NoelC

You made my night, the way you wrote that. -Noel

Seems to me Microsoft was all Gung Ho on requiring everyone to have a Microsoft Account early in the pre-release process, then reality started to set in and they finally had to cave and provide local account support. It's a matter of taking Windows in a direction people just don't want to go in. Especially not the business folks, who pay for it all. They think they're leading the world, but they're really wandering randomly with the overly simplistic mindset of a child. -Noel

Fair enough. It's easy enough to summarize this thread: Aero Glass for Win 8+ works fine on Win 8 through 10 (build 10240). It does not work for pre-release builds for which it hasn't been designed. Any questions? -Noel

Two things come to mind: 1. I've measured cases where Win 10 runs processors quite a bit hotter than older systems. In one test, just to play the very same video on Win 7 vs. Win 10 I saw a +10 degrees C difference. Maybe that's why they called it Windows 10 (degrees C). 2. Could they still be having those problems where the disk is told to shut off until specifically told by the BIOS to power-up? What was that... Power Up In Standby mode? -Noel

An even better way is to just not choose to use an OS where the OS vendor breaks the very things you find important every single time. Seems like kind of a no-brainer to me. If no one chooses to run Windows 10 (and the 100 million or so folks who were duped into installing it just revert), Microsoft will just have to do something different. Something good. -Noel

(Said with a southern drawl...) "Well thar's your problem right there!" Way back when I had Apps installed, as I recall if you were careful there was a way to enter one's Microsoft account temporarily, for that one visit. But things have probably changed since then. You're saying they're going to loosen up on the requirement to have a Microsoft account to be able to visit the App Store and buy something? That seems almost impossible to imagine. -Noel

Thanks. That sounds like good news, and is consistent with other reports I've heard that the Win 7 or 8 license isn't actually made invalid after the "up"grade. There's a slight resurgence in the overall usage of Win 7, per the statcounter web site... It seems a lot of folks may be reverting - or maybe just business people coming back from vacation. -Noel

Well, that'll never work. The Apple stuff is vastly superior - just ask any Apple snob user. In all seriousness, my son is still using a 2008 MacBook. It's pretty rare to see a PC notebook last that long. -Noel

What's the source of the idea that "one can downgrade within one month". Has Microsoft published that "one month" figure somewhere? Is there documentation that says the "up"grade is permanent and the license is consumed after that? -Noel

??? As far as I can see, it doesn't require an MS account now. And no, I'm not logging in with an MS account (it's a local account, as I mentioned above). -Noel

I think it would be incredibly embarrassing if Microsoft built a detour around their own firewall. I'd sure love to be the one to catch them at it. -Noel

After 6 weeks I'm STILL off by no more than a few percent. While having underestimated Win 10's take-up rate slightly, I'm still dead on with Win 8.1 (which is the system I personally use most and know very well), and look up top - Windows 7 may well be rebounding back toward my original prediction! The gradually leveling Windows 10 curve to me clearly shows a company using up its reputation. -Noel

Logged in with a local account, the MSACIDs field in the registry is blank for me. Is this the "Microsoft Advertising Customer ID" we're talking about here? LetsWindows10, you're anticipating a new kind of identity theft? -Noel

Are any of them cases where Windows 7 or 8.x won't activate? If so, is there any chance a call to Microsoft would clear that up? -Noel

I usually ask opinions before downloading new tools. Am considering trying Resplendence Software's LatencyMon tool. I'm not trying to solve any particular problem; I just like getting objective information. I ran it in a VM to compare results to something someone posted on the VMware forum, and found it to provide a few interesting insights into performance. Your experience? -Noel

In my mind it doesn't matter, IF the replacement control mechanisms are programmed to do all the same things (or, gasp!, even more). Unfortunately, they don't. For that we have Regedit.exe. -Noel

My Win 10 build 10240 test VM now settles to 40 processes running with no other applications active. I've provisioned it as an 8 core 8 GB VM, and the RAM used is about 1 GB, give or take. Of those 40, these 8 are running by my choice: aerohost.exe - Aero Glass for Win 8+.ClassicStartMenu.exe - Classic Shell.ProcessHacker.exe - The tool that enumerates the processes shown above.ShellFolderFixUI.exe - A handy accessory that pre-positions File Explorer windows.TSVNCache.exe - Tortoise SVN (a software development tool).vmtoolsd.exe (2 processes) - A necessary part of running Win 10 in a VMware virtual machine.Windows10FirewallService.exe - Sphinx Windows 10 Firewall Control package. This system runs stably, runs all the desktop applications I need, and seems reasonably efficient (though not more so than a similarly provisioned Windows 7 system). The desktop looks pretty nice and it does NOT run any Metro/Modern/Universal Apps except Settings and the Notification / Action Center. Given this level of optimization - and many thanks to maxXPsoft and others for posting tips and tricks on how to trim it down - I'd say Windows 10, optimized for Desktop operation, seems about on par with a decently-tuned Windows 7 system. If *only* something were BETTER about it, it might even be worth using. As it is, it remains a curiosity in a VM for me, since I don't know what's coming next month or next year, and I don't trust Microsoft to take it where I need to go. -Noel

I'd pay a significant amount for a truly professional OS. -Noel

Realistically, we need a company (Intel maybe?) to develop a professional OS for serious computing use, charge a commensurate amount for a professional system, and support it like a professional company. Hang signs outside the engineering organization that say "no one under the age of 35 need apply". Just because Microsoft decided to change to a "freemium, ad supported" model doesn't mean it's impossible to make money by selling software licenses the old fashioned way. And someone's GOT to make a professional system, especially if they actively kill off the older versions of Windows. The world cannot engineer the future using toys! -Noel

Seeing all the controls individually painted by the CPU is just nasty. DWM, though perhaps a clunky added-on implementation, is the right idea: Composite all the windows with GPU help then present the result all at once. Voila, smooth, elegant results (not from Win 10 of course, since the theme is designed to be anything but elegant). The answer, if you don't like the way it looks, seems to me to be to re-theme it. -Noel

Of course they care! Now, regarding WHAT they care about... -Noel

I've been testing software with Classic view in Win 7 lately. Running without DWM really isn't a reasonable way to run Windows. -Noel

Yeah, I was thinking of the small ones. -Noel

I have one possible insight on this point. Big companies, like Microsoft and Adobe, are starting to push things to the point where they have to iterate, "hey, if you don't like the licensing model, don't use the software", and generally speaking people don't like those big companies nor those policies. It might be that they feel in some sense that your policy resembles those. In short, people don't like to have to pay as much as something is actually worth, and with those companies actually selling software for a premium and people having to sweat over the choice. It's about feeling you've gotten a good deal. As a hypothetical comparative example... 1. You walk into the market where you buy your food. In a bin right in the front is a "Two for the price of one" sale of exactly the item you went to the store to buy. Say it's Olive Oil. You can buy two bottles for $8, where the regular price is $8 for one. Even though $4 a bottle is still not "cheap", you feel really good about having found that sale and put two bottles in your cart. -or- 2. You visit the market and find olive oil on the shelf and find the regular price of Olive Oil has gone up since last time you visited from $3 to $4. You grumble and put a bottle in your cart anyway. -Noel

Guys, I know a Linux discussion is kind of the same thing as a Windows 10 anti-discussion, but maybe we should be talking about what's wrong with Windows 10 here instead... In my opinion, these things spell out the worst of what Windows 10 has become: Reduction in configurability and usability. You will take the flat, lifeless look and you will like it! Intrusive, aggressive behavior that's more like malware than proper behavior from a company you choose to partner with and send money to. Unwanted and constant transmission of information abroad, that can't be completely de-configured. The platform is not stable for more than 4 months. Given the reduction in usability, what's next on the chopping block? Not least of which is the hype campaign designed to marginalize folks who prefer functionality over forced hipster redesign with lack of substance. Have I missed any big picture items here? -Noel