Ben Funk over on TechReport has linked to a Terry Myerson blog post where he states that in early 2016, the "Windows 10 Upgrade" update will be changed in status from "Optional" to "Recommended". Therefore, if you haven't changed your Windows 7 system from automatically installing updates to manually notifying, but not installing, now is a good time to make that change, and audit every single "patch" you see. There have already been reports of users unknowingly experiencing ISP bandwidth overages due to downloading a massive 3 GB file due to the "Optional" update that was not requested, but Microsoft seems to be throwing caution to the winds.
In the blog post, Myerson has this statement: "Depending upon your Windows Update settings, this may cause the upgrade process to automatically initiate on your device. Before the upgrade changes the OS of your device, you will be clearly prompted to choose whether or not to continue. And of course, if you choose to upgrade (our recommendation!), then you will have 31 days to roll back to your previous Windows version if you don't love it." Historically, Windows has been far cleaner to install on a blank disk than to upgrade in place, so this sounds like a recipe for many support calls. There also seems to be no backtracking on any of the privacy concerns, or perhaps taking the "zero telemetry, selective update install" functionality promised (but not yet delivered) to Enterprise customers, and extending it to consumer licensees who value their privacy.
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So it's happened; mom's venerable Dell has bit the dust and I'm being called on to find her a new laptop. Everything I've seen here and elsewhere says Windows 10 is a privacy nightmare and we're trusting Microsoft's forced automatic updates to not break the computer. Dell is still offering computers with Win 7 and 8.1, but Microsoft is pushing the OS upgrade hard and heavy. I'd love for her to let me set her up with Linux but she's devoted to Google Picasa (Google not porting their apps is another rant) and I'm not sure how often she's going to be calling me with some Windows only program she needs. And then there's Apple, which makes my fingers itch to type, but it's looking better and better. So, what is the collective wisdom of the Soylentils*?
- Is windows 10 really not that bad and just roll with it.
- Is Linux finally ready for Grandma?
- Stick with 8.1 and turn off all the updates?
- Shell out the cash for a Macbook?
*Irony duly noted.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 31 2015, @08:06AM
There is an ever-increasing list of things that these proprietary software users do to abuse their users that make me glad to be using a free software OS. Not as many people would put up with this nonsense if proprietary software wasn't force-fed to them when they were kids and in school, or if so many workplaces didn't require that you use it. These drug dealers like to get people hooked fast and early.
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 31 2015, @08:14AM
Enjoying systemd are you?
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Runaway1956 on Saturday October 31 2015, @09:23AM
Honestly? I'm the impartial user and observer. I really don't care a whole lot about systemd. So far, it hasn't been proven to be "bad". It changes how you do some things, but it hasn't been proven to be either "bad" or "good". As a result, I haven't found reason to like it, or dislike it. Maybe next month, I'll become the impassioned enemy of everything systemd, but so far, mehhhh.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 31 2015, @09:41AM
Proving system D is "good or bad" will never happen. Why? Because "good" and "bad," being moral-ethical terms, really have no relevance in this domain.
However, to the neutral observer, there are always interesting points of discussion, if you only look for them.
Consider this one that just popped up in my inbox:
http://git.busybox.net/busybox/commit/?id=accd9eeb719916da974584b33b1aeced5f3bb346 [busybox.net]
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Saturday October 31 2015, @09:51AM
To the pragmatist, "good" means it works well, and "bad" means it works poorly, or not at all. Nothing moral about it. Cheap gas pumped from dirty tanks is "bad", cheap gas pumped from clean tanks is "okay". Good quality gas pumped from clean tanks is "good". My car tells me so, and I believe it.
(Score: 2) by fritsd on Saturday October 31 2015, @04:32PM
blimey :-)
You'd expect busybox to work everywhere, under all circumstances.
I wonder what the systemdfanbois did to annoy busybox project members.
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Saturday October 31 2015, @07:15PM
Proving system D is "good or bad" will never happen. Why? Because "good" and "bad," being moral-ethical terms, really have no relevance in this domain.
Ah, but pure evil, on the other hand, is relevant.
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Saturday October 31 2015, @03:42PM
Here's a real-world systemd failure I find completely unacceptable: I discovered that I could render my systemd-based system unbootable by unplugging a PS/2 mouse that had been previously used on the system. And this wasn't unbootable as in "error on boot, and dropped to a maintenance console" or "desktop manager didn't start properly" or "mouse was unavailable", but unbootable as in "showed a black screen for several minutes and didn't respond to any input other than the power button".
As to why I was certain this was a problem with the PS/2 mouse, I plugged in the mouse again and it booted without a hitch.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Saturday October 31 2015, @04:20PM
Ya know what? I've experienced just about the same thing. So - how did you determine that was the fault of systemd?
My experience with failing to boot was blamed on kernel 4.2. I attempted to install 4.2 repeatedly both in Debian and in Arch, and every time, I met with failure. I finally managed to get Arch booted under 4.2, using the boot parameter acpi=off. Now, sometimes when I reboot, it just boots, other times, it goes to that black screen.
The last update led to a bootable system, but I couldn't input anything with either the ps2 or the USB keyboard. Mouse worked, but with no password, I couldn't get into the system. Then, I had a screensaver kick in, and when I attempted to log back in, no input from the keyboard again.
I won't argue that it may or may not be a systemd problem, but I'd like to know how you arrived at that conclusion.
Maybe all this time, if I had simply unplugged and plugged the keyboards and mouse, I might have solved my problem?
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Sunday November 01 2015, @05:41AM
Why it was systemd:
- The same hardware and similar kernel version running an OpenRC based system worked fine.
- The kernel output log showed nothing out of the ordinary.
The conclusion I drew: Some of the units systemd was starting up relied on the mouse being available, and rather than, say, start up everything except those units and start a text-mode login if needed, systemd just tried to start those units, discovered it couldn't and deadlocked.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 31 2015, @09:38AM
SoylentNews: The only place where you can kvetch about Slashdot being a corporate instrument used by an evil megacorp, then vigorously defend the malignant SystemD in the same breath.
(Score: 1) by Post-Nihilist on Saturday October 31 2015, @12:45PM
, what a passionate defense, sure sign of a shill
Be like us, be different, be a nihilist!!!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 31 2015, @11:00AM
Not everything uses systemd, you know.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by fritsd on Saturday October 31 2015, @04:35PM
I'm enjoying having a systemd-free Linux system, thankyouverymuch. It was a lot of work, but I'm glad it paid off.
Did you know that, if you have a basket full of crabs, the crabs that try to escape are pulled back into the basket by the others?
(Score: 4, Funny) by Runaway1956 on Saturday October 31 2015, @08:20AM
I wish I could say this doesn't affect me. I've cut everyone else off of free tech support, but the wife has a Win7 machine. She's been having problems with it, I went trouble shooting today. It seems that her cheap-assed video card was the source of the problems. Upgraded to a GTX 460, it's like a new machine. Of course, since I'm on it, I'm looking at everything else. Rootkit scan is running right now, all kinds of moderately bad malware cleaned up, CCleaner and System Cleaner both run. Before I leave it, I'll see about disabling that Win10 nonsense.
*sigh*
The latest and greatest driver for the GTX refused to install on Windows. She was all worried, she wasn't getting the latest. She stopped worrying when I told her that my own video driver is three versions behind current, because current version just won't work properly. Told her I kept my kernel at 4.1 for a couple months, because 4.2 only caused me problems. She stopped fussing, and downloaded the same version driver that I'm using.
We had a conversation here this week, about the endless upgrade/update cycle. Windows users especially seem to demand the latest version for everything!
Anyway - I anticipate another hour or more before I can put her machine to bed. Screw Microsoft.
(Score: 5, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 31 2015, @08:35AM
Anyway - I anticipate another hour or more before I can put her machine to bed. Screw Microsoft.
uh, Runaway, not really my place to say anything, but perhaps you're doing it wrong? Putting _her_ machine to bed and screwing _Microsoft_? We must have priorities. But maybe it is time to consider whether a woman who must have Windows is really worth the trouble. Myself, I am torn. At least she is not buying Gucci and Apple.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 01 2015, @12:23AM
My wife was going down that road. I put an end to it. She gets to keep her games. I am the admin on the box.
Run your wife as a lower privileged user. It nails 90% of the junk out there.
I do this to *all* the machines I touch with windows on it. Most people do not even notice. The few that do I walk them thru using the admin user and when to use it. Never hear from them again unless it really goes sideways.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 31 2015, @09:32AM
I don't browse with ie, and due to other measures my exposure would be low in practice. So if ms all pulling bullshit like this it's safer to disable updates. One day they might make win 10 a critical update.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Runaway1956 on Saturday October 31 2015, @09:48AM
http://www.howtogeek.com/228551/how-to-stop-windows-7-or-8-from-downloading-windows-10-automatically/ [howtogeek.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 31 2015, @12:33PM
Thanks for the tip. The invasive telemetry updates that Microsoft had introduced to earlier operating systems were the straw that broke the camel's back for me; I might have otherwise been willing to give Windows 11 a chance in the unlikely event of a change in direction from the trash that is Windows 8 and 10.
Now I only manually install patches explicitly labeled as security updates, and Windows 7 is the last Microsoft operating operating system that I foresee using in any capacity on my home systems; it will most likely be Linux Mint after that.
(Score: 1) by anubi on Sunday November 01 2015, @01:58AM
Control Panel > System and Security > Windows Update > Change Settings
Select on first dropdown...( last entry ) -> Never check for updates (not recommended)
OK ( may have to provide admin password ).
done!
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 1) by anubi on Sunday November 01 2015, @02:07AM
One more thing....
On the last line of the "Choose how Windows can install updates" page brought up on "Change Settings"....
I would like to call your attention to the last line...
To me, this means that I risk everything by as much as checking for any updates!!!
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 3, Interesting) by deimios on Saturday October 31 2015, @09:48AM
We have a few dozen Pentium D-s (the core variant) that have no trouble running windows 7 but cannot be upgraded to 8 or 10, yet the upgrade nagger of course keeps alerting the users to upgrade. I do hope Microsoft will at least check the compatibility before wasting bandwidth.
(Score: 2) by art guerrilla on Saturday October 31 2015, @01:10PM
yep, in spite of knowing the nasty habits ms was doing with 10, when i got a new dy (i guess you guys read it upside down as 'hp') laptop of reasonable power/capabilities (8 megs, 1 tera, amd something something, blah blah blah), when it went ot update when i first turned it on, decided to roll the dice and let it do the fucking upgrade to 10 it kept begging me to do... spent a year or so (perhaps a slight exaggeration) downloading win10, but when it got done, said my machine was not 'compatible' in some fashion...
didn't know whether to be glad or mad...
*assuming* their comment to be correct (i seriously doubt it), WHY O WHY did it not tell me that BEFORE spending a night downloading their craptastic OS ? ? ?
gee, that inspires yet more confidence in the confidence game...
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Saturday October 31 2015, @01:39PM
Problem #1, probably...
WHY O WHY are you using their craptastic OS????
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Saturday October 31 2015, @02:42PM
Some of us are forced to use it no matter how much we hate it. I have to have Word, because magazines all demand that format for story submissions.
mcgrewbooks.com mcgrew.info nooze.org
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Saturday October 31 2015, @03:23PM
This is the problem - I would dump Windows completely if I could, but my SatNav will only update from a Windows machine because their website is designed that way. So, I have to keep one windows machine around just for that task every few months of updating my SatNav. I've tried it in a VM, it just doesn't like it at all.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 31 2015, @07:44PM
Sounds like ActiveX refuses to die.
Is it possible to get a better navigation system?
(Score: 2) by fido_dogstoyevsky on Saturday October 31 2015, @10:15PM
Is it possible to get a better navigation system?
As far as I can tell - no. They all (according to the manufacturers' web pages and the salesdroids (some of whom gave the impression of knowing what they were talking about) I've spoken to) all car satnav systems want to talk to windows or mac only. Which is why I still rely on dead tree maps.
It's NOT a conspiracy... it's a plot.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 01 2015, @01:26AM
Well, there is always openstreetmap.
Encountering vandalism during your travels would be awkward though.
(Score: 2) by fido_dogstoyevsky on Sunday November 01 2015, @04:58AM
Well, there is always openstreetmap.
But (serious question) how can you load and use OpenStreetMap onto a car satnav that does't want to talk to anything other than microsoft or apple?
It's NOT a conspiracy... it's a plot.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 01 2015, @06:40AM
You essentially have to figure out how to mount an android phone or tablet.
The software sounds like a work-in-progress as well.
OpenSatNav [openstreetmap.org].
Hmm, looks like it has not been updated in years.
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Saturday October 31 2015, @06:15PM
*Word* is your reason you need to run Windows?! LibreOffice doesn't do the job well enough?
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Mr Big in the Pants on Saturday October 31 2015, @08:31PM
No, it doesn't.
If all you want is a basic WP with a terrible GUI then Libre works. (most of the time - I have had issues in the past)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 01 2015, @12:41AM
I don't mean to pick on you specifically, but the above statement is parroted over and over. Pointing the finger back at you; what have you done to help improve the GUI of Libre Office? If your answer is "just clone the Word interface" then I can tell you that it won't be done. Mostly because of the insane "look and feel" patents. Libre Office is fine for what it is, but don't complain about it if you are not willing to help improve it.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 01 2015, @01:30AM
I found an awkward content-based formatting bug. Have not gotten around to reporting it yet. Essentially image links get corrupted when you change the formatting of the surrounding text. (I do not use MS word though.)
(Score: 2) by Mr Big in the Pants on Monday November 02 2015, @05:13AM
I am not parroting. I don't parrot. I make a point of thinking for myself. It annoys people sometimes who are more used to herd behaviour...like you are.
I am not a libre office dev. From the forums I read while researching a formatting bug (one of several) I discovered the devs are not that interested.
I am commenting on what is.
And what is is a cheap knock off of word 97 (or similar).
So your comment on "cloning" is rather amusing.
There are other WPs out there that do it better that are no MS...although their functionality is often lacking also.
In the end this is just my opinion and is worth about the same as used toilet paper but that also insulates me from someone else who has no idea about me or my thought processes "proving me wrong"...
(Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Monday November 02 2015, @12:06AM
Having recently needed to use MS office, I can tell you: That interface is so terrible, Libre Office cannot beat it.
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 2) by Mr Big in the Pants on Monday November 02 2015, @05:09AM
Yeah yeah yeah...your personal bias has been noted...
(Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Monday November 02 2015, @08:13AM
Ah, when I say MS Office has a terrible UI, it's personal bias, but when you say LibreOffice has a terrible UI, then it's a statement of fact?
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 2) by Mr Big in the Pants on Monday November 02 2015, @09:27PM
I said in other responses in this thread that part was opinion - although a popular opinion.
Its just a knock off of the other versions of MS Office anyway.
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Tuesday November 03 2015, @09:42PM
How can LibreOffice's interface be worse, as it's the one we've all been using for the last 20 years and are familiar with?
I'll take "a knock off" with a usable interface over solid gold with shit smeared all over the GUI any day.
Microsoft Office is an office suite of applications, servers, and services developed by Microsoft. It was first announced by Bill Gates on August 1, 1988, at COMDEX in Las Vegas.
StarOffice, known briefly as Oracle Open Office before being discontinued in 2011, was a proprietary office suite. It originated in 1985 as StarWriter by StarDivision, which was acquired by Sun Microsystems in 1999.
Star Office became Open Office, which got forked into LibreOffice.
Oops. Did I just drop a big pile of reality on this discussion?
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Tuesday November 03 2015, @01:58PM
When I tried Lo its interface was fine. Oo has a decent interface, Word has that damned ribbon interface.
mcgrewbooks.com mcgrew.info nooze.org
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Tuesday November 03 2015, @01:54PM
When I tried Libre Office it had no full justification, and at any rate I would need to be sure it came out right in Word, because that's the format the magazines demand. It sucks, because I hate Word's interface.
mcgrewbooks.com mcgrew.info nooze.org
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Tuesday November 03 2015, @09:48PM
Maybe you should take another look. Compatibility with .doc is never going to be perfect, but it's pretty damn good.
I vaguely recall the first couple versions of LO being pretty rocky. Missing full justify back then wouldn't surprise me, I guess. It has one now.
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Saturday November 07 2015, @05:33PM
Just installed kubuntu on this notebook yesterday, and its default word processor is Lo. It did indeed have full justification, but there's no font compatibility. I opened a document that was written in Oo in Windows, and instead of Gentium Book Basic it gave me some cartoonish-looking sans serif font. Unlike Oo it did open a .doc file written in Word, and its Courier fault was likewise replaced with a sans serif font. Changed it to kubuntu's Courier, and there's no way the magazines would take it.
They're really picky about font, spacing, and a bunch of other things. Also, Lo had a function to output an RTF file, but few will accept anything but DOC. None accept ODT. It's a pity.
I'm REALLY disappointed with what they did to kubuntu, looking in to some other distros. I hear XCFE is pretty good. I plan on journaling about it in a couple of days.
mcgrewbooks.com mcgrew.info nooze.org
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Saturday November 07 2015, @08:24PM
There are how-to's for copying the Microsoft fonts over to Linux, and even a package in the manager for the basic ones IIRC. Does opening a document actually change the font, though? Or does it just pick the closest available one it can for display but still correctly store the "actual font" internally.
As for spacing/kerning that might be more difficult. LO can export to PDF as well, but it does support saving as .doc(x). Saying "just use Word" of course makes their job a lot easier :/
I myself stay on solely XFCE these days, Linux Mint XFCE specifically.
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Wednesday November 11 2015, @11:28PM
Yes, I've added fonts to Oo in Windows and am sure that won't be so much of a problem, but editors are REALLY picky. The only way I can be absolutely sure is to use Word to make sure it's right.
I downloaded xcfe last night, plan on trying it this week.
mcgrewbooks.com mcgrew.info nooze.org
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Saturday October 31 2015, @02:40PM
Yes, I did that "upgrade" too. It took most of the day to download and install and was only on this notebook for two hours. Fugly ugly interface, slow as molasses, advertising for Microsoft services and software in the damned start menu, and I saw no increased functionality at all.
Now the God damned stupid thing is STILL nagging me to "upgrade". Microsoft, you idiotic losers, I TRIED IT AND HATED IT. I'd load Linux on this damned thing, but the magazines all insist on Microsoft documents, no open source allowed. I've been doing the writing in Open Office and just copy-pasting into Word when the editing is done; I HATE Microsoft's ribbon. Also, Excel sucks less than everyone else's spreadsheets (Oo's is a joke).
You're not missing anything, Windows 10 is IMO the very worst OS I've ever tried.
mcgrewbooks.com mcgrew.info nooze.org
(Score: 2) by zugedneb on Saturday October 31 2015, @04:25PM
whoring for karma, but the phrase "they are not the same any more... :(" was not expected to me in context of M$... Even Bill had some honour :DDD
old saying: "a troll is a window into the soul of humanity" + also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Ajax
(Score: 3, Informative) by aristarchus on Saturday October 31 2015, @07:23PM
mcgrew, you know that LibreOffice has this neat utility, called "save as" where you can specify saving in MS Word format? Several of them, in fact. For documents that are mostly text, it is likely to be cleaner than a file produced but an authentic spying copy of Word.
(Score: 2) by unzombied on Saturday October 31 2015, @08:27PM
Just curious to find out from someone who's done it a lot: you find copy/pasting LibreOffice to Word easier to clean up than SaveAs .docx format in LibreOffice then opening in Word?
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Tuesday November 03 2015, @01:48PM
When I tried Libre Office it had no full justification. Saving docx fro Open Office results in a file Word can't (or won't) read. At any rate, for a book it needs a book font and full justification, for a magazine courier and left justification, so it needs reformatting, anyway.
mcgrewbooks.com mcgrew.info nooze.org
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 05 2015, @01:31AM
Which version of LibreOffice does not have full justification? I would bet that every single release version of LibreOffice actually has that feature.
At any rate you should be able to format it with any font you have installed in either Open or Libre Office, and setting the justification shouldn't be an issue either. If saving as .docx in OpenOffice doesn't work, then perhaps try the older .doc format.
(Score: 4, Funny) by iamjacksusername on Saturday October 31 2015, @09:50AM
I can't wait to see the Redmond wedding.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Dunbal on Saturday October 31 2015, @10:35AM
Windows 10 is free for the FIRST YEAR. After that, Microsoft plans to charge a "subscription" for it. Now how many laws are they breaking by forcing you to update and then forcing you to subscribe (or risk losing all your stuff).
(Score: 3, Insightful) by anubi on Saturday October 31 2015, @11:36AM
Now, what they will do is release the latest development tools to business, which will begin releasing software that won't run on anything less than windows 10.
Businesses, afraid of being called "behind the times", won't use the older tools that made compatible executables.
Soon, we will not be able to read documents or run apps needed to communicate with the executive layer of a corporation unless we also buy into this.
Microsoft has already announced discontinuing Zune. After all these units have been deployed. Would you trust building any sort of Microsoft product into an embedded application? Say I had designed an embedded Microsoft operating system in a Coke machine. I would not be pleased at all on having to redo all those machines in the field every time Microsoft changed their mind.
As it is, I try like the dickens to put an Arduino in, as I know its gonna work till the cows come home.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 3, Informative) by wonkey_monkey on Saturday October 31 2015, @11:55AM
Windows 10 is free for the FIRST YEAR. After that, Microsoft plans to charge a "subscription" for it.
False - or at least poorly worded. Upgrade within the free upgrade period and it's yours forever.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk
(Score: 2, Troll) by Dunbal on Saturday October 31 2015, @01:18PM
Not according to my daughter. Since she's a Microsoft employee in a management position I think I'll trust her word over yours. It's "free" for a year.
(Score: 2) by Tork on Saturday October 31 2015, @04:05PM
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 31 2015, @08:20PM
What makes you think there is an NDA on already launched products?
(Score: 2) by Tork on Saturday October 31 2015, @10:11PM
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 31 2015, @08:26PM
By saying that some unspecified daughter of his told him all this? How are they going to magically figure out her identity?
And NDAs should be completely unenforceable.
(Score: 2) by Tork on Sunday November 01 2015, @03:33AM
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 05 2015, @01:44AM
If they can match his SoylentNews account to his real identity, and if he only has one daughter that works for Microsoft, then it probably won't be difficult.
But I think he is either talking out of his ass, or his daughter is mistaken. Microsoft probably have thousands of employees in management positions, and I doubt all of them know the future plans that haven't been publicly disclosed.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 31 2015, @04:06PM
When do the subscription costs start? 1 year after the install or 1 year after the 1st day of the release and option to accept the offer?
(Score: 2) by wonkey_monkey on Saturday October 31 2015, @09:32PM
It's not my word; it's every pronouncement Microsoft has made on the subject so far.
This is more than a one-time upgrade: once a Windows device is upgraded to Windows 10, we will continue to keep it current for the supported lifetime of the device – at no cost.
- Terry Myerson, Executive Vice President of the Windows and Devices Group, Microsoft.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk
(Score: 2) by Reziac on Sunday November 01 2015, @02:30AM
And how are they defining the "supported lifetime of the device" ??
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Monday November 02 2015, @05:10PM
I would say probably as long as the "Limited Warranty" is good for your device, so maybe 3 years.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2) by Reziac on Monday November 02 2015, @06:07PM
Probably a good guess. And therefore highly-variable, since devices have warranty spans of zilch to infinity.
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Saturday October 31 2015, @01:35PM
Or until they 'Zune' the whole thing. :)
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 2) by wonkey_monkey on Saturday October 31 2015, @09:36PM
What was that? Sorry, I zuned out for a second.
Hah! The things I do with words...
systemd is Roko's Basilisk
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 31 2015, @05:40PM
They could charge a "subscription" to NOT install Windows 10.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 31 2015, @07:26PM
A "subscription" to NOT install? I think the proper term is "extortion". " Nice Windows 7 machine ya got there. Be a shame if something were to happen to it."
(Score: 1) by rufty on Saturday October 31 2015, @10:57AM
I've got a box that dual-boots Ubuntu14 and Windows7 for those times when a genuine, real-hardware-only windows box is needed for proprietary reflashing or such. So I boot to Windows for maybe an hour every other month. Is it worth my while fighting off the Windows 10 upgrade for this?
(Score: 4, Informative) by RedGreen on Saturday October 31 2015, @12:04PM
"I've got a box that dual-boots Ubuntu14 and Windows7 for those times when a genuine, real-hardware-only windows box is needed for proprietary reflashing or such. So I boot to Windows for maybe an hour every other month. Is it worth my while fighting off the Windows 10 upgrade for this?"
Well download whatever is needed onto flash drive in Linux reboot while it does that pull network cable go into windows do your business reboot plug in network and carry on in Linux, no need to fight it at all.
"I modded down, down, down, and the flames went higher." -- Sven Olsen
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Saturday October 31 2015, @02:44PM
NO! It is NOT worthwhile. Windows 10 is a steaming pile.
mcgrewbooks.com mcgrew.info nooze.org
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 31 2015, @01:25PM
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/lifecycle [microsoft.com]
Look here :) - Windows 10 is EOL in 2025 according to M$ themselves.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 31 2015, @09:19PM
When a company says that, they mean what they expect your machine's lifetime to be, not yours. And you can be assured they don't expect it to live anywhere near as long as you've seen it live.
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 31 2015, @03:14PM
One month later: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/09/10/windows_10_forced_download/ [theregister.co.uk]
So I suppose that Microsoft's Windows 10 action plan consists of "DILLIGAF". It's probably also based out of the fear that Windows 10's market share would be as tepid of that as Windows 8: back in April 2013, IDC detailed the situation [theregister.co.uk]:
So Microsoft's tough decisions consisted of turning Windows 10 into the equivalent of foie gras (thanks to the commenters at The Register for that analogy). Consumers get tiles and tablets and Cortana shoved down their throat, and have their personal clickstream, memory dumps, and perhaps even more stolen from them. And we still haven't heard about the update that allows Windows 10 Enterprise users opt out of telemetry collection [pcworld.com]. How much does a single Windows 10 Enterprise seat cost?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 31 2015, @04:11PM
You can't buy a single Win 10 enterprise seat. You can buy a MSDN subscription for a few K though and obtain the enterprise version that way, or just use TPB.
(Score: 1) by DonkeyChan on Sunday November 01 2015, @02:46AM
I've seen several clocking in at 6.1GB.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Phoenix666 on Saturday October 31 2015, @03:28PM
I've been watching the Microsoft trainwreck from the sidelines since Windows 98, which with very few exceptions has only gotten worse. When Vista came along I thought for sure that would be Redmond's Waterloo. Then they outdid themselves with 8, and now this. Is playing a few games at home really worth all this nonsense? Is having a heart-to-heart chat with management about the company's IT really less headache than this rampant abuse?
Some will say that Apple and Google are better ways to go, but they're not intrinsically better, just earlier in the abuse progression. Shift the world's computing from MS to Apple and watch them pull the same nonsense in a fortnight. FOSS is the only way to go.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by SomeGuy on Saturday October 31 2015, @05:17PM
Same here. Aside from understandable architectural or system requirement caveats, I would have been hard pressed to find anything truly horribly wrong with Windows 95 or NT 4. Then came Windows 98 and IE 4 with all of that insane "web integration" crap. XP Bozo the clown theme, product activation, letting IE 6 turn in to a cesspool for malware until Firefox kicked it back in to gear, the whole Windows Vista fiasco, killing of normal drop down menus in MS-Office, Windows 8 and it's craptastic tablet UI, their indecisiveness about 8.1 being a service pack or new version, not being able to count to "9", now spyware and shoving "updates" up everyones butt... really, when will people have enough?
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 31 2015, @06:03PM
When the software they use migrates to *nix.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 01 2015, @02:44AM
And the software they use won't migrate to *nix unless enough people migrate to *nix, because otherwise the market just isn't there. This is really the problem: People do not value their freedoms, but instead value convenience. This is the folly of the "open source" movement.
(Score: 3, Informative) by DonkeyChan on Saturday October 31 2015, @07:37PM
I haven't seen a link to this yet in the comments so I figured I'd drop one off.
I've been running this preemptively on every machine I touch. I suspect when they change the updates priority to "recommended" that it'll catch an update to snag the new KB. But for now, gets rid of the nag screen and plows the update out of WU.
http://ultimateoutsider.com/downloads/GWX_control_panel.exe [ultimateoutsider.com]
(Score: 2) by seeprime on Sunday November 01 2015, @03:45AM
You are recommending a very good program that does what it needs to do. I like it.
(Score: 2) by bradley13 on Saturday October 31 2015, @09:39PM
I needed to see Win10, because I have a bunch of students who use it, so I upgraded my (fairly old) Win7 machine. The upgrade went very smoothly - I was impressed. Of course, I have screwed the privacy options as tight as they will go, and use a local account - not much more to be done...
My son then tried upgrading his brand new Alienware machine, running Win 8.1, just a couple of days after it arrived. The upgrade totally, completely borked the machine - there was nothing you could do from Windows, not boot, not repair, nothing. The only way out was the Dell restore-partition, which restored the original factory image.
So it would seem that there are still a few problems to sort out...
Everyone is somebody else's weirdo.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 31 2015, @09:42PM
Alienware is hacky overpriced garbage so this isn't surprising in the slightest.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 31 2015, @09:53PM
Microsoft Windows is hacky overpriced garbage so this isn't surprising in the slightest.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 31 2015, @10:41PM
I fully agree with you.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 31 2015, @10:18PM
Microsoft will mark Windows 10 as a security update. :-)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 31 2015, @10:52PM
Like they did with the telemetry crap in win 7.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 01 2015, @02:41AM
That was never marked as a security update.