back to article Windows 10: What is it good for? Microsoft pitches to devs ahead of Creators Update

Microsoft briefed developers on the updates to the Windows 10 platform at an online Developer Day in preparation for the Creators Update, set for release later this year. The Windows 10 story is long and complex. In 2012 Microsoft released Windows 8, intended to bring the operating system into the mobile era, where apps are …

  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Windows 10: What is it good for?

    When I have something that doesn't run on Linux or there isn't an equivalent for Linux.

    1. CAPS LOCK

      The use case for W10 is now very small...

      If the application or an equivalent doesn't run on Linux, there's Wine. If not on Wine then there's Win. 7. If the application doesn't need web access then even XP or 2000 might do.

      1. Mage Silver badge

        Re: The use case for W10 is now very small...

        Win7 or XP in a VM on Linux if native Linux or WINE doesn't work for the job.

        1. AMBxx Silver badge
          Mushroom

          Re: The use case for W10 is now very small...

          I need to get me some of this penguin stuff. It would obviously make me an expert in all things, even those I claim not to use or need.

          Getting bored of Linux bores clogging up MS discussions.

          1. 1Rafayal

            Re: The use case for W10 is now very small...

            Universities tend not to qualify for Enterprise versions of Windows 10....

            1. Anonymous Coward
              Anonymous Coward

              Re: The use case for W10 is now very small...

              "Universities tend not to qualify for Enterprise versions of Windows 10..."

              The exact snuffy thinking that put Microsoft in the shitter. Microsoft's head is so deep in their own fish bowl that they've forgotten the air they breath. Every time Microsoft enters a market that they once thought beneath them, all of a sudden they spam the internet with shit like "ours is better" or "We're going to catch up and take over". STFU Microsoft. You passed on it, now go sleep on it. Come talk to us when you're setting a trend again, not following every one you see.

              P.S. The Ui trend you started... yeh it sucks.

              1. 1Rafayal

                Re: The use case for W10 is now very small...

                @MyBackDoor

                Not sure what point you are trying to make. But you are aware there is an educational license for Windows? Or is this irrelevant to what ever rant you are on?

            2. EddieD

              Re: The use case for W10 is now very small...

              "Universities tend not to qualify for Enterprise versions of Windows 10...."

              They tend to qualify for W10 Education, which is enterprise without Cortana...

              1. joed

                Re: The use case for W10 is now very small...

                "They tend to qualify for W10 Education, which is enterprise without Cortana..." - not exactly true. Running the build in VM and it surely had all the Cortana MS fanboys asked for. I was really disappointed. LTS is the only crap-free version, for now (still the telemetry is included "free of charge").

            3. The Man Who Fell To Earth Silver badge
              FAIL

              Re 1Rafayal: The use case for W10 is now very small...

              Universities tend not to qualify for Enterprise versions of Windows 10

              That is clearly wrong. I've been a faculty member at my present University for a very long time, and all Windows installs we've ever had were Enterprise versions (NT, XP, Vista, 7, they skipped 8, now 10) that the University had site licenses for. Our W10 is Enterprise. Would have been better if the powers that be had gotten the Education version, as it is pretty much Enterprise w/o Cortana.

            4. Chemical Bob
              Coat

              Re: The use case for W10 is now very small...

              "Universities tend not to qualify for Enterprise versions of Windows 10...."

              Neither do starships that are not Constitution class...

          2. sabroni Silver badge
            Meh

            Re: Getting bored of Linux bores clogging up MS discussions.

            Amen! It's the same tired old shit every fucking time.

            It's dull and irrelevant. Give it a rest.

            1. Anonymous Coward
              IT Angle

              Re: Getting bored of Linux bores clogging up MS discussions.

              > Amen! It's the same tired old shit every fucking time. It's dull and irrelevant. Give it a rest.

              Not at all, it's just that it's tedious yet again seeing Windows presented as the non plus ultra of computing.

            2. bombastic bob Silver badge
              Linux

              Re: Getting bored of Linux bores clogging up MS discussions.

              "It's dull and irrelevant. Give it a rest."

              dull to YOU maybe, irrelevant to YOU maybe.

              To me, it's nice to see an ALTERNATIVE to the Micro-shaft market-hype about how "great" the experience is with Win-10-nic, how much "better" it is than before (and all of the apparent shills who echo it). The positive comments about Wine motivate me to try it out again [I've had bad experiences trying to get windows stuff running in Wine, so I gave up on it a few years back, but if it's FIXED, or at least BETTER, it's worth a try again].

              Frankly, I'd like to see MORE LINUX PC's and more NATIVE LINUX APPLICATIONS, as a proper alternative to Micro-shaft's "chimera OS excreted from hell" known as "Win-10-nic".

              And the 'Outlook' thing, too. Making THAT go away should be high on the list of things to do. I'm surprised RH hasn't already done it. Oh, well.

              1. azaks

                Re: Getting bored of Linux bores clogging up MS discussions.

                Your slipping Bob.

                You managed to type the name of something from MS ('Outlook') without any of your witty, never-tiresome spellings.

                You had them on the ropes, and you let them back up again? The yank lurker is mortified.

                Couldn't you have written 'Outfuck' or something equally clever?

                1. Anonymous Coward
                  Anonymous Coward

                  Re: Getting bored of Linux bores clogging up MS discussions.

                  > Couldn't you have written 'Outfuck' or something equally clever?

                  Obviously, he didn't need to, he could get you to do it for him.

                  1. Anonymous Coward
                    Anonymous Coward

                    Re: Getting bored of Linux bores clogging up MS discussions.

                    > Couldn't you have written 'Outfuck'

                    or Outofluck

          3. d3vy

            Re: The use case for W10 is now very small...

            "I need to get me some of this penguin stuff. It would obviously make me an expert in all things"

            It's amazing.. I didn't even have a PC yesterday but then someone told me that android IS LINUX and it happened immediatly.. it was like a scene from the matrix as the entire wealth of human knowledge materialised in my head.

            I know Kung fu... And I'll tell you about it at every opportunity.

      2. John 104

        Re: The use case for W10 is now very small...

        @CAPS LOCK

        Wine? Really? So out of support for most things its pretty useless.

    2. The Man Who Fell To Earth Silver badge
      FAIL

      Liar liar pants on fire!

      All I know is that I was told for over a year that Windows 10 Enterprise had all the spyware removed. Yet this week we upgraded a bunch of machines to Windows 10 64-bit Enterprise at my University, and after the upgrade of the first machine, it had a full complement of spyware installed and active. We then had to go through it turning it all off (https://fix10.isleaked.com/). The rest of the installs we used the customized settings that turn most, but not all, off at install time. But you still have to manually turn off the spyware in Edge manually.

      So in answer to the question "Windows 10: What is it good for?" My answer is "absolutely nothing".

      I can't imagine how bad the liability must be for any law firm using Windows 10, given the client confidentiality issues.

      1. wolfetone Silver badge
        Linux

        Re: Liar liar pants on fire!

        "I can't imagine how bad the liability must be for any law firm using Windows 10, given the client confidentiality issues."

        Costs too much money for them to bother upgrading from Windows 7.

        "It's dull and irrelevant. Give it a rest."

        What? Like Windows?

      2. John 104

        Re: Liar liar pants on fire!

        @man who fell to earth

        I was in our AD group policy editor yesterday fiddling with some auditing stuff. Prior to deleting a policy, I wanted a record of what was configured, etc, so I manually went through all of the policy options. There are actually some bits in there for turning off telemetry in Edge and such. I'd suggest digging in to that and managing these from a GPO.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Liar liar pants on fire!

          What you mean you were using GPO for what it was designed for, amazing. Seems some here are still using a local regedit to fix the issues.

        2. Ilsa Loving

          Re: Liar liar pants on fire!

          Except that if you disable telemetry, Windows Updates stop working entirely. Microsoft has tied the two together. The best you can hope for is to use a WSUS to manage updates for you. At least as far as Windows 10 goes, anyway.

      3. a_a

        Re: Liar liar pants on fire!

        I can't imagine how bad the liability must be for any law firm using Windows 10, given the client confidentiality issues.

        It's not given a second thought.

      4. a_yank_lurker

        Re: Liar liar pants on fire!

        My concern for Bloat 10 is the Spyware-as-a-Service is muted but not truly turned off. Too many industries have very strict data security and privacy regulations. I work in one (not law) and I know how much privacy and proper handling of personal information is stressed. With SaaS, will Slurp indemnify enterprise customers or leave out to dry?

    3. Jonathan 27

      That's been true for years and yet Linux still hasn't caught on with the masses, I wonder why?

      1. TVU

        "That's been true for years and yet Linux still hasn't caught on with the masses, I wonder why?"

        ...but it's getting there. Indeed, it could very well overtake macOS Sierra in terms of number of users later on this year.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          "Masses" as in asses? I only use Linux on my desktops for convenience, I will also bother with some Win and a nice Mac if it is offered by my org, but in the data center its all Linux or some combo or Linux and a flavor of some big boy Unix; slowaris, AIX, FreeBSD, etc. No one in their right mind uses Windows for large data center ops. Even when you have a ton of citrix/remote desktops those are running Win licenses inside of VMs that are running atop Linux. Desktops don't mean shit. Linux runs your data centers and most all of the communications in between and on your phone and the services it links to. You can play with Windows all day. In the end, you also used some Linux along the way.

          I admin any type of server, but only even list Unix/Linux on my resume. I meant it that way. From my point of view, I can barely see any Windows servers running anything critical that can't also be done better in Linux. Except for your precious Exchange server, or your new friend 0365 [sic]. If all you know is Windows, you are half an admin, buddy. The real world is mostly running Unix/Linux now. And if you're just a desktop admin, then start learning some real skills and we might let you into the data center where the big boys and girls do the good work. I used to be a desktop admin, back in the 1980s. Good luck with that, it's a crap job suited to noob admins.

          I admined some Microsoft Mail Servers at Apple back in the 1980s and 1990s, before they started calling it Exchange and combined it with the calendar that everyone is hooked on. I've seen every type of data center in a very wide swath of business types. No one is running Windows if they have any clue on how to manage and keep costs down and still have a rock solid installation. No one.

          1. d3vy

            "but only even list Unix/Linux on my resume. I meant it that way. From my point of view, I can barely see any Windows servers running anything critical"

            You don't see windows run anything critical because you've created a little echo chamber for yourself, you said as much with your comments about your resume.

            If you only ever get approached form UNIX/Linux jobs because of your resume then yes, you will only see Linux and UNIX running.

            From my point of view I could conceivably believe that Java/python/php etc no longer exist because I do dot net development and that's all I really see (incidentally large chunks of the NHS and MoD run on Windows servers).. but I'm not so closed minder as to think that there are no other tools to complete a task...

            1. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
              Thumb Down

              > incidentally large chunks of the NHS and MoD run on Windows servers

              Everyone is entitled to their own little hell and having Microsoft's licensing police probe the anus.

              Especially if the taxpayer has agreed to it.

              1. d3vy

                "incidentally large chunks of the NHS and MoD run on Windows servers

                Everyone is entitled to their own little hell and having Microsoft's licensing police probe the anus"

                My point was that the NHS - one of the biggest employers in the world - successfully runs large chunks of the org on windows infrastructure, this was a counter to the point made above that no one is using windows for anything serious.

      2. Anixx

        Because of two reasons:

        1. Windows architecture is far superior to Unix architecture which is essentially from 1959 and did not substantially change since then. Windows is far superior technically.

        2. Linux has no binary backward compatibility and very limited source compatibility. They regulrly throw away APIs and toolkits making it necessary to rewrite all software. They have thrown away Qt1, Qt2, Qt3, Qt4, GTK1, GTK2, with all software that used them! Windows did so only once, with Win16 (and, yet you still can run Win16 software on 32-bit Windows versions), and attempts doing it second time with all that "Metro". But essentially, Windows API is stable from 1995 till now.

    4. brainbone

      Re: What's it good for?

      It's great if you want your overnight processes interrupted by forced update reboots.

      Don't want your overnight processes interrupted by a reboot after Windows update? Too bad! Microsoft helpfully removed the option to disable automatic reboots in the Anniversary update.

    5. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      @AC

      You know it used to be that I toyed with Linux but didn't have time for the learning curve.. or needed visual studio too frequently to justify moving over from Windows.

      That's not the case now. Now it's people like you, I honestly don't want people assuming that because I run Linux I'm some pompous fanboy with a superiority complex.

  2. TRT

    Windows 10: What is it good for?

    Crashing our Sony data projector. Yup. Had that one this morning. Doesn't work in duplicate mode, does work in extended desktop mode. In duplicate mode it renders the projector totally unresponsive - can't change source, use the remote, soft power-down. Had to disconnect the mains lead. Three times it took before I worked out it was reliably reproducible. Works fine on the non-Dell Windows 7 Fujitsu laptop. Works fine with the identical machine running Windows 7. Works fine with the Macs. Never seen that problem before.

  3. Carl D

    Windows 10: What is it good for?

    First thing that came to mind for me:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpWmlRNfLck

    Substitute 'Windows 10' for 'War'. And it really does mean the destruction of innocent lives (computers) in many cases.

  4. King Jack

    Windows 10: What is it good for?

    Sharing your private data with M$ and whom ever else they choose to share it with.

  5. Zippy's Sausage Factory
    Windows

    I use it on my work machine because it came with it. Home is Ubuntu and has been for a while. For everything else there's Virtual Box.

    Let's face it, I'd probably be running OS/2 to this day if it was a bit more usable. Yes thank you, I have taken my pills today nurse.

  6. Steve Davies 3 Silver badge

    W10? What is it good for?

    sagebrush rolls down the street in the wind.

    The town is deserted.

    nothing moves

    and a cry is heard from BootHill

    "Is there anybody there?"

    There was no one left to answer. They'd all died waiting for W10 to update itself.

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    UWP, the only reason 30% cut from Windows Store.

    That is the _only_ reason, there is no other whatever thy doth protest.

  8. Mage Silver badge
    Flame

    In conclusion then

    Win 10 is not much use for business, it's a lacklustre alternative to PS4, XboxOne etc for gaming, and no use for phones or tablets, because really x86-64 is no use for them and Windows on ARM is just too confusing. Windows CE and later Windows Phone should never have been branded "Windows", egotistical branding stupidity, as it was the same thing and trying to make it the same thing either cripples phones or desktop. If it had been called Microsoft Mobile from the days of PDAs to Zune (more silly branding) with NO mention of windows, then Windows Mobile would still exist and the stupidity of win8 would never have existed.

    Desktop / Laptop users creating content or in business using more than web & outlook (or shudder Sharepoint) are better off with Win7 or migrating to Linux.

    It's time that Sage supported Linux properly.

    Adobe are pricing themselves out of market for all but top end corporates with "subscriptions".

    1. ArrZarr Silver badge
      Joke

      Re: In conclusion then

      Don't let the PC Master Race subreddit hear you talking about PC being a lacklustre console, they'll come down on you more heavily than the El Reg commentards on somebody defending Windows.

      Anyway, consoles are now just PCs loaded to the gills with proprietary guff to stop people using them for anything useful whereas I can use my gaming PC to do work on when the need arises.

  9. inmypjs Silver badge

    What is it good for

    I'll say it again:

    Promoting Linux and Macs.

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    reality bubble

    "Windows is not going away. It is firmly entrenched as a business workhorse, while among consumers it remains the de facto PC operating system for those not using Macs"

    Those pesky facts just keep getting in the way don't they?

    Still, at least its nice that there are still places that you can come and pretend that hobby OS is gaining ground after 20 years of promising to eat MS lunch.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Who's pretending?

      That "hobby OS" powers the kernel in every single Android device on the planet. And by the way, Android currently commands ~87% of the world's smartphone market, while Microsoft's share continues to shrink below 1%.

      You're a fool to think that Linux's market share on X86 desktops is somehow indicative of its fate as a mainstream OS. Ballmer made the same mistake and underestimated the threat from ARM, and now Microsoft's phones are dead. They're poised to suffer a similar fate on servers as well, since Linux is the only operating system that will run on current ARM-based servers.

      Windows is indeed going away, but not in the way that people expect. It's not that people choose Windows because they prefer Windows, they use it because it came bundled with the system. Therefore most people change/upgrade their operating system with a new system purchase, rather than try to shoehorn the newest release onto their old kit.

      The operating system is merely the interface between the human and the hardware. The consumers don't care about HOW it works, they just want it to work, and the first company to release an affordable device with a low learning curve generally gets the biggest share of the market, regardless of how well-written the software is. Microsoft simply missed the boat on smartphones, and harking back to the days of Windows PC dominance doesn't change the fact that Microsoft today is a complacent waste of life that can't keep up with technology.

      Don't be naive.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Who's pretending?

        Ok, I'm going to bite and go to downvote hell -

        "The operating system is merely the interface between the human and the hardware. "

        The OS is also where applications run. Until Linux has the breadth and depth of software applications available to it that windows does, in all variety of flavours, free and very expensive included, it just adds 2 additional abstract layers slowing performance of your PC on top of windows (using win VM on linux as suggested)

        Some of us use windows 10 because of the powerful tools it offers us in the creative space. Apple have gone and shot themselves in the foot with creators, and making games, music etc is much easier on Windows than Linux, precisely because big monolithic corporate software exists, that we can buy to make our lives easier.

        My uses, and yes, I am talking about me not anyone else, make Linux a poor choice, Apple is a sacrifice I am not willing to make, so there are no other options. Windows is the clear winner.

        For Linux to become useful in the desktop (and some of us care about desktops because we use them, not because we support them), it needs to up it's game when it comes to organised stable creative software. Until it does, for anyone who seriously uses their PC in a creative manner, or games, it is the worst of the 3 choices.

        1. Baldy50

          Re: Who's pretending?

          AV Linux, for fook all, pay for AV editing software in Windows see how much it costs you and VLC is better than anything MS has ever produced for the playback of AV.

          http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=avlinux

          Open source, you can inspect the source code, it's free, it works! About time you had a look at Linux pal, me thinks!

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Who's pretending?

            I don't do video editing, nor do I do Image editing.

            So please find me a replacement for CakeWalk Sonar on Linux.

            Unity now has a beta in Linux, but as my Linux friends who test my games for me advise, they all have different versions of mono installed to the one packaged by unity, and it causes issues, so even running Unity linux based games can be a problem.

            Xenko is another C# based engine I use which currently does not have a linux dev environment, and probably isn't likely to for a long time.

            So I'll need a replacement C# game engine to use as well.

            Most of my games (I have nearly 500) don't work on Linux either. So my creative time and leisure time would be spent in a VM, it's not worth the extra resource usage.

    2. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge

      Re: reality bubble

      "Windows is not going away. It is firmly entrenched as a business workhorse"

      In the 21st century a "workhose" is a poor, sick, mutant animal with rabies infested with mind-control worms that everyone pretends to admire for its productivity.

      1. a_a

        Re: reality bubble

        In the 21st century a "workhose" is a poor, sick, mutant animal with rabies infested with mind-control worms that everyone pretends to admire for its productivity.

        Maybe so, but it's all there is.

  11. Fuzz

    UWP

    If Microsoft wanted UWP to take off then they should've released it as a runtime for Windows 7. Nobody is going to bother writing any UWP apps whilst they still have to build an equivalent win32 app for 7.

    e.g. Spotify, there is a Windows Phone app but it's terrible. Spotify could build a UWP that would work across xbox, desktop, tablet and phone but the market share for platforms other than desktop is so small that there's no point when they need to still build a win32 app. Same with Kindle, BBC iplayer etc.

    1. sabroni Silver badge
      FAIL

      Re: UWP

      >> The Desktop Bridge gives developers the ability to create one application for Windows 7 and Windows 10, but to get the benefit of UWP-like installation and Store delivery.<<

      Read the fucking article before commenting?

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: UWP

        Someone obviously hasn't done maintenance on different platforms. Just because it has been made easier to export to UWP, it doesn't mean export to UWP doesn't include a number of additional maintenance and work. (Ex: UI, features, etc)

        Also, Desktop Bridge only exports to UWP if your program meet the number of requirements. Unless the program is nicely designed, there will be a lot of work to make it compatible to win32 and UWP. Or like most developers, they just save time and stick with win32 program.

      2. Fuzz

        Re: Desktop Bridge

        Wow, did you miss the point of what I was saying much?

        Desktop bridge lets you take w32 apps and deploy them through the store. It doesn't turn them into UWP apps. It's just a way for Microsoft to try and skim their 30% off of more windows apps. If anything desktop bridge makes things worse there is now almost no incentive to create UWP apps.

    2. d3vy

      Re: UWP

      Win32 packaged up to run on win7, 8,8.1 and 10 delivered through the store...

      I can see a use case, especially in business with private stores.

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I use Windows 10 for gaming, avoid Cortina like the plague, and use Macs for everything else. Don't need VR.

  13. 1Rafayal

    @Mage, Windows 10 is perfectly fine for business. Just because you dont like Windows 10 doesnt change this fact.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      What are you talking about? Complete rubbish you got there. I am sitting inside of a fairly well known retail operation with both brick and mortar and a popular online store, and for the past few years it was a mostly Windows shop. Guess what they're doing now and why I'm here? They are sick of the waste of time and money feeding Microsoft and not getting anything useful in return, and this shop is turning Linux. They say it out loud, they are ready to say "fuck you, Microsoft" once we lean this ship over to the good OS. The smart money is on Linux going forward for any sized org that wants to save a bunch on licensing garbage. They will start concentrating on running the biz using Linux as the centerpiece and have outfitted the build environment to reflect this in all the provisioning tools. There is still a shit-ton of AD cruft to deal with, but they get it. This shop will be CentOS and RHEL, and some legacy Win, and even some new Win with 2012, but mostly Linux because of the value. It is known.

      This is a tale that I see more and more, and why recruiters won't stop calling me. There is NO END to the work at companies ready to ditch the crap and get with the times. BTW we are still running Win7 on the desktops. Win7, and fucking seven year old OS. That speaks volumes to me about how M$ is fucking up big time. Still, if you are a M$ shop, keep on cranking your mouse around and hoping they don't move your shit to 0365 and call you irrelevant.

    2. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge

      > @Mage, Windows 10 is perfectly fine for business.

      No it isn't.

      Most "business" can be done (and is better done) by a pared-down terminal with locked-down applications.

      Windows is overshit, I mean overkill, a solution in search of a problem. It keeps sysadmins busy and empties the budget. Fuck it.

  14. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Bug fixes ? For decade-old windows bugs ?

    How about making Windows File Explorer handle Long File Paths created by ... Windows File Explorer ?

    Too much to ask ?

    Or aren't there enough developers at Microsoft to work on silly old stuff like that ?

    1. Nolveys
      Gimp

      Re: Bug fixes ? For decade-old windows bugs ?

      How about making Windows File Explorer handle Long File Paths created by ... Windows File Explorer ?

      • win32^H^api is "legacy", even though it's the foundation of all of Windows user space, so no touchie
      • long path names *can* be accessed via the "unicode interface", but it skips a bunch of parsing (., .. don't work), so they can't really use that
      • everyone and everyone's dog uses the regular interface and MAX_PATH. The MAX_PATH define changes into 260 at preprocessor time, before compiling, so even if you got windows file explorer working properly with long path names then you'd have files that no other programs could access
      • adding useful features is against policy

    2. bombastic bob Silver badge
      Devil

      Re: Bug fixes ? For decade-old windows bugs ?

      "Or aren't there enough developers at Microsoft to work on silly old stuff like that "

      They're too busy:

      a) doing [FR]Agile "development" and SCRUM meetings

      b) trying to make "the Metro", UWP, and Windows phone crap actually *WORK*

      c) coming up with NEW user-customization features to *REMOVE* (so EVERYone can be "the same" because it's fair or something, just another brick in the wall, one size fits all, no individuality, unity mind)

      d) hacking out ways to STOP people from disabling MANDATORY updates

      e) rifling through all of our OneDrive stuff, looking for PR0N

      f) shilling on various blogs, forums, and comment web pages to SHOUT DOWN all of those anti-Windows voices, and make it look like a MAJORITY *loves* Win-10-nic!

      g) re-re-re-inventing the wheel, even if the old one was really, really good. Because, Micro-shaft.

      h) coming up with even MORE "reasons" for users to NOT use Windows 7

      i) marketing, marketing, marketing!

      j) changing directions as often as possible, abandoning as much as you can on each direction change, including developers who drank your coolaid and believed your HYPE

      k) Embracing, Extending, and Extinguishing LINUX

      that oughta do, for now...

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Bug fixes ? For decade-old windows bugs ?

      [Not that anyone will read this, but]

      File Explorer in Windows 10 Creators Update now appears to handle Long File Paths !

      But I have not seen this mentioned ANYWHERE ?!

  15. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Windows 10: What is it good for?

    Turning my PC into a brick so I can prop the door open with it

    Thank you image backup for restoring my PC

  16. ForthIsNotDead

    Pretty much nothing.

    What does it do that Win7 can't do? Apart from spy on you, that is?

    1. Steve Davies 3 Silver badge

      Re: Pretty much nothing.

      What does it do that W7 can't do?

      easy

      Drives the users bonkers when they accidentally find themselves in Metro.

      Drives the user mad when it updates and reboots while you have gone to lunch thus ensuring that all the work you did in the morning has gone to the great bitbucket that is not the Recycle bin.

    2. Alan Hope

      Re: Pretty much nothing.

      It boots up much more quickly.

      Stick in the W10 desktop and it's effectively Win7.5

      1. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge

        Re: Pretty much nothing.

        So where is my Win7.5?

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Pretty much nothing.

        Windows 8.1 boots as fast as Win10. Win 8.1 is the real Win 7.5.

  17. Jonathan 27

    I don't think that the lack of UWP apps has anything to do with users at all. Developers don't want to bother investing in writing or rewriting for a new platform that may or may not exist tomorrow. Why spend time and money on something new when the existing system works already? I know I wouldn't if I was a Windows app developer (I'm a web developer, so UWP isn't something I need to worry about).

  18. TVU

    Question: Windows 10: What is it good for?

    Answer: It's excellent for recruiting computer users to Chromebooks, Linux and macOS (so it does have its uses).

  19. Dwarf

    Distorted reality

    Reading the thread there is a common view that Windows sucks as its just difficult to get any real-work done due to the built in self-bricking / unavailability during updates, constant updates and spying on all you do.

    On the back of this you have the MS knows best removal of controls (or burying settings deep in place that most won't find). Then there's Microsoft trying to make money out of everything your PC does - pushed game installs, the telemetry / data slurp", margins on the apps you might buy, pushing those who want to be marked by the voice and search tools and whatever they do with your data once its in their cloud.

    The marketing machine is still rolling with the "look at the next great step" and adding on more feature that 99% of people don't want or need. Everyone in the real world has already stepped away and is doing other things, except for the Blue pill brigade, which ironically are probably the same people that will wear the alternative reality headsets to go further into the Matrix and are still there saying "its good".

    MS get a grip. Most people would be happy with a machine that has all the crap removed, does a couple of simple things like run some critical apps for their business, does a bit of e-mail, runs some office automation stuff and allows you to browse the Internet - all without any spying, any form of up-selling /cross-selling / any form of selling.

    Until you get that, you can watch your market share continue to decrease as people move to other solutions. Adding more lipstick onto the pig isn't going to change the fact that its still a pig. Its just getting to be a fatter pig every time you strap more onto it.

    The only thing that is shrinking is the number of people developing new apps - which you can see by the tumbleweed in the app store. Most of the new stuff I encounter is just a web interface to something hosted on a non-MS platform.

    1. 1Rafayal

      Re: Distorted reality

      Or, you are just reading a thread about Windows on The Register - where saying the worst things, accurate or not, about Microsoft is a sport.

      1. Dwarf

        Re: Distorted reality

        So which bits are not accurate then ???

  20. bombastic bob Silver badge
    FAIL

    "desktop-centric approach in Windows 10"? Seriously?

    In the article, you said Micro-shaft did a "U-turn" with a "desktop-centric approach in Windows 10".

    We're not talking about the SAME WINDOWS VERSION, are we?

    Win-10-nic is HARDLY "desktop centric". "Desktop centric" would be everything PRIOR to Windows "Ape" (8). Win-10-nic is INFAMOUS for its "turn your desktop PC into an oversized phone" with the following "features":

    a) the "Start Thing" and it's alphabetized "all CRapps" list.

    b) "the Metro" in general, spattered throughout.

    c) the 2D FLATSO FLUGLY, a GUI DOWNGRADE "dumbed down to the level of a phone" so that the poor phone CPU won't "feel inadequate" NOT having the horsepower for a PROPER GUI. Except that a 386 SX worked pretty well with Windows 3.0 as I recall... (so the logic behind the 2D FLATSO FLUGLY it is just plain STUPID)

    d) Cortana, the hands-free "assistant" from HELL. Probably meant as an echo to Siri, which is a PHONE feature, since phone GUI keyboards are cumbersome.

    (I could go on but I'm running out of really obvious things to mention)

    NONE of these "features" in ANY way enhance THE DESKTOP and how people use DESKTOP computers. Instead, it's aimed at the "4 inchers" who view the world through their 4 inch screens, taking selfies everywhere, and "consuming content" instead of CREATING it.

    Win-10-nic - dumbing your desktop DOWN since 2015.

  21. Planty Bronze badge
    Megaphone

    Absolutely Nothing

    say it again.

  22. Zmodem

    its good for nothing, but then if you buy it for £12 https://www.scdkey.com/microsoft-windows-10-pro-oem-cd-key-global_1227-20.html?currency=GBP&gclid=CLK0vsPGg9ICFSW-7QodblIFaQ

    and uninstall all of the crappy apps and appstore, all the xbox rubbish, cortana, firewalls, defender a whole heap of other elephant shit that should only be on the home edition, and disable windows update so you have no nags no deferred nags, no nothing and update when you want with a registry bool

    its usable and maybe better then windows 7, you also get a extra 500 points in 3dmark firestrike over windows 7

    if you set custom folder permissions on program files, and make all childs inherit permissions, then the permission will actually work unlike windows 7 where most permission won't be set and files will be left with no permissions on them, and running all programs with elevated administrator right in group policy actually works, or might, i enabled it after i fully took control of my drive

    need to be able to disable the crappy nag that pops up on the side about what microsfot recommends when you tether your phone, private or public network rubbish

    1. Zmodem

      security permissions are still flawed

      administrator group still gets over rided by the users group, so if your a administrator you will still need to use single usernames on folders instead of just using the administrator group

      so if you have

      administrators = full control

      users = read only

      your account will still need to run everything with elevated administrator rights in the group policy, while if you just add your single user name, you won't need elevated administrator rights

    2. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge

      > if you buy it for £12

      This is the correct price for Win 10 Enterprise Edition.

      Not the ridiculous "Happy Merchant" EUR 160.

      1. Zmodem

        enterprise editions will require a £10,000 licence if you make your home into starship enterprise with mulitple domains, which is the only thing cortana might be useful for

  23. MonsoonX

    Reality check

    Windows may still be far and away the dominant OS on the planet, but there's a reason that so many still choose to cling to Windows 7.

    Microsoft wanted something to the effect of the Apple dock, but probably didn't want to look like they were copying the Mac again, so they said 'Hey, we'll just use these gigantic tiles!'

    And when that failed, Microsoft being Microsoft, they couldn't just go back to square one, they had to incorporate it, but not incorporate it, and now we have UWP and no phone business.

    Brilliant!

    But wait, there's more! Now you have to do a mini google research to figure out how many phone home attempts you need to block.

    Double brilliant!

    1. Richard Plinston

      Re: Reality check

      > Windows may still be far and away the dominant OS on the planet,

      No. It has been overtaken by Linux/Android now, Then there are all the embedded devices running Linux. Windows is still the largest number in desktop PCs, mainly because it is difficult to buy a PC without Windows.

  24. Boris the Cockroach Silver badge

    Windows 10

    what is it good for?

    In my world, running office/outlook and the CAM software we use.

    Cant say at home because i'm win7 for games and linux mint for everything else

    Oh and whoever came up with "win10 is updating/downloading a completely new OS" thing that can lead to an hrs delay in starting work should be made to use a bleeping win10 machine that takes an hr to boot in the morning while having his boss scream at him about how urgent the task he cant do is, then reboots in the afternoon deleting most of the work he's just done

    And repeat that for a month

  25. tekHedd

    Hololens on alternative headsets...

    "HoloLens applications can be easily adapted to run on these alternative headsets."

    Wait, so you have to change application source to support other headsets? That's incredibly sad.

  26. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "UWP does solve long-standing Windows problem, safely & easily installing & removing applications"

    .............Is that not at odds with this Reg article:

    Microsoft rethinks the Windows application platform one more time

    Plan to bring most Windows apps to the Store, never mind security

    https://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/04/07/microsoft_rethinks_the_windows_application_platform_one_more_time/

    1. Tim Anderson

      Re: "UWP does solve long-standing Windows problem, safely & easily installing & removing apps"

      Not really. What has changed is that when first conceived, a WinRT (basis of UWP) app was sandboxed so that the system prevented it from misbehaving. Now the policy is to open up the whole Windows API to UWP apps so that is no longer the case. Microsoft argues that since you can still install desktop apps, the security benefits of locked down WinRT apps are illusory. However UWP apps are still designed to be easily and cleanly installed and removed, which is the feature I am referencing here.

      Tim

  27. Kubla Cant
    Mushroom

    Windows 10: What is it good for?

    Pulling pictures off a Windows phone? Apparently not.

    Yesterday a friend who uses a Lumia phone asked me to back up her photos to her PC, running Windows 10. Windows talks to Windows via USB - should be a no-brainer. After all, I've often copied stuff from Android to Windows and Android to Linux with no problem.

    But Windows 10 refuses to acknowledge that the phone is connected. The phone sits there making a bleeping noise every five seconds, so it knows there's some kind of connection.

    When I research the problem on the internet, it seems it's not uncommon. The forums are full of "try this" posts, but no definite solution. Microsoft don't seem too interested - Windows can't connect to Windows, so what?

  28. steve 124

    I'm getting away from Windows once W7 goes EOL

    I run a pretty big medical services company's network and we're pushing W7 on new laptops ("upgrading them"). I'm already looking into converting our Windows laptops over to linux based tablets (our EHR DB is the only hold up right now).

    The idea of W10 on my network makes my stomach sour so I will be finding an alternative way to do business before that happens. We dragged our feet a bit on XP to W7 conversion but my reasons then were purely application compatibility (prior to SP1) but my concerns about telemetry, updates, general "chattiness" and just letting M$ know they are going in a direction I don't care for with W10 this time around.

    Linux is getting very close to ready for prime time (especially with distros like Mint) and the outrageous licensing involved with M$ these days just makes me want to get rid of them altogether.

    I guess it doesn't matter because there will be enough lazy admins out there to keep them in business for at least another dozen versions (I think they should start code naming future versions after CIA operations).... Windows 12 (Codename: Blackbriar)

    "Cortana... ARE YOU TREADSTONE?!!"

  29. Not also known as SC
    Joke

    Windows 10 does have one good point

    it isn't Windows 8.

    Not sure if I should use the joke icon or not...

    1. Updraft102

      Re: Windows 10 does have one good point

      At this point, being Windows 8 is still an advantage over Windows 10. I'm looking for deals on Windows 8 now so I can have it around in 2020 in the very likely event that 10 is still crap. Not all of the rough edges can be sanded off, but it can be made a lot better than 10 can... no Cortana, no "WaaS," no forced updates, no spyware that can't be disabled completely, no rolling update schedule combined with insufficient pre-release testing and its resultant permanent beta level of stability, no forced downloads of Candy Crush or anything else MS thinks you should have, no unwanted uninstallations of things 10 doesn't think you need, no unwanted replacement of drivers you've carefully chosen with whatever the hell it feels like, no advertising, no nagging you to use Edge instead of Chrome or Firefox, no Edge, no changing your system settings back to their Microsoft-serving defaults whenever it feels like it...

      Win 8 had a bizarre half-tablet, half-PC interface with no start button. 8.1 brought the start button back, and along with it, the ability to boot into the desktop instead of Metro. With that, we can now use aftermarket tools to make it pretty usable... and since 10 is still a half-baked half-tablet, half-PC OS, I'd be using those same tools anyway to get rid of the stupid stuff in 10 (like the ribbon in File Explorer).

      The downvote isn't me BTW.

  30. Tim Seventh

    Windows 10: What is it good for?

    "Microsoft briefed developers on the updates"

    It's good for Updates! Give them Updates, Our Users Our Products love updates.

    inb4RebootLoop

  31. minnsey231

    If only to be a voice in the wilderness... Having been given the choice of workstation with my current employers over the last 4 years I've worked my way through Ubuntu, OS X and now back to Windows 10. And I'm very happy where I am thanks, I like Windows 10. My MacBookPro sits gathering dust now.

    I've had about the same number of issues I had with the Ubuntu box, generally graphics drivers, but then that's been 1 every couple of years.

    The fact that the Windows version of the product we develop continues to work on versions of Windows back to 7, possibly Vista, whereas my macOS colleagues have to deal with breaking changes every macOS release keeps me happy.

    Maybe its just me, but it just works (shrug).

    disclaimer: I loathed Android and really like my Lumia ;)

  32. David Roberts
    Coat

    Donald Trump!

    There! I've said it.

    Somebody had to.

POST COMMENT House rules

Not a member of The Register? Create a new account here.

  • Enter your comment

  • Add an icon

Anonymous cowards cannot choose their icon

Other stories you might like