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Windows 10 - First Impressions


dencorso

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Unbelievable about GIFs not opening in the Metro photo viewer, though. What could be the thinking behind that?

Selling the yearly subscription for the Enhanced Metro Photo Viewer App[1] to every lolcat lover, how can you survive without being able to see:

catgif1.gif

 

jaclaz

[1] Which, as a bonus will also support .png images.

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GIF support has been bad since 7 (Vista?) anyway. The last photo viewer to properly show GIFs was XP's. But the main question is, why is the metrotard photo viewer default anyway? Another thing I noticed in recent builds is that Firefox can't set itself as default browser anymore, you have to go to the "PC Settings" crapp to set your default browser now.

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I'm sure it's all in the name of "security".

 

Need to secure Windows from all that nasty 3rd party software.

 

If Microsoft can't make better software, they can wall off the garden so the better software just can't get in.

 

-Noel

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What do y'all ;) think of the following suggestion in the comments section of a recent post by Mary Jo Foley:

 

... It seems like Windows used to be able to switch shells easily. For example, one could even use WordPerfect as the shell by changing the HKEY_blah/blah/blah shell=C:\BLAH\WP.EXE key.

Why cannot it be almost as simple as that now. Just put the Windows 7 shell on desktops, and change it to a more tablet-friendly shell or mode as necessary. Put this shell on the Windows 10 kernel, and you are about done.

 

Can anybody speak knowledgeably as to the feasibility of this idea?

 

--JorgeA

 

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Unbelievable about GIFs not opening in the Metro photo viewer, though. What could be the thinking behind that?

Selling the yearly subscription for the Enhanced Metro Photo Viewer App[1] to every lolcat lover

 

:lol:

 

Hey, that's one way to monetize "free" Windows: remove basic functionality and then restore it for a price.

 

--JorgeA

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Hey, that's one way to monetize "free" Windows: remove basic functionality and then restore it for a price.

At the end of the day isn't it what they already did with Media Player (or whatever is supposed to play DVD's)? :unsure:

 

The difference is that this way they will BOTH milk some money from the user AND be able to claim a raise in interests/visits to the Windows Apps Store.

 

Conversely even if the  "Enhanced Metro Photo Viewer App" will be given away for free, it will raise the visit counts and of course the number of apps available[1], it's seems to me like a win/win situation.

 

What do y'all ;) think of the following suggestion in the comments section of a recent post by Mary Jo Foley:

 

... It seems like Windows used to be able to switch shells easily. For example, one could even use WordPerfect as the shell by changing the HKEY_blah/blah/blah shell=C:\BLAH\WP.EXE key.

Why cannot it be almost as simple as that now. Just put the Windows 7 shell on desktops, and change it to a more tablet-friendly shell or mode as necessary. Put this shell on the Windows 10 kernel, and you are about done.

 

Can anybody speak knowledgeably as to the feasibility of this idea?

 

Define "knowledgeably". :unsure:

At least until XP it was a piece of cake to switch shells (possibly to something nicer/more useful than Wordperfect, like - say - blackbox, though ;).

 

jaclaz

 

[1] please read as "senseless metrics"

Edited by jaclaz
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It's getting closer and closer to being official -- Windows is turning into adware. See this long post in the Insiders forum:

 

Is THIS ARTICLE for REAL?

Are you people at Microsoft SERIOUSLY CONSIDERING THIS?

Have you NOT learned from what happened to LENOVO last January when it was discovered that they were BUNDLING SUPERFISH ON THEIR NOTEBOOK COMPUTERS, which served POPUP ADS [and also provided a nasty security crater], just so they could SAVE A FEW BUCKS?  Did you NOT READ Lenovo's INITIAL ARROGANT RESPONSE, SEE THE USER BACKLASH, AND READ THEIR BACKPEDALING APOLOGY A WEEK LATER?

 

THIS! REALLY! HAPPENED!

 

So are you REALLY going to do THESE THINGS, which the article suggests?

 

"Microsoft has a plan to stop people from ignoring Windows Store apps, and it involves putting recommendations in front of users' faces."

 

"the Start menu might show a recommendation directly underneath the list of most used apps"

 

"The lock screen will be another opportunity for app promotion, with an occasional full-screen image of a Windows Store app replacing the usual random image from Bing."

 

"Cortana herself will take part in the recommendation game, bringing up a related app from the Store when you're typing the name of a program you already have"

 

this feature could REALLY ANGER THE DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY, if you're WORKING ON SOMETHING and Cortana "recommends" your COMPETITION.  Don't you care about "Developers, Developers, Developers, Developers" any more?

 

and the WORST part?

 

"In Windows 10, Microsoft plans to look at how people are using the software, and figure out what kind of apps they might like. Over time, users may get app recommendations in different parts of the operating system."

 

LOOK AT HOW PEOPLE ARE USING THE SOFTWARE - that means it is SPYING ON YOU!

 

"app recommendations" - that is ADVERTISEMENT!

 

I KNEW IT!  I WAS RIGHT ALL ALONG!  When I pointed out the INTRUSIVE ADS already being put into build 9926's "store apps" and the built-in "the METRO" apps, I CRITIZED THE {BLANK} out of it because NOBODY in their RIGHT MIND will TOLERATE this kind of built-in SPYWARE and ADWARE.

 

I thought the ads in the built-ins were going away, though.  I *HAVE* pointed out that this kind of SPYWARE and built-in ADWARE would prompt an IMMEDIATE ANTI-TRUST INVESTIGATION FROM VARIOUS GOVERNMENTS from the USA to the EU to Australia to "wherever else" people care about SPYWARE and the intrusion of an ADVERTISING GIANT into the DAILY USE OF A COMPUTER OWNED BY THE USER, and NOT by the software vendors!

 

ADWARE is JUST BAD.  If it is IMPOSSIBLE to IGNORE the "the METRO" store apps, because you cannot uninstall them and get CONSTANT FLASHING MOVING ADS SHOVED INTO YOUR FACE AND WASTING YOUR INTERNET BANDWIDTH BY DOWNLOADING ALL OF THAT IMAGERY, then NOBODY will want Windows 10, even if you PAY US TO TAKE IT!

 

Come on, Microsoft, GET IT RIGHT:  NO <removed> AD-WARE ON *OUR* COMPUTERS, PHONES, WHATEVER!  Seriously!  And NO SPYWARE EITHER!

 

@rn10950: this is the possible reason I was hinting at for Microsoft wanting everybody to switch over to Metro crapps, so that they can push more Metro crapps via the ones they already have open.

 

So Windows is being turned not only into adware, but maybe also into spyware. Wonder it it'll be possible to disable that. It's already the case that, in the Windows Firewall, you can't disable Cortana phoning home. (At least, I was not able to.)

 

--JorgeA

 

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GIF support has been bad since 7 (Vista?) anyway. The last photo viewer to properly show GIFs was XP's. But the main question is, why is the metrotard photo viewer default anyway? Another thing I noticed in recent builds is that Firefox can't set itself as default browser anymore, you have to go to the "PC Settings" crapp to set your default browser now.

 

I didn't know about XP showing GIFs better than 7. How is that so? I'll have to try it out and see if I can tell the difference.

 

As for the metrotard photo viewer being the default -- well, they want everybody eventually to move over to metrotard apps. (One possible reason may be found in my next post.) *

 

Still on 10074 here and Firefox offers normally to set itself as default. I will definitely check out what you said about that when I get the new build. They seem to be intent on making it harder and harder to run the system the way the user wants: hiding the steps for creating a local account, now removing the automated offer to change the browser. Of course Microsoft and its fanbois will tell you that they're not "forcing" you to do anything, you can still get what you want done even as they make it harder to do it. This is the special evil of their approach.

 

They are tilting the lake so that you have to swim uphill if you want to picnic on the far shore.

 

--JorgeA

 

(*) This post was intended to appear before the one above it. Had them on separate computers and hit the Submit button at the same time, but the other one made it through first.

Edited by JorgeA
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What do y'all ;) think of the following suggestion in the comments section of a recent post by Mary Jo Foley:

 

... It seems like Windows used to be able to switch shells easily. For example, one could even use WordPerfect as the shell by changing the HKEY_blah/blah/blah shell=C:\BLAH\WP.EXE key.

Why cannot it be almost as simple as that now. Just put the Windows 7 shell on desktops, and change it to a more tablet-friendly shell or mode as necessary. Put this shell on the Windows 10 kernel, and you are about done.

 

Can anybody speak knowledgeably as to the feasibility of this idea?

 

Define "knowledgeably". :unsure:

At least until XP it was a piece of cake to switch shells (possibly to something nicer/more useful than Wordperfect, like - say - blackbox, though ;).

 

By "speaking knowledgeably" to the question, I'm asking people who are familiar enough with the inner workings of Windows to give their opinion as to whether it's feasible for Microsoft to do what the poster suggested.

 

It doesn't have to be an ironclad, authoritative statement; an "educated guess" or "well-informed speculation" will do. But the emphasis is on "well-informed" and "educated" -- as opposed to, say, me pontificating on that particular technical point. :)

 

Of course, I doubt that Microsoft has any desire to provide that level of choice, but I'm wondering if Windows (7? 8? 10?) is structured such that they could do that if they wanted to, without having to overhaul the entire code base.

 

--JorgeA

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Another thought about that article describing Microsoft's plans to push ads on users: if they use the lock screen for that, wouldn't this defeat the purpose of having a lock screen? The whole point of it is to prevent others from fiddling with your PC while you're away from it. But having the lock screen become "interactive" means being able to affect the system from the lock screen. :w00t:

 

--JorgeA

Edited by JorgeA
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Of course, I doubt that Microsoft has any desire to provide that level of choice, but I'm wondering if Windows (7? 8? 10?) is structured such that they could do that if they wanted to, without having to overhaul the entire code base.

 

Strangely enough, I didn't mention blackbox casually :whistle:

http://blackboxdesktop.deviantart.com/

 

Note: out of the Windows shells, most stable and compatible (up to Windows 7) is bbLean, which has a 64-bit build. Xoblite and others are 32-bit only and hence incompatible with any modern system. bbLean and bbLeanskin plugin may have issues on Windows 8. EDIT: New bbzero builds work under every Windows version, including Windows 10 preview. For downloading, see official site below

http://blackbox4windows.com/

 

 

 

 

So Windows is being turned not only into adware, but maybe also into spyware. Wonder it it'll be possible to disable that. It's already the case that, in the Windows Firewall, you can't disable Cortana phoning home. (At least, I was not able to.)

 

Hmmm. :unsure:

Possible logical flaw detected :w00t::ph34r:: if the new stupid windows 10 is being turned into spyware, it implies that current Windows 8/8.1 is not, which in turn would mean that the senseless pushing that MS makes to have customers use "online accounts" is done for the actual benefit of the users and to offer them a better experience ....

 

jaclaz

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Of course, I doubt that Microsoft has any desire to provide that level of choice, but I'm wondering if Windows (7? 8? 10?) is structured such that they could do that if they wanted to, without having to overhaul the entire code base.

 

Strangely enough, I didn't mention blackbox casually :whistle:

http://blackboxdesktop.deviantart.com/

 

Note: out of the Windows shells, most stable and compatible (up to Windows 7) is bbLean, which has a 64-bit build. Xoblite and others are 32-bit only and hence incompatible with any modern system. bbLean and bbLeanskin plugin may have issues on Windows 8. EDIT: New bbzero builds work under every Windows version, including Windows 10 preview. For downloading, see official site below

http://blackbox4windows.com/

 

 

I spent almost an hour looking at that blackbox thing. It's all too obscure and arcane for a non-techie like me. I didn't see any tutorials for how to actually use it. And the DevianArt page describes it as a "window manager." So, many questions remain unanswered, such as:

  • Can it be used to create Aero Glass-style window borders and title bars?
  • Can it be used to replace the Metro-style new "PC Settings" app with Control Panel?
  • Will it replace Metro crapps, such as the photo viewer discussed a few posts upthread, with their Win32 equivalents?
  • Basically, as the poster I quoted said: can it be used to "put the Windows 7 shell... on the Windows 10 kernel"?

Note, too, the caution just before the text that you highight in the quote above: "may have issues on Windows 8."

 

All in all, it doesn't look like an especially vibrant ecosystem, what with websites disappearing, scant participation in the ones that do exist... and then this confirmation of what I had already observed:

 

You need to know what you are doing, and you are right in NOT knowing, because there are no BB tutorials, I am afraid - and mine are lame, if I may say so.

 

 

The final straw was when HitmanPro.Alert intercepted an attack (DEP) and closed my browser while I was on that blackbox4windows.com website.

 

--JorgeA

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GIF support has been bad since 7 (Vista?) anyway. The last photo viewer to properly show GIFs was XP's. But the main question is, why is the metrotard photo viewer default anyway? Another thing I noticed in recent builds is that Firefox can't set itself as default browser anymore, you have to go to the "PC Settings" crapp to set your default browser now.

 

I didn't know about XP showing GIFs better than 7. How is that so? I'll have to try it out and see if I can tell the difference.

 

As for the metrotard photo viewer being the default -- well, they want everybody eventually to move over to metrotard apps. (One possible reason may be found in my next post.) *

 

Still on 10074 here and Firefox offers normally to set itself as default. I will definitely check out what you said about that when I get the new build. They seem to be intent on making it harder and harder to run the system the way the user wants: hiding the steps for creating a local account, now removing the automated offer to change the browser. Of course Microsoft and its fanbois will tell you that they're not "forcing" you to do anything, you can still get what you want done even as they make it harder to do it. This is the special evil of their approach.

 

They are tilting the lake so that you have to swim uphill if you want to picnic on the far shore.

 

--JorgeA

 

(*) This post was intended to appear before the one above it. Had them on separate computers and hit the Submit button at the same time, but the other one made it through first.

The XP photo viewer can show the animated GIFs while the 7 one can't.

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