Windows 10

[Suff]

Try Andy Android in a VM, its better than a lot of Linux distro's Ive seen.

My main problem with Linux is that it is too much like running with scissors. Most of th driver dev's can't understand why everyone doesn't want to compile, link and bind.....

[Suff]

Athough I'm sitting on my AnnoDroid tablet connected to my Logitech 480 (Azerty) bluetooth keyboard connected to my work desktop ia Citrix receiver. This is when I remember that full screen fulll focus apps really annoy me. I can't use the mouse as it's on my knee, which means touch is nice to have. But you're right. It's irritating. Especially every time the keyboard decides to deliver 2 - 10 characters for one keypress because it can't keep up with my typing speed....

[Workingman]

You have just convinced me to steer clear. The Linux distros will be in VMs when I get motivated.

[Aggers]

What I like about Windows7 is that it is so easy to put a shortcut to a website onto your home page, but I find
that difficult on later versions of Windows. (my wife's laptop has Windows 8.1) Also on Widows 7 you can erase
the Website address at the top of the screen, type in a new address, (say from an advert), press Enter, and it take
you straight there. Windows 8.1 and later, are supposed to be an improvement but I don't agree. I think they
keep bringing out these new versions just to keep making money.

[Suff]

Windows needed to change to accommodate touch interfaces and mobile devices. Apple did this by creating a new OS called iOS. Google never had an OS so they started with mobile. Windows had to do something. The problem is they decided to go with a big bang approach and changed things which were not broken.

If Windows had not gone 8/10 it would have been impossible for all these cheap windows tablets (£99) to appear.

It's a long journey and we haven't made it round the corner yet. The front door is still in sight...

[Aggers]

Windows needed to change to accommodate touch interfaces and mobile devices.
If Windows had not gone 8/10 it would have been impossible for all these cheap windows tablets (£99) to appear.
.

Thanks, Suff.
I can understand that, but if they wanted to accommodate these new devices, why do they have to
change things for customers who have a home-based computer? We are not all the type of people
who can't take a journey on public transport without fiddling about on a portable computing device.

[Suff]

It comes down to market momentum. They were so late to the party they decided that they needed the vast majority of the Windows Desktop users fitted into the mobile mould. Only that way, they thought, could they catch up.

Reality set in when they realised they were driving users away from their main money earner. Hence Windows10 arrived. But, still, they are trying to force us into a touch centric Microsoft store world where Apple users seem to be happy to live. Obviously this means significant change for over 1bn desktop users and so they have to give something back. What they have given back is that so long as you continue to use the same hardware you'll never have to buy and upgrade again.

Also there is a huge change going on with the xBox gaming console which is being positioned as the media heart of the home and is fully compatible with Windows10.

None of which concerns you. But if Microsoft wants to survive and remain relevant in an increasingly mobile and media centric world, then they have to change stuff fairly radically.

Pain isn't it.

[Aggers]

Pain isn't it.

If it's a pain for you, Suff, What do you think it is for the likes of me ?

I understand what you have said, but the next time I want a new computer I shall
seriously consider buying an Apple. At least they have a shop in our town centre,
and I an told that they are very helpful if you experience any problems.

[Workingman]

Touch-screen tech is the way things are going, for a whole host of things, and not only mobile devices.

If I want a ticket at the railway/airport the non-human dispenser is touch-screen. If I approach a 'Where am I?' map in the city centre it is touch-screen. To register for an appointment at the doctor's or hospital it is touch-screen. It is everywhere and Microsoft had to keep up.

Microsoft's approach was to take the road to touch-screen with a slight fork in the road to allow the old legacy hardware, and us dinosaurs, to still work, somehow. It is OK, but not ideal. I also note that some websites are now optimised for mobile devices and touch-screen, the BBC, for example. Some functions simply do not work on laptops/desktops, or when they do they are a nightmare to navigate.

This step change is like the move from the command line to graphic user interface, GUI, (Windows) and the mouse. It took some time to get used to, but we got there and it is now the norm. Touch-screen will go the same way, and, again, we will get there.

[Suff]

This is true. But gestures are such a total waste of time when you only have a mouse and they are pushing further and further towards the experience being with gestures and not the mouse.

I have my issues with it.

Here's how Windows wins in my book. I've just upgraded the main desktop to W10. It has a Radeon 46xx and a Radeon 65xx graphics adapter in it. It is a totally unsupported configuration which I've forced to work. It only took me about a half hour to get it to work with W10. The only downside being that my IE won't work with graphics card acceleration. I can live with that. I'll buy a card which supports multiple displays this month and swap out the card which does two of the monitors and switch off the motherboard card.

W10 is working and generally a bit faster than W7, probably due to all the junk which is sitting in the windows.old folder (25 gig of which 24 gig is in the Windows directory).

So I'll put up with w10 because it allows my continuation on my journey without having to fit myself into the MAC mould, bludgeon myself to death with a blunt stick with Linux or fume at the lack of ability inherent in Android.

I still have my 3 monitors, two of which are showing my virtual machine which does my work stuff (work tries to take over all the screens on the machine you are working on so I captivate it in a virtual machine), and the third on which I'm typing this...