Microsoft Needs to Kill Windows 8 to Make Windows 10 a Hit, Says HP

ARC1020 said:

<snip> ...Windows 8.1 still has mainstream support until January 2018 and extended support until January 2023, which will give me more time to assess just what direction Microsoft is going in, because although Windows 10 seems to be well received by some, so far the direction they're going in is not for me.

BillyBob said:

So what direction would you like them to go in. I've upgraded 4 computers and a phone to Windows 10, all as different as can be, no problems whatsoever.

I don't know what I'm talking about, but if it was me I'd wait for the machine with the hardware built for Windows 10, but that's just me.

Microsoft are going in the advertising and search direction, instead of focusing on business and productivity that Microsoft used to be about. We've already seen some of the affects of that with Cortana and Bing Search being built-in at OS level, ads in apps, etc. and this is still early days, with forced updates they can push out whatever they want in the future.

I used to like Microsoft and their products because they were an engineering company with a strong lean towards business and productivity, not a sales and marketing company pretending to be a tech company so they can target consumers with the latest fad and cash in on their users data. With Microsoft being in the advertising and search business, it creates a conflict of interest because it's not just you who's their customer by paying for the Windows licence, but the advertising companies and various other agencies are as well. And with corporations being the greedy entities they are, monitoring, data collecting and tracking people in order to obtain greater advertising revenue would be inevitable.

Also, Microsoft are systematically replacing proper desktop software with low functionality, poorly thought out, screen-space wasting, mobile phone apps. With Windows 8.1 it's possible to just ignore all the 'apps' and carry on as normal, but with Windows 10 it's only a matter of time before all the legacy software disappears and we're just left with dumbed down apps. We've already seen it happen with Windows Photo Viewer, where a reg hack is needed to bring it back after a clean install. And we've already seen the effects of forced updates with the Windows 10 Mail App, where it isn't possible to go back to or keep using older versions of the app even if the latest version has functionality removed and you don't get on with the changes that have been implemented. Universal apps sounded like a nice idea, until the realisation sunk in that they would be dictatorship style apps created to accommodate for the lowest common denominator, which is a consumer mobile phone.

Subscription apps are likely to be the next thing to come to the Windows store, where you will be held ransom by your software. Keep paying up, or else it stops functioning properly. And if it's not subscriptions, you'll no doubt have to put up with distracting ads in your software instead, while all the time it hoovering up as much data about you as it can in order to sell on.

Windows is now facing an identity crisis. At a time where Microsoft are promoting the idea of 'One Windows', I think if ever there was a need to split Windows between consumer and business this is it. On one hand you have consumers where quite a few of them view their computer as merely a gadget/toy, the cheaper and trendier the better and don't consider functionality or privacy implications. On the other end you have people who are very much business orientated, consider Windows to be a tool, and strongly consider functionality and privacy implications. It's naive of Microsoft to assume people just use Windows to browse the web and keep up with whatever the latest app craze is.

All in all, for the time being Windows 10 doesn't offer me anything new that I want or need, other than it comes with a built-in PDF printer now. Most of the changes are things I don't want or need from a desktop PC. It's only my own interests I have in mind, Microsoft still get paid whether the licence I get is Windows 8.1 or Windows 10, especially if I end up going for a barebones PC with a retail version of Windows 8.1 Pro. But by going for Windows 8.1 I keep my options open for now. So that's what I mean by saying I want more time to assess just what direction Microsoft is going in.

Hey ARC1020,

popeye said:

With 10 pushing the cloud and the automatic updates I may switch to Linux if 8.1 is killed early. With capped satellite internet I need to be able to control my updates and I just generally hate the cloud. Yea, I'm old. :)

And no, I'm not going to keep turning metered connection on and off, give me a break!

@popeye

There is a few distros that use the cloud from my testing (Win10 is not the only operating system I tested). There are also some that are doing rolling releases (automatic updates) just like windows 10. I think that what opensuse leap 42.x is going to do. (rolling release).

In most distros you can delay the update by choosing remind me later, I don't know if you will be able to do that with the rolling releases versions, I haven't tested those. I am sure some here has tested those.

groze said:

@popeye

There is a few distros that use the cloud from my testing (Win10 is not the only operating system I tested). There are also some that are doing rolling releases (automatic updates) just like windows 10. I think that what opensuse leap 42.x is going to do. (rolling release).

In most distros you can delay the update by choosing remind me later, I don't know if you will be able to do that with the rolling releases versions, I haven't tested those. I am sure some here has tested those.

Thanks groze, I'm running dual-boot with Mint 17.2 now, sure hope they never start pushing stuff to it. Learning more about it everyday and probably could make a total shift to it if MS ever forces my hand.

That's super Superfly! Only way I could tell it is really Linux is the Software Manager and Terminal apps.

On my Asus 10Tp machine, It was originally a 7, but was upgraded in house by them to 8,
and if i look it up it only refers to the 7 version.

Roy

popeye said:

Thanks groze, I'm running dual-boot with Mint 17.2 now, sure hope they never start pushing stuff to it. Learning more about it everyday and probably could make a total shift to it if MS ever forces my hand.

I too have downloaded and install Linux Mint, I don't like the direction Microsoft seem to be taking with Windows 10, not only do I not like Windows 10 so much, I keep getting GWX.exe errors on Windows 7 !! that's after uninstalling the update that put the W10 nag icon on my computer. I actually downloaded Mint to give me a boot disk to remove the two GWX folders after that (you cannot uninstall them in windows without messy permission changes (which for me don't work) I decided that as it solved my Windows 7 problem i would give it a try I'm really liking it.

After just a few days I have got used to it, and it has a really nice interface controls are in logical places, for instance i can turn my internet connection on and off directly from the taskbar icon without going through menu's, there are many more examples like that.

Looking at The forums for Linux Mint there seems to be a sudden upsurge in new folks (maybe that's normal after a new windows release) there are great on-line tutorials and I too am thinking of making a complete switch.

Have fun
Zoo