Windows 10 Anniversary Update: the Best New Features (theverge.com) 375
A year after the release of Windows 10, Microsoft is gearing up for Anniversary Update, the first major update to the company's desktop operating system. Ahead of the public release of Anniversary Update on August 2, Microsoft provided media outlets with the Anniversary Update, and their first impressions and reviews are out. The Verge has listed the big changes Windows 10 Anniversary ships with. From the article: Windows Ink: Windows Ink is without a doubt the best part of the Anniversary Update. It's essentially a central location to find built-in or third-party apps that work with your stylus. You can use the new sticky notes to note down reminders, and they'll even transform into true reminders as Cortana understands what you write.
Microsoft Edge extensions: If you're a fan of Chrome extensions, then you'll be glad to hear that they're heading to Microsoft's Edge browser. The Anniversary Update brings support for extensions, and it's now up to third-party developers to fill the Windows Store with their add-ons.
Cortana improvements: Microsoft's digital assistant, Cortana, debuted on Windows 10 last year, and the software maker is bringing it to the lock screen with the Anniversary Update. You'll be able to ask it to make a note, play music, set a reminder, and lots more without ever logging in. Cortana is also getting a little more intelligent, with the ability to schedule appointments in Outlook or options to send friends a document you were working on a week ago.
Dark theme and UI tweaks: You can switch on what I call even darker mode in settings, and it will switch built-in apps that typically use a white background over to black.Other improvements include things like Windows 10's ability to set your time zone automatically, and opening up of Windows Hello, the biometric feature to apps and websites. Additionally, the Xbox One is getting Windows apps. The Verge adds, "It feels like a promise that was made years ago, but it's finally coming true with the Anniversary Update. As Windows 10 now powers the Xbox One, Microsoft will start rolling out an update to its console to provide support for Cortana on Xbox One and the new universal apps." Microsoft is also adding Bash, the Linux command line to Windows with the new update. It's an optional feature and users will need to enable it to use it. Users will also be able to "project to PC," a feature that will allow one to easily find a PC to project to from a phone or another PC. There's also a new Skype app, and syncing of notifications between PC and phone is getting better.
Going by the reviews, it appears Windows 10 Anniversary Update is substantially more stable, and has interesting new features. You can read the first impressions of it on ZDNet, and review on PCWorld.
Microsoft Edge extensions: If you're a fan of Chrome extensions, then you'll be glad to hear that they're heading to Microsoft's Edge browser. The Anniversary Update brings support for extensions, and it's now up to third-party developers to fill the Windows Store with their add-ons.
Cortana improvements: Microsoft's digital assistant, Cortana, debuted on Windows 10 last year, and the software maker is bringing it to the lock screen with the Anniversary Update. You'll be able to ask it to make a note, play music, set a reminder, and lots more without ever logging in. Cortana is also getting a little more intelligent, with the ability to schedule appointments in Outlook or options to send friends a document you were working on a week ago.
Dark theme and UI tweaks: You can switch on what I call even darker mode in settings, and it will switch built-in apps that typically use a white background over to black.Other improvements include things like Windows 10's ability to set your time zone automatically, and opening up of Windows Hello, the biometric feature to apps and websites. Additionally, the Xbox One is getting Windows apps. The Verge adds, "It feels like a promise that was made years ago, but it's finally coming true with the Anniversary Update. As Windows 10 now powers the Xbox One, Microsoft will start rolling out an update to its console to provide support for Cortana on Xbox One and the new universal apps." Microsoft is also adding Bash, the Linux command line to Windows with the new update. It's an optional feature and users will need to enable it to use it. Users will also be able to "project to PC," a feature that will allow one to easily find a PC to project to from a phone or another PC. There's also a new Skype app, and syncing of notifications between PC and phone is getting better.
Going by the reviews, it appears Windows 10 Anniversary Update is substantially more stable, and has interesting new features. You can read the first impressions of it on ZDNet, and review on PCWorld.
Basically... (Score:5, Insightful)
Basically, there's still nothing in it for us workstation/desktop users, it's all about mobile and apps. I'm definitely staying on Windows 7.
Re: Basically... (Score:3, Insightful)
The problem is that Microsoft is trying to Horn in on the market it doesn't have but that's already taken over by the smartphones.
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It's been shown that writing something down helps you remember it more. If you just listen then you've probably forgotten most of it by the time the lecture is over.
And that's writing it down, which meant pen and paper most likely, not sure how it compares to typing it in. As for stylus, sheesh, stop being so elite and get a friggin pad of paper. College is expensive enough without getting the latest conspicuous consumption toy.
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Bash.... my all-time favorite piece of software, is coming to Windows 10 (which I am forced to use at work). This is cause to rejoice!
Does Cygwin run on Win 10? (Score:4, Informative)
https://www.cygwin.com/ [cygwin.com]
> What is it?
>
> Cygwin is:
>
> a large collection of GNU and Open Source tools which provide functionality similar to a Linux distribution on Windows.
>
> a DLL (cygwin1.dll) which provides substantial POSIX API functionality.
No need to accept Microsoft's half-assed implementation. With Cygwin, you get the whole kit+kaboodle. bash and various other shells. X Window client and server, Firefox, mutt, sendmail, whatever. Even gcc, so you can build from source. And it's free. If the PHBs at work insist, you can buy support from Redhat, who publishes it.
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Basically, there's still nothing in it for us workstation/desktop users, it's all about mobile and apps. I'm definitely staying on Windows 7.
What is it you want? Personally I don't think there's much else I need in the OS for workstation tasks and frankly my day to day experience using Windows 10 is pretty much the same as Windows 7, but then again I'm not an IT guy spending time fixing and configuring the OS. The improvements of interest to me there are the DPI scaling for multiple monitors and Bash in Windows (mainly because I work mostly on Linux and OSX so having a common shell is nice).
Re: Basically... (Score:4, Insightful)
> What is it you want
1. A Start menu that isn't the nemesis of anyone who has ADHD who gets easily distracted.
2. A start menu that works like Windows 7's. I'm not a Luddite. If Microsoft came up with a genuinely better idea, I'd use it happily. Windows 10's start menu is an unambiguous step downward from Windows 7's. And it's butt-ugly, too.
3. I want Microsoft to quit crippling desktop apps and making them ugly for the benefit of tablets and phones that statistically, nobody even owns or wants anyway. I want Ubuntu to quit doing it, too, btw. At least with Ubuntu, Unity can be ignored and replaced.
4. I want the ability and right to decline future updates. Microsoft wants to make sure we can never again snub a future fuckup like Windows 8 and turn our backs on it. Sure, it's only a matter of time until openwrt adds an option to block windows update... But it's also only a matter of time until Microsoft has Windows deactivate itself if its attempts to download updates get frustrated too many times.
5. I want Aero Glass back, dammit. I paid $400 extra to get a discrete Quadro 3-D graphics card for my laptop just so I could enjoy Aero Glass in all its hardware-accelerated splendor. I really like it. Yes, I know we can (temporarily) re-enable it by copying dll files from Windows 7, but how long until Microsoft takes that away, too (see point 4)
6. I want Windows Media Center with full CableLabs-certified support for DVR'ing cablecard content flagged COPY_ONCE... Just like Windows 7 has.
Did I miss anything?
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1. A Start menu that isn't the nemesis of anyone who has ADHD who gets easily distracted.
2. A start menu that works like Windows 7's. I'm not a Luddite. If Microsoft came up with a genuinely better idea, I'd use it happily. Windows 10's start menu is an unambiguous step downward from Windows 7's. And it's butt-ugly, too.
If you don't like the built in one then use a custom shell. This is what we have been doing on Linux for as long as we have had desktop linux and even for many years on Windows with custom shells, sadly this concept of customizing the default system is lost on most Windows users.
3. I want Microsoft to quit crippling desktop apps and making them ugly for the benefit of tablets and phones that statistically, nobody even owns or wants anyway.
What desktop apps are you talking about? The key desktop apps I use: Visual Studio, 3ds max & Photoshop look the same on 10 as they did on 7.
At least with Ubuntu, Unity can be ignored and replaced.
You've always been able to replace the shell on Windows too, it's just that for the mos
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Windows Subsystem for Linux (aka "Bash for Windows", but that's a horrible misnomer IMO) is a big deal for power users.
Best new feature.... (Score:5, Funny)
Slashvertisements (Score:4, Insightful)
How the hell can you judge an OS's stability before it's even out?
Re:Slashvertisements (Score:4, Informative)
Agreed; and since both Windows 7 and 10 are already pretty darn stable, it's hard to imagine how they could make it substantially more so in a way anyone could notice.
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Windows 8.1 is my current favourite. 7 is getting a bit long in the tooth now, and 8.1 has some nice security enhancements. Bitlocker with SSD self-encryption is really nice too, no performance loss and pretty good security. 8.1 also handles monitors with different DPIs and apps that don't support DPI settings much better.
With Classic Start Menu installed it's my new default choice.
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Name a kernel that isn't buggy. ..and yes that is precisely what Bitlocker, dmcrypt, truecrypt were meant to do. They don't protect data while the volume is mounted. They provide access. The real question is whether bitlocker (and possibly the others) is backdoored, perhaps through broken crypto or clandestine duplication of keys.
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It didn't crash multiple times during the installation like Windows 10 did for my 5 year old Intel mobo PC.
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Because clearly Slashdot is a good sample of reality.
No wait, it's the opposite of that.
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There seems at the moment about a 1 in 3 to 1 in 4 chance of Trump actually being elected. While he's showing better performance than expected in some states, it still seems that Hillary has the advantage. But there's a helluva lot of time until November, and who knows, maybe Trump will finally start acting like someone who wants to be President, as opposed to someone who wants to mount the most expensive comedy routine in history.
"Substantially more stable" is a feature?!?! (Score:3, Insightful)
Public beta testing has never been more blatant.
Unusually +ve but what's in it for refusniks? (Score:5, Insightful)
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I'm still sticking with Win7.
If you couldn't justifying the technical improvements of Windows 10 over Windows 7 what made you think that a small service pack would change that? Also a gentle reminder that your telemetry is back-ported and you're not playing a game of Windows Update roulette using your old system, babying it as you do. What a horrible way to use an OS.
My laptop doesn't need to be confused with a phone
If this is likely to happen to you then you're holding it wrong. [sidetalking.com]
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telemetry is back-ported
The backported telemetry is part of CEIP and you just need to keep that disabled. But to be sure you can simply uninstall or not install those telemetry updates in the first place.
It's really not the same as using Windows 10, at all. Once (if) Windows 10 gets an off switch we can talk.
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Once (if) Windows 10 gets an off switch we can talk.
Microsoft is doing their best to listen to your opinion.
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Re:Unusually +ve but what's in it for refusniks? (Score:5, Insightful)
People are still hoping that there will be one killer feature that will make it worthwhile to "upgrade". At work i have a surface so i have to use win10.
Windows 10 features that I like are 1) better multi monitor support 2) better direct access VPN client 3) wireless display sharing is cool
Other than that, I really don't see a need for anyone to upgrade. You have a boatload of crap to deal with over 7 and yes as time goes on, the problems with windows 10 keep adding up. As others have mentioned, windows 10 machines frequently get into a state where you have to blow away a user completely to fix it. Sometimes even the whole machine. Something gets corrupted in the microsoft store, and even if you don't use it, it can create negative effects everywhere.
Patching in the corporate environment is a nightmare now, as each "patch" is actually a brand new operating system. I still haven't got things to go smooth between versions yet and expect another week of fighting before this new edition will image to workstations properly.
i dont care so much about telemetry. The main problems I have are this rapid feature release cycle ( 2 major updates a year is far too fast), and its various ways that it screws up and requires time to be rebuilt. Another huge annoyance is that they got rid of the file settings and transfer wizard, which has been a godsend since XP in terms of giving people the exact same environment that they started out with before i came in and switched the computer, or the hdd or whatever. Now I have to say "unfortunately we cant copy your profile cleanly anymore, so you have to start fresh", then i have to hand copy bookmarks back in chrome, desktop items, etc. Real annoying and like everythign else bad about windows 10, i blame the new features for causing these sorts of problems: the store and cortana. They couldn't get file and transfer settings wizard working reliably with these new features, so they dropped it as opposed to fixing it.
Oh and the number one reason i will never go to windows 10 on my home PC is the way in which it was pushed out. I lost all resepect for microsoft when they used windows update to deliver and trick people into installing windows 10. So I am morally opposed to installing it now because of the abuse of a great patch system that was windows update. Now it can no longer be trusted, and that is the real long term damage that they have done to their reputation. Abuse of their position.
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Re:Unusually +ve but what's in it for refusniks? (Score:4, Interesting)
Cortana only logs what is necessary to do her job.
You sound pretty confident of that (even though the source is closed so unless you're the one who wrote Cortana you would have no idea). Perhaps then you can explain why opening Notepad will result in Windows 10 contacting 107 different domains, including watson.live.com and m.adnxs.com?
Re:Unusually +ve but what's in it for refusniks? (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm genuinely curious about this - what exactly is it that you want to do with Cortana? I've been running W10 on my home machine (desktop) since the original release and I've always had it configured to deactivate Cortana as much as possible (it's still always running though). I've never once been tempted to turn it on. Is there some use case that I'm not thinking about?
I understand the use case on mobile, but I don't see the value on a desktop machine.
Re:Unusually +ve but what's in it for refusniks? (Score:4, Insightful)
I think that by this point, anyone who is aware of and cares about Win10 spyware has already disabled automatic updates on their Win7 machines, and goes through the list manually every week or two to pick up actually-critical updates.
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much.
http://www.techradar.com/news/... [techradar.com]
Slashdot Commenter (Score:5, Funny)
Now everyone pat me on the pack because of my wit with +5 Insightful.
Interesting ... but not things I use much (Score:4, Insightful)
Going from what's mentioned in the summary...
Ink - no touch screen
Edge - I don't use either it or Chrome
Cortana - I only use it in my Windows Phone which is stuck at 8.1 (and probably better for it); aggressively disabled in the laptop
Dark Theme - why revert to the b/w TV look of my original Radio Shack Model 1?
Auto Time Zone Setting - requires Location Services, which I have disabled for privacy reasons except on the phone
Windows Hello - don't have a fingerprint sensor, and keep the camera off/covered
Xbox - don't have one
BASH - interesting, but if I want Linux I'll get Linux (it's in a VirtualBox for now)
Project to PC - how is this different from Remote Access, which I normally block for privacy/security reasons?
New Skype - I never used the old one, and since it no longer supports any Windows but 10 why bother (phone is 8.1)?
Phone/PC Sync - works fine now using BT or cable; which lily are they gilding?
No mention of whether they've fixed the massive latency issues that forced me to roll back the desktop used for sound editing to Win7.
I'll get it automagically (if it doesn't just crash things) in the laptops, but based on this list it doesn't look like it'll be an improvement, though maybe not any worse. Will probably have to spend a day ferreting out the new and reset privacy settings, though. Meh?
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I don't know how integrated with the OS this Bash is but you can already get Bash for Windows from Mingw-w64 and others.
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BASH (Score:5, Funny)
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Obviously BASH stands for Big Ass Systemd Host.
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This is Slashdot.. The best and "only" new feature is BASH.. Who cares about the rest...
In all seriousness, please tell me what good BASH is if you don't have the rest of the Unix/Linux underpinnings, like OS X/macOS does, to make it all work?
This. The reason they designed PowerShell in the first place is because all of the binary registries and what not in Windows can't be processed through the classic Unix tools. Putting bash directly into the OS doesn't seem to be very useful.
Re:BASH (Score:5, Insightful)
The description is terrible. It's not bash; it's the ability to execute Linux binaries natively (one of which happens to be bash) as an NT subsystem. So you can run basically any Linux binary and it includes a complete Ubuntu (for whatever reason) userland.
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The description is terrible. It's not bash; it's the ability to execute Linux binaries natively (one of which happens to be bash) as an NT subsystem. So you can run basically any Linux binary and it includes a complete Ubuntu (for whatever reason) userland.
So, they just glued an ENTIRE Linux Distro inside of Windows? Do they "know" about each other? Who uses what FileSystem? Is there a Hypervisor using Hyper-V (f/k/a Virtual PC), or is it just a parallel set of APIs? Who's on top? How are Events and I/O Arbitrated?
Re:BASH (Score:4, Informative)
It's effectively a Linux syscall emulation layer + ELF loader, and Ubuntu running on top of that.
So kernelspace is entirely Windows (including drivers, filesystem support etc), but it presents Linux kernel ABI to the userspace. So userspace is just regular Linux. So there's no special "knowledge" between the two parts, aside from the ABI.
Filesystem is effectively shared, with a mapping system in place (Linux "partition" is in reality just an NTFS folder, while Windows drive letters are exposed as mount points in Linux).
Because the implementation sits directly on top of the NT kernel, side-by-side with Win32 (and not on top of it, like Cygwin does), it can efficiently provide proper semantics for things like fork().
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Given that it's kernel-mode support providing (a large subset of) the Linux kernel interface, it's not *entirely* like WINE. You're right that it's for devs though.
Re:BASH (Score:5, Informative)
Windows now runs Linux binaries. Just install the damn underpinnings if you want to. Nothing's stopping you. You can run an entire Linux DE now naively under Windows which is effectively the most complicated desktop application your computer's likely to execute.
If you don't understand the significance of this then it's not Microsoft's problem.
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I'm waiting either for Microsoft to add cgroups to the Linux subsystem or for Docker to add a call to Windows Container Services and create a Linux Services for Windows installation within that, thus allowing Linux Docker containers in Windows.
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Don't worry systemd will be ported to Windows soon.
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Windows now runs Linux binaries.
Wait, so now I can run wine inside windows? That would probably solve most incompatibility problems for windows applications. :-)
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It's cross platform execution all the way down.
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You should be able to, yes. Running GUI apps is still a bit of a hassle right now, since the emulation layer doesn't extend to graphics drivers and X. But you can run an X server for Windows (e.g. Xming), and tell your Linux apps to use that.
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Windows now runs Linux binaries.
Hopefully it works better than last time [wikipedia.org].
You can run an entire Linux DE now naively under Windows
Well, according to Wikipedia [wikipedia.org], the new Windows Subsystem for Linux cannot run graphical applications. I guess you can get around this by running a separate X server for Windows. I used Cygwin's X server years ago with good results but it looks like some people have had trouble [slightfuture.com] getting more complicated applications to work.
On the bright side, maybe this means we can finally install systemd on Windows 10! One can only imagine what their combined powers are capable of.
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As reliable as wikipedia is there's instructions on how to get Ubuntu's Unity to run full desktop apps under Windows 10 and a working preview was discussed here a few weeks ago.
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Not much features when they list non-features (Score:2, Insightful)
Let's see, four major features
- "You can use your stylus..." uh, my PC doesn't have a stylus or a touchscreen, so this is a non-feature developed just so you can further push your Surface tablets.
- "WE HAVE BROWSER EXTENSIONS TOO!" - it is now an OS feature when you add missing bits to your bundled browser
- "We're improving Cortana" - which nobody uses. Another non-feature. I don't want to talk to my PC because it is stupid and because it means piping everything from my mic to Microsoft servers
- "Dark UI th
Re: Not much features when they list non-features (Score:3)
And loss of access WILL eventually happen. I made the mistake of buying three WMV-HD discs back around 2006 (when Microsoft was threatening to back a renegade red-laser DVD-ROM based 720p24 competing format unless Blu Ray and HD-DVD made VC9 a mandatory codec). None of them will play as HD .wmv files anymore, because Microsoft took down their fucking DRM keyserver.
Noooooooo (Score:2)
This is days before a huge LAN party I'm going to, I finally got everything set up the way I want it in Windows 10
IT BURNS
Re:Noooooooo (Score:5, Insightful)
This is days before a huge LAN party I'm going to, I finally got everything set up the way I want it in Windows 10
IT BURNS
Isn't life grand, when you rent your computer from Microsoft rather than owning and controlling it?
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Now, now...play nicely. Don't go upsetting the sheeple.
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Isn't life grand, when you rent your computer from Microsoft rather than owning and controlling it?
Why? Is he leasing a Surface tablet? How did manage this arrangement where Microsoft owns his hardware?
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Is it Assembly?
I remember last year. I've seen several Windows 10 upgrades during the party as it just came out. Not the best idea if you intend to actually play video games or run demos.
What about usability? (Score:2)
The interface is still terrible. I know it can be changed; but it isn't easy to use by default.
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...without logging in... (Score:2)
You'll be able to ask it to make a note, play music, set a reminder, and lots more without ever logging in
I do not understand this trend. Under Android, there is also a lot of functionality available without logging in (for example, turning on a hotspot). Worse, there is no way to block access to this functionality.
If I wanted my phone unsecured, I could leave off the passcode. If I have a passcode, it means that I don't want some random dude able to do anything. At the very least, such access should be cus
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I really, really don't see the point in any of this for Windows, even if you have a tablet.
Cortana -- forcing it more place you don't want it (Score:2)
I'm generally happy with Win10 on both my laptops.
But Cortana? Why isn't there an option to disable it completely who don't want it? And why does putting it on the lock screen (hey, if its locked, maybe that's to keep anyone from doing anything, including random voice tasks..) feel like they're just jamming it somewhere *else* it's not wanted because people are ignoring it on the task bar?
I really would like to hear actual meetings where highly paid people at Microsoft think running around like a third-ra
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Cortana is the new Bonzi Buddy.
No, that's not insecure at all... (Score:5, Insightful)
"You'll be able to ask it to make a note, play music, set a reminder, and lots more without ever logging in. "
All I can think when reading that is "attack vector." No matter how much they claim it's limited, sand-boxed, walled off and segregated from the rest of the system, someone will figure out a way to gain system access through it. Microsoft may as well advertise Windows 10, Now With Built In Password Bypass!
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"You'll be able to ask it to make a note, play music, set a reminder, and lots more without ever logging in. "
All I can think when reading that is "attack vector." No matter how much they claim it's limited, sand-boxed, walled off and segregated from the rest of the system, someone will figure out a way to gain system access through it. Microsoft may as well advertise Windows 10, Now With Built In Password Bypass!
So turn it off?
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will it quit bugging me? (Score:2)
Super Exciting! (Score:3, Insightful)
Let's run through that announced feature list.
So, a hugely marketed mixed bag of fail and irrelevant. I am soooo glad I upgraded to Win 10 on my guinea pig machine.
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Damn...I never seem to have mod points when I really want them.
I can understand why people who know nothing about computers would install 10 and be happy. I have simply never been able to grasp why anybody who has even a little knowledge about what 10 is actually doing, and the implications, would allow it on anything they use for their actual needs.
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Only one "feature" I want. (Score:3)
I want control of my f__king computer back.
Until Microsoft decides that we have to at least give them permission before they shove their hand up to the elbow into my computers lower colon, I will never use Windows 10.
#1 on my wishlist if I used 10 (Score:3)
...would be "Can we have a one-click solution to REMOVING CORTANA FOR GOOD if we don't actually want it?"
All the shit I disabled (Score:2)
Woot! All the shit I disabled got better!
Yawn.
And WORST feature ... (Score:2)
.. it still spies on you.
Destroy Windows 10 Spying [github.com]
Fuck off M$.
so in summary... (Score:3)
...just more lame shit copied from other OS's, but without exception all with a twist designed to further lock you into their ecosystem.
I bet the Microsoft koolaid-drinkers will love it and think its crazy innovative though.
A new theme, hooray! (Score:2)
"Dark theme and UI tweaks: You can switch on what I call even darker mode in settings, and it will switch built-in apps that typically use a white background over to black."
Wow, the innovation at Microsoft is OFF THE SCALE!!! A new theme, OMG, let us all bow our heads in thanks for this exciting new feature!
Windows 10 Hatcheting Sequence (Score:2)
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I'm curious, did you use to make this many changes to previous versions of Windows or it's the first time you've had to make many changes to get a system like you like it?
I've always had multiple test boxes laying around, with multiple hard drives to swap back and forth, and tearing Windows up, just to see what would happen, has always been kind of fun.
That said, it's the goddamned telemetry and all the rest of it that really got me going, and just as soon as I installed my first copy of 10 a year ago, I was very interested in first discovering, and then attacking, and then checking to see if the patient was still breathing or not.
The miscellaneous stuff like the Taskba
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awesome.
incredible you figured out all that.
too bad it's not scriptable.
good job. thanks.
The scripting part is interesting in a curious way. To the extent that I must "barehand" everything, that is the extent to which I am forced to actually look at what's been done, what's been left, what's been destroyed, and as time goes on, I discover that this stuff changes in ways both obvious and subtle. So I guess it's like exercise. Who the fuck likes doing pushups? Nobody. But they're good for you, and if you want to stay healthy into your elder years, you'll do what's good for you.
So I hatchet awa
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Frist!
Nope..
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Have there been any vast improvements to its telemetry, that China should pay extra attention to the "hidden features" or "update anniversary", and issue another official request to stop with all this nonsense when it should stick to the software business, and leave the spying to the "big boys".
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This would be the 2nd Major update since RTM for Windows 10, not the First. The First was the Fall Update. It changed lots of things and broke powershell which still hasn't been fixed.
Powershell works fine. I think something is broken on your build.
Re:Why do we continue to get erroneous reporting? (Score:5, Funny)
WINDOWS: 10
Users: ZERO
Re:But it's still Windows 10 (Score:4, Insightful)
so it's still a mobile UI forced onto a workstation OS? No thanks.
Yeah, nothing quite says "mobile UI" like a bash command prompt...
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So much this. I was a bit pensive with Win7, but seeing the taskbar and quicklaunch integrated made it soooo slick... like what OSX has had since FOREVER... changed the theme to 2K and went full performance rather than choke my laptop up with pretties (I want my databases to respond YESTERDAY). I have a Beryl desktop on a Linux VM which is what I have going when I'm not doing the ironing with the machine. Kicks arse out of Aero.
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It royally annoys me when something is technically possible but is blocked by other reasons.
I don't know how good it's for touch but for mouse and keyboard the new UI is mediocre, it's got too much whitespace. I also hate the new mobile-style default apps
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Except that he's actually correct.
Re:Is Microsoft paying you? (Score:4, Insightful)
The article is some of the most blatant pro-MS advertising I've seen on /. to date. If I want to read MS ads, there are plenty of other sources.
Re: (Score:2)
A new operating system release or major update is 'news for nerds' even if it's for one they loath. Microsoft topics have been staples of slashdot since the 90s.
Re: (Score:2)
Windows: systemd free since the beginning.
But it has Windows SCM, which does generally the same things as systemd does. So why do you bring it up?
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
This bug is fixed in an update for 7, though since it's a bug in Windows Update, it's a bit of a pain. Windows 10 never had the bug.
Re: (Score:2)
> I have a list of things I want to see fixed or improved in Windows.
Care to post that list by chance please? TIA.
It's Not THAT Bad... (Score:4, Informative)
I took the plunge and upgraded my last and more important PC this weekend, 'cause I don't want to be on the hook to pay $199 for a new Pro license when something forces me off 7.
I swear I'm not a shill; I bitch regularly about Microsoft because my job forces me to bear with it. But I was pleasantly surprised how well the in-place upgrade went. Nothing broke, even my old copy of Office 2003 (from my cold, dead hands...) The only thing the upgrade removed without asking were a couple of 3d-party diagnostic utilities like speccy [piriform.com], which doesn't bother me in the slightest. Even Steam fired back up without a hitch.
Now, about that ugliness. You don't have Aero transparency or rounded edges, but with Classic Shell [classicshell.net] and WinAero Tweeker [winaero.com], you can do a lot to make 10 more livable. A right-click on the taskbar can make Cortana go away, and ClassicShell separates Windows programs from Metro Apps in separate sub-menus, so you never have to look at them if you don't want to. Also, you do NOT [lifehacker.com] have to use a Microsoft/Outlook cloud account. With this kind of setup, it's pretty much the same Windows as before.
Finally, I haven't tried this yet, but there's Spybot Anti-Beacon [safer-networking.org] to address the "phone-home" issues that might be nagging you.
So, here's an idea to grab Windows 10 while its still free with the least risk. Shop for an SSD upgrade, like a 1TB Samsung Evo because damn it's gotten cheap. Clone your precious Windows 7/8/8.1 drive to the new SSD, remove it, set it aside. Then, perform an in-place upgrade as described here [howtogeek.com] on the clone. Try it out. Something go wrong? Hate it? Swap back your old drive; clone again, do what you like. Your old build is safe and sound.
But here's the thing: according to the article [howtogeek.com], you have effectively retrieved/reserved your free Windows 10 license to use... whenever. If you want to try again in a few months, you can take a blank SSD and download/build Windows 10 from scratch, Microsoft will recognize your PC signature (assuming you haven't changed you mobo) and license you (just skip the part where it asks for a key). In the mean time, however, your old Windows will still work for as long as you want to keep it.
There. Assuming Microsoft doesn't wimp out and extend the deadline, you've just pocketed a $150-200 license for free to use any time you want.