Today I had a window pop up on my computer monitor recommending that I sign up now for Windows 10 free for a limited time. It is the fully operational software and the complete package. It also quoted the full retail price will be $119.95, I had no intention of buying the software any time soon but now I wonder whether I should consider this offer.

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Bob DeWoody

My motto: Never do today what you can put off until tomorrow as it may not be required. This no longer applies in light of current events.

I would be happy to move the post if you wish. Or I could leave the post here because perhaps you were planning to discuss this topic in a particularly political way that would make it best suited for the political area of the forums.

Bob, please pm the mod-list if you would like your post moved.

I never even look at the numbers crunching section and don't know why a thread about the pros and cons of windows 10 would belong there. Maybe there should be an area where the appropriate content for the various sections is outlined. I'm just curious about what the membership here thinks of win10 and why they are giving it away. Seems political to me.

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Bob DeWoody

My motto: Never do today what you can put off until tomorrow as it may not be required. This no longer applies in light of current events.

I actually tried Windows 10 and thought it was very disappointing. It felt like a watered down version of Windows 8 and 7 combined. The start menu is back and it's different than Windows 7 but the lame tiles are there and if you don't have a touch screen PC or tablet it seems silly, I like my mouse. There is no aero glass just a dull white backround on browsers and the explorer. It is a usable OS but Windows 7 is still perfect compared to Windows 10. So I went back to Windows 7 and fortunately I didn't lose any files or programs. I realize support for Windows 7 might be gone in the future (say possibly 5 to 6 years) but it's a perfect OS and I have no idea why Microsoft isn't improving on Windows 7. Windows 10 was a huge disappointment for me, I had high expectations. If you liked Windows 8 or 8.1 you may like Windows 10, but if you love Windows 7 it's gonna feel watered down. So it's up to you to try it, I realize it's free at the moment for up to a year. Good luck everyone, hope you like it, it didn't work for my tastes.

Maybe after a few months or a year with updates it will be worth the upgrade, but not at the moment, it feels like a beta system. Microsoft should and could do a lot better than this.

That was a good review, and helps me feel better about staying with 7. Thanks, Lynn.

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The mind is a weird and mysterious place

I upgraded all 4 of my Win 7 machines and have to say I much prefer the look and usability, with aero gone the whole thing seems faster and cleaner.

Two of my cranky old graphics/animation programs that were never very quick or smooth on Win 7 are completely different on Win 10 and a joy to use again.

The problem with the tiles is easy, just remove them, I don't have any tiles on my desktop machines but have created tiles for all my most used programs on my laptop and it makes it easy to use.

Over all I like it.

Having said that there are privacy concerns with how much info wants, also the Home edition allows you little or no control over updates and this includes drivers. It seems the drivers Win 10 installs for my GT640 are different from the Nvidia ones.

Basically if you are happy with Windows 7 then stay with it for a while till the various problems are addressed, you have a year to decide.

Of course all of the pros and cons have been discussed at great length in the number crunching thread, the reason for it being the is because it does have a direct affect on how your cruncher will perform.

Also I don't consider the decision to release it for free political, it is of course a huge marketing exercise on behalf of MS to try and get everyone on to Win 10 so they can sell targeted advertising. Hardly a surprise as Google have been doing it for years.

The number crunching Windows10 thread has got rather long and turgid. Hopefully we can keep this thread a bit cleaner?...


To add into the reviews:


A Linux User's Review Of Microsoft Windows 10

... First things first: You cannot go out to the store and buy Windows 10. So if you don't have Windows on your system already... it can be very confusing to try and figure out how to get it. If you have Windows 7, 8/8.1, or the Windows 10 pre-release then you're in good shape...

... Windows 10 is largely an evolutionary upgrade over Windows 7 and Windows 8.1, rather than a revolutionary one. Honestly I think the only reason it will be declared as 'so good' is because Windows 8/8.1 were so bad. Sure, Microsoft has made some good changes under the surface-- the animations feel crisper, its relatively light on resources, battery life is good. There is nothing -wrong- with Windows 10 aside from the Privacy Policy...


Quite a fair angle. Interesting how quite a few of the leading edge features common on Linux over the last decade have slowly emerged into the latest version of Windows. Good or bad or too scary for some? So far, the updates look impressively big at a whopping 1GByte to download for this week!

Now is it all just a game of Marketing to the masses?


IT is what we allow it to be,
Martin

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See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

Windows 10 is also spying on nearly everything you do.

Here’s one excerpt from Microsoft’s privacy statement that everyone can understand:

Finally, we will access, disclose and preserve personal data, including your content (such as the content of your emails, other private communications or files in private folders), when we have a good faith belief that doing so is necessary to: 1.comply with applicable law or respond to valid legal process, including from law enforcement or other government agencies; 2.protect our customers, for example to prevent spam or attempts to defraud users of the services, or to help prevent the loss of life or serious injury of anyone; 3.operate and maintain the security of our services, including to prevent or stop an attack on our computer systems or networks; or 4.protect the rights or property of Microsoft, including enforcing the terms governing the use of the services – however, if we receive information indicating that someone is using our services to traffic in stolen intellectual or physical property of Microsoft, we will not inspect a customer’s private content ourselves, but we may refer the matter to law enforcement

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

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

well that does it for me they can Stuff win 10 right up there ..........

Soon well all be wishing we all still only had snail mail and a note pad and pen at least it was private what ever you wrote and sent snail mail ...

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I actually tried Windows 10 and thought it was very disappointing. It felt like a watered down version of Windows 8 and 7 combined. The start menu is back and it's different than Windows 7 but the lame tiles are there and if you don't have a touch screen PC or tablet it seems silly, I like my mouse. There is no aero glass just a dull white backround on browsers and the explorer. It is a usable OS but Windows 7 is still perfect compared to Windows 10. So I went back to Windows 7 and fortunately I didn't lose any files or programs. I realize support for Windows 7 might be gone in the future (say possibly 5 to 6 years) but it's a perfect OS and I have no idea why Microsoft isn't improving on Windows 7. Windows 10 was a huge disappointment for me, I had high expectations. If you liked Windows 8 or 8.1 you may like Windows 10, but if you love Windows 7 it's gonna feel watered down. So it's up to you to try it, I realize it's free at the moment for up to a year. Good luck everyone, hope you like it, it didn't work for my tastes.

Maybe after a few months or a year with updates it will be worth the upgrade, but not at the moment, it feels like a beta system. Microsoft should and could do a lot better than this.

Greetings,

You're joking, right? ;) Perfect? Nothing is perfect, not even Win7. If Win7 was perfect there would have been no updates or service packs. The one thing I did not like about Win7 was Aero. That is a resource hog and a half. The OS has enough to do without having to make sure your computer looks the way you like it with all the glitz and glitter.

I updated to Win10 and while I'm not completely satisfied with it yet, I like the fact that it is 'plain Jane' out of the box. That means it can maintain the PC more efficiently without the glitz and glitter.

And, if Win7 is so perfect, why would Micro$oft need to improve it?
You can change the way Win10 looks, just like Win7, in your settings.

Even Win10 is not perfect... :)

Keep on BOINCing...! :)

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CAPT Siran d'Vel'nahr - L L & P _\\//
Winders 11 OS? "What a piece of junk!" - L. Skywalker
"Logic is the cement of our civilization with which we ascend from chaos using reason as our guide." - T'Plana-hath

And on the 15th day, the Blue Lord dist spake thus:


Two weeks of Windows 10: Just how is Microsoft doing?

Apart from the upgrade fails, bugs, and missing features, great

... It was never going to be easy, and is playing out as expected. Some users want the upgrade but cannot get it; others do not want it but get it anyway, like reader Bob Dole who reports:

“On every single one of our machines we said 'No' to the update. We uninstalled the KB that even asks for the update. Yet ... every single one of our machines has downloaded Windows 10 in the background and demanded to install itself.”

Some upgrade attempts also fail, particularly in cases where impatient users bypass Windows Update by using the Media Creation Tool.

Unfortunately, this also bypasses some compatibility checks, making failure more likely...

... Windows 10 is usable then; but it is the buggiest new release I can recall. This is not a surprise considering the rushed release schedule...



All in the game of must-push-deadlines proprietary IT...?


IT is what we allow it to be...
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

And on the 15th day, the Blue Lord dist spake thus:


Two weeks of Windows 10: Just how is Microsoft doing?

Apart from the upgrade fails, bugs, and missing features, great

... It was never going to be easy, and is playing out as expected. Some users want the upgrade but cannot get it; others do not want it but get it anyway, like reader Bob Dole who reports:

“On every single one of our machines we said 'No' to the update. We uninstalled the KB that even asks for the update. Yet ... every single one of our machines has downloaded Windows 10 in the background and demanded to install itself.”

Some upgrade attempts also fail, particularly in cases where impatient users bypass Windows Update by using the Media Creation Tool.

Unfortunately, this also bypasses some compatibility checks, making failure more likely...

... Windows 10 is usable then; but it is the buggiest new release I can recall. This is not a surprise considering the rushed release schedule...



All in the game of must-push-deadlines proprietary IT...?


IT is what we allow it to be...
Martin

So Microsoft have screw'd up it's a flop !!!!!!!!!!!!

"We will spy on you you have no choice , Resistance is futile..!! "

"You cannot hide , we are coming for you copyright violaters "

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I think this is fun...

Two weeks of Windows 10: Just how is Microsoft doing?
Apart from the upgrade fails, bugs, and missing features, great

IT business as usual:)

Sounds like from what people are saying it's just a bloody big head ace . I'll stick with what works Win 7

It an't broke so why try and fix it ..Don't like the simplistic look of 8 or 10 ok for Pads phones not me desktop

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Sounds like from what people are saying it's just a bloody big head ace . I'll stick with what works Win 7

It an't broke so why try and fix it ..Don't like the simplistic look of 8 or 10 ok for Pads phones not me desktop

Actually I have upgraded to Windows 10.
So far so good but I had to change my privacy settings that MS changed for me!!!!
And stupid "help" apps that maked my system going down....¨
I had to delete those!

And the new internet "Edge" browser SUCKS!
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-10/getstarted-get-to-know-microsoft-edge

yep that's what i mean it looks to simple , boring

Guess this old dog doesn't like change

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Sounds like from what people are saying it's just a bloody big head ace . I'll stick with what works Win 7

It an't broke so why try and fix it ..Don't like the simplistic look of 8 or 10 ok for Pads phones not me desktop

Actually I have upgraded to Windows 10.
So far so good but I had to change my privacy settings that MS changed for me!!!!
And stupid "help" apps that maked my system going down....¨
I had to delete those!

And the new internet "Edge" browser SUCKS!
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-10/getstarted-get-to-know-microsoft-edge

So it looks like you have disabled most of what makes it different from 7

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Bob DeWoody

My motto: Never do today what you can put off until tomorrow as it may not be required. This no longer applies in light of current events.

Sounds like from what people are saying it's just a bloody big head ace . I'll stick with what works Win 7

It an't broke so why try and fix it ..Don't like the simplistic look of 8 or 10 ok for Pads phones not me desktop

Actually I have upgraded to Windows 10.
So far so good but I had to change my privacy settings that MS changed for me!!!!
And stupid "help" apps that maked my system going down....¨
I had to delete those!

And the new internet "Edge" browser SUCKS!
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-10/getstarted-get-to-know-microsoft-edge

So it looks like you have disabled most of what makes it different from 7

LOL.
Yes. Luckily I have my Windows 7 as a virtual machine if I get lost in Windows 10.

The Bear and the Gardener comes to mind.

“On every single one of our machines we said 'No' to the update. We uninstalled the KB that even asks for the update. Yet ... every single one of our machines has downloaded Windows 10 in the background and demanded to install itself.”

That's because it isn't just one update, it's several. I have uninstalled all of these, where applicable and I haven't seen Windows complain about it not being able to update.

KB 3035583 - According to Microsoft, this update enables "additional capabilities for Windows Update notifications when new updates are available".
KB 2952664 - Labeled a compatibility upgrade for upgrading Windows 7, its purpose is to "make improvements to the current operating system in order to ease the upgrade experience to the latest version of Windows".
KB 2976978 - A compatibility update for Windows 8.1 and Windows 8 which "performs diagnostics on the Windows system [..] to determine whether compatibility issues may be encountered when the latest Windows operating system is installed.
KB 3021917 - Does the same as KB 2976978 but on Windows 7.
KB 3044374 - This update for Windows 8.1 enables systems to upgrade from the current operating system to a later version of Windows.
KB 2990214 - Does the same as KB 3044374 but on Windows 7.
KB 3022345 - Update to enable the Diagnostics Tracking Service in Windows (Windows 7 SP1, Windows 8.1)

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I have installed it and it seems fine so far.

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Reality Internet Personality