NoelC

News bit: Microsoft specifically added Classic Shell to the list of incompatible applications, presumably so people won't override their wonderful new Start Menu and deprive them of the precious feedback they so crave. As though folks who have used Classic Shell would say ANYTHING positive about Microsoft's half-fast effort. With XPClient's guidance, I've determined that resurrecting Classic Shell is possible and (surprise, surprise) it works just fine. Microsoft is now being overtly malicious. -Noel

Just installing it now... Watching it install, I find myself wondering why SO much Windows Phone 8.1 stuff has to go in and use up my disk space... -Noel

Is there a difference between "pretty terrible" and "the way Microsoft is managed nowadays"? Seems like we're all pretty much in agreement. On this I have to agree with Andre... Bright, helpful people who know what they're doing are more and more seeing a primarily non-English speaking Microsoft presence on the forums lately. Some of those folks do try, but the discussion is just overall not at a very high level. Nor are Microsoft's development efforts at a very high level. What was once "world class" software is now more like "third world" software. Somewhere around here I recently made a comment about Microsoft no longer being about "service" or "what the customer wants". What does it say when people from the far east are the primary service givers for an American product in the English language? I'm, frankly, ashamed. It's too bad Digital Equipment Corporation didn't survive. -Noel

You don't think they know there are applications like Big Muscle's that use the symbols? It's clear they're doing everything they can to thwart the 3rd party add-ons that are starting to define the Windows WE want, not the Windows THEY want us to use. I'm sure they justify it in the name of "security". I wouldn't be surprised if they would just stop putting the symbols online for these Technical Preview builds. Edit: As I think I saw in the last pre-release build, the information coming out of Big Muscle's software seems to imply some of the needed symbol data is available and some is not... Please correct me if I've misinterpreted the output, but specifically, the symbols for uDWM appear to be available, while those for dwmcore are not: By the way, I verified that the uDWM.dll is not the same between build 9860 and 9879. -Noel

Funny thing... When I run Win 7 for testing it feels DIFFERENT, but it's a good kind of different. Kind of like visiting home after being away for a while. -Noel

It's no longer about what users need AT ALL, nor is there any sense of service left. I don't think they even care whether Windows is actually a complete operating system any more. Microsoft is clearly drowning and not the slightest bit unwilling to drag its users down as it tries desperately to get a last gasp of air. I've had to pay them upwards of $300 total just to have a Win 8.1 Pro DVD in hand, and to run Win 8.1 on one computer. To be honest, owing to the unexpected licensing machinations I had to go through to get Win 8.1 Media Center edition, I'm not at all sure I'd end up with a running, licensed version if I had to install it afresh from that DVD I paid so dearly for. Which product code would I use? The Pro one or the Media Center one? At least I'm sure I can still restore a system image backup, of which I have plenty. I'm no dummy, but if they managed to corner me into paying this much just for the privilege of running a system that's no better than the Windows 7 x64 Ultimate I replaced, then imagine what they're doing to the general public. -Noel

That I don't know. I presume you're seeing the smiley? One thing I've noticed is that with this forum editor, the repeat rate for holding a key down (e.g., an arrow key or the Delete key) seems disconnected from the normal repeat that my keyboard does on its own (it has a clicker in it that lets me know when it's repeating a key being held down, but things take off in the editor before the repeated clicks start). It's definitely different than before. -Noel

Everything seems okay here re: font sizes. One of the things I do fairly early on, though, is to run a .reg file that contains metrics and stuff that I saved from a Win 7 system. I might have missed problems with the defaults. Or maybe Microsoft is just messing with more stuff they oughtn't be. -Noel

Internet Explorer now offers a new rendering engine (appparently only for a small percentage of testers). I don't know whether I'm one of them, but I have a new smiley icon near the upper-right corner of the IE windows that (per Microsoft's instructions) I'm supposed to turn into a frowny if I run across a web page that doesn't work right. I've noticed some subtle differences in the way the forum editor works. Not worse or better, just different. -Noel

Desktop open/close/minimize/restore animations seem adjusted a bit. I can barely bring myself to test it without Classic Shell and Aero Glass. -Noel

Yes, it's a "Fast" build. -Noel

Microsoft has said it will be the last new build until some time in early 2015. -Noel

You know it and I know it but there are a whole host of people (think Dilbert denizens) who claim it's the next big thing in computing. I can't help but think that if only more such people would face reality the future of computing might be saved. -Noel

LOL, overwhelm their servers with Windows crash data. -Noel

Sigh. ClassicShell will no longer install on Win 10 build 9879. -Noel

Win 10 build 9879 symbols don't appear to be online yet. I'll keep checking from time to time. -Noel

Go into the PC Settings app, choose the Update & Recovery category, then Preview builds category along the left side. Make sure you're set to receive "Fast" updates if you don't want to wait for a better build. It appears to be another multi-gigabyte download. I'm part way through it. Total download was about 3 GB. Install time on a reasonably powerful system was about 35 minutes (not particularly fast, given the hardware), and it's just now booting up. It's at the "Setting up a few more things 3%" stage right now. As usual, the installation process (what is it, like Refresh? Reset?) cleared quite a few registry entries, and made a number of programs that were installed act as though they're not installed. Some things learned so far... Aero Glass 1.2.6 beta doesn't find symbols online yet, and so does not start.Classic Shell 4.1.0 will not install.Remember to install Windows Updates (there's already one available for this build). -Noel

Of course, one could use a smaller font and do like they did in the film "Brazil"... -Noel

To ask an obvious open question of those who think working on a tiny tablet is a viable way to "get things done"... Would a whole bunch of virtual desktops on a tablet yield a workable environment? I don't see how. At the surface it seems interesting, but if you look any deeper than the "gee whiz, I'd love to have a little tablet of my very very own because it's neato" part, the Observed Reality of the Actual Universe in which *I* live just doesn't support this putting enough info on screen to be useful at all... -Noel

Well put, and it touches on something that doesn't find itself discussed much... How much information do you need access to at any one time in order to make your computing experience useful? With 3 monitors myself and 4960 x 1600 pixels of desktop space, I still find myself occasionally wanting for more space. I postulate that the amount of desktop space (whether physical or virtual) that you need is related to the complexity and what I call "thought depth" of the work you're doing. I believe it's also related to how well your mind juggles short term memory of details, though at some level of complexity we all fall down. Using software development as an example (my focus), when you're working to implement something very complex, where even the concept of what you're doing is starting to stretch your capabilities (imagining, for example, multiple dialogs interacting across multiple systems in time and space, such as you might have with web-integrated software), then it's handy to have a whole bunch of reference materials right out where you can see them at a glance. And tools that help you along every step of the way. What would we do, for example, without Visual Studio's "auto completion" facilities? Did YOU remember that the value you need from the structure is spelled exactly "nCountV"? Ever lose your train of thought fighting with your system to get just what you need shown? Of course you have. We all have. Multiple desktops may well be helpful for that, but frankly multiple monitors do probably trump that concept. It seems to me that advancing the state of the art in high tech today is not about doing one simple thing at a time with big fonts, but doing complex things that are just barely possible using LOTS of screen space and tiny fonts. The world already has enough Weather and Clock and Calculator apps (though amazingly none are yet particularly good). -Noel

We can only presume that someone - somewhere - in Microsoft is both completely non-technical and quite firmly in charge of what goes into the OS. It's gotten to the point where manipulativeness has overwhelmed sensible decision. Worse, I can't believe there are any truly talented technical people left working under such management by now. I know if someone were keeping me from creating the best Start Menu you've ever seen I'd have found another job. Even if we didn't have third party software that DOES do these simple things to show how useful they are, anyone with a year of experience actually USING the OS and even half a technical brain knows they are needed. People who have used serious computer operating systems more sophisticated than Windows continue to shake their heads. Reminds me a bit of the film "The Devil Wears Prada", where nothing is based on anything other than arbitrary decisions made by some witch in charge about what's in and what's out. Fashion has no business driving computer operating system development. -Noel

What stands out to me... "...30+ years..." Even though she's a youngster (at 8 to 10 years my junior) she appears to acquired some wisdom. Trouble is, telling it like it is is no longer considered a popular thing to do, and high tech folks are notoriously insecure. -Noel

FYI, I saw no impact at all on Aero Glass for Win 8.1 after the November Update Tuesday installation of 18 Windows Updates. -Noel

For those testing the 1.2.6 beta with Windows 10 build 9860, I have updated my "faux borders" theme atlas file a little bit, to try to make the edges seem a bit more clean against both light and dark backgrounds, and to darken the inactive window title bars a little (this may need changing again after Big Muscle's next release). http://Noel.ProDigitalSoftware.com/ForumPosts/Win10/FauxBordersRoundedCorners.png Here are the colors it seems to work best with: -Noel

Why should you want that? It's not modern. It's not hip. No one in their right mind would think that skeuomorphism is a good thing! Shame on you for living in the past! Get with modern times, when people dance on tables and toss their tablets to one another. I'm joking of course. I hope you find a way to make Windows look like that again - especially Office! -Noel