Windows 10 - The empire rules you

[Randy1]

Microsoft has already announced Windows 10 is the last operating system they will release.  They are switching to a "service based" business where they may/could/probably will start charging for updates/upgrades to the operating system.
. . .

I know that is what they said.    But  I wonder why they gave this version a number?

[Skuzzy]

I know that is what they said.    But  I wonder why they gave this version a number?

Pretty had to have something to indicate it different from other versions.

Remains to be seen if they can actually convert to a service based business.  It all depends on the adoption of Windows 10, which has not been going that well, hence the near panic efforts they are making to coerce people to upgrade.

[715]

Judging from the number of people who cannot do without their "sparklies" I would wager they will do very well with that approach.

For many it is not a matter of "sparklies", it's a matter of security updates and compatibility with new computers/motherboards.  I'd still be on Windows 98 if it weren't for the fact that my new motherboard made Win 98 unstable and I need to upgrade to XP to get it to work.  Now that XP no longer gets security updates I have to upgrade again (not really, I just installed Ubuntu).  Since 98 there has not been anything I can think of off hand that was added to Windows that I actually wanted.  Lots of things were taken away or changed to be annoying; Vista took away sound card audio processing, Win 7 was just Vista without the 3D interface, Win 8 added a touch UI for a non touch PC while removing the Start Menu (and adding what I consider to be intrusive advertisements in the updating Tiles), and Win 10 just gave back the Start Menu (sort of, instead of hierarchal it's just a alphabetical list of all your programs?) while adding a bunch of tracking.   Can anybody tell me a feature added to Windows that I would actually want (besides DirectX 12) that would cause me to upgrade Windows because I want to instead of because I have to?

[Skuzzy]

For some reason, people are quite okay with Microsoft loading up spyware on their computer, yet if a third party did it, they would be screaming about it.

If people would simply stop upgrading to Window 10, it would serve to extend Windows 7 for even longer than the year 2020.

It is within the power of the consumer to force Microsoft to stop the madness and provide a proper operating system which does only what it is suppose to do and nothing more.  I know it will not happen.

Too many people talk about how great Windows 10 is regardless of all the spyware embedded in it.  People are desperately trying to disable it, when all they really have to do is remove Windows 10 and keep it from proliferating.

[Bizman]

For some reason, people are quite okay with Microsoft loading up spyware on their computer, yet if a third party did it, they would be screaming about it. - - -
Too many people talk about how great Windows 10 is regardless of all the spyware embedded in it.  People are desperately trying to disable it, when all they really have to do is remove Windows 10 and keep it from proliferating.

People simply don't know or understand Microsoft is loading up spyware on their computer. They get fooled by fancy phrases like "telemetry" and "diagnostic tracking" and "customer experience improvement", assisted by a hidden threat of falling off the radar. Nor do they know about Google saving all of their searches if they're logged in as a Gmail user. The same goes for Facebook or any social media. The list goes on, just study any wide audience service that requires logging in and you'll find they'd be logging your behaviour by default.

Being part of the group, be it a real or virtual community, is a basic need for all of us. Even this thread is a proof of it, I type this to justify my existence here... The marketing people know it and they'll keep utilizing the power of subliminal advertising until higher authorities prohibit it. Unfortunately that is something that won't happen. Some examples: http://www.businessinsider.com/subliminal-ads-2011-5?IR=T

[Skuzzy]

I could write a long article on what is happening and what is coming, but no one would care and would, in all likelihood, dismiss it as a rant of a paranoid person.

It is sad to see what is going on.

[Bizman]

- - -no one would care and would, in all likelihood, dismiss it as a rant of a paranoid person.

This^^^   

[Mar]

I care.

[Skuzzy]

Oh, I know.

Many years ago, I was sitting in a meeting with Microsoft and a large contingency of people from the company I was employed by.

At the end of the meeting, my boss asked me what I thought about it.  I told him, "It sounds like they are getting out of the Xenix business".  Everyone looked at me like I was nuts, even giggled a bit. and told me it was ludicrous to consider.

They were so put off by my remark, I was not invited to the next meeting, three months later.  One of them came back from the meeting and told me, "You were right.  They just told us they are dropping Xeinix support."

I just looked back at him and said, "What bothers me is out of all the people in that meeting, I was the only one to hear what I heard.".

There are major changes getting ready to happen and not in the best interests of the consumer.

I care.

Some will, but not enough to make a difference.

[Bizman]

I just got an email from "the Outlook Team" saying

---we will be making some changes to our email services that --- will prevent your email from being delivered to the Windows Live Mail 2012 application you use. --- We also recommend all Windows Live Mail users --- to upgrade to Windows 10 and use the built in Mail application to stay connected and get the latest feature updates.

I'm OK with the update part, and getting Win10 is only a suggestion in that message. There was also a link for the update directing to http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=49486 (actually /fi-fi/, of course). What caught my eye was the phrase "Install this update to resolve issues in Windows." which I've learned to connect to that kind of optional updates we've just discussed to be avoided. So I looked at the associated Knowledge Base article https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3093594 which only told

This article describes an update that offers Windows Live Mail 2012 support for Exchange ActiveSync. This synchronization protocol is used by all versions of the mail application in the Windows Store.

Not too much information there, at least not in a form that I would understand. Would it be safe to install the update? More important, would it be necessary in order to be able to read hotmail messages if this is the only system I read them with?

[Skuzzy]

That is a tough one.  It does go with an announcement Microsoft made concerning not providing any information about updates.  They did not say exactly when they were going to stop doing it.

Maybe (speculation) they are testing limited information about updates to help smooth the transition to no information.

[Easyscor]

That is a tough one.  It does go with an announcement Microsoft made concerning not providing any information about updates.  They did not say exactly when they were going to stop doing it.

Maybe (speculation) they are testing limited information about updates to help smooth the transition to no information.

MS is sounding worse every time I come in here. 

Living in Silicon Valley, I thought what John Sculley did at Apple was stupid, and that Fiorina at HP was a moron, but this path could be even more destructive for everyone, as well as Microsoft. It brings to mind the breakup of AT&T.
I wondered if their CEO was another media marketing guy, he isn't. Most following this probably know, but for those that don't... He (Satya Narayana Nadella) has been the driver behind their Cloud and Enterprise (think IBM in the '60) group. Moving everyone to a subscription and putting them on the "Cloud" has huge advantage for MS, Google etc. By changing the wording of the Windows license, MS can cut off anyone not paying their fees. That's previous case law from several years ago, but I couldn't find the article to cite. One only need to look at Office360 to see what's going to happen.

[Chalenge]

There's another point. My father asked me over last week to have a look at his system, because Office 360 had disappeared. Now his machine has Office 2016 on it. Microsoft reports it was because of "known issues," of which there was no word of until the update.

I use Windows Live Mail. When I "upgraded" to W10 I installed Live Mail from the MS website. It was Live Mail 2011 and not the newer 2012. This month MS sent me an email that reported that I needed to update my "Live Mail 2012," or I would begin having problems in January. They linked to a patch in the email, but the patch would not run because I was still using 2011. After updatedin to 2012 the patch would not run, because I was using a newer version. What?

This would be the perfect opening for anyone that could create a new OS. I realize there are too many people that would not switch, but I know there would be plenty that would.

[Zeagle]

Please excuse me if this is a rant.

That OS has already been created.  I use it every day.

But how can you convince people in this day and age where everything is so dumbed down and the attention span is so short.

I recently bought a tablet to control my telescope for some long exposure photography. I figured I could install linux on it. Well, MS and the manufacturer had conspired to hose the ROM so that I could not do that.  That is the real problem. MS and hardware manufacturers locking you in to one option. And other people like Google appearing to be all for the community and open source and then pulling MS like tactics as well.

It makes me want to ditch PC's all together. But then how would I fly AH?

[BaldEagl]

Yep.  I worry at least as much if not more about Google than Microsoft.  Google has spying down to an art while MS is still fumbling around trying to figure it out.