Windows 10 - Are you switching?

[hugh2121]

Windows 8 is missing the start menu and has some annoying features. However, a perfectly good start menu can be downloaded from Iobit and installed free. It then performs similarly to Windows 7. So what was wrong with Windows 7 that they had to bring out windows 8? Answer...nothing.

[timsims]

you can download windows 10 here

http://www.windowsbleu.com/2014/10/download-windows-10-tech-preview-64-bit.html

http://www.windowsbleu.com/2014/10/download-windows-10-tech-preview-32-bit.html

[fakser]

Only a vary naive or inexperienced person switches to a brand new OS before all the bugs, or at least most of them, are revealed.

Wait for 10.05 or 10.1.

[Thaijack2014]

I'm happy with windows 8.1 at the moment. No more back to windows 7. And just finished downloading Windows 10 technical preview, which I will try to install on Oracle Virtual box. I might try it on my pc. Just replace my hd and install fresh....

[Kabula]

No

Will wait to see what folks say about it.

Perhaps 6 months.

[Ulic]

I will look to switch six months or so after it comes out. A good excuse to upgrade my computer.

Currently I use Windows 7

[avander]

I'll be waiting a while this time.

I have been in corp IT for over 35 years and have usually been an early adopter on my home setup but when I took on Win 8.1 last year and couldn't even get it to install last year on my desktop (2009 vintage and not at all shabby config). The install kept crashing out at around 70% and I wasted a LOT of time (read days and days) trying to sort it out.

I'm a stubborn guy but in the end I had to just admit defeat and went back to Vista promising myself never to take an early version of a Windows OS again.

This year I have upgraded the MOBO, memory and some other internals. I am also using a licensed copy of Win 7 Ultimate SP1 (due to it's corporate stability) and I am quite satisfied.

Microsoft let a lot of people, including myself, down with Win 8 and I may give Win 10 a shot but not until it has gone SP1 and the market "validates" it. IMHO.

[Gonsalviz]

Windows 9 was so bad it never made it to marketing.

[MJCM]

Windows 9 was so bad it never made it to marketing.

Re why there will be no Windows 9 could maybe because of this

Microsoft dev here, the internal rumours are that early testing revealed just how many third party products that had code of the form

if(version.StartsWith("Windows 9"))

{ /* 95 and 98 */

} else {

and that this was the pragmatic solution to avoid that.

http://www.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/2hwlrk/new_windows_version_will_be_called_windows_10/ckwq83x

[adamtwilley]

So many people giving bad information here. I have been a registered Microsoft Developer for several years now. I understand that for most people reviews of windows can seem very vague and seem to focus mostly on the user interface. Also often by critics scared of change.

I look at Windows generations from a different perspective, I take the into consideration with current trends and hardware performance, this is the reason for metro in Windows 8, it was aimed at the touchscreen generation. Windows 7 contained massive CPU, GPU, and memory performance gains(DX11 and AVX(CPU instructions)). Very similar to XP. Vista was generated for its new look, and 'kernel'(Windows Core). XP and Vista are the only new operating systems microsoft has released since Windows 95.

Taking this into perspective on newer hardware running modern apps, upgrading will always suit you best, irrespective of what you opinion of the GUI is. That is what most here are debating. Apps will follow Windows trends and Windows will also follow the apps. I have seen apps introduce support for touch screen, this means larger buttons, pinch zooming and more, this of course affects the design and flow of the program. People have to catch up, this has always been the case in the IT industry. Retrain, retrain, retrain.

People would like to think that their PC will last many years. 2 - 4 is the max life of a PC for a modern user. During that time a user will spend about 50% of its value upgrading and repairing it. Microsoft works closely with hardware manufacturers, very closely. Processors, Graphics Cards, Motherboards and all the key components that make up your computer, smart phone, smart tv, tablet or games console for many generations have been designed for the "current OS" this is due to a mixture of driver enhancements and hardware improvements.

For example a modern Computer Aided Design program would work best on Windows 8, The ability to draw directly on the screen would have huge advantages, the user would then want everything else touch activated. Due to touchscreen technology now being normal the interface is no longer clumsy and much more easily accessed.

Then take it from a young persons perspective, who has only ever known touchscreen, from their phones and tablets. The leap for them is also welcomed. The mouse for these users is seen as a drag and unneeded. Microsoft just went a little early, not enough people were converted to touch screen, but microsoft was also targetting the highly lucrative touch screen market. Intel was reducing processor size and voltage, dell was miniaturising its form factor, ready for what you know as the "Ultrabook".

DX11 in Windows 7 was the reason for upgrading, it offered new graphics technologies such as tessellation, as well as a new shader model. New instruction sets were added though these didn't launch till SP1, giving huge CPU gains for Intel users. Users reported almost a 80% performance boost using Sandy Bridge CPU's or later.

All web browsers as of HTML5 are hardware unlocked. This means Internet Explorer, Google Chrome and such has direct access to the Processor, Graphics and other hardware internally. This is intended to give websites a boost, and does dramatically. Legacy hardware(old machines) suffer, as the Internet a place where a 15 year old laptop could happily go to any webpage is over. Upgrading your PC only for gaming, video/photo editing, CAD, and other performance hungry applications is disappearing, plus with more everyday users doing this without knowing, thanks to action cams and camera phones.

I would service lots of PC's domestically, almost all the users had similar requests for a home pc. Internet, work and social interaction. Any PC over 4 years today is going to struggle, for example watching a 1080p Youtube video whilst playing music, would cause a slow down. Your PC will seem 'slow' after 2.

Windows 10 targets a new problem. The diversity in hardware. Windows 8 and all previous were designed to run on 100% IBM compatible machines. Windows 10 however scales itself to device. Mobile phones, tablets, PC and all other Windows 10 devices will use the same kernel and cloud service. Meaning the windows on your phone will be identical to your laptop and mirrored. Transferring media will be a thing of the past, what's available on the laptop is available on the phone on vice versa. For those of us with multiple devices this is ideal. I am interested as to how it handles my films and digital content management. If draconian here they will fail before they begin.

In my experience under 30 - 35 prefer to go forwards where as above this tends to want same same. I think it is more an understanding on the younger people's part that this is only going to get faster, and as such never be same same. This is why technology is aimed at young people.It will be interesting to see if the age rises, or if my own friends start to suffer the curse.

[EnglishJohn]

I like windows 8 a lot : just use that metro screen as a better 'start' menu then do everything else in the desktop mode. It's just like windows 7 except a lot quicker and the support for dual monitors is pretty good. It breathes a new lease of life into older, slower machines.

I also remember the Vista nightmare : I installed that once to try it out and went straight back to XP Pro until Windows 7 came out.

I will install windows 10 as dual-boot on one PC with windows 8 to try it out - but would never have faith in Microsoft to just change over blindly.

[LookChang]

I'm waiting for Windows 12

[Frank James]

I'm sticking with Windows 3.1, running on my NexGen 586 superhot CPU, with stunning SVGA graphics. Wolfenstein 3D looks so real, you feel like you're really in the castle, escaping from Nazis and German Shepherds! My old Fujitsu monitor is starting to fade a bit, though. Might be time to find a new one. Is there a Computerland store around here somewhere?

[pkspeaker]

Congratulations on being the only person on planet earth that thinks windows 8 isn't a complete peice of shit.. are you serious? you like that tile world crap?.. are you a real person? or are you some machine that MS invented to fool us into thinking windows 8 isn't totally useless..

windows 8 was just a trik to make people hate it so much, they will pay even more money just to get 'upgraded' to anything that isn't windows 8

I will be purchasing a new computer when they are released with the new Windows.

I have been running Windows 8 since beta was released. I like Windows 8.

I like W8. I like the Metro interface - better than a start menu, for mouse as well as touch in my experience. But it's easy to run in Desktop mode if you prefer that.

But I won't upgrade. Agree with some posters - if it ain't bust, don't fix it. It's not likely the new system will do anything new that I need.

As Tallguy says there was talk of W9 being a free upgrade. Seems unlikely now.

I wonder is there will be support for ARM processors? Probably not. Which means no more of the terrible RT version.

[lvr181]

MS appears now to be on the right track, but I am not an early adopter and will wait to see how the new Windows 10 works out in practice. Meantime, I will stay with my trusty Win 7 on my desktop - my preferred computer - and Win 8.1 on my laptop (which I still do not find as easy to operate as Win 7).

[pumpuy]

When it comes to Microsoft software products, especially operating systems: if it isn't broken, no rush to fix it or upgrade. Try it out in a separate partition or hard drive as a dual-boot configuration before you make a complete switch.

Most consumers will not benefit from any immediacy in running to the new OS. But they might complain about driver incompatibility, missing start menus, broken program functionality, etc

Mee too , I used Windows .

Now , for a few years already , I use Linux ;

I will NEVER go back to Windows , Linux is 10 times better ....!

Edited October 2, 2014 by pumpuy

[MediaWatcher]

Sorry, I fail to see why this post exists, Win 10 has not been released, so how would anyone know if they would "switch" or not. Common sense dictates to wait until it's released and smarter people would wait a few months to await feedback.

[hml367]

Sorry, I fail to see why this post exists, Win 10 has not been released, so how would anyone know if they would "switch" or not. Common sense dictates to wait until it's released and smarter people would wait a few months to await feedback.

To imply that someone that does not wait a few months is not as smart seems not so smart to me.

[Chicog]

Well I'm up to 1/3.8Gb and it's rattling along at a blistering 150k/s.

[hml367]

mine seems to be doing about 1% per minute. Faster than I expected actually... and there is this computer, an iPad (NOT MINE!), and to smartphones besides the downloading computer, all connected to the same router

[MediaWatcher]

pumpuy, on 02 Oct 2014 - 14:43, said:

4evermaat, on 01 Oct 2014 - 07:27, said:

When it comes to Microsoft software products, especially operating systems: if it isn't broken, no rush to fix it or upgrade. Try it out in a separate partition or hard drive as a dual-boot configuration before you make a complete switch.

Most consumers will not benefit from any immediacy in running to the new OS. But they might complain about driver incompatibility, missing start menus, broken program functionality, etc

Mee too , I used Windows .

Now , for a few years already , I use Linux ;

I will NEVER go back to Windows , Linux is 10 times better ....!

Linux is getting better, BUT, is NOT ready for the mass market, just try using all features on your multifunction printer, or using the software need for your smartphone. Yes, I know, some smart arse will say use "WINE" well it is a hit and miss exercise. But Linux is getting there, only really needs support from the hardware industry.

[MediaWatcher]

hml367, on 02 Oct 2014 - 15:37, said:

MediaWatcher, on 02 Oct 2014 - 15:11, said:

Sorry, I fail to see why this post exists, Win 10 has not been released, so how would anyone know if they would "switch" or not. Common sense dictates to wait until it's released and smarter people would wait a few months to await feedback.

To imply that someone that does not wait a few months is not as smart seems not so smart to me.

I think I was very clear, at least to "smart" people, by saying "smarter."

[herb59]

NO. Why should i? to bring more income for a global player?

[RKASA]

pumpuy, on 02 Oct 2014 - 14:43, said:

4evermaat, on 01 Oct 2014 - 07:27, said:

When it comes to Microsoft software products, especially operating systems: if it isn't broken, no rush to fix it or upgrade. Try it out in a separate partition or hard drive as a dual-boot configuration before you make a complete switch.

Most consumers will not benefit from any immediacy in running to the new OS. But they might complain about driver incompatibility, missing start menus, broken program functionality, etc

Mee too , I used Windows .

Now , for a few years already , I use Linux ;

I will NEVER go back to Windows , Linux is 10 times better ....!

Linux is getting better, BUT, is NOT ready for the mass market, just try using all features on your multifunction printer, or using the software need for your smartphone. Yes, I know, some smart arse will say use "WINE" well it is a hit and miss exercise. But Linux is getting there, only really needs support from the hardware industry.

I don't know a single person that uses only linux. No need for wine these days. Install vertualbox and run windows and linux without dual booting etc. best of both at the same time. Most PC have the power and RAM to run both better then they did ether alone a few years ago.

[DogNo1]

As soon as I get home from southern California, I will install the Windows 10 preview on one of my Win 7 machines. I'll use either a VHD or dual-boot configuration. I have been using Win 8.1 on my two new machines and have grown to like it. As Chicog says, it is faster under the hood. When Windows 10 RTM comes out, I expect it to allow upgrading from Win 8.1 and will then upgrade my Win 8.1 machines. I'm not sure if there will be an upgrade path from Win 7. Since Microsoft no longer supports Win 7, I'll switch my older machines to Win 10 as soon as I have time do a fresh install of the OS and then my apps. I just hope that my technet subscription doesn't expire before Win 10 is released for sale.

[Pib]

Microsoft still supports Win 7.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/lifecycle

[MediaWatcher]

RKASA, on 02 Oct 2014 - 17:43, said:

MediaWatcher, on 02 Oct 2014 - 16:29, said:

pumpuy, on 02 Oct 2014 - 14:43, said:pumpuy, on 02 Oct 2014 - 14:43, said:

4evermaat, on 01 Oct 2014 - 07:27, said:4evermaat, on 01 Oct 2014 - 07:27, said:

When it comes to Microsoft software products, especially operating systems: if it isn't broken, no rush to fix it or upgrade. Try it out in a separate partition or hard drive as a dual-boot configuration before you make a complete switch.

Most consumers will not benefit from any immediacy in running to the new OS. But they might complain about driver incompatibility, missing start menus, broken program functionality, etc

Mee too , I used Windows .

Now , for a few years already , I use Linux ;

I will NEVER go back to Windows , Linux is 10 times better ....!

Linux is getting better, BUT, is NOT ready for the mass market, just try using all features on your multifunction printer, or using the software need for your smartphone. Yes, I know, some smart arse will say use "WINE" well it is a hit and miss exercise. But Linux is getting there, only really needs support from the hardware industry.

I don't know a single person that uses only linux. No need for wine these days. Install vertualbox and run windows and linux without dual booting etc. best of both at the same time. Most PC have the power and RAM to run both better then they did ether alone a few years ago.

What you say is true, but my point was, and aimed at those who say dump windows, was that Linux isn't ready for the mass market.

[matman]

They haven't had a decent operating system since Xp

[gpdjohn]

I've been running Win 10 ( 64 bit ) for 48 hrs now in a virtual machine.

I'm a Linux guy, but have to say..so far, it's not too bad.

Feels like a "newer" 7.

FWIW.

[MJCM]

I've been running Win 10 ( 64 bit ) for 48 hrs now in a virtual machine.

I'm a Linux guy, but have to say..so far, it's not too bad.

Feels like a "newer" 7.

FWIW.

Wow, you had a head start on most of us, as to my understanding it went public Yesterday around 10:30pm Thai Time. Edited October 2, 2014 by MJCM