Windows 10

[RyFish]

It's free for the first year, expect them to charge a monthly fee for updates after that.

No, it's free to upgrade if you do so within the first 12 months, but if you're too slow out of the blocks you will have to pay (although that might be relaxed).

They will NOT charge a monthly fee once the 12 months are up - all future updates will be free also: MS will make their money instead from enterprise licences (who are exempt from the free upgrade), Office subscriptions and other cloud/infrastructure services.

 

[Dick Swiveller]

I have been apart of the insider program since the start, I have found the operating system to be very user friendly, swift and fast operation, plus the introduction of Cortana makes everything easier to use.

So you are saying Windows 7 isn't user friendly or swift?

 

[Triggaaar]

No, it's free to upgrade if you do so within the first 12 months

Do we know when the 12 months starts/started?

 

[beorhthelm]

I have been apart of the insider program since the start, I have found the operating system to be very user friendly, swift and fast operation, plus the introduction of Cortana makes everything easier to use.

Cortana? really? voice commands are a gimmicky distraction to make us all feel "futuristic", that work well in the phone platform but have no place in the office environment. and there's the rub of Windows, its trying to shoehorn several platforms into one OS, when there is far too many differences in use case and UI requirements. so compromise and poor fit comes as standard.

the reviews I've read/trust say the OS is fine from performance and responsiveness, but suffers inconsistent interfaces, to the point of distraction. one review said its not ready for live, suggesting that we are about to be sent a beta-test.

 

[Everest]

Do we know when the 12 months starts/started?

Microsoft is making Windows 10 available as free upgrade for qualified Windows 7, Windows 8.1, and Windows Phone 8.1 devices. It will be available starting July 29, 2015; people can reserve their free upgrade today.

You only have until July 29, 2016 to take advantage of this offer. Once you upgrade, you have Windows 10 for free on that device.

 

[Philzo-93]

So there never was a Windows 9? Did Windows 10 sound better?

Pretty sure they got their thinking from Peter Griffin...

[yt]pljbtK5bOgQ[/yt]

 

[Diego Napier]

They have got a new internet browser, which is supposed to be much faster and easier to use. Compared to internet explorer which is poop.

Is IE used that much, I'd assumed most people use better offerings like Firefox or Chrome?

 

[deletebeepbeepbeep]

Cortana? really? voice commands are a gimmicky distraction to make us all feel "futuristic", that work well in the phone platform but have no place in the office environment. and there's the rub of Windows, its trying to shoehorn several platforms into one OS, when there is far too many differences in use case and UI requirements. so compromise and poor fit comes as standard.

the reviews I've read/trust say the OS is fine from performance and responsiveness, but suffers inconsistent interfaces, to the point of distraction. one review said its not ready for live, suggesting that we are about to be sent a beta-test.

Yeah I'm definitely going to hold off upgrading until the end of the period, the roll out is bound to he a cluster****.

 

[Diego Napier]

there is far too many differences in use case and UI requirements

Presumably the functionality provided by the various platforms must be just about the same so it's the differing UI's and not the use cases that provides the difficulty?

 

[beorhthelm]

Presumably the functionality provided by the various platforms must be just about the same so it's the differing UI's and not the use cases that provides the difficulty?

consider the differences in functionality and UI required between creating a Word or PDF document, with reading the same. the very way we interact with phones, tablets and PCs are different, our expectations are different, the environments and purposes are in the main different. the way in which i might need to search for something in the office or on my phone in a street differ, dont follow the same steps necessarily.

 

[Easy 10]

Yeah I'm definitely going to hold off upgrading until the end of the period, the roll out is bound to he a cluster****.

100% this. I'll be holding back a few months I think, till the wailing and screeching caused by the bugs and glitches has died down and it becomes a fully operational platform. I don't want to get Appled.

 

[Green Cross Code Man]

Appled.

What a marvellous verb!

 

[AlbionPics&SouthCoastTwit]

Will get confused with Windows 95, 98..

So programme names have never been confusing before?

 

[Fungus]

I've spent most of the day re-installing Windows 7 on a laptop for my mum, then I want to install 8.1on an SSD to speed up my own PC. Don't think I could face another Windows installation.

 

[Dick Swiveller]

Cortana? really? voice commands are a gimmicky distraction to make us all feel "futuristic", that work well in the phone platform but have no place in the office environment.

Funny isn't it? Basically doing what Dragon did 20 years ago. The "me too" attitude of the big 3 now is getting tiresome. Siri was fun to talk to for 5 minutes until you run out of the jokes. Has it and OK Google taken over the world so much that Microsoft had to follow suit? I don't see people on the streets talking to their devices to operate them. A clever gimmick but nothing more than that for me.

 

[Zukey Seagull]

Is IE used that much, I'd assumed most people use better offerings like Firefox or Chrome?

i have tried internet explorer on my surface3 and it aint to good, sometimes fast and then slow when you go back a page. so i downloaded Firefox. hoping that microsoft edge will be a huge improvement. But i don't know many people who still use internet explorer.

 

[Diego Napier]

consider the differences in functionality and UI required between creating a Word or PDF document, with reading the same. the very way we interact with phones, tablets and PCs are different, our expectations are different, the environments and purposes are in the main different. the way in which i might need to search for something in the office or on my phone in a street differ, dont follow the same steps necessarily.

Ah, I see. I hadn't realised Windows 10 is intended for all interactive devices.

 

[Westdene Seagull]

Is IE used that much, I'd assumed most people use better offerings like Firefox or Chrome?

Try ordering a product from BT Openreach without it. And just to rub it in a little more their systems only support IE6 !!

 

[Gary Leeds]

So programme names have never been confusing before?

Its actually to do with old software. When checking which version of windows a program is running on the coder would look for certain characters in the windows version number. Windows 95 and 98 are similar enough that all the programs look for the string "WINDOWS 9" without the 5 or 8 on the end. Therefore windows 9 cannot be used without breaking compatibility with 20 year old software (or more likely, 20 year old software would suddenly say hey I can run on this version of windows and cause a massive crash)

 

[beorhthelm]

amusing, i've missed this one. windows version is coded in the OS with a different number to the brand version. Win95 was version 4.0, 98 was 4.1. the last few windows have all been windows 6.x internally. they just wanted to jump the numbers and sync brand windows version with system and chose 10. theres no technical reason for it.

*awaits correction...*

i had to look it up... its valid, appearntly given the choice of using if(osName) or if(osVersion) or similar, coders have gone with the former on many occasions.