Windows 10

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Most of the early reviews of W10 were pretty positive. But it's hard to know whether that was just frustrated W8 users happy to get even the slightest reprieve.

They are running around a little bit headless at the moment Microsoft.

Buy a blank hard drive - Install Linux. Problem solved.
 

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T2B_ said:
That's basically what I do.
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Unless you're into gaming there is nothing Windows or Mac does that Linux can't. Maybe some of the heavier graphics manipulation stuff. GIMP is good, but if you're a professional graphic designer you'll need Photoshop. Likewise Blender is good but I imagine there are better 3D modelling tools around that aren't free and don't run on Linux.

Quick Q - Have you run Linux on a Laptop pre-installed with Windows 8? I haven't really looked much into it, but from what I understand on the latest machines UEFI has replaced BIOS. So if you replace the hard drive you've still gotta * around with the UEFI Secure Boot configuration to run a Linux OS. That being said, I set up two laptops last year to dual boot W8 and Fedora. If I bought a new machine I'd have no reason at all for W8 (I barely have a reason to keep W7 on this one) so rather than ******* around with a dual boot system I'd rather just replace the hard drive.

Also as a general Q to anyone - Can you still buy new laptops with Windows 7 pre-installed? I would do that if I could but everywhere I look W8 is pre-installed.
 
The Passenger said:
Also as a general Q to anyone - Can you still buy new laptops with Windows 7 pre-installed? I would do that if I could but everywhere I look W8 is pre-installed.
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No you cannot. Places like JB reverted back to Windows 7 after the initial windows 8 *up but once 8.1 came around and "fixed" things 8.1 became standard.
 
Lol @ people not using Macbooks. Hows life below the poverty line? I'll be sure to air-drop some rations to your village when I'm flying over to Tahiti this weekend.

L
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It's never enough to be a Mac user, you have to be a knob about it.

Last Apple computer I used was one of these:

colorclassi-100008842-orig.jpeg
 
The Passenger said:
Unless you're into gaming there is nothing Windows or Mac does that Linux can't. Maybe some of the heavier graphics manipulation stuff. GIMP is good, but if you're a professional graphic designer you'll need Photoshop. Likewise Blender is good but I imagine there are better 3D modelling tools around that aren't free and don't run on Linux.

Quick Q - Have you run Linux on a Laptop pre-installed with Windows 8? I haven't really looked much into it, but from what I understand on the latest machines UEFI has replaced BIOS. So if you replace the hard drive you've still gotta **** around with the UEFI Secure Boot configuration to run a Linux OS. That being said, I set up two laptops last year to dual boot W8 and Fedora. If I bought a new machine I'd have no reason at all for W8 (I barely have a reason to keep W7 on this one) so rather than ******* around with a dual boot system I'd rather just replace the hard drive.

Also as a general Q to anyone - Can you still buy new laptops with Windows 7 pre-installed? I would do that if I could but everywhere I look W8 is pre-installed.
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Yeah I bought a new ASUS laptop last year actually.

It was a bit of a bitch, mostly just having to figure out what switches to flick off in the "BIOS" once I found the keyboard shortcut to get there, but once that was figured out it was fine. As long as one installs a UEFI-capable distro like Ubuntu or Fedora (probably most Linux distros now though, I haven't paid much attention in that regard) it should generally be smooth sailing after that. Just a bit fiddly at the beginning with Secure Boot needing turning off.

Also I do actually game on Linux, but of course it's pretty much limited to what's available particularly in Steam for Linux.
 

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T2B_ said:
Yeah I bought a new ASUS laptop last year actually.

It was a bit of a bitch, mostly just having to figure out what switches to flick off in the "BIOS" once I found the keyboard shortcut to get there, but once that was figured out it was fine. As long as one installs a UEFI-capable distro like Ubuntu or Fedora (probably most Linux distros now though, I haven't paid much attention in that regard) it should generally be smooth sailing after that. Just a bit fiddly at the beginning with Secure Boot needing turning off.

Also I do actually game on Linux, but of course it's pretty much limited to what's available particularly in Steam for Linux.
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Cheers mate. Food for thought. This laptop is brilliant but at 4kg not very portable. Need a new portable laptop to travel with and take to clients - The one I'm using is over 4 years old now and it runs OK but could do with an upgrade.
 
mad_monkey_j said:
From what I've read it's free for a year and then you have to pay for it.
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Not true. The free upgrade offer is valid for a year, as long as you do it within that year you've got it for life. If you wait to upgrade until after that year then you have to pay.
 
The Passenger said:
Also as a general Q to anyone - Can you still buy new laptops with Windows 7 pre-installed? I would do that if I could but everywhere I look W8 is pre-installed.
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Sure can, but you're probably going to have to go to a specialist computer store and not a box mover (DSE/JB Hifi). Toshiba in particular still have a big Satellite Pro range that has Windows 7 pre-installed with optional Win 8 upgrade in the box.
 
Some more info;

http://www.theverge.com/2015/6/1/8696949/windows-10-feature-loss

... Firstly there are the software losses. Most of these will only affect a small number of users, but upgrading will mean saying goodbye to Windows Media Center, the card game Hearts, and Windows 7's desktop gadgets. Anyone in the habit of using floppy disks on Windows will also have to install new drivers, and Microsoft warns that watching DVDs will also require "separate playback software." Microsoft manager Gabriel Aul has said on Twitter that a DVD option for Windows 10 is coming "later this year," but early upgraders can always download VLC instead.

In addition to the software losses, there are also a number of limitations for some of Windows 10's most exciting features. Cortana will only be available in the US, UK, China, France, Italy, Germany, and Spain at launch, while Windows Hello (which offers support for various biometric passwords) will need an infrared camera for facial recognition, or a supported fingerprint reader. The Xbox Music and Xbox Video streaming apps will also be constrained by the usual, complex web of region-based licenses.

More annoyingly, perhaps, Microsoft has also changed how updates will work with Windows 10. Although the Pro and Enterprise editions will both be able to defer updates, Windows 10 Home users will not have the option. Updates will instead be downloaded and installed automatically as soon as they're available...
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I will NOT be upgrading - at least for the foreseeable future. Not for the above negatives but simply because I'm happy with Windows 7. It does everything I currently need it to do.
 
BALKAN said:
Lol @ people not using Macbooks. Hows life below the poverty line? I'll be sure to air-drop some rations to your village when I'm flying over to Tahiti this weekend.

L
M
A
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1. This isn't 4chan
2. Macs are for hipsters and arts students (usually one and the same), you're paying for the brand and nothing else.
 
Heh. It's a marketing ploy to plump up Microsoft's balance sheet!

http://www.computerworld.com/articl...ows-10-is-inoti-an-upgrade-its-marketing.html

"As this (releasing Windows 10 free) is a marketing and promotional activity, revenue recognition of new sales of Windows 8 will continue to be recognized as delivered," the company said. That meant sales of Windows 8.1 licenses to OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) will be recorded immediately and in full, not in fragments with some deferred until Windows 10 launches and the free upgrade is available to customers.

The difference for Microsoft? If it said Windows 10 was an upgrade, not part of a marketing campaign, the company would have had to adjust Windows revenue to account for the deferrals -- and set aside money from sales of the OS starting in January when it announced the no-cost upgrade -- reducing Windows' earnings for at least the first half of this year, perhaps longer.

That could have painted an even darker picture of Windows revenue, maybe one that would have bothered skittish short-term investors enough to impact the stock. After all, Windows revenue is already on a downward trend: In Q1 2015, sales to OEMs of consumer licenses -- those most affected by the free Windows 10 offer -- were off 26% from the year before...
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Macs are pretty good for developers as well.

Obviously if you're development is based around Windows technologies and/or servers than you need to use Windows.

But for those who can utilise both OS's it's a pretty 50/50 split in my experience of dealing with people. If I'm in an office with choice between Windows or Mac I will go Mac.
 
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