Windows 10

[FirebirdNC]

I need info from those in the know. I am currently using Windows 7 and I noticed a little windows icon on my task bar. When I clicked it the message was that I could get Windows 10 for free when it becomes available. I followed the links and looked at the site and it all seems legit. Does anyone have any feedback or knowledge of how Windows 10 is or will be? Am I going to break and lose everything if I upgrade? I have never had an upgrade go easily and I am leery of this "free" offer. When has microsoft ever offered anything for free. Hell I did the "free" upgrade at work for 8.0 to 8.1 only to find that it breaks the restore and refresh options of 8 because your key code no longer works. So thoughts advice?

[Cyberliger777]

This is the true apocalypse! Y2K and 2012 were just diversion tactics for Windows 10!

But yeah, I cannot tell right now if it will launch in a reasonable state. The preview give me the impression that it will operate like windows 7 with the windows 8 menu kind of tacked on. Since you have a year to decided if you want to upgrade, I will wait until the Holidays to try it out.

[Deacon]

I tend to have my Windows experience dictated to me by my compony's IT department. They still mandate Windows 7, and I don't prefer switching back and forth, so I've stuck with Windows 7 on my personal PC as well. Unknown of no compelling advantage in Windows 8 or 8.1, so I haven't bothered.

However, I'm thinking Windows 10 may finally mark the shift away from Windows 7 in the enterprise. I may say screw it and upgrade to 10 regardless, on my own home PC.

PS If you're asking if the offer is legit, then yes, it is. Microsoft desperately wants people to move on from Windows 7 and are willing to give free upgrades to do so.

[FirebirdNC]

Microsoft desperately wants people to move on from Windows 7 and are willing to give free upgrades to do so.

Why?

[Hirschof]

My wife's computer came with Windows 8.1. I'd take a donkey shit covered Acer running Windows ME over anything with 8.

10 release is too far away.

[Nova]

My wife's computer came with Windows 8.1. I'd take a donkey shit covered Acer running Windows ME over anything with 8.

10 release is too far away.

Windows 8.1 gets a bad rap due to the start menu, but it is essentially an improved Windows 7 with Start8 or Classic Shell (I prefer Start8)

[Nova]

Microsoft desperately wants people to move on from Windows 7 and are willing to give free upgrades to do so.

Why?

Rumor is, Windows 10 is the last Windows version, from there they will move on to yearly subscription like Office 365.

[raptor9k]

8.1 (fixed the metro by default BS) isn't bad once you get past the metro UI and lack of start menu. Hit windows key, type whatever you want. Scott Hanselman does an awesome video on youtube that explains what changed and how to get to all the new stuff.

I've run 10 for a very short time in a VM and like what I see so far.

[Arc Orion]

Microsoft desperately wants people to move on from Windows 7 and are willing to give free upgrades to do so.

Why?

Among other reasons, they don't want it to become another "Windows XP". You get a lot of folks really happy with a particular version of an OS and they'll have to be dragged kicking and screaming into a new OS. XP had a lot of little underlying flaws that made things harder to update and to keep secure. Windows 7 is looking like it'll fill that same niche. It's largely very functional (especially compared to Vista and default Windows 8 ) and it's supported by the widest gamut of hardware and software. Windows 8 is technically superior, but due to some stupid decisions on Microsoft's part, it tends to garner a lot of ill will from customers. By offering Windows 10 for free and fixing some of the annoyances in Windows 8, Microsoft hopes to sweeten the pot and get folks on Windows 10 before Windows 7 becomes too much of a juggernaut to supplant.

[EvilElf]

The thing that gets me is will this really be the last version of Windows, or will we see down the road Windows 11. I'm hoping this is just a marketing decision and it is just the name of the OS and not the software version.

[Cyberliger777]

From some of the marketing I have seen, I believe Microsoft's hopes are that this will be the final Windows operating system. From now on with Windows 10, the coding will be modular so they can just update the OS where needed. I could be wrong however.

[Deacon]

Well summarized, Arc.

[Deacon]

I was very happy with Windows 7. It was the last proper desktop OS from Microsoft. Windows 10 appears to be the best compromise they've come up with yet. It's clearly usable on a tablet, 2-in-1, Surface, etc, but it's still fairly well usable on my old-school desktop PC (from which I'm writing this post). As is not surprising, Microsoft seems to be getting away from charging people for an OS and instead trying to push them to their own attempt at an Apple or Google style ecosystem, with their own Store built in, some bloatware like OneDrive and various games like Candy Crush pre-installed, and their own "Groove" music and "Money" and "News" widgets built in that they're calling "apps" in this context.

I could have stuck with Windows 7 and been just fine. But the upgrade was free, and the process was straightforward enough, and as a power user I found ways to get rid of most of the bullshit and bloatware. Now I just have to deal with this subtle split-brain approach to an OS, where things like the Control Panel are separate from the "Settings" app and some stuff like Windows Update being shuffled out of one into the other, etc.

But so far it seems to be fine. I wrestled it back under control, I think. I don't use the PC for much other than web browsing these days, so we'll see how it goes long term.

PS Microsoft tries to keep you from removing their OneDrive bullshit. Luckily someone on the Windows Insider forum figured it out. Basically just download and run the batch file at http://www62.zippyshare.com/v/IfLGZv7J/file.html and you should be good to go. I ran the Command Prompt as an Administrator first, just to make sure there's no issue, and it worked beautifully. And yes, I checked out the source of the batch file before I ran it. All legit

[raptor9k]

I run almost entirely from control panel but have noticed a few things that are present only in the settings app. One thing that has irked me is display properties. My work laptop drives 3 external displays but I had to chase through 4 different settings screens (dual gpus is a blessing and curse) between intel, nvidia, windows settings app, and control panel display properties to finally get it to see all 3 external monitors and let me configure them. Other than that and the auto-download/install BS on hardware drivers I've been extremely happy with Windows 10. Vast improvement over 8 and I even prefer the win10 start menu to win7.

[Deacon]

I'm just used to the Start Menu concept from dealing with Server 2012 and R2 for so long. It's like they mated that with Windows 7.

The thing that really got me was that they didn't keep any of my pinned items in the Start Menu! They all disappeared, replaced with bullshit like XBox and Candy Crush and News and whatever else.