I already use VLC for media playback, so losing Media Center won’t bother me - I bet there are lots who are the same which is why it’s going away.
I have the icon at home and work. I’ll probably do home and expect no issues, but my home PC has the simplest setup possible with no networking or external stuff like printers to worry about. The work PC is a whole other potential mess that I don’t intend to mess with.
Microsoft just wanted you to get a separate DVD player, of which there are plenty. (VLC and Media Player Classic are both free and open source) And those games, at least, were available in the Windows Store, though I’m not sure why they didn’t just include them to get people using the new apps.
You do lose Windows XP mode, but there is something called VMLite out there there that will let you continue using it–though it’s unclear if you can easily bring over your previous installation.
I plan on updating, but currently internet for my desktop is on a pay-per-byte basis - that one will get updated in August, when it’s back on a reasonable data plan.
The laptop was already 8.1 - win10 can be set to “desktop mode” too, I expect, can you guys confirm? I just don’t like having icons bigger than my hand 
and removed 90% of the “free programs” (no, I don’t need a weather program, I have windows of the glass-and-wood kind). ETA: OK, I looked at the FAQ in the notification itself and “the start menu is back” is one of the items. Good! Looks like us luddites made enough noise it was heard in Seattle 
With your use case, you’d probably be best off installing a different virtual machine with Windows XP. I seriously doubt Microsoft will be bringing Virtual XP over, since they made a big deal about how the license only was for Windows 7.
Plus, since you are just testing programs, you probably could get by in XP without a license at all. Just keep resetting before activation. Microsoft expressly recommends this for that use case, having put out special virtual disks for this purpose.
But that won’t work- what about performing a fresh installation on a new machine? Would you have to reinstall the old OS and then upgrade it? That seems nonsensical.
When I accepted the invitation, they told me it would be downloaded to my computer on July 27.
From a licensing standpoint, fresh installs on new machines should have their own, new, copy of Windows. This is free offer is for upgrades to existing installations. The rescue media you can create will let you reinstall or refresh your current installation so you shouldn’t have to go back and install the pre-exisiting OS.
Win 8 has these. You just download them from the store. It only takes a minute. You can also get Mahjong & Sudoku, and something else, I forget. Win 10 will have versions of this, also, a preinstalled version of Candy Crush, if you’re into that.
Dropping the DVD player was a licensing thing, but again, you just download one. Nowadays, quite a lot of computers don’t even have a DVD drive, so paying for the DVD codec as part of the basic DVD license doesn’t make sense. Ditto for Blu-ray.
Here’s an article about the changes, what’s missing, and how to get replacements.
I don’t know, man. I’ve always been baffled by people who can’t cope with Windows 8. I was baffled by the Vista hate, too, and that wasn’t nearly as big a deal. Sometimes, your cheese just moves. Adapt or die.
Sorry for the triple post. It’s too early for this.
Here’s an article with more info on the upgrade/fresh install situation. It’s got lots of useful info about the new upgrade.
That sounds like maybe there will be an option to download an iso version to use on a flash drive or disc? I’m not sure. It won’t be the dvd option that people want but it will make clean updates possible, maybe.
Also of note: People who don’t accept the free update or who drag their feet after the year, or just want a retail copy - the price after the year upgrade is done will be $200.
I am not aware of any changes that should have made the Windows 8 driver not work on Windows 8.1. I have to wonder what happened.
Me, I have no intention of downgrading to a new version of Windows. (yes-- every change I have ever made to my computer is a downgrade. It prevents me from doing what I know how to do, makes me spend several days learning new ways to do the same stuff, and has forced me to spend $1000 buying new professional software*)
So my question is for all you geeks who love Win 10:** What does it actually do?**(for the average person like me).
So far, people are saying things like "I installed it, and gee whiz, my computer still works just like it used to!!! Isn’t that awesome!!!
I don’t want an awesome experience. I just want to browse the Web like I’ve been doing for 15 years, reading news sites, the Dope, and youtube videos.
(*I don’t like to bring work home from the office, but sometimes there is no choice. So I had an old, student version of my company’s software that works well enough to let me do simple things at home. Then Windows changes, and my software no longer works. New software= thousands of dollars expense for me. )
BigT:
Yes, I’ve heard that you can get these things in Windows 8 by going out of your way to visit the Microsoft App Store, and hey, if while you’re looking for the stuff you came to get, maybe you’ll see other stuff any buy it too! I hate that kind of marketing.
Someone needs to remind Microsoft what the “UP” in “Upgrade” is supposed to mean. Maybe these games are minor things when it comes to operating system importance, but they’ve been included - out of the box - with every version of Windows from at least 3.0 and up, and to take it away just to use as a draw to the App Store is NOT a step “up”. And certainly if I already have it (because I’m starting from Windows 7), I’d like to be assured that upgrading won’t take it away from me.
Merneith:
There’s a different between “like the old one better” and “can’t cope with.” If I have the one I like, why should I push myself to “cope with” a new one that I like less? There’s a lot that’s very convenient in Win7 that’s missing in the Win8 UI, and a lot that’s annoying about the Win8 UI that I don’t have to deal with in Win7. I could learn to “cope”, or…I could just keep what works for me. New fashion isn’t inherently a good thing.
It is faster booting, leaner and more stable than Windows 7, definitely more so than Vista or XP.
It has some nice little features that people who avoided Win8 will not have seen yet. The file copy dialog is very nice (not just visually, it handles overwrites/collisions in a way that is very useful, especially with photos, where it gives you thumbnails so you can tell whether it’s duplication of filename and/or content)
It has a Start menu.
There’s the missing Start menu. What else?
Sorry for being unclear in my original post. I’m not testing these old programs, I’m maintaining them. When they break, I fix them, and the compilers I need to do so either don’t run under Windows 7 or conflict with other compilers that I’ve got installed on it for other programs.
Given that Virtual XP mode apparently won’t be supported under Windows 10 I guess I’ll have to defer performing this free upgrade as long as there’s any chance that I’ll have to work on those old programs again. No big deal - I’m used to being behind the curve these days.
(Yeah, I’m confident that with enough testing and tweaking I could find workarounds for this particular problem. But it would be effort that nobody would be paying me to take, and it appears to be too much effort for the benefit involved.)
“Why do we even have that lever?”
Mangetout:
The ability to nest folders of applications rather than having to look through “All Apps”.
The ability to have multiple open apps visible at the same time
Tool tray for ready display of date/time, connection status, battery life (on laptop), volume, etc
The ability to navigate the right-hand side of the screen without an unwanted panel popping up and intercepting your clicks
The ability to customize your desktop background with an image of your choosing rather than it being filled with big rectangular app icons
I’m sure I can think of more, but the above should be sufficient for our purposes.
Uhm… my win8.1 laptop has all those.
While Win 8 had some problems - the whole UI issue, to start with - the problems ranted about in an awful lot of the complaint threads seem to be PEBCAK in nature.