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Hello World: Windows 10 Available on July 29

blogs.windows.com

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Re: Hello World: Windows 10 Available on July 29

#231

As a windows 7 user i have to wonder: Exactly why should i upgrade? Does Microsoft have some kind of comparison table between Windows 7 and Windows 10 i can use to make an informed decision?

10 is a 75% improvement over 7...

Seriously though, with classic shell, I like 8.1 a lot, and notice the improved performance over 7... I don't use touch screens, and mostly dual monitor desktop use... that said, it's pretty decent. You may want to hold out until 3-6 months after win10 comes out though...

Re: Hello World: Windows 10 Available on July 29

#232
post #25

Nice to see that Clippy is back. Oh sure, it's called Cortana, but rest assured - it's Clippy all right. Your very own personal assistant, now fully integrated into Windows (not just Office).

I get that this is tongue-in-cheek, but right now I like Cortana a lot better than Siri and Google's voice thing. It responds faster and more helpfully in my experience.

I saw a demo of what is probably Cortana's voice recognition real time about a year and a half ago... it was pretty neat. MS has put a lot of effort into voice control over the years.

Re: Hello World: Windows 10 Available on July 29

#233
post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Microsoft had to change Vista's startmenu search function to allow also third party desktop search vendors like the free "Google Desktop Search". "Two areas have seen changes in SP1 that have come as the result of concerns from software vendors. One of these is desktop search; users will be able to change the default desktop search program to one provided by a third party instead of the Microsoft desktop search progr…

Third party search providers are not supported in Windows 8.1 and you're talking about Vista. So no, Win10 will probably not support third parties.

In in Windows Vista SP1 and Windows 7 RTM.

Microsoft had to offer a browser selection dialog with several third party browsers in Windows 7 - in Europe (EU). Though the removed it again last year.

Re: Hello World: Windows 10 Available on July 29

#234
post #128
post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would be surprised if they would make such a gamble. The last thing they can afford is another PR disaster with Windows 10. Right now, there is very little incentive for a user to move on from Windows 7 on an existing machine, particularly if it is not touch enabled. Now imagine if they hear that Windows 10 is riddled with bugs and doesn't work.

It may not be perfect at this very moment, but it will get more polished as time goes on. It has to. The carrot they're dangling is a free upgrade, so think I might take this gamble. I'm not a penny pincher, but even so I cringe at the thought of paying for operating system upgrades. This opportunity won't last forever, so I'll start with laptops and work my way up.

But why is a free upgrade a good thing? What do I get by upgrading?

To a power user you get lots of nice things. Hyper-V is fantastic from Windows 8. Explorer is also faster and locks a lot less files and folders (the "you can't delete a folder that contained pictures" bug in windows 7).

But to a common user, there is nothing better in windows 10, other than the fact that they need to relearn how to use windows. From a UI point of view, the only additions are multiple desktops, which is at best a featurette, and moving the search bar from within the start menu to the task bar, which isn't exactly a revolution. If you don't have touch enabled on your machine, which would be the common case for windows 7, upgrading to windows 10 is only going to be a hassle.

Re: Hello World: Windows 10 Available on July 29

#235
post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I always wonder why they never mention how the supposedly free upgrade works. From this article and the linked FAQ I get the impression that I do not qualify for free Windows 10 forever, but that I can upgrade my Windows 8.1 installations via Windows Upgrade for a year after launch, but that my Windows license is not generally upgraded to a Windows 10 license. I take this to mean that after a year and a day, when I w…

I seem to remember Paul Thurrott saying that the free upgrade window is open for a year, not that your license is only good for a year of use.

Yes, it seems Thurrott has some info: https://www.thurrott.com/windows/windows-10/3898/a-few-more-...

Basically it seems to be that MS saves the info in the Windows store and lets you reinstall a fresh Windows 10 if you upgraded. If this information is correct.

Re: Hello World: Windows 10 Available on July 29

#236
post #21

Can you reliably turn off web search from the start menu, and one drive integration, yet?

I've added a firewall rule that blocks outbound requests to Bing. That's pretty well flummoxed it. It's a far cry from an actual setting, though - which would be the obvious solution and unquestionably ought to be present.

Re: Hello World: Windows 10 Available on July 29

#237

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Undoubtedly, but the issue is that they only have 2 months to take care of any bugs in their recent code Parent is suggesting that what you think is "recent code" isn't recent at all (if you mean the tech previews). The leaked internal builds are more recent, but only relatively so.Therefore you can't extrapolate the number of current bugs remaining from tech previews.

Right, I got that. The tech previews are "old" code, that is, they've gone through testing internally and have been deemed ready for release to the public for further testing. It's reasonable to assume that anything newer hasn't been tested to that point yet, so they still have a lot of work to do on the things we haven't seen yet. It's also possible that this whole thing is a psyops campaign and Microsoft has been s…

> It's reasonable to assume that anything newer hasn't been tested to that point yet, so they still have a lot of work to do on the things we haven't seen yet.

I disagree on that part - I do not think that is reasonable. If I read correctly, your assumption is that pipeline for everything is: Develop > Test internally > polish > public testing > fix.

It's also reasonable to assume that not everything needs to be tested by the public, and only those deemed to require public testing were included in public previews.

There a lot of reasons to release 'old' code, especially on a large codebase. It's not that they intentionally send out "buggy releases while sitting on a build that works", but gating is complicated business.

Re: Hello World: Windows 10 Available on July 29

#238
post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would be surprised if they would make such a gamble. The last thing they can afford is another PR disaster with Windows 10. Right now, there is very little incentive for a user to move on from Windows 7 on an existing machine, particularly if it is not touch enabled. Now imagine if they hear that Windows 10 is riddled with bugs and doesn't work.

I prefer Win 8.1 to 7 any day. I spend 99.9% of my time in desktop mode and it's fine. I prefer it! EDIT: I don't have many/any ongoing issues with bugs, and I even use Visual Studio CTP/RC on a day to day basis, without any major issues. Microsoft do software _really_ well. The crap they have to get right on an ongoing basis is nothing compared to Google and Facebook, we should give them some credit.

As a power user and developer, I agree with you. On the other hand I would never recommend casual users like my parents to upgrade from 7 to 8.

Re: Hello World: Windows 10 Available on July 29

#239
post #5

I have been running the technical previews since the very start and I have to say I am quite surprised at the July 29th release date. Even today's builds are riddled with problems. They have a lot of work to do if they really think it will be consumer ready by the end of July.

This makes me especially reticent to redeem the 'free upgrade' offer. I don't expect my machines to be bricked on update, but I'd rather play it safe until an acceptable level of stability is reached (per online response).

Re: Hello World: Windows 10 Available on July 29

#240
post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a Mac user so I don't care too much. However, a lot of how Windows 10 will be perceived is from the online perception created. Most people in the world don't care about the little bugs, features, etc. They simply want to know if it's worth getting. If Windows 10 is reasonably good and tons of people upgrade from XP, for example, this will be a huge win for Microsoft and the entire community. If "reviewers" compla…

Well, you should. I am a Mac user too, but Mac OS is getting worse and worse... I am NOT going to switch to Windows 10 for now, but I am thinking about it more and more.

What about Ubuntu?
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