirectory of files, mainly text files. I need to find which ones contain a specific email address. I am doing this on Windows 7.Windows Explorer does not work. I tried FINDSTR at the command line, but that does not work either.So how do I find the files that I need? WinXP could have done it, but "new and vastly improved" Win7 is totally impotent.

grep no longer works. I know. I tried.WinGrep and other 3rd-party search programs also do not work. They appear to make use of OS utilities which have been rendered useless.I also tried findstr. It does not work either.And, in keeping with the topic title, I have no reason to believe that Win8 has fixed Windows' hopelessly broken search "capability."

No, not Win8, but rather Win7. caffeine_addict would like us to switch to Win8, but I doubt very much that it has fixed these horrendous problems. As I said.