Hatred Grows Of W10 - Force Feeding

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Alright, so anyone that it's involved in the tech world should know about what's happening in the world of Windows. (I'm just a tech hobbyist now, having left the industry nearly 10 years go.)

I primarily have Windows OS PC's because, well, it's just happened that way. Plus, at least piece of software I use (for fun) doesn't have a native client for Mac or LINUX. (plus other stuff, that I need Windows for where I don't want to do emulation or VM)

Point is, this: http://www.computerworld.com/articl...-for-massive-windows-10-upgrade-strategy.html

MS has decided to try and force-feed us Windows 10 again and has plans to step up the pace to sneak Windows 10 on to your PC. (Probably eating up bandwidth in the process to download the 5GB of data that is the W10 upgrade package silently.) -- I found out that my usual laptop, sucked down 5GB of data through my Pocket WiFi which comes with a standard data package of 10GB. I'm going to be forced with slow speeds once I hit the 10GB ceiling a little later this month, strictly because of the W10 download bullshit.

So, if you're running Windows 7 Professional, like I am, you probably have seen this W10 upgrade pop up repeatedly. If you don't want the upgrade, you'll need to ensure that you disable auto-updates and/or set some stuff in the registry... but there is another small application that you can use to help control things:

http://ultimateoutsider.com/downloads/ -- GWX Control Panel

This is what I'm using now to keep my stuff W10 free. I had removed the patches that came before, but they keep popping up with different binaries and this tool seems to be fairly effective in keeping the crap out.

Windows 7 was the truly last good Windows version since XP. Guess I'll be gripping this OS until something really forces me to change. It's certainly nice that Mac is getting a larger market share and more applications are readily available for the Mac, compared to a number of years go.

This post is mainly aimed at the regular user who doesn't know what's happening with the W10 upgrades and doesn't want to change. To the power users and tech maniacs, I'm sure you've got this under control and/or don't use Windows at all.

That's all. Rant is over... MS can seriously go f-themselves over this one.
 
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Ironically, the reason why Windows has sucked badly in the past was because Microsoft made too many concessions to...well...users like you.

Users who held on with a death grip to legacy hardware and software (and Microsoft software design managers kowtowing to them) prevented Microsoft from moving forward decisively with OS releases.

It's true that once you've got a good PC environment going, the last thing you want is something like a software update to jump in and screw things up.

But as you know, your resistance to upgrade your hardware and software is not good for business.
 
k1234k said:
Ironically, the reason why Windows has sucked badly in the past was because Microsoft made too many concessions to...well...users like you.

Users who held on with a death grip to legacy hardware and software (and Microsoft software design managers kowtowing to them) prevented Microsoft from moving forward decisively with OS releases.

It's true that once you've got a good PC environment going, the last thing you want is something like a software update to jump in and screw things up.

But as you know, your resistance to upgrade your hardware and software is not good for business.
Click to expand...
I used to go drinking with a Microsoft designer along time ago and after we poured down a few......little todbits of info would come out......and that was enough for me to wait for years.....literally years to use anything new from them....plus.....do you think they need anymore money?
 
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@TAG Manager
I'm not sure, how you can still use hardware that came with Windows 7. That's back from when dinosaurs where still walking the surface of this planet, right :D

I admit it sucks to make an OS update for a running system, but Windows 7 isn't better than 8.1, just slower ;) you are already very japanized with your resistance to change :p

But yeah, turning auto update off is always a good idea. Love it, when Windows decides to restart system within 10 minutes, no matter what I'm doing. Randomly downloading 5GB updates is of course a very good reason too ;)
 
Change is fine when it's been fully tested and updated to a point it's practical. there are two types of people the ones who just want to be a part of the latest stuff and people who say "Well that looks nice but what's wrong with it?". I'll upgrade eventually but I'll do it when I know my experience will be bettered by a new OS and not just because Microsoft demands I do it. It feels like with every new windows release 8.1, 10 etc we are being forced into having an increasing amount of bloatware that doesn't have a particularly useful function it's just more HDD space and RAM being taken up for no reason so you can have something on your desktop that tells you what the humidity level outside is today or a futuristic version of Bonzai Buddy that wants to interfere with you. Also not only are they trying to force 10 on people once you have it you have no control over what it downloads and installs through updates and that's just when the damn thing works.

Really with each upgrade for windows all you do is take less control and customisation of your experience for more pretty bells and whistles on your screen to make your PC more like your phone.
 
RandomTokyoGuy said:
I admit it sucks to make an OS update for a running system, but Windows 7 isn't better than 8.1, just slower ;) you are already very japanized with your resistance to change :p
Click to expand...

My main system at home is pretty hefty and it runs light and fast with W7. (1 generation behind the latest i7, SSD, 16gb RAM, etc.) It does exactly what I want, the way I want and at the speed I'm happy with. I've even stripped down 7 to a minimalist design, the way I'm used to using things.

I did stick with XP during the Vista days, but man... I was stuck with Vista at work and that was painful enough.

I've run 10 in VMWare Workstation just like I did with 8 and 8.1 and it's just not suited to me. I don't like all the crap apps that are installed with the base version, which take forever to clean up.
Going through settings and try to get things arranged the way I like them, is usually futile in 10. (almost the same as 8/8.1)

SpookySmoothie said:
Really with each upgrade for windows all you do is take less control and customisation of your experience for more pretty bells and whistles on your screen to make your PC more like your phone.
Click to expand...

This. I don't want my PC to act or look or feel like a phone. I realize they want one OS across their devices, but it's def. not a one-size-fits-all solution that everyone can be happy with.

Even Apple nags you to upgrade your iOS but they don't force it down your throat. Only when your apps start requiring newer versions of iOS, do you get pushed into it.

No one mentioned the potential for a SaaS model that windows could be moved into. Sure, you get W10 upgrades for free... but what will they make you pay for later? Just like they claimed before that the auto-installs of W10 was a mistake before, they are backtracking on that as evidenced in the article above.

W7 has patches for awhile longer... Resistance to change? A little. Resistance to change when it's something makes me not even want to use my PC? No thanks. When driver support starts declining for W7, then I'll be worried... unless another version of Windows comes that is more reasonable. I don't know... it' just going to be a wait and see kind of thing.

I'm just simply furious about it sucking down 5GB of my Wifi data plan -- guess I can tether... but it's just not acceptable.
 
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User#16452 said:
My iPad died today. My iPhone died a month or so ago. All I am left with is a rickety 5 year old laptop that I installed W10 onto in a moment of weakness and an even older Blackberry. Much as I hate shopping, I think I might have to give in and buy something new.
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Wow - sorry to hear that. I've never seen an iPad just up and die in-person.

Yeah, guess you'll have to break down and buy something new.

How old was that iPad? It was a mini, right?
 
User#16452 said:
My iPad died today. My iPhone died a month or so ago. All I am left with is a rickety 5 year old laptop that I installed W10 onto in a moment of weakness and an even older Blackberry. Much as I hate shopping, I think I might have to give in and buy something new.
Click to expand...

If you can find someone familiar with hardware and/or spend some time on google, you could open up the laptop, clean it and upgrade some components. An alternative for people who hate having to setup a new system or just like to hangon to their old devices.
 
k1234k said:
Ironically, the reason why Windows has sucked badly in the past was because Microsoft made too many concessions to...well...users like you.

Users who held on with a death grip to legacy hardware and software (and Microsoft software design managers kowtowing to them) prevented Microsoft from moving forward decisively with OS releases.

It's true that once you've got a good PC environment going, the last thing you want is something like a software update to jump in and screw things up.

But as you know, your resistance to upgrade your hardware and software is not good for business.
Click to expand...

This cannot be farther than the truth.
Having talked with insiders, Microsoft knew that Vista was a disaster and decided to release it anyway.
The lack of user excitement for new versions is/was because of just low (none) added value and the poor quality of new releases, and obviously clumsy new user interfaces.
Please consider that users are always right, even if sometimes they (quite rightfully) take their time to adopt new tech.
 
I suspect that the Microsoft Windows OS will someday be regarded as yet one more example of evolution in action.

Windows systems in the hands of students on campuses in the US are rapidly becoming a rare sight; once it was common, and earlier still it was the overwhelming majority norm.

-Ww
 

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TAG Manager said:
I've never seen an iPad just up and die in-person.
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I've seen a few attempt suicide by jumping gout of their owners' hands. :)

On the Win10 thing... our IT guys have been testing it in their usual way - by installing it on identical machines, and their opinion is that it boots faster, applications run faster, and the OS uses less resources than Win7 or Win8/8.1. I'm using it at home, and while I hated 8, 10 is actually quite nice. It's like they kept all the good parts of 7, added the good parts of 8, and got rid of the parts of 8 that didn't make sense. The privacy features can be locked down easily enough, as well, took me less than five minutes and I'm not particularly adept.

And no, I don't work for M៛€R₪$₪ƒt! The included browser (Edge) is still a pile of steaming horse pucky, as was IE before it.
 
DJV said:
Please consider that users are always right, even if sometimes they (quite rightfully) take their time to adopt new tech.
Click to expand...

Pffffft. With your thinking, Henry Ford would have added horse hitching posts to the Model T. ;)

As Steve Jobs would say, resistance to technology is a problem that will fix itself when those who have it die of old age.
 
I am quite happy with my Windows 7 and have no plans to upgrade it at the moment. It is really troubling how MS is trying to shove W10 crap down people's throats. I paid for my Window 7 and should have the option to say "No" to the upgrade once and for all.

I have uninstalled the GWX update and hid it in the settings. Also changed my update settings to "check for new updates but let me choose whether to download and install them". Not sure if this will keep W10 out though.

The way MS is approaching this completely unethical. They really look desperate. Some of my friends are trying to push me to switch to iOS or Linux. Never thought I would do it, but I am not sure now..

By the way, in the Windows Update Settings, there is an option which says "Give me updates for Microsoft products and check for new optional software when I update Windows". Since MS is considering W10 an "update" these days, should this option be turned off? Anyone know?
 
You know that there is still a large number of xp systems out there and that's not supported anymore since quite a while.
There are good reasons why Microsoft tries more aggressively to push people to newer systems. In the end people will blame MS, even if they use an outdated unpatched system.
Yes, there are educated users who know exactly what they do, but those are generally outnumbered by the people who only think they know what they are doing. The vast majority of users as no clue of anything anyways and is happy if their OS takes care of everything by themselves.
For those who are confident to know what they do there is the option to manually download.
Calling a free upgrade unethical is very bold. In almost any other context you would probably be completely exited.
Of course everyone is entitled to their opinion on whether W10 is a step forward or not (I haven't installed yet either) and it surely would be nice if you could disable this one or at least get a warning that a very big update is on the list, but this MS hate here is surely misplaced. A warning like from @TAG Manager is of course a good thing for those who may otherwise unintentionally download data the crushes their Internet plan.
I consider it thoughtless too, but we live in a time where you download your complete games from steam, online games frequently patch multiple gigabyte of data and streaming high res is the norm, not the exception.
I would indeed be curious, if they auto download in countries with less advanced infrastructure as well.

It's a difficult topic and I don't know why they are so pushy, because corporate clients won't change in years. Many have just updated to Windows seven, because Xp support run out. So I can't see them stop supporting it anytime soon.

@TAG Manager
There really have been companies, who rolled out Vista? I can now better understand your pain :D
 
RandomTokyoGuy said:
@TAG Manager
There really have been companies, who rolled out Vista? I can now better understand your pain :D
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Yeah, we're part of a global firm and someone in global IT said: YES, LET'S GO VISTA. That was a couple of years of pain until we finally got moved to the W7E platform where we are now. We've also switched to VDI style client. Which is good, because it's now BYOD which is just f-ing cool.
 
At yet again, that hidden, unwanted update, KB3044374, rears it's ugly head over the last few days.

Update on my feelings about W10:
- I've spent more time with it on a VM instance and I'm still not comfortable with it.
- The nagging and constant bugging to do certain things; just to get notifications to stop is rightly annoying. (iOS has resorted to doing this lately with the constant reminders that you should update and it takes two clicks to clear the notices....)
- Ads on Lock Screen (link) But, you can turn it off. Other cases, reports showing that updates revert user preferences (link) -- also reinstalling default apps that were removed install by the user.

Aside from a few things I need a Windows OS at home for, I'm about ready to switch to Mac for daily stuff. (Office is BYOD now and we operate on a virtual desktop system, so host OS doesn't matter.)
 
A friend of mine is using it and it seems to blocking a lot of the things this person likes doing ie: streaming US TV Shows and films and torrents.
 
just4fun said:
A friend of mine is using it and it seems to blocking a lot of the things this person likes doing ie: streaming US TV Shows and films and torrents.
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I didn't get that far with it - there is no built in media-player and even though I rely on the CCCP codec package, I still relied on the default media player w/W7 -- which is not in W10.

Didn't want to call it this, but it really feels like a Nanny OS which decides for you what you should see or use as opposed to what you want or need to use.

These days, I don't use Torrent as much except for just-released TV shows that I like to follow. I mainly just use place-shifting tools so I can use Netflix Japan and Netflix US interchangeably.
 
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