Windows 10 upgrade to be free

SEPT 23 1989

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Ghost Train

I think win 8 needed to be more desktop friendly out of the box, microsoft tripped themselves up a bit but I think they're doing better these days and are getting more competitive with tablets. This free upgrade is good move I think, shows that microsoft are seeing ipads and android tablets as the real competition and getting aggressive with what they offer

Bongalongherb

Kristopherus wrote: »

Bunkum!!!! Windows 8.1 is rock solid.

Everyone to their own I suppose.

Microsoft seem locked into a death spiral with Windows 8. Developers are unhappy with the interface compromises and PC sellers are being pushed into shipping PCs with an OS that consumers seem to tolerate rather than love.

It is time that someone in the Redmond campus held up their hands and admitted that PC users actually prefer using things that feel like a PC rather than forcing them into a UX designed with their fingertips in mind.

foggy_lad

manutd83 wrote: »

But they did say free upgrade for a year so i assume they have some plan of what will happen if you decide not to pay to keep it

They will be giving it away free for a year to try to repair some of the damage that W8/8.1 has done.

Kristopherus wrote: »

Bunkum!!!! Windows 8.1 is rock solid.

It is made for tablets and wildly expensive touch-screen computers though and most people are still using laptops and pc and will be for years! also most people want what they are used to, the change to vista was only a real disaster because it was a pig on space and ram and people were not prepared to buy a new pc or laptop to use Vista. but people got used to the enhanced appearance and features of Vista very quickly though which is shown by the popularity of W7. W8/8.1 has not taken off anywhere as well as W7 did.

Shrap

kingtiger wrote: »

any chance of an explatation on why you think win 8 is "sh1te"

Ok! Be glad to. I've never had problems with any OS the way windows 8 messed with my head. My laptop got 8.1 shortly after it came out but my youngest didn't want to lose his game installations so kept 8. Until one day it wouldn't boot up. Remember being able to start windows in safe mode and slowly but surely go through starting your programmes till you found the faulty one? No more. Nope. Nada. There IS NO SAFE MODE any more (it's now called advanced start up/boot options/troubleshoot mode or something) and you cant access it without being logged into windows, which somewhat defeats the purpose if you can't even boot up far enough to get into the BIOS any more. At least not without jumping through trial and error hoops (jamming the f8/f11/f12/f9 key repeatedly, then lightly tap the escape key or if that doesn't work, press delete followed by d, r, and backspace....) courtesy of every other frustrated win8 users with a boot up problem (look it up - they're everywhere!). It started for me finally and I did a recovery, but then it happened again and I forgot what I'd done the first time and had to go through all the horror again

Horrible, horrible OS. Maybe I'm missing the last 10 years of computer know-how, but judging by the outpouring of grief on the same and similar issues on line, I'm not alone Apparently it's had that many problems that they're no longer selling win8.

8.1 gave me no problems so far and is hanging in there for the youngest, despite his best efforts at messing it up.

Shrap

Kristopherus wrote: »

Bunkum!!!! Windows 8.1 is rock solid.

Big BIG difference between 8 and 8.1

anncoates

Windows 8 isn't a 'mistake'. It's just a lot of people are too thick or lazy to take a few seconds to bypass the metro interface if it annoys them so much.

Dravokivich

Aongus Von Bismarck wrote: »

The IT guys only recently upgraded our desktops from Windows XP to Windows 7. We also have to use this intolerable system called Citrix. While I like Windows 7, having to suffer the ignominy of using this citrix rubbish is really causing stress and frustration amongst the finance and trading staff who actually make the company money. I've emailed the CIO on a number of occasions to express our dissatisfaction with the whole thing. Was it even tested in a high-volume trading environment? Another example of IT not listening to the needs of its customer base.

That all depends on who you mean by the all encompassing "IT." A lot of the times, it's down to service managers or project managers within their own company who don't know what they want to do. No matter how many times you tell'em it won't do, they seldom budge on it unless they get an earful from their side.

Shrap

anncoates wrote: »

Windows 8 isn't a 'mistake'. It's just a lot of people are too thick or lazy to take a few seconds to bypass the metro interface if it annoys them so much.

Nah, I have two gamers here at home and it's well known to not work well with whatever it is they get up to. Known as "full of bugs" and "sh1t, you b****rd heap of ****" all over their gaming forums.

BTW, your comment is incredibly condescending.

anncoates

foggy_lad wrote: »

It is made for tablets and wildly expensive touch-screen computers

You can bypass metro totally though and install a start menu, then you've pretty much a turbo version of 7.

I use 8.1 at home and 7 in work, btw.

foggy_lad

anncoates wrote: »

You can bypass metro totally though and install a start menu, then you've pretty much a turbo version of 7.

I use 8.1 at home and 7 in work, btw.

same start menu as W7? why should I have to install some third party "crack" to get my pc/laptop to work the way it should/the way I want?

anncoates

foggy_lad wrote: »

same start menu as W7? why should I have to install some third party "crack" to get my pc/laptop to work the way it should/the way I want?

Cos it takes about a minute and then you have a newer and more powerful OS with longer support.

Dunno what 10 will be like but they'll probably just throw in a start menu and it will be hailed as the best Windows OS of all time again.

Sh1tbag OToole

Aongus Von Bismarck wrote: »

The IT guys only recently upgraded our desktops from Windows XP to Windows 7. We also have to use this intolerable system called Citrix. While I like Windows 7, having to suffer the ignominy of using this citrix rubbish is really causing stress and frustration amongst the finance and trading staff who actually make the company money. I've emailed the CIO on a number of occasions to express our dissatisfaction with the whole thing. Was it even tested in a high-volume trading environment? Another example of IT not listening to the needs of its customer base.

Here, have a few quaaludes and good luck flogging the rest of those penny shares

Peregrine

Irish Guitarist wrote: »

The first thing I did when I bought my new laptop was attempt to install Ubuntu but the only way of doing that would have been to wipe Windows 8. It's the first time I've ever had that problem. I've read articles on how to install Ubuntu alongside Windows 8 but it's very complicated and I'm afraid to try it.

Is that not a UEFI issue?

anncoates wrote: »

Dunno what 10 will be like but they'll probably just throw in a start menu and it will be hailed as the best Windows OS of all time again.

Start menu has returned, charms is to be removed soon and Cortana will be introduced to PC.

kingtiger

Shrap wrote: »

Nah, I have two gamers here at home and it's well known to not work well with whatever it is they get up to. Known as "full of bugs" and "sh1t, you b****rd heap of ****" all over their gaming forums.

BTW, your comment is incredibly condescending.

am I don't agree, 8.1 is rock solid for me with games, never had a problem

sounds like a hardware problem

foggy_lad wrote: »

same start menu as W7? why should I have to install some third party "crack" to get my pc/laptop to work the way it should/the way I want?

I agree completely, don't know wtf MS where thinking

but classic shell is hardly a crack and does the job very well

anncoates

Shrap wrote: »

Nah, I have two gamers here at home and it's well known to not work well with whatever it is they get up to. Known as "full of bugs" and "sh1t, you b****rd heap of ****" all over their gaming forums.

BTW, your comment is incredibly condescending.

I don't game to be fair, but I know people that do on 8.1 and I've never heard them complain.

Never had that boot issue either. I personally didn't really use Metro so I've bypassed it. The Charm bar seems like an inoffensive thing to get annoyed about to me. I barely use it.

Bongalongherb

anncoates wrote: »

Windows 8 isn't a 'mistake'. It's just a lot of people are too thick or lazy to take a few seconds to bypass the metro interface if it annoys them so much.

Turning a computer into a mobile smart-phone.

That's not true, I have 18 years experience using and repairing all previous operating systems and I can stand by my previous comments that windows 8/8.1 is a pile of junk.

I mean the folks that built the operating system called windows 8 can't be wrong when they even said it's a pile of junk.

Skylinehead

Shrap wrote: »

Nah, I have two gamers here at home and it's well known to not work well with whatever it is they get up to. Known as "full of bugs" and "sh1t, you b****rd heap of ****" all over their gaming forums.

BTW, your comment is incredibly condescending.

It's the same effective code base as Win7.

Shrap wrote: »

and you cant access it without being logged into windows, which somewhat defeats the purpose if you can't even boot up far enough to get into the BIOS any more.

You couldn't use Safe Mode without logging in with any other Windows system either. Do you not see the gigantic security hole that would happen otherwise?

Oh and the BIOS bit doesn't make sense. BIOS comes before anything Windows even loads, even safe mode.

_Kaiser_

Aongus Von Bismarck wrote: »

The IT guys only recently upgraded our desktops from Windows XP to Windows 7. We also have to use this intolerable system called Citrix. While I like Windows 7, having to suffer the ignominy of using this citrix rubbish is really causing stress and frustration amongst the finance and trading staff who actually make the company money. I've emailed the CIO on a number of occasions to express our dissatisfaction with the whole thing. Was it even tested in a high-volume trading environment? Another example of IT not listening to the needs of its customer base.

Dravokivich wrote: »

That all depends on who you mean by the all encompassing "IT." A lot of the times, it's down to service managers or project managers within their own company who don't know what they want to do. No matter how many times you tell'em it won't do, they seldom budge on it unless they get an earful from their side.

My read of it is that obviously with XP now unsupported and vulnerable to security attacks, IT were forced to upgrade to 7 to be compliant with the various contractual and compliance requirements around data security and Finance

However, whatever application they're using on the floor is donkey's years old and has never been updated so won't work with 7 so they've had to virtualise it and it's caused performance issues as a result

Can't really blame IT.. more likely Finance types who wouldn't pay for the upgrades cause "it works fine as it is"

SMJSF

I think I'll stick with windows 7.... I tried the 8 once on a friends computer.... all I wanted was Facebook, and ended up nearly deleting a college assignment of theirs.... never want to go true the much confusion again!

anncoates

Bongalongherb wrote: »

I mean the folks that built the operating system called windows 8 can't be wrong when they even said it's a pile of junk.

They just made the mistake of messing with the classic Windows UI hence the uproar even though a couple of minutes of configuration and jobs oxo.

They'll just lump a start menu on 10 and the reverse voodoo will happen: it will be the best UI ever because everybody else says it is.

anncoates

SMJSF wrote: »

I think I'll stick with windows 7.... I tried the 8 once on a friends computer.... all I wanted was Facebook, and ended up nearly deleting a college assignment of theirs.... never want to go true the much confusion again!

There we have it. Windows 8 made me delete my files.

Grab All Association

I just wonder will the free upgrade be plagued with advertising.

Bongalongherb

Anyway, why would any-one want to upgrade to an operating system that basically does the exact same thing as windows 7 ? why bother when the operating system does everything you need it to do. Is it out of boredom or something ?.

Out of all the operating systems I have used windows xp was damn fine and I still like that operating system, also windows 7 is as stable as you can get at this time, so I just don't see any point in upgrading to a smart-phone bloated system. Why any-one would want to is beyond me.

I'm getting the feeling that some folk of which purchased a laptop or desktop pc with win 8 pre-installed are just tolerant of it and will falsely praise this windows 8 concoction till the end of it's short life.

kingtiger

Bongalongherb wrote: »

I mean the folks that built the operating system called windows 8 can't be wrong when they even said it's a pile of junk.

any chance of a link to this statement from the devs?

and in relation to your last post, why upgrade?

boot time / performance / security

Aongus Von Bismarck

Dravokivich wrote: »

That all depends on who you mean by the all encompassing "IT." A lot of the times, it's down to service managers or project managers within their own company who don't know what they want to do. No matter how many times you tell'em it won't do, they seldom budge on it unless they get an earful from their side.

I want our IT services to work. I want to be able to head into work in the morning and not have to experience delays in getting our suite of applications loaded. I want to have the same quality of service provided as we expect from a lift or a fast food outlet. Reliable, automated, available. If an issue occurs, then it should be sorted quickly. It's intolerable that the failures of the IT department should have an influence of what we need to do in the profit house of the organisation.

fitzy73_London

MS are in deep doo doo.

If it weren't for server OS licenses, they would be fubared. And it is only a matter of time before savvy IT Managers realise that IaaS will save them a fortune.

Two internet lines, from two different exchanges, from two different ISPs and Robert is your mothers brother.

Mind you if you are outside Dublin, Cork, Limerick or Galway then you still are gonna have issues getting that setup.

AulBiddy

As someone who doesn't have a profound interest in IT I found windows 8 extremely difficult to operate. It was all very confusing, lack of a task bar, couldnt do simple things like exit internet explorer. I only used it for 30 mins in a friends house before I got agitated with it.

Mint Sauce

Is this upgrade for exsisting users of Win8, or can even those who buy 8 in the next year, will they too get the upgrade?

I see also users of windows phone 8.1 are also eligible, i assume this will depend on the phones ability to run it.

Grab All Association

Mint Sauce wrote: »

Is this upgrade for exsisting users of Win8, or can even those who buy 8 in the next year, will they too get the upgrade?

I see also users of windows phone 8.1 are also eligible, i assume this will depend on the phones ability to run it.

7 and 8 users though I suspect it will only apply to 7 (oem versions) users with a COA. You'd have thousands of Vista laptops with 10 installed up on Adverts.ie if they gave it to everybody with a 7 key.

Meesared

fitzy73_London wrote: »

MS are in deep doo doo.

If it weren't for server OS licenses, they would be fubared. And it is only a matter of time before savvy IT Managers realise that IaaS will save them a fortune.

Two internet lines, from two different exchanges, from two different ISPs and Robert is your mothers brother.

Mind you if you are outside Dublin, Cork, Limerick or Galway then you still are gonna have issues getting that setup.

Wouldn't say theyre in trouble at all, not doing as well as they were, sure, but theres much more competition.
Also its mostly their Azure cloud service and Office 365 subscriptions driving current profits:
http://www.infoworld.com/article/2838363/techology-business/microsoft-racks-up-revenue-with-azure-and-office-365-guns-next-for-mobile.html

Skylinehead

anncoates wrote: »

There we have it. Windows 8 made me delete my files.

And it even has exactly the same delete mechanism as Windows 7.

Bongalongherb

kingtiger wrote: »

any chance of a link to this statement from the devs?

and in relation to your last post, why upgrade?

boot time / performance / security

I'm not going to spend ages looking for the link from microsoft now but you will find it if you look yourself, I'm not Google.

In regards to your comment above... all operating systems 'excluding vista' & 'millennium' will boot fast from a new clean install as always until they get bloated with software over the years, then they will slow down if weekly maintenance is not done.

Look closely at your windows 8 shut-down, and the monitor will turn black as if the laptop or pc has properly shut-down quickly. Then look at your HDD light and you will see that it still takes around the same time to completely shut-down. Don't let that monitor disengagement fool you that it shut-down fast.

Regarding security. Windows 7 is fine and when adding good purchased anti-virus and firewall the system will be good enough. No operating system is perfectly safe from security threats so that's a moot point, they are all as vulnerable.

Meesared

Its still considerably faster to start up and shut down regardless of your setup:
http://usabilitygeek.com/windows-8-vs-windows-7-speed-and-performance-testing/

kingtiger

Bongalongherb wrote: »

I'm not going to spend ages looking for the link from microsoft now but you will find it if you look yourself, I'm not Google

but you keep bringing this up but yet can't back it up, I have never seen any dev state that win 8 was a mistake, maybe not including a start bar was the only thing

and face it windows 8 is new tech and beats windows 7 hands down with performance

Bongalongherb

Meesared wrote: »

Its still considerably faster to start up and shut down regardless of your setup:
http://usabilitygeek.com/windows-8-vs-windows-7-speed-and-performance-testing/

I mean does it really matter if it takes a few extra seconds to load-up. Are folk that agitated to wait an extra 3 seconds for the system to load at start-up. It reminds me of a lot of motorists speeding and unnecessarily over-taking to save a few seconds as if the world is going to end.

If any operating system is well maintained and cleaned from leftover registry files and junk files also malware scanned daily then the operating system will boot nice and fast. But most folk don't do this basic maintenance daily and as such will have lag at start-up or shut-down.

Bongalongherb

kingtiger wrote: »

but you keep bringing this up but yet can't back it up, I have never seen any dev state that win 8 was a mistake, maybe not including a start bar was the only thing

and face it windows 8 is new tech and beats windows 7 hands down with performance

Of course I can back it up :rolleyes: the information is easy to find online just google it. You'd swear I was making it up, what do I have to gain by wasting my time making up stuff. If you have fingers then let them do the typing. The information regarding microsofts comments with win 8 is all over the web.

kingtiger

Bongalongherb wrote: »

Of course I can back it up :rolleyes: the information is easy to find online just google it. You'd swear I was making it up, what do I have to gain by wasting my time making up stuff. If you have fingers then let them do the typing.

hhmmm very suspect, you can't provide a link to this statement that you have been blabbing on about for several posts and then ask posters to search for it

IamNotNumber

Bongalongherb wrote: »

Anyway, why would any-one want to upgrade to an operating system that basically does the exact same thing as windows 7 ? why bother when the operating system does everything you need it to do. Is it out of boredom or something ?.

Out of all the operating systems I have used windows xp was damn fine and I still like that operating system, also windows 7 is as stable as you can get at this time, so I just don't see any point in upgrading to a smart-phone bloated system. Why any-one would want to is beyond me.

I'm getting the feeling that some folk of which purchased a laptop or desktop pc with win 8 pre-installed are just tolerant of it and will falsely praise this windows 8 concoction till the end of it's short life.

That's why its free cos noone is gonna pay for a windows os for the next 5 years.I suppose they expect the new browser and the holographic glass's will catch on and earn them cash.I certainly wont be wearing those holographic eyeball destroyers under any circumstances.Microsoft are flogging a dead horse expecting another WIN95 or XP which were game changers at the time.

Meesared

Bongalongherb wrote: »

Of course I can back it up :rolleyes: the information is easy to find online just google it. You'd swear I was making it up, what do I have to gain by wasting my time making up stuff. If you have fingers then let them do the typing. The information regarding microsofts comments with win 8 is all over the web.

I'm honestly having difficulty finding these comments you are referring to! There is a lot of people calling Windows 8 a mistake, but none of them being Microsoft

Bongalongherb

kingtiger wrote: »

hhmmm very suspect, you can't provide a link to this statement that you have been blabbing on about for several posts and then ask posters to search for it

Microsoft's current operating system, Windows 8, has been such a disaster that Microsoft has given up trying to spin it any other way.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella admitted, "Let's face it, we got some things wrong in Windows 8." He was speaking at the Gartner Symposium/ITxpo 2014 taking place this week in Orlando.

The radically different Windows operating system is awkward to use and unloved by consumers and businesses alike.

The site I read last year I cannot find and am not going to spend time looking for a year old microsoft news report, but basically what this guy said makes it clear that it was a disaster. Basically a pile of junk. If I find the other link I'll forward it.

http://www.businessinsider.com/nadella-admits-windows-8-was-wrong-2014-10?IR=T

Are you happy now ?.

BunkMoreland

Windows 8 has several improvements over 7, one being the file explorer, and general performance improvements through less resource usage. You virtually never see metro if you don't use it, you have the choice.

The problem with windows 8 is its users, too thick and stuck in their ways to accept anything new. I still have to listen to idots in work whine about the ribbon in Office. Just take a few minutes to learn how to use it and shut the fuxk up you cnuts.

EoghanIRL

I like 8 . I just don't use the tiles . Simple as that for me.

Sofiztikated

Free upgrade to a newer OS? I'll take it. Newer OS, better optimisation, better performance, longer support? For free?

I'm running Win7 at home, and am happy with it at the moment, didn't need feel the need to upgrade to 8/8.1. In fact, only really used 8.1 for the first time properly yesterday when I was tidying up a friends laptop. At first it was a case of "Wha? Where the **** is everything!" but after 5 minutes of farting around, it was business as usual.

We've only upgraded to 7 in work in the last year, from XP. I very much doubt we'll get an upgrade to 10 any time soon.

Duggy747

Win 7 is the biz but you'd swear Win 8 was the anti-Christ or something here, it's not their finest moment in design decisions (Removing the start menu was completely idiotic and should've been a customizable option) but it's not a piece of shít OS especially if you update it to 8.1.

It's a good OS, I have to work with it and Win 7 on a wide array of devices everyday and I wouldn't even put it in the same league as Vista when it was in it's infancy. UEFI drives me more soft in the head these days than having to deal with problems in 8.

It's also handy for very low-end machines / netbooks since it runs far better on them than Win 7 did............eurgh, Starter edition.

SimonTemplar

From a marketing and design viewpoint, removing the Start menu was an unusual choice. It is a major part of their brand identity and a core feature of Windows for over a decade. It also created a barrier for new users because even people with only very basic IT skills know they need to click Start to find something. It really was a stroke of genius back in the day. I still remember the "Start Me Up" ads and news reports of huge queues. It's incredible that an OS caused a sensation back in 1995.


Win8 isn't a piece of crap. It had loads of benefits but removing the Start menu is a classic case of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it"

Areyouwell

kingtiger wrote: »

any chance of an explatation on why you think win 8 is "sh1te"

Use it and you'll see.

Canis Lupus

SimonTemplar wrote: »

From a marketing and design viewpoint, removing the Start menu was an unusual choice. It is a major part of their brand identity and a core feature of Windows for over a decade. It also created a barrier for new users because even people with only very basic IT skills know they need to click Start to find something. It really was a stroke of genius back in the day. I still remember the "Start Me Up" ads and news reports of huge queues. It's incredible that an OS caused a sensation back in 1995.


Win8 isn't a piece of crap. It had loads of benefits but removing the Start menu is a classic case of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it"

Have to agree. Whatever about under the hood for me win8 was like taking a car and getting rid of the steering wheel and replacing it with a joystick and switching all the pedals around. Sure it's still a car but why mess with something that's already perfect.

Sonics2k

Shrap wrote: »

Nah, I have two gamers here at home and it's well known to not work well with whatever it is they get up to. Known as "full of bugs" and "sh1t, you b****rd heap of ****" all over their gaming forums.

BTW, your comment is incredibly condescending.

PC Gamer myself, can deny. Windows 8 did have a few naggling problems at first but those are long since solved. 8.1 was very good for gaming for the most part too.

Sonics2k

Bongalongherb wrote: »

Of course I can back it up :rolleyes: the information is easy to find online just google it. You'd swear I was making it up, what do I have to gain by wasting my time making up stuff. If you have fingers then let them do the typing. The information regarding microsofts comments with win 8 is all over the web.

It's called a Burden of Proof. You have made a claim and are now expected to back it up with evidence. It's very common in any kind of discussion or debate.

eg my mate in the pub says "I went on the piss with Samual L Jackson last week." My response is "prove it or I call bull". Simple stuff.