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

[wodin]

Still got plenty of bean counters at MS.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

They just want you pay for the codec.

What MS calls a 'partner opportunity.'
With the rise of streaming, and fewer and fewer machines shipping with optical drives, it seems like a reasonable place to trim. I'm kind of surprised CSS isn't license-free already. How long has that writing been on the wall?

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by ApK

What MS calls a 'partner opportunity.'
With the rise of streaming, and fewer and fewer machines shipping with optical drives, it seems like a reasonable place to trim. I'm kind of surprised CSS isn't license-free already. How long has that writing been on the wall?

Also, Windows is going into a lot of tablets, stick PCs, and small and/or cheap systems without drives. Making the codecs standard on Windows Home means paying royalties for a feature that will never be used.
Bean counters have a point.
How good will be demonstrated by the level of protest.
They may get overturned but they just might prevail.

[AnotherCat]

Originally Posted by HarryT

...in Windows 10, one component of it which is disappearing is the DVD player: Windows 10 won't ship with a DVD video player (although it will still be able to read DVD data discs). If you want to play DVDs on your PC you'll need to install a 3rd-party player in order to do so.

My understanding is that MS intend bringing out a Windows 10 solution for playing DVDs; that from the Insider Team. As there was for Media Centre (although it has been free in some instances), I would not be surprised if there was a small charge.

Apparently they believe that the predominant use of Media Centre was to play DVDs (which is, in fact, all I use it for) with the rest of the functionality having few users in comparison.

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by AnotherCat

Apparently they believe that the predominant use of Media Centre was to play DVDs (which is, in fact, all I use it for) with the rest of the functionality having few users in comparison.

And we bought a third-party application for that and use MC for cable TV....

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by AnotherCat

My understanding is that MS intend bringing out a Windows 10 solution for playing DVDs; that from the Insider Team. As there was for Media Centre (although it has been free in some instances), I would not be surprised if there was a small charge.

Apparently they believe that the predominant use of Media Centre was to play DVDs (which is, in fact, all I use it for) with the rest of the functionality having few users in comparison.

I suspect the reason is that which has already been stated: that DVD drives are increasingly rare on modern laptops (I don't have a DVD drive on any of my three current laptops), and hence paying a licence fee for the DVD codec on every copy of Windows is money that's largely wasted.

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I suspect the reason is that which has already been stated: that DVD drives are increasingly rare on modern laptops (I don't have a DVD drive on any of my three current laptops), and hence paying a licence fee for the DVD codec on every copy of Windows is money that's largely wasted.

And add the fact that an increasing number of blurays are being sold and those need a separate application already in Windows 8.1 anyway (the bluray code is not included in 8.1 either, I don't know about earlier windows). I think that the majority people that reguarly watch DVD's and Blurays already have a third-party tool.

[Jack Torrance]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I suspect the reason is that which has already been stated: that DVD drives are increasingly rare on modern laptops (I don't have a DVD drive on any of my three current laptops), and hence paying a licence fee for the DVD codec on every copy of Windows is money that's largely wasted.

Mine are the exact opposite. I have 3 laptops and all of them have a DVD player though they get rarely used. Only one has an actual DVD for reloading the software and aside from the OS etc. Most of the programs get loaded via broadband.

Not to say I don't use DVD's, My wife's desktop is her work (at home) machine and its connected to a larger monitor and a surround sound system and we will get movies via Redox and Netflix. Even those I play using VLC.

They are on their way out though, just not right away.

[AnotherCat]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I suspect the reason is that which has already been stated: that DVD drives are increasingly rare on modern laptops (I don't have a DVD drive on any of my three current laptops), and hence paying a licence fee for the DVD codec on every copy of Windows is money that's largely wasted.

I was just quoting what Microsoft have stated that they believe, I am in no position to challenge the veracity of their claim as to their reason.

Their comment was that they believe that the predominant usage of Media Center was to play DVDs i.e. the other functionality was not much used. You are welcome to believe that they are likely telling porkies and that their real reason for dropping Media Center is actually the decreasing provision of DVD drives on notebooks.

However if it were to be so that they were likely telling porkies, as you claim, then one would have to wonder why they are bothering providing a DVD solution in lieu of Media Center; that is they actually are dumping all the parts of MC that they said are least used but are keeping only that functionality, DVD playing, which you claim they actually believe is not needed and is the "real" reason for their decision to dump MC ).

Regarding the codec, yes, that is why I stated that I would not be surprised if there was a small charge for the DVD solution just as there has been for Media Centre. However, Media Center has from time to time been offered free, so who not privy to Microsoft's future pricing policy would know what they have in mind on that?

I am lost regarding your claim about Microsoft not wanting to pay for the codec on "every copy of Windows" as having something to do with their dropping Media Center, for many years now Windows has not come with the codec unless one paid for it e.g. by purchasing Media Center.

[AnotherCat]

Originally Posted by Jack Torrance

Mine are the exact opposite. I have 3 laptops and all of them have a DVD player...

Yes all ours do too, even the most recent purchased a couple of months ago. However, we use HP notebooks exclusively and apart from a couple of exceptions the only notebooks of theirs in our part of the world that do not come with DVD or Blu-ray drives are the home use ones and then only those that are not media oriented. So it is pretty easy to buy notebooks with DVD/Bly-ray drives here.

What the practice of other manufacturers is I have never investigated.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by AnotherCat

I am lost regarding your claim about Microsoft not wanting to pay for the codec on "every copy of Windows" as having something to do with their dropping Media Center, for many years now Windows has not come with the codec unless one paid for it e.g. by purchasing Media Center.

I don't normally play DVDs on my PCs (because, as I say, none has a built-in DVD drive) but after I read your post I've tried playing one on my Windows 7 PC from an external drive, in Windows Media Player, and it played just fine. It would seem, therefore, that Windows 7 at least does come with the codec with no requirement to pay for it.

EDIT: Tried it on my Windows 8.1 Surface Pro. Plays fine on that, too, so it would seem that your statement that "for many years now Windows has not come with the codec unless one paid for it" is not correct.

You misread what I said, by the way. I did not say that playing DVDs had anything to do with dropping Media Centre; I said that I suspect that the reason they've dropped the ability to play DVDs from the Windows 10 Media Player is because most PCs no longer have a DVD drive.

[fjtorres]

Here's a report on the "losses" in going to Win10:
http://www.theverge.com/2015/6/1/869...0-feature-loss

Firstly there are the software losses. Most of these will only affect a small number of users, but upgrading will mean saying goodbye to Windows Media Center, the card game Hearts, and Windows 7's desktop gadgets. Anyone in the habit of using floppy disks on Windows will also have to install new drivers, and Microsoft warns that watching DVDs will also require "separate playback software." Microsoft manager Gabriel Aul has said on Twitter that a DVD option for Windows 10 is coming "later this year," but early upgraders can always download VLC instead.

MS has it all listed on their specifications page:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/wind...specifications

Feature deprecation

• If you have Windows 7 Home Premium, Windows 7 Professional, Windows 7 Ultimate, Windows 8 Pro with Media Center, or Windows 8.1 Pro with Media Center and you install Windows 10, Windows Media Center will be removed.
• Watching DVDs requires separate playback software.
• Windows 7 desktop gadgets will be removed as part of installing Windows 10.
• Windows 10 Home users will have updates from Windows Update automatically available.
• Solitaire, Minesweeper, and Hearts Games that come pre-installed on Windows 7 will be removed as part of installing the Windows 10 upgrade. Microsoft has released our version of Solitaire and Minesweeper called the “Microsoft Solitaire Collection” and “Microsoft Minesweeper.”
• If you have a USB floppy drive, you will need to download the latest driver from Windows Update or from the manufacturer's website.
• If you have Windows Live Essentials installed on your system, the OneDrive application is removed and replaced with the inbox version of OneDrive.

[Katsunami]

While I can relate to some of the software changes, I always wonder why stuff like a floppy disk driver would be removed. What does it gain; 2 KB hard disk space, and 5 KB memory consumption?

While I don't use floppies anymore, there are a lot of devices that use floppies; many instruments (piano's, keyboards, organs, etc), and industrial machines. Granted, there are ways now to replace those floppy drives with a 'Virtual Floppy Emulator" that uses either USB-sticks or SD-cards, but not everybody has done so yet.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

While I can relate to some of the software changes, I always wonder why stuff like a floppy disk driver would be removed. What does it gain; 2 KB hard disk space, and 5 KB memory consumption?

While I don't use floppies anymore, there are a lot of devices that use floppies; many instruments (piano's, keyboards, organs, etc), and industrial machines. Granted, there are ways now to replace those floppy drives with a 'Virtual Floppy Emulator" that uses either USB-sticks or SD-cards, but not everybody has done so yet.

They are removed from the *default* packaging but support isn't removed.
They are still developed and available...on the online driver repository.

As to why?
Because they have a small usage base and because every little bit helps. A USB drive here, a minor game there, it adds up eventually. And it doesn't just impact the distribution package, it also affects the recovery partition.

Windows historically has tended to err on the side of including as much as possible to facilitate offline operation (earning it a reputation for "bloat") but offline-only is a lot less common. And lean is useful on the low end, where Windows is weakest.

[Sweetpea]

Of that list, point 1 is the reason we can't update our media center pc. The name of that pc already explains why. Point 2 is not a problem as we have PowerDVD because Windows 8.1 doesn't play Bluray out of the box either..

The last point is the reason why I'm loathe to update my Surface. I've read the specs of that inbox version of OneDrive and I'm missing elements in there too that I really appreciate in my 8.1 version.

My Asus might see an update though.