New Windows 10 Insider Preview Fast+Skip Build 18941 (20H1) - July 18 Insider

smactilactus said:

Actually I'm not so sure that is right. I had massive problems updating 18936, but none of those problems showed up when updating 18941. I think M$ should focus more on the important fundamental things, and spend less time on ridiculous periferal things, like emoji's. JMHO.

The key here, Smactilactus, is that you did succeed in updating to 18936; once you got updated to it, 18941 slid right in. Which is what I was saying.

IOW, if 18936 refused to install, I would not have tried to install 18941, given the Known Issue warning. However, reading the content of the Known Issue warning, since 18936 did install, I felt comfortable with trying to install 18941.

My logic paid off; when offered via WU, 18936 installed without issue. So, when offered via WU, 18941 installed just as easily.

smactilactus said:

<Snip> I think M$ should focus more on the important fundamental things, and spend less time on ridiculous periferal things, like emoji's. JMHO.

Ya know what? There are lots and lots of things I have no interest in. To me, games are an absolute waste of my time. To a gamer, they're some of the best life has to offer. Where do I get off telling Microsoft they should spend less time on ridiculous periferal things like games?

And guess what ... there are folks who like their emojis. I like 'em and play with them a lot while talking to friends and family on Skype. It's fun to add a little funny face to a statement. Are they a necessary part of Windows? Heck no! But, neither are games! Also, when it comes right down to it, I'm pretty sure Microsoft bought the majority of emojis/emoticons included in Windows, rather than have their engineers create 'em.

Then there's Paint, which has been a part of Windows for years and years (not always called Paint). Microsoft had a brainstorm (or was that a brain fart?) gave us Paint 3D and told us Paint would be removed from Windows. Nope, not a necessary part of Windows; many, many, many far better 3rd party graphics apps. However, Microsoft changed their mind about removing it when a huge number of people started to object about Paint's removal.

Wynona said:

Ya know what? There are lots and lots of things I have no interest in. To me, games are an absolute waste of my time. To a gamer, they're some of the best life has to offer. Where do I get off telling Microsoft they should spend less time on ridiculous periferal things like games?

And guess what ... there are folks who like their emojis. I like 'em and play with them a lot while talking to friends and family on Skype. It's fun to add a little funny face to a statement. Are they a necessary part of Windows? Heck no! But, neither are games! Also, when it comes right down to it, I'm pretty sure Microsoft bought the majority of emojis/emoticons included in Windows, rather than have their engineers create 'em.

Then there's Paint, which has been a part of Windows for years and years (not always called Paint). Microsoft had a brainstorm (or was that a brain fart?) gave us Paint 3D and told us Paint would be removed from Windows. Nope, not a necessary part of Windows; many, many, many far better 3rd party graphics apps. However, Microsoft changed their mind about removing it when a huge number of people started to object about Paint's removal.

Now there's a post full of vitriol if ever I saw one

Winuser said:

When it comes to Windows 10 being free we all have our own opinions. It is my opinion that MS does not give us Windows 10 for free. We are allowed to trade a licensed copy of Windows 7 or 8 for it. If it was truly free we would be able to download and install Windows 10 without using our license key for Windows 7 or 8.

Edit: In reply to MS never gave away a free copy of the Insider builds. Yes they did. When the Insider ring first started I down loaded and installed Windows 10 Pro and ran it as a dual boot without needing a purchased Pro key. It stayed activated until the day my computer died.

I've had every version of Windows since I bought my first computer with Windows 3.1 on it back in 1985. Each time Microsoft released a new version of Windows, I bought the upgrade package. It wasn't cheap, but did cost quite a bit less than the full version.

The point I'm making here is that prior to Windows 10, if I upgraded to Windows 7 from Windows Vista, I paid for that upgrade. I paid for the upgrade from Windows 7 to Windows 8.xx.

Sometime in late 2014, Microsoft announced that those of us running Windows 7 and Windows 8.xx could download and upgrade our machines to Windows 10 at no cost. Microsoft did not announce that we could download and install a free version of Windows 10.

larc919 said:

I'm talking earlier. The Windows 10 Insider Preview Program started about 10 months before Windows 10 was officially released on July 29, 2015. We early guinea pigs had to have something to work with, so Microsoft provided free copies of Insider Windows 10 Pro. When I first signed up, they emailed me a link for downloading and a key. The 2 computers I eventually used for Insider both had XP on them before I did clean installs of 10 Pro. I'm still running based on those 2 freebie original installs.

Uh, the fact that they allowed you to roll over your Technical Preview keys into full fledged licensed Windows 10 keys does not mean they gave it to you for free. You still had to DL and activate and run it. In a kind-hearted gesture, they allowed those keys to be used to upgrade to the RTM build (I remember it differently, in that I had to install Windows 10 cleanly after hte TP, as upgrading was not allowed, and I had to use my existing Windows 7 key to install it - but I may have done that on my own).. Which, again, was a free upgrade to Windows 10, not a free license for Windows 10.

Winuser said:

When it comes to Windows 10 being free we all have our own opinions. It is my opinion that MS does not give us Windows 10 for free. We are allowed to trade a licensed copy of Windows 7 or 8 for it. If it was truly free we would be able to download and install Windows 10 without using our license key for Windows 7 or 8.

Edit: In reply to MS never gave away a free copy of the Insider builds. Yes they did. When the Insider ring first started I down loaded and installed Windows 10 Pro and ran it as a dual boot without needing a purchased Pro key. It stayed activated until the day my computer died.

Please stop the FUD. The did not give anyone free Windows 10 keys. They did allow free upgrades to Windows 10 final RTM, by allowing people to tie those keys to their Microsoft accounts, which then were expanded under the new digital licensing scheme. And the allowing of folks to upgrade from TP 2 to RTM was inherently the same as allowing those with WIn7/8 to WinX RTM - which you can still do. And if you got a key from the Insider program prior to the original release of Windows 10 in 2015, that means it was a TP - so see above.

And I'll bet even money that if you had taken that key and never installed the TPs / Betas, and then tried to use the key on your first Windows 10 RTM install after the release, it would have failed.

The key word in everything I have written is the word upgrade. And that seems to be lost in translation, or something, because more than a few people are ignoring that fact.

Wynona said:

I've had every version of Windows since I bought my first computer with Windows 3.1 on it back in 1985. Each time Microsoft released a new version of Windows, I bought the upgrade package. It wasn't cheap, but did cost quite a bit less than the full version.

The point I'm making here is that prior to Windows 10, if I upgraded to Windows 7 from Windows Vista, I paid for that upgrade. I paid for the upgrade from Windows 7 to Windows 8.xx.

Sometime in late 2014, Microsoft announced that those of us running Windows 7 and Windows 8.xx could download and upgrade our machines to Windows 10 at no cost. Microsoft did not announce that we could download and install a free version of Windows 10.

I have most - I skipped ME and I have a Beta version of Vista that I got from a M$ conference, and I also skipped 8. I paid for Windows 3.1, every iteration of 95 / 98 that I had to, and 2000. I bought XP once and then found the TechNet program, which I continued to subscribe to until its demise, which is how I have all those extra Windows 7 keys that I used to upgrade numerous VMs and all my physical machines to WinX.

I have Windows 3.1 and 3.11 and the original 95 all on 3.44 MB Floppies. Even managed to retain the box with the diskettes during the move