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lake_wrangler wrote:Let's have some more fun:

Windows 7 update block: Is it Microsoft forcing Windows 10 upgrades or just protecting users?

Funny how every other operating system doesn't seem to have the monumental hardware problems that Windows does that they are citing for forcing people into Win10...

Just another cash grab. Honestly, I feel that MS is doing more monopolistic practices by leveraging their market share and FORCING CPU producers to do things their way or the highway. But that's a whole 'nother argument.

I'll check that out, but two things:

- The 'free' Win 10 Upgrade Offer has expired. &

- There is a loop-hole (as yet unverified by moi) that allows the free upgrade to still take place.

I am currently in Win 8.1 uEFI Repair (w/out reformatting) Hell...

TazManiac wrote:I'll check that out, but two things:

- The 'free' Win 10 Upgrade Offer has expired. &

- There is a loop-hole (as yet unverified by moi) that allows the free upgrade to still take place.

I am currently in Win 8.1 uEFI Repair (w/out reformatting) Hell...

This article (written this month), is not about the free upgrade, but rather that MS claims that Win 7 and 8 don't play well with some newer hardware, so they may have, at one point, prevented those OSes from getting security updates, in order to "encourage" those users to upgrade to Win10, rather than to have to test those updates on three OSes rather than one, even though the official service cutoff date had not yet been reached for those said OSes.

Hell, i'd just keep on pushing the patches out to W7 and let it crash the systems that don't support W7.

LW, I wasn't really mistaken, just making a tangential, maybe parallel, point...

TazManiac wrote:LW, I wasn't really mistaken, just making a tangential, maybe parallel, point...

Ah. My apologies.

There is a new 'version' of Windows 10 coming out, but if you read the following Forbes article I suggest you don't bite the bait:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/gordonkell ... b727984b80

In a nut shell, it seems only MS authorized apps get installed. That right there is a deal breaker. And ther'e prob more to come...

Here is another article defining what the basic differences are between Win10 and Win10'S':
https://www.forbes.com/sites/gordonkell ... 57533a1097

Goodbye Desktop Programs
Yes, just like Microsoft’s failed Windows RT platform, Windows 10 S will not run software you have to install from the desktop. Currently that means no Chrome, no Firefox, no iTunes, numerous games and much much more.
Windows 10S cannot run any programs which must be installed from the desktop
Instead all Windows 10 S software comes from the Windows Store...

"Yes, we here at MacroSloth believe in customer satisfaction so much that our latest OS upgrade is guaranteed to improve your life through Decision Simplification (tm)! No longer will you have to struggle through complicated installations of off-brand computer applications. Thanks to Decision Simplification (tm), if MacroSloth doesn't approve it, it won't install! Now really, how hard is that to understand? Even the most basic computer user will come to appreciate how preventing excess installations leads to improved personal computer function -- nothing to get in the way!

"MacroSloth -- paving the way to the future, and you're included!"

Windows 10S will be the MS equivalent of Android.

AnotherFairportfan wrote:Windows 10S will be the MS equivalent of Android.

With Android, at least, you can enable installation of software from alternative sources and downloads. It's generally not recommend, as that's often a channel by which malware-loaded apps get into a phone, and the default security setting for many Android devices is "Google Play Store only", but enabling it is usually just one switch to toggle in the security Settings. Microsoft might provide an equivalent permission in 10S... or maybe not?

I'm sure that the malware and virus problem is a big part of Microsoft's motivation/excuse for Windows 10S (with "S" meaning "secure" no doubt).

They want to be able to assure their customers that they, and only they, can install software on your computer that can upload your personal details and private files and credentials to their servers, and pwn your machine as their own, and shut your machine down remotely.

Read the EULA carefully.

More likely "S" for "Surface".

Atomic wrote:"MacroSloth -- paving the way to the future, and you're included!"

As paving material.

'S' is for "special"... as in, "Isn't that speeecial..."


From the second link:

Performance - The Big Selling Point

Microsoft has yet to reveal what Windows 10 S stands for, but ‘Speed’ would be as good a choice as any. Windows 10 S will boot in just 15 seconds. It is built on the same core as Windows 10 but is more lightweight, running on lesser hardware configurations which allows for both the purchase of very cheap PCs (more later) but also installation on older hardware to bring it back to life.

If you’re setting up multiple computers, Windows 10 S can also be installed via USB with preconfigured options. That’s a big time saver.

So they're just now catching up to what Linux has been able to do for years...

The Bad News
Goodbye Desktop Programs

Yes, just like Microsoft’s failed Windows RT platform, Windows 10 S will not run software you have to install from the desktop. Currently that means no Chrome, no Firefox, no iTunes, numerous games and much much more.

Microsoft Windows 10S cannot run any programs which must be installed from the desktop

Instead all Windows 10 S software comes from the Windows Store. Microsoft rightly points out this should mean software is safer, a big deal for schools and businesses, but currently the Windows Store is a wasteland. Will the likes of Google and Apple repackage their software so it can be installed on Windows 10 S via the Windows Store? That seems a big ask.

Meanwhile, back in Linuxland...

While Linux may prefer that you install programs from your distribution's official repositories (and there are a whole lot of programs available through those), you still have other options for direct installation. Flexibility, thy name is Linux.

Granted, there are certain programs which won't run on Linux, and if you happen to need one of those, you're stuck with Windows. But for the majority of people who write very few documents, and mostly just browse the internet, listen to music, watch Netflix, and check their emails, there is no need to give all your private information to MS, and be shackled by their many consumer-unfriendly practices...

So they're trying something that they already know failed before?

I don't think I'd ever heard of any kind of pot being strong enough for someone to think it's a good idea.

Alkarii wrote:So they're trying something that they already know failed before?

I don't think I'd ever heard of any kind of pot being strong enough for someone to think it's a good idea.

What killed WIndows RT wasn't the app situation - it was that RT was a crappy half-assed semi-crippled abortion designed to run on Atom processors..

What are the options for installing something on iOS? I've heard that Apple is really strict about that, but can't speak from experience.

I know on Android the default is that you can only install apps from the Google Play Store... but go into settings and flick one switch, and then you can install any apps you like from wherever you get them. (Also, they are less uptight about letting apps into the Store than I've heard Apple is... but again, I can't speak from experience about the Apple stuff.)

I know that many people get all they need these days from a smartphone, but there's still a world of difference between phones & Desktop/Laptop Computers.
(MS doesn't want [us] to pay any attention to who or what is behind the Curtain, just like MacOS now that I think about it...)

It's partly Generational; lots of folks my age would be prepared to pop the cover off something to upgrade, say, the Video card.

Windows XP as a Business class default hung around a looooong time ("Hey it works, now, why fix any thing that aint broke?")-

I'm thinking the following generations will be sure to just throw up their collective hands and go with whatever flow is dictated to them by the 900 lbs Gorilla...

TazManiac wrote:I know that many people get all they need these days from a smartphone, but there's still a world of difference between phones & Desktop/Laptop Computers.

If they'd develop a multi-window version of Android, and had NOT locked down program-specific setting and tried to lock down even external storage so that you couldn't use two different programs on one file, I could be quite comfortable with an Android computer. There are just a few programs I regularly use that don't have Android versions, and at least one of them (the most important-to-me one) easily could in the context of a multi-window Android - it's written in Java, and already exists in version for Windows, OSX, and Linux.

So instead my computer runs Linux.

As of last summer, (or was it early fall?), I now have a Dell Latitude 5285 2-in-1 tablet. Core i5-7300U CPU, 8 GB RAM, 256 GB SSD, 2 USB-C port (and one USB 3.0). It currently runs Windows 10. I tested it with some live USB Linux distros, and it looks like it will work. I just want to change the SSD to a bigger one, first. Sure, this one is big enough to run two OSes on it, but I want this tablet to double as a portable backup drive of sort, to my main system... Once I get my income tax refund, I should be able to get a bigger SSD.

Meanwhile, I tolerate Win10 on this machine. I turned off all the telemetry I could, I disabled Cortana, and opted to use a local user account, rather than a Live MS account. There are some things that are convenient, tablet-wise, that probably won't be replicated on Linux, but I don't care. The interface on Win10 still looks ugly as sin, to me, and I just don't like the way MS does things. I'll be happy to upgrade this machine to a Linux OS. Yes, I will keep Win 10 as a dual boot, but only so I can get to know it enough to help friends with theirs...

"Interface"?

Classic Shell fixes that - if you looked at my desktop or my MS Surface, it would likely take you a second or so to realise it's Windows 10, not W7...