Windows 10

It sounds like they've got a lot of confidence in 10. Has anyone else?

Well it's got a native virtual desktop system, something that is long overdue. So there's at least one very positive point.

The free upgrade from Windows 8 is real (for a year), at least according to a PC Gamer article.

I don't get the hate for Windows 8 (I'm currently using 8.1), although I get why some hate Metro (nothing Start8 can't fix). Since I disabled Superfetch it's been working just as fast as 7 did, if not better.

I heard that they're going to put Windows 10 on phones. That's the thing I'm most excited for.

I didn't used to buy Windows phones, because Windows RT wasn't as good as Windows and Android. But now that Windows 10 is on phones, I'm going to buy a lot less Android devices.

I still may buy some Android things, since I've bought so many things on Google Play and I'll miss some exclusive apps. But having Windows everywhere just sounds so fun.

Android has some nice things. But almost all my favourite things are on Windows.

edited 25th Jan '15 4:54:33 AM by RobotPrincess

Cool. W10 sounds good from what I've heard so far. Here's a somewhat convoluted question:

I have W7 (recently) installed onto a 2.5", 1TB SSHD. This was a relatively n00b mistake as my desktop can accept 3.5" drives and a 2.5" would be better suited for my PS 3 (or PS 4 when I eventually upgrade), conferring a fair performance boost. However, that's my plan in the long run- to install a 3.5", 2TB SSHD (I've heard Windows in general would struggle with a 4TB internal drive, is this true?) and shove the 2.5", 1TB SSHD into the PS 3. So the question is, while I have W7 running, can I configure the W10 install to go onto the 3.5" rather than the 2.5"? If it isn't, I'll have to clone the 2.5" onto the 3.5" and I've heard that can be a risky prospect.

Also, in lieu of my knowing anywhere else to post another question- does anyone know when Seagate will release a 2.5", 2TB SSHD? That would be ideal for the PS 4 due to conferring good performance boost at a reasonable price and offering buckets of storage, considering the tend towards massive game installs exhibited by that system. And preemptively, no, I don't want this to be a "why don't you just game on your PC?!" discussion. I do, but I leave most of my gaming to Sony and Nintendo.

If they bring the option to try it out free for a year to Windows 7 as well, then I might make the plunge too. Though given Microsoft's poor track record in regards to launch day release stability, I might wait a few months first before trying out their offer.

Microsoft's PR says it's because they want it the be a big step from 8, not an incremental one. So they skipped 9.

I suspect the real answer is that some component's internal version number is taking up 9. The OS names don't match the actual version numbers (Windows 8.1 is actually version 6.3 for instance, and 10 will be 6.4). I'd expect additional hidden fuckery like that.

EDIT: Here. Presumably they noticed how many legacy apps performed a "starts with 9" search for 95/98, and just didn't want to deal with that.

edited 25th Jan '15 11:19:35 PM by Pykrete

Remember that free update from 7, 8 and 8.1? It's free for pirated versions of those, too. Bold move there, Microsoft.

Didn't Microsoft do something similar in the past? I think Bill Gates or whoever said "if you're going to pirate software, then at least pirate our stuff"

I've been quite lucky with my OSes, having had a PC with Windows 98, then a couple with XP and one with Windows 7. And now it appears I've been able to avoid 8 long enough for its successor to come out. Yay!

edited 19th Mar '15 2:51:11 AM by Cozzer

Oh god yeah, I've been sacrificing lambs to the computer god to keep my computer healthy long enough to avoid 8.

Well, after being wrong about the free update, I've been thinking about it and I guess it shares two purposes- 1 is just to regain market share because they have alternative revenue streams based on having so many people use Windows, 2 is to get people used to Windows 10 just before they have to buy a new computer because the number of direct sales is swamped by the number of sales bundled in with a pc purchase (which is why Mac used "PC" to refer to Windows).

Guys who pirate still contribute to 1 and weren't going to be a factor in 2 because they would still just pirate things.

Yay, I was actually worried about that. My copy of 7 started coming up 'not genuine' a few updates ago even though it really was genuine as it came with the computer, saves my ass there.

Windows 10 coming in late July according to AMD executives during their earnings call.

So I just got a notification of a limited-time offer to reserve a free upgrade to Windows 10 — it will be auto-downloaded once available, but I can pick when/if I would actually install it, and can even cancel my reservation any time I want.

What do you guys think? From the few glimpses I've seen of Windows 10 on some relatives' computers, I don't have a favorable impression of it.

Some users say that the builds get better by increments, and DirectX 12 is going to be very handy with the next generation of games.

I haven't had the prompt appear at all, despite my computer apparently having the update that enables upgrade reservations installed.

I just got the prompt too. I'd think, given the possibility for all kinds of glitch shenanigans, is that you'd want to make sure you backed up your hard drive before accepting the free reservation, just to make sure you can go back if things turn ugly. (If you back it up after making said reservation, it would likely lead to 10 immediately downloading again, which would be bad for obvious reasons.)

... I did mention that the auto-download doesn't involve auto-installing the OS, right?

I'm running 8 so I'm working on the basis that anything is better than this shit.

And you need 8.1 to qualify for the free upgrade.

... I have Windows 7, which came with the computer when I bought it a couple of years ago (it's a laptop; I haven't gotten around to buying a proper desktop computer).

edited 1st Jun '15 8:17:26 AM by MarqFJA

Yeah, you need to be on Win7, Win8.1 or WinPhone8.

I think.

The reserve thing has popped up on my Win7 desktop, but not my Win8.1 laptop.

edited 1st Jun '15 8:18:26 AM by Deadbeatloser22

Windows 7 SP 1 and 8.1 users get the prompt

http://venturebeat.com/2015/05/31/microsoft-starts-prompting-windows-7-and-windows-8-users-to-reserve-their-free-windows-10-upgrade/

And if my experience with getting the Denim build rolled out to my phone is any indication, I'm not expecting Windows Phone 10 to arrive for me until well into next year.

edited 1st Jun '15 8:26:04 AM by Deadbeatloser22

Heh, when I saw that icon pop up today I immediately went into lockdown and started a malware witch hunt.

I heard about the notification pop up so I wasn't worried. Release time must be real close.