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Windows 10 - Deeper Impressions


xper

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it ... feels like we've been waiting since October 2012 for Microsoft to be like "It's just a prank bro. You thought we were serious?" and release a real successor to Windows 7.

 

I know what you mean.  But honestly, I stopped hoping last year.

 

There comes a time when "don't want to" becomes "incapable of".  It only takes a year of screwed up management to destroy the culture of a software engineering organization to where it simply cannot be rebuilt.

 

-Noel

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... hope ...

 

 

"... Dante passes through the gate of The Abomination Hell, which bears an inscription ending with the famous phrase 'Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'intrate', most frequently translated as 'Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.'"

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Why PC games should never become universal 'apps'

 

"... If this future—one in which Microsoft gradually incentivizes UWP and the Windows Store at the OS level, and gradually disincentivizes Win32 and competing stores—ever came to pass, many of the wonderful things we love about PC gaming would be imperiled. The preservation advantages of perpetual backward compatibility. The large set of third-party tools free to interact with any game and enhancing or customizing our experiences. The competitive distribution market which results in the lowest prices and most frequent deals compared to other core gaming platforms.

 

And most near and dear to me, the end to a platform on which enthusiastic fans of a game can continuously improve and polish it, and ensure that it is easily accessible to future generations, even decades after the original publisher lost interest or ceased existing.

 

Handing Microsoft—or any other company, but given Microsoft’s history it’s particularly egregious—the metaphorical keys to the castle and giving them th possibility to enact such change, regardless of the likelihood of them actually implementing it, is something I can never countenance ..."

 

"... what needs to be front and center with that is user control, and more than that, user control with a convenient interface. Users should be able to exert full control over which software signatures they trust and which they don't, as well as retaining full control over the execution state and files of any program or game they own.

 

UWAs, at this point in time, put Microsoft's control and decisions over those of the system owner, and while that's standard for consoles it is not what the PC platform has ever been about or should ever be about."

 

 

"User control" is the critical concept here.

 

A somewhat parallel process (no pun intended) has been going on in home video. It used to be you would rent a film on VHS and then fast-forward through the government piracy warning; now, you have to let it run as the FF function won't work while the warning is being shown. Also, if you stop a DVD or Blu-ray disc before finishing it and turn the player off, the chances are about 50-50 that you'll be able to start up where you left off when you turn the player back on. Of course, the chances of being able to resume a VHS tape where you left it were 100%. (Barring a jammed tape of course, but then optical discs have their own annoyances.)

 

The bottom line is that the customer has less control. At least in the case of videos, the benefits of the newer technology are literally visible, whereas in the case of Windows 10 they are questionable, and at best arguable.

 

--JorgeA

Edited by JorgeA
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Woody posted this letter from one of his readers:

 

Anyhow, my main point of this letter is to address the forced updating of Windows 10.  Recently I was on a business trip, with only my laptop to use.  I put my computer to sleep for a few minutes while I stepped away.  I came back and my Bluetooth mouse wouldn’t work.  No explanation why.  It seems the Bluetooth interface had been turned off.  I can’t get it to turn on from the Action center.  I can’t find it under settings for devices to turn it on.  I notice that there is a yellow triangle exclamation point on my computer, so I run troubleshooting.  It says I need to restart to apply updates but it allows me to continue troubleshooting process.  Sure enough.  It comes back and says I need to restart and apply updates.  Are you KIDDING ME?  God d@mn Microsoft BUSTED my computer when I stepped away for a few minutes because they applied updates.

 

I very EXPLICTLY do NOT WANT to install any updates when I am gone on a trip.  Who knows what will happen.  So now I have no bloody choice because they have broken my computer and are forcing me to abandon what I am working on, restart everything and pray the computer still works.  What a bunch of jerks.

 

The folks at Microsoft really have to realize (or admit) that not all Windows users have the same needs, and that thus they cannot all be treated the same way (i.e., with forced updates). You talk about "personalizing" one's PC, how about letting me personally decide whether and when to update my computer based on my personal circumstances?!? :realmad:

 

--JorgeA

Edited by JorgeA
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I like the old style task manager it is just simpler (probably from all the years of use) and I find what I need much quicker. The one thing I do like about the new one is the Startup tab it is a bit more convinent that Start+R>msconfig lol

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CodeStuff Starter has been good enough for me from Win95 through Win7. Unfortunately it seems abandoned and hard to find even on its official sites.

Too bad there's no x64 version of it, since the 32bit doesn't "catch" the 64bit services and processes.

I wonder if it still runs (correctly) under Win10…

 

The built-in Task Manager has always been a last resort to me, used only when the system was too unstable or low on resources to run Starter.

But to each their own. :)

Edited by Drugwash
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Nice to hear from you, Formfiller.
Nothing unexpected, really.

Recently they're reported to have delivered non-security changes, including something that shills Windows 10, in security updates.  I can't confirm that personally, though, as I have long since stopped all updates to my older systems.

The released version is up to 10586.164, and around 122 or so I think it was the DWM hook points changed and Aero Glass now has to download symbols to hook it properly.  The pre-release is up to 14279 IIRC and nothing earth-shattering is being reported.  No change in direction by Microsoft - it's all Universal or bust.  Most people predict bust.

I'm progressing on a big re-tweaker script to make it possible to more easily handle the aftermath of in-place upgrades, and I've recently developed a rounded corners theme atlas for the released Win 10.

-Noel

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I've seen that mentioned elsewhere as a bug, but I'm not sure it is...

It appears to be an attempt at limiting the number of icons that can be shown, and the arrows can scroll the tray sideways. 

It seems to me that a limit to the number of visible icons at any one time in the System Tray goes against the original idea that you could have a whole lot of them there - presumably showing you status and allowing quick access to things - if you didn't hide them.  I minimize the number of tray icons myself to just 1 visible (Sound volume) and 3 hidden so I don't see those arrows on my test system.  Note that the Notifications icon doesn't count since it doesn't live inside the scrollable / hideable area.

Is this Microsoft's way of saying, "We no longer want you to use the System Tray, so we're making it ugly to incentivize you to hide all your icons"?

-Noel

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3 hours ago, NoelC said:

I've seen that mentioned elsewhere as a bug, but I'm not sure it is...

Is this Microsoft's way of saying, "We no longer want you to use the System Tray, so we're making it ugly to incentivize you to hide all your icons"?

-Noel

I Suppose so... This could be the limit for me!

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