Windows 10 - First Impressions

[NoelC]

While I agree that the Win 10 stuff looks the worst ever, the slide to mediocrity hasn't been all that sudden.  The Vista/7/8 calculators can't even handle 64 bit numbers.

 

Try doing a conversion of an unsigned 64 bit hex value of 9000000000000000 to decimal, for example.  You get a negative number.

 

Do a hex to decimal conversion then want to do some scientific math on it (something I actually do occasionally).  The newer versions just lose the accumulator during the switch in modes.

 

Fancy features like history aside, the old XP calculator, derived apparently from a 3rd party application called Calculator Plus, was the last one that actually was made to be used seriously.

 

-Noel

Edited May 5, 2015 by NoelC

[JorgeA]

All right, I've managed to wreck the new Win10 Start Menu.

 

Relying on @Formfiller's link showing how to get to the Group Policy Editor, I found settings under "Search" to turn off Web search when using Start Search. Because of the way they're worded ("Don't search the web"), I figured that the desired setting was to Enable. Did that, and then launched the Start Menu.

 

The Search bar disappeared completely from the Start Menu. I guess Microsoft considers my laptop part of the Web.

 

Went back into gpedit.msc (which I still had open), and reverted the setting back to "Not Configured." No change: the search bar didn't come back to the Start Menu.  

 

Rebooted and opened the Start Menu. No dice -- still no search bar in there.

 

For whatever reason, the Search icon in the Taskbar still works (although with Bing results and headlines included :angrym: ).

 

Not sure if there is any other way to try to get the search bar back into the Start Menu.

 

What a POS, this Win10. And no, that doesn't stand for "point of sale."

 

It's back to Classic Shell for me. We'll see if Search still works from there.

 

--JorgeA

 

[JorgeA]

And speaking of the Start Menu, it sounds like What You See (now) Is What You Get:

 

 New features and improvements coming to Windows 10

 

Microsoft's Belfiore also noted that with these new tweaks, the Start menu is pretty much a final product. As such, we don't expect any more significant changes beyond what we see today. 

 

--JorgeA 

[JorgeA]

Windows 10 emoji give new skin tones, middle finger and some sass

 

Well, it's not hard to guess which emoji will get the most use, especially with regard to Windows 10...

 

 

 

 

--JorgeA

 

 

[JorgeA]

I thought I'd add a small mention of a small feature I don't know even know still works

 

Currently, I am using Build 10041, I like how the taskbar and startmenu (Classic Shell, and MetroTard)

adopt some colour from the daily wall paper.

 

The bit that I really like is how the settings icons also adopt the colour too. Try it. 

 

Do the later builds do this?

 

Got a chance to try this.

 

It does work on 10074, for me at least.

 

--JorgeA

[Formfiller]

All right, I've managed to wreck the new Win10 Start Menu.

 

Relying on @Formfiller's link showing how to get to the Group Policy Editor, I found settings under "Search" to turn off Web search when using Start Search. Because of the way they're worded ("Don't search the web"), I figured that the desired setting was to Enable. Did that, and then launched the Start Menu.

 

The Search bar disappeared completely from the Start Menu. I guess Microsoft considers my laptop part of the Web.

 

Went back into gpedit.msc (which I still had open), and reverted the setting back to "Not Configured." No change: the search bar didn't come back to the Start Menu.  

 

Rebooted and opened the Start Menu. No dice -- still no search bar in there.

 

For whatever reason, the Search icon in the Taskbar still works (although with Bing results and headlines included :angrym: ).

 

Not sure if there is any other way to try to get the search bar back into the Start Menu.

 

What a POS, this Win10. And no, that doesn't stand for "point of sale."

 

It's back to Classic Shell for me. We'll see if Search still works from there.

 

--JorgeA

 

Try to set it to disable. But I am not sure it works.

 

Same thing happens with Windows Update. If you change its setting in group policy, it seems to be stuck to that setting. I wasn't able to set it back to the default W10 behavior, even after enabling/disabling/not configuring the WU group policy.

[JorgeA]

Thanks for the idea, Formfiller. Sadly, it didn't work either.

 

I'm torn between reporting the issue on the TP Insiders forum to help improve the OS, and refraining from reporting it so that it ships with as many problems as possible. They've become so hostile to user choice that I am just no sure any longer that they deserve to be helped to succeed.

 

--JorgeA

[JorgeA]

And another choice removed from Windows users:

 

Windows Media Center is dead

 

Microsoft has confirmed that the media software is dead and if a user upgrades to Windows 10, their PC will lose this functionality.

 

...But, the timing is a bit odd, with the rise of cord cutting, Media Center seems like a great companion for those who want cable-box like features, without the service.

 

The (IMO) best program Microsoft ever added to Windows was a victim of bad timing. When it first came out in XP around 2003, it was too early. CableLabs dragged their feet mightily in approving (certifying) WMC for use with CableCards, which enabled users to view cable TV channels via WMC. Lacking that capability at a time when virtualy the whole country was on cable, Media Center had little reason for existence. There's no mention of CableCards even in Vista MC.

 

It wasn't until when Windows 7 came out that WMC could finally process cable channels, but by then the Great Recession was in full swing and the cord-cutting trend had started as people were looking for ways to cut down on expenses. You can save $10-$12 a month by using WMC instead of the cable company's DVR, but then you can also save $100 a month by dropping cable altogether. In any case, by that time WMC had already been forgotten.

 

What a shame. But for fans and users of Windows Media Center, it's yet another reason to stay on Windows 7. (There is a version available for Win8, but that one was already gimped as it lacks support for WMC extenders.)

 

--JorgeA

[Formfiller]

Thanks for the idea, Formfiller. Sadly, it didn't work either.

 

I'm torn between reporting the issue on the TP Insiders forum to help improve the OS, and refraining from reporting it so that it ships with as many problems as possible. They've become so hostile to user choice that I am just no sure any longer that they deserve to be helped to succeed.

 

--JorgeA

 

It doesn't matter, because they won't fix it anyway. Especially since it's something to avoid metro/cortana/bing

 

It will only get fixed after RTM, when the outcry over the bugs will be too loud to ignore.

[Formfiller]

Posted the "ugly" post to Channel9 as well, fanboy hillarity ensues:

 

http://channel9.msdn.com/Forums/Coffeehouse/Windows-10-metro-is-butt-ugly

Edited May 6, 2015 by Formfiller

[JorgeA]

Windows Phone sees meager growth from Q1 2014 to Q1 2015 worldwide

 

Between last year’s Quarter 1 (Jan-Mar 2014) to this year’s Quarter 1 (Jan-Mar 2015) Windows Phone only saw .9% growth worldwide year over year.

 

The biggest gains were in France (+5.8%) and Germany (+2.1%) while the largest loss was in Great Britain (-1.2%).

 

In the same period Windows Phone showed a .1% loss in the United States which dropped it to 4.3%.

 

 

--JorgeA

 

[JorgeA]

Here's a very interesting observation in the Windows Insider forum:

 

On a side note im reading now about the reintroduction of BlurBehind for the Start tooltip and tasksquare. Funny how all the Aero haters are now drooling over pics of it like it was something they came up with when just a week ago they all complained about how Aero effects would ruin all of civilized humanity lol.

 

This suggests that hatred of Aero has more to do with fashion/bandwagon/groupie/sheep psychology than with matters of taste or esthetics. There are the people who are wired (or who have wired themselves) to automatically cheer for anything Microsoft does, or for anything that's "new" -- and then there are the people who have their own independent judgment.

 

--JorgeA

[Formfiller]

 

This suggests that hatred of Aero has more to do with fashion/bandwagon/groupie/sheep psychology than with matters of taste or esthetics. There are the people who are wired (or who have wired themselves) to automatically cheer for anything Microsoft does, or for anything that's "new"

 

--JorgeA

 

You still had doubts about this? I don't know the Insider's forum that much, but on Channel9 there are posters that fit the above description like a glove.

Edited May 6, 2015 by Formfiller

[JorgeA]

^^ I had my suspicions, and had speculated about it, but hadn't actually seen such a clear example of groupthink where their opinions would do a 180 based on what Microsoft did. I guess in the back of my mind I kept hoping that it'd be possible to carry on a rational discussion with them.

 

--JorgeA

Edited May 6, 2015 by JorgeA

[TELVM]

 

^ What a joke. Flat (encephalogram) design in all its horror. It really looks like the GPU or the monitor are defective.

 

30 years after Windows 1.0 this piece of crap is "the way to the future"? What a prank.