Windows 10 - First Impressions

[TELVM]

Windows 10 won't be the operating system I was hoping for

 

Epic comment:

 

... Windows 10 so far is a slight elaboration of Win 8, nothing more. Microsoft is not willing to abandon its silly Win8 experiment and Win10 is simply another way of forcing down our throat the stupid "Metro" idiocy. I understand that Microsoft desperately wants to be a player in the mobile OSes, but this is not the way to do it. It is now trying to use Win10 as a vehicle for its "Universal Apps" but these "Universal Apps" are not really universal because nobody with a sane mind would use them in a desktop environment. These are simple mobile apps.

 

Many companies enter into this group think vision where all kinds of resources are thrown to the pursuit of a market segment. Many end up being destroyed by these pursuits.

 

My prediction of what is going to happen: Microsoft would finally release this mongrel called Win10. A variety of utilities will come out to convert it to something that looks and behaves like Win7. People are going to get the free upgrade and then buy these utilities. Nobody would worry or bother to run these "Universal apps". In fact, I predict that there would be all kinds of programs removing them automatically for a "Metro-free" experience. In the same manner, Windows Phone 10 would not go anywhere.

 

I think that this would be Microsoft's last hurrah in pursuing the mobile OS market. After a while, the company is going to settle in the new reality and maybe, just maybe release a decent desktop OS.

 

Edited March 27, 2015 by TELVM

[jaclaz]

What's a SuperNode?

 

(Forgive my ignorance, I haven't used Skype since it was bought and changed by Microsoft.)

Basically something that betters your experience on the internet making use of your PC and bandwidth for Microsoft use.

http://community.spiceworks.com/how_to/47540-skype-disable-supernoding-for-windows-7

 

jaclaz

[NoelC]

There would be those who would say that if everyone refused to be made a full fledged cloud member (i.e., sharing one's resources with the world for their use on demand) that the whole cloud concept wouldn't work.

 

I've often wondered...  What would be wrong with that?

 

Clearly people do not like the ugly truth when it's presented plainly, and probably a lot of them would not choose to share THEIR resources for others' use freely, so Microsoft has to coerce and mislead (or just outright do it with assumed permission) in order to get people to do it.

 

There is a TV commercial going on presently here in the US that claims (in a roundabout way) that doctors will only be able to cure cancer if they use the resources of the Microsoft cloud, because the processing needed on computers the doctors themselves could fund would take weeks to do what the cloud could do in minutes.

 

Socialized computing.  Just what we need to bring everyone down to the same level.

 

-Noel

[jaclaz]

Well, but there are ways where "socialized computing" makes some sense, if we temporarily set aside the actual meaningfulness of the "final" scope (which may well be subject to debate) initiatives like (say) SETI @ Home:

http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/

or the Great Mersenne Prime Search:

http://www.mersenne.org/

are examples of "complete waste of computing power in a social way" (waste in the sense that people can cry and stamp their feet as hard as they can, still an used computer will draw more power from the mains than an idle one), while Bitcoin mining is an example of wasting even more power in an completely selfish way.

 

BUt if you look at a more complete projects list here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_distributed_computing_projects

some, related to research in medicine and/or biology (i.e. IMHO slightly more "relevant" or "practical" problems than - say - finding a unique Sudoku solution or decrypting a WW 2 enigma cyphered message) might well (on a voluntarily basis of course) be worth the electricity costs and/or the bandwidth usage (and each and every of these can be turned off at will).

 

Now, should we allow the good MS guys to use our electricity and bandwidth to the scope of delivering more updates or deliver them faster?

Or help two kids chat and have some LOLZ doing their homeworks socially when online through SkyPe? 

 

Are these  "social scope" or plain "resource stealing" ? 

 

And in any case, did they ask us for that?

 

The whole set "opt out" (as opposed to "opt in") approaches always smell fishy to me, not only these MS examples.

 

jaclaz 

Edited March 27, 2015 by jaclaz

[JorgeA]

dunno if here was mentioned

but they also doing s*** to be able be installed on Android devices

 

Good luck to them on that. Of the three major smartphone UIs (even though calling Metro a "major" phone UI is rather a stretch ), Microsoft's is by far the least visually attractive. You'd have to be married to MSFT to choose that over the Android look.

 

--JorgeA

[JorgeA]

 

Windows 10 won't be the operating system I was hoping for

 

Epic comment:

 

... Windows 10 so far is a slight elaboration of Win 8, nothing more. Microsoft is not willing to abandon its silly Win8 experiment and Win10 is simply another way of forcing down our throat the stupid "Metro" idiocy. I understand that Microsoft desperately wants to be a player in the mobile OSes, but this is not the way to do it. It is now trying to use Win10 as a vehicle for its "Universal Apps" but these "Universal Apps" are not really universal because nobody with a sane mind would use them in a desktop environment. These are simple mobile apps.

 

Many companies enter into this group think vision where all kinds of resources are thrown to the pursuit of a market segment. Many end up being destroyed by these pursuits.

 

My prediction of what is going to happen: Microsoft would finally release this mongrel called Win10. A variety of utilities will come out to convert it to something that looks and behaves like Win7. People are going to get the free upgrade and then buy these utilities. Nobody would worry or bother to run these "Universal apps". In fact, I predict that there would be all kinds of programs removing them automatically for a "Metro-free" experience. In the same manner, Windows Phone 10 would not go anywhere.

 

I think that this would be Microsoft's last hurrah in pursuing the mobile OS market. After a while, the company is going to settle in the new reality and maybe, just maybe release a decent desktop OS.

 

 

Yeah, that WAS pretty good!

 

Especially loved the line about "this mongrel called Win10."    The author should participate in our threads here.

 

--JorgeA

[JorgeA]

 

The whole set "opt out" (as opposed to "opt in") approaches always smell fishy to me, not only these MS examples.

 

jaclaz 

 

Apropos of that...

 

THE TYRANNY OF THE DEFAULT

 

--JorgeA

[bpalone]

 

There would be those who would say that if everyone refused to be made a full fledged cloud member (i.e., sharing one's resources with the world for their use on demand) that the whole cloud concept wouldn't work.

 

I've often wondered...  What would be wrong with that?

 

Clearly people do not like the ugly truth when it's presented plainly, and probably a lot of them would not choose to share THEIR resources for others' use freely, so Microsoft has to coerce and mislead (or just outright do it with assumed permission) in order to get people to do it.

 

There is a TV commercial going on presently here in the US that claims (in a roundabout way) that doctors will only be able to cure cancer if they use the resources of the Microsoft cloud, because the processing needed on computers the doctors themselves could fund would take weeks to do what the cloud could do in minutes.

 

Socialized computing.  Just what we need to bring everyone down to the same level.

 

-Noel

 

First thought through my shallow mind was, are we moving from STDs to CTDs?

Sounds like sure fired recipe for a MAJOR security issue. From our computer history, it seems that we as humans seem to lack the ability to test things well enough before we release them and thus have a terrible record as for security. This is all OSes, not just Redmond's beast. The various government spook agencies love the idea though.

[JorgeA]

 

What's a SuperNode?

 

(Forgive my ignorance, I haven't used Skype since it was bought and changed by Microsoft.)

Basically something that betters your experience on the internet making use of your PC and bandwidth for Microsoft use.

http://community.spiceworks.com/how_to/47540-skype-disable-supernoding-for-windows-7

 

jaclaz

 

 

Thanks very mcuh jaclaz, I've applied the Registry tweak. We'll see what (if anything) happens.

 

--JorgeA

[JorgeA]

 

There would be those who would say that if everyone refused to be made a full fledged cloud member (i.e., sharing one's resources with the world for their use on demand) that the whole cloud concept wouldn't work.

 

I've often wondered...  What would be wrong with that?

 

Clearly people do not like the ugly truth when it's presented plainly, and probably a lot of them would not choose to share THEIR resources for others' use freely, so Microsoft has to coerce and mislead (or just outright do it with assumed permission) in order to get people to do it.

 

There is a TV commercial going on presently here in the US that claims (in a roundabout way) that doctors will only be able to cure cancer if they use the resources of the Microsoft cloud, because the processing needed on computers the doctors themselves could fund would take weeks to do what the cloud could do in minutes.

 

Socialized computing.  Just what we need to bring everyone down to the same level.

 

-Noel

 

First thought through my shallow mind was, are we moving from STDs to CTDs?

Sounds like sure fired recipe for a MAJOR security issue. From our computer history, it seems that we as humans seem to lack the ability to test things well enough before we release them and thus have a terrible record as for security. This is all OSes, not just Redmond's beast. The various government spook agencies love the idea though.

 

 

Yup, this is really asking for trouble. It's not hard to imagine some future hacker finding a flaw in Skype that, thanks to Microsoft's foray into social computing, will give him control of hundreds of millions of Win10 computers.

 

I'm taking bets on who's going to be the first AV suite to flag Windows as a PUP. 

 

--JorgeA

[NoelC]

Don't confuse Skype with the peer to peer Windows Updates.  Imagine the sheer temptation, if you're a malware author...  A Windows Update staged by Microsoft themselves on your very own computer, automatically being fed out to others. 

 

I predict the time for someone to figure out how that's being managed to be measured in mere days.  A way to exploit it is probably already known.

 

-Noel

[JorgeA]

Dedoimedo discusses running Classic Shell in Windows 10 and Microsoft's attempts to blacklist this Start Menu alternative.

 

I am not really sure if Microsoft is just playing it silly, or if it's trying to shoot itself in the foot with a 20mm cannon, Classic Shell only mildly notwithstanding. But the thing is, the only really optimal way of using the preview version of Windows 10 Build 9926 is with Classic Shell. And it just might not be installable. Stupid and revolting, and it sure won't please the nerds, who are Microsoft's champions of good will out there.

 

--JorgeA

 

[NoelC]

Doesn't anyone think that kind of stuff (and tons more Microsoft is doing) is anti-competitive?

 

I sell my software online.  Not terribly long ago one of my new release installers (and yes, I have a valid code signing certificate) came up in Internet Explorer, courtesy of Smart Screen, with "This kind of file is dangerous and can damage your computer".

 

Is our justice department just a bunch of wusses permanently distracted by their smart phones?

 

-Noel

[jaclaz]

Is our justice department just a bunch of wusses permanently distracted by their smart phones?

No.

That was last year, this year they are distracted by their brand new Windows tablets.

 

jaclaz

[JorgeA]

Windows Hello: Microsoft is making the password obsolete in Windows 10

 

Windows Hello is an authentication system that uses a variety of biometric signatures and combines hardware and software to allow for seamless and secure user recognition and sign-in. According to Microsoft, the ideal scenario here would be for you to simply look or touch a new device running Windows 10 and to be immediately signed up.

 

Windows Hello relies on common hardware, but takes everything to the next level: fingerprint scanners, cameras with infrared sensors and so on. The software analyzes input from such hardware to confirm your identity and then signs you in, without requiring you to remember a password.

 

I'm dubious about replacing biometric data being more secure than passwords. In some respects, probably. But from a legal/judicial standpoint at least, in the U.S. you are more secure from police and perprosecutors with a password than (say) a fingerprint, as you can be compelled to provide a fingerprint but you cannot be forced to provide a password:

 

Judge Steven C. Frucci ruled this week that giving police a fingerprint is akin to providing a DNA or handwriting sample or an actual key, which the law permits. A pass code, though, requires the defendant to divulge knowledge, which the law protects against, according to Frucci's written opinion.

 

"Windows Hello"? Goodbye!

 

--JorgeA