[Three of Seven]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-30924022

I'm sure there are better sources for this but I get a BBC RSS feed by default on my browser and blah!

Anyway, more to the point, Microsoft have announced a new operating system, free for a year for those on Windows 7 and 8. This part isn't new, they did mention a few months back that they would possibly doing a subscription based model for Windows 10. Not sure how I feel on this but would have to wait for more information.

The more interesting part is Cortana on Windows, could get confusing if you are on a PC and using Teamspeak or something, I would probably turn this feature off...

What are opinions so far on the new operating system.

[pintDMG]

From what I'm hearing, the phrasing is a little unfortunate. They apparently meant that it would be a free upgrade available for the first year after release. I suppose we'll have to wait for confirmation either way.

[Dark]

I don't see anything about a subscription in that link.

It reads to me like owners of Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows Mobile can get a free upgrade to Windows 10 during the first year it's released.

[Three of Seven]

The subscription part was thrown around as speculation, this is from last December: http://www.pcpro.co.uk/operating-sys...-a-free-update

[Wesstan]

I have been pretty happy with Win7 the past years. If Windows10 is focusing on past strengths i will surely try it out

[McClintock]

Whatever happened to Windows 9 I wonder?

[merTYol]

Whatever happened to Windows 9 I wonder?

In coding part. Windows 9 was Windows 95&98. They cannot be bothered to change that so. They are calling it Windows 10

[Kains]

Like every operating system upgrade it totally depends on what you want: Need to be on the cutting edge of technology and don't mind the additional bumps on the road? Free is not a half bad price then!

I think for the mainstay though, especially 7 users, will find that their operating system is doing just that: operating. So why mess with what works?

It will be interesting to see. The Cortana thing amuses me, but until I actually have a sexy hologram lady bossing me about, it's still just Siri (Albeit with a far better voice)

[Three of Seven]

Operating systems do eventually stop having any official support and patches made for them, so for the average person, it will become a mess if there's no support for it and I imagine quite risky...

[Kains]

Oh eventually, yeah, but considering the track record of 10 years or so before they stop support (I believe XP was stopped last year?), they do have some time. Windows 7 came out in the middle of 2009, so they have until 2019? Ish?

Personally I may actually jump at this, I do so love to tinker and the price tag is perfect. Hopefully it works for them, as I would far rather their continued support model continues to happen rather than switching to Apple's version (By which I mean after a couple years the product is 'defunct' and unsupported. Looking at you first gen iPad.)

[Dark]

Unless I have a reason to upgrade my OS, why the heck would I?

Unless it somehow is more optimized/efficient than my current OS, with lower system requirements, it would simply lower performance.

[Curzon Peers]

Whatever happened to Windows 9 I wonder?

In coding part. Windows 9 was Windows 95&98. They cannot be bothered to change that so. They are calling it Windows 10

To expand this isn't Microsoft's fault at all. it's lazy developers for common programs that run on multiple versions of Windows have a code that sets what OS features they can use, and they look for 9* so if they were running on Windows 9 using that same ancient code it would try using all the old APIs.

Oh eventually, yeah, but considering the track record of 10 years or so before they stop support (I believe XP was stopped last year?), they do have some time. Windows 7 came out in the middle of 2009, so they have until 2019? Ish?

Mainstream support for Windows 7 (major bugfixes, tech support hotline, etc.) ended last week, but security updates will still get pushed till 2020.

Unless I have a reason to upgrade my OS, why the heck would I?

Unless it somehow is more optimized/efficient than my current OS, with lower system requirements, it would simply lower performance.

I am pretty sure that's the same line of thought that kept the old, outdated XP on so many machines long after Windows 7 was doing everything it did and more, and doing it better.


As for why upgrade, if I am not mistaken Windows 8 has lower operating overhead than 7, and it runs a bit quicker even on older machines, and I am pretty sure 10 is supposed to be around the same, so that's a decent reason to upgrade. Going from 8 to 10 should fix the major interface nags everyone has. The feature-set is decent.
===
I am personally running Windows 8.1, and it works just fine for me (The lack of Start menu doesn't drive me near as insane as it seems to drive most people, but then the stuff I use most is pinned to the taskbar so I don't even need it.) I will probably be grabbing the upgrade though since it's going o be free since it does change a few things that sort of bugged me.

Until I actually see what's up with 10, though, 7 is my current preferred version.

[Dark]

Ignoring Windows 8 in favour of keeping Windows 7 has nothing to do with performance, and everything to do with the guddam touchscreen UI.

Both are in my home. Win 8 is the most annoying POS ever, and it has nothing to do with the Start button since I barely use it on Win 7 either.

Win 8 looks like it'd be great on a touchscreen tablet, but for PCs it can take a long walk off a short pier over a lake of flaming acid full of soul eating piranhas.

It basically has all the ♥♥♥♥ I have to put up with on my smartphone because there aren't enough keys, on a platform that doesn't need that ♥♥♥♥ blocking functionality because it does have sufficient input devices.

[Curzon Peers]

I don't really understand what you mean. Aside from the start screen, the UI in desktop mode is more or less the same just with the addition there's a a bar that pops up on the side that you're never going to use.

My main beef is feature bifurcation. Apps don't run in a window or use the taskbar and settings are split between the tablet interface and control panel. Also MS programs don't work all that well on a touchscreen since they expect you to use the crappy app version (can't scroll with touch in photo gallery, and photos app sucks; one note has a crappy pen interface since they expect you to use the one note app, etc.

[Taeran]

This is the primary reason why I never upgraded to Win8. It really bothered me that they had a "tablet" design for a desktop PC. If I wanted something to act like a tablet, I would have bought a tablet.... Oh well, I'll just have to wait and see when Win10 is released. At least upgrading to Win10 will be much cheaper to upgrade than in previous major releases.

Ignoring Windows 8 in favour of keeping Windows 7 has nothing to do with performance, and everything to do with the guddam touchscreen UI.

Both are in my home. Win 8 is the most annoying POS ever, and it has nothing to do with the Start button since I barely use it on Win 7 either.

Win 8 looks like it'd be great on a touchscreen tablet, but for PCs it can take a long walk off a short pier over a lake of flaming acid full of soul eating piranhas.

It basically has all the ♥♥♥♥ I have to put up with on my smartphone because there aren't enough keys, on a platform that doesn't need that ♥♥♥♥ blocking functionality because it does have sufficient input devices.