Should we continue to have windows specific tags including these:
While also having the general windows tag? Does this add an unnecessary amount of confusion and ambiguity? Are there questions that really depend on the version of Windows where software would not be compatible with any other but the said version?
I think this is something we should definitely reconsider. I've been on Windows my entire life (I really hate change) and with Windows version specific software, there aren't that many that exist. Software for Windows usually depends on if you're using Windows XP specifically Service Pack 3 or later.
Unless a software is really specific (like this one: Tool to remove upgrade to Windows 10 prompt which ironically is just using the windows tag) - it doesn't matter. I haven't really come across any software that was compatible with one version of windows and not another (like at my school, their running on some PCs Windows XP and others Windows 7 while at home I'm running Windows 10. I use PortableApps & Cameyo and I have not seen one program that hasn't been compatible on any one of the three yet).
I think version specific tags are in a way useless and might add confusion to duplicate questions, ie. if I ask for a text editor that runs on XP and another person wants a text editor that runs on Vista, what's preventing from asking virtually the same question twice? And there going to get the same answers too.
Again, this is something I have quite a bit of experience in and I believe that they're not needed. What I propose is we remove of all version specific tags for Windows and replace them with the just the windows tag. I then think we should also add the requirement, "this software must be compatible with Windows X" in the body of the question.
These tags should be kept for questions about specific versions of windows including:
But they should not be used in general questions about programs.
could you provide example questions that would require a specific version of Windows software?
Any software close to OS. I'm new on this site, so not sure I can find right questions here - seems like these tags are really widely misussed. But I can show a set of questions where specific windows version is important:
Q: What program should I install to shuffle buttons on the taskbar in Windows XP.
A: TaskbarShuffle
C: All newer versions have this possiblity build in.
Q: How to install Visual Studio 2012 on Windows XP?
C: Officially it doesn't support this OS, but there are some guides how to solve this problem.
Q: What tweeker windows tweaker should I use to archive ...
C: Tweakers are using undocumented fucntionality and it's highly probable it depends on version.
Q: How to install and run Visual Studio 6 on Windows 7?
C: A lot of people met this problem when start using Win7.
Q: How to run dos program in Windows 7.
A: DosBox
C: XP was the last Windows natively supporting dos and fullscreen console.
Q: How to start linux console program in Windows 10?
C: Windows 10 is the first where MS is trying to implement some native linux support.
Q: What program I should install to return Start menu in Windows 8?
C: It was the only system without it. Start menu came back in Win 8.1.
Q: I used ... to prevent changing default browser in XP, but it doesn't work in Windows 7.
C: Registry paths for browser have been changed.
Q: What software should I use to change ntfs permissions in XP Home?
C: Home version of XP displays security tab of properties only in safe mode.
In professional version and in any newer version you can do it natively.
