Windows 10 will be available July 29

[Larry Browning]

Looks like I will be having some fun most of August.
http://www.cnet.com/news/microsoft-windows-10-finally-has-a-release-date-july-29/?tag=nl.e404&s_cid=e404&ttag=e404&ftag=CAD1acfa04

So who's going to upgrade with me?

[roger wiegand]

Do you think it will provide any more reason to "upgrade" from XP than the other recent versions have given? I haven't seen any new tricks I thought were worth spending the money or learning curve on. Of course I though MS Word hit its optimal level of functionality at version 3.1 in about 1986 and has only become more cluttered and obtuse since then.

[David Masters]

I like to wait at least 6 months before upgrading any OS. Windows 7 and 8.1 are working fine for me (I have four Windows licenses). What I want to know is whether I can secure the free upgrade to Windows 10 within the 1-year promotional period, but then shelve it until I am ready to upgrade? I'm not sure I can do this.

Dave

[John McClanahan]

From what I have been reading, Windows will upgrade itself to v10 if you have automatic updates turned on.


John

[Charles Taylor]

From what I have been reading, Windows will upgrade itself to v10 if you have automatic updates turned on.


John

I haven't been paying attention to the press on Windows 10. I did notice yesterday, though, that my notebook (which has automatic updates enabled) shows an icon on the taskbar that encourages me to "Get Windows 10". So far I haven't clicked to see what the next step would be.

[Larry Browning]

Do you think it will provide any more reason to "upgrade" from XP than the other recent versions have given? I haven't seen any new tricks I thought were worth spending the money or learning curve on. Of course I though MS Word hit its optimal level of functionality at version 3.1 in about 1986 and has only become more cluttered and obtuse since then.
Roger,
Could you give me an example of what you would consider to be a good reason to upgrade? Just curious. I would think that the fact that XP is no longer supported by MS would be a pretty good reason all by itself. I know that where I work XP is banned from the network. We spent a WHOLE bunch of money either upgrading or replacing every computer running XP.

I know there may be still some specialty software that won't run properly on Windows 8, and they may not run properly on windows 10. I personally don't think that is Microsoft's fault though.

[Larry Browning]

I haven't been paying attention to the press on Windows 10. I did notice yesterday, though, that my notebook (which has automatic updates enabled) shows an icon on the taskbar that encourages me to "Get Windows 10". So far I haven't.
Window 10 is not yet available. That icon is for you to reserve a copy for when it does become available. I think that is what John is referring to.

[Bruce Page]

I have Win 7 Pro installed in the home PC and the shop PC. If I upgrade to 10 will it also be the Pro edition? I read the the 10 Home edition will not allow you to turn off the auto update function. I can't allow that in my shop PC.

[Lee Schierer]

I would think that the fact that XP is no longer supported by MS would be a pretty good reason all by itself. I know that where I work XP is banned from the network. We spent a WHOLE bunch of money either upgrading or replacing every computer running XP.

The only reason I felt it necessary to upgrade from XP was the fact that our secure banking links would no longer accept the older versions of Java that we had with XP and java said the newer versions wouldn't work with XP. I'm a firm believer in "If it isn't broken, don't fix it. I ran XP for years with no problems and very few if any crashes. My feeling is that the software industry drives its own future sales and profits by making software and operating systems obsolete so they can force you into buying newer editions which often time aren't significantly better. Just my 2 cents worth....

[Larry Browning]

I personally HATE the metro apps in windows 8, but I found a work around by using a program called StartIsBack, that pretty much eliminates the need to ever see the metro app screens. Best I can tell I will not need StartIsBack in Win10. We will see though.

[Larry Browning]

My feeling is that the software industry drives its own future sales and profits by making software and operating systems obsolete so they can force you into buying newer editions which often time aren't significantly better. Just my 2 cents worth....
I also believe this. However, I also accept it as a fact of life and choose to embrace it rather than fight it. You know what the say "Resistance futile!" So we might as well learn to live with it.
You can saddle a dead horse, but it won't do you much good.

[Larry Browning]

I have Win 7 Pro installed in the home PC and the shop PC. If I upgrade to 10 will it also be the Pro edition? I read the the 10 Home edition will not allow you to turn off the auto update function. I can't allow that in my shop PC.
Here is an article "trying" to explain the different Win 10 versions and the upgrade paths from existing versions. I think your answer is in there somewhere.
http://www.techsupportalert.com/content/windows-10-editions-and-upgrades-announced.htm

[Bruce Page]

Thanks Larry. It looks like if you have 7 Pro the upgrade will be the Pro edition as well.

"Consumers and small businesses with Windows 7 Professional, Windows 7 Ultimate, and Windows 8.1 Pro systems will be offered a free online upgrade to Windows 10 Pro."

That makes me feel better.

[David Masters]

An auto update to Windows 10 would be a customer service nightmare, so I hope you're wrong about that. I did read about the upgrade icon appearing if you have automatic updates enabled.

Dave

[Chuck Wintle]

Looks like I will be having some fun most of August.
http://www.cnet.com/news/microsoft-windows-10-finally-has-a-release-date-july-29/?tag=nl.e404&s_cid=e404&ttag=e404&ftag=CAD1acfa04

So who's going to upgrade with me?

I have the "free" upgrade offered to me and i have reserved a copy. Does anyone know what this upgrade will be like? Is it something that can be lived with or some other pile of c**p from MS?

[Bruce Page]

An auto update to Windows 10 would be a customer service nightmare, so I hope you're wrong about that. I did read about the upgrade icon appearing if you have automatic updates enabled.

Dave

More info here:
http://www.theverge.com/2015/6/1/8696949/windows-10-feature-loss

The auto updates I was talking about is the updates after you have Win 10 installed.

[roger wiegand]

Roger,
Could you give me an example of what you would consider to be a good reason to upgrade? Just curious.

There's not really much I want an OS to do that XP didn't do. A few compelling new things I can think of might include transparent and completely secure management of the myriad of passwords I need to use (LastPass handles this well for me on the browser side, but not in applications), or better some more convenient and more secure replacement for passwords, transparent and seamless management of connection to network drives I use regularly, ability to print to map printers (poster printers) without investing 2-3 hours of configuration effort every single blasted time, really useful and fast search of all local files (Spotlight on steroids perhaps), simple connections to projectors that work the first time, and, of course, inherent protection from viruses and malware.

I do use computers with both Win 7.1 and 8.1 installed (I only have one running XP, that to run Frontpage 2003 to support a website I don't have the time to update to a newer format; I also keep a Win97 machine to run some music software that turned into non-useful bloatware before it went out of business--the early program was great though!), my main everyday computers run OS X Yosemite (with Windows 7.1 running under VMWare or Parallels for Windows only programs), none of them consistently do the above. I spend what feels like an inordinate amount of time keeping printers, network connections, and backups working consistently on my wife's Win 7.1 laptop. It feels like most updates are rearranging the deck chairs, making the interfaces ever more cartoonish, and fiendishly hiding commands in new places for no apparent reason.

Enough ranting. I'm much happier having computers than not.

[Mike Henderson]

I have an update reserved for both of my machines. I'll give it a try, even though I know I should wait until the first service pack.

Mike

[George Bokros]

We have Windows 7 and Windows 8 now Windows 10, what happened to Windows 9??

[Mike Henderson]

We have Windows 7 and Windows 8 now Windows 10, what happened to Windows 9??
Microsoft skipped 9. Went directly to 10.

Mike

[Duane Meadows]

I have an update reserved for both of my machines. I'll give it a try, even though I know I should wait until the first service pack.

MikeMy understanding is there will be no "service pack". Just incremental updates! I'd think at some point there has to be an updated install .iso/disk released, though

[Larry Browning]

We have Windows 7 and Windows 8 now Windows 10, what happened to Windows 9??
Well, I think 7-8-9 That's the official joke!

Thanks for setting that one up George!

[Tom Stenzel]

You can saddle a dead horse, but it won't do you much good.

I don't mind getting rid of an old dead horse but do mind being forced to buy a new fresh dead horse.

-Tom

[Mike Henderson]

My understanding is there will be no "service pack". Just incremental updates! I'd think at some point there has to be an updated install .iso/disk released, though
I should have put a smiley face on my comment. It was an attempt at a joke.

Mike

[Brian Henderson]

I want nothing to do with Windows 10 until it's been in the wild at least a year. Every version of Windows comes with a ton of bugs. I've got 7, it works fine for me, I don't need anything different until they have proven that the new software is reasonably stable and bug-free.

[John Coloccia]

I'll try it on my laptop first. If that goes well, I'll get a new drive for the desktop, and do a fresh install there.....someday.

[Pat Barry]

I'll jump in with both feet if it gets rid of the start menu in Windows 8. I just HATE the popup menu on the right side of the screen that comes up virtually everytime I touch my touchpad

[Frederick Skelly]

I personally HATE the metro apps in windows 8, but I found a work around by using a program called StartIsBack, that pretty much eliminates the need to ever see the metro app screens. Best I can tell I will not need StartIsBack in Win10. We will see though.

Thanks Larry. I might have to get that program. I've been really surprised that the learning curve on 8.1 has been steep for me. I just have not been able to find/do basic things consistently. I want to like it, but .....

[Curt Harms]

The "free" upgrade offer is supposed to be good for 12 months after the release of Windows 10 so there's no rush. Let the Beta testers -er- early adopters have the 'fun'. Has anyone seen the EULA that comes with the 'free' upgrade? Is there one yet?

[Larry Browning]

Thanks Larry. I might have to get that program. I've been really surprised that the learning curve on 8.1 has been steep for me. I just have not been able to find/do basic things consistently. I want to like it, but .....
Fred,
There are actually multiple choices for the windows 8 start button programs. StartIsBack is the one I use, but there is also Start8 both of these cost less that a cup of coffee at Starbucks. but there are free versions too. Just google "Start button replacement" or something similar. It will change the way you feel about Windows 8.
But the best I can tell, Windows 10 will have a usable start button in desktop mode that might eliminate the need for programs like StartIsBack, even though they are planning on a Windows 10 version. We will see.

[James Tibbetts]

Microsoft is in business to make money. So where, when, and how do they intend to get it by giving me a "free" upgrade?
Just my suspicious nature I suppose.

[William Adams]

Yeah, I found (find) Windows 8.1 infuriating as well.

This cheat should would've helped:

http://imgur.com/GIgQeUA

Doubt that it's going to address a laundry list of little issues I have w/ it relative to NeXTstep.

[John Coloccia]

Microsoft is in business to make money. So where, when, and how do they intend to get it by giving me a "free" upgrade?
Just my suspicious nature I suppose.

You'll upgrade your computer one day, won't you? Remember, these licenses are locked to the computer you're on, much like the OEM licensing. They want to kill XP, 7 and 8, and get everyone on one manageable codebase. Apple did this with OSX a LONG time ago, and it's working out pretty well.

[Dennis Peacock]

I'm a Unix/Linux guy as well as a long time Windows user. I am strongly considering a move to a Mac. My day job moved us to Office 365 and I greatly dislike it. I don't want to move to W-10 because they take my usual apps away from my desktop and move me to the Office 365 model. I like having my own apps to use offline as I choose.

[Mike Circo]

I've been a Windows guy since Windows 3.0. Both personally and professionally. (I'm the proverbial IT guy). As the years have gone on I've become increasingly unhappy with windows. It is a hardware hog, despite what MS says about hardware requirements. It is fragile, easily hacked, or messed up by normal daily usage. It continues to suffer from "Win-Rot" where it becomes more bloated and unstable with age.

I will ultimately upgrade only to get rid of that Windows 8 abomination. I am very concerned about Microsoft's new business model for OS's. They seem to be going to a "lease" type of model and forcing updates on you is the first step there. I want my OS to run my system, not BECOME my system, Windows 10 seems to be the first step to becoming all powerful.

As such, I've begun to use Linux more and more. I have Ubuntu on a old small laptop of mine and runs like a champ. It exceeded my expectations, runs faster and more stable on a i3 processor under 2gigs of memory than Windows 8 does on an i7 system with 8 gigs. It has all the essential applications for daily use... all for free. For those not dependent on Windows branded applications, Linux is becoming a more valid and usable option. Easy to install, the new shells make it familiar to use, stable, small, agile and less threatened by hacks. I'll always keep a Linux system around as my browser and "spare" machine.

[Wade Lippman]

Of course I though MS Word hit its optimal level of functionality at version 3.1 in about 1986 and has only become more cluttered and obtuse since then.

I thought Word97 was the best and stayed with it for 18 years until new antivirus software deleted it and I couldn't find the disk. I fumbled around for a while until I found LibreOffice 4.4. It is Word97 with modern formats and such.

[Wade Lippman]

My computer has only a 64gb drive with about 30gb left after the operating system. That is plenty.
If I upgrade the W8 to W10 will it eat into my 30gb, or will it delete the W8? Anyone know?

[Mike Circo]

My computer has only a 64gb drive with about 30gb left after the operating system. That is plenty.
If I upgrade the W8 to W10 will it eat into my 30gb, or will it delete the W8? Anyone know?

It may not install at all. A complete upgrade like that will essentially bring down the entire OS, install it in parallel to the original, then remove the old stuff that's not required.
That's a tiny drive by modern standards. I didn't even think 64GB drives were available in the last decade!

[Larry Browning]

My computer has only a 64gb drive with about 30gb left after the operating system. That is plenty.
If I upgrade the W8 to W10 will it eat into my 30gb, or will it delete the W8? Anyone know?
Wade, It is most definitely time for a new computer my man! Or at least a new hard drive. I did a quick search on Amazon and found a 160gb HD for $23. You can get a 1TB drive for $53.
Surly you can afford that. I've got a movie or 2 that won't fit on a 64gb hard drive.
Upgrading to W10 is the least of you worries!

[Larry Browning]

Here is another article about that mysterious icon that started showing up on your computer (Tells you how to get rid for it, but also looks pretty risky to do so if you ask me. It could cause more trouble that it's worth!)
http://www.techsupportalert.com/content/all-about-windows-10-upgrade-offer-including-how-get-rid-it.htm

[Jerry Thompson]

If one were to use, as an example, Linux how would one use all of the programs that are used with Windows? I have word processing, Photoshop Elements and a host of other programs I use almost daily and would need to utilize them.

[Larry Browning]

If one were to use, as an example, Linux how would one use all of the programs that are used with Windows? I have word processing, Photoshop Elements and a host of other programs I use almost daily and would need to utilize them.
For the most part, there are Linux "equivalent" programs that would need to be installed. For instance there is Libre Office that will replace MS Office. I don't know if Photoshop Elements has a Linux equivalent.
I have tried to use Ubuntu, but just can't get into it. It just seems amateurish to me. Installing programs is awkward. With Windows you just download the program and double click on it to start the install process. With Linux there seems to be a multitude of ways to do it, all awkward if you ask me. I just don't feel comfortable using it. I suppose I could get used to it if I worked at it, but I think I would always be thinking "This would be a whole lot easier in Windows". And just like with Windows Phone, I would always be discovering some program I want to install, only to find out it's not available for Linux.
I really don't want to start a Windows vs Linux debate here though.

[Wade Lippman]

Wade, It is most definitely time for a new computer my man!

Actually it was just delivered today; an ASUS T100. It is plenty big for my needs, but I didn't give any thought to a W10 upgrade. I guess I will live without it.

Hey, the first computer I used had 4kb memory and papertape storage. 64gb of storage is huge.

I just googled on "ASUS T100 W10 upgrade" and found I can't do an upgrade, but can do an install on a reformatted disk. I did that a couple months ago when my son's harddrive crashed, but W10 would have to be pretty spectacular before I would do it without having to.

[Scott Shepherd]

Every so often an operating system comes along that's just built well. It's actually pretty rare, I think, having lived through the beginning of PC's until now. When that one comes along, and it's improved a little more and more over time and patches, and then the new one comes out and it's a hot mess and breaks a bunch of things that worked well before, people hold on to the old one because it worked. Let's hope Windows 10 is one of the good ones we can latch on to and it works well.

[Jim Becker]

Microsoft is in business to make money. So where, when, and how do they intend to get it by giving me a "free" upgrade?
Just my suspicious nature I suppose.

Windows 10 will be a free upgrade for anyone with a legitimate copy of Windows back through several versions. Microsoft is focusing more on applications and other things for going forward revenue, rather than for the OS. Apple no longer charges for OS upgrades, either, and pretty much every "consumer" distribution of Linux is also available without cost. Microsoft is just following suit. Based on what I've been reading on a variety of sources, Windows 10 should be a good product as they have done some thoughtful things to address the challenges that version 8.x brought while keeping access to things that version 8.x brought to alternative platforms, such as good touch screen adaptation.

Although I'm a MacOS user at this point, I'll likely faddle with Windows 10 since I still use Windows for Quicken and Cutlist Plus. (and nothing else...) Given I have legal licenses for Windows for both of my Macs that I paid over a hundred bucks each for...I'll appreciate that free upgrade! :)

[Dave Lehnert]

Windows 10 Holographic Demonstration
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fq1y5E-hvMw

[Scott Hearn]

I'm also a Mac OS user and I can't imagine going back to Windows EVER! I once was in IT and managed servers and workstations on a network with over 125 workstations. I hated it because Windows was so flaky across platforms. I have mid 2011 iMac that has went through 2 OS upgrades, I have 2 iPhones, 2 iPads, and 2 Apple TVs now and it all works seamlessly together. To backup my iMac I just plug in a USB drive and turn on Time Machine. That's it. It does a full system backup first then an incremental every hour after that and it's hard coded in, you don't even have to develope a backup plan or schedule because there's no need. When the drive is full it starts overwriting the oldest incrementals. I think I've rebooted my machine maybe 8 times since I've had it. A couple of times when the power went out due to tornados and a couple of times when doing the OS upgrades. No muss, no fuss. That's Apple, it just works....

[John McClanahan]

I agree with Scott. I have a mid 2010 27" iMac. It runs the latest OS very well. The extra upfront cost of the machine is paying off now. It is 5 years old and still has plenty of speed.


John

[Brian Elfert]

I'm also a Mac OS user and I can't imagine going back to Windows EVER! I once was in IT and managed servers and workstations on a network with over 125 workstations. I hated it because Windows was so flaky across platforms. I have mid 2011 iMac that has went through 2 OS upgrades, I have 2 iPhones, 2 iPads, and 2 Apple TVs now and it all works seamlessly together. To backup my iMac I just plug in a USB drive and turn on Time Machine. That's it. It does a full system backup first then an incremental every hour after that and it's hard coded in, you don't even have to develope a backup plan or schedule because there's no need. When the drive is full it starts overwriting the oldest incrementals. I think I've rebooted my machine maybe 8 times since I've had it. A couple of times when the power went out due to tornados and a couple of times when doing the OS upgrades. No muss, no fuss. That's Apple, it just works....


I use Windows because I have a bunch of programs that only run on Windows. Mac hardware is also crazy expensive. I paid around $600 for my Dell laptop. A MacBook Pro with similar specs would cost me a minimum of $1999. I use Windows 7 because it just works for the most part. I can't remember the last time I rebooted due to issues. I only have one computer so I probably won't do Windows 10 until I get a new PC as I would go crazy without a computer.

[Scott Hearn]

I use Windows because I have a bunch of programs that only run on Windows. Mac hardware is also crazy expensive. I paid around $600 for my Dell laptop. A MacBook Pro with similar specs would cost me a minimum of $1999. I use Windows 7 because it just works for the most part. I can't remember the last time I rebooted due to issues. I only have one computer so I probably won't do Windows 10 until I get a new PC as I would go crazy without a computer.

This was EXACTLY me before I plunked down the money (except for the Win7 rebooting). I would get to where I'd have to reinstall the OS due to registry degradation, updates messing something that previously worked and then didn't, or something about every 18 months. It would generally start at about 12 and I limped it along and just dealt with it for another 6. And we won't even talk about the bluetooth stack that was fine in XP that they took backwards and didn't work at all on my hardware with Vista. :mad:

I do run Quickbooks for Windows using Parallels and sometimes I can only access some websites for work through IE. I run Office for Mac 2011 natively because I have to have real MS Office for work, I want it local, and I don't boot Windows unless I absolutely have too. Otherwise I'd use something just Office compatible because the MS Mac products are the bastard stepchildren of MS, they are updated very infrequently. Same for Quickbooks and payroll. I guess that's understandable considering the market share.

As much success as I've had with OSX I just can't imagine going back unless my work forces me to and that will be on a separate machine just for work.

Edit to add: As to the hardware cost, it's actually cheaper. My niece is still running a 2010 notebook and has no issues. I can't even imagine running a Windows notebook that long, I'd already be on my 3rd or 4th one! Also you don't need anti-virus to slow your machine to a crawl.

[Cary Falk]

I have been running Win10 for 4 months now. Like it better then 8.x but not as well oas XP or 7. Classic shell makes Win8 tolerable.

[Curt Harms]

If one were to use, as an example, Linux how would one use all of the programs that are used with Windows? I have word processing, Photoshop Elements and a host of other programs I use almost daily and would need to utilize them.

Word processing/spreadsheet/presentation /draw = Libre Office or Apache Open Office. Scientific and engineering types use LaTex I believe.

Photo editing - GIMP (graphics image manipulation program). There are others but I believe GIMP is the most developed.

The yabbut is that Microsoft and Adobe file formats are proprietary (whether they want to admit it or not). Libre Office will open and save .doc, .docx, xls, xlsx etc. but don't expect 100% fidelity, especially with complex documents or macros. Supposedly newer MS Office opens and saves .odt (open document text) and .ods (open document spreadsheet). How well that works I don't know. This might be a place to start:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SoftwareEquivalents?action=show&redirect=WindowsApplicationsEquivalents

[William Adams]

The thing that's weird to me is why we're preserving ancient old legacy format decisions --- Lotus Improv / Quantrix Financial Modeler are much better spreadsheets than Excel --- wish Flexisheet would get some traction, LyX (graphical front-end for LaTeX) is much more capable than Word, esp. for long documents. Wish there was some similar innovation for drawing programs.

[Larry Browning]

The thing that's weird to me is why we're preserving ancient old legacy format decisions --- Lotus Improv / Quantrix Financial Modeler are much better spreadsheets than Excel --- wish Flexisheet would get some traction, LyX (graphical front-end for LaTeX) is much more capable than Word, esp. for long documents. Wish there was some similar innovation for drawing programs.
Just because something is "better" than what is popular does not automatically make everybody switch. Beta Max was way better than VHS, but it still died.

[Curt Harms]

Just because something is "better" than what is popular does not automatically make everybody switch. Beta Max was way better than VHS, but it still died.

Sad but true, Larry. Plus in the computer world there's interoperability and file compatibility. Proprietary file formats has been worth a LOT to Microsoft.

[Scott Donley]

Just a warning, if you want to change your mind and cancel your registration their instructions don't work.

Yes, you can cancel your reservation at any time prior to installing Windows 10. Here’s how:


Right click on the Get Windows 10 App or Windows icon located in right end of the taskbar.
Select “Check your upgrade status”
Select “Cancel reservation”

There is no “Cancel reservation”

[Larry Browning]

Microsoft has promised the return of a real start button in Win10. Here is an article explaining the Win10 start button. Even though it is still not the same as Win7 it looks to have promise.
http://www.techsupportalert.com/content/windows-10-start-menu-explained-how-customize-and-use-it.htm

Chuck,
MS says that Win10 is the beginning of a new direction in pricing of Windows. They seem to be following Apple in only charging you once for the OS and then all upgrades will be free from that point on for you. I think the best way to answer you question is to refer you to the numerous review sites where it is discussed at great length. Just "google" Windows 10, and go from there.

[paul cottingham]

I plan to upgrade my final XP machine to Linux. Then Windows will be banished from my home completely. It will be a glorious, glorious day.

of course, I will likely cave, and reinstall it, as I have a couple apps and games that I can't run in WINE despite my best efforts. I will likely just install it into a virtual machine running in Linux, or my wife's Mac. That way, I can get rid of a virus by deleting the VM and reinstalling.

[Curt Harms]

I downloaded and burned to DVD the 32 bit and 64 bit .iso of Win 10 build 10130. I tried both bare metal and in a VirtualBox VM. The only thing I've tried and haven't been able to do is run Win 10 full screen in a VM, I think because there aren't guest-additions for Windows 10 that extend VirtualBox's video beyond 1023 X 768 yet. The legacy software that is a primary reason for maintaining a Windows install seems to work as advertized. At least I could figure out how to use it without spending time with Google unlike Windows 8. I don't see moving away from Ubuntu as my primary O.S. though.

[Phillip Gregory]

Count me out for using Windows 10. The last Windows I have ever used on my own computers was Windows XP. It was a definite downgrade from Windows 2000. XP wanted to hold your hand too much, it got a lot of the automagic stuff wrong, and it was a pig (on early 2000s era hardware.) It was a real bear to try to fix broken things as MS clearly did NOT want users mucking around with the OS. I started using Linux as it was the opposite of Windows XP- there was very little that happened automatically and you had complete control over everything. The general design and utilities of the OS made a lot of sense too, especially when I started to have more than one machine and wanted to do things like share files on the network, perform automated backups, share a printer, etc. I got the pleasure of being able to avoid a lot of issues that Windows users had to deal with- very delayed 64-bit support, no PAE support on 32 bit CPUs, poor performance on newer AMD chips until they have been out for years and the OS catches up with them, the inability to use hard drives over 2 TB unless you have a new UEFI-based motherboard, very limited software RAID support, and a general lack of support for multiple CPU systems.

I have used every version of Windows from XP (both 32 and 64-bit) onward at work. XP 64-bit stank, there were almost no drivers and very, very few 64-bit programs. Vista was an unreliable pig of an OS, and the much ballyhooed 64-bit version still didn't have any drivers or 64-bit programs. But it sure loved the fact that you had 4+ GB of RAM in the system, it would use all of it! Windows 7 doesn't seem too bad, it struck me as probably what MS intended Vista to be. My wife has Windows 8 on her laptop and it is awful. Her last laptop had Vista which she apparently didn't mind and she says Windows 8 is terrible. The few times I have had to use her computer I try to keep it on the what-used-to-be-the-desktop and just use the Run Command box or the Windows sort of equivalent of a terminal (Power Shell) to launch programs by name. The lack of a program (Start) menu is a massive failure of that OS. There's a reason pretty well every computer window manager has one, even if the OS underneath is radically different- it works. Don't fix it if it isn't broken.

I have also used a few revisions of Apple OSes over the years. System 6 was unstable but had many more features than Windows 3.x of the time that it was worth it. System 7/MacOS 7 was absolute garbage compared to Windows 95. I have never even seen a computer run MacOS 8 or 9. I have seen some that would have had it on them originally but ALL of them were upgraded to OS X. OS X was pretty nifty when it first came out but now it just appears to be different just for the sake of being different. There is nothing that I see in OS X that even remotely justifies the high cost of the hardware and the limited software support. You can get the same effect in installing any GNOME3 on top of FreeBSD on a Sony laptop :D

[ron david]

if you have older printers and scanners they may not work on 10. both my older hp printer and epson scanner work on my windows 7 pc but won't on laptop with 8.1. can' get the drivers. mind you I have had them over a doz years but they still work fine. I willl go to 10 in my laptop as that gives you the old start screen
ron

[Larry Browning]

I willl go to 10 in my laptop as that gives you the old start screen
ron

Don't expect it to work EXACTLY like the Win7 start menu. I am just hoping it will be usable for us old school guys (If Win 7 is now considered old school).
Here (http://www.techsupportalert.com/content/windows-10-start-menu-explained-how-customize-and-use-it.htm) is an article about the Win10 Start Menu.
Here is an article (http://www.techsupportalert.com/content/how-get-windows-7-start-menu-windows-10.htm) about replacing the Win10 Start menu with some freeware. (There are paid versions too which are in the $5 range) I have one of the paid versions installed on my home PC running Win8.1. I am planning on trying the Win10 start menu before replacing it. (Trying to keep an open mind)

[Michael Weber]

I still miss DOS, when you knew what was on your computer, how it got there, who put it there and what it was for.

[Mike Lassiter]

I still miss DOS, when you knew what was on your computer, how it got there, who put it there and what it was for.

AND when a program was installed everything was placed in the same directory and not hidden in random obscure places nobody would ever look. Want to delete a program? Delete the directory it was in and everything was gone. Of course hard drive space was much more costly and valuable in those days. I guess now we can afford to leave misc. garbage and never again used or needed files on the hard drive. I installed Adobe Suite CS4 (I think) a few years ago and it required over 1 GB of drive space. I remember the first hard drive I ever had was a monstrous 30 MB and I upgraded from the 360K floppy drive to the new 1.44 MB drive about that time. I had complete programs on those 360K floppy disk and my 640K of ram was enough.
Now using 2TB hard drive with 12 GB of ram.

[Larry Browning]

Ah, yeah, those were the days. I remember when MSDOS 5 came out and thinking, man! what more could you ask for from an operating system? I also remember shopping fo a new computer and trying to decide between a 40 and 80 meg hard drive. (that's right, meg!) wondering how I would ever fill up the 80meg drive and trying to justify the extra $100. As I recall, the Tim Taylor in me prevailed and I got the 80meg drive.

[Mike Henderson]

As long as we're reminiscing, my first PC was an IBM with the 5 1/4" floppies - I don't remember whether it had one or two floppies. Then I added a 5MB hard disk drive to it and thought it was really uptown.

Mike

[Larry Browning]

As long as we're reminiscing, my first PC was an IBM with the 5 1/4" floppies - I don't remember whether it had one or two floppies. Then I added a 5MB hard disk drive to it and thought it was really uptown.

Mike
And it probably cost $5,000. That's what I remember them costing at the time. I also remember, when I realized that I was going to own a computer for the rest of my life. Sort of like knowing you would always own a car, or TV. I just knew I was always going to have one. At that time, I figured I would be getting a new one every 5-7 years and would need to get what ever $2,000 would buy me. I figured the price would stay about the same, but the technology would improve. I never really thought the price would come down too! my number now is more like $500. A$2,000 computer is way overkill for my needs.

I remember the first IBM PC I ever saw was at work. They had one in the accounting department. It had an 8088 processor, 640k ram, 2 5 1/4" floppy drives and an external 10MB hard drive. It had a 10" monochrome monitor and a dot matrix printer. They used mostly to run Visicalc spreadsheets. That whole setup cost just shy of 10 grand.

[Mike Henderson]

And it probably cost $5,000. That's what I remember them costing at the time. I also remember, when I realized that I was going to need to own a computer for the rest of my life. Sort of like knowing you would always own a car, or TV. I just knew I was always going to have one. At that time, I figured I would be getting a new one every 5-7 years and would need to get what ever $2,000 would buy me. I figured the price would stay about the same, but the technology would improve. I never really thought the price would come down too! my number now is more like $500. A$2,000 computer is way overkill for my needs.
Yeah, I don't remember what it cost but it had to be less than $5K. I wouldn't have spent that much for a computer - especially back then, $5K was a lot of money. I'm going to guess it was closer to $2K.

Mike