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Multiple Sources Confirm Windows 10 has Reached RTM
Ammalgam writes: Multiple sources are reporting that Microsoft has finally hit the release to manufacturing (RTM) milestone with Windows 10. A new build of Windows 10, number 10240, is available to Windows Insiders on both the fast and slow track. Microsoft has made no official statement yet.
It's Windows 10 and the build number for the RTM is exactly 1024 * 10, and it takes 10 bits to reach 1024.
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Other than the post on the official Windows blog, I guess
http://blogs.windows.com/blogg...
Although that doesn't say this is the RTM, just that "this build is one step closer to what customers will start to receive on 7/29"
Help me! I'm turning into a grapefruit!
"So put your cards on the table, then, what do you think they're going to do exactly? They're going to offer it for free and then send the leg-breakers around to people's houses in a year asking for protection money? They're going to spring a monthly fee rental on people after they've installed it, and when people complain and threaten to sue they're going to laugh maniacally?"
I don't think that's going to happen right away. I think they're going to use the next few years of rolling updates to get the average consumer used to the Windows as a Service model. Then, at least for the Home version, they're going to come out with Windows 365 when "Windows 11" is ready. The Pro and Enterprise versions will probably still be available in perpetual license format (They already committed to a long term stable (LTS) branch of 10 for companies.) The carrot for going to Windows 365 will be the availability of features. Look at Mac Office 2016 -- available now only if you have an Office 365 subscription, otherwise you need to wait till September to buy a licensed copy. The next step might be no more perpetual licensing.
I actually like Windows, but I'm not a fan of the constant rental fees for software. Adobe went that way with Creative Cloud, and people basically have no choice but to keep paying forever. AutoCAD is now rent-only as well.
The .iso's will be available on the Windows Partner Portal on August 1st. Or so I was told in a Windows 10 webinar last week. To use them you need to upgrade your Windows 7 or 8.1 machines online, let Microsoft do its hardware based digital entitlement think where it stores your motherboard info on its servers. Then you can clean install from the .iso and Windows will be automatically activated as long as you have the same motherboard. Hard drives can be changed to SSD's etc, without a problem, they claim. Your old product key can even be reused if you want to revert back to the original OS after the 30 day rollback period, after which the Windows.old folder will be removed.
I think there's another possibility: Windows will become permanently free (gratis) for home and non-commercial use.
I actually think this would be a really smart move for Microsoft at this time. Apple and Google have beaten them in the mobile area, and Apple has been making inroads on the desktop, even in businesses. Some businesses and schools are even opting for Chromebooks. Windows doesn't provide them with the sort of leverage and dominance that it used to.
As people move away from Windows, not only does Microsoft lose the revenue from licensing, they also start losing an advantage in selling their other products/services. If you run a business and all of your desktops are Macs or Chromebooks, then having a Windows domain isn't nearly as useful. If you're not running Outlook on Windows, then the value of Exchange Server is diminished. (They have Outlook for Mac, but it's not as good, and they have no Outlook for Linux) A lot of their expensive management tools and services become much more effective when your network is all Windows servers and Windows desktops/laptops.
In that sense, I could see an argument that Microsoft should give away Windows to consumers (and maybe even businesses) as a loss leader in order to sell various services, similar to the way that Apple provides OSX and the iLife/iWork software "free" as a way to sell their hardware. Personally, I think they should restructure Office 365 to include various management tools, like MDM, RMM, SSO, and remote control similar to LogMeIn. Turn it into a one-stop shop for IT departments to control all of their servers and desktops, with an eye toward eventually enabling IT to replace onsite domain controllers and file servers with a completely hosted cloud solution, where that would be desirable. Provide similar (but simplified) functionality for home users, including update management, cloud managed AV, find-my-phone (or laptop), remote control, cloud backup, etc.
I think that's the best move for long-term growth: give away Windows, come up with a well defined set of subscription services that provide useful features that integrate well with Windows, and price those subscriptions cheaply enough that IT departments and home users will say, "why not?", and then try to make money on volume.
Besides, making Windows free removes the biggest reason people have to stay on old versions of Windows, and old versions of Windows are more expensive for Microsoft to support. I think that's why Apple started making their OS upgrades free.
Not me. Been beta-testing the preview builds for the last bunch of months, and I'm honestly unhappy to say there's no must-have, great, or even kinda-cool feature in 10 that compels me to upgrade from 7 (other than the stick-it-to-ya of planned obsolescence).
OTOH, there's a lot in Windows 10 that's just irritating. The lack of customizability in the UI (if you don't like the flat, playskool look, you're SOL). The yanking out of some of the fun time-wasting games (some have been replaced with "modern" versions for... what exactly? to acclimate users to the "modern" look? to force users to browse through the Store to find Minesweeper?). The unpolished split between the "modern" Settings app and the Control Panel for getting real work done. The insistence that you sign into a Microsoft account. The click-bait-laden live-tiles. The defaults to the use of ugly, too-big, less-capable "modern" apps for basic functions like PDF viewing, photo viewing, or even a simple calculator.
If I think about it,if I move from 7 because 7 is at EOL, I am going to spend my first bunch of hours shutting off everything that 10 offers. I would ditch Edge/Project Spartan for Chrome, first thing. Dull down the colors any way I can. Install classic-shell. Shut off the click-bait live-tiles from aggravating my ADHD with TMZ OMG bullcrap. Un-modernize everything by installing and making default 7-versions of the calculator, a PDF viewer, minesweeper, VLC, rainmeter, WinAero Tweaker, Picassa, etc. And then probably go looking for some skinning hacks, if any work on 10, because I can't stand that awful playskool look.
In other words, spend hours undoing everything that makes 10 look and act like 10. That's a helluva lot of wasted time for what's supposed to be an "upgrade". And for what? Touch? I don't use touch. DirectX 12? I don't game enough AAA titles to know the difference. The only reason I see to go to 10 is because Microsoft plans on pulling the plug on 7. Eventually. Or maybe if 10 handles scaling properly on ultra-high-res screens. Eventually.
If Windows to you is merely a platform from which to launch Steam and your favorite full-screen game(s), you probably have nothing to lose with 10. If you have a Surface, the "modern" apps make some sense (although when I tried them, Android and iOS equivalents are more polished and work better). But if you actually have to get real work done on the desktop like you do in 7 every day, 10 don't offer not one damn thing for the trouble. None that I can tell, anyway.
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It is obvious, and a joke, to point out your username at this point.
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