Microsoft unveils Windows 10, HoloLens goggles

@Fadamor

all those customization options are a massive pain in the keister.

I'm sure different foot sizes are a pain for shoemakers, and different food preferences are a pain for restaurant owners.

Customizations in software speed up work, improve efficiency and also help to prevent RSI by reducing keystrokes. How hard would it be for Microsoft to offer customizable and non-customizable versions of its software? And anyway, it's not ethical to take away key features in a product without telling users BEFORE they upgrade. The word "upgrade" implies additional and improved features on top of what's already there in previous versions.

Microsoft has been surreptitiously removing customization options from its products for a decade. Office 2003 can be customized endlessly to suit each user's specific preferences and needs. Since Office 2007, customization has become extremely limited and difficult. Edit button image is gone. Toolbars are gone. Unlimited color schemes have been replaced with a choice of silver eyesore, blue eyesore and black eyesore. If you complain to their help desk they'll tell you that their market research showed that few users wanted these options.

Speaking as a network administrator for a public school system, all those customization options are a massive pain in the keister. They make it impossible to talk a user through steps to solve their problem. Here's one person that's GLAD to see all that miscellaneous crap removed.

Or until the motherboard stops working after 15 yrs of replacement parts are installed.

Motherboard. Whenever OS is activated, the CD/DVD key is tied to the motherboard's serial #.

Honestly, I prefer to know what I'm buying and how long it will be supported. At least 5 yrs would be good and 10 yrs would be ideal.

Bookmark: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/lifecycle

Win7 - January 14, 2020

Win8 - January 10, 2023

@ReformedBasher

will they also fix stuff they previously broke or just removed with any declaration beforehand? My guess is no.

Microsoft has been surreptitiously removing customization options from its products for a decade. Office 2003 can be customized endlessly to suit each user's specific preferences and needs. Since Office 2007, customization has become extremely limited and difficult. Edit button image is gone. Toolbars are gone. Unlimited color schemes have been replaced with a choice of silver eyesore, blue eyesore and black eyesore. If you complain to their help desk they'll tell you that their market research showed that few users wanted these options.

It seems Microsoft wants everyone to use standardized products in standardized ways. All in all, they're just another brick in the wall.

Windows 10 will be far more successful because it brings back a lot of the user interface elements familiar to Windows 7, Vista and XP users.

That's nice Raymond but will they also fix stuff they previously broke or just removed with any declaration beforehand? My guess is no. MS is becoming more distant as time goes on towards "serious" users/programmers and one wonders if it's arrogance, irresponsibility or both.

A (hopefully) better browser would be nice. I don't have that big an issue with IE but web work can be a challenge. (I only dabble). I sure don't need some half-baked voice recognition program. It's a shame but I wonder if voice recognition will ever get past being a novelty. What I've seen so far only works sometimes and is not reliable, even with careful pronunciation. I always shudder at thinking of people who unwittingly try using translation apps - "nice to meet you" becomes "stop looking at my pet duck, it's married and has children". Yikes!

I'm running Office 2003 now. It runs fine.

It was a good version. If it does what you want, stick with it.

MS Windows! Yay! Bad programming patched up to look like something new... Let the bugs run free! Can't wait!

The screen looks like they changed the 8 in the logo to a 10. Am I missing something?

You apparently have the eyes of an eagle! But them doing so is not surprising seeing as the Powerpoint presentation was for Windows 10 and not Windows 8. Had the slide said "Windows 8", I'm sure a bunch of people would have spent MONTHS poking fun at Microsoft's blunder.

Or maybe you thought that was the actual operating system display? If so, then yeah you're missing something.

The only way to make most people update (is any new Windows ever an upgrade?), is to remove support from the version they currently run. Hopefully for MSFT, by the time Win7 support ends, a free Linux OS will be viable and only businesses will be left with Windows.

The rest of the world is migrating to platform-agnostic solutions.

The offer of a free upgrade from Win7/8 to 10 "for the life of the hardware" seems like a trap. "Life of the hardware" can mean many different things. Until support ends (1 yr?). Until any major component fails. Or until the motherboard stops working after 15 yrs of replacement parts are installed.

Honestly, I prefer to know what I'm buying and how long it will be supported. At least 5 yrs would be good and 10 yrs would be ideal.

OTOH, none of this really matters much to people like me. Switched to Ubuntu in 2007 for almost everything and only use Windows a few times a month for payroll and finance stuff now.

“It should be easy to put one device down and pick up another where you left off; technology needs to get out of the way.”

You mean, Microsoft needs to get out of the way. Those glasses say it all.

<http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8h4o4_family-guy-ipod-vs-zune-bill-gates_fun >

The biggest let down of all Windows OS' is the search feature. On my OSX machines the search results appear before I finish typing, but not with Windoze, and it's especially slow if you have external hard drives connected. Then, there is the never ending stream security updates. "Windows is installing updates. Do not turn off your computer." This message drives me nuts! And, it always appears when you are in a hurry. I've been an OSX user for over a decade and Windows will have to pull something very miraculous out of their hat to make me change. I use Windows when I have to, but OSX because I want to - and it's much much better!

@JeffLee

What's all the hate about win 8?

Businesses invest a lot of time and money in training. Then Microsoft comes along and changes the entire interface, first in Office, and then in Windows. So you have to start again with a significant loss of productivity and efficiency. And what's the advantage of 8.1 over 7 for people who actually work on a computer? TV tiles are nice, but they don't pay the bills.

I'm running Office 2003 now. It runs fine.

If you try to reinstall it or put it onto a new computer, you won't be able to activate it. So at the end of a month, it will die. I'm dreading the inevitable shift to ribbon hell.

So why force people who want more than 1.5TB to go to 8.1?

To get people to pay more. We have Win8.1 running on 32GB tablet.

What's all the hate about win 8? I'Ve been using it for about a year on both my machines, with no drama.

Some of the apps, like one that streams free British TV in high quality video, are really good to have. Would you rather NOT have that and the other free products on the metro tiles?

"What's more, you can't install and activate a pre-ribbon Office package any more."

I'm running Office 2003 now. It runs fine.

External hard drive would over come that surely

Of course. But what's the reason for the limitation? My current Windows 7 setup handles 8TB of internal storage with no problems. So why force people who want more than 1.5TB to go to 8.1?

“We want to move from people needing Windows, to choosing Windows, to loving Windows; that is our bold goal for Windows.” So why are they still trying to shove 8.1 down people's throats?

I hope there's a way for grown-up users to turn off Cortana.

External hard drive would over come that surely

@StormR

Dell, yodabashi camera, bic camera all have windows 7 computers available

Unfortunately the nearest Yodobashi and Bic are several thousand kilometers from where I live. I just checked on Dell's website, and the only Windows 7 version available appears to be Professional. Interestingly, with one of the desktops I looked at, all the Windows options except 8.1 are greyed out if you select a disk size larger than 1.5TB. Apparently you need Windows 8.1 for that amount of storage.

Alan, Dell, yodabashi camera, bic camera all have windows 7 computers available if you care to ask, easy to get and was thinking of grabbing a couple so I don't have to move to windows 8

Despite all the skepticism here, I think unlike the unloved Windows 8 (which forced everyone to learn the Modern tiled element user interface for many of its functions), Windows 10 will be far more successful because it brings back a lot of the user interface elements familiar to Windows 7, Vista and XP users. As such, transitioning to Windows 10 if you're familiar with the versions of Windows I mentioned will be much easier.

I can see Windows 10 being very popular in the corporate world.

Take your new OS and shove it up somewhere dark.

My sentiments exactly. But yesterday when I ordered some new computers for my office, I was told that Windows 7 was being discontinued (Ultimate is already unavailable), and that to get any Windows 7 version you have to pay a substantial premium. What's more, you can't install and activate a pre-ribbon Office package any more.

Microsoft increasingly resembles Central Services in the film "Brazil."

well the trend is indeed to devices which are passive, cannot create content and cannot do things like ..Android for example, nice tablet but you can only play games, reply emails and watch YT, try to do something else productive and you are stuck with under-powered problems.... so I hope windows will still continue to provide software enough powerful to create content on desktop..

Sounds disastrous, some of us arn't interested in holograms, riving imaginary cars on mars and other fancy rubbish we just want to be able to work properly with ease on a system that does what we need, none of the fancy fantasy rubbish.

Give us a browser that doesn't crash, give us an office setup that we can use , and a system that can handle multiple open windows, that can handle our old software programs and printers etc and many programs all at once, the rest is just fluff.

I'm disgusted at how MS adds glossy new stuff without fixing the old. Take your new OS and shove it up somewhere dark.

Personalized virtual assistant Cortana, and its touted ability to answer questions conversationally, will be now available on personal computers. Cortana made her debut on Windows-powered mobile devices.

If "she" works with any kind of reliability, I'll be impressed. Not hopeful, but then again, I'm not planning to rush out and buy something that currently working software fails on, because of some irresponsible management decision at MS.

If they're going to use goggles, how about something to decrease/eliminate mouse and keyboard use? That would benefit a lot of people.

Windows 10 = windows 7 + improved graphics + integrated apps and devices + new browser

And a separate holographic toy for amusement with more $$

Amidalism Jan. 22, 2015 - 09:20AM JST

Yes, I shall pay closer attention to detail. My apologies.

Sounds great, if it works.

Microsoft is so intent on distancing Windows 10 from its predecessors that it skipped directly from Windows 8, which failed to deliver on its promise as a platform for a variety of devices.

Try reading the article next time Mr. Perfect.

These goggles are seeming to fall in between Google Glass and Oculus Rift, which certainly has potential. But those things look ridiculous in their current stage. Here's hoping they can refine that into something better looking.

The screen looks like they changed the 8 in the logo to a 10. Am I missing something?

KitKat 4.4 is old, my Nexus 7 upgraded to 5.0.2 last night.

Won't go back to Windows OS anytime soon, AOO works well enough to handle files from clients.

Microsoft has a history of fixing things that aren't broken, and forcing users to adopt "upgrades" that involve steep learning curves while providing no significant improvements. I hope this latest "upgrade" in the Windows dynasty gives users the option of keeping useful features and the look and feel from earlier versions, including the start button, and that it will also support existing software. But what I expect is yet another ribbon-bound monstrosity like the current Office package. And Cortana sounds like a reincarnation of the notorious talking paperclip.

Mr. Perfect: What ever happened to Windows 9

From the article:

Microsoft is so intent on distancing Windows 10 from its predecessors that it skipped directly from Windows 8, which failed to deliver on its promise as a platform for a variety of devices.

MS desperate to escape Win8. But apparently haven't learned their lesson.

A common failing. Got a new Android tablet recently, with KitKat 4.4. Not only did Google not fix the user-interface quirks (in the 4.0 release!), but they introduced new ones, a lot like the ghastly Win8 Metro did.

Thinking of trying CyanogenMod (free replacement for Android available for some devices), in hopes that it will be stabler and not have the urge to churn their output / releases to keep people buying.

What ever happened to Windows 9

This sounds cool!