windows 10? (Page 1 of 3)

Thanks doug,they already know windows is never stable. I loved that saying from Kung Fu,I wish they would rerun all the old shows of it.

Phill, I cheated.... I have a "Beta-Geek" in da haus!  My eldest, Devon has been sidelining in that capacity since the Vista debacle.  Anyway, he says "it's gonna be Awesome!"...... but I should add that to me "Awesome" is a double edged sword to mean either it is going to be Grand, or a steaming pile of (fill in the blanks).

We have been conditioned to expect MS to release something that "kinda works as expected" only to spend the next few years patching all the stuff that didn't, until the next iteration comes out that is supposed to do all the stuff the prior version didn't & repeat ad-nauseum.  The philosophy seems different this time, and much effort has been spent in getting it right  via 8 & 8.1, and actually "listening" to those subjected to using it.

I have 8.1 on a notebook, and fiddle around with it.  To me it seems cumbersome and intrusive in the way it assumes that every time I open my browser I "want" to continue my previous session exactly where I was when I exited (like there are only a couple of places I want to visit in the web-verse) which may be true, but I certaainly don't like some chunk of hardware making that decision for me (so few of the big decisions are up to me anymore, I take umbrage to having the little ones taken away too!).

Be that as it may, I would generally say that if you Love 8.1, you will be pleased with 10..... if not, then you should try it, as an improvement seems likely. I will upgrade mine (if only to see if it fixes that darn Synaptic Touchpad driver!) and join in the discussions as they emerge after.  Here on this side of the Pond the date is still the 29th for "fast-track" folks (like the Testers) and 31st for the rest of us (within limits of the servers).

Just my $,02

Take Care;
Doug

Doug any new news about windows 10,I see they are selling computers with it now?

I signed up for the win 10 update which will be free and it comes out on July 29th so i will wait patiently after all free is the best price so no complaints here

You MUST make the change in the first year, or you will have to buy it (offer good for a limited time), but it will be supported (without fees) "for the life of the device" that you install it on.  If your hardware dies, you will have to buy it for the replacement (unless the new machine has it pre-installed OEM).  I assume that if your device fails under warranty, it will still be good license-wise.

Applications (like Office 365) will likely be subscription based (as it is currently) and you will buy annual access to those features you wish to use.  What I don't know, is how well W10 will "play" with applications that are not "Windows certified"....... things like the free Libre-Office, or Open- Office suites.  The API has been available for developers to ensure compatibility, but I'm thinking that not all will pony up the $$ to get it, so some things that we have grown used to having MAY not work with the new version.  All that will become clearer after release, and you will have the option of reverting back to your previous OS if you wish.  I also do not know if it will let you "dual boot" (have two different versions on the same machine), but I expect that may be an option for those wanting to "test-drive" before commiting.  We run beta versions on a "virtual machine" so bugs are not catastrophic (common practice), and so far no big issues.

It's here!  It's here!

So, if you "reserved" your upgrade, they are rolling them out now.  Based on the computers in this house that had reserved upgrades, I do believe they are sending them out to devices that are most likely to be optimized for them.  Ie:  my brand new laptop with all the frills got the update notification yesterday, the couple years old computer hasn't yet.  If you didn't "reserve" your upgrade, you should do that because you can't just upgrade on a whim.  Jim didn't reserve his previously, so he's in waiting mode on his laptop too.  It should be interesting to see which gets it first (the old desktop or his newer laptop that reserved later).

Anyhow - I was a bit flustered after the upgrade was complete as my touch screen and trackpad didn't want to work properly.  A manual restart fixed that though.  So, when you do the upgrade and all is said and done, restart it before you play around too much to make sure your drivers are all up to date as well.  It's nice to not see that ugly metro screen anymore.  It's more doable with it inside the start menu (YAY!  My start menu is back!!).  Of course, programs are officially called "apps" not programs anymore. But, when I open one it doesn't take over my entire screen making me feel like I can't get back to the desktop.  More like traditional windows, and makes it easier to have multiple "apps" (programs) open at once.  My computer feels like it's been truly merged with a tablet (which is good for me since my computer does kind of transform into a tablet) - I'm not sure how a desktop user will feel about some of the options, as they are not really useful to desktop users - but at least there's not a ton of bloatware. 

The email program seems to work ok - although it gets a bit confused sometimes (I use 3 different addresses regularly - if you just set up one I'm sure it'll be fine).  The calendar actually can pull your gmail calendar into it without too much effort.  They've added an upgraded internet explorer that they call "Microsoft Edge" - meh - I like firefox and chrome better.  The search function works MUCH better than it did in 8.1 - of course it's supposed to be competitive with Siri and Android's Google search function (the Google "bXXch" as I call it/her).  It doesn't do a very good job of understanding what I'm saying as far as voice commands go - but my microphone isn't "optimized for cortana", however it does work well when typing into it.

10 does not come with a tutorial showing what's new - THAT sucks.  So, I'm off now to find out what's new now that I'm using it...

I signed up also. Haven't received anything yet.

I am having a problem with the upgrade it is stalled on the opening blue screen with "working on it" and the spinning white pebbles of death I waited over 4 hours but nothing happened so I closed out the upgrade with the X I tried several more times to get it to install with no success and contacting Windows by phone I waited a half hour on hold so I dont know at this point if I will continue trying.

To follow up I tried again and it is installing just have to wait, I am on my backup pc running xp as I type

well it is installed still getting used to all the new functions and the install didnt take all that much time so many features

Free for the life of your device - so, yeah pretty much.  As I understand it, you won't be forced to pay anything for using Windows 10 on the machine that you upgrade NOW. 

"Users taking advantage of the free upgrade from Windows 7 and Windows 8 can continue to use Windows 10 as valid license owners indefinitely."

And the part confusing you is this: "But evidently a world where Microsoft makes no money is nowhere near to reality. What we're seeing instead is the disruption of a model that has served them well for the last three decades, but is no longer sustainable when your list of direct competitors includes the likes of Google, Apple, Amazon, Samsung and Facebook, to name a few.

We won't know for a while, but a new Windows business model could take many shapes: subscription-based, pay what you want/pay for add-ons, indirect sales via Bing ads and the Windows Store, a Windows + Office 365 cloud bundle..."

Don't worry about it - THIS upgrade is free and covered "for the life of your device" - We don't know what they'll do once your device dies - yet.  We do know that they need to compete with Google and Apple though to stay in business... and right now, that business model is "FREE UPGRADES for certain devices"

If you haven't gotten the upgrade yet but HAVE reserved it previously...

Run Windows Update and install all the hotfixes
Check the update history.  If you see a notification that Windows 10 Upgrade failed (error: 80240020) and are comfy editing the registry, check here:
https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/win … b51?auth=1

If you're not comfy, just wait.  They'll prolly have another update to fix this (seriously it's easy though, email me for details).

I just did it on the desktop, and upon opening control panel back up ... it was ready!  I am about to upgrade the old desktop now (hopefully it'll speed this old beast up like it did Russell's!).  I'll be back as soon as it's done to let ya know how it went! 

(edited to correct information and provide more accurate details)