Details on free Windows 10 offer

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Originally Posted By: Y_K
Originally Posted By: itguy08
Widows users can thank Apple (and to a lesser extent Linux) for this.


Apple users can thank MSFT for saving Apple from death in 1997 with a measly $150M investment.


This
 
Addressing the OP, I too have been running the Technical Preview in a virtual machine almost since the day it became available and am now running build 10041.

All of my "Important", (to me), software has run fine on it so far, I haven't had a chance to install any on the latest build yet but I don't expect any nasty surprises.

The interface, particularly the Start Menu/App residence/Start Screen.....thing, (what DO I call it?), is....better. That's not fair, it's much better than the horrid Start Screen in Windows 8. I just plain don't like the Metro Icons. But the menu is back and I can remove some or all of the Metro Icons, my choice.

I'm not a big fan of the new folder icons. But again, they're fine.

If Windows 10 ends up as fast and stable as 8/8.1 then I can't ask for much more in that department.

Yes, other than the UI I think 8/8.1 is a very good OS. It boots fast even with Fast Boot disabled, runs every piece of software I've thrown at it and has never blue screened on me.

What has me wondering is, why is MS giving it away? Purely PR?......
laugh.gif
......Microsoft?.........Really?

First, I think the whole Windows 8 Start Screen/App thing was a way for MS to get us to sign up for and use their apps and products, sort of force their way onto our computers.

I also know they've been trying for years to get us to embrace a subscription model for MS Office. Is that what they have in mind for Windows going forward? Or will they try and make money on selling us their products? Or will it be advertising? Or, more likely, a combination.

In any case, I don't for a second believe they're going to abandon trying to monetize the largest installed Operating System on the planet, or "Giving" anything away. There has to be something else involved.

I wonder too about delivery. As I understand it we'll be able to install it as an upgrade through the update process, sort of like Service Packs. But what about folks who'll need to do a reinstall. Will they have to reinstall their original OS and then do the upgrade again? That's what we've historically had to do with Service Packs if we reinstalled from a disk that didn't include the SPs.

But, we've also been able to download those Service Packs and install them directly or even slipstream them with our original Windows disk. I still have XP, Vista and Windows 7 service packs somewhere.

Well, those are just some of my thoughts. I'll probably be proven completely wrong..............:)
 
Sorry, I wanted to make note of a couple more things re: Windows 10 and I let edit time get away from me.

1. Internet Explorer is still in the latest build but supposedly will NOT be in the final product. It will be replaced by something codenamed Project Spartan. I'm guessing that means Internet Explorer Version....whatever, but who knows?

2. Something called Cortana. I've already turned it off so can't really review it. I believe it's to be a sort of Siri. A personal assistant kind of thing. Probably tied to Project Spartan, Bing and all things Microsoft.

You can Google both those items for more info.

Larry
 
Originally Posted By: Donald
I would look at a computer closely that runs WinXP before upgrading. Is the processor a 64 bit processor? How much memory can it run with?


Yes (dual core 64-bit AMD 2.4 GHz); and 4 GB. W10 TP runs pretty good on my laptop (single core Celeron M 1.7 GHz with 2 GB RAM), so it should scream on this old desktop.

Regarding pricing, I think Microsoft is using the OS as a vehicle to get consumers into the Windows Store and Office 365/subscription world more than anything else. There didn't used to be a Windows Store, and Microsoft's main revenue stream was the sale of its Windows operating system. Now that the digital pay-as-you-go model has been thoroughly demonstrated as viable (see Apple's App Store and Google's Play Store), I think Microsoft is simply shifting its revenue stream to this instead of its OS.

They're not giving the OS away out of benevolence. Rather, they're supplying us a cheap/free way to access the Windows Store, which is where the real revenue is. Not too far removed from the cheap printer/expensive ink cartridge concept.

Those, like me, who won't buy anything from the Windows Store can take advantage of it.
 
7, 8, or 10, outside of work it doesn't matter to me. All the OS exists to do on my home machine(s) is to launch Chrome and Steam.

If anything, giving me a free upgrade to the latest Windows OS stops me from converting to some flavor of Linux.
 
I kind of treat 8.1 more akin to a service pack, really. Windows 8 SP1.

I can't really disagree with anything anyone else in this thread has said. Especially about corporate environments. We're just deploying Windows 7 now!
 
I will be keeping the copy of Windows 7 Pro that I have on my netbook... Windows 10 looks like it is going to be another mess in my opinion.
 
I don't see windows 8 as a mess at all, for home users..

I put 8 on all my personal computers, it runs much faster than 7 did.

Of course the first thing was putting the start menu back on there, with a free app.

I've been running 8.1 since it came out, never had a crash or a problem with anything.

I run a cheapo 4 core AMD processor with 16GB ram and SSD drive however.

It even runs OK on a dual core celeron Dell laptop with a spinning drive and 4gb ram.

I will put 10 on both machines as soon as I can.

I work in an IT department for a local government, we are staying on windows 7 because of applications that don't work well with 8 yet.

But for your home, it is a great OS.
 
Originally Posted By: JustinH
I don't see windows 8 as a mess at all, for home users...


Windows 8.1 has worked fantastic in my house. I have it on one machine (an Intel Pentium G2030 3.0 GHz with 4 GB RAM) because I haven't paid to upgrade any others yet. I've ran the 10 TP on an Intel Celron 1.7/2 GB RAM laptop (and it ran faster than 7) and I've ran the 10 TP on an older AMD 64x2 2.4 GHz/2 GB RAM desktop (and it ran at least as fast as XP).

Folks who want to think Windows 8.x is a disaster always will. If I refused to pay the five bucks for Start8, I might not like it either. But if you take the Metro/Modern interface away from Windows 8.x, those who don't like it really have nothing left to complain about. To the contrary, its objective performance is faster than 7 in just about every conceivable metric.

I have a standing offer for anyone who has a license of 8 and who just hates it: mail it to me. I'll put it to great use!
 
+1 JustinH and Hokiefyd.

When I had W8 Enterprise Edition as a 6 month trial I was pretty happy with it even before I discovered that I could put the start button back for free. My review of it is still somewhere on BITOG. I had a dual boot and not a virtual machine setup.
Sure the Metro UI, or whatever MS wants to call it, was frustrating at times and the jumps between the desktop interface and Metro were annoying, but the system was rock solid and I don't remember it ever crashing or even freezing during the six months I had it. The free app to bring the start button back pretty much solved all that was "wrong" with W8.

If W10 has all the stability and speed of W8 and addresses the shortcomings of the tile screen, then I will be happy to use it and make a switch from W7.
 
Originally Posted By: KrisZ

If W10 has all the stability and speed of W8 and addresses the shortcomings of the tile screen, then I will be happy to use it and make a switch from W7.


That's it in a nutshell FWIW.
 
My laptop is about 5 yrs old, W7 Prof. and i7 sandy bridge, and has 8 GB RAM, and a Samsung 840 Pro SSD.
I should be ok to try W10, no?

Hopefully I won't have to do any BIOS updates.. they always freak me out.
 
Originally Posted By: 97tbird
My laptop is about 5 yrs old, W7 Prof. and i7 sandy bridge, and has 8 GB RAM, and a Samsung 840 Pro SSD.
I should be ok to try W10, no?

Hopefully I won't have to do any BIOS updates.. they always freak me out.


Yup, should be fine. Runs great on my ThinkPad at work.
 
Originally Posted By: 97tbird
My laptop is about 5 yrs old, W7 Prof. and i7 sandy bridge, and has 8 GB RAM, and a Samsung 840 Pro SSD.
I should be ok to try W10, no?


Once W10 comes out, sure. It'll fly. It should run even faster than W7 does on it. I wouldn't put the Technical/Consumer Preview on your main drive, though... I'd get a second drive to try it, if you wanted to try it before the retail version ships later this year.

I'll put W10 on my laptop, which is nearly 10 years old, with an old Celeron M 1.7 GHz single core, with 2 GB of RAM. I've already ran the Technical Preview on it, and it runs very nice.
 
Originally Posted By: Hokiefyd
Originally Posted By: 97tbird
My laptop is about 5 yrs old, W7 Prof. and i7 sandy bridge, and has 8 GB RAM, and a Samsung 840 Pro SSD.
I should be ok to try W10, no?


Once W10 comes out, sure. It'll fly. It should run even faster than W7 does on it. I wouldn't put the Technical/Consumer Preview on your main drive, though... I'd get a second drive to try it, if you wanted to try it before the retail version ships later this year.

I'll put W10 on my laptop, which is nearly 10 years old, with an old Celeron M 1.7 GHz single core, with 2 GB of RAM. I've already ran the Technical Preview on it, and it runs very nice.


How do you think it would run on a Pentium Dual Core with 4 GB of RAM? This machine had Vista, a Win 7 Upgrade and now Mint 17.1. I like to experiment.
 
Originally Posted By: demarpaint
Originally Posted By: Hokiefyd
Originally Posted By: 97tbird
My laptop is about 5 yrs old, W7 Prof. and i7 sandy bridge, and has 8 GB RAM, and a Samsung 840 Pro SSD.
I should be ok to try W10, no?


Once W10 comes out, sure. It'll fly. It should run even faster than W7 does on it. I wouldn't put the Technical/Consumer Preview on your main drive, though... I'd get a second drive to try it, if you wanted to try it before the retail version ships later this year.

I'll put W10 on my laptop, which is nearly 10 years old, with an old Celeron M 1.7 GHz single core, with 2 GB of RAM. I've already ran the Technical Preview on it, and it runs very nice.


How do you think it would run on a Pentium Dual Core with 4 GB of RAM? This machine had Vista, a Win 7 Upgrade and now Mint 17.1. I like to experiment.


It will run fine.
 
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