This Old Neon Forum

I just updated from 8.1 to 10 (because apparently the number 9 doesn't exist in Microsofts mind) so far I'm loving the heck out of the start menu. I've only had it for 10 minutes and I'm about to go to bed but thought I'd make a topic about it.

Anyone else made the early switch?

I'm still on Windows XP! Wasn't a huge fan of how Windows 8 looked. But I'm the kind of person that doesn't upgrade until I buy a whole new computer.

I'll wait until they iron out the kinks. Upgrading an OS on day 1 is lunacy. Also, what's all this freemium Solitaire nonsense?

I kind of find the outrage about the solitaire thing a bit overblown. MS is moving to a service model and solitaire has become a free app. As I understand it, the price is to turn ads off, I don't think there are other significant perks.

I'm not going to actually download Windows 10 because I don't have a re-usable disc copy(and I'm not going to buy one) in case I need to format the hard drive or something.

But I have read that you will need separate software to enable DVD playback(which I assume means that DVDs won't play on Windows Media Player), which is pretty weird. But if you use a Windows ID and use the stupid app store, you can get DVD playback software(for free I believe). It's not a big deal, because getting software that plays DVDs isn't a problem. But I guess this a sign of the type of things Microsoft will increasingly be doing in the future: Removing more and more standard features and instead creating apps that you have to get separately, or otherwise download some third party software elsewhere.

I can imagine that could be rather annoying if this happens to enough things. Whenever I have a new computer(or have formatted a drive) I have to tediously install all the programs and such I normally use. Having an unnecessary increase in the amount of things I have to acquire to achieve the same functionality as my previous computers would be annoying.

Kong Wen wrote:I'll wait until they iron out the kinks. Upgrading an OS on day 1 is lunacy. Also, what's all this freemium Solitaire nonsense?

So I feel like a bit of a chungis for only reacting to that now as apparently this paid version of Solitaire has been around since Windows 8. Woops.

As for DVD playback, I heard Microsoft just decided to not include Windows Media Player in the install because too few people used it. Not including Windows Media Player also might be a move to convince more people to use streaming services, but that's relatively harmless. You can still go get it if you want, or use another program (like VLC). I don't have much issue with Microsoft removing their proprietary tools by default and letting me choose between their program or a third party one. I just wish I could find a free program for blurays.

I think I'll upgrade my crummy laptop so that I can play with the OS a bit. The only thing I'm wondering about is how much Microsoft monitors my use of the OS compared to Windows 7. They have that unique advertising ID thing in Windows 10, so I'll be interested to see how that plays out.

^Actually, looking around it appears Windows Media Player didn't support DVD playback in Windows 8 either. Only if you paid for the Windows Media Center(which you could only get with Pro) did you get DVD playback. So really the news about DVD playback being removed is redundant(at least if you're going from 8 to 10). Windows Media Center being shuttered is Microsoft officially deciding not to support DVD playback. Cheap asses. Again it's not that big of a deal with there being free alternatives, but it's still shitty of them.

Spore wrote:The only thing I'm wondering about is how much Microsoft monitors my use of the OS compared to Windows 7. They have that unique advertising ID thing in Windows 10, so I'll be interested to see how that plays out.

This was the other concerning thing I had read a bit about.

The Shoemaker wrote:I'm still on Windows XP! Wasn't a huge fan of how Windows 8 looked. But I'm the kind of person that doesn't upgrade until I buy a whole new computer.

Hasn't Microsoft stopped supporting XP? So you're more prone to virus/malware/hacking?

Kong Wen wrote:I'll wait until they iron out the kinks. Upgrading an OS on day 1 is lunacy. Also, what's all this freemium Solitaire nonsense?

It was more so for me that I hated 8.1 so much that I wanted something new.