Windows 10 to be Released July 29 2015

[J N Winkler]

Microsoft has an entrenched culture of taking away control from the end users "for their own good," which was evident in the controversy many years ago about changes in how a Microsoft email client (can't remember whether it was Outlook or Outlook Express) would handle attachments in a new version.  Since smartphones are hot right now, and nearly all carriers lock them down so that users cannot prevent updates (and rooting or jailbreaking is often a major project even when pay third-party tools are not required), Microsoft is probably counting on the market being more ready to tolerate withdrawal of control over Windows updates.  That may be true for the market at large but it certainly is not for me.

I have automatic downloading but not installation of updates enabled for Windows 7 on my laptop because the monthly "Malicious Software Removal Tool" update bogs the system down for hours while it tries to scan 2.25 TB across four partitions on three physical drives.  If I want a smooth and clean update, I have to uncheck MSRT and hide it.

[Scott5114]

It's kind of unfair to single out Microsoft for this, since it appears to be industry-wide; Google and Apple also seem to be on the "let's take away options to 'simplify' things" trend. Personally, I can't stand it, and therefore use open-source software whenever possible.

Although even then you lose options sometimes. The latest KDE has lost the ability to specify a date and time format separate from the system locale. This means it's impossible to, e.g., specify ISO YYYY-MM-DD dates while also using English-language days-of-the-week. However, this was not intended as a feature; instead, it is a regression from the KDE developers deciding to stop using some of their custom libraries and instead rely on the Qt toolkit's facilities for the same functions. Unfortunately, the Qt versions aren't as customizable. There is enough complaining about it that I'm confident the KDE developers are going to address it at some point.

[J N Winkler]

There is also the consideration that taking away options is sometimes part of building behavioral norms that apply across multiple packages and save time and effort by reducing learning curves.  For this reason I don't automatically object to Microsoft or any other large software vendor doing it, but I also don't want to be disproportionately inconvenienced by any individual instance of it.  Updates should be transparent and painless; having your computer taken over once a month by a MSRT scan which should be completely unnecessary if you are running antivirus software is cumulatively almost as bad as a virus attack.

[vdeane]

It's kind of unfair to single out Microsoft for this, since it appears to be industry-wide; Google and Apple also seem to be on the "let's take away options to 'simplify' things" trend. Personally, I can't stand it, and therefore use open-source software whenever possible.

Although even then you lose options sometimes. The latest KDE has lost the ability to specify a date and time format separate from the system locale. This means it's impossible to, e.g., specify ISO YYYY-MM-DD dates while also using English-language days-of-the-week. However, this was not intended as a feature; instead, it is a regression from the KDE developers deciding to stop using some of their custom libraries and instead rely on the Qt toolkit's facilities for the same functions. Unfortunately, the Qt versions aren't as customizable. There is enough complaining about it that I'm confident the KDE developers are going to address it at some point.

Gnome 3 is the poster child of this trend invading the open source world.

[jakeroot]

It's kind of unfair to single out Microsoft for this, since it appears to be industry-wide; Google and Apple also seem to be on the "let's take away options to 'simplify' things" trend. Personally, I can't stand it, and therefore use open-source software whenever possible.

Case in point (for Apple): Final Cut Pro. Apple boasted Final Cut Pro X to be the best thing since internet porn, but it's hardly a worthy successor to Final Cut Pro 7. I'd be surprised if there were actually any professionals (i.e. those who work for movie studios, and get paid to edit movies) who use FCP X. Apples to apples (no pun intended), it pales in comparison to earlier versions.

[SSOWorld]

even apps are taking to genericizing their update reasons.  Facbook has a 9 sentence summary of the update that basically boils down to "you get a new update every two weeks, what it contains is not your concern."

The reason for the forced updates for W10 home and most of Win10 pro is Microsoft is making this "Windows 365" (see Office 365 - which is a subscription service where you get the program and added services (software as a service).  The prime exception of this and probably the political reason for not calling it such is that you don't "subscribe" to Win10. 

[Scott5114]

It's kind of unfair to single out Microsoft for this, since it appears to be industry-wide; Google and Apple also seem to be on the "let's take away options to 'simplify' things" trend. Personally, I can't stand it, and therefore use open-source software whenever possible.

Although even then you lose options sometimes. The latest KDE has lost the ability to specify a date and time format separate from the system locale. This means it's impossible to, e.g., specify ISO YYYY-MM-DD dates while also using English-language days-of-the-week. However, this was not intended as a feature; instead, it is a regression from the KDE developers deciding to stop using some of their custom libraries and instead rely on the Qt toolkit's facilities for the same functions. Unfortunately, the Qt versions aren't as customizable. There is enough complaining about it that I'm confident the KDE developers are going to address it at some point.

Gnome 3 is the poster child of this trend invading the open source world.

Which is why Linux creator Linus Torvalds was quoted describing Gnome 3 as displaying "head up the arse behavior".

Oh well, it helps KDE out, which I've always liked

[Roadrunner75]

Microsoft has a hard time understanding that Windows is not the "end", but the "means to an end".  I don't boot up my PC looking forward to using Windows - I'm there to use the various programs running on it.  Therefore, I want it as simple as possible - to be the operating system which it is and just keep things running smoothly.  I use "Classic Theme" whenever possible (thankfully more or less still available in Win 7) and avoid any of the fancy widgets, corny graphics or other smartphone-like junk Windows has been adding for years now.  Just let me get to my stuff quickly and efficiently and be on with it.  However, I want the customization and options I've always had to be available when I need it - such as being able to dictate when I think it's time to download updates as mentioned previously.  I'll save my rant about Word for another day (why do we need to constantly tweak and infuriatingly modify a basic word processing program?)

Before I'm rated as curmudgeon #1, I will say that I've been using Windows since 3.1 (and DOS before it), and 95% of the time over the years it's done its job just fine.  I just know to avoid every other version now....

[kkt]

Microsoft has a hard time understanding that Windows is not the "end", but the "means to an end".  I don't boot up my PC looking forward to using Windows - I'm there to use the various programs running on it.  Therefore, I want it as simple as possible - to be the operating system which it is and just keep things running smoothly.  I use "Classic Theme" whenever possible (thankfully more or less still available in Win 7) and avoid any of the fancy widgets, corny graphics or other smartphone-like junk Windows has been adding for years now.  Just let me get to my stuff quickly and efficiently and be on with it.  However, I want the customization and options I've always had to be available when I need it - such as being able to dictate when I think it's time to download updates as mentioned previously.  I'll save my rant about Word for another day (why do we need to constantly tweak and infuriatingly modify a basic word processing program?)

I completely agree with this!  Windows has so much sheer junk in it.  I want my computer's cycles doing things I need or want, not animations that are too crude to use in Saturday morning cartoons, or spyware, or dysfunctionality that is motivated by preventing competing software from working rather than making Microsoft's work better.

Before I'm rated as curmudgeon #1, I will say that I've been using Windows since 3.1 (and DOS before it), and 95% of the time over the years it's done its job just fine.  I just know to avoid every other version now....

95%?  Wow.  I'd rate it in the 50% range, including all the crashes, badly timed mandatory upgrades, multiple forced reboots.  I really want TOPS-20 back; while they did crash it was mostly because 1970s hardware that wasn't all that reliable, the OS was fine.

[Roadrunner75]

Before I'm rated as curmudgeon #1, I will say that I've been using Windows since 3.1 (and DOS before it), and 95% of the time over the years it's done its job just fine.  I just know to avoid every other version now....

95%?  Wow.  I'd rate it in the 50% range, including all the crashes, badly timed mandatory upgrades, multiple forced reboots.  I really want TOPS-20 back; while they did crash it was mostly because 1970s hardware that wasn't all that reliable, the OS was fine.

I've had my share of crashes and other problems over the years, but for the most part it's been fine.  I'm not going to blame Microsoft for the times when I ran a much older version (OS and/or software) or used far outdated hardware.  I've stuck with the 'good' versions - 98, XP and 7 and avoided the bad ones - timing hardware upgrades accordingly.  Many problems are software - right now I'm stuck with an Ipod Classic that won't sync anymore thanks to some problem between Norton and ITunes.

[vdeane]

Personally, I prefer Aero for using Windows... and MS removed that in Windows 8 in favor of the ugly blocky theme they have now, even in the desktop.

I'll save my rant about Word for another day (why do we need to constantly tweak and infuriatingly modify a basic word processing program?)

MS doesn't consider Word to be "a basic word processing program" (and honestly, if that's all you need, the built-in Wordpad will do it for you).  It has quite a few advanced features, but it got to the point where people couldn't find them any more; hence the Ribbon.

[intelati49]

Personally, I prefer Aero for using Windows... and MS removed that in Windows 8 in favor of the ugly blocky theme they have now, even in the desktop.

I take the performance enhancements over fashion any day. Thankfully they kept the snapping. I cannot use XP or any OS that doesn't have that feature now.

[Roadrunner75]

I'll save my rant about Word for another day (why do we need to constantly tweak and infuriatingly modify a basic word processing program?)

MS doesn't consider Word to be "a basic word processing program" (and honestly, if that's all you need, the built-in Wordpad will do it for you).  It has quite a few advanced features, but it got to the point where people couldn't find them any more; hence the Ribbon.

It's still a word processing program, even if they've added a lot of bells and whistles over the years.  Because there's not really that much one could do to improve upon such a thing, they just constantly screw around with the interface - adding the ribbon, changing the themes, etc.  Just generally moving everything around to look like they made 'improvements'.  The vast majority of people use it more or less the same way they always have, but just have to struggle with each update to figure out where Microsoft hid all the options and find the least obnoxious new color theme.  Same goes for the rest of the Office Suite.

[Rothman]

Personally, I prefer Aero for using Windows... and MS removed that in Windows 8 in favor of the ugly blocky theme they have now, even in the desktop.

I'll save my rant about Word for another day (why do we need to constantly tweak and infuriatingly modify a basic word processing program?)

MS doesn't consider Word to be "a basic word processing program" (and honestly, if that's all you need, the built-in Wordpad will do it for you).  It has quite a few advanced features, but it got to the point where people couldn't find them any more; hence the Ribbon.

Nothing angered me more than that non-customizable ribbon when it was introduced.

[Roadrunner75]

Personally, I prefer Aero for using Windows... and MS removed that in Windows 8 in favor of the ugly blocky theme they have now, even in the desktop.

I'll save my rant about Word for another day (why do we need to constantly tweak and infuriatingly modify a basic word processing program?)

MS doesn't consider Word to be "a basic word processing program" (and honestly, if that's all you need, the built-in Wordpad will do it for you).  It has quite a few advanced features, but it got to the point where people couldn't find them any more; hence the Ribbon.

Nothing angered me more than that non-customizable ribbon when it was introduced.

Same here.  I now have a bunch of buttons up on the top in the 'Quick Access Toolbar' to make up for it to some extent.  I expect Microsoft to get rid of this in the next version.

[DeaconG]

The ribbon is standard across all Office apps. If you didn't like it in Word, you'll HATE it in Excel and Access (and I use Access quite a bit, I can't stand that damn ribbon!)

[slorydn1]

I've used pretty much every version of windows since 3.1, also, including Vista when it was on my wife's old computer (yuck) and 8.1 on her new one (puke). XP and 7 have been my favorites, too.

What I have done, though is to avoid every version of Microsoft's "Office" type suite of products since they dumped Microsoft Works back in the day. I now use Open Office, and have been since the mid 2000's. 

I like the way I can choose the extension that I save a particular file as, and that I can, if I choose, save it as an Microsoft type file if I need to bring it to work to use there.

I find the function button placement and the fact that you can move them around much better in Open Office spreadsheets than Excel, for example.

I mainly use Chrome as my browser, though I keep IE updated in case I am forced to use it for some reason.

I just bought a new laptop last month, and I was able to avoid having to get 8.1, by specifying 7 Professional. I am subscribed for the update to
Windows 10, and I'll probably wait to deploy it until I see what others are saying about bugs and whatnot. If I am not mistaken, having Windows 7 Professional means I will be getting Windows 10 Professional by default and that should mean I will still have the ability to choose when to update vs having it forced on me. If not then I won't deploy it.

[SteveG1988]

I've used pretty much every version of windows since 3.1, also, including Vista when it was on my wife's old computer (yuck) and 8.1 on her new one (puke). XP and 7 have been my favorites, too.

What I have done, though is to avoid every version of Microsoft's "Office" type suite of products since they dumped Microsoft Works back in the day. I now use Open Office, and have been since the mid 2000's. 

I like the way I can choose the extension that I save a particular file as, and that I can, if I choose, save it as an Microsoft type file if I need to bring it to work to use there.

I find the function button placement and the fact that you can move them around much better in Open Office spreadsheets than Excel, for example.

I mainly use Chrome as my browser, though I keep IE updated in case I am forced to use it for some reason.

I just bought a new laptop last month, and I was able to avoid having to get 8.1, by specifying 7 Professional. I am subscribed for the update to
Windows 10, and I'll probably wait to deploy it until I see what others are saying about bugs and whatnot. If I am not mistaken, having Windows 7 Professional means I will be getting Windows 10 Professional by default and that should mean I will still have the ability to choose when to update vs having it forced on me. If not then I won't deploy it.

You will have the choice. Pro=Pro

[Pete from Boston]

I've used pretty much every version of windows since 3.1, also, including Vista when it was on my wife's old computer (yuck) and 8.1 on her new one (puke). XP and 7 have been my favorites, too.

What I have done, though is to avoid every version of Microsoft's "Office" type suite of products since they dumped Microsoft Works back in the day. I now use Open Office, and have been since the mid 2000's. 

I like the way I can choose the extension that I save a particular file as, and that I can, if I choose, save it as an Microsoft type file if I need to bring it to work to use there.

I find the function button placement and the fact that you can move them around much better in Open Office spreadsheets than Excel, for example.

I tried Open Office.  I mean, I tried and gave it a real extra chance because it's open source, which I would like to support.  But it just wasn't in the same league of functionality as MS Office.  It was a while ago, but I remember having to jump through a lot of hoops where Office had more seamless tools.  It seemed to be geared toward people less concerned with simplicity of feel and use.  It held me up on a big project and I had to abandon it.

[J N Winkler]

I tried Open Office.  I mean, I tried and gave it a real extra chance because it's open source, which I would like to support.  But it just wasn't in the same league of functionality as MS Office.  It was a while ago, but I remember having to jump through a lot of hoops where Office had more seamless tools.  It seemed to be geared toward people less concerned with simplicity of feel and use.  It held me up on a big project and I had to abandon it.

I tried standardizing on Open Office for most tasks when I discovered my copy of Microsoft Office 2000 Professional wouldn't install on my then new Windows 7 laptop.  I eventually had to give up on it because its Word conversion filter is too buggy to support highly structured Word documents, and it also lacked some features that are baked into Word, such as the ability to center text vertically on a page.  (Open Office's workaround, which is pretty worthless, is to define a one-cell table that covers the entire page, and specify that the contents of the cell are vertically centered.)

I now use LaTeX, though it has its own issues, including a general lack of portability of LaTeX documents which is tied to the user's ability to customize his or her LaTeX distribution by installing additional packages and writing his or her own class files.  I like the fact that input documents are plain text instead of in a proprietary format and markup is explicit.  I figure I can sidestep most of the portability issues by sticking with the more popular packages and the built-in classes.  Now that pdflatex is available, raster image handling is ten times better than Word's; I had issues with Word inflating about 5 MB worth of heavily postprocessed images to more than 120 MB when preparing a document for PDF distillation.

In the economics literature, the triumph of the QWERTY keyboard layout over allegedly better alternatives like the Dvorak keyboard is used to illustrate path dependence and how inferior technologies can block the adoption of better alternatives if switching costs are high enough.  But QWERTY is a bad example to use for the latter (though it still works for path dependence) because none of the allegedly superior alternatives stand up to close study.  On the other hand, the Word versus WordPerfect battle is an excellent illustration of how an inferior technology (no markup) can win out over a better one (explicit markup baked in).

[Scott5114]

It should be noted that OpenOffice was forked a couple of years back, and the forked version, LibreOffice, is now the preferred one. Don't know if that changes anything.

I have no option; I have to use LibreOffice. It definitely does the job all right. I do miss having a Microsoft Access equivalent, though.

[J N Winkler]

It should be noted that OpenOffice was forked a couple of years back, and the forked version, LibreOffice, is now the preferred one. Don't know if that changes anything.

This is true, and I should correct myself:  the comments I made above re. Open Office actually apply to LibreOffice, which is the branch of the fork I have actually tried.

I have no option; I have to use LibreOffice. It definitely does the job all right. I do miss having a Microsoft Access equivalent, though.

If LibreOffice is an employer's office standard you must adhere to, that is one thing, but on a Linux system LaTeX would be very straightforward.

Isn't it still the case that Access isn't included in the bargain-basement levels of Microsoft Office?

[Stratuscaster]

I believe that is correct in regards to Access.

[DeaconG]

I believe that is correct in regards to Access.

You have to get the Professional version of Office to get Access.

[Scott5114]

It should be noted that OpenOffice was forked a couple of years back, and the forked version, LibreOffice, is now the preferred one. Don't know if that changes anything.

This is true, and I should correct myself:  the comments I made above re. Open Office actually apply to LibreOffice, which is the branch of the fork I have actually tried.

I have no option; I have to use LibreOffice. It definitely does the job all right. I do miss having a Microsoft Access equivalent, though.

If LibreOffice is an employer's office standard you must adhere to, that is one thing, but on a Linux system LaTeX would be very straightforward.

Isn't it still the case that Access isn't included in the bargain-basement levels of Microsoft Office?

LaTeX is an option, and I've played with it superficially, but learning yet another markup language isn't really appealing, and the overhead in setting up a simple document just isn't justified to me.  Besides, the LibreOffice application I use most is the spreadsheets.