windows 10 to be free

[Gorion]

You can always backup the file windows creates, and migrate it to the new OS.

That's how it used to work anyhow.  Upgrades are wonky, its like random numbers really.  You might end up having to phone them, and from personal experience it might be better talking to a wall.

[Gone_Away]

Thought I'd sign up just to keep in the loop on the info.. I'll let you know if anything interesting comes up.

[Sparko]

Have had it running on my laptop for a few weeks now, seems stable enough.  Also having the option to revert back to my original win 7 on boot up is quite reassuring should anything go wrong, presuming that the rollback will work. Liking the interface a lot more that win 8, but then again I prefer windows 95 to windows 8 ...

Will probably go for the upgrade on my laptop but not my gaming rig, at least not just yet

[Sneakytiger]

Windows 10 release date July 29th

[DuVeL]

The thing keeps popping up on my PC also, so how is it going?

[Tutonic]

Well its not released yet Pete, so you can choose to upgrade or just ignore it

Sent from my A0001 using Tapatalk

[kregoron]

Windows insider testers are apperently able to download a RTM already, can't find it tho o.O

[Tutonic]

Windows insider testers are apperently able to download a RTM already, can't find it tho o.O

I've only got the technical/insider preview available on my MSDN.

Sent from my OnePlus One using Tapatalk

[smilodon]

Only a few days to go now.

I'm probably going to stay away from it for now. Or at least until I see what the general reception is like. My main issue is that Microsoft seems to be rebranding Windows as a service and not just an OS.

As consumers we develop relationships with Tech companies. Many people buy into Apple. They have iPhones, iPads and Macs and run Apples OS's on them. They have iTunes, iMail,  Apple's cloud services, their photo storage etc etc. Apple becomes their go to tech provider both for hardware, software and services. Others, such as myself, go the Google route. We buy Android phones, tablets and Chromebooks, install Google Chrome on our PC's and laptops, run Gmail, Google+, Docs, Photo's, Drive and use all the other Google goodies. We have a relationship with these companies. And we have that relationship through choice.

But I do not have a relationship with Microsoft. They are not a company with whom I want to have anything to do with. They have a long history of creating poor quality products, no interest in the security of their software or the security of my data and consistently put their own interests above those of their customers. The only reason I have anything to do with Microsoft is that I need their OS to play PC games on my desktop machine and likewise run Adobe products. Windows is an OS, a desktop, a program launcher and a file browser. And that's all. I have no more interest in them than I do in my BIOS manufacturer. I am very keen to keep things this way. Microsoft have burnt far too many bridges for me to come running back to them and their new OS as a service plans. So I'll have to see how easily I can strip out the crap they seem keen to add to Windows such as Cortana, their apps store etc etc. I still want to buy, download and install applications completely separately from Microsoft's store. Depending on to what degree I can keep Windows 10 as an operating system and remove, hide or ignore any 'service' they try to shove at me will dictate whether it gets onto my PC, regardless of whether it's free or not.

[albert]

http://www.forbes.com/sites/gordonkelly/2015/07/17/windows-10-forced-automatic-updates/ this is interesting. If they break the OS with an update, we all get broke!

[Tutonic]

I've used Win 10 a fair bit in recent months as part of my job. Its good, better than 8.1. I'll be upgrading (and then rapidly restoring an image if they stuff it up).

In total agreement regarding the 'fencing off' Microsoft are moving towards. They can clearly see how Apple get users ensnared and they want a piece of that action.

Sadly, until developers manage to break away from DirectX en-mass we are stuck with Windows for the for forseeable future for our gaming needs.

Valve are making big strides with Linux and the new API they're involved with - this is probably our best shot at MS-free gaming.

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[Gorion]

So I'll have to see how easily I can strip out the crap they seem keen to add to Windows such as Cortana, their apps store etc etc. I still want to buy, download and install applications completely separately from Microsoft's store. Depending on to what degree I can keep Windows 10 as an operating system and remove, hide or ignore any 'service' they try to shove at me will dictate whether it gets onto my PC, regardless of whether it's free or not.

Agreed.  Too much crapware is being bundled.  Let's hope some stuff can be turned off via the usual "Windows features" menu.

As for the forced updates, MS can stick them where their sun doesn't shine.  We can always edit our host file, or host our own DNS server with all MS rubbish pointing to 0.0.0.0, and if that doesn't work; there are other shady options one can pursue.  If their executives think they can do whatever they want on my machine, they are in for a brutal reality check.

[sulky_uk]

i tested windows 10 since the 1st test release and binned it last month. The issue that I had is that my laptop speakers just wouldnt work, but the headphones did. Which was an issue as it was used for blu-rays/itunes/games when away from home(not only me liked to listen to the music either)

i raised a few tickets with MS over this but only got back a "we will look into this". I wasnt the only one with this issue, you can google and there are a few of us out there.

Tried all sorts of drivers and then went back to the default win 7 ones, still no joy (athough headphones worked fine all along). went back to windows 7 OS and used exactly the same drivers and it worked first time.

Apart from that it seemed to run quite well. it was nice and smooth and loading times from boot were slighty better than win 7. Didnt try any games though. But for normal office/surfing it was good.

So i will wait as long as i can before i upgrade anyof my sytems for free

[Tutonic]

I can kind of understand why they've done it - botnets are a big problem, and a huge amount of pain could be avoided if all the Windows machines in the world were up to date in terms of security patches.

Surprised there's no option to switch it off for folks who know what they're doing, though. We don't all have massive fibre connections - I really don't want my OS to start downloading a patch while I'm in the middle of a game of DOTA :/

[kregoron]

http://www.forbes.com/sites/gordonkelly/2015/07/17/windows-10-forced-automatic-updates/ this is interesting. If they break the OS with an update, we all get broke!

The system closely resembles the setup MS added to windows 2012 r2, where servers not in a domain with WSUS or similar are forced by standard to get updated with the automatic maintenance.
Which can be turned off with a simple reg key...

Agreed.  Too much crapware is being bundled.  Let's hope some stuff can be turned off via the usual "Windows features" menu.

As for the forced updates, MS can stick them where their sun doesn't shine.  We can always edit our host file, or host our own DNS server with all MS rubbish pointing to 0.0.0.0, and if that doesn't work; there are other shady options one can pursue.  If their executives think they can do whatever they want on my machine, they are in for a brutal reality check.

So your actually disabling MS updates all together, disabling any hope that your pc will be protected against vulnerabilities and other security issues.. just because you got a nag with MS.
And if your gonna down the host file road, don't bloody point to 0.0.0.0, point to 127.0.0.1

And people wonder why vira and malware are spreading like wildfire...

i tested windows 10 since the 1st test release and binned it last month. The issue that I had is that my laptop speakers just wouldnt work, but the headphones did. Which was an issue as it was used for blu-rays/itunes/games when away from home(not only me liked to listen to the music either)

i raised a few tickets with MS over this but only got back a "we will look into this". I wasnt the only one with this issue, you can google and there are a few of us out there.

Tried all sorts of drivers and then went back to the default win 7 ones, still no joy (athough headphones worked fine all along). went back to windows 7 OS and used exactly the same drivers and it worked first time.

Apart from that it seemed to run quite well. it was nice and smooth and loading times from boot were slighty better than win 7. Didnt try any games though. But for normal office/surfing it was good.

So i will wait as long as i can before i upgrade anyof my sytems for free

Guessing its a driver issue, remember its not MS that creates the drivers for the quadzillion amounts of hardware out there, manufactures do, and your still running a piece of beta software, so to expect every piece of software runs flawless, is kinda off the track.

I can kind of understand why they've done it - botnets are a big problem, and a huge amount of pain could be avoided if all the Windows machines in the world were up to date in terms of security patches.

Surprised there's no option to switch it off for folks who know what they're doing, though. We don't all have massive fibre connections - I really don't want my OS to start downloading a patch while I'm in the middle of a game of DOTA :/

I kinda agree, 99% of people with a computer on the internet, has no idea what their doing, so why give them the option, the biggest security issue out there, is the human factor.
The option is there, its just not visible with a UI based feature. which is kinda great, as that might deterent most people from disabling updates all together.

On a side note, the updates use BITS, so its not like it just goes mental and download a zillion updates and maxes out your connection.