back to article So, what exactly are you planning to do with this new PC? Windows Insiders face new questions during OOBE

Microsoft's army of unpaid testers have received their weekly dose of love from the Windows Insider team in the form of Dev Channel build 20231. Most notable was a new page added to Out Of Box Experience (OOBE), the click-through device setup dialog that users have to trudge through when setting up a new piece of Windows kit. …

  1. bombastic bob Silver badge
    Joke

    'Out Of Box Experience'

    This name reminds me of a light bulb joke:

    Q: How many people from Silicon Valley (or Northern California in general) does it take to change a light bulb?

    A: Three. One to change the bulb, and two to "share in the experience"

    that pretty much sums it up, yeah.

    1. jake Silver badge

      Re: 'Out Of Box Experience'

      Silly Con Valley Native here ... We don't change lightbulbs anymore, bob, we install quality LED lights once and are done with it. What are you, stuck in the dark ages?

      Has bob not noticed that Redmond is located some 700 miles (~1,225km) due North of Silicon Valley? (That's about 850 road miles (~1,365km).) Should we tell him? Would it matter?

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        @jake - Re: 'Out Of Box Experience'

        Calm down, Jake! We all know you install quality LED lights controlled over the internet using a new paradigm mobile platform, all in the name of, why yes, out of the box experience.

        1. bombastic bob Silver badge
          Thumb Up

          Re: @jake - 'Out Of Box Experience'

          you earned the "I get the joke" award

      2. Blackjack Silver badge

        Re: 'Out Of Box Experience'

        LEDs can last less than two years so no, you are not done. Sure the really good ones do last more but good luck finding those.

        In fact I had LEDs last me less than energy saving light bulbs, remember those?

      3. bombastic bob Silver badge
        Devil

        Re: 'Out Of Box Experience'

        FYI - I grew up in San Jose (and the general area) decades ago, and left before it became truly "Silly". There was this one highway to nowhere they called "Stonehenge", a short section of a future bridge that stuck way up in the air and could be seen for MANY miles, and took something like 10 years to complete (while it stood there as a monument to gummint inefficiency and cost overruns). A city council dude (Joe Colla) put a car on it for a joke, took photos. Then someone actually ticketed it. This was back in the 70's, though, when the "culture" still had sane elements, so people could still take the time to point out the silliness with good humor.

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Colla_Interchange

        (good for some more laughs)

  2. jake Silver badge

    What am I doing with this new PC?

    Funniest thing about them bothering to ask is that I'll never even see the question ... On the rare occasion I have to purchase a box with Redmond code on it, that code never gets run. The first thing I do is format and re-partition the drive to install Slackware or BSD. It's better for everybody that way.

  3. Doctor Trousers

    What am I planning to do with this PC?

    Well Microsoft, I would like to start by installing Windows 10 on a SINGLE hard drive, without first having to physically disconnect my other drives to stop it from putting the system reserved partition somewhere other than the drive I want it to be on. Is that one of the options?

    Or perhaps "I would like to have some damned control over how many partitions your OS creates, and I would like it to leave all my other partitions the hell alone during updates"? Any of that included in the list of questions about how I would like to use my PC?

  4. LenG

    Confused

    I am not a windows insider. In fact, I am still running 1909 thanks to the ability of windows Pro to defer upgrades. However, I did take a cumulative patch recently and when I rebooted yesterday a blue screen popped up which sounds suspiciously like the OOBE. Mind, most of the things it was pushing at me would probably have failed anyway because I don't have a microsoft account.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      @LenG - Re: Confused

      Me too I got that. Scary thing is that this time there was no skip or f$%$ off button, just a link to remind me in 3 days which sounds pretty ominous to me. On top of not having/not wanting a MS account, my custom built desktop computer has no camera and no finger print reader.

    2. Anonymous Coward Silver badge
      Linux

      Re: Confused

      Settings -> System -> Notifications & actions -> "Suggest ways I can finish setting up my device to get the most out of Windows"

      (Also untick the "Get tips, tricks and suggestions as you use Windows" option while you're there)

      1. pc-fluesterer.info

        Re: Confused

        ... and repeat that after each "upgrade" because your settings will be overwritten.

  5. fidodogbreath

    MS left off the last part of the sentence

    so that Windows can "better understand how you plan to use your device" and set things up accordingly

    "...to receive relevant messages from Microsoft and our advertising partners."

    I'm sure it was just a typographical error.

  6. DJV Silver badge

    What do you plan to use the thing for?

    How about: Just to get an early heads up on the future pain you are hoping to inflict on us poor suffering fools before the latest round of "improved icons" and fuck ups hit the PCs we are trying to use to do proper work.

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I can see this in the future

    Something tells me Microsoft is preparing the terrain for the juicy subscription model. You decide what you want to do with Windows 10, Microsoft installs only those components that are necessary and charge you for anything you would like to add on top of that. Something like, oh you need media player ? Sure, it's available for you at only 4.99$ /month. Add to this a careful bundling of add-ons in packages increasing the chance that you will be forced to buy at least two in order to get what you need, the same thing we're seeing with cable TV programs. Sell/lease the base line and charge for add-ons, this is the future. Heck, even BMW intends to do it with their cars so why not Microsoft with their OS ?

    1. Richard Crossley

      Re: I can see this in the future

      MS Future...

      Of course if you don't want MS' offering you'll only be able to install from their App Store where they collect 30% (or something like that). Nope, I'll stick with the Penguin.

      What I do with my PC is my business, isn't relevant to MS.

  8. Hubert Cumberdale Silver badge

    Why would anyone be "deploying Edge into the enterprise"? Surely they'd be opting for something people actually wanted to use...

    1. X5-332960073452
      Unhappy

      Obviously not worked in a 'corporate' environment.

      You get what you're given.

  9. Antron Argaiv Silver badge
    Linux

    I use Win10 on my work laptop.

    Every other computing device in my house uses something else: MacOS, iOS, Android or Mint.

    Because Windows (for consumers, at least) is a cobbled together nightmare which "updates" itself unpredictably, and with unpredictable results.

  10. bigtreeman

    no back doors, no windows

    ""will only be visible during a clean install on a device.""

    that's why I haven't seen it

    I'm planning to put Linux on it,

    or openbsd

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