Slashdot Mirror
Windows 10 Launches
An anonymous reader writes: Today Microsoft officially released Windows 10 in 190 countries as a free upgrade for anyone with Windows 7 or later. Major features include Continuum (which brings back the start menu and lets you switch between a keyboard/mouse UI and a touch UI without forcing you into one or the other), the Cortana digital assistant, the Edge browser, virtual desktops, DirectX 12 support, universal apps, an Xbox app, and security improvements. Reviews of the operating system generally consider it an improvement over Windows 8.1, despite launch-day bugs. Peter Bright writes, "Windows 8 felt unfinished, but it was an unfinished thought. ... Windows 10 feels unfinished, but in a different way. The concept of the operating system is a great deal better than its predecessor. It's better in fact than all of its predecessors. ... For all my gripes, it's the right idea, and it's implemented in more or less the right way. But I think it's also buggier than Windows 8.1, 8, 7, or Vista were on their respective launch days." Tom Warren draws similar conclusions: "During my testing on a variety of hardware, I've run into a lot of bugs and issues — even with the version that will be released to consumers on launch day. ... Everything about Windows 10 feels like a new approach for Microsoft, and I'm confident these early bugs and issues will be addressed fairly quickly."
First post from a Windows 10 mach..sd..foasfd89&$#(&*$(@#%*Y$H NO CARRIER
root@allevil:~#
Microsoft has seriously dropped the ball with Windows 10. I LIKED METRO! Why did they get rid of my metro? When I was growing up I watched Star Trek: Deep Space 9 and they didn't use a start menu, they used metro. Microsoft continues to alienate their users.
No, the only way to save Windows is to port systemd to it. On Linux, systemd brought a new era of stability and always-on availability to servers globally. Before systemd, I didn't even like Linux. I can say it kind of sucked, I tried to run Aliens: Colonial Marines on my Ubuntu netbook and I couldn't get the setup.exe to open. What kind of shitty os can't run an EXE? DOS can run an EXE!
Also the lack of an update manager for NVIDIA really screwed me over. Apparantly, it's all updated by the package manager (I read this on stack overflow) but I want my NVIDIA Experience app! It tells me when the latest game ready driver is available so I get max FPS.
Anyway, Linux SJWs can keep their bullshit, except for systemd which I like. I think systemd would make Windows a more secure and robust OS. I bet you could write an antivirus that uses systemd, that would be really cool!
I was reading about this new systemd - MongoDB cloud I want to use on our webserver (I am the project manager for a web app. I get to decide what we use and I always make good choices). We currently have this MS SQL 2014 database on Dropbox or something, I want to change that to leverage systemd.
We upgraded to VS 2015 but resharper crashes a lot, so we're considering sticking with 2012. I think we can make this work with systemd. This one dude uses a Mac and he says systemd is bad, but he uses a Mac so I don't care. I tried to run MyCleanPC on a Mac once and it didn't work, so I stopped using Mac.
We hired this new old chick (she's a grandma or something) I might fire soon. She wants to use F# for new development, saying it's a more modern language than Visual Basic. If she keeps her zealotry up I'll have no choice but to fire her (If you're reading this Linda, you know who you are). She's also one of those Slashdot SJWs so I hate her by default anyway. I just need a good reason or the government might come after me.
systemd is the future. The Linux SJWs just haven't seen the light yet. I can see the stack in my head: Windows -> systemd -> MongoDB -> Sharepoint -> ActiveX plugin on client site. I've made my career out of making these choices. I fired a guy last week who said ActiveX should not be used in new development, but I disagree. ActiveX keeps those Linux SJWs from using my site.
I saved us a ton of money by recommending we use Windows 8 (not 8.1 because our hardware doesn't support it) for the web server instead of Windows Server 2012. I don't think there's a stability difference, and I don't want to have to spend that much.
Another thing! I have this EXE I run that automatically sets up telnet on my machine so I can remote in from anywhere. It's how I work from home. I tried running it on my Ubuntu netbook and it didn't work. So how am I supposed to enable telnet on Linux? I don't know that it's even possible! Linux SJWs won't admit these shortcomings.
Anyway, I want you guys to know that Windows 10 needs native systemd so we can web scale our cloud apps.
And what if this assumption of prompt fixes doesn't happen?
I don't want to start a holy war here, but what is the deal with you Windows fanatics? I've been sitting here at my freelance gig in front of my PC (a 8600/300 w/64 Megs of RAM) for about 20 minutes now while it attempts to copy a 17 Meg file from one folder on the hard drive to another folder. 20 minutes. At home, on my Pentium Pro 200 running NT 4, which by all standards should be a lot slower than this rig, the same operation would take about 2 minutes. If that.
In addition, during this file transfer, Netscape will not work. And everything else has ground to a halt. Even BBEdit Lite is straining to keep up as I type this.
I won't bore you with the laundry list of other problems that I've encountered while working on various Windows PC's, but suffice it to say there have been many, not the least of which is I've never seen a PC that has run faster than its Mac counterpart, despite the PC's faster chip architecture. My 486/66 with 8 megs of ram runs faster than this 300 mhz machine at times. From a productivity standpoint, I don't get how people can claim that Windows is a superior OS.
Microsoft addicts, flame me if you'd like, but I'd rather hear some intelligent reasons why anyone would choose to use a Windows PC over other faster, cheaper, more stable systems.
Now the UEFI BIOS of the OEM machines can be locked using the M$ keys. What do you think of this new feature? OEM laptop=mobile phone?
Am I allowed to say this on /.?
W10 is so far not too awful.
W8 introduced File History and a far improved Task Manager, the former alone was enough to get me to put in on my home PC. I'll admit I had to install Classic Shell to remain sane, but I don't think I was alone in not enjoying the Metro interface.
With W10 there remain those goodies, virtual desktops (finally, hurrah!) and best of all a non-offensive UI. Yes, it's different to W7 and still a little messy for my liking, but then things do change, and we do cope. I'm not going to move my home PC to W10 for a while, but I'm not totally discounting it either...
Oh arse
Somehow, I do not believe you...
Obviously it seems so important to you and affecting you to the point where you feel the need to post a comment in which you are compelled to state that you are running Debian. Why?
Its as if you either feel threatened or superior... in any case it DOES affect you.
If you're too impatient to wait for Windows update to tell you your rolling wave install is ready for installation, you can download the media immediately.
https://www.microsoft.com/en-u...
.
An anonymous Microsoft PR person writes
You're a bunch of idiots, but I love you. Thanks for taking that early install bug bullet for me. I'll wait a couple of weeks minimum before I do any installs.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
My Computer -> Advanced System Settings -> Environment variables....
The same, tiny, unsizable, virtually unusable dialog box that has been there, untouched, since Windows 95 (at least).
If it's still there in Windows 10? I dunno. I might give up and go back to VMS, or AmigaDOS or something.
I'm surprised actually by my download rate.
Looks like Microsoft did their homework and put up a good delivery system.
I know a few game publishers who might want to take a couple notes.
We had a preview version here at work, and it froze up while I was trying to change the wallpaper. Admittedly, this was several months ago, and I expect that those kinds of issues have been fixed, but I'll stick with Win 7 as it still works fine.
Taking guns away from the 99% gives the 1% 100% of the power.
9? But this one goes to 10!
STONEHENGE!
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Disclaimer: Cynical greybeard here. most of what im arguing isnt everyones cuppa.
congrats on the release redmond. after having shed more than 7000 employees in the wake of multibillion dollar cellular phone and tablet losses, it seems like youve learned nothing.
The OS emerged with a zero-day bug so egregious it has its own front-page post on imgur and reddit (how exactly did that pass QC?)
You bastards were told time and time again the start screen was an abortion. we hated it, and we hated you for turning our servers into touchscreens. So you made sure to include a mini version in windows 10 as a big fat fuck you to the audience for not accepting something redmond banked big on and lost.
Terry Myerson is so balls deep into this release its like he was born yesterday, and completely forgot the last 6 iterations of your OS have been utter rubbish. the disconnect is palpable as he waxes prophetic on personal computing but your C-levels regularly insist windows is an environment that transcends the personal computer. Windows 10 has 'feedback from 5 million insiders' and you still couldnt manage to avoid a condescending experience with windows Hello, a biometric powered emoticon assault on the login screen. Great. now windows has the ability to announce to passerby my schedule and full name. It flouts voice pen and gesture interactivity to fully imbue a sense of puerile toddler-like engagement with an OS that, despite microsoft bob being a total fucking trainwreck, somehow made it into the OS again as Cortana, the window-licking autistic knockoff of siri.
8 years late you finally realize Explorer was a turd without polish. Edge is Internet Explorer sans the toxic branding, just like Bing is Yahoo search after 6 years of hostile takeover buffonery. Appstore moneytrain version 10 is officially out of the station and chugging along to an equally miserable failure in light of the fact that two apps stores already exist and dominate the market in which you currently have no killer apps or interesting content. Games will come from steam and professional tools will come from packaged vendors who dont feel inclined to do backflips into your walled garden.
Good people go to bed earlier.
So.. /. article about a subject that doesn't affect you, follow the article link, hit the post button, and then respond to someone (which kinda implies you're watching the thread).
You see a
Okay, this doesn't affect you. Right. Of course. Mm-hm.
Sad little boy.
So, you're saying that going from Windows 7 to, say, Windows 2000 is not a downgrade, but just a lateral change?
Or going from IE6 to IE11 isn't an upgrade, but just a change?
You really don't see how going from an older version with fewer features to a newer version with more features ins't an upgrade? Or maybe you're just being pedantic about the definition of "upgrade"?
I was surprised by the download and the installation time.
Yes, I reckon I get a faster install out of RHEL, but that's a fairly light kickstart version.
Oh arse
Looks like Microsoft did their homework and put up a good delivery system.
I know a few game publishers who might want to take a couple notes.
If those game publishers were as big as Microsoft, had been around as long as Microsoft, and had as much experience failing at meeting demand for capacity as Microsoft, then by now they would have added the capacity... as Microsoft has. There's been lots of times in the past when their ability to deliver content has been poor, but that was mostly a long time ago. Now they're just demanding you use javascript on their site, which they only instituted fairly recently. That's piss-annoying.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
The bugginess should hardly be surprising since the Windows division liquidated most of its QA staff in the 2014 layoffs.
The recent layoffs have been poorly communicated both within Microsoft and beyond, but one victim group appears to have been the dedicated programmatic testers in the Operating Systems Group (OSG)
http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2014/08/how-microsoft-dragged-its-development-practices-into-the-21st-century/4/
Under the new structure, a number of Windows engineers, primarily dedicated testers, will no longer be needed. (I don't know exactly how many testers will be laid off, but hearing it could be a "good chunk," from sources close to the company.)
http://www.zdnet.com/article/beyond-12500-former-nokia-employees-who-else-is-microsoft-laying-off/
Hats off to those people brave enough to install Windows 10. Hope you've got good backups.
I have a copy of Windows 7 that I sometimes run in a virtualbox. I bought Windows 7, now Microsoft is going to take that away from me and give me Windows10? Can I get my money back? I don't want Windows10, it's not what I bought.
no, I don't have a sig
"Or maybe you're just being pedantic about the definition of "upgrade"?"
Yes I am. I see an upgrade as getting something better than what you already have. A few new 'features', an unintuitive UI change, and a plethora of bugs in a new version of a lame OS is not an upgrade, but merely a change.
"Or going from IE6 to IE11 isn't an upgrade, but just a change?"
Correct. Going from IE6 to Firefox, for example, is an upgrade.
Political correctness is really just herd psychology pushed by insecure people who desperately seek social conformity.
Did they restore Windows Media Center in the home edition???
No media center as you know it in 10.
Window 10 was officially launched today. I am waiting for SP1 before I upgrade. Standard practice for MS software.
Looks like Akamai did their homework and put up a good delivery system.
FTFY.
Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
...before I even consider switching from 7. For crying out loud, I just switched from xp. I'd like to get actual work done.
Well, W10 is certainly far better (so far) than W8 (UI, virtual deksops etc). If you're not sure, try it out in a VM or - heavens - read the articles linked to above.
W8 had many flaws, but there were definite advantages to it over W7 (I've mentioned them elsewhere - File History, an improved Task manager - but there are plenty more).
Overall, W10 is certainly a massive upgrade from W7, the same way W7 was a massive upgrade from XP.
Professional advice time:
* Make sure you have the information you need (not just the information that suits your viewpoint).
* Be prepared to reevaluate based on new information.
* Don't try to redefine words to help push your point of view, it just looks daft. If in doubt about the correct meaning, check a dictionary.
Oh arse
I've been using Windows 10 for quite a while. The thing that's going to really change on the "enterprisey" side of things is the need to buy the Enterprise version so you can get the Long Term Stable servicing branch, and thus you'll be forced into volume licensing rather than OEM licensing. If you don't, you run the risk of Microsoft introducing a new change in the Current Branch for Business that breaks your applications, with a ticking clock counting down to the time you're forced to accept it. Unlike phones, PCs in businesses typically run applications that, for whatever reason, can't easily be upgraded. I've worked in end user computing for years, and it happens everywhere, in large and small businesses. Entire departments live and die by Excel macros and Access databases. Web applications that are too expensive to upgrade have to keep working. And on and on...
I think the biggest thing that Microsoft needs to get right is stability. Rolling out new features all the time sounds like a really great idea, more Agile, etc. etc. The problem is that to do this with an operating system, those feature changes need to be solid and not break existing functionality. If they got rid of all their QA staff, I hope they're not relying on Windows Insiders to test key functionality. Insiders are generally not running the legacy junk applications that businesses need to keep supported and alive. Insiders are running their general Office workstations, maybe some web browsing, but usually not legacy applications.
One of the things from the past that was nice about a definitive "RTM" line in the sand was that the code was declared feature complete, and most showstopper bugs were squashed before the OS was allowed to be released. Back in the day, it was because you were pressing a million DVDs and your customers couldn't easily download patches, so it had to work. Now, the "ship it, we'll just rush out a patch later" mentality is dominant everywhere. The other nice thing was that when Version X came out, features didn't change until X.1 was ready. With this continuous upgrade cycle, I can see some problems. Maybe this is part of Microsoft's long term strategy -- just kill desktop applications and make everyone run VDI in Azure.
That's gonna be a show stopper for me. I've installed some of the "alternatives" and the configuration is damn near impossible. And, once it's running the system seems so fragile and unstable that I can't really count on it to finish playing a file, much less record something.
Where all think alike, no one thinks very much.
Are you insane. Windows 7 is nothing but vista repackaged.
And most of the bugs fixed. For example, I've never had to wait two minutes while Windows 7 copied a 1MB file, unlike Vista.
Dude, it's an upgrade.
In what sense?
It's a different operating system. Whether you consider it an upgrade depends on whether you like hipster UIs.
And, don't forget, they've apparently said this is the last version of Windows, and new features will continually be pushed out. Next time the hipsters want to release a new UI, you'll wake up one morning and find your desktop looks completely different because it auto-updated overnight.
is the exact same thing they said about every previous release. "They got it right this time", "they finally fixed all the bugs", "it has a few bugs that will surely be fixed quickly"...
Gimme a break.
From the review it looks like real under-the-hood improvements with performance and security are contrasted with a broken mess in the UX department. The new start menu getting amnesia past 500 entries in the menu database coupled with an inconsistent Amazon jungle of differing UI paradigms elsewhere would signal the end of my sanity.
No thanks.
And what do the rest of the Koreans use?
Anyway, MS still reigns supreme on desktops and laptops. The only significant change to that is the fact that tablets and larger smart phones have been eating into the PC market.
If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
Just saw the first quicky intro on cnet. Fantastic! there are *desktops* to which you can switch! ... and when Gnome 2.0 did away with workspaces, last century, and I complained, the answer was - like the famous need of the numbers of computers or the RAM - that *nobody* ever needs workspaces.
And when I watch that clip, W10 looks like an enhanced version of enlightenment combined with a smartphone interface. But I'm too old to actually give a damn any more, people are just plain wxyz.
"It doesn't look like Windows" is what I have been told the last quarter century, trying to evangelize a proper OS, any proper OS, except that one.
And now Windows looks like a second-class copy of some desktops we had - or could have had - 10 years ago, and everyone yells: "Oh, wow! Windows 10!"
Once upon a time, a PC was supposed to be a servant, sitting on my table to do what I want it to. The way it is presented, is more like a sex object, you drive it with mouse and cursor, may even touch(!) it; and most of all it has taken the center of a desktop, the master guiding through one's daily work.
At least, this is how it looks to me.
... or more forced obsolescence ?
I have not used it yet, but have read good reviews. Please free me from IE! Most of our mandatory corporate pages never seem to work properly on anything but IE.
I find it amusing what I am seeing right now - I have multiple machines in multiple environments. I'm using the the tools downloaded from here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-u... On some of different IP's and network connections I am downloading Windows 10 Pro - and the speed seems consistent from MS servers at 5MB/s. On other IP's, I am downloading Windows 10 Pro N (without the Edge browser). Speeds are less than 1MB/s. This is either popularity or favouritism...yikes.
No plugins other than the builtin Flash will work with Edge. So no Java, no ActiveX. If your corporate apps require those, you've gotta use IE or another alternative.
... if Edge is really different from IE, not a marketing renaming/polishing.
The implications of which no review has mentioned or discussed in detail. With antitrust cases long behind them, and a lower market share in a more mobile world, Microsoft would be pretty sure they can get away with it. It is non trivial for a normal user to change default browsers, all Chrome can do is dump you on the correct settings screen. Then you've to scroll down, click on one of those buttons that doesn't look like a button. And there's a big friendly 'Reset to Microsoft Defaults' link at the bottom. You need a Microsoft account, or at least it is non trivial to install Windows without getting one. OneDrive pops up right away.
The most egregious is the 'express settings' option when you install. The 'custom settings' option is hidden in small text in blue on a blue background in another link that doesn't look like a link thing. The 'express settings' are scary, sending your voice, contact details, location, advertising ID, browsing history etc. to Microsoft and others.
Sure, the average slashdot user can get around it in a few minutes. The average user, not so much - they'll click Next.
I don't think they should count on that. They've been giving Google so much hell in Europe I'd expect Google to pay them back and launch similar complaints about Windows 10. The US government might not do anything but I'm willing to bet other world governments will.
Since MS loves their goof-ball product keys, *how* do I get one if I download the ISO? I have several legit Win7 and Win8.1 product keys.. I understand how the upgrade works if you're actually running 7/8.1 on a machine. It knows you're "genuine" so it downloads and upgrades whichever older version of Windows you have.. But I'm not currently running these copies of Windows, but want to have a copy of 10 on hand *if* I decide to run it in the future.. Anybody know how getting a 10 product key works in this case??
THANK YOU, Edward Snowden!! Americans owe you a debt of gratitude (whether they know it or not..)
That's not good. I mean lots of people had issue with 8 due to poor UI choices, but it was stable. I had Vista on my old computer, to say it was buggy wasn't quite right. It was pretty broken from being unsupported more than anything else. MS HW drivers didn't work. You had to hunt them down individually online (if they had one, or wait until one was made)... So for the first year or so, not so good. After that it was more less fine, unless you had to re-install, as it was going to take you a couple hours to install... THEN about a half a day to download and install all the updates, patches, etc...
I use 7 on my new box, didn't trust the 8 when it came out.
I'll probably eventually go to 10, but I'm not in a big hurry. The one thing I have heard is that WMC is gone with no replacement... It was getting pretty terrible anyway with lack of native support for various codecs... however I used it with a WMC compatible remote, which I assume will now be useless.
No kidding on the "express settings".. Since I'm kinda my neighborhood's "tech support", I've already told several people to be very careful in setting up 10, if they decide to upgrade to it, of course my recommendation is to wait at least 6 months, but I *know* several wanna-be geeks in my neighborhood who will want it on day 1... they're kinda the "oooooooh shiny" type of user...
THANK YOU, Edward Snowden!! Americans owe you a debt of gratitude (whether they know it or not..)
I was wondering about that too, if you d/l the iso, how do you get a 10 product key??
THANK YOU, Edward Snowden!! Americans owe you a debt of gratitude (whether they know it or not..)
It really is.
How much different remains to be seen.
XML is a known as a key material required to create SMD: Software of Mass Destruction
Other major features include Error 0x80240020.
So.. You see a /. article about a subject that doesn't affect you, follow the article link, hit the post button, and then respond to someone (which kinda implies you're watching the thread).
Okay, this doesn't affect you. Right. Of course. Mm-hm.
Sad little boy.
Not to defend an AC; but, if Slashdot commenters restricted themselves to only issues which affect them, this would be one lonely forum.
How much does it rein supreme? The market has been falling in size in terms of units now for 6 years. At the same time another wave of APU falling is starting up. The upper end is firmly in the hands of Apple whose reach is expanding. The bottom end is being eaten by $75-150 Android tablets and by iPads. Mobile is decreasing usage as well. Losing ground rapidly above and below with the middle softening doesn't sound like reining supreme. That sounds like being rapidly displaced.
Microsoft downloads are always surprisingly fast for me. A decade of patch Tuesdays when everyone and their mom downloads gigabytes of updates on the same day seems to have perfected their content delivery system.
Wealth is the gift that keeps on giving.
"Professional advice time" I was being facetious and I did state that it was my humble opinion. You seemed to have missed that part.
Comedic advice time:
1. Pull the stick out of your ass.
2. Smile. (Your face won't crack)
3. Go to # 1
Political correctness is really just herd psychology pushed by insecure people who desperately seek social conformity.
I guess this means I'm sticking with Windows 7 on whatever good hardware supports it. The situation with Windows 8 and 10 is ridiculous. Microsoft knew what their *profitable* users wanted out of the platform. Windows 8 immediately resulted in a list of problems. They had old problems, as author noted, going way back. The best thing to do is keep what works, eliminate problems, add functions to make it easier to use, try some new things as OPTIONS, and continue to roll in profit from satisfied users. The Start Menu issue alone makes it look like Microsoft is intentionally trying to piss its users off. Meanwhile, Mac OS X and certain Linux distro's continue improving while remaining easy to use and (esp for Mac OS X) quite consistent.
Microsoft was known to copy anything better. They need to do that again for sane and consistent UI. Far as different devices, Apple's method worked so copy it: one product for desktops and one with touch-oriented UI for mobile/tablets. You can keep many of the dev tools, libraries, kernel functions, and so on the same to reduce duplication. They already do that for Xbox with even more coming now that it's x86. The problem is so friggin' simple to solve that it's amazing Microsoft hasn't figured it out, esp as it combines their two top qualities: leveraging what you already have to pinch pennies; copying successful stuff the competition does.
"Is that easy enough for you?"
I don't get it.
Political correctness is really just herd psychology pushed by insecure people who desperately seek social conformity.
Invalidates the Windows 7 license? This is a fact?
Deal-breaker if true.
Take it easy, Charlie, I've got an Angle...
In my opinion, Microsoft is an extremely badly managed and abusive company. I see these issues as supporting that widely shared opinion:
One effect of "upgrading" to Windows 10: Windows Media Center will be deleted. Microsoft is also apparently trying to kill Windows Media Center software in other versions of Windows, without notice, by stopping providing the TV program schedule (EPG, Electronic Program Guide). That affects hundreds of thousands of users. The issue is not who uses Windows Media Center. The issue is that apparently Microsoft is operating in a sneaky fashion that is extremely anti-customer, and that shows Microsoft is trying to take even more control over its users.
Microsoft and thousands of customers are blaming Rovi. Notice, for example, how many times Rovi is mentioned on this Microsoft web page:
https://connect.microsoft.com/site1145/Feedback
This Microsoft web pages says the TV Guide has been "Updated":
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3078428,
but many Windows Media Center users no longer have a TV schedule, making Windows Media Center worthless because it is very difficult to record without the schedule.
Microsoft is apparently deliberately destroying Windows Media Center, and letting Rovi take the blame. For example, a new installation of Windows Media Center on a fully updated Windows 7 Ultimate computer has several flaws, not just the lack of a TV program guide.
Another loss in Windows 10: Windows Updates will be forced, in some versions. Will there be other lost features, now or later? Will Microsoft extend its control over Windows in other hidden or complicated ways? Online comments say that Microsoft will try to move Windows to a model that requires monthly payments. The issue is not whether technically-knowledgeable users will be able to stop forced updates; the issue is that most people won't know how to regain control over their systems. That control is important because often Microsoft has issued poorly designed updates that have caused problems on user's systems. See this Slashdot story, for example, Windows 10's Automatic Updates For NVidia Drivers Causing Trouble.
More about Microsoft releasing buggy software: The Slashdot story, Windows 10 Launches, says Windows 10 is "buggier than Windows 8.1, 8, 7, or Vista were on their respective launch days" and "During my testing on a variety of hardware, I've run into a lot of bugs and issues -- even with the version that will be released to consumers on launch day".
(At present, the best way to update Windows 7 is to use Autopatcher, because Microsoft's anti-customer "updates" are avoided.)
Firefox: Embraced, "Extended", soon to be Extinguished? Mozilla Foundation now gets most of its money from Microsoft. Microsoft pays Yahoo. Yahoo pays Mozilla Foundation to make "Yahoo search" (actually Microsoft Bing search) the default search engine in Firefox. Most people don't have the technical knowledge to know how they've been manipulated, or how to restore the default search engine to Google search.
Thunderbird and SeaMonkey Composer GUIs: Damaged, apparently deliberately. Every time you do a file save, the newer versions of both ask for a new file name, and don't suggest the last one chosen. The damage was reported several months ago, but has not been fixed. Is t
Well, I just did the upgrade from a fully installed, authenticated, activated and working Windows 8.1 and it is still telling me that it can't activate. Worse, when you choose "Error Details" the box is completely empty! Microsoft really fucked up releasing it with this bug especially since a Google search shows this very problem early on. Oh well, back to the drawing board and downgrade it again.
This is a sig. This is only a sig. Had this been an actual sig you would have been informed where to tune for more sigs.
http://dictionary.reference.co...
Upgrade (noun)
a new version, improved model, etc.:
http://www.merriam-webster.com...
Upgrade (noun)
an occurrence in which one thing is replaced by something better, newer, more valuable, etc.
So even if Windows 10 was nothing more than "hello world", it is still, by definition, an upgrade.
and before you get all "hurr it's M$ it's never improved/better AMIRITE?" That doesn't matter, the definition means it can be one or more of those separated by commas
Both of those definitions are very subjective except for term "newer." The older version may be "better" or "more valuable" or the "improved model." Windows 98 was certainly an upgrade in every sense over Windows 95, but Windows ME was not an upgrade over 98. GNOME 3 may be newer than GNOME 2, but that's the only qualifier in which I could consider it an upgrade. What happens when "newer" is the only one of those terms to apply, but all the other definitions of upgrade apply to the older product instead?
That's interesting, I didn't know about Macrovision buying the Rovi name, apparently.
I've often appreciated the Rovi movie summaries.
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
I will never allow any software that tries to take control of MY machine away from ME. If Windows 10 doesn't let me configure when I update, then I'm not updating to Windows 10 ... even if Microsoft pays me.
I thought I read the other day that this was one of the issues M$ backtracked on. I believe you can now choose not to have updates installed automatically.
This was a show stopped for me also (a single bad update could take out a large section of the computing public? Who thought this was a good idea?) but was not the only reason for not adopting. The main reason is that I'm tired of my machine, the one I use to perform work for which I get paid, being a test bed for whatever Microsoft thinks is this year's good idea. So no. I may look at 10 in a year or so, after the inevitable early thrashing has died down.
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
Looks like Akamai did their homework and put up a good delivery system.
FTFY.
That was what I came here to say. To be fair, MS did "do their homework" by outsourcing their CDN to someone who actually knows what they are doing. That said, I can't help but wonder how they can claim to be competent to host something like Azure when they won't even run their own services on their platform (it's like back when they used to run Hotmail on BSD).
What part of "shall not be infringed" is so hard to understand?
A friend of mine said that W10 will remove apps that are not "W10 compatible". I thought this was an exaggeration but according to http://www.microsoft.com/en-us... it may:
If your antimalware subscription is not current (expired), Windows will uninstall your application and enable Windows Defender.
Some applications that came from your OEM may be removed prior to upgrade.
For certain third party applications, the Get Windows 10 app will scan for application compatibility. If there is a known issue that will prevent the upgrade, you will be notified of the list of applications with known issues. You can choose to accept and the applications will be removed from the system prior to upgrade. Please be sure to copy the list before you accept the removal of the application.
Normally, I'm not overly paranoid, but that last paragraph is a bit troublesome. Is there a list of such incompatible apps? Even though the get W10 app is supposed to flag them ahead of time, I'd be more comforted if there was also a list [that also explained why], in addition to [and before] having to run the probe app.
For example, I've got 5+ years of TurboTax. Each [year's] version does its own update when you invoke it. You need to keep all versions around [just in case you need to look at an older tax form you filed]. If the oldest version was not W10 compatible, would you need to invoke it (under Win7/Win8) to get it to update/upgrade before installing W10?
What about self updating apps in general? Adobe Acrobat Reader and Flash, as well as [yecch] Java come to mind. Or, Firefox, cygwin, vlc, handbrake?
Like a good neighbor, fsck is there
Probably going to be told I am a noob, but:
I have a dual-boot machine. It is an Acer machine and has a legitimate Windows 7 license and I installed Linux, keeping Windows 7 in a resized partition, and occasionally boot into it (it has a bug where it will not boot without a usb keyboard plugged in so I don't do it as often as I thought I would as I have to dig out that keyboard and plug it in). Linux is the default boot. I have no "recovery disk" and I may have lost any paperwork that came with the machine but it is a real legal copy.
So the question is: can I replace 7 with 10? Without damaging the Linux install? If it screws up grub how do I get it back?
Android/IOS tablets do not count when measuring PC OS market share - they are not classified as "personal computers" and cannot be factored in to market share statics. I'm not arguing that Android/IOS tables are eating into PC market share - they absolutely are. But that just shrinks the overall market, it doesn't much change who dominates that market. For a car analogy, saying Android/IOS tablets sales are dethroning Windows is like stating a surge in bicycle sales is stealing market share from Ford pick-ups. I assure you, Scwinn has nothing to do with Ford's slipping position in the light-duty truck market.
All statistics that you can find on various sites show that each of Windows XP, Windows 7, and Windows 8.1 individually hold more market share than all non-Windows OSes combined. On some sites, Windows 7 by itself holds more market share than all other Windows versions AND all non-Windows OSes combined. No non-Windows OS even comes near 10% market share.
"Reign supreme" means to dominate. Windows CLEARLY dominates PC OS market share. To claim otherwise just shows your ignorance.
Features can detract from the status of upgrade if they're worse than what they replaced.
And yet the system remains completely functional when unable to reach Microsoft services. That's the key difference between tightly locked, and being offered by default.
As an average Slashdot user, the express settings sound fine to me. It's no different from iOS, or Android, and the reason that we send this stuff is to get stuff in return (voice search, integrated cloud drive, synchronized windows settings between machines).
Call me troll but I previously went out of the way to install such services to make my life easier and I don't distrust MS enough to complain that they included them out of the box.
Actually some of the various agencies do count them. They also seem to have some level of substitution effect primarily decreasing usage and thus increasing length of the buying cycle. But we are have also seen something like 100m mostly stop using PCs, getting their needs met by tablets and phones.
There are essentially 4 measures of dominance that are commonly used:
a) Unit market share
b) Sales share (dollar weighted market share)
c) profit share
d) controlling the direction of the industry
(a) Android /iOS substitution is a serious threat. A huge number of people who would otherwise want newer PCs don't.
(b) Is rapidly collapsing while and Microsoft may fall under Apple soon in the non-server market
(c) Apple (OSX) has been dominant here forever ranging from 85-91% of profit share for $1k plus laptops and now has around the same margins for all end user PC sales.
(d) I think its pretty clear Microsoft has lost this and is thrashing.
I don't see dominance.
No it isn't. The average price on an iOS phone for example is approaching double the average price of a Windows PC and the unit volumes are getting close to equal. The analogy is more like Ford vs. Dodge pickups.
I don't know where you are getting that. Embedded Linux crushes Android and Android crushes Windows. iOS is getting close to Windows.
I can argue the Marlins are the dominant baseball team if I insist on only counting teams in Miami. But once I realize teams outside Miami play against the Miami team I have to deal with the complexity of the market. Windows right now is dominant in the niche of $250-700 keyboard based systems. Go either above or below price or drop the keyboard based and things look quite different.
I saw a review that was a big negative on Edge. A highly glowing review about Edge of course, because you're not allowed to be really negative about anything from Microsoft without setting yourself up for termination. So the review was mostly "It's awesome, but really new so there are bugs, but it's great and you'll learn to love it, but it doesn't have all the features or polish you expect because it's new, but it's going to be a hit!"
The pro version doesn't require this. I also read somewhere (but have not verified) that they changed their mind at the last minute and added the capability to not update automatically to Home edition (see, a public outcry does work).
Luckily I have the Pro edition of Windows 8 anyway (for $14 it was a no-brainer to get that edition).
Well, you might like Microsoft's services and thus you're happy with them being offered as default buy I don't want them and AFAIK they can't really be removed from Win 10.
... I feel that upgrading to Win 10 from 7 benefits Microsoft much more than me. It shouldn't be surprising since they're actually giving it away.
I miss the days where an OS was just a means to run programs, now they're publicity vessels and user data gatherers for the OS makers (this includes Android of course). Now, Win 10 installation procedures tricks you into believing you really need a Ms account to install (the option to use a local account is almost hidden) and MS's services are being pushed you all the time: Cortana, Bing,
Of course, Google is also guilty of not giving the user control by not letting uninstall you any of the Google apps that come with Android devices. I totally hate what the OS world is turning into.
Try JRMC. It's not free, but you get what you pay for. And, at least ~5 years ago (last time I needed something like WMC), it was good.
Exactly the same here. I called MS and they said it won't work with a 7 key. I just have to wait, it will be converted automatically. Not all that certain how that's going to work...
Ahhh...the great dumpster continuum. Many a free computer will be found there. -- sowth (748135)
I don't miss those days at all. One of my biggest complaints has always been that Windows is essentially useless out of the box due to lack of bundling of default applications. You never get that with a Linux machine that does pretty much everything from the moment you first hit the desktop.
But really they aren't going out of their way to hide anything despite your claims of things being tightly locked. In fact if you click settings there is an incredibly prominent "Privacy" option that allows you to control all details of what is enabled and sent to Microsoft include the Advertising ID, voice, handwriting, contacts, etc. I.e. you can opt in or opt out of any of those "express install" options at any time.
Not quite a full roll back to previous policies....they have a tool you can download that will allow you to hide and skip particular updates that you choose (I believe):
http://www.zdnet.com/article/m...
For most folks (who wouldn't know how to use this) its full on install everything, including device drivers - no change in default policy (what a nightmare).
"Or maybe you're just being pedantic about the definition of "upgrade"?" Yes I am. I see an upgrade as getting something better than what you already have. A few new 'features', an unintuitive UI change, and a plethora of bugs in a new version of a lame OS is not an upgrade, but merely a change. "Or going from IE6 to IE11 isn't an upgrade, but just a change?" Correct. Going from IE6 to Firefox, for example, is an upgrade.
Going from IE6 to Lynx is an upgrade.
To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
"Going from IE6 to Lynx is an upgrade."
:)
Yes! And using Lynx you can see webpages as the search engines do. Lynx is a great SEO tool!
Political correctness is really just herd psychology pushed by insecure people who desperately seek social conformity.
Completely stupid feature, as stupid as Mozilla or Chrome. Microsoft won't be able to manage this, even now 90% of their updates have exactly the same title because they don't want to confuse users. You can only tell them apart by the KB12345678 number.
To get the actual description of what is fixed you have to click once and be told "this fixes an issue, for more information click this link here" and then on the second click you have to go to a web page and wait for it to load (script heavy crap). It's just too cumbersome to get all the information. My only conclusion here is that Microsoft wants the users to be dumb and docile.
P.S. It has come to my attention since writing that comment that if you actually do an in-place upgrade, Microsoft gives you 30 days to roll it back. That's assuming the roll-back works, though.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
I am excited that they are giving a free upgrade....
It amazes me how much people accept and excuse abuse.
In fact, Mozilla Foundation lost its $300,000,000 yearly income from Google. Now most, or almost all of Mozilla Foundation's money comes from Microsoft, through Yahoo.
Ballmer was the CEO of Microsoft until recently. As I mentioned, Forbes magazine said he was the WORST CEO of a big company in the United States. Slashdot called Bill Gates "The Borg" until he was no longer CEO. Then people called the next CEO, Ballmer, "Monkey Boy". None of those were adequate responses to abuse. Forbes could have documented Ballmer's shortcomings.
My response to this: "You're stretching with the Yahoo thing. Are you feeling okay?" Instead of recognizing abuse, you are letting yourself become an abuser by agreeing with a dominant abuser.
That is common throughout the history of humans. Read the history of Britain's King Henry the Eighth. The British gave excuses rather than fixing their poor political system.