back to article Vanished blog posts? Enterprise gaps? Welcome to Windows 10

Microsoft has posted early builds of Windows 10, showing its new approach to combining tablet and desktop support in one all-encompassing operating system. According to the company’s marketing script, this preview is for enterprises to try. A consumer preview will follow early next year, and a developer preview in April, to …

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  1. Khaptain Silver badge

    Windows 7 with a flat theme

    The article is interesting; it shows that MS have almost nothing new that will stir up new media frenzy...

    Honestly it read as though they have backstopped, ripped out what people didn't like, almost everything W8 related and simply left a couple of tiles here and there for good measure.

    I am not complaining, W8 had a light footprint, hopefully 10 will retain this. But on the whole it just looks like W7 with a flat theme. (This flat scheme and colours thing is really off-putting and really not encouraging).

    All very lacking really.

    1. theOtherJT Silver badge

      Re: Windows 7 with a flat theme

      Thing is, I'm fine with that. The Windows 7 desktop environment is a nice one. It's easy to get on with and I've never found it terribly lacking. Sure, give me multiple desktops, it's a nice upgrade. Quarter docking... I have a 30" monitor on which that would be pretty handy.... but what I _really_ want is better kernel stability and memory management. Windows 8 did that, and hopefully 10 will improve on it again.

      Seems to me that they might have finally realized that UI weren't broke, so they shouldn't have tried to "Fix" it.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Windows 7 with a flat theme

        "they might have finally realized that UI weren't broke"

        How can a UI be out of money? Or are you an illiterate that doesn't understand the difference between a verb and an adjective - and actually meant broken?

        1. daemonoid

          Re: Windows 7 with a flat theme

          ""they might have finally realized that UI weren't broke"

          How can a UI be out of money? Or are you an illiterate that doesn't understand the difference between a verb and an adjective - and actually meant broken?"

          My pedant sense is tingling...

          Also, it's worthwhile pointing out that usage trumps 'the rules', a fact that even the OED espouses. Given that the OP was clearly paraphrasing the saying "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" I would call the AC out as the most amusing kind of pedant... an incorrect pedant...

        2. theOtherJT Silver badge

          Re: Windows 7 with a flat theme

          Woosh award for the day.

          "Ain't broke, don't fix" Past tense "Aint" presumably "Wern't"

        3. Irongut

          Re: Windows 7 with a flat theme

          The W7 UI may not be broke but the AC pedant certainly is.

          1. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge

            Re: Windows 7 with a flat theme

            What is this I don't even?

          2. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Windows 7 with a flat theme

            "The W7 UI may not be broke but the AC pedant certainly is."

            Using 'broke' as an adjective instead of 'broken' is on a par for ignorance and irritation with using 'anyfink' instead of 'anything' in conversation - and is a common sign of the poorly educated.

            "because there is an old old Engineering saying (probably pre-dates Brunell)

            'If it ain't broke; don't fix it'"

            There is no reference to that in this case - my money is on ignorance of the correct use of English.

            1. Anonymous Coward
              Anonymous Coward

              Re: Windows 7 with a flat theme

              "If it ain't broke, don't fix it"

              http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/if-it-aint-broke-dont-fix-it.html

        4. peter_dtm
          Black Helicopters

          Re: Windows 7 with a flat theme

          because there is an old old Engineering saying (probably pre-dates Brunell)

          'If it ain't broke; don't fix it'

          which is fully understood by Engineers to be an ironinc play on English (and the 'ain't' construct).

          But then Engineers tend to be clever people; wot can speak english proper like what they was taughted to when having to deal with non-Engineers; and can recognise an old chestnut when they see it as well !

      2. joed

        Re: Windows 7 with a flat theme

        if all you needed were virtual desktops then just download virtuialwin (works under 7 and 8) and forget about upgrade. Initial configuration of Virtualwin was not the easiest but now it just works (and functionality exceeds what W10 had to offer) and like with most non MS programs you just copy its Appdata folder to replicate settings onto other systems.

    2. Malcolm 1

      Re: Windows 7 with a flat theme

      Although it's rarely mentioned, the under-the-hood enhancements make Windows 8 (and therefore presumably 10, although I've not tried it) a noticeably more responsive experience than Windows 7.

      I miss the small desktop enhancements such as the improved task manager and file explorer ribbon when using windows 7 too.

      1. Khaptain Silver badge

        Re: Windows 7 with a flat theme

        @Malcolm

        I do not know many people that consider W7 as being Non-Responsive. Those under the hood enhancements are indeed welcome but they will not interest JoePublic, they are far more interesting to the IT crowd.

        Personally I can't really see what advantage I will obtain from 10 over 7. Personaly I am almost finished moving to a complete Linux environment but I have to keep up with MS for professional reasons. Windows 10 will not have enough on offer to sway my decision.

    3. Dan 55 Silver badge

      Re: Windows 7 with a flat theme

      Has Flip 3D come back from the dead? I actually found it useful but didn't realise till it was gone in Windows 8.

    4. YARR

      Re: Windows 7 with a flat theme

      Re. "... it just looks like W7 with a flat theme."

      I concur with your opinion about the flat theme, but did you notice that the task bar in W10 retains Aero transparency? If the graphics card is being used for transparency effects then it could be enabled for all windows at negligible performance / power cost. The reason they removed Aero for W8 was because the older GPUs in the tablets back then either weren't capable, or drained too much battery doing so. I believe the current generation of mobile GPUs can handle Aero with ease.

      1. El Andy

        Re: Windows 7 with a flat theme

        "but did you notice that the task bar in W10 retains Aero transparency"

        It has a subtle transparency effect, but it's much more lightweight than Aero Glass, doesn't need the complex text drawing effect needed on Aero title bars and also doesn't get more intrusive as more windows open (since it's a fixed area of the display).

        Although why anyone wants Aero, with its hard to read title bars and problems identifying the active window, is beyond me.

    5. Cryo

      Re: Windows 7 with a flat theme

      "But on the whole it just looks like W7 with a flat theme. (This flat scheme and colours thing is really off-putting and really not encouraging)."

      This probably isn't the final theme. I imagine that they'll want it to look at least a little more different from Windows 8 to help distance it from that release. Perhaps there will be a new look ready to show off by the consumer preview in the spring.

      1. Chika

        Re: Windows 7 with a flat theme

        "This probably isn't the final theme. I imagine that they'll want it to look at least a little more different from Windows 8 to help distance it from that release. Perhaps there will be a new look ready to show off by the consumer preview in the spring."

        I really hope so. My own theory (never been sure how true it was) is that Aero was sacrificed due to its resource footprint and possibly because the people programming the OS couldn't get on with it anyway. While some of that might be false (no doubt), the eventual outcome in my view was something that looked more like Windows 3 than anything else. And I wasn't W3's biggest fan. In fact, an even closer match was RISC OS back when it was 2D only but with some crippling extra bits that never troubled an Acorn user because Acorn were a lot better at handling the nuances of intuitive UI design.

        IMHO that's the biggest hurdle that Microsoft face right now, even if the UI remains bug-ugly. They need to restore some of the intuitiveness that prior developers worked to bring to the mess that Windows was in its early days. Windows 7 wasn't perfect but it was a damn sight better than some of its predecessors. The W8 came along and killed it.

    6. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Windows 7 with a flat theme

      "it shows that MS have almost nothing new that will stir up new media frenzy..."

      It's Alpha code with only ~ 10% of new features fully added. Rather early to make that call...

      1. RyokuMas
        Facepalm

        Re: Windows 7 with a flat theme

        "Rather early to make that call..."

        For some on here, it's never too early to take a swing at Microsoft, regardless of how good, bad or ugly what they're doing is.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Windows

          Re: Windows 7 with a flat theme

          it's never too early to take a swing at Microsoft

          Correct.

          Seriously, though, are you suggesting MS should be praised with the very little they have done to the OS in the past 2 years since 8 was released?

          Apart from spending billions on a company that they helped destroy, and a kid's game, what have they done with the piles of cash we're repeatedly shovelling to them?

          1. RyokuMas

            Re: Windows 7 with a flat theme

            Seriously, though, are you suggesting MS should be praised with the very little they have done to the OS in the past 2 years since 8 was released?

            No. I was merely pointing out that there are more than a few on here who see the name "Microsoft" and immediately start trotting out the same old tired links/lines/whatever.

            Occasionally, when bored, I sift through the past comments of some of the more prolific of these - just to see if there's another Eadon in the making. Some of them make for interesting reading - especially when you start seeing a similar style of post on (say) anything Apple, the astroturfer alarms start going full blast...

            My point is - ridicule Microsoft for doing something stupid (god knows, it happens often enough), not just "because it's Microsoft" - and treat everyone else the same way.

      2. Hans 1
        Joke

        Re: Windows 7 with a flat theme

        >It's Alpha code with only ~ 10% of new features fully added. Rather early to make that call...

        You mean pre-Alpha, when it reaches alpha quality it gets released to manufacturing.

  2. monkeyfish

    The modern calc (or a note taking app) could actually be useful if they let it dock to the side, and use the width afforded by wide-screen monitors. Little details like that would make for nice features in a tablet too. It's annoying to have to constantly switch apps just to use something simple like a calculator. I'm aware that Samsung allow this on their tablets, but if baked into win10 it would almost be a USP.

    1. h4rm0ny

      >>"The modern calc (or a note taking app) could actually be useful if they let it dock to the side, and use the width afforded by wide-screen monitors"

      I do that in Windows 8 currently - dock a Metro app on one quarter of the screen and have the Desktop in the rest. It works really nicely for Skype or other programs. I don't know if I'll still be able to do that in the new version. It sounds like MS are giving in to complaints and backtracking on most of the things I like about the UI in Windows 8.

    2. El Andy

      You can do that in Windows 8, it's a brilliant feature. I almost always have multiple apps open on my Surface 2, as it's a really nice way of multitasking on a touch device without the awkwardness of trying to drag windows around.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    After playing with it for an hour..

    Windows 10 = Windows 8 with a Start Menu. And Multiple Desktops.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: After playing with it for an hour..

      Windows 10 = Windows 8 with a Start Menu. And Multiple Desktops.

      Or.. Windows 7 with a Windows 8 theme.

      Or.. Windows 8 with Start8 or some other add on.

      Or.. Even a Linux with a Windows 8 theme.

      It really doesn't matter what OS you use nowadays, unless you're a fanboy or require "legacy software".

      1. Someone Else Silver badge
        Coat

        Re: After playing with it for an hour..

        It really doesn't matter what OS you use nowadays, unless you're a fanboy or require "legacy software".

        If by "legacy software" you mean software that runs on a platform other than the one you personally prefer, then yes, I have some of that...

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: After playing with it for an hour..

      "Windows 10 = Windows 8 with a Start Menu. And Multiple Desktops."

      That sounds good to me!

      Just need to know how much this upgrade will cost....

  4. Wensleydale Cheese

    existing products like Windows InTune (which can already manage PCs)

    Windows InTune?

    Surely they had more imagination than to copy the name from iTunes (which can manage iThings).

    Puzzled of Tunbridge Wells

    1. Irongut

      Re: existing products like Windows InTune (which can already manage PCs)

      No it is InTune as in let me tune your PC so it works better. Muppet.

      1. Someone Else Silver badge
        Devil

        Re: existing products like Windows InTune (which can already manage PCs)

        I thought it was InTune, as in let me "tune up" your PC...in the New York cop sense.

      2. Wensleydale Cheese

        Re: existing products like Windows InTune (which can already manage PCs)

        "No it is InTune as in let me tune your PC so it works better. Muppet."

        Never heard of it.

        Judging by the downvotes I seem to have hit a nerve.

  5. Phoenix50

    Moving apps

    I believe you can right click on an app and choose "move > [desktop]" when you're switching between multiple desktops; and drag and drop functionality will come later.

    I don't think it's fair to simply say "Windows 10 = Windows 8 with a Start Menu. And Multiple Desktops" - even if you ignore the current slew of changes (subtle and obvious) the build is in it's infancy. Mary J Foley reported that Microsoft said the current build has only 10% of new features in it.

    If I were an average consumer shopping for a computer to replace my current one on 7 or 8, and I walked into a Shop and saw "Windows 10" - I would instinctively feel as though it was a much newer version that my current PC - and would want it more. It's a shrewd move by MS that might pay off in the consumer space.

    1. Arctic fox
      Windows

      @Phoenix50 Re: Moving apps

      "Mary J Foley reported that Microsoft said the current build has only 10% of new features in it."

      Indeed. Redmond have said openly that this is only (at this stage) a portion of the final *construction" and expecting (as some apparently do - or pretend to) that this or that should be present now if not sooner, is disingenuous to say the least. I have just started to test this build and I do not remotely claim that I yet have any (for or against) conclusions. So far it appears to be impressively stable (for a pre-beta) and is chundering away happily without causing me any grief. How this develops and to what extent Redmond will in reality listen to those giving feedback remains to be seen. It is far too early to draw any conclusions.

    2. Kepler
      Headmaster

      "a much newer version"

      "If I were an average consumer shopping for a computer to replace my current one on 7 or 8, and I walked into a Shop and saw "Windows 10" - I would instinctively feel as though it was a much newer version that my current PC - and would want it more. It's a shrewd move by MS that might pay off in the consumer space."

      Still no excuse for the idiocy of calling it "10" instead of "9".

      What's that you say? It's a generational improvement this time rather than a merely incremental one?* That's what incrementing the number to the left of the decimal point is for! By one. You don't increment it by two unless it's actually somehow two generations' worth of improvement.

      The dweebs at Microsoft don't even know basic English. ("Cloud first, mobile first." Yeah, and everyone's above average.)

      .

      * See:

      http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/09/30/microsoft_windows_10/

      http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/10/01/will_corporates_go_for_windows_10/

    3. P. Lee
      Coat

      Re: Moving apps

      Yeah, you can right-click on the titlebar or taskbar icon and use: "Move to desktop->All/Specific"

      Oh wait, I'm in KDE.

      Sorry.

  6. Buzzword

    Docking

    I find half-screen docks incredibly useful; in fact when I was forced to use Windows XP for a while (after having become accustomed to 7), the first thing I did was install a tool to enable left/right docking. I'm very much looking forward to corner docking becoming a standard feature too.

    1. Dr. Mouse

      Re: Docking

      I find half-screen docks incredibly useful

      I have to say that I do too. I used to do the same by minimising all but 2 windows and doing "tile windows".

      The only annoying thing in Windows 7 comes with multiple monitors. You can't seem* to dock a windows to the edge of a monitor which has another monitor next to it.

      * At least I haven't found a way.

      1. MatthewSt

        Re: Docking

        Today's your lucky day!

        Use the Windows key and left/right arrow keys to dock windows to the edges of monitors and (if you keep pressing them) between monitors

        1. Anonymous Bullard

          Re: Docking

          Use the Windows key and left/right arrow keys to dock windows to the edges of monitors and (if you keep pressing them) between monitors

          You can move between monitors if you also hold shift. I've just doubled your productivity.

        2. Radelix

          Re: Docking

          You sir, yes you...I owe you one beer!

      2. Thecowking

        Re: Docking

        Select the window you want, press the windows key and left or right as appropriate.

        I was happy when I discovered that.

        1. Thecowking

          Re: Docking

          Damn you elinks, you're making me look slow.

          *mental note to refresh pages before posting*

          1. Dr. Mouse

            Re: Docking

            Great stuff, thanks all who posted the Win-L/R, that works great! :-D

      3. bluesxman

        Re: Docking

        Press WinKey and Left/Right cursor to move a Window about from half to half. I don't know of a mouse equivalent.

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Facepalm

    Does Windows 10 actuall shut down when you click shutdown?

    Or does it still only hibernate?

    1. Vociferous

      Re: Does Windows 10 actuall shut down when you click shutdown?

      It would surprise me if WinX actually shuts down (or closes programs instead of just hiding them when you click close), as "never shut anything down" was a feature of Win8 that people liked.

      1. Irongut

        Re: Does Windows 10 actuall shut down when you click shutdown?

        Who are these "people" and do you have a list of their addresses? I need to round them up so they don't fuck up this version as well.

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