Windows 10 - free upgrade to those with PC using Windows 7 or 8

[howyoudoin]

I don't have any complaints with the Windows 8/8.1 start menu. If I need a program, I simply enter the windows key from desktop and type out the first few letters of the program name. I find it easier than trawling through a list of programs on a menu.

[alanHd]

I use windows 8.1 on my laptop and I have no performance issues, I use photoshop and Lightroom all the time, even video editing goes smooth, I'm always multitasking.
My desktop with vista is another matter, it takes 10 minutes before it's even useable when you boot it up. I loved windows 7, for me that's what vista should have been. I would still have my windows 7 laptop now but for an unfortunate accident.
I for one won't be upgrading, my laptop does everything I want as a laptop, I'm not bothered about cross device compatibility, if I want things onto my phone or tablet I transfer them

[dickloraine]

I don't use windows 8, but I am always fascinated how many people complain about the start menu. I never use it. Everything I use is on my desktop, either as a link or in a folder. Only time I open the start menu is when I use the search.

[speakingtohe]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

Enlightenment:

linux is all about what you want. It will never attempt to download updates unless you specifically tell it to. You have the choice to configure scheduled updates.
linux will never demand anything of you. linux will offer suggestions if you ask it to, and is perfectly content without fussing, whatever you choose.

If you do schedule updates to happen on their own, it does not interrupt your work. It does not require rebooting either. I can count the number of times where a linux update, scheduled or manual, caused me consternation, on the fingers of, um, zero hands.



And that is exactly what linux doesn't do. EVER.
Even when you choose to reboot, it always starts up again immediately.



You are entirely correct that I am a linux user. What is your point?



You mentioned subscriptions in the middle of a discussion about Windows itself. I assumed you were talking about Windows itself as a subscription. Innocent confusion.

You then dismissed everything I said on the grounds that: "Of course you are a Linux person from what I gather so not expected to be up to date on Microsoft[...]".

Implying that since I am a linux person, I fundamentally cannot have any idea what you were talking about.

Note: I am assuming that you must have meant something with that statement, therefore you must have meant this.
From the context of my previous comments, I clearly know more than a bit, or at least think I do .

A decision tree: either I

1. know what I am talking about when it comes to Windows/MS.
2. don't know what I am talking about when it comes to Windows/MS, and cheerfully admit it.
3. don't know what I am talking about when it comes to Windows/MS, and make embarrassing comments that show my pretend knowledge.

I am clearly not #2.
You assumed based on my status as a linux person that I am not #1 either.
Thus you must be assuming #3.



There was absolutely no need whatsoever, regardless of any other factor or topic of discussion that came up now or then or anywhere in between, to hypothesize about my familiarity with MS/Windows, as it certainly did not advance the conversation at the time.

That you made that entirely unnecessary comment anyway, came across entirely the wrong way.

I think you are overly sensitive. I did not mean to imply you know nothing about Windows, just that you are not overly fond of Windows. Perhaps you have even called it Windoze? If I am completely wrong, I apologise.

I just don't understand your hostility on this.

Helen

[speakingtohe]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

Ah, I see.

Do business uses use the Metro apps on it, or just desktop software?

I believe one of the main attractions of the Surface has been that it is basically just a really compact laptop (with the keyboard case).

For me it is a really really compact desktop replacement. I don't have the keyboard case, I have the dock. I don't really want to yard it around town with me although I do on occasion.

It is not a gaming machine, but then I have an I7 gaming machine with a giant monitor.

For almost everything else I use the Surface Pro 3. Sits on a wee adjustable table on my balcony with lots of room to spare.

It isn't IMO a good tablet, and have no urge to use it as a laptop. I have other laptops.

In general day to day use it is marginally better than my desktop performance wise and far more convenient size wise. Too cool.

Helen

[danwdoo]

Here is more info on who is eligible for the free upgrade:

http://www.zdnet.com/article/microso...tag=RSSbaffb68

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Firefox here running on Windows 8.1 and there are 26 tabs. Not a problem at all with browser crashing. Very stable.

Same here. Sometimes while doing certain checks I'll have an insane number of tabs open simultaneously and so far I've never had a problem with 8.1. In fact, with previous versions of Windows I had got into the habit of saving my work every few minutes because of the experience-grounded fear of a possible crash causing me to lose all my work. I've gotten out of that habit because it's been so long since I've encountered that problem. Of course, much of that stability may be due to the size of the hard drive and the 12 GB of RAM on my current system.

[dwig]

Originally Posted by Blossom

No not upgrade it came with Windows 8.1 installed. I think It's the programs ...

Ah, now you have it right.

Windows 8.1 is stable, very stable, and it shouldn't be blamed for the trangressions of the applications running on it. You are running applications that are either newer less stable versions or older versions that while stable on Vista don't play well on 8.1.

It's also possible that you have some slightly faulty hardware that fails after extended use (heat buildup, ...). Again, this is not Windows fault and your Vista uses different hardware making is useless for comparison.

[Quexos]

Of course I still wonder whether I should move on to Mac OSX you know, to try something else for a change. The curious part in me wants to do just that whereas the lazy part in my tells me to just wait for Windows 10.
also the financial part of me says I should go for Windows 10 as a good Mac would be kind of expensive...

[crane3]

Originally Posted by Quexos

Of course I still wonder whether I should move on to Mac OSX you know, to try something else for a change. The curious part in me wants to do just that whereas the lazy part in my tells me to just wait for Windows 10.
also the financial part of me says I should go for Windows 10 as a good Mac would be kind of expensive...

Stay with win 10. The Mac OSX isn't that great as there are restrictions because what you want to do isn't the "apple" way. And it does look like the latest OSX is heading to be like windows as it is becoming slower on boot-up with the fake desktop display where you won't be able to do anything as the desktop is just for looks before everything is setup.

A huge problem is that crapple won't allow anyone to change the system font size; not even with their "patented" retina displays. Had seen ref to the system fonts at least back to 2004; didn't matter too much then but with hi-rez large sized monitors, maybe 20/10 eyesight is needed or use a magnifier on apps that uses the system fonts. But then windows may be heading that way as win8 killed the ability to change the font type but not font size, yet, which for OSX is reportedly either point 6 or 7.

I do have a Mac Mini with 8 gig ram; added the ram myself as crapple wanted $450 for 8 gig while I got the 8 gig for $45 locally at Frys. Reason why crapple is making lots of money as the latest Macs has the ram soldered which would make the price higher to make more money.....

Anyway, if going to a Mac, it would be prudent to install one of the Mac app versions of linux on the Mac.

[speakingtohe]

crapple? I don't own an IOS device, but I have a hard time giving any credence to someone using such a term with out substantial stated reasons. Have you had years of hands on experience with Apples?

I understand someone not liking it, but with millions of seemingly happy users I doubt it is quite that bad.

Helen

[AnotherCat]

Originally Posted by Blossom

The point is Windows 8.1 isn't stable for some people who need to use the computer as computer not a tablet to run everyday normal programs. I run alot of power programs and Windows 8 just can't hack it and it's not hardware this laptop is brand new and has past all tests. The way Windows 8.1 run background and memory is just crappy making muti tasking near impossible. I have no problems on Vista.

Who care what percentage is I belong to a forum where all people have either reverted to Windows 7 or refuse to upgrade because of problems with Windows 8.1 so you can be sure there is alot of us out there that Windows 8.1 wasn't made for. Great it works for you. Good for you! But keep in mind we all run different configurations and some of us need to be able to run programs that need power and ram to run and Windows 8.1 can't handle them but Vista can there is something wrong with that.

As for Jump list there is a whole issue on Windows 8 with it corrupting for a ton of people that they have have made scripts to back them up and restore them because it happens so often. So don't assume I haven't done my homework because I have.

Sorry, I did not realise that you are such a power user that your experience puts you beyond the experience of most others, nor that the complexity of your processing requirements cripples Windows 8.x; a crippling which other users will not face because of their more mundane needs.

I am led by your comments regarding your high power and memory requirements to assume that you must be running very complex projects such as big business or economic modelling projects, or maybe complex scientific analysis or modelling, or maybe critical industrial control systems such as SCADA where stability is paramount.

In which case I am drawn to wonder why you are using a laptop for such work rather than a machine not limited by the constraints on installed memory and processor power that laptops suffer from. You also seem to think that as your needs are more demanding than others because yours exceed those that a tablet can provide; again I wonder if you are connected to the reality that many, many others find the same with respect to their usage demands and that such is rather mundane; not a sign that one has extraordinary power demands.

I am also drawn to wonder why you are not getting support from the professional technical support that always available in such important environments that you work in and who would describe the exact fault in accurate and precise technical terms, whether it be hardware, user, application or O/S based, and provide the remedy whether that be software or hardware maintenance, user training, or a workaround.

But I cannot escape the feeling that, in fact, your requirements are rather mundane compared to those that many others are exposed to, and that in reality you just don't want to know. You seem to be more attached emotionally to your notebook, your application and yourself than you are to Windows 8.x and seem to comfort yourself by shallow assumptions such as because your application works ok with Windows 7 but not with Windows 8.x that it must be Windows 8.x's fault.

And so, in the face of that and while there are well trodden paths to determining the actual cause of issues such as yours, the only advice you will get from me now is that you should take note of what others are also saying; fault can lie with the hardware, the applications, the user, or the operating system. Until you can describe the exact cause of the issue in accurate and precise technical terms you cannot claim to know in which of those your issue lies.

That is all from me.

[Mivo]

Originally Posted by speakingtohe

I think you are overly sensitive.

It's a frequent issue with Linux users who tend to be patronizingly overzealous in a way that reminds me of well-meaning missionaries who believe they must show the right way to the uncivilized and uneducated barbarians who don't know any better -- only, of course, to save their souls.

That some of us barbarians are perfectly happy with our from capitalism tainted Windows machines, or that many of us wild people explored the beer-flavored promised paradise already, and went back to our swamp, does not seem to find much consideration. We must be converted to the Linux.

For our own good.

[AnotherCat]

Originally Posted by Mivo

It's a frequent issue with Linux users who tend to be patronizingly overzealous in a way that reminds me of well-meaning missionaries who believe they must show the right way to the uncivilized and uneducated barbarians who don't know any better -- only, of course, to save their souls...

My experience is that Linux users fall generally into one of four groups:

1. Professional Users in a business or sophisticated development environment and for which, for their own specific case, Linux is the best choice for them. All well and good and as they are professionals who understand needs one rarely comes across them as evangelists claiming that Linux is the best choice for everyone.

2. The Cost Restrained of which there are two subgroups. (a) They do not have the discretionary income to buy an O/S such as Windows, or (b) They do have that discretionary income but decide they have better uses for it. Both, but especially subgroup (a), often do not wish to admit to the fact of their circumstances and so cover that up by claiming, regardless of what they really think of it, that Linux is the best thing for everyone. Some do admit to the fact that their choice is cost driven and I admire them for their honesty.

3. Amateur Users who have a real and advanced (but sub-professional) interest in IT, that interest being in the challenges of IT itself, or of another technology based interest they have which is reliant on IT. The more knowledgeable of these have opinions similar to Group 1 in that they recognise that the best O/S choice is driven by the circumstances of the user. The least adept (and the immature, as this is geek territory too) try to sell Linux to everyone and disparage all else whenever possible.

4. The Self Delusionists. This group generally does not hold any sophisticated knowledge in IT compared to the level of, say, groups (1) and (3) but adopt Linux in order to give the illusion that they are quite clever or geeky when compared to the rest of us. They love to talk about the merits of the various distributions, and the various jargon associated with those and which is unlikely to be heard of, let alone understood, by those not in the brotherhood, in order to elevate the appearance of their actual shallow IT knowledge.

Group 4 (Edited: incorrectly said Group 3, who in the main are fine people ) are the ones we hear most of, their prattling on endlessly as to the superiority of Linux distributions over all other O/S contenders (including other Unix derived ones) for all occasions and in all matters, and giving the impression that the approximate 95% of PC users who do not use Linux have just made a bad choice through technical ignorance or lack of enlightenment. Sometimes they even have tussles, and even battles, among their own Linux brotherhood claiming their own used distribution is better than another's.

Approximately 90-95% (depending on whose estimates one takes) of the installed base of O/Ss on PCs is Windows, the other 5-10% being shared amongst Apple and Linux (predominantly). So if one assumes, say, that 5% is Linux (that assumption about the split between Linux and Apple makes little difference to the outcome) and that, say, half of those are in Group 4, "The Self Delusionists", then it is amazing the racket these few around 2.5% make on any matter to do with PC O/Ss.

It appears to me that there have been a few "Self Delusionists" expounding in this thread, hoping to bamboozle the rest of us with their "superior" knowledge that Linux is best for us all and the error of our ways. I sometimes wonder if they sense the smirks that some of the rest of us wear.

For the sake of good order and in an attempt to forestall the likely deluge of claims from the Group 4s that I am a Windows "fanboy", I make no claims as to what is the best O/S for all PC users, it very much depends on the circumstances. In my view Groups 1, 2 & 3 above have all made rational choices when it comes to their choice of Linux. For myself I use Windows as I find that best suits my own needs, and because I work in business and industrial environments it is the O/S I am most exposed to - so any appearance that I favour Windows for all is misdirected, it is just the one I know best and so can best comment on (I have though managed technology based projects of values in the $100s of millions which use multiple operating systems according to which is best suited for each of the various tasks, but I leave the innards and choice of those to the software engineers ).

Originally Posted by Mivo

It's a frequent issue with Linux users who tend to be patronizingly overzealous in a way that reminds me of well-meaning missionaries who believe they must show the right way to the uncivilized and uneducated barbarians who don't know any better -- only, of course, to save their souls.

Exactly how is this any different from the "patronizingly overzealous" Windows users? Yes, they exist. You only have to mention some problem you're having with Linux and they'll circle like vultures in an attempt to convert you to Linux (while rejecting the reasons why you are using Linux in the first place).

I'm also going to let you in on a little secret about Linux users: many Linux users are annoyed by those open source fundamentalists. While the typical Linux user appreciates the benefits of open source software, they are not puritanical about it.