Microsoft Announces Windows 10 Build 14328 With Windows Ink, New UI (theverge.com)

An anonymous reader writes: Windows Ink is one of the many new features rolling out to beta testers as part of Windows 10 Build 14328. The build includes the new Windows Ink Workspace, providing access to new and improved sticky notes, a sketchpad, and a new screen sketch feature. There's also a new digital ruler you can use to create shapes and draw objects freely. The UI of the Start menu and Start Screen have also been tweaked. The most used apps list and all apps UI have been merged into a single view, creating a less cluttered Start menu. Microsoft also moved power, settings, and file explorer shortcuts so they're always visible. You can now bring back the fullscreen all apps list in the Start Screen, and you can toggle between the all apps view and your regular pinned apps. If you want things to feel less like a desktop PC, you can auto-hide the taskbar in tablet mode. Microsoft has detailed all of the new features found in Build 14328 in their blog post.

Comments

The right direction

[DavidMZ]

For the first time in a while, I have the feeling that Microsoft is going in the right direction.

I have been using Windows 10 at home for a while and I really like it.

Re:The right direction

[cfalcon]

Microsoft is going in the WRONG direction. Their insistence on alerting the mothership every time you compile, open notepad, open your media player, view photos... it isn't good. At all.

Re:The right direction

[Anonymous Coward]

There just doing it for your own benefit to ensure they maximize the users level of pleasure. Microsoft and You have entered into a strategic life partnership. No longer do you have to go home alone in the middle of the night. Now you will go home with Microsoft. Want to make love to your wife. Now you and Microsoft will be making love to your wife. Need to find someone to watch the kids. Now Microsoft can watch your children for and with you. Need help trying to find the right software. Microsoft will download it for you automatically and install these important services on every single machine you come across during the day.

In the future there epochs will be marked of as Before Microsoft and After Microsoft.

The only thing that can hold them down is their rampant homophobia (Apple is gay, therefore on the flip side MSoft must be homophobic). Just the name Microsoft is displeasing to the Apple crowd. I suggest they change the name of their company to MegaHard and install a screen saver that displays a magical multicoloured Penises all day. This will bring the apple fanboys onto our side and allow MegaHard to dominate the world's rear end.

Re:The right direction

[superwiz]

pretty sure those are started by task scheduler. so you can disable them in task scheduler.

Re:The right direction

[poisonborz]

Sure, why wouldn't it be? Since the 9x era all that's changed was its location

Re:The right direction

[Waccoon]

Article: "Microsoft revealed at Build that it was planning to make Cortana a more central part of Windows 10"

Even less interested in 10 than before.

Re:The right direction

[mcgrew]

Glad you liked it, I hated it. It was on this notebook for less time than it took to install it, I might have played with it for 45 minutes before rolling it back in disgust. What is it you like about W10 that W7 lacks? All I noticed was it was butt-ugly and slow as molasses, and installing it removed the MS Office that came with W7 (rolling it back restored Office).

"My God! It's full of fail!" -David Bowman

Re:The right direction

[Gravis Zero]

i disagree completely! Microsoft is doing a great job of encouraging people to give Linux a fair shot.

Re:The right direction

[thejynxed]

This makes sense, because if those dev renders for some of the upcoming Apple Macbooks are accurate, we're going to be facing a slew of laptops, etc that have no keyboards at all and rely on voice commands and a touch pad for everything. I bet anything Microsoft has been thinking along those same lines, and I know Google certainly has. This would explain the focus on centralizing Cortana.

Re:The right direction

[ayesnymous]

Microsoft is going in the WRONG direction. Their insistence on alerting the mothership every time you compile, open notepad, open your media player, view photos... it isn't good. At all.

As well as the forced updates, some of which render your computer unbootable.

I'm giving up Linux for Windows, too.

[Anonymous Coward]

I've been a Linux user for about 2 decades now, and I've never been more disappointed with it than I am today.

Linux used to kick the living shit out of Windows. Linux didn't crash several times a day. Linux didn't suffer from numerous serious security problems. Linux offered more advanced filesystems and other functionality. Linux provided a better experience, with more choice.

But I fear that those days are now long gone. Since Debian started using systemd, I've experienced a number of problems caused by it. There have been several incidents where I've done routine updates, and rebooted due to the kernel being updated, only to have the boot process break thanks to problems with systemd.

The Linux desktop experience is awful. GNOME 3 is atrocious in every way. Unity is too dumbed down. KDE is too bloated. Xfce has kind of stagnated. Hell, I still have trouble getting my video drivers to work reliably at times!

I recently bought a Surface Pro 4 for my wife, and she thinks it's absolutely great. I've started using it now and then, too, and I'm loving it. I can't believe how much better it is than Linux is today. It boots each and every single time I've chosen to reboot it. The software works flawlessly with the hardware. The Windows 10 desktop environment isn't great, but I'd much rather use it than GNOME 3 or Unity. The stability is great.

I'm now thinking of getting myself a Surface Pro when my current computer dies. I never thought I'd say this, but I don't feel like I'm wasting my time when I'm using Windows 10. I do feel like I'm wasting my time when I use modern Linux distros, especially with how fragile they've become, and how terribly the UIs have devolved.

And, no, I'm not "shilling" for Microsoft. I'm not getting paid for this comment expressing my opinion. But if you know whom I should contact to get paid, please let me know!

Re:I'm giving up Linux for Windows, too.

[Anonymous Coward]

2 decades of Linux and you apparently didn't learn anything.

Re:I'm giving up Linux for Windows, too.

[chipschap]

No kidding. I've also used Linux for about 20 years, and I definitely know how to get what I want and need from it. I don't understand the statement above about frequent crashes, massive security lapses, and a poor UI. I experience none of these problems. I can't even remember the last crash ... it would have been years and years ago. The UI? I have choices. I don't have to use Gnome 3 (and I don't). Security? Thank you but I feel safer with open source (and the same goes for being spied on).

If the above poster has used Linux for 20 years and can't get it to work the way he wants, I suggest that the fault is not with Linux.

Re:I'm giving up Linux for Windows, too.

[Anonymous Coward]

If the above poster has used Linux for 20 years and can't get it to work the way he wants, I suggest that the fault is not with Linux.

Disclaimer: This post will be modded into oblivion.

Actually, if the GP has used Linux for 20 years and still can't get shit working, I'd say he's been very generous with his time.

You are right about the problem not being Linux though. The problem is You. You are the real reason why there will never be a "Year of Linux on the $fucking_anything". Because the people who are smart enough to use Linux are unwilling to make it easier for anyone else to, and ESPECIALLY those who are not as computer savvy as them.

If someone was willing to give the time to try and use it, and they can't figure something out, that's on you. It's not Windows' job to justify itself to end users. That's Linux's job. If Linux can't make a good impression on the end users, it will never be a "real OS".

Why not? have an example: Just because you can drop to a CLI and fix it when it breaks, does not excuse the lack of robust GUI tools to do the same thing. That doesn't mean rip out the CLI but it does mean that not everyone is comfortable using the CLI to troubleshoot. (Hell some people are so dense, that the mere presence of the CLI makes them think that the FBI should be involved.) If you want to include others, the first thing you should do is create the tools that they need that are also within the user's comfort zone.

I've had problems before with Linux. When it works, it's perfect. When it breaks, I tend to be waist deep in error logs on a mild problem, and source code in the worst cases. Hell, right now I have a timing bug with a rtl8192cu wlan. It works perfectly on every system I have, except the one I need to use it with. A regular user would have given up the second it stopped working. Most won't file a bug report, make a forum post, ask on IRC, or even know what to do when something breaks. The best they might do, is call the person who installed it. That's something Linux needs to work on. If a user does not know where to turn for help when something breaks, they will not be a user for much longer.

One final example, regular users don't want to relearn everything the second that they start using something. Especially if they need to do so to be able to get anything done at all. One sore point for me is Blender. I learned how to use 3DS Max because that's what the 3D design class I took in high school used. I could learn how to use Blender, but it's UI is nothing like 3DS Max, so it's back to square one in terms of getting anything done with it. That's incredibly frustrating for me because I know WHAT I want to do, but I don't know HOW to do it. I looked and found out that Blender does (or did) support UI skins, but sadly it won't allow any major changes to the UI layout. Even something as simple as a toolbox reorganization would be helpful. As that would at least get the tools near where I expected them to be. (Even if the process of using them was different, just having an idea of where to look would be helpful.) But Blender's dev team is stead fast on the no major UI changes rule, and to this day I still haven't found the time to sit down and really try to learn it. I suppose I will at some point (which is more than many users will do), but considering that a small concession would have gone a long way to making me (and I presume others) more comfortable using it, I have to wonder why Blender doesn't try to ease users into it more.

If Linux wants to be a main stream OS, then it needs to be more (non-power) user friendly.

Re:I'm giving up Linux for Windows, too.

[Hognoxious]

If Linux wants to be a main stream OS, then it needs to be more (non-power) user friendly.

It should ideally work like this: you download it, put it on a USB stick or a memory card, plug it in your 'puter and away you go. They could give it a nice friendly name, maybe a herb or a chewing gum flavour.

But no, the neckbeards don't like that because it's not "733t" or something.

Re:I'm giving up Linux for Windows, too.

[Alomex]

Try installing windows yourself, it's not fun.

BS. I manage several loaner machines which are re-imaged every time they go out. Here's the process of Windows installation: enter CD, reboot, choose install, wait for a while, done.

My experience with Linux is generally positive. Usually installing the OS or a package works. But the few times that fails you are in for a lot of pain. One of every ten downloads lead to me having to chase some weird down some magic editing of a config file that makes the whole thing work, when it should have done this out of the box.

Re:I'm giving up Linux for Windows, too.

[vandamme]

Try Ubuntu MATE. Made for the noob, powerful enough for the power user.

Re:I'm giving up Linux for Windows, too.

[mcgrew]

Er, moderators, this is a Microsoft shill, a copy/paste I've seen several times before. A well done troll, but a troll nonetheless. I never had a problem with KDE's bloat (it runs better than W7 on this machine) but they made the Microsoftian mistake of changing the whole damned interface for no reason whatever... and I absolutely HATE having the task bar at the top with no way to move it. Damn it, my task bar has been at the bottom of the screen since 1996 that's where I want the damned thing.

It also seems to be missing a few things earlier versions had, but it may be that they simply and stupidly moved them (again, like Microsoft).

Re: I'm giving up Linux for Windows, too.

[im_thatoneguy]

Ironic that you accuse windows if being hard to install while also probably being one of the people who criticizes windows for silently installing in the background without the user even asking it to.

Re: I'm giving up Linux for Windows, too.

[chipschap]

My post above was modded down a lot more than I had anticipated, and a follow-on poster completely missed the point.

First, there will be no "year of Linux on the desktop" nor does there need to be. Linux is for those who choose to use it and choose to deal with it, and truthfully the same can be said for Windows. The difference? Windows is the incumbent, the majority by an overwhelming margin.

I'm surprised that the fellow who tried for 20 years to get Linux to do what he wanted didn't just give up years sooner. Most people would, and in fact should.

But let's think about what's meant by "getting Linux to do what I want." Isn't that, in most cases, to have Linux look and act like something familiar, namely Windows? And doesn't that really miss the point? If you want Windows, just use Windows. Why bother with Linux? On the other hand if you want something different maybe Linux is an option for you, as it is for me and many others.

When the poster talked about making Linux easy to use, I think he meant make it more like Windows, then it will be easy to use, because he's already familiar with Windows. But, starting from scratch with no prior experience, can you say that Windows is easy to use? Put someone in front of Windows 8.1 and will they have a clue what to do? That's even somewhat true for Windows 10, from what I've seen.

My wife, who has no particular computer skills, uses Linux. She doesn't even know that it's Linux or what the difference between Windows and Linux is. Yes, I set it up for her. But is she saying "it doesn't do what I want"? No. She uses a web browser and little else.

I really don't think it's a matter of Linux geeks wanting it to be hard for non-geeks so they can feel superior. I use Linux because it's a positive aid in getting the things done that I need to get done. I can't say that about Windows, but it doesn't matter. Other people have the reverse opinion. No big deal. To each his own.

Re:I'm giving up Linux for Windows, too.

[Wdomburg]

This sounds similar to my experience. I ditched Windows 95 after three months in favor of Slackware, and never looked back until recently.

Then late last year, I gave into temptation and bought a Surface Pro 4 (and my wife bought a Surface Book). I considered putting Linux on, at least dual boot, but after looking at the state of HiDPI support and thinking about the parade of problems I've been having with my work laptop, I decided against it.

It's embarrassing that individual applications still need to be configured for high resolution displays. It's embarrassing that my laptop regularly forgets my display configuration when docking. It's embarrassing my machine continues to send audio to "line-out" even after I unplug my headphones.

I sincerely hope that as systemd matures and wayland is adopted that the state of Linux on the desktop improves. More importantly, I hope the desktop environments learn to deal gracefully with new form factors, like 2-in-1's.

In the meantime, I'm actually enjoying Windows 10. As you said, the software and hardware are harmonious, and there is little unnecessary friction in the interface. There are definitely some rough edges, and not nearly enough UWP apps, but that is gradually changing. And the addition of the Linux subsystem should make the command-line situation a lot better than cygwin current does (though I mostly spend my time SSHed into remote Linux machines).

Re: Who cares?

[Anonymous Coward]

I'll never understand the antipathy and general shit that Outlook catches. It's the best goddamned email client on planet Earth.

Re:Haven't seen someone use Windows...

[SScorpio]

I'm guessing you haven't seen the Microsoft Surface. My wife's last laptop was also a convertible that came with a Wacom digitizer. Her current one is still a convertible, but if she wants to draw she uses an external Lenovo USB monitor that has digitizer in it.

Great, I get to start over

[Snotnose]

Going from Win8 to Win10 meant I needed to find out where Microsoft moved a bunch of stuff I used. Now they're moving it all around again.

I sure hope it's an easier search, but I'm kinda annoyed that I spend a month or two getting used to where Win10 stuffed commonly used things, now I get to spend who knows how much time figuring out where they should have put it in the first place.

Re:Great, I get to start over

[SeaFox]

Going from Win8 to Win10 meant I needed to find out where Microsoft moved a bunch of stuff I used. Now they're moving it all around again.
 

Yeah, it's a shame you can't just keep using what you're familiar with instead of upgrading.
Oh wait, you can.

Re:Great, I get to start over

[Darinbob]

Unless you're running Pro, in which case it's still mandatory but at least you have a few months to let the Home users be the beta testers.

Re:Great, I get to start over

[Frosty Piss]

Going from Win8 to Win10 meant I needed to find out where Microsoft moved a bunch of stuff I used. Now they're moving it all around again.

And how is this any different than the ever changing versions of Gnome and KDE?

Sure, I get it, "Micro$loth Suxors" and "Embrace, extinguish", and all the rest of the Microsoft hate.

But guess what? OS features change from version to version, and it's not just MS stuff. If you use a window layer such as Gnome or KDE, they too change significantly from version to version.

Seriously, grow up. If you want an MS operating system that works pretty good and you don't care for "bleeding edge", I'm sure you can find a Win 2000 Server or NT disc or - throw caution to the wind - get a, XP disc...

Re:Great, I get to start over

[dbIII]

Going from Win8 to Win10 meant I needed to find out where Microsoft moved a bunch of stuff I used. Now they're moving it all around again.

Yeah, it's a shame you can't just keep using what you're familiar with instead of upgrading. Oh wait, you can.

Only because I refused the EULA, let it roll back, cancelled the second scheduled upgrade attempt and then marked it as a hidden update.
Annoying.
Time consuming.
So confusing for the typical user that the MS fanboy excuse of linux being complicated goes out the window.

Re:Great, I get to start over

[dbIII]

And how is this any different than the ever changing versions of Gnome and KDE?

No comparable since there are a few dozen alternatives. With MS it's their way or the highway.

Re: Haven't seen someone use Windows...

[sexconker]

Microsoft always looks backwards. They never innovative.

Looking backwards is the only way they can see the competition, because:

A: MS is so far ahead of them!
B: MS is going in the wrong direction!

Re:Haven't seen someone use Windows...

[Anonymous Coward]

Which Surface? The iPod clone or the original Surface that they later renamed to PixelSense? As usual, Microsoft marketing is horribly confused. The original Surface was innovative, but they abandoned it and fired most of the team, including my roommate.

Re: Who cares?

[Nethead]

Really? The company that I work for got bought by a French multinational. Now I'm a Lotus Domino admin with 73 servers across the globe. I was just getting use to Exchange too.

Re: Haven't seen someone use Windows...

[Anonymous Coward]

Calling two completely different products the same name is just ridiculous.

Re:Who cares?

[Anonymous Coward]

Windows 10 is installed on 200 million+ devices.

Those people can be spied on all they want. I'm never going to install the Windows 10 government spyware and data collection system, on any device I use.

Re: Who cares?

[Lumpy]

Yep and tons of companies are switching to alternatives. Microsoft is losing it's grip fast.

Re:Haven't seen someone use Windows...

[Lumpy]

I do have a microsoft surface and if I want to draw I also use a seperate device. the pen and digitizer on the surface utterly sucks, it gets wonky at the edges and you cant easily change the nibs to simulate pencil on paper or better yet fine felt tip on paper. My real Wacom tablet feels like a prismacolor pen on paper and that is a HUGE thing for people that actually do real art. the hard plastic nib on glass utterly sucks.

Re:The only thing I care about

[Anonymous Coward]

Is there an official option to turn off all Telemetry yet?

No. Windows 10 still phones home regularly, sending who-knows-what data about you and your documents to Microsoft. Because Microsoft refuses to discuss exactly what data is being transmitted, and because the packets going back to the mother ship are encrypted so we can't look at them for ourselves, the only safe assumption is that your private data, every keystroke you type, and the contents of your files are being vacuumed up to feed the NSA machine.

Microsoft could end the speculation very easily by offering an option to transmit telemetry data in the clear, so people could examine what's being sent. If it's truly innocuous statistics, like "User 1959028 ran NOTEPAD.EXE," they shouldn't have any problem doing that. If, instead, the packets are more like "User 1959028 ran NOTEPAD.EXE to open file c:\corporate_data\CocaColaRecipe.txt whose contents are..." then I can see why Microsoft wants the packets to stay encrypted. They don't want anyone knowing what's being collected and that's the part that's deeply troubling.

Re: Who cares?

[Anonymous Coward]

You can disable the Win10 telemetry with the same menu options that you can disable Apple's similar telemetry on iOS/OSX.

Re: Who cares?

[Nethead]

It was explained to me like this: Domino is a database that tried to become an email system. Exchange is an email system that tried to become a database.

I'm just glad that I'm not supporting 30k users over 100+ sites with sendmail/exim/postfix and whatever for calendaring and a pile of shell/perl scripts written over 20 years. There really is no freeware solution for a desktop client based system. As bad as IBM and Microsoft can be, at least they are there after you've paid hundreds of thousands to them for licensing.

But if you want to have 'fun', try to find a book on the current version of Domino (9 or even 7.) I would much rather be running an Exchange system, there are so many more resources out there for it. (Powershell and Exchange can do so much!) Domino just doesn't see Active Directory at all, hardly does LDAP. My mail/calendar/trouble ticket/CapEx/whatever system doesn't play with my DHCP/AD/file systems at all. But that's what I get working for a 125 year old French company, at least I get 4 weeks of vacation.

Re:Who cares?

[Anonymous Coward]

"Eat shit. Millions of flies can't be wrong."

Re: Who cares?

[chipschap]

I'll never understand the antipathy and general shit that Outlook catches. It's the best goddamned email client on planet Earth.

It's nothing compared to Gnus :)

Re: Haven't seen someone use Windows...

[ChunderDownunder]

If there's no demand for styluses, why then did a competitor jump on the bandwagon with the Apple Pencil 16 years after they abandoned the Newton?

Re:Who cares?

[Darinbob]

I've met quite a few Mensa members who were dumbasses too. Anyone who uses their Mensa card as proof of their being smart should be unqualified to be a Mensa member.

Re: Who cares?

[dbIII]

It was explained to me like this: Domino is a database that tried to become an email system. Exchange is an email system that tried to become a database.

It's funny, whenever I've been critical of how mail transport etc behaves in the MS Exchange suite I've always had a lot of fanboys shouting me down telling me MS Exchange is not an email system :)

I ran away from it long ago after I had to do some registry edits to get it to do something simple (add a disclaimer to all outgoing email) and concluded it was best kept under adult supervision of a different mail system (but that was long ago).

I'm just glad that I'm not supporting 30k users over 100+ sites with sendmail/exim/postfix and whatever for calendaring and a pile of shell/perl scripts written over 20 years.

You are correct, but with simple stuff instead of creeping featurism it isn't hard. The only thing I know for sure about calendar apps is mandating any single one is just going to piss off a lot of people no matter which one you choose.

Re:The only thing I care about

[Pikoro]

Well, not totally refusing to discuss it:

http://init.sh/?p=331

Re:The only thing I care about

[Pikoro]

Well, not totally unwilling to discuss it:

http://init.sh/?p=331

Microsoft is batshit insane

[WaffleMonster]

Just so I understand Microsoft has a full blown remote access trojan baked into their goddamn operating system enabled by default to exfiltrate whatever MS feels like from you without your permission or knowledge.

https://technet.microsoft.com/...

They force updates and collect data from you without any ability to opt out but hey at least you can now doodle all over your screens.

Thank god we are starting to see a real uptick in people bailing on MS. They deserve nothing less than bankruptcy.

Re:Microsoft is batshit insane

[gweihir]

They have completely lost it, I agree. How they expect to ever sell this to corporate customers is a mystery to me.

Punchline from that link:

[justthinkit]

Hello,
Thank you for your email. Please find the requested information attached.
Best Regards,
Microsoft Privacy

Sounds good so far. Hmm. The attachment is a Word Document which contains screenshots of the type of data they collect but not the data itself. Now keep in mind, I have disabled every single privacy option on this Windows 10 install and the events (1.2 Million of them!) are only for a 6 day period on a minimally used machine.

Well this tears it

[kilodelta]

What the fuck - I'm gonna have to shut off more shit on Windows 10? Really?

RAM Doubler

[tepples]

Back in the day, it was theoretically possible to download more RAM, if downloading a compressing virtual memory manager counts.

Microsoft can see your alleged DMCA violations

[tepples]

You can disable the Win10 telemetry with the same menu options that you can disable Apple's similar telemetry

Only in the Enterprise version. Otherwise, Microsoft can see "basic" telemetry, which includes all applications and device drivers installed on your computer. Some of these applications and device drivers might incriminate you under anti-circumvention law.

Re:Microsoft can see your alleged DMCA violations

[Anonymous Brave Guy]

It seems you missed the sarcasm in the GP post there. I think the AC's point was that Apple have allegedly been using similar telemetry techniques for a long time on their devices and don't seem to get the same negative reaction. Of course, whether Apple actually are phoning home from OS X to the same extent that Microsoft are now known to be doing from Windows 10 is a different question.

Re:Microsoft can see your alleged DMCA violations

[beastofburdon]

That's why I use Linux instead and only boot into Windows 7 to play games which will not run in Linux.

Outlook users are top posting gits

[tepples]

Some of the crap that Outlook catches is related to its habit of encouraging top posting. This refers to a reply at the top of an e-mail, with the original quoted in its entirety at the bottom, rather than the older practice of replying below the relevant sentence.

Re:Digital ruler?

[K. S. Kyosuke]

I bet it's a poor cousin of what Squeak could do some time ago, and what DynaBook Jr. will be capable of in the future (In less than 0.1% of the code).

Re:Who cares?

[SumterLiving]

That drama filled post made me laugh out loud. Either your long term memory is not as good as it should be or you consistently installed Windows on corrupt hard drives. In any case, spending ~ four of eight hours a day not being productive due to a computer makes me think you should stay away from anything more technical than pencil and paper. Please take it back.

New UI?

[mcgrew]

Wow. Just wow. I would have thought Windows 8 would have taught them something. Crazy and stupid at the same time.

Look, you Microsoft idiots, I DON'T WANT TO LEARN A NEW INTERFACE UNLESS IT'S A VERY VISIBLE IMPROVEMENT IN PRODUCTIVITY!

And yes, slashdot, I am yelling. Microsoft constantly pisses me off.

Re: Who cares?

[mcgrew]

Hi, mister anonymous MS shill. We first had Novell's email client at work, then they went all Microsoft and IMO Outlook is the VERY WORST email client out there. No, wait, Outlook Express was worse, does MS still make that awful client?

I far prefer Thuderbird, and I don't doubt that there are better ones. But I had to use Outlook for almost a decade, and am now thankfully retired and no longer have to put up with that nonsense.

Re:Who cares?

[mcgrew]

In any case, spending ~ four of eight hours a day not being productive due to a computer makes me think you should stay away from anything more technical than pencil and paper

"My God! It's full of fail!" -David Bowman

It took four hours to download and another hour for "preparing to upgrade Windows" to finish, and I was given a choice - upgrade now, or schedule for later? I scheduled it for nine last night, since I wanted to use the computer for, you know, computing.

At nine I told it to go ahead. I probably went to bed around ten, and the computer screen was still black with a "working..." graphic.

This morning it said it was ready. It rebooted, and took a full half hour to reach the desktop, which was simply butt-ugly and primitive looking. The kids doing the designing at Microsoft really suck at what they do.

More at the link. Perhaps MS employees are the ones who should not be messing with technology?

Re:The only thing I care about

[gweihir]

I agree. It is also a reason why nothing confidential or secret must ever go onto a win10 machine. May open you up to criminal liability and/or kill your company.

Unless it becomes completely known what is transferred and reliably possible to prevent anything except checks for new updates to be sent _and_ it becomes reliably possible to only install updates the user has explicitly agreed to being installed, win10 must be regarded as malware. I cannot even imagine how companies in the financial, insurance or military sector or that do any research can ever decide to install win10.

The dream lives on.

[westlake]

Yep and tons of companies are switching to alternatives. Microsoft is losing it's grip fast.

Reality bites.

It is not an easy time to be in the tech business, even Google would admit to that. But Microsoft remains strong where it has always been strong.

Microsoft currently has three reporting segments: Productivity and Business Processes (covering Office, Exchange, SharePoint, Skype, and Dynamics), Intelligent Cloud (including Azure, Windows Server, SQL Server, Visual Studio, and Enterprise Services), and More Personal Computing (covering Windows, hardware, and Xbox, as well as search and advertising).

Productivity and Business Processes revenue was $6.5 billion, up 1 percent year-on-year, with operating income of $3.0 billion, down 7 percent. Gross margin also fell 4 percent. A large part of this drop was due to the strong dollar; in constant currency, revenue was up 6 percent and gross margin up 1 percent. The quarter was marked by an unusually strong performance from Office consumer products and cloud services; after many quarters of large year-on-year declines...in the most recent quarter Office consumer revenue was up by 3 percent (6 percent constant currency). Office commercial revenue was unchanged (up 7 percent in constant currency).

Both commercial and consumer Office 365 offerings appear to be doing well. Commercial seats are up 57 percent year-on-year. Consumer subscriptions have nearly doubled, from 12.4 million to 22.2 million. The Dynamics range also continues to grow strongly, with revenue up 4 percent (9 percent constant currency).

Intelligent Cloud revenue was up 3 percent to $6.1 billion (up 8 percent in constant currency), but operating income was sharply down by 14 percent to $2.2 billion. Server product and cloud service revenue was unchanged (though up 3 percent constant currency). Enterprise Services revenue was up 11 percent (15 percent constant currency). Among server products, the company saw gains in subscription revenue offset by declines in transactional purchases. Azure revenue was up 120 percent (constant currency), with Azure compute and SQL usage doubling year-over-year,

Personal Computing revenue was $9.5 billion, up 1 percent (3 percent constant currency), and operating income was also up 57 percent to $1.7 billion. As with Office, the Windows figures showed surprising strength in consumer markets: Windows OEM non-Pro revenue was up 15 percent year-on-year, outpacing the consumer PC market, driven by a higher volume of premium device sales. .

Microsoft's $20.5B quarter: Office up, Surface up, cloud booming

Cortana on the lock screen?

[UncleTogie]

I wonder how long it'll take before that's exploited...

Re: Who cares?

[mcswell]

I haven't retired yet (maybe by the age of 80 I'll be able to), and like you I use TBird at home, but I (still) have to use Outlook at work. And like you, for most purposes I prefer TBird. I guess the biggest reason is a plugin called Nostalgy, that makes filing emails *so* much easier. Nothing like it for Outlook, afaik, so I spend half my day (it seems) scrolling up and down through my Outlook folders. But I will say that search in Outlook is much better than in TBird. Search in TBird is excruciatingly slow, so slow that I downloaded the (free) MailStore app, which makes searches almost instantaneous. If there were a way to integrate (as in "put both into a single program") MailStore and TBird, it would leave Outlook in the dust.

Btw, don't get me started about that *&*--!^#@ ribbon... The only thing worse is the new interface in Adobe Acrobat DC. (So I use PDF-SChange Editor at home.)

Re:Who cares?

[mcswell]

I think I know why it's so primitive looking. When I was a kid, there was Mad Magazine. And I remember a faux letter to the editor that started out s.t. like "I'm writing this letter in crayon, because they won't let me have sharp instruments here..." I think that writer must now be working for Microsoft.

Re:The only thing I care about

[hidflect]

I've read that the comms back home is built into the OS and no one knows for sure what is, or isn't, sent back. It would be naive to think selecting "off" on an option button is going to prevent MS's data gathering rivalry with FB.

Re:Who cares?

[Joce640k]

No one cares about your personal shit. Windows 10 is installed on 200 million+ devices.

And ... how many of those devices use a touch screen and really needed more "windows ink"?

Microsoft has lost the plot. Seriously.

The first thing I do for anybody unfortunate enough to be running Windows 10 is install a copy of Classic Explorer.

Re:The only thing I care about

[Rexdude]

There's an unofficial tool by the people behind the Spybot anti-spyware tool called Spybot Anti-Beacon.

Re: Who cares?

[mcgrew]

One of the reasons I was glad I retired was that damned ribbon, so dumbass me starts sending SF to magazines, all of whom demand... MS Word.

So I'm stuck with that damned stupid ribbon again.

Re:Who cares?

[beastofburdon]

I know their standards had gotten pretty low, but damn, until now I still had a little faith that membership required some intelligence.