So, waddya all think of Windows 10?

[Mangetout]

@Gus_Gusterson

The version numbers of Windows 95 and Windows 98 weren’t 95 and 98, respectively. They were both version 4 (95 was 4.0 and 98 was 4.10). There are plenty of software issues caused by programmers handling Windows version numbers incorrectly (so many, in fact, that Windows 8.1 lies about what version it is unless you take special steps to get the actual version number) but the one you described isn’t one of them.

Those are the internal version numbers, but when you query the version in Windows 98, you can in fact get back a string that says “Windows 98 [Version 4.10.2222]”
The version number in Win98 is contained in two separate strings in the registry - one named HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Version that contains the ‘Windows 98’ string and another named HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\VersionNumber that contains the internal version number

(I just tested this in my Win98 VM).

However, those keys don’t exist in Windows 8 (so a program that tries to query the registry will come up blank), and in any case, the text part of the version in Windows 8 just contains the string “Microsoft Windows” - and Win9 would probably follow the same convention.

So yes, it seems unlikely that legacy software would blow up, unless it’s already blowing up anyway.

[ftg]

This thread makes me feel really sorry for Windows 95b and Windows 98SE. The forgotten stepchildren of MS OSes.

[Mangetout]

Also Windows XP Media Centre Edition. The Windows ME of the NT family.

[elbows]

I think they skipped to 10, because their competitor is up to OS10. No matter how hard you try 9 ain’t gonna cut it!

(Not that I’m not enjoying the scenarios of an abysmal program being secreted out of existence, persons sworn to silence! It’s great!)

[JohnT]

Well, then they should’ve gone to 11.

[Mangetout]

Apple has been on 10 for years though. Hardly a photo finish.

[FinsToTheLeft]

Being in the IT industry for over two decades and having the patience of Job…

Screw it - I broke down yesterday, wiped my Surface Pro 3, and installed the Windows 10 Enterprise preview edition yesterday afternoon. Other than the fact that it didn’t have the wireless drivers install by default and I needed to plug in my USB-Ethernet adapter and run an update, the install was quite easy.

Changes:

[ul]
[li]The new Start button seems to work quite well on a hybrid device. I can quickly search the app that I want with a few keystrokes or click a tile for frequent apps[/li][li]The on-screen keyboard comes up with suggestions above the keys. I have noticed a number of issues with the keyboard not appearing, but it is a beta![/li][li]Multitasking screen selection and multiple desktops is a nice new feature. I often have 8-10 windows open at once - Outlook, Word, Excel, remote desktops, etc - and it is easy to move around[/li][li]Windowed Modern apps - nice for Xbox Music, etc. and the distinction between the two worlds is much reduced. The distracting context shift is basically gone.[/li][/ul]

As for the rest, I’m going to keep playing with it but I’ll give it a FinsToTheLeft Stamp of Approval [TM]. Given that I keep everything in OneDrive, it was a painless switch for me.

[Mangetout]

I downloaded and installed it in VMWare…

I’m not very sure that people are going to like the new/revived Start Menu - I could pin items to it as tiles in the Modern UI section, but I can’t see any easy way to add shortcuts (or folders for a nested hierarchy) into the lefthand bit that looks like a trad Start Menu…

[FinsToTheLeft]

You click-drag anything to the Start button, wait for the menu to open, and then drop it. You’ll see a horizontal line show which items it will drop in between. I dragged the URL from this thread and dragged it below the File Explorer.

[Mangetout]

I didn’t try that. I guess I’ll have to experiment with installing a few things on it. I guess the crux of the matter will be whether managing the Start menu in Win10 is very similar to Windows 7. If it’s different, it will be a big issue that everyone talks/complains about, and that can snowball into public rejection of the product…

[Eonwe]

Eh. Still not ready to upgrade from OS/2 Warp.

[Mangetout]

I think I found a bit of a weird bug. The Windows Store app complains and refuses to launch if the screen resolution is set too low (this was a requirement as from Win8), and yet, once it’s running, the app window can be resized to a smaller size than the screen size that stopped it launching.

Legacy of full screen app I guess.

[jz78817]

I think it’s fine. Of course, I had no problem with Windows 8 either. I don’t freak out when someone moves my cheese.

[Mangetout]

I have to confess, as a user of Win8 for a year now, I don’t really like Win10 as much. Weird, huh?

Taking my Start Menu away from me made me realise what a shitty, inefficient mess I had made of it (I use dozens of little applications and I had them all organised into a branched/nested hierarchical menu - requiring multiple clicks or delicate navigation to negotiate).

[BigT]

@Gus_Gusterson

Microsoft has always provided service packs (like Windows 8.1) for free but they can’t provide new operating systems for free - selling operating systems is how they make their money. Apple can give away OS X because Apple makes their money selling hardware.

I know that. But I also know that the plan with Windows 10 is to change things up. It’s actually more akin to how Firefox and Google Chrome work. There will even be a beta channel where you can get the latest version ahead of time, but will also have to deal with answering questions like in the previews.

[squeegee]

@Dewey_Finn

I vaguely remember that Vista was years late to arrive (prior to that, Microsoft was on basically a two-year schedule), one explanation was that they were trying to use a new file system in the new OS, but that was causing so many problems, they abandoned the new file system. So whatever happened to that? Hard drives are so much larger now than a decade ago and people have so many more files, that I don’t know if NTFS is still capable.

I think you’re thinking of Cairo, a MS project that was in some ways pedestrian but had crazy blue-sky elements, including distributed computing and an object file system. In 1991. Seriously. </rolleyes>

The sane parts of Cairo became Windows 95, the rest was eventually given lethal injection.

The NTFS file system was developed way, way back in the day during the NT development stages, stealing ideas from the Microsoft/IBM PS/2 days, and still seems quite robust and well thought out even quite some time later, though I’m no expert in file systems. It scales well, it’s fast, and has a ton of features. I wouldn’t sweat it’s age.

[Mangetout]

I remember the same thing Dewey Finn is describing. There was serious talk that Vista was going to have WinFS.

[jz78817]

@squeegee

I think you’re thinking of Cairo, a MS project that was in some ways pedestrian but had crazy blue-sky elements, including distributed computing and an object file system. In 1991. Seriously. </rolleyes>

The sane parts of Cairo became Windows 95, the rest was eventually given lethal injection.

The NTFS file system was developed way, way back in the day during the NT development stages, stealing ideas from the Microsoft/IBM PS/2 days, and still seems quite robust and well thought out even quite some time later, though I’m no expert in file systems. It scales well, it’s fast, and has a ton of features. I wouldn’t sweat it’s age.

Vista was late partly because Microsoft went back and basically re-built Windows XP for Service pack 2.

and worrying about NTFS when Apple is still clinging to that ugly abortion of a file system called HFS+ is silly.

[Steophan]

@Gus_Gusterson

Microsoft has always provided service packs (like Windows 8.1) for free but they can’t provide new operating systems for free - selling operating systems is how they make their money. Apple can give away OS X because Apple makes their money selling hardware.

The vast majority of users only upgrade Windows when buying new hardware, so it’s not going to be a massive loss if they give the upgrades free to existing users. If your installation came with your computer, it’s only licensed for that machine, so you can’t install it on a new one and save money that way.

[Tim_R.Mortiss]

@Steophan

The vast majority of users only upgrade Windows when buying new hardware, so it’s not going to be a massive loss if they give the upgrades free to existing users. If your installation came with your computer, it’s only licensed for that machine, so you can’t install it on a new one and save money that way.

I completely agree with this. To me, “upgrading Windows” is synonymous with “buying a new computer.” And since I’m almost due for a new computer, I’m very interested in the new OS that will come along with it.