NoelC

Seems to me not altogether obvious what is part is "OS" and what part is "non-OS products". -Noel

What is the culture like that a software corporation would need/want a slogan like "don't be evil"? -Noel

But WAIT! Dropping support doesn't mean what it sounds like! I just fired up an XP VM to check, and lo and behold there's an October 2014 "Malicious Software Removal Tool" sitting there waiting in Windows Update. Malicious by whose definition, I wonder? Stopping support indeed! -Noel

By the way, regarding Microsoft having a size 13 boot in the door... I see that Microsoft, with the latest spate of Win 8.1 updates, restored all the root namespaces that I keep removing (without downside) to make Explorer work the way I want it. I see that they did something to have Internet Explorer prompt again to ask "Use Recommended Settings?" - which in my case are FAR less secure than those I have chosen. Most anyone who doesn't understand that the question really means "Return IE to default settings or keep using those you've set" would take the recommendation. These are just the parts that are easy to see. So my tongue-in-cheek comment above ("Trust mother Microsoft") is actually more than a joke. It's real. By choosing to use Windows - any version that runs on modern hardware - you are implicitly choosing to trust Microsoft - to partner with them, no ifs ands or buts. Either you're with them or against them. There's no middle ground that everyone loves to think exists, where you've bought software that does what you want, when you want, without ulterior motives. Where YOU'RE in charge. It's simply not there. It's up to you to decide whether partnering with Microsoft provides value. Recall what a big deal it was when Microsoft announced they'd stop supporting XP? OMG! So many people worried that XP would just stop working the very next day. Perhaps they should rejoice instead! No longer is Microsoft drop-loading whatever they want into your XP system. Chances are it will remain as stable as it is, and no new spying will take place. Imagine the sheer psychological power in convincing sheeple that instability - Microsoft being able to change your OS at will through automatic updates - is somehow preferable over stability. It's the same power they're trying to wield by telling people that Windows 10 is an all-new marvel. Everyone needs to leave behind the misconception that by falling in with the crowd they're making the right decision. Right now! Note that I did not say that this would mean you would stop using Microsoft software. Use it as long as you get value from it, but go into the partnership with your eyes open! And always remember that All Your Datas Are Belong To Microsoft. I agree - "No". I was wrong - more than half the people of this world are stupid. And ignorant. And whether a cure exists is irrelevant, they're already stuck in the web. -Noel

Don't get me wrong, I'm with you - online privacy is a VERY serious issue. But it's been a long time an issue; there's nothing special about now, except that maybe the powers that be are pushing the boundaries a little further. "Online privacy" - there's your oxymoron. -Noel

Funny coincidence... With altered drop shadow resources to "fake" a small border, window resize operations (i.e., specifically the places around the window where the mouse cursor changes) seem actually just a little bit more accurate and properly positioned than Win 8.1. -Noel

Patience. Those who provided valuable feedback last time around are being asked to do the same again, that's all. I'm sure it won't be long before it's available to everyone. Given the free-for-all that happened during the pre-release testing of Aero Glass before, I don't blame Big Muscle for being a bit conservative during this test. It was irritating having posters complaining incessantly about the nag screen, asking about something that was already provided in the documentation, being critical about the way Big Muscle was handling something, or ANYTHING but providing good technical feedback. Sure, people care deeply about how their desktop looks, but it just got out of hand. Big Muscle, is there anything in particular you'd like tested? You seem to be well beyond having basic problems with this version - frankly I can't find anything at all wrong with it. I think the one glitch I saw was because of restarting DWM to load a new theme atlas. -Noel

Trust mother Microsoft. She will take care of you. In all seriousness, what makes you think they weren't tracking everything you were doing already? Their foot is already WAY in your door, and has been for years. We install software and scramble security features to prevent automatic installation of software. Yet most folks leave Windows configured to install updates automatically. Many use cloud services and back up their private data to who knows where. Yes, fully half the people in the world are of below average intelligence. Thing is, something holds Microsoft back from being completely stupid about it, though... If someone DOES have private information Microsoft has collected get out by Microsoft's own negligence, just think of the liability! Stupid EULA that no one reads notwithstanding, they have a LOT to lose in a serious lawsuit. -Noel

Well, today I've made a couple of strides that serve to reassure me - at least a little bit - that the Windows world is not ending just yet. Big Muscle made available a beta of his Aero Glass tool, and I was able to quickly make a theme atlas that turns the Win 10 desktop into something that's halfway usable, with borders around the windows. I could live with the result. I could not live with the desktop as they had it. But wait and see - they're notorious for making things worse as the time grows closer to release. With Classic Shell and pretty much all the same tweaks I have done for Win 8.1, Win 10 becomes usable. For the first time I've not given up immediately in frustration on running with UAC enabled. I promised I'd force myself all through the time while testing the Win 10 previews, and so far I've settled it down to be unobtrusive. There will always be niggling little problems with it, and I HATE it when the system refuses to do what I ask it, but maybe the rate of encountering those things will be low. But where is the innovation? Changing the draperies and re-coding control panel applications as Metro Apps? Seriously, that's it? -Noel

By the way, in all my testing in Win 10 so far, I've seen exactly one visual glitch in a title bar. Aero Glass for Win 10 is working remarkably well. Looking carefully at the Win 10 theme resources, I did notice one thing, and coupled with the knowledge of what Microsoft did LAST time with Win 8 previews, I can start to see what's coming... The theme resources in the stock WIn 10 themeatlas file (that I got from Big Muscle's post in the other thread) are ALL very pale. What does this say to us? Is Microsoft phasing out the standard Windows controls? Will we be left with just borderless, lifeless Metro apps that do whatever they want within their client area? -Noel

I've thrown together a basic themeatlas.png file that provides a little relief from the borderless desktop, though it's not particularly flexible. It restores the appearance of window borders and slightly rounded corners with the Windows 10 TP theme, so for those who don't want to take the next step to putting in an actual theme replacement... Just use this themeatlas with the Aero Glass 1.2.6 DEBUG version. Here's the themeatlas.png file that generates the above appearance. It's still rough, and I'm not sure I like the drop shadows this big, but big shadows ARE reminiscent of the stock theme after all... http://Noel.ProDigitalSoftware.com/ForumPosts/Win10/themeatlas.png Edit: I just thought about it... I made the drop shadow for the title glow backing dark since I like light titles. Here's one with a light colored glow for use with dark fonts... http://Noel.ProDigitalSoftware.com/ForumPosts/Win10/themeatlas_white_glow.png -Noel

What did you do to recover the window borders, Mr. Grim? I've been working on a "faux rounded corner themeatlas" and it's coming along but I'm not getting any Aero Glass effect in the borders. -Noel

Microsoft complicated things by releasing 17 updates for Win 8.1 today. I'm busy working through those in a different VM. Do I trust Microsoft to release only good software? Let's just say I "trust but verify". At least Aero Glass for Win 8.1 still works with the latest updates. I see IE is up to 11.0.13 now. Thanks to you, Big Muscle, for posting the Win 10 Theme Atlas file in the other thread; I'll be looking into what can be done with that a little later. I see the huge and too light drop shadows in there are graphic elements, which means they're changeable, which Is awesome. Maybe the window borders can be resurrected as well (I don't know yet). -Noel

You know I do. Thank you! -Noel

Thanks for pointing out something I somehow missed, ralcool. I hadn't noticed the login box on BigMuscle's site. I was just able to get the test version. First impression: It works passably, but frankly without the borders on the sides and bottoms of the windows, and without a custom theme atlas, I find it only makes a limited visual improvement to Windows 10. Findings so far: Getting it started was a bit touchy, but once I created a donation.key for the VM it auto-downloaded symbols and ran okay. Was it supposed to need symbols? Notably I'm running the Win 10 Enterprise x64 TP, not the normal TP. Title bars are made translucent, as expected. They do make the borderless look a tiny bit easier to stomach, though I will surely miss my slightly rounded corners (which are only possible with a border). Classic Shell does enable translucency (vs. the normal transparency) of both the Taskbar and the Classic Shell menus themselves. Changing the caption color works, though the white text I prefer is sometimes less readable without a dark caption "glow" capability from a custom theme atlas. I guess I'll have to warm up Photoshop and see what it'll take to create a custom theme atlas. I wonder what the implications are regarding drop shadows... Anyone have a PNG file yet with the resources laid out that matches Windows 10's stock theme? -Noel

The System Image backup does the whole drive; it's capable of restoring a system to bare metal. The requirement of the Recovery Drive is to be able to boot into the WinRE environment, within which you can choose to restore that System Image backup. Whether your system can boot successfully from a USB I don't know. Another option might be to get a Win 8.1 ISO and burn it to a DVD that can be booted. I'm not sure, as I would use the Microsoft Win 8.1 Pro disc I bought if I had to do a restore. -Noel

-Noel

Why can't you back up 8.1? The system comes with the ability to make both a bootable System Recovery Drive and a System Image backup. In addition to Big Muscle's most excellent product, what we also need is for some of the folks around this site who are into theming to figure out how to restore a theme with a border around it to Windows 10, as well as a more reasonable drop shadow. Even though the Aero Glass on the title bar will help, I find the borderless look disruptive to being able to separate multiple windows visually. There's the one big drop shadow that appears (slightly after the fact) on only the window that has the focus, but it's not enough. Microsoft seems to want to go ANYWHERE BUT the direction of the things that have worked well in the past, which I can't understand given the stated thrust of "we'll make Win 10 what you want again". -Noel

Beware... This can potentially happen, though obviously you haven't paid anything for Windows 10: http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/172440-i-fell-through-a-microsoft-trap-door/ For those of you considering moving up to Windows 10 as your main OS (i.e., not as just a test)... You do realize that it will expire (in 2015) and it will likely not be upgradeable to a licensed system, right? -Noel

By the way, an unsung feature I've discovered is that the system will now send mouse wheel events to whatever window you're hovering over, without the need for a 3rd party application such as WizMouse. -Noel

Not much discussion here... I've configured up a system from soup to nuts, applying every trick in the book (the one I've written on configuring Windows 8). Almost everything applied verbatim, with a couple of things needing registry tweaks instead of being able to use a UI tool to configure (thinking about getting file dates / times to show right), confirming the appearance that this is no more than just a 8.2 build in reality. Why does Microsoft have to have such a tremendously unpolished UI in a preview version? Is this the same as last time, where they tried to do some kind of "migration" trick to wean people off the old UI? As much as people dislike the Win 8 UI, it doesn't seem like they need to do a whole lot of weaning... Anyway, I've got Win 10 Enterprise x64 TP running as a lean and mean desktop machine. I've even left UAC enabled, and am seeing how well that can be lived-with. It's still a bit of a pain, but a man can get used to some pain. -Noel

That's not a bad suggestion, mufunyo. I'd suggest against using the term "Aero" in the name. Microsoft can't hope to trademark the term "Glass". -Noel

That's the conclusion I keep coming to as well. At least the decision-makers. However, I'm starting to worry about the technical people as well. -Noel

Hey Tseng, Read the last few pages of this thread, please. Your answer is already here. -Noel

What whoops? Why should he have to apologize for that? Should he have said, "Aw, poor dears, you'll get preferential treatment of course, since you're so female"? -Noel