Thank you Microsoft

[s0me0nesmind1]

And thank you for Microsoft Edge. It does a great job at navigating to Mozilla and downloading Firefox.

I'll be honest, MS Edge seems pretty slick. The problem with me is the lack of extensions... I can't live without Adblock now.

 

[Mai72]

10 is full of spy stuff, I would not trust it outside of a closed/test network. You can disable a lot of that stuff though but it makes you wonder what else is under the hood that people have not figured out yet.

http://bgr.com/2015/07/31/windows-10-upgrade-spying-how-to-opt-out/

Then there's that whole thing of it sharing your wifi password with all your friend's friends, which is very bad because it's not you that has to be running windows 10 for it to happen, it's your friends. You can uncheck the box, but you have to trust them to remember to do it. If you have guests that come over you definitely want a separate guest wifi network anyway and use a password you don't use anywhere else. More details here:

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2943...e-in-windows-10-raises-security-concerns.html


I think I'll be sticking to Linux for my main OS, and for my gaming machine I'll be sticking to 7.

MS would never EVER spy on us.

I think Bill is a kind soul. Someone who I would love to have over for dinner.

 

[Protoman25]

Stupid meme is stupid. If you're going to do something like this do it right. Where's Windows ME?

Implying I could be bothered to edit a picture I found in 5 seconds of Googling to appease your high meme standards.

 

[Eug]

Windows 10 is great on older hardware. Much faster booting on my Pentium SU4100 laptop, and peppier in general for OS navigation than Windows 7. Also freed up an extra 7 GB of hard drive space, which on my laptop is nice since it only has 89 GB.

Windows 10 refuses to install on my dual-core Atom machine though. It gets about 3/4 of the way through, then fails. However, it then uninstalls itself and brings me back to a fully functioning Win 7 install. Will need to troubleshoot that. Annoying.

Edge is promising, albeit currently a bit rough around the edges.

And yes, Windows 8.0 really did suck royally. I don't understand how anyone can defend Windows 8.0.

 

[Anubis]

And yes, Windows 8.0 really did suck royally. I don't understand how anyone can defend Windows 8.0.

because it took all of 10 seconds to fix the one annoyance with it (the lack of start menu)

 

[zokudu]

Is this true? Your free upgrade ain't free!

This has been how non retail windows licensing has worked for literally 10 years. If you bought an OEM copy of windows, which everyone I know who actually built their own system does, when you change your motherboard or your hardware changes considerably, it assumes you're installing it on a new computer and does not activate.

The free upgrade is licensed for the device, even if you started with a retail key. They have a set standard for what counts as the device. Since Windows XP it has been change the motherboard, it's a new device. Change more than 3 periphery devices(GPU, HDD, RAM) AT ONE TIME and it's a new device.

If you don't like the terms pay the $200 for a retail Windows 10 license and you can change hardware freely.

 

[coffeejunkee]

ISO mounting: It's about frickin' time!

And yes, Windows 8.0 really did suck royally. I don't understand how anyone can defend Windows 8.0.

ISO mounting was actually introduced with Windows 8. So it can't have been all bad.

Anyway, thanks MS for an OS that has spyware, malware and a botnet built right in. Saves a lot of hassle.

 

[biostud]

This has been how non retail windows licensing has worked for literally 10 years. If you bought an OEM copy of windows, which everyone I know who actually built their own system does, when you change your motherboard or your hardware changes considerably, it assumes you're installing it on a new computer and does not activate.

The free upgrade is licensed for the device, even if you started with a retail key. They have a set standard for what counts as the device. Since Windows XP it has been change the motherboard, it's a new device. Change more than 3 periphery devices(GPU, HDD, RAM) AT ONE TIME and it's a new device.

If you don't like the terms pay the $200 for a retail Windows 10 license and you can change hardware freely.

If you change your hardware and it won't activate, you can always activate over the phone. It has worked every time I had to do it.

 

[Eug]

because it took all of 10 seconds to fix the one annoyance with it (the lack of start menu)

This guy is a bit over the top, but the video is funny, and it was pretty much my reaction when I first tried Windows 8.

http://dottech.org/94027/this-hilarious-video-explains-why-windows-8-sucks-video/

To put it another way, most people I knew who liked Windows 8 on a desktop or non-touchscreen laptop, weren't actually running Windows 8. They were running Classic Shell.

ISO mounting was actually introduced with Windows 8. So it can't have been all bad.

True, and fixed in my previous message now.

Anyway, thanks MS for an OS that has spyware, malware and a botnet built right in. Saves a lot of hassle.

Yeah, there are definite negatives to Windows 10, but OTOH, you can turn most of that stuff off right at initial setup or else the default is off.

For example that WiFi password sharing thing is quite risky IMO, but it's actually a multi-step process to turn it on in the first place.

Note though that WiFi password sharing isn't actually new to Windows 10. It was on Windows Phone before.

 

[Anubis]

This has been how non retail windows licensing has worked for literally 10 years. If you bought an OEM copy of windows, which everyone I know who actually built their own system does, when you change your motherboard or your hardware changes considerably, it assumes you're installing it on a new computer and does not activate.

The free upgrade is licensed for the device, even if you started with a retail key. They have a set standard for what counts as the device. Since Windows XP it has been change the motherboard, it's a new device. Change more than 3 periphery devices(GPU, HDD, RAM) AT ONE TIME and it's a new device.

If you don't like the terms pay the $200 for a retail Windows 10 license and you can change hardware freely.

or simply call MS tell them you had a hardware failure and they give you the code on the spot. which is what we have all been doing for over a decade

 

[coffeejunkee]

This guy is a bit over the top, but the video is funny, and it was pretty much my reaction when I first tried Windows 8.

http://dottech.org/94027/this-hilarious-video-explains-why-windows-8-sucks-video/

To put it another way, most people I knew who liked Windows 8 on a desktop or non-touchscreen laptop, weren't actually running Windows 8. They were running Classic Shell.


True, and fixed in my previous message now.


Yeah, there are definite negatives to Windows 10, but OTOH, you can turn most of that stuff off right at initial setup or else the default is off.

For example that WiFi password sharing thing is quite risky IMO, but it's actually a multi-step process to turn it on in the first place.

Note though that WiFi password sharing isn't actually new to Windows 10. It was on Windows Phone before.

I've seen that video but I can't really take a guy serious who calls himself "tech-journalist" but doesn't know how to put the control panel icon on the desktop.

As for the spyware part, yes I know most of it can be disabled and no I have nothing to hide, am not a terrorist/child molester but I still don't like it. I remember huge outrage when Origin send info about your pc to EA. Now it's the OS itself doing it.

SAAS and The Cloud might be buzzwords, but I still believe MS would be doing better if they just made an OS that did nothing more than one might expect from an OS. Kinda like Linux, except it would run the software people actually use.

 

[Phoenix86]

http://www.wired.com/2015/07/mozilla-calls-microsoft-pushing-edge-firefox/

how dare they push their own browser in their own operating system that they made themselves

#evilmicrosoft

I'm incredibly surprised they did this after the euro fiasco over IE as default. It's like all the new execs didn't remember what happened to the old ones.

 

[Eug]

I've seen that video but I can't really take a guy serious who calls himself "tech-journalist" but doesn't know how to put the control panel icon on the desktop.

Well, like I said, I had the exact same reaction when I first tried Win 8. There was no logic at all to the design. Yes, you can overcome it, but that's the point, you need to overcome it. The problem here is they basically just tacked a tablet OS onto a desktop OS, but the two didn't meld well at all, and it was very confusing to use and frustrating to learn. And it's not as if I'm an OS n00b either, as I've been using Windows since Windows 3 and Mac OS X since 10.1.

Thus, while some of the hate for Windows 8.0 may be an over-reaction, a lot of that hate is justified IMHO. The best fix for Win 8 is probably Classic Shell... but that's not actually part of Win 8. I'd say that Win 8 is the worst Windows release of all time (not counting Windows 1 and Windows 2). Yes, it was worse than Windows Vista and worse than Windows ME.

 

[Ichinisan]

Missing Windows 98SE (Second Edition) and Windows ME (Millenium Edition).

 

[Eug]

Windows 98SE was arguably more like SP1 for Windows 98. The bigger release IMO was Windows 95 version 2.1, which added USB support.

It's strange, but Windows 2000 actually came out long before Windows ME. By the time Windows ME came out, a lot of us had already moved to Windows 2000. Or else were just sticking with Windows 98SE until Windows 2000 had more support.

Program and driver compatibility with Windows 2000 was a big issue, but it was ooohhhh so much more stable than Windows 98 (and Windows ME).

Also, missing from that list is Windows 8.1 and Windows 3.1. Those were major releases IMO.

 

[Printer Bandit]

windows 2000 was The Rock

 

[Strk]

or simply call MS tell them you had a hardware failure and they give you the code on the spot. which is what we have all been doing for over a decade

Pretty much this. I only had an issue with it once. The guy barely spoke English and tried transferring me around. The next person just gave me the code and fixed it asap. It was a quick "you bought it, you're good" phone call.

 

[SearchMaster]

I HATED Windows 8. I don't personally own anything that runs it but we bought our neighbor a laptop with it preinstalled and I had to set it up for her. It took many, many hours of googling to get her email to work. The domain didn't have the proper certificate so I had to download one and install it first...the error message from Windows was very cryptic and generic and the solution was buried on about page 10 of Google search results. In addition, just trying to do anything else was an exercise in frustration because if you moved the mouse too close to an area of the screen then crap would just pop up. I'm sure it's fine for tablets but ridiculous for laptops and PCs. And to everyone saying "all you have to do to make it usable is install something else..." - that means the core product sucks. Sorry.

I've probably used 40+ different operating systems over the years and my attitude has always been "it works fine". I do not feel that way with Windows 8.

And to the question "what happened to Windows 9?" My understanding is that too many 3rd party programs had code like:

if system.name starts_with("Windows 9") then
## Windows 95/98
else
## not Windows 95/98
end

This seems like a very logical reason to skip Windows 9.

 

[purbeast0]

I HATED Windows 8. I don't personally own anything that runs it but we bought our neighbor a laptop with it preinstalled and I had to set it up for her. It took many, many hours of googling to get her email to work. The domain didn't have the proper certificate so I had to download one and install it first...the error message from Windows was very cryptic and generic and the solution was buried on about page 10 of Google search results. In addition, just trying to do anything else was an exercise in frustration because if you moved the mouse too close to an area of the screen then crap would just pop up. I'm sure it's fine for tablets but ridiculous for laptops and PCs. And to everyone saying "all you have to do to make it usable is install something else..." - that means the core product sucks. Sorry.

I've probably used 40+ different operating systems over the years and my attitude has always been "it works fine". I do not feel that way with Windows 8.

And to the question "what happened to Windows 9?" My understanding is that too many 3rd party programs had code like:

if system.name starts_with("Windows 9") then
## Windows 95/98
else
## not Windows 95/98
end

This seems like a very logical reason to skip Windows 9.

that reason makes no sense. you're telling me there are enough people with software that is 15 years old out there that hasn't been updated/maintained and is still relevant? yeah, highly doubt that.

and also doing a string comparison for a version number is much more "expensive" than using simple integers, which i'm sure are being used under the hood for the different versions of windows.

that reason sounds like it started in chainmail or on a facebook post.

 

[88keys]

<redneck>"So you know what I dun did? I drove that Ford right down to that Dodge dealer and I said, 'Hey! Sales man! Give me a real truck and throw in one of dem there stars and bars flags on the back!'"</redneck>

That's what you sound like, only you're a geek.

So?

 

[who?]

What happened to Windows 9?

Newer software would think 9 was 95 or 98 and refuse to install due to a compatibility issue.

 

[GagHalfrunt]

ISO mounting was actually introduced with Windows 8. So it can't have been all bad.

Anyway, thanks MS for an OS that has spyware, malware and a botnet built right in. Saves a lot of hassle.

Why is ISO mounting such a big deal? That's something anyone with a brain figured out in seconds and something anyone without a brain could download a free app for. And anyone that needs to mount an ISO probably knows how to download. I never understood the need for every tiny potential app to have to be bundled into the O/S. There's a large multi-billion dollar software industry to service every conceivable niche market and ISO mounting is just that. A tiny niche used by a tiny percentage of users. Do spreadsheets have to be bundled into the O/S? Presentation apps? Video editors? There has to be a line drawn between what the O/S does and what the end user adds based on their own specific needs. Everything can't be bundled in and if anyone tried an all-inclusive package like that it would be a disaster. If a new O/S is such a generic upgrade that including ISO mounting is viewed as one of the biggest selling points, it's a failure. You better have something more important to convince users to buy. Anyone that has been using Windows since Win95 has been able to mount ISOs since Win95. Thanks Microsoft, you added something we could do without for 20 years now.

 

[AdamK47]

What happened to Windows 9?

Microsoft erased our memories of it.

http://www.cracked.com/blog/a-sneak-preview-horror-that-windows-10/

 

[CZroe]

Incorrect. Either someone can't count or they are acting like they know something when the list actually reveals ignorance. Until XP, NT and 9x kernels were two different worlds. Windows NT and Windows 2000 were not intended as consumer OSes and do not count.



The only reason MS didn't jump consumers straight to Windows 2000 instead of Windows XP was because Windows NT 4.0 before it didn't support Plug and Play and none of the Windows 95/98 drivers were cross-compatible. That's why they came up with universal WDM for Windows 98SE and Windows 2000.



The problem with Windows 98SE was that it still worked the same with Win9x drivers so there was no incentive for consumer device makers to create and use WDM drivers. They kept making their VxD drivers and such that would not be compatible with Windows 2000, so selling 2000 as an upgrade to 98 could not work. They had to make WDM drivers a requirement somehow long enough before the release of Windows XP so that we'd get WDM drivers for every major device before switching consumers to NT core. That meant shoving stop-gap WinME down our throats. It required WDM for Hibernate and other advancements and nixed enough DOS underpinnings to finally force a transition to WDM from hardware makers. OEMs finally insisted on WDM drivers for all new system components. In a year's time, we were ready for Windows XP. People like to rag on MS, but I say: GOOD JOB. 9x was well beyond its life expectancy. Good riddance.



Now, "Windows 1" does not refer to Windows 1.0 any more than Windows 10 refers to Windows 10.0. It's a name, not a version number. Windows 1.0 was really just a glorified MS-DOS application that wasn't really sold with new PCs as a primary OS. Windows 3.1 and Windows for Workgroups 3.11 were the first to be sold that way and, thus, the true "Windows 1.". 3.1/3.11 is analogous to XP Home versus Pro where Pro is meant for more advanced networking and business desktop use (Pro can join domains), thus they are collectively the first in this series of numbered consumer Windows versions.



1. Windows 3.1 and Windows for Workgroups 3.11

2. Windows 95; A, B, C, and IE4.0 Desktop Update (originally didn't support USB or FAT32)

3. Windows 98/Windows 98 Second Edition; 98SE was analogous to Win95 OSR2+ (original didn't even have USB Mass Storage drivers built in).

4. Windows ME

5. Windows XP and XP-64

6. Windows Vista; WinFS wasn't ready and performance was worse even with Superfetch but they got away with forcing it on gamers by withholding DX9. Aero Glass was cosmetic.

7. Windows 7

8. Windows 8/Windows RT (analogous to XP/XP-64)

9. Windows 8.1; Clearly MS was considering making Win8 the last stand-alone version but wasn't committed enough to forego the possibility of selling something else with a full number if they couldn't shake Win8's stigma.

10. Windows 10; People clinging to Win7 aren't going to switch to Win8/8.1 just because MS offered all future upgrades for free. They need something clearly new (can't be just be "8.2") with even more concessions to traditional desktop users.

 

[Phoenix86]

that reason makes no sense. you're telling me there are enough people with software that is 15 years old out there that hasn't been updated/maintained and is still relevant? yeah, highly doubt that.

and also doing a string comparison for a version number is much more "expensive" than using simple integers, which i'm sure are being used under the hood for the different versions of windows.

that reason sounds like it started in chainmail or on a facebook post.

It's not that the software is 15 years old, it's that it supported an 8 year old OS when it came out and lived for 7 years. Not to mention all the possibly network scripting that's hung around.

Look at it this way brand it 10 and avoid all potential 9x issues at the cost of "why skip a number" questions. I think it's worth it.