(I debated a while on where to put this thread… mup-simms seems right, I guess.)
So today a little tray icon showed up on my system and it turns out to be the invite from Microsoft to request a Windows 10 upgrade when it’s available. Some time in the next 1-1,000 days my system will automagically DL WinX and ask me to press the button to install it.
I am going to go with it for several reasons.
First, the Adobe tools tend to demand the newest OS within the year of release - I was pushed to both XP and Vista by a requirement from Adobe. They did not push to 8, but there are rumblings that the core changes to 8, carrying to 10, will be essential for the next rev.
I also have the sense that 10 is a ‘right one’ - while I didn’t hate Vista as much as many did (for one thing, I built a new system for it instead of trying to upgrade), Win7 was such an impressive improvement I immediately upgraded every system in the house to it. After the 8 clusterfrakk, I have the sense that it’s Vista-to-7 all over again, and 10 will be a much more popular and stable platform for the next several years. All the real improvements of 8 without the stupid marketing-driven interface issues.
And this system has had a broken Windows Search for months that none of the fixes has fixed, and I spend way too much time trying to find files by manual digging. It’s either do a bare-metal Win7 install… or let WinX have its turn.
Anyone else on the invite/notification/waiting list and going to jump to the spot marked X?
I haven’t seen a notification yet, but I’ll be upgrading my home computers as soon as it’s out.
I’ve been using the tech preview for some months now, and it does seem pretty decent (with a few little niggles - nothing I can’t live with, even if they’re not fixed in the final release).
I’ve also got a plan to upgrade all the work PCs as well, but I’ll probably give it a couple of months and see how things go before I press that particular button.
I’m not getting that button on any of my machines.
I’ll copy and upgrade one of the VM’s. Hopefully that won’t mess with activation. I like to keep old VM’s around for various things. For example I had to use Windows 7 to fix my Garmin the other day. Windows 8.1 just refused to work with the ROM flashing utility.
I may or may not update the HTPC. It’s just an HTPC, so I don’t really care. Although, it would be nice if MS included the ability to not require a mouse to be plugged in in order to get a cursor over VNC. That would sell me on an upgrade.
I don’t know if I will. I’ve no qualms about updating to Windows 10, but I’m one of those sticklers who doesn’t like in-place upgrades. I’d rather back up my shit and do a clean install of the new OS.
The button appeared today on my Windows 7 machine. I also don’t like in-place upgrades. That kind of major change on an existing install makes me nervous.
I’m typing this on a tablet running build 10074. It’s nice but it kills the battery. I used to get 5 hours unplugged on this device, now I’m lucky to get 3.
I was about to say I don’t have that button, but hey - suddenly I do!
I’m looking forward to Windows 10. Windows 8 has been a good experience overall for me. I’m eager to see how the next one does. I haven’t been involved in the beta at all. I’m especially eager to try the new Cortana assistant. It’s kind of silly but I think I’ll love it. (I don’t have a phone with a digital assistant, but I understand Cortana will be available on iphone’s and android, too.)
I went ahead and signed up for the download. However I don’t intend to install Windows 10 on the first day it’s available. I’ll probably hold off a week or two - maybe even a month or two - and let someone else be the guinea pig. I’m not expecting any problems, mind you, but if there is a problem, I’d rather let someone else find it.
I would prefer to get a CD/DVD that would install Windows 10 from scratch. Will that be an option with the free upgrade? I’d be willing to pay a small fee for a mailed disc.
By the by - here’s how to opt out of the upgrade entirely and stop being nagged about it:
And here’s some info about the upgrade from Windows 7 & 8 to Win 10, if you’re just now hearing about this. It’s a free, but optional, upgrade, coming July 29th, for people with genuine consumer copies of 7 & 8. Windows RT products and Enterprise copies are excluded.
The free upgrade offer will be available for a year, so you don’t have to jump on it if you’re not ready.
I don’t have a cite but I am reasonably certain that this won’t be an option. I should add, I expect that the activation number for each upgrade copy will be unique and partially based on the machine’s existing unique activation number. So it’s not like the old days, where you just download once and then take the disc around to all the machines needing updated. I expect that you’ll have to download on each machine.
The download is only 3gb, so not too onerous. Once it’s installed, there will probably be an option to create a rescue disk (windows 8 has this). Actually, it will be a rescue flash drive, more likely. I expect it to use the Windows 8 like options of “refreshing” your OS install rather than the old reformat & reinstall. This is a perfectly fine solution for the majority of users.
Because I’m a tinkerer, I’ve reinstalled Windows 8 from scratch on my machine twice now and both times it was pain in the ass. But I only had to do that twice because one time I fudged up the registry and another time installed a new hard drive. Most users will probably never even need to refresh, much less reinstall.
The refresh procedure is pretty fast and painless. I expect the actual upgrade installation will be trouble free. Reportedly, it’s even faster, so I would guess, about 15 minutes.
I might be wrong - this is just my expectation. But I think I’m right on this.
Bought a Lenovo machine running Windows 8. Windows 8.1 came out about 2 months later and automatically upgraded, but only then announced that there were no 8.1 compatible drivers available for the wireless card.
No roll back available, so I had to back all my stuff up and perform a full rebuild. It’s taken me ages to get it so that I can download Windows updates but not the 8.1 files.
No, I’ll be leaving my laptop alone. And I’ll not buy another MS device. We’re already a largely Apple household and this is the end of MS for me.
I long ago stopped arguing M*c-v-PC, but I can say you’re making the decision on very poor data. It’s like buying a Yugo and then swearing off ever buying another car, because your Trek bicycle is so well made. Win8 was teh suck for 90% of its users, and Win8.1 only made that 10% a little happier at the kind of cost you paid.