[bitdiffusion]

Has there ever been an OS release where (at first) people prefer the new one? Windows 7 might be the exception only because the previous incarnation was so awful.

Ubuntu with Unity? we want the old desktop! IOS6? we want IOS5 and our maps! OSX Mountain Lion? We want Lion!

Change is always hard and almost never goes down well - this is not a new phenomenon and occurs naturally at the beginning of most major software versions. People will get used to it and move on with their lives...

[pragmatic]

Yes. Windows XP and Windows 7.

If you don't recall the abortion that was Windows ME, then you are lucky. Windows 98 was so clunky compared to Windows XP. All the little improvements and features were fantastic.

Then came Vista and that was another train wreck. But Windows 7 was a dream. It magically found drivers, everything "just worked."

[pragmatic]

I think you can gauge the success of future OS by the enthusiasts (early adopter) reaction.

Windows XP and Windows 7 had lots of love pre-release. The Windows 8 reception is mixed (as was that for Vista).

Some people are going to love it. I am using it on two machines (a dekstop and an HTPC).

Here's they point though. I _won't_ be installing it on the computers of family/friends (I'm the family tech support).

Watching my wife use it (and the issues with slow user switching, multiple versions of browsers, etc) means its just not worth it. I don't need the extra support calls.

Windows 7 is just fine, especially for legacy hardware (those without touch screens and tablets).

[bitdiffusion]

I'm not sure early adopters are the easiest people to please... thinking of "antennagate" from iphone4 and now "scuffgate" from iphone5 I would say early adopters (who I suppose are generally experts - or at least technology-orientated) are more likely to pick up and report on things that

a) get viewership (i.e. complaining) and b) are so subtle the eventual mainstream user wouldn't even notice without it being pointed out to them.

I don't have any hard science to back my claim either way ;-)

[coob]

So the trick is to release something terrible and then your locked in users won't have anywhere else to turn and get excited about the next 'fixed' release? Got it!

[rbanffy]

> Has there ever been an OS release where (at first) people prefer the new one?

Every Linux distro with the possible exception of Red Hat 7 (when they bumped up gcc version and broke some binaries) and the ones that replaced the Gnome 2 desktop with Unity and Gnome 3. Every MacOS version with the exception, perhaps, of 7.5 and 10.0.