Slashdot Mirror
Windows 10 RTM In 6 Weeks
Billly Gates writes: Ars Technica has the scoop on a new build with less flat icons and a confirmation of a mid July release date. While Microsoft is in a hurry to fix the damage done by the Windows 8 versions of its operating system, the next question is, is ready for prime time? On Neowin there's a list of problems already mentioned by MS and its users with this latest release, including Wi-Fi and sound not working without a reboot, and users complaining about tiles and apps not working in the new start menu.
The beta should go on for at least another year.
Linux Mint 13 (Maya) MATE desktop demo
This synopsis is in error. The article linked does NOT confirm the release date, only still says it's a rumor.
If this prerelease set goes "to market" within the next six months, it will be Windows Me all over again. A performance worst than Windows 8, they might just go down a little more.
Tiles and Apps don't work? Well, that is at least some good news. Hopefully applications and the start menu work, though.
If you are not allowed to question your government then the government has answered your question.
I hadn't seen them laid out so clearly before, but now that I have, all I can say about the original Windows 10 icons (middle row) is oh my god.
Seriously, what happened here? When did we go completely off the rails and let pea-brained designers start throwing this kind of bullshit around, calling it "modern" and "clean". No shit it's clean -- that recycle bin probably took all of 30 seconds to draw with the Line tool. No, faster probably, since they were just pulled out of the Windows 1.0 archives.
I look at those three rows of icons and truly cannot fathom why someone would ever choose (especially) the second or third rows. They're low contrast, simpleton drivel that doesn't even do a good job of representing the objects they're trying to depict. Whoever created them should be fired, along with the manager that approved them.
In fact, Microsoft would be well-served by firing the whole damned "UX" group and replacing this new-age cargo-cult mentality of user interface design with a scientific approach of usability studies and research. You know, that thing they used to do. Let Google and Apple waste their time with that hipster crap if they want to -- normal people and business just want to get shit done and you don't get off on the right foot to do that by making all your icons indistinguishable pale pastel blobs.
"What do you despise? By this are you truly known." --Princess Irulan, Manual of Muad'Dib
/)
Win ME was awful. Win XP was generally considered serviceable. Vista was a disaster, even had to Microsoft execs complaining about it in public. Win 7 was OK (although no XP). Win 8 is, well, Win 8. The trend was becoming apparent and people expected Win 9 to be acceptable again. So Microsoft decided to skip Win 9 and jump to Win 10 and have a back-to-back disaster with Win 8.
Oh please coming from a long time linux and freebsd user.
The costs to fly consultants to fix broken IE specific sites like SAP, java applets that look for XP and crap out on other platforms, wine bugs, lack of AD support for lockdowns, and help desk Temps to sort through the angry users, documents created with Libre office looking funny to potential clients with Office, are pure madness to consider! Don't give me the garbage about how users were supposed to save as .docx with no macros. Many are drooling idiots who will want to reprimand your ass for ca using this etc. Wine config? Yeah good luck with a 1,000 users including HR who have a weird java applet where people don't get paid if an error arises ;-)
I am not saying this as a troll. Linux has it's uses for specialized servers.
But if people wanted to be freed they would have last decade. Windows is reliable now since NT came and gets shit done
http://saveie6.com/
Windows 7 EOLs in 2020. I really hope MS gets their head out of their ass by then and makes a sensible release that doesn't make the user base miserable. We just want the stable productivity back we had on XP/7 please. A lot of us are still working on desktops (and will be in 2020) and, guess what, it is work that we can't do on smartphones.
Left MS Windows for Linux Mint and never looked back!
Vote for Bernie in 2016!
Genuine question here: I've been using Linux for most things for the past 15 years. For exactly 3 programs I still need Windows, so I run XP in a virtual machine. But I've been warned that the next versions of my progs won't support XP anymore, so I'll have to jump to Win10. Since I don't give a shit about any of the 'advancements' that have occured since then, how can I remove all the gimmicks and simplify the Windows user interface to make it like XP, simply ? Is there some Win10 to XP converter to keep me from trudging through endless options and shitty tweaking downloads ?
Non-Linux Penguins ?
Windows is reliable now since NT came and gets shit done
Other than the fact that the system contains legacy code that's chock full of security bugs dating back to the early 1990s. Supporting legacy software is why Microsoft can't change and in the end, it's going to kill them. Other companies that are smaller and more agile will kill Microsoft.
Microsoft sees the writing on the wall, they know that the end is near. You can see that in how they are making apps for the iPhone and Android devices. Things like Office, OneNote, Skype, Outlook, OneDrive, etc. They aren’t making these apps for other platforms just for the sake of making them available, they are making them available because they need to or they’re dead.
The computing industry that we have today is not a Microsoft dominated industry anymore and Microsoft knows it. They sat on their desktop monopoly for too long and the rest of the industry flew past them while they were sleeping.
More and more people are choosing to dump the traditional desktop and go with mobile devices such as tablets and smartphones. Most people don't have a need for the traditional desktop anymore, most can get by with an iPad or some other Android-powered tablet.
Windows 8 and by extension Windows 10 is a last ditch effort for Microsoft to hold onto some semblance of relevance in today's post-PC world. Unfortunately for Microsoft, Windows 8 was a flop and by extension Windows 10 will be a flop because nobody wants a Microsoft anything these days. Microsoft and by extension Windows used to be a household name, now it's not. The name on everyone's mind now is Apple with their iPad.
The computing industry that we have today is not a Microsoft dominated industry anymore and Microsoft knows it. They sat on their desktop monopoly for too long and the rest of the industry flew past them while they were sleeping.
They were not exactly sleeping. They saw the emergence of tablets & phones, and Windows 8 was their attempt at it. It would have been fine, had they not insisted on also forcing it on laptops and thereby forcing laptops to become touch-screen devices. By doing that, they were forced to totally revisit that w/ Windows 10. Had Microsoft left Windows 7 alone, maybe replacing only the kernel, and instead, released Windows 8 just for tablets & Windows Phone 8 just for Phones, they'd probably have had more traction w/ Mobile App vendors. But since they were so busy fixing Windows 8.x on their desktop, both iOS and Android progressed miles ahead of them. I don't see them ever catching up, unless Apple or Google do something really screwy to their own platforms.
Most companies I think would have done that. I haven't seen a single company that's moved to Windows 8.x.
But one can argue that Microsoft does not fully support legacy software. For instance, I have an Adobe Acrobat 6.x that I had bought. It worked fine under XP, but never even installed under Windows 7. The argument is that one has to upgrade to Acrobat 7 or later, but why would one pay new cash for a software that they've already bought, and which works? Just b'cos the new version of the OS no longer can support it?
Those arguments aside, if Microsoft doesn't support all past software, why is it throwing the kitchen sink at legacy support? In Windows 7, they already had the right idea - Virtual PC and XP Mode. Just extend that here in Windows 10. I never saw the reason for Windows 10 to have a 32 bit version at all. There are a lot of old computers that just won't go to Windows 10 - maybe because their motherboards can't have more than 512MB of memory, maybe because their outdated peripherals manufacturers only maintain but no longer support them, etc. So Microsoft could have made Windows 10 a 64-bit only OS, and then installed on it Virtual PC, w/ free VMs for 8, 7, Vista, XP, 2000, ME, NT 4.0 and 3.5. That way, people w/ legacy needs can be supported in software, while the main OS itself would allow MS to innovate more. And somewhere down the road, they could even include a Windows 10 VM in the package.
Speaking about 32-bit Windows 10, my Winbook has 2GB of RAM and 32GB of flash storage (C:\), and doesn't come in a configuration w/ 64GB. Having a 64-bit only version would have made them support a 64-bit OS, and at the same time, avoid having any upgrade/support issues. Put the minimum requirement at 4GB of RAM, and make the basic OS recognize up to 64TB, so that manufacturers don't put stupid low limits like 32GB. That way, there would also be no question of the OS being able to upgrade from 8.x to 10. I've seen some Winbooks w/ 1GB of RAM and 16GB of storage: those will NOT be upgradable to 10. So why have them, particularly when 8 sucks?
Nope, going by revenue from a few years ago, rough calculations which is why not at 100%.
8% came from entertainment/devices so home
70% from servers and offerings only available to businesses or similar.
20% from windows and windows live so both home and business.