Well done for trying to find the good points of Win10.
Pity they are so few, if any.
One year after the launch of Windows 10, Microsoft has released the Anniversary Update, bringing new features as well as usability tweaks to the operating system. Windows 10 was always more than just another release. Notable innovations include the concept of Windows-as-a-service, with regular updates (free for consumer …
I think there are plenty of good points in Windows 10. It's just that the flaws are critical ones. I.e. the Edge browser you cannot separate from your Windows log in if you're using an MS account. The closest you can get is to enter private mode every time you start it and then it can't remember anything between sessions. Basically MS saying: if you want normal browsing experience with this, you WILL tell us who you are so we can track which websites you visit. Other things are reversible but only against MS's wishes - e.g. the lowest you can switch the "diagnostic" feedback to is "Basic", but you can actually turn it off by hacking around with the registry and disabling standard services. But that's neither reliable nor suitable for most users, so I class it as a critical flaw. I have gone back to GNU/Linux after years of using Windows (switched to it part way through 7 when I found it had actually become a decent OS).
I think Windows 10 is good if you don't care about controlling your own computer or your privacy. But for many of us, those are non-negotiable.
Spot on.
An Operating System used to be the layer that could launch applications and manage the hardware.
Today it is an excuse to push ads, monitor users and create salable statistics.
I'm checking out of all this nonsense.
"An Operating System used to be the layer that could launch applications and manage the hardware."
I miss those days.
I would pay almost any price for a Windows OS that just sat there quietly, didn't move and did NOTHING while I worked on other things.
MicroDaft is aiming for children and retards who play games and buy sweeties.
It's fast becoming a thing of the past for proper computer users.
> "I would pay almost any price for a Windows OS that just sat there quietly, didn't move and did NOTHING while I worked on other things."
Sounds like you want to install Wine on FreeBSD, which will literally do the square root of Jack, unless you are using it.
@TeacherMARK: the use of the expression "retard" in a derogatory way is ignorant and insensitive.
People with mental disabilities made no election to have such challenges in life, and yet they still manage to contribute greatly to their community. Please consider showing some respect.
That your handle includes "teacher" makes your choice of words doubly reprehensible.
h4rm0ny You can use a different account in Edge from your MS account. Go to bing.com and sign in with another MS id. It's no different from Chrome where you go to google.com and sign in with another Google id. For that matter you can sign on and use your Google id in Edge and your MS id on Chrome. It's the sites you visit that are using the id made available to them by the browser.
Thanks for the response. I didn't know that. But can I use Edge without being signed into Bing with any account? Because the issue is that I don't want Bing/MS building a running profile of me in my online activity and whether I am signed in with one account or another, that profile is still being built and is easily attachable to me as a real person at any point they feel the desire to do so, given the wealth of personal details, account settings, IP addresses, locations and times included in such a profile. The browser is only acceptable to me if I'm not signed into Bing / MS at all.
It does and if you happen to need an MS account, just create a "junk" one for the sole purpose of accessing MS (if you wish to use the Store for example). That account needn't have any personal information in it - just don't lose the password 'cos you won't be able to recover it - if that happens, create another one!
@h4rm0ny ..... yes you can. Just sign out. That said there a multitude of ways you are tracked and profiled on the web. Being signed into MS, Google or whatever doesn't really affect that massively.
BTW - It's actually quite hard for "them" to group together disparate activities with any degree of certainty though arguably they don't really care if you are one person or three.
I have observed they love you to enter "recovery" options to allow you to regain access to a lost or compromised account so perhaps they really do want to resolve you down to one pile of meat across browsers and devices.
Do people sign in to Bing? Really? Brilliant.
I'd never sign in to Google on desktop as well. I've made exception (using some throw away account) on a tablet and only because one has no option (and I've used it for nothing of any importance).
"Windows 10 is good if you don't care about controlling your own computer or your privacy"
Spot on.
Ho and I'll add "and if you don't care having an ever mutating OS, wich will reset your privacy settings with each upgrades and confuse you with senseless changes".
Somewhat of a repetition, but Windows does it too : MS switch its model to running gag or perpetual update as they call it.
"I think Windows 10 is good if you don't care about controlling your own computer or your privacy. But for many of us, those are non-negotiable."
^ This. I read much about Windows 10 that makes me think that under the hood there's some decent stuff going into it. However, those good things are seriously outweighed by the telemetry systems (including Cortana) and the forced updates. I said these were deal breakers back when Windows 10 was announced with these invasive things in place. My data and what I do with it do not belong in anyone else's cloud, and if I get used to the way an application works I don't want that way of working fucked around with by a forced update.
So I stay with Linux Mint for general use, and Windows 7 (even beyond support in 2020) for specific hardware and software that Linux can't handle.
My biggest worry is future custom build PCs: I might not be able to get a Win7 license for them, and future hardware might not have Windows 7 drivers.
After reading the article I can't help conclude that the whole environment relies very heavy on Internet access (cloud). Which makes me seriously worry about what will happen when you're disconnected.
Thing is: I've read too much "success" stories already about Office 365 users being completely unable to work (at one point this even lasted a whole day) while my old-fashioned-but-still-working Office 2010 just started without any hassle (and without any Internet).
It's not that I don't like connectivity, I do, but I don't want to end up becoming fully depending on it either.
On a slow PC (or merely a slow connection) look forward to significant delays in start menu search if it's checking online as well as looking for some local program.
Used to get very long delays with this sort of functionality when Ubuntu Unity had it's web search activated (at least you could always turn this off on Ubuntu).
The public like always on connectivity where they can easily find out stuff with ease, but it's a convenience they are after, not a forced compulsion. This had ended up becoming a connected by default with no fall back should the connection not be there. Windows 10 is an internet addict.
>>"Used to get very long delays with this sort of functionality when Ubuntu Unity had it's web search activated (at least you could always turn this off on Ubuntu)."
You can turn it off in Windows 10 as well. The things you can't turn off are things like sending of telemetry data back to Microsoft (which by default includes things like when you're using the system, what programs you're running and for how long).
"I may have misunderstood that. But the Anniversary Update makes Cortana a life long commitment?"
- That was my understanding too, we are supposedly discussing the Anniversary update. Windows 10, full engagement with and marriage to Cortana (unless you throw her under a bus penguin).
And as you say, even with the much-hated (by me, anyhow) Unity desktop, you could turn off the bloody Amazon/web search crap. And Canonical at least realized that people did NOT like that turned on by default. And responded.
MS is so arrogant they don't give a damn what their users want, a fact which they continue to demonstrate daily.
>>"Thing is: I've read too much "success" stories already about Office 365 users being completely unable to work (at one point this even lasted a whole day) while my old-fashioned-but-still-working Office 2010 just started without any hassle (and without any Internet)."
That doesn't ring true to me. Office 365 is the subscription model. You can still have downloadable versions of the software included in that (and I do). They work fine without an Internet connection just as with Office 2010. You might be confusing Office 365 with the online web-based Office software in which case, yes, they obviously don't work when you're not online.
"..>>"Thing is: I've read too much "success" stories already about Office 365 users being completely unable to work (at one point this even lasted a whole day) while my old-fashioned-but-still-working Office 2010 just started without any hassle (and without any Internet)."
"That doesn't ring true to me.."
It isn't. I can launch my locally installed copy of Office without 'net connection. It'll run happily like that for at least a month. It's only the licensing it's checking.
Likewise I've turned off internet-based searching along with Cortana on my laptop.
But it;s still a pig
Really should have bitten the bullet & ditched the tiny MAXPATH limit instead of apps having to notify OS they want sensible path size
As for centeniall (converting to UWP) - quiet a few hoops to jump through as lots of "lower level" things not supported e.g. cannot write to HKLM registry as all you get is virtualized registry, issues on what directories your app can access etc.
As Phomne 10 dead in water not that much incentive to port existing app to UWP.
As for Contana in your face - Nooooo!
From a human perspective - no, its not.
But typically *NIX systems had MAX_PATH / PATH_MAX set to 1024 or even more and no doubt there are cases where that has been used to go over 256 leading to porting issues if you want to run *NIX tools on Windows (as MS are trying to encourage now).
And just when you thought that was a simple fixed value - no! It is not because Linux, for example, allows you to mount various different file systems and even files systems mounted from deeper within another, and as each of those file systems (ext4, NTFS, FAT32 and many more) could all have differing limitations on path and file name lengths, the total is not a simple constant.
So if you start a project, try to keep to 256 if you can but don't had-code it.
It's entirely possible to exceed the 256 character limit on Windows by dicking around with the MS version of symlinks.
Causes me bucketloads of problems when trying to restore user data that's been backed up to a cloud based service that obviously has no issue with file paths exceeding MS's limits as Windows is then smart enough to pull you up on it.
"Having a nested directory structure that runs to over 256 characters is 'sensible'??"
more like 'flexible' - 256 character file path name limits are "so 90's". I think bash may have a 4k limit, though. But can't 21st century software be written INTELLIGENTLY ENOUGH to simply ALLOW FOR arbitrarily long path names?
(now, when Microsoft puts SPACES in standard file/directory names - forcing me to add QUOTE MARKS to paths on the command line... ew)
I have may files from different applications that go over the 260 File Path limit.
And so do many other people.
So it was great to hear that this version woudl remove that ridiculous OS limit, not present in the file system it uses.
BUT
I installed it an enabled it and AFAICT File Explorer, Microsoft's File Explorer, STILL cannot handle those files ?!
Am I missing something, or are Microsoft very, very stupid ?
Can anyone speak as to the alleged "gnarly" compatibility problems? Given that security is mentioned, I assume it's as simple as some of the relevant calls taking a pointer to a C string to which to write, and a previous guarantee that `wchar_t path[MAXPATH];` would always be long enough, or something of that ilk?
Well that's it my windows machine is now no longer going to connect to the net and I will use my ChromeOS or Android kit only.
MS I don't want your annoying AI or any other one adding another layer of possible security issues. I want to turn the thing off and not report to your servers thank you very much.
It bad enough with Google but MS are taking it even further, the NSA must be drooling over the data they can access.
"I will use my ChromeOS or Android kit only."
LOL, afraid of Cortana but the using the full set of Google slurping OSes and applications... exactly those one MS is desperately trying to copy. Where's the difference? You trust Google more than MS? LOL again!
"You trust Google more than MS? LOL again!"
NO, which is why I use 'duckduckgo' for searching, and run things like 'NoScript' in the browser for normal intarweb access.
Yes, there _ARE_ alternatives. This kind of advert+tracking nonsense is *NOT* inevitable, nor unescapable. And for those times when I have to use an unprotected browser (because of the massive 3rd-party-scripting dependencies - godaddy, that's YOU), I do so from a Linux VM, using iceweasel, pre-configured to wipe ALL history and ALL cached data after it closes (thus defeating the purpose of the tracking garbage).
Actually finding Bing has improved a fair bit, now I'm not saying its better than Google (yet) but Google seems to have been lobotomised of late, in terms of Search in a number of techy areas, where Bing finds those valid results, whereas Google no longer does.
Often if you search for the name of say a missing driver that HP.com has pulled from their driver support page servers (but you know exists) and you want to find the original SPxxxx.exe file associated with particular machine/driver.
Google returns nothing, but Bing will show you forum results where that file is mentioned, allowing you to work back.
Google appears to be going 'mainstream' / 'high level' in terms of what it returns, no longer giving you the nitty gritty tech results it once had.
I'm no Microsoft Fan, but Google has gone downhill of late in terms of what it returns in its detailed results. It could be Google are under more pressure to remove copyrighted content, and are now becoming very cautious about what it can 'recall', i.e. a new lobotomised Google.
It could be that Microsoft themselves are aggressively using the content removal 'take down' requests against Google to actually stiffle Google results, to give Bing better results, long shot but possible.
I've noticed recently that google has gotten worse for trying to search for specific terms eg. function names, as it is always trying to autocorrect, and trying to search with the old double quotes or '+' before a search term no longer seems to work
"Often if you search for the name of say a missing driver that HP.com has pulled from their driver support page servers..."
I'm sorry if this gets read the wrong way but, do you still need to fish around for third party drivers in Windows?
I'm asking as I haven't used Windows since the days of NT4 and Win 98. I would have thought that that sort of thing was long in the past by now.
MS has a lot more in windows update than it used to, and if you don't find them there and you're using a version of the OS compatible with the hardware, you're almost guaranteed to find the drivers on the manufacturer's site.
>I'm asking as I haven't used Windows since the days of NT4 and Win 98. I would have thought that that sort of thing was long in the past by now.
BS! Do you not re-install Windows when you get a computer, to get rid of all the "free" software ? Often, I have to download the ethernet driver and ALWAYS need the chipset driver from the manufacturer's website ... Windows update to install the other drivers. Oftentimes, I then have to go back to the manufactuer's website and download WIFI drivers ... until I am fed up, then I put linux on the box and am happy ...
You still download the exe file from HP, via the ftp site, you're not randomly downloading exe files from third party servers. The problem is on some older kit they have now removed the description / Driver Support Page, so you just relying on SPXXXX.exe. Bing will give you the SP description you need to work back. Google no longer does, it used to. i.e. 'Lobotomised Google'. Its just one niche example, but its a trend I'm noticing.
Google Search is definitely delivering 'selective content'', much like North Korea. Google maybe, are been over cautious regarding '.exe' because of the association with Piracy and Malware content.
It's this 'we know best' (Goverment led) blunt instrument which is annoying.
Well whoop de shit for you.
Why do you fucking linux tards feel you HAVE to pipe up about your "alternative OS to windows, m'kay"??
Did you see the title of the story? Does it mention penguins? No, it doesn't, so why do you constantly feel the need to jump in and proffess how much fucking happier you are??
"Why do you fucking linux tards feel you HAVE to pipe up about your "alternative OS to windows, m'kay"??"
Hmmm - how about it's because we have a far more secure OS that uses a more logical file system so we're much less prone to malware and we need to spend far less time on security and system maintenance during the working week. Not only that, we can customise and arrange our desktop how we like for maximum work efficiency and that cannot be done nearly as well in windows.
"Why are newly converted Linux zealots so totally fixated on commenting on Windows 10 articles?"
Because they might have switched at home, but at work, their PHB won't consider it in a primarily Windows shop so they end up still having to put up with Windows?
Because they might have been afraid to try it for years, then summoned the courage, made the switch and hope to reach others in the same position they were in a while back?
There's to 'Why's off the top of my head. I converted 16 years ago, but I'm still interested in what's going on with Windows, even if it sometimes feels like gawking out the window at a serious car crash.
That talk of all those car crashes reminded me of my time in Iran, Shiraz actually with crashes laid on outside the cafe window, perhaps not for entertainment. If service was normal we would see only three but often four. We never got the one crash or two crash service. Thank goodness five and six never happened either.
Why are they here?
Is it possible that they come to gloat over how they've escaped the MS Borg at long last?
There are other escapees apart from those who have jumped to the Penguin and/or BSD and that is those who have gone over to the other dark side namely, Apple.
I gave up on windows for personal use back in 2008. Now I use OSX on my Laptop and CentOS on my servers.
I sort of feel sad the direction that MS is going in. They could have done so much better but with all this spyware (sorry telemetary to imptove the user experience) I am not surprised by the hate that IT people have for Microsoft in relation to windows 10.
So just trolling then? Albeit effectively.
Wouldn't it be the ultimate irony, if Windows 10 creates the year of the linux desktop? Yeah, you just hold your breath, it'll be along any minute now.....
Its ironic though, innit?
People who proudly claim that they don't use w10 showing up time and time again to comment on it to people that do. And telling them over and over again how bad their experience must be, when it isn't.
Your a bit like the annoying, overly-flamboyant drunk at the bar. One part of me wants to give them a swift punch to the face to make the world a better place. Another part feels pity, and wants to take them aside for a quiet word to help them save the little dignity they have left. But the greater part of me just wants them to fuck off, and go and bore someone else. A bit like you lot ;-)
"newly converted Linux zealots " " So why are you here?"
human nature. 'share' with others what you like. try to convince others of what you've discovered. It's a strange form of 'political correctness' to try and silence open source advocates. Let people say what they want to, even if you do NOT agree. that would be true "free speech". [making counterpoints would ALSO be 'free speech']
I disagree with the general tone of the article. I think that Win-10-nic is nothing BUT fail on ALL levels, with the exception of the multiple desktop feature, the ONLY redeeming feature I could think of [and I really honestly gave it a try]. NOW it's getting WORSE, where fanbois of 10 _HAD_ been saying "you can turn it off" with respect to the ads and tracking. But we already KNOW from previous El Reg (and other) articles, that only Enterprise [for which you can't get just ONE license for YOU] or Educational [claim to be 'a school' maybe?] versions can shut off the more heinous "features" of Win-10-nic.
So why am _I_ here? Because I _WANT_ to be. Too bad.
I like Mint, I use it a lot at work, but I can't claim with a straight face that the GUI makes any more sense than Win10.
Both OSs have a generally well thought out main interface, but both have odd inconsistencies where older UI systems are still used for some backwards compatibility related reason. With Windows you've got the registry instead of config files which may or may not be better depending on what you prefer, but with either Mint or Win10, you're still going to have to resort to fiddling with things by hand in a registry/text editor.
Bit of a strange statement you HAVEN'T LOOKED BACK yet your posting on a Windows article another unhappy with Linux person quite a few on here.
It amazes me how many Linux,Apple and Android users post on M/S Windows articles and then try to pass on there no so extensive knowledge about Windows and as to why you should not use it (idiots)
Stewardess - we have a medical emergency! Is there a doctor on the flight?
Vegan - I'm a vegan.
Q: How can you tell when someone has an iPhone?
A: They tell you.
And finally, bash in Win10 means you finally got the year of linux on the desktop. And millions of users are running it. And they all paid Microsoft for it.
How do you feel. Tell me now, how do you feel.
"Notable innovations include the concept of Windows-as-a-service"
Where's the innovation in promising to provide useful updates "for the life of the device" compared to what they did before, which was providing updates for the supported life of the OS? (And how does that make it a "service" - at least any more or less than it was before?)
The only difference AFAICS was the control users could choose to have over the update process. Perhaps, from Microsoft's point of view, that's the innovation - taking control from end users and keeping it for themselves.
...."for the life of the device" compared to what they did before, which was providing updates for the supported life of the OS?
The "innovation" is the bit where they don't market a new versions of the OS, just tweak 10. Previously they'd release a new version of Windows every couple of years. It's pretty straightforward.
Compared to Android offering updates "for the life of the device" is innovative.
The chief difference between offering new versions of the OS and just having continuous evolution in Windows 10, is that in the former case the customer can refuse to update. In the latter, it just happens whether they wish it or not. In a technical sense, there's not much difference between how updates are done.
Compared to Android offering updates "for the life of the device" is innovative.
With some brands/models that means someone waving them off at the factory gates, shouting "Bye-bye little phones, you're dead to us now" ?
Re: And how does that make it a "service?
RE: "It helps to look at as in when a Bull 'services' a Cow, then it makes perfect sense."
Ahhh. So sex is a bad thing? I must be doing it wrong.
If you're of the bovine species, you're doing fine. But if you are of the bovine species, why are you here unless you work in marketing that is?
No, I think most people have largely woken up to the fact that Google are now a "Bad Guy". The key task that still needs to be accomplished is to get people to realize that this doesn't make anyone else a "Good Guy". People love their vendor vs. vendor arguments... They need to realise - it can be neither.
Longpath support has never been a problem in Windows, please see https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-gb/library/windows/desktop/aa365247(v=vs.85).aspx
'In the Windows API (with some exceptions discussed in the following paragraphs), the maximum length for a path is MAX_PATH, which is defined as 260 characters. '
...
'The Windows API has many functions that also have Unicode versions to permit an extended-length path for a maximum total path length of 32,767 characters. This type of path is composed of components separated by backslashes, each up to the value returned in the lpMaximumComponentLength parameter of the GetVolumeInformation function (this value is commonly 255 characters). To specify an extended-length path, use the "\\?\" prefix. For example, "\\?\D:\very long path".'
Although, as mentioned 'Starting in Windows 10, version 1607, MAX_PATH limitations have been removed from common Win32 file and directory functions. However, you must opt-in to the new behavior.'
From a recommendation in another thread I just got a last year model Lenovo Thinkpad Yoga 12 with Win 7 Pro 64 bit on it.
It flies like a train and the OS is clean and functional.
I'm so happy with it and I'm going to order another one to replace my Win 8.1 DJ machine.
The fact I'm so happy with Win 7 in 2016 just shows where it has all gone horribly wrong for Microsoft.
"my Win 8.1 DJ machine."
"DJ"
So you have a laptop running windows with an MP3 playlist, some disco lights from a Maplins sale, and you call yourself a "DJ".
I'll bet your wedding reception playlist is the same as every other laptop DJ too:
- Grease Megamix
- Cha Cha Slide
- Rock the boat
- Saturday night (Whigfield, not the great Suede song)
- Abba Megamix
- Jive Bunny Megamix
- Galway Girl
- Brown Eyed Girl
- Grand finale of New York New York
Windows 10 is becoming less of an OS and more of a terminal for the MIcrosoft/NSA mainframe. The EULA pretty much confirms this.
So why do I prefer linux mint ?
1) No need to defrag
2) No spying
3) No need for virus checkers
4) Better GUI and more productive. I can add a dock, workspace switching.
5) You can have flugly, you can have xp, you can have mac like. GUI is FLEXIBLE.
6) All software updated centrally.
7) All updates optional and clear as to what they do.
8) Nothing I can't turn off. Result - almost zero idle cpu usage.
9) No Cortana.
10) Its a desktop os and aimed at that market.
"For many a year it was Apple fanboys who filled this niche, but as you can see, times have changed."
- They still do. The giant bully has faltered, everyone wants to get a 'payback' punch in while he's down.
Windows fanboys also come to 'Linux forums to 'have a go' too.
Sorry I'll change my 'fanboy' post shamelessly promoting another OS to something more windows centric.
I love windows 10 because :
1) I have to defrag my hard drive a lot. I like watching the patterns on the app as it moves blocks of data round. I'd miss this on lyne Ux.
2) I like the fact microsoft have put such effort into looking at all my files. It makes me feel wanted and special.
3) I like seeing avira's luke filewalker chugging away on my drive, and it makes me feel safe.
4) Its kind of exciting to guess whether the things I want to change are in settings or the control panel. I don't like having to make choices, so only having a few colours to choose from makes it easier for me when I've eventually found where the heck they've put the option to change the menu bar.
5) Microsoft know what's best for me and if they like to give me flat windows they are only choosing what is best. I am a user not an owner of their software and I don't expect to be able to change things.
6) Updating software is boring. I'd rather leave things as they are. You can't get viruses on windows 10 anyway because they said it was practically virus free.
7) I like automatic updates because they 'just work'. I even got to play candy crush saga which I didn't know I installed !
8) My CPU will wear out quicker unless it has lots of things to do and it helps keep my room warm which saves on heating.
9) Cortana is great. It knows more about me than I do ! If you haven't got anything to hide you have nothing to worry about. Edward Snowden is a commie and I know that because he lives in Russia now.
10) I like the idea of having an os that is aimed at windows phones that they're stopping selling. It makes perfect sense.
Right that should do it. No shameless plugging of other os's ;-)
"I love windows 10 because :"
11) That 2D FLUGLY look is SO much better than the "BULBOUS" 3D skeumorphic 'happy colors' 'takes more CPU cycles to draw it' look, in which my multi-core multi-ghz multi-gbyte mega-computer has to waste at least an extra nanosecond or two to draw those 3D skeumorphic versions of a button or window border in lieu of the glorious, flat, "modern", crayon-art Win-10-nic (aka Windows 1.01) version of things...
I'm always amused by people that feel the need to evangelize about their chosen product... *blithely assuming that "its a one size fits all solution"
Linux of any flavour is not much use to me at all... I'm a photographer and Adobe don't do unix so I'm *never* going to be using a linux machine
And no, don't suggest I switch to GIMP , how anyone can seriously compare that to Lightroom / Photoshop is utterly beyond me.
*this behaviour isn't restricted to unix fanbois
You mean a digital photographer?
No need for Adobe products / computers when you develop film
Caveat: Colour processing is expensive & difficult (& film is hard work as expensive & few shots per roll so duff shots are costly in all senses), whereas digital photography is cheap & you can take lots of shots at effectively no cost in teh hope of getting a good image so a lot easier.
B&W film development is cheap & easy, worth having a go, a whole different experience if you have only done digital but a good way to learn how images can be manipulated without a PC
IsJustabloke: "Adobe don't do unix so I'm *never* going to be using a linux machine..."
The comment about Adobe is fair. Lack of Photoshop in Linux is a serious problem, and I say this as a huge fan of (pre-cloud) Photoshop. However...
1. GIMP is a very slick piece of software, which lacks just a couple of key features that would give it parity with Photoshop. (Adjustment Layers, for instance.) Implementing these presents no major technical challenge. The GIMP team has been focused on a major internal rebuild (making the application more open and extensible). That's mostly complete, putting GIMP about two or three revisions away from not merely equaling, but surpassing the core feature set of Photoshop - which, after all, hasn't changed in a decade or so. Once that happens, a free, open, standards-based GIMP+Linux workflow will start to look very attractive indeed, and Adobe's overpriced cloud will begin to deflate.
2. As for Lightroom, that battle is already over. Check out either darktable or Rawtherapee. Lightroom is slicker, to be sure. But the core functionality is available in Linux, for free, today. This is the trend: one by one, keystone applications are being reproduced in open, Linux versions. The process may be slower than we'd prefer, but it can't be reversed.
By the way, I see pro-Linux comments being flamed - apparently by people whose affection for Windows 10 is too fragile to allow for any challenge. Sorry, but comparisons are fair and very relevant. Microsoft holds the high ground in the OS war, but it's rapidly losing the battle in feature parity. This needs to be pointed out, discussed and understood. (If Microsoft understood it, they could still avoid defeat.)
..."By the way, I see pro-Linux comments being flamed - apparently by people whose affection for Windows 10 is too fragile to allow for any challenge. Sorry, but comparisons are fair and very relevant"....
It's nothing to do with my "affection" for Windows 10 being "too fragile" and much more to do with these Linux advocates not realising, or not wanting to realise, that:-
A. Not every PC user is able to transition away from Windows due to the use they put their PC's to; gamers for instance don't have a choice unless they are happy to have much, much less choice of titles.
B. Not every PC user want's to spend hours learning how to use a new OS and re-learning having to use a command line; or learning how to get some errant piece of software or hardware running in Linux. Yes, most Linux distro's are much better in this respect than they used to be, but no matter what the distro there is much more need to use the command line when using Linux than there is when using a version of Windows; unless, that is, you just use your PC for Home/Office/Internet/Email and never install/uninstall A.N.Other piece of software,
Now the two points above do not impact everyone and, for some, Linux <whatever distro> is a valid and very good alternative to an MS OS but for some, who want their PC to be a "general use" PC it is not.
Please note, I regard gaming (including AAA titles) to be one of the uses for a "general use" PC. I know others don't and regard that as being, specifically, a "gaming PC" but I have one PC at home (and laptop that is used as a "media" PC, funnily enough, running "Mint") and that PC does everything I require a PC to do, including gaming. So moving that PC to any Linux distro is not an option.
"I'm a photographer and Adobe don't do unix so I'm *never* going to be using a linux machine"
Some confusion here. 1. You're allowed to write Unix. 2. I thought Adobe S/W runs on Apple which is Unix so you could run it on a Unix machine. 3. Linux was a Unix-like OS. (It's getting to be rather less so these days.)
> Wasn't Mint designed with the intention to be Ubuntu, but without the GNOME 3 crap?
Standard Ubuntu never used Gnome 3 as a default. There are, however, several remixes of Ubuntu that default to different DEs: Kbuntu, Xbuntu, ... With any of those you can still install various DEs and Window Managers and even choose which one to use when you log in.
1) No need to defrag
There's no need to defrag an NTFS drive either
2) No spying
Unless you use a search engine or access the internet
3) No need for virus checkers
This is nothing but urban myth
4) Better GUI and more productive. I can add a dock, workspace switching.
Personal preference only
5) You can have flugly, you can have xp, you can have mac like. GUI is FLEXIBLE.
Again, personal preference
6) All software updated centrally.
Not sure I understand this one; there is Windows Updates in Windows you know?
7) All updates optional and clear as to what they do.
I'll give you this one
8) Nothing I can't turn off. Result - almost zero idle cpu usage
And, grudgingly, this one.
9) No Cortana.
And this one
10) Its a desktop os and aimed at that market.
Windows 10 isn't aimed at servers; but I thing I understand what you mean.
6) All software updated centrally.
Not sure I understand this one; there is Windows Updates in Windows you know?
That is true for Windows and Office, and if you use the (rather bare for now) Windows app store. But sadly you get loads of shitty updaters running for Adobe and most other software that you want to make use of Windows legacy of genuinely useful win32-based stuff.
With Linux you normally use the single updater with multiple repositories so even 3rd party software is managed centrally by the machine (i.e. the app store model, but without the 30% fee).
No, even with Linux you may have commercial applications that aren't update from an online repository. That's true only for free ones. Which doesn't cover every needs - just like Microsoft ones don't cover every Windows user needs.
Well, if you use Linux only because you don't want to pay for software....
2) No spying
Unless you use a search engine or access the internet
What do you call all that Telemetary that MS sends back to the mothership then? Yes you have to be connected to the internet but using the host file does not stop it.
Plus you can't turn it off so that SPYING in my book.
Please carry on living in your MS Idil.
The rest of us will get on with life in the real world.
>> 1) No need to defrag > There's no need to defrag an NTFS drive either
There may be less need than for FAT.
"""It is impossible to say that NTFS prevents file fragmentation. On the contrary it fragments them with pleasure. NTFS fragmentation can surprise any person familiar with file system operation in half a year of work. Therefore it is necessary to launch defragmentation. But here all our problems are not ended, they only start."""
http://ixbtlabs.com/articles/ntfs/index-p3.html
>> 3) No need for virus checkers > This is nothing but urban myth
Actually, running a virus checker on a Linux server can perform a very useful function: it can check the email flowing through its mail server to detect and clean Windows viruses.
While there may be a few viruses that can affect Linux computers there are far fewer attack vectors compared to those designed into Windows (though many have been closed): downloaded files are not executable, selecting an email doesn't execute the attachments, inserting a CD doesn't execute code on the CD, having a share link in a web page doesn't send your password overseas, ...
>> 4) Better GUI and more productive. I can add a dock, workspace switching.
> Personal preference only
Maybe, but with Windows it is the "personal preference" of someone in MS.
>> 6) All software updated centrally. > Not sure I understand this one
He said _all_ software. If all your software has been bought from Microsoft, then sure, yours will updated from one central point.
At least NTFS never needed to run fsck every n days because it isn't sure if the file system is OK... when ext got journaling?
ext3 has had journalling for 15 years now, long enough to be "distant past".
As for NTFS, how come every time I have checked the output of chkdsk on XP and 7* machines' system disk it say it is fixing "minor inconstancies" even when there has been no (apparent) system crashes?
[*] thankfully I have not had much need of sorting out Windows 8.x or 10 as yet.
Microsoft also sought to win back users who disliked the dual personalities in Windows 8
Except they haven't managed to get rid of the bipolar nature properly. There's still two different control panels. And now there's two separate browsers as well. And they don't even share favourites.
It's still a discordant mess.
They had the oppurtunity to cut backwards compatibility ties with Windows 7 'XP Mode'.
When Mac made a clean break from OS9, they included it in OSX as a 'Classic Mode' VM to run legacy applications. Your 2001 Mac could run software from 1984. (Admittedly not as interesting as Windows 2016-1995 21 year compatibility.) This weaned people off classic applications onto the new OS.
Windows 7, the professional edition onwards, had XP Mode which could've been the same thing. They could've cut all ties to the previous and integrated XP Mode a bit better for legacy applications.
They're trying to hit the 'shiny shiny' consumer tablet market, while maintaining support for corporates with legacy applications (or, as it is otherwise known, 'technical debt').
>>"They're trying to hit the 'shiny shiny' consumer tablet market, while maintaining support for corporates with legacy applications (or, as it is otherwise known, 'technical debt')."
That's not what "Technical Debt" means. Technical Debt is a software development term referring to the accumulation of future troubles by shortcuts taken today. I.e. you could properly re-code the API to account for the changed requirements but instead you put a nasty little re-write rule into the Apache config so that it works again, knowing full well that at some unspecified future date, this is going to come back and bite you. That is what Technical Debt refers to. It's not referring to legacy support.
It's the customers that decide whether MS can drop support for old software or not. I just interviewed for something that has to have IE8 compatibility because it's run by banks where that is only browser allowed. MS are hamstrung by their backwards compatibility, but it's a valuable feature and can't afford to just drop it.
No, they can't. On the other hand, they did everything to put themselves in this situation in the first place. The guiding light has always been revenue, never proper protocols. As such, if MS had actually cut the cruft with XP, back when nobody had any other choice, and set down proper API rules and respected accepted browser specifications, the situation today would be a lot cleaner and programmers would have a decade's training in Good Programming.
They chose short-term money instead.
No sympathy.
>> They chose short-term money instead.
And got lots of it, Lots and lots of it.
Doesn't hurt to occasionally remind yourself that most software is written in the hope of a financial return, not the utopia of creating stuff in your spare time for others to use without payment. Capitalism and all that...
"not the utopia of creating stuff in your spare time for others to use without payment."
Who does that? If this is supposed to be a swipe at Linux then you're seriously misinformed. Most of it comes from system vendors such as Red Hat. A lot more comes from big user corporations such as Facebook. And you know what? These distinctly capitalist businesses find that it's worth their while to do that.
"They chose short-term money instead."
not entirely. They chose ".Not" instead, and tried to migrate everyone to using C-pound instead of C or C++. Even VB programmers have held out against ".Not". Not having taken over the world with THAT, they THEN went to silverlight, then WinRT, then Universal. Nobody is biting, now...
it wasn't short-term money at all. It was LEVERAGING THE PLATFORM FOR THE FUTURE that they were interested in, locking EVERYONE into "their solution", so they could do what they're doing NOW with Win-10-nic. Except we STILL have a choice, in the current environment.
"No sympathy" indeed.
every review I read of windows. There's this little voice whsipering over my shoulder, but spying on you, but monestization of customers, but it's not mine and I will be sold as a service.
No innovation in windows 10 gets past that for me, and I just start ignoring the good things because the bad that comes with it is not worth it.
I reluctantly got Win 10 on my new PC on the basis that I'd be forced to update to it at some point - it seems Win 10 is what you get if you spend 20 years polishing Win 95.
Anniversary edition - Something seems wrong when the most useful addition in 2016 is the bash shell - adding capabilities that have been available on Unix for almost 40 years.
This is the most damning criticism of Windows 10 - it creates disruption without corresponding benefit. I'm still on Windows 7 not just because I prefer the look and feel, but also because Windows 10 wouldn't let me get my work done any faster, or easier, or in any new way.
Back in the early 1990s, Microsoft talked a lot about ROI on its new Windows releases. The best you can say about Windows 10 is that the ROI isn't too negative.
The important point is not what anniversary update offers, but that it can't be declined.
Windows 8.1 removed a few features, but not many, and it was an entirely optional upgrade to Windows 8.
Anniversary Update isn't optional, and is definitely changing features. Where does it end? Where is the guarantee not to deprecate application, driver support, or remove features essential for specific people, effectively bricking an old PC? W10 Pro can defer updates for up to a year, but I want my system to continue working forever, thank you.
There is no ideal solution here, a paid single user non subscription based version of Windows 10 Enterprise LTSB would help matters, but note that some universal apps will not be available:
'this is because the universal apps included with Windows 10 will be continually upgraded by Microsoft, and new releases of in-box universal apps are unlikely to remain compatible with a feature upgrade of Windows 10 Enterprise LTSB for the duration of its servicing lifetime'
In other words, Windows 10 will change significantly for the forseeable future. I'm not on board with that, only security fixes should be necessary, not driver and functionality fixes.
Forever='as long as the equipment still works'
It's not a huge problem that e.g. when going from XP to Vista, various devices were no longer supported. XP still continued to work on the device, although at some point it was ideally sensible to stop using it to connect to the Internet, as unpatched vulnerabilities might be encountered.
That's ok though - the lifecycle was known well in advance, and was a particularly long one.
This is more like it not being guaranteed that your toaster will carry on toasting toast, because it's not on the list of currently sold toasting devices and what's guaranteed is only current toasting devices, not anything that worked with what was a previously fixed ToastOS. It probably will, but who knows? Additionally, the mandatory ToastPro(TM) update has added 16 additional browning levels, but brands 'Crumpets, it's the new toast!' on every slice where it did not before. The next mandatory update might burn in 'Buy crumpets or we'll eat your kittens' and the one after that '<your name> is a wanker. Paid for by <your enemy>. Enjoy your day'.
So effectively Windows 10 is going to be a monumental PITA thanks to the Google plant Nadella who after successfully destroying MS Windows Phone division is moving onto the desktop OS.
And lets be honest Linux is a PITA as well unless you like trawling through Man files or spending hours searching the net which is a problem when it's the wifi driver that is the issue.
'Nix is good when it works but damn hard work when it doesn't.
If you go on most BSD pages, it'll tell you to pick your hardware to run it on. The 'Linux community tries very hard to ensure 'Linux runs on as many different hardware configurations as possible, often with total lack of interest from the hardware vendors.
When I ventured onto the 'Linux scene, I actually had to spend £200 on a pcmcia card to get an internet connection, as the winmodem on my laptop was not likely to ever work in the near future.
I think we're lucky these days compared to back then.
"Linux nowadays has WAY drivers than Windows, and it is supported by hardware manufacturers."
Still doesn't work with switchable graphics. Or did you mean to write "WAY LESS"?
Which drivers are available for Linux but not for Windows? X.org still supports the supervga cards I was using 30 years ago, but what else is there?
"Linux has been able to drive winmodems for a long time."
Whoop-de-doo for the 5 people still using them. Does it also support the recently released Logitech Scanman?
"Linux nowadays has WAY drivers than Windows, and it is supported by hardware manufacturers."
- Certainly much better than in the past, but Logitech didn't seem interested when I bought one of their touchpads on the 'hopes it'll work'. Took a few releases for the kernel to catch up, now it works great, limited at first.
Linux has been able to drive winmodems for a long time.
- I've not had need of a winmodem for about 8 years, and my anecdote was circa 1999. Back then some makes/models worked, some would with a bit of fiddling, others were never going to (at the time).
We are very lucky these days!
- Hell yes.
>>"When I ventured onto the 'Linux scene, I actually had to spend £200 on a pcmcia card to get an internet connection, as the winmodem on my laptop was not likely to ever work in the near future."
Good grief - I had forgotten about WinModems. I remember I was lucky in that I managed to get some GNU/Linux driver working with mine. I expect there are still a few angry diatribes from Younger Me out there on the subject somewhere.
"And lets be honest Linux is a PITA as well unless you like trawling through Man files or spending hours searching the net which is a problem when it's the wifi driver that is the issue."
This is a potential problem for any OS.
For some users claims like this make no apparent sense if they've never hit the problem that they have H/W for which their OS provides no drivers.
Nevertheless it's a problem which may well strike if you've got very new H/W for which an older OS has no drivers or, conversely, if you have old H/W and a new OS (specialised kit still depending on XP for instance).
It's exacerbated by the fact that it's often the H/W manufacturer who provides the drivers and they may well have gone out of business old H/W or simply can't be bothered to support more than one version of a single OS in which case you should put the blame where it belongs: on the H/W manufacturer. And exacerbated further if the OS demands that its vendor signs all drivers.
There is, however, one situation in which Linux has an advantage. Just because the manufacturer doesn't support it there's no inhibition on Linux developers who want a particular piece of H/W developing their own drivers so although the vendor's site might not list support for Linux the drivers might be in the kernel or an an additional library anyway.
But it's a problem from which no OS is immune and isn't going to go away.
"Man files"...???
I've got three systems on Mint, and I've never read a Man file. I have, however, "spent hours searching the net" trying to fix all sorts of Windows issues over the years.
These kinds of criticisms are way out of date. Linux today has different kinds of issues than Windows, but I'd say on balance it's actually a little easier to support - mainly because it lacks 'features' that deliberately try to get in your way. (Like activation, for a start.)
And lets be honest Linux is a PITA as well unless you like trawling through Man files or spending hours searching the net which is a problem when it's the wifi driver that is the issue.
Uhm what? I've tested and run THREE different Linux "brands" in the last 2 months on 2 wildly different PCs and all worked perfectly. Only manual set up was signing back on to my ISP and various websites.
Not only perfectly but fast as hell too.
You are either out of date or have some seriously obscure hardware.
"... when you consider all the other ways to launch applications, such as taskbar pinning, desktop shortcuts, and Search."
I prefer to put 'toolbars' labelled Programs, Utilities, Whatever, ... on the system panel for a quick and simple popup menu showing the list of shortcuts that I've put in the toolbar folders, as I did in Win 7.
These are pitiful compared to the pop-out panels that Win XP provided.
Luckily for me, the Linux MATE desktop has all singing, all dancing customisable pop-out panels that you can put just about anything on as customised icons. I'm sorry, I'm going off-topic.
A list detailing why Linux is better than Windows (in a Windows story, no less) that starts with anything about Defragging is inexcusable rubbish.
I haven't defragged a computer with any OS since about 1997. They don't need it, there's no point, hard drives are fast enough with enough cache that it doesn't make any performance difference.
And then I got onto your point about "processors wearing out" like they're made from leather and wood and another part of me died inside. If anything, keeping a processor at a steady load will keep the temperature even and reduce the risk of "bash faults" (i.e. the type of dodgy connection fixed by a quick bash on the case, often caused by heating/cooling cycles) but regardless, they don't wear out, they're not mechanical.
Indeed given an SSD the only moving mechanical part will be the fan, and even on modern tablets - which can run Win10 surprisingly well - there is no fan. Indeed the last time I had a machine 'wear out' was only because the fan stopped spinning. And that has happened on 2 machines, the supposedly reliable Sony Vaio and Lenovo Thinkpads....
@Chris 125
Actually, you are wrong on both counts.
Type "defrag" into your universal start tool on your chosen Windows OS and you will find the built in de-fragmentation tool.
Fragmentation is still a problem, like its been for the last 40 years as disk access involves moving the heads which carries a time penalty. SSD devices are likely to resolve this problem as they replace spinning rust disks, so all block access is the same time. There may be issues with FLASH page sizes and FLASH wear rates, but that's another issue all together..
In regard to electronic devices failing over time, there is a well known "bath-tub curve" that has two ends, at the start is manufacturing defects, the middle is the reliable working life and the far end is when things fail due to run-time. Google for "Bathtub curve electronics".
Many people have had CPU failures, but I doubt that many will have considered why - that doesn't mean that they don't have a life span., similarly things like FLASH devices wear out as they have a maximum number of write cycles inherent from the limitations of the technologies that they are designed from. Suggest you read up on MTBF and MTTR and reflect on why manufacturers have a warranty period on processors. If they lasted forever, don't you think that the marketing people would push that as a selling feature ?
My fear is that as you refer to "bash faults" as your chosen repair technique, then your grasp of engineering may be a little limited. Bashing a machine with a spinning disk in it is definitely not a good cause of action.
"Fragmentation is still a problem"
From Windows 7 onwards the OS does defrag in the background and refuses to run on SSDs. You are still able to manully defrag HDD's of course.
Fragmentation is a problem with Linux as well. Claiming that btrfs, ext*fs or any other is immune to fragmentation doesn't understand fragmentation. They can be defragmented manually just as well. The AC was posting misinformation.
"Many people have had CPU failures"
Extremely rare. It's probably the most reliable electrical component in a computer.
I can remember less than 10 cases in the thousands of all sort of computers I've managed and dabbled with in this century alone.
I refer to "bash faults" after 15 years plus in the electronics repair industry, and waving my engineering degree around, so it's all about knowing exactly what I can and can't hit, how hard to hit it, and in which direction. I sort of know how a hard drive works, you have nothing to fear so don't panic!
I appreciate things fail more often when they're older, but that's more often due to the mechanical parts, high voltage components, or faulty connections. I've rebuilt hundreds of machines written off as scrap with a bit of contact cleaner, a few new capacitors and a replacement hard drive or fan. Yes, processors go wrong - but in my experience, more often due to fan failure or the user letting the inside of the heatsink resemble a persian cat, and they rapidly head outside design temp. Contacts tarnish too, but actual hardware failure of a processor itself is quite rare. You are not talking about a mechanical device with wear and tear. But thanks for the heads up on how to Google something that's not really relevant.
And I do know the defrag tool exists, but that doesn't mean it's useful. The bottleneck is more and more the interface rather than the fetching of data, since bizarrely we've moved on from Winchester disks and their three week seek time and four bytes of cache.
Had it since the beginning and its been working well for me, except the one time windows update bricked my machine, forcing me to rebuild.
That aside, there are some decent tweaks to the anniversary upgrade, and I'll be shoving it on my gaming rig later.
I'm also a Linux user, and would use OSX too if the cost of entry wasn't stupid. But to dismiss windows out of hand because 'ugh microsoft', is to deny yourself opportunity.
"like" is maybe too strong, but when I disabled all the 'phone home' s***e and uninstalled the candy crush that they insist on pushing, it works alright. Though I tend to use it on the desktop only for gaming, with Agent Ransack and LibreOffice as my search and office tools. Still a bit disconcerting launching a windows desktop from a tablet device though, mine dual boots Android so can use this for casual gaming and the win10 for any office-y work.
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/techbench
Deleted? or just been updated - anyone know?
The idea of using the shitty (non resumable) MS Media Creation tool that gives little information during the process and borks as soon as it reaches 99% is not an option, requiring upto 17GB of free space, to download the 6GB 32/64bit edition.
Who wrote this MS Media Creation tool? A complete tool? It couldn't be any worse if they had tried their hardest.
It doesn't help that downloading just the 18MB Media Creation tool from the Microsoft website took 29mins on (also shitty of late) traffic shaped Entanet, due to 'node congestion' at the BT endpoint of Entanet's network, where the backhaul transfers to BTWholesale, for its last leg of its journey, (I don't mean final last leg/local loop here, the regional 21stC node end point).
Software as a service can fcuk right off (its just not practical in the UK at the moment) given our broadband networks as run by the derisory BT obsessed by sweating out their crappy copper network, with a joke of a 10Mbps voluntary USO, to boot (more like 1Mbps rurally).
You can blame BT or the technically illiterate MPs, or the ex-BT infested useless ofcom, anyway you look at it, its a mess and a can of worms to try and sort out, going forward.
I have a windows 10 PC mostly used for web and games. I saw the idiocy of Contana web search when I entered "Calculator". All I wanted to do was use the default calculator that comes with Windows. It was the only one not listed in the returned search resultes.
Having said that, there's quite a bit about Windows 10 I do like.
You missed a lot of improvements. Here are the main non-mentioned ones:
* How could you not mention the fact that the back and forward buttons are at last fully functional, and one can right click them to wade through history. Probably the feature I missed more in Edge so far, after the tree-like favorites.
* Also, Edge has received additional power saving improvements, nothing to sneeze at for the people on the go.
* More compliant, extended accessibility features.
* Website notifications
* Forward & Backward with touch (finger swipe)
* Additional dev options in about:flags, and tcp fastopen
* Ink: there is a new, very practical virtual ruler.
* DLP: Windows Information Protection to separate personal & corporate data & prevent blacklisted apps to access corporate data through policies.
* New Windows Store with many much needed improvements and additional monetizations possibilities, mostly for game editors.
* Windows Hello biometric security extended to apps and Web sites.
* Integration with Phones, send SMS from PC
* Much needed improvements in Settings
* Taskbar improvements
* Notification improvements
* Huge amount of features in the anniversary update for Xbox One, including language-region independence, enhancements to the Windows Store, Cortana, Background Music, and more.
Not sure why I'm getting thumbs down but here is another great feature:
* Continuum: wirelessly project a continuum-compatible Windows Phone on the screen of a PC and use its keyboard and mouse. Really useful for urgent tasks/emails without messing with the computer of a host.
You're getting the thumbs down because there are a lot of partisan posters here and your post is extolling the good things about Edge.
I personally like Edge a lot bar two things - firstly, no full screen like I had with Metro IE (which was absolutely great and is sorely missed) and no way to stop it from signing me into Microsoft when I start it, which is a pretty major deal to me and the reason I had switched from it to IE11.
Not sure why I'm getting thumbs down but here is another great feature:
* Continuum: wirelessly project a continuum-compatible Windows Phone on the screen of a PC and use its keyboard and mouse. Really useful for urgent tasks/emails without messing with the computer of a host.
I gave this a thumbs-down because: a) like 97% of the world, I don't have a Windows Phone and never plan to get one; and b) even if I did have a Windows Phone, I wouldn't use this feature. In fact, I'd much prefer a mobile device that would simply attach as storage via USB, but Microsoft doesn't like to make things that simple. So Continuum is more of an 'antifeature,' for me.
Many Windows 10 'features' are like that. They're absolutely terrific... as long as you look at them through Microsoft-tinted glasses. If you don't buy into the complete package, they're painful.
I had a MS staffer demo this to me a few months back - it didn't work...
It turned out to be yet another immature, over-hyped 'feature', that had to be vaguely excused at the time.
It didn't start off well when he asked who had a win phone, and no-one put their hand up.
Then there was the dongle that was required to make it work!
Thanks for the best list I have yet seen.
Settings, Taskbar and Notification improvements - yes I agree.
DLP, I agree.
I'm not an Edge fan so those improvements don't do much for me.
Phone Integration - you got my attention here. It's a case where the headline sounds great but then you look into it and it suddenly seems underwhelming. To use it you need the Cortana app on your phone and Cortana enabled on your PC. Personally I won't be doing either of those. (Airdroid continues to tick the box much more easily here.)
I know I'm probably old fashioned but I think a search function should primarily search the PC and the internet comes 2nd. Cortana got turned off when typing app names didn't find them with any reasonable speed, and even then they were secondary search results.
Thanks again for taking time to list the features though.
This post has been deleted by its author
Use the program control feature of Norton (or other) firewalls to stop Cortana from accessing the internet (and while you are at it block Internet Explorer and Edge as well. This will improve security and privacy. (Use Chrome or Firefox instead of IE or Edge. That way you can avoid the insanity of still using Flash.))
If you do not want the Windows App Store then another firewall rule to block access to the Windows Store will disable that annoyance.
That alone should make the decision NOT to use W10 easy for anyone with half a brain.
Sorry, I'm not telling MS (and by implication the NSA, CIA, GCHQ, FCB etc) what I'm doing on MY frigging computer. They have no effing business to know the content of the books I write before I publish them.
That is spying on a scale we have never seen before.
IT makes even the lengths the STASI went to pale into insignificance.
What? MS not spying on us?
Well, why don't they tell us in fine detail what is in all that data that gets sent back to Redmond from every W10 system. You know the data that they send bypassing the definitions in the hosts file.
Please explain why I would ever want to even consider installing let alone using W10 even for a nanosecond.
Ah, choice, and choice painless to implement. No extra downloads, packages or 'classic shells'
From Classic hierarchical 'Start' to the boxy compact with search to fullscreen launcher (which I rather like). Pointlessly, I couldn't resist having all three available - just because.
I'm nursing legacy Win7 / XP boxes. When they die it'll be Linux on everything. This is going to cause some headaches at the same time, although my field is better than others at accommodating the change.
However I expect it will land me less work... But you know what, we seem to be in a stagnant economic cycle anyway according to economists. So hey, its time....
".... is that most Windows 10 users will eventually have to upgrade whether or not they wish to. Fortunately, in this case it is no bad thing"
~ Yikes! Its way too early to make that kind of call Tim!
~ Users simply have no idea where M$ is going with this 'thing'...
I must say, having missed the upgrade for various reasons, mostly telemetry, I did experience certain satisfaction, when I tried to turn off a PC running Windows 10 and was unable to do it. First I saw red, then I thought: hey, 20 years of MS experience, what do I know, I must be stupid or something.
Then the "experienced" W10 user showed me the path to power-down, and then I just knew I'd made the right choice by abstaining. If this is a 10th taken on a user-friendly OS, gee, either MS are beyond help, or I am.
Ah, you see, it's very complicated through the software route. First, click the start button (the power user in you may want to press the windows button). Second, there is a button on the start menu that reads "Power" (Power uses can use the arrow keys to reach it and enter to select it). Finally, you select the option that you'd like; "Sleep", "Shut down" or "Restart" which are also accessible with arrow keys and enter.
Now I do agree, having three options is very confusing in this situation as we are looking for the "Off" button. It is indeed a little known piece of jargon that "Shut down" equates to "Off" while "Sleep" and "Restart" won't act as you expect but after 20 years of MS experience, the above poster should be aware of that particular term.
to be precise, that particular pc ran the OS in my native language, which should make it even easier, only that I've always run mine in English. So I don't actually know what the W10 shutdown path looked like, but I'm absolutely sure it was nothing like: "this way to EXIT you MORON!". That said, over the last couple of months I have come across at least three hilarious MS translations, even more so, as they were on retail products (office 365 among them). Plus a neat one from the MS fountain of multilingual knowledge, that translated "True" as... "False". You couldn't make it up. But then, I should know, I had a brushing contact with that database, sub-sub-sub-contracting for MS, and I decided it'd be safer to eject, given how polluted their database was.
p.s. my W7 "adieu" combination is windows key + shutdown. And it does just that. Clearly too simple for the MS. Or, perhaps, by design. What, you wanna go ALREADY?! I'm afraid I can't let you do that...
But why would you ever want to shut down an OS? At best, put it to sleep. I like to start where I left off last night, and there's no need to turn it off - irrespective of how quickly it wakes up, it wakes up to an empty desktop. Unless W10 now has this behaviour?
and disable all the privacy invading crap, cortana, stupid live tiles that bug me to install Xbox and all sorts of other crap I have no interest in, and as much metro stuff as possible, install Classic Start, and try my best to make it work like Windows 7.
I feel sorry for anyone that took the free upgrade and can't do most of that stuff, as the latest "update" actively prevents them from doing do.
This latest version isn't an upgrade at all, it's yet another in a log line of anti-consumer Microsoft downgrades that have been occurring since Windows 8.
Probably not worth the bother. Stick with 7.
I've found the basic Windows 10 copy command corrupts files from a Linux based NAS device and Windows 10 routinely flags a USB Flash drive as needing repairing, taking 3x as long as Windows 7 to check, as it scans the USB files for content, and uploads your 'suspect' files it likes the look of, for malware analysis. I just don't trust it with my files.
This post has been deleted by its author
If you routinely turn Cortana off (what is betting the update enables it again), don't use a stylus, and would rather not log in using your face, I don't find that much to be excited about...but am happy to be corrected?
It seems I will still have to go with the flow and download this in order to get future security updates which I DO want though.
I have to agree that there is nothing visibly useful in the Anniversary Update.
In other words, MS is finally reducing application bloat, something critics have long badgered MS to do..
Windows is becoming more and more an operating system, rather than a bunch of bloated applications bundled with an operating system. This is what we've been asking for. Although now they've give it to us, yeah it is boring.
What the Anniversary Update is good for I suppose is what the other updates this year were good for: Closing bugs, security vulnerabilities and reducing wasted cycles.
But I wish they'd have made the desktop look more appealing, easier on the eyes, with a 'finished look'.
The Anniversary Update color schemes are garish and butt ugly. Sadly, in most of the real world appearances count for a lot more than performance. I don't know how I'm going to convince any one a product that looks this rough and ugly is worth trying on staff computers.
That was the thing with Steve Jobs and Apple. Nobody cared that their products we "me toos" of someone else's creative idea. What mattered was they were astonishingly pretty and packaged like meticulously, like designer perfumes. (They looked great before they were secreted away inside of ugly rubber iPhone condom cases.)
MS just doesn't understand how much looks matter over substance to lay-people and hobbyists. And executive ranks are all made up of lay-people (even CIOs are mostly sales people, not techies). Appealing to lay-people is a business essential for IT, since the folks we work for are lay-people.
" Strategically, Windows 10 marks the moment when Microsoft decided it was more important to have as many users as possible on the latest version of its operating system than to generate revenue from upgrades. Profits come from apps, advertising, and integration with cloud services. CEO Satya Nadella described the strategy as to "grow new monetization through services across a unified Windows platform," when he was speaking at the company's recent earnings webcast. "
at which moment does it makes sense (financially, technically and not pride) for Microsoft to abandon the winOS-core and go for a Unix core with a windows skin and services ... ? They are using more and more linux in the Azure -datacenter ...
He has just done the update. "We have got some cool new features for you to get excited about" the banner proclaimed....
10 minutes later I ask him if he is excited yet? His reply "The only new feature I have found is a desktop.ini file the upgrade left behind."
Trying to be fair, if you use Edge, there are things in this update for you. If you use Cortana or a stylus there are things in this update for you.
I don't know if I'm in the majority or not, but on a new PC turning off Cortana to speed up searching and installing Chrome are high on the todo list.
Other new Edge features include a tree view for Favorites, a warning if you try to exit the browser when a download is in progress…
What year is it? Folders for bookmarks? Even when Opera stupidly removed bookmarks when moving to Blink they reintroduced them, with folders, faster than MS added them to Edge.
Whatever next? The ability to print pages no doubt.
With the direction of travel MS is taking with Win10 now obvious, the question has to be, what is the benefit to PC OEM's such as Dell, Lenovo and HP in bundling Win10.
We know the benefit to them (and the industry in general) of bundling versions of Windows prior to 10 and the OEM's reaching favourable deals to pre-install Windows, however, given Win10 is more akin to trial packages that vendors get paid to install and hence help them to subsidise prices, the question has to be whether any will start to demand MS pay for the privilege of having Win10 pre-installed...
Given MS's recent actions with O365, licencing etc. it would seem that it is in the OEM's and channel's own interests to act sooner rather than later.
This leaves PC builders (and tablet and phone builders) having to figure out how to improve their products if they want to sell them.
Maybe they should spend as much on engineering as they do on marketing and Hollywood CEO salaries?
For decades retail users and sysadmins alike have complained about bloatware in Windows.
Now MS is removing the bloat and optimizing the code.
That is good for MS, its retail customers, and sysadmins. But it won't do the job that PC builder staff and executives are paid to do.
PC, tablet and phone builders are going to have to find their own improvements to move their products.
For now they probably have a reprieve, due to 3D applications. They need some new 'must have' for after that.
the search tool is windows 10 is now cortana. without her you can't search even local files on your own computer. you can't turn her off. oh now Microsoft wants to own us. Windows 10 is a big spy tool in the name of operating system. This is enough for me to stay on windows 7.
"without her you can't search even local files on your own computer. you can't turn her off."
1. I just did a search without Cortana using Windows Explorer.
2. Cortana can be turned off, I did that earlier this morning.
3. I just looked at Windows Indexing in the Control Panel and it looks exactly like it did last week.
They've added some features to Cortana apparently. I suppose that is nice for people who like that kind fo thing. But those of us who don't are not being forced to use it.
My wifi-card has an issue, it doesn't always startup properly when waking up from sleep mode, and turning it off and on again within windows isn't enough either. A full power cycle does the job though.
So I get back from work, wake it up, can't connect to the network.
"OK then, I'll just restart".
Hits restart.
Almost 2 hours later, I'm typing this on my phone, with the laptop still spinning with the words "Getting Windows ready Don't turn off your computer" on the screen.
Gee thanks MS. Maybe I really needed access to something on there?
Maybe I was at work? In which case, I would be wasting money getting no work done.
I didn't ask you to update, no notifications that the update was going to be installed, would have been fine installing overnight.
What I needed was just a simple power cycle, and MS has just screwed that up.
Good job.
Windows has ALWAYS been like this. Sleep and Hibernate more times than not will disable your network connection and require a reboot to reconnect.
Docking and undocking your laptop will cause this as well.
And it has ALWAYS required a reboot every now and then no matter what.
Updates have always been like your experience as well, but you at least had the option to manually update so you didn't get those rude surprises.
I must say I have been lucky then, as I have been sleeping my computers daily instead of turning them off since before I upgraded to XP in 2002, and I can't remember a single time that the network has failed to come back with it. It may have happened, but It would have been so long ago that I don't remember.
Now, waking up for ridiculous reasons, yes; they have done that.
The machine has some other quirks too, like jumping out of fullscreen applications (somehow) every now and then. A little annoying when gaming, and not OS dependant.
It's not actually my machine, it's a loaner because my actual machine is dead :( and the real owner wanted the Windows 10 license, so Windows 10 it is.
All my other machines handle waking fine.
The RTM Anniversary Update switches back on Privacy settings that have been explicitly set to 'off' before the upgrade. In particular - sharing your Contacts with Xbox and turning back on the 'Sharing Contacts' global switch. (and once shared you can't ask for them back, i.e. Skype)
Typical Microsoft, if the malware like 'Express Settings' weren't bad enough in terms of Privacy, now you can't even rely on settings you've explicitly set to 'off' to remain set between upgrades.
This was an in-place upgrade, keeping user files, via 1607 Anniversary ISO. It works but its pretty slow to upgrade this way, much slowr than previous Win7->Win10.
The evil of Microsoft! Making it so we can't disable Cortana! With no way in the world to disable Cortana, we should all switch to (pick linux variant) now! This is the end...
http://www.howtogeek.com/265027/how-to-disable-cortana-in-windows-10/
... oh, never mind then.
Took me twenty seconds to find that. The group policy change works, too.
Listen - I'm a former Solaris and Linux admin (that is not an appeal to authority - just telling you I'm not an MCSE apologist). There are many things that *nix varieties can do that Windows can't - so with that said, it seems like some people can't help falling over each other to be the first to declare that evil shalt never smite them, as they runneth Linux!
And yes - I understand Microsoft's history. I'm not excusing that history. I think it's a little shifty to take away the easy click to turn Cortana off - but it can still be turned off - *that* shouldn't be the deal breaker that sends you running to a different OS, if you haven't done so already. There are lots of other good reasons to do so - the FUD pom-pom waving isn't necessary.
.... that will drive people back to XP (still available) or Macs or Linux.
No one in their right mind would share that much data with a company like Microsoft, so the only sane choice is to go somewhere else for their OS !
.... that will drive people back to XP (still available) or Macs or Linux.
No one in their right mind would share that much data with a company like Microsoft, so the only sane choice is to go somewhere else for their OS !
Not FUD at all, that's what it (1607 Anniversary Update) does, it switches back on global 'Share Contacts' switch, adds Xbox to the sharing mix, even after it has been explicitly turned off prior to the update, that's a no-no, as Privacy standards go.
There has to be some standards when writing software, if Microsoft want to rummage through black bins and gutter for information, in effect what they are doing, then people need to know about it.
As far as Cortana goes, if it was switched off before the upgrade it remains off after (in terms of the search box at least), so there is some FUD there, but regards Privacy settings, it shows vigilance is needed.
Privacy settings need to be rechecked after every major MS upgrade. This is not the first time this has happened, 1511 ISOs had to be pulled for a similar failure of preserving Privacy settings.
A bit of a Microsoft theme? Oh, just a mistake. Its the classic Facebook approach, peel back the Onion layer by layer, until your Privacy is exposed, and you don't get it back, as those contacts are then up in the cloud.
And yes, its a lot easier to avoid this type of deceptive shit if you use a variant of Linux. Thanks for confirming that.
First off, I do NOT disagree with your statement about things that have been turned off need to stay off. No argument there.
The FUD I was driving at is all the doom criers saying that Cortana was now something that couldn't be turned off at all - that's simply not true. Spreading an non-truth as truth to discredit that something or create a fear of it is FUD, kind of by definition.
What you find easy - modifying group policies, I can tell you, plenty would say Cortana can't be turned off (from a non-technical user's perspective) and many of these so called Technical Journalists will have non technical backgrounds of English Language/History are their core subject, so you can see how these headlines get generated, become 'clickbait'.
The switch to turn Cortana explicitly 'off' in Win10 1511 (which had to be re-confirmed by two clicks) has been removed and there is plenty to imply from that. That's without worrying about the nitty gritty of whether it can (jumping through hoops) actually be turned off in Win10 1607 if you're really determined, with the required technical ability.
If Cortana is the bugbear, the best approach, is to make sure Cortana switch is 'off' in Win10 1511 before the update to Win10 1607, then it remains off in terms of the search box.
The update installed fine after about an hours processing. And it hasn't crashed.
1. The Anniversary Update seems to have turned off System Restore and deleted all the restore points.
It did this without warning. If I hadn't done a fullish settings check after the update I'd never have known.
And it didn't turn System Restore back on again, I had to do that manually.
2. Active hours can't be changed from 8 AM to 5 PM.
In Settings > Windows Update you are supposed to be able to set active hours, the hours you're using the computer during which it isn't supposed to do updates.
I wanted to change the active hours to noon to midnight, and it wouldn't accept that. It wouldn't accept any change. It kept the active hours at 8 AM to 5 PM.
3. The available colors for the desktop are wildly garish, blindingly white, or dank and dark.
4. The desktop is still totally 2D. On large screens this reduces the intuitiveness of the interface. It makes it all look blah.
Well it won't update on my 2 installations of windows 10. Seems the pro version is having problems for some people - just fails with an obscure error code. Very appropriate given the frequent crashes I've experienced over the last year that to 'celebrate' a year of instability even the update doesn't work !
New install of Win10: Disabled all the telemetry and turned off Cortana. Rather than having to use reghacks and firewall rules I just used O&O ShutUp10 which is free and doesn't even need to be installed.
Upgraded install from previous version of Win10: Cortana still disabled, all tracking still disabled.
Why I use Win10? Firstly I game and the massive performance boosts I've had from DX12 (talking 40% here) are more than worth it, secondly as I work in the education sector I have to use software like Office as I need stuff to just work especially if I'm making resources for other staff members. I love Linux and used to use a variety of distros but libre/openoffice just don't cut it for compatibility and for stuff to actually work reliably.
P.S Please be gentle, I know the Register is very anti-windows (often for good reasons) but I'd rather I wasn't downvoted into oblivion for posting what I've found :).
Every now and then its nice to find an Operating System that isnt:
A) Windows
B) GNU/Linux (Quote "Unix Like" but not really more "Unix" than Unix!)
Software industry only has itself to blame for the state of affairs they find themselves in, BeOS suddenly became Haiku & embraced the GNU - GlibC
BSD Lite - Became OpenBSD & NetBSD and both embraced the GNU - GLibC
In fact your a little hard pressed these days to find an operating system that hasnt employed the terribly shitty standard known as: POSIX!
However they are out there and you just need to look around!
KolibriOS
SharkOberon
Oberon
BlueBottle
RISC OS Open
Nitros-9
Plan 9
Perhaps wise to avoid the GCC tool-chain when you consider that 95% of all software bugs seem to flow unendingly from it - thats what tends to happen when you let some guy using eMacs loose with a C++ compiler & then along comes more imbeciles and they want to put Coffee (JAVA) in it!
Nothing to see here, just the usual crowd I see, busy #!Bashing M$ and vice a versa #!Bashing there Penguin..
So glad I had the foresight to switch over to RISC OS written on the BBC Acorn Basic and now available as a (SoC) system on a chip for the "Hackers" Raspberry Pi
It's not "Linux" and it's not "WIndows" it's "Basic C" and no it doesnt SPY on me!
Wanky "Google" with it's "Linux backdoor" and wanky "Redmond" with there out dated and very screwed up OS do not interest me in the least.
What interest's me is software that works, not proclaims to work, then falls over which both Lunix & Windows both do quite successfully all on there own!
You seem to have a bad case of CamelCasing and otherwise Capitalize wrongly.
Otherwise you seem to not really know what you are writing about (bhut have heard about some keywords), and otherwise seem ready for the White Wagon. Calling other people imbeciles seems a bit rich.
bhut?! CamelCasing? facetious much? the White Wagon? that sounds a bit racist, but then you come across as a bit facist! (thanks for the thumbs down!)
Not to know what you are writing about... That's kind of rich considering I grew up using Windows from 95, 98 and XP onward's and read tech-rights blogs about microsofts monopoly on software with avid interest, years of use eventually teach you that they're nothing but an abusive company, then years later I made the swap to SlackWare and other distributions of linux back in the 90's not every OS revolves around your misconceptions of how it all works, take this one for example. Built around the Bell-La-Padula security model, it has no root user, hence stupid kids can not just break into it..
Although im sure they try. http://www.plan9.bell-labs.com/sys/doc/auth.html
Linus dropped 1000 Lines of code from his own Kernel back in the late 90's going swiftly from Kernel 2.6.36 to 2.6.37 his decision to do so deliberatly caused undisclosed security vulnerabilities in it and hes just generally unpleasent as a developer if you get on his wrong side, but then maybe your happy with that and the advance of System-D across multiple distro's while anyone who approaches the dude about proper security in his Kernel ie: Theo && grSecurity get rebuked with nasty verbal garbage about how they are the ones that dont really know what they're doing!
How long does it take to write a Open Source kernel with over one million lines of heavily obfuscated C code? The answer is that 50+ years, it seems to just be the Linus & Stallman standard!
Why BASIC?
BBC Acorn BASIC
Because it springs from a very early era in computer research, back when your computer was easy to under stand and digest, the code didnt embrace the GCC although the GCC does maintain parts of it and it does not rely upon a *Nix* Kernel in any way shape or form. 10 GOTO 20 20 PRINT "PWNED!" GOTO 10 RUN. Flex was another all time favorite - in fact I live next door to one of it's original developers and it's always a privledge to engadge in discussion with himself about the IoT or internet of things which has rapidly devolved into the internet of "security & privacy circus" that wants to do disgusting things to your computer and telephone. Thankfully PGP works on RISC just as well as on Linux and being non-commercial it also supports things like the IDEA algorithm and doesnt support bad things like "Visual Basic Scripting" or "Java-Script" which are simply another security cruch that require constant maintinence!
Microsoft gave us all the atrocity known as MSDOS - then along came a load of Open Source guru's that polished that turd until it became FreeDOS!
Then a little while later a little unknown fact happened, some guy wrote a proprietary (I shit you not) GUI shell in JAVA to go on-top of it!
Then FreeDOS developers responded in the best fashion to this young upstart who insisted he'd make good money from it, in true open source fashion by telling him to "Fu** OFF!"
Shafted RSAT tools? To which item are you refering?
Doesnt update and install?
Yeah, you'll find that a lot if your using a BIOS with UEFI and CIC INTEL microcode whereas ARM has no CIC and hence no microcode because the instruction and execution of bits is totally diff.. What are you attempting to launch it on?
Let me guess INTEL ivy-bridge with UEFI enabled?! No, no, no, go out and buy a Raspberry Pi..!
It's only recently that MS has come out with its IoT version of Windows 10 aimed at that particular platform and trust me, Windows 10 is not welcome in most open source SoI (spheres of influence) but then in hindsight what can you expect from a dying company thats lost the battle?
But then its also easy to see why other people are still raging, because what replaced it.. Google INC.. which is worse and twice as abusive when it comes to trying to lock you into Google android so it can harvest ALL:UDATA::
Oh giant cluster running a distributed platform and now left with EGG on it's face.. The SPIRIT of open source UNIX philosophy abused by a large conglomerate with better targetted advertising as its GOAL.. Sheesh, lots of us can't wait till the Law both common and in writ catches up to these fuckers which they're reluctant to do...
First disable Windows Search in Services. Then go to folder of Cortana (right click on Cortana in Task Manager and select open file location), rename folder, I just add BKUP to the end of the given folder name.
There are two Cortana (so times more) tasks that must be disabled before it will allow you to save the name change of the folder. Hide the search box on the task bar.
I have not found any problems with searching my computer with the Windows Search disabled. Some may want the indexing, if so you will not be able to disable Cortana as it will create a new folder and restart without Windows Search disabled.
When I installed this Shit Called Windows 10, I disabled cortana and internet search in the start bar ...
This has re-appeared since the update and, since I am a hasty person, sorry, used GNU/Linux too much, I search and hit enter ... after this F#$%@ update, I get random edge Windows appearing with Bing search results ... my default browser is Firefiox, you bags of shit!
So, off I go, on the intertubes to find the settings screen I need to turn off internet search in the start menu again ... thanks, you pieces of shit!
Really, I do not know why our "corporate policy" has now changed to Windows 10 + Office 355 ... note that "corporate policy" is just like the bullshit you hear Musies, Christians, or Jews say about their favorite book, it's just a metaphor, sir ... metaphor, corporate policy, I don't understand ... it is brain dead, that is what it is.
Any company want a talented all-rounder, who can take care of Linux, FreeBSD, Solaris, and, if need be, Windows boxen without fucked up "corporate policy" BS, various ERP systems, programming in various shell languages (KSH, SH, PowerShell, VBS), Java, PL/SQL, C++, TSQL, DB2, Postgres, Mysql (or MariaDB) ... should I add {Open|Lire}Office macros ... I mean, I do not ask much ... just None of this shit!.