NoelC

Resistance is futile, Jaclaz. The correct term is most definitely once. No one wants to sell you an OS that does what you want or need. Building a better mousetrap is simply "last millennium" thinking. Now it's about getting a foot in the door and delivering an engine with which to fleece the users for future profit, and if that's the only way people can get high tech frivolty, then that's what they'll gladly accept. We wouldn't have imagined people would throw away their financial futures just to have cell phones that they cannot actually talk reliably on either, but here we are. -Noel

I didn't find testing Cortana worth joining the cloud myself. And (at least with Win 8) there was a way to go back to using a local account, but I don't know where it is. They're surely not going to make getting out of the trap easy! Hate to point out the obvious, but having a local account has been considered unfashionable since Windows 8 came out. And no, I don't mean to say that makes it right. But those of us who resist will likely ultimately be assimilated. Microsoft is raising the heat slowly, so we frogs will not jump out. I've been considering a career change to farming. -Noel

Other things needing to be hidden, in my opinion. Quick Access For me Drive C: shows up as both a removable drive AND a drive under This PC. It should be in one place or the other, but not both. Homegroup Homegroup is removable by configuring for password protected sharing and stopping the Homegroup services. I'm working on the others. -Noel

It's got to look different than anything we've seen before, or it'll just be "old and busted", right? -Noel

With Win 10 it's not so much "will it work" is "why would I want it?" There is a certain intangible value to keeping current. That being said, if the OS did nothing less than its predecessor, keeping current would be a no brainer. But it's not like that. Microsoft doesn't maintain support for things they already had then add more, they actively DELETE stuff. They'd like us to believe, I'm sure, that it makes more room for things we need more - like a voice recognition and synthesis program that saves our poor, tired digits from typing search terms, or a warm fuzzy place online to keep all our data where it'll be safe from all those nasties hanging around inside our houses. No, we're being pushed, herded, directed, shoved into the world of cloud-integrated touch screens - not because such things are particularly useful, but because that's where there's huge money to be made (by Microsoft). If we just keep at what we're already doing, what would there be to buy? A replacement computer every 5 or so years? Some new earbuds every couple of weeks? But with the brave new world of tablets and the cloud and 3D and Cortana we're all going places we never went before, right? RIGHT?!? And of course it will all work perfectly and our data will be utterly safe. RIGHT???!!!??? I am an incurable early adopter. At least I thought it was incurable. For the first time - EVER in near 40 years of high tech bliss - I was looking at Windows 10 in my VM last night and I got overwhelmed by a feeling of "Man, I might not care any longer". THAT took some real effort on Microsoft's part. I have been known to get excited by such things as Windows Backup and a good comparison tool. If Microsoft with Windows 10 is working this hard to lose MY interest then things are getting serious. It seems Microsoft is facilitating my work - by not distracting me from it with the ho hum things they think are new and improved. -Noel

We are worthless pieces of carbon that couldn't possibly have anything good to search for on our own computers. I found a nude photo of Cortana online... -Noel

Yes I noticed them. Another way to make Windows 10 worse. You're not supposed to want to work on files! Explorer is old and busted on the (ugh) Desktop. Big fonts and just a few characters is the new hotness. How is it you can't get your stuff done with just a few big characters? If you can't you're trying to do the wrong stuff! What's wrong with you people? Can't you get with Modern times? Computers are not about complicated things any more. -Noel

Not put any effort into it yet myself (nor read all the threads here), but at least some others seem to be reporting getting Aero Glass to work with the new OS. What's up with that? -Noel

What does it explain? That Microsoft is promoting its cloud services? That's not really surprising. They stand to make a lot of money there. Whether it's useful to us - yet - is debatable. Give it some years and I imagine most sheeple users won't be able to do without it. Did you notice the link that says "Sign in without a Microsoft account (not recommended)"? -Noel

I suppose it's not surprising that with the latest Win 10 build the Cortana setup wants you to provide a Microsoft account to even get her out of the starting blocks. In order to be an effective digital assistant, she (Microsoft) needs access to everything about you. Microsoft continues to work to convince people to give over control of all their data, and is applying the leverage of "gee whiz" features as dangling carrots. Of course there will be those of us who resist, but cloud-integrated services will become more and more prevalent and ultimately essential. Repeat after me: We don't need no stinkin' privacy. We need a computer that talks to us and a company that does whatever they want with the data that defines our lives. -Noel

They're clearly still driven to build one UI to fit smart phones and desktop computers. I guess they must think that no one knows they really want it this way, and only after we see it will we be convinced it's the right thing to do. If they'd never written an OS before, and this was a beta for version 1.0, and it was the late 1980s, THEN it might be impressive. -Noel

No doubt we'll hear more about it now that the cat is out of the bag. I did hear "HD" mentioned with regard to the headset. Probably at the very least a pretty cool way to watch 3D films, as the Home Theater displays always somehow seem to fall short of expectation. Regarding melding a 3D digital world into one's surrounding reality... Mindblowing yes, if it's done well. However, the first thing that came to my mind was that feeling you get when you go to put your foot on something and find it's not there. I wonder if a liability waver will be included. -Noel

Somehow I doubt they'll keep it simple and provide a direct way to make a bootable DVD that doesn't require backflips to install. Otherwise it won't really be free for people who want the ability to reinstall it as needed in a pinch. -Noel

Link works okay here. Try a different browser. -Noel

It's nice that you chose to increase your donation. If you're having specific trouble with operating BigMuscle's web site after making a donation, perhaps you should consider sending him a private message. It's not a common problem as far as I know. -Noel

If you feel it's excellent... Something you'll look at and use every day... A bright idea... How much does it cost to buy a good book or LED light bulb? How much did you pay for the operating system where they felt it was okay to just DELETE Aero Glass? -Noel

Not to mention that some work on the computer is done while collaborating with others, verbally. -Noel

This brought to mind a thought... If an infinite number of monkeys were placed in front of an infinite number of keyboards outfitted only with Delete keys, sooner or later one would delete just the right functionality so that the operating system would still function, but would be a little more irritating to use. -Noel

I'm staying on the Skype for Desktop version (and with my old pre-Microsoft account) for as long as humanly possible. -Noel

Some theorists think an incoming comet blew up over the ice sheet, causing a massive meltdown and climate change that affected a lot of species. Were the Clovis people done in by that? Here in Florida we are experiencing only the 4th day this winter in which we have been able to turn off the air conditioner. -Noel

January's updates, which did NOT contain any kind of "roll up" of bug fixes, seem to be working just fine. Regarding your comments on the cloud... Why is it over and over again we feel like the lone soul pointing out that the emperor's wardrobe is vaporware? Because someone in power stands to make money on us by pushing us into the cloud. -Noel

Do you honestly think a speech recognition and synthesis program is going to be useful at all? I'd love to be proven wrong, but I have low hopes for that. -Noel

Normally you just choose [save] first before closing the application with the [ X ] control, then they'll stick. -Noel

Thanks, bphlpt, you are right. I guess I didn't use enough smileys. -Noel

Thanks. As a matter of trivia I listen to Pandora mostly via their web page. -Noel