Microsoft says 'majority' of Windows 10 use will be 'streamlined S mode' Microsoft has confirmed Windows 10 S will be a "mode" available in all versions of Windows, and added a prediction it'll be used by a "majority" of users. Windows 10 S was created to simplify administration for school sysadmins by running only apps from the Windows Store and designed to run on low-cost hardware. Microsoft also …
Well, if you want encouragement. I did it.
Emprie:TW, X3:AP, Stellaris, Factorio, Arma3, Cities Skylines all work just fine on Ubuntu 14.04 LTS - the only thing a little sketchy is installing steam and steam overlay I turned off. 1080Ti works just fine here too.
And I can choose what and how to update. There's proprietary drivers for GPUs just the same... as if open source drivers matter for most gamers... you're buying proprietary hardware...
The thing I note that doesn't is Company of Heros which I occasionally play with family.
I rarely use Windows personally anymore and happier for it. Only a matter of time till I wipe that SSD and one day discover the usb stick for windows and wonder if I could wipe that too...
Seriously we put up with vista, took a deep breath with windows7, windows 8 got us angry all over and 10 is a goddam nightmare.
It's an operating system for christ's sake. I decided near the end of last year, that's it. I'm out.
Couldn't agree more. I've been running Mint on all my personal/family machines and have been absolutely fine with it. What do most people do at home these days? Browse the web, that's what.
I've also got LAMP stacks, python, c++, code::blocks et al installed in Linux, all working fine. Just the job.
I still have Windows 7 (which I actually like very much - it's very good) for my PLC programming software, but that's the only thing I use Windows for these days.
I wish Microsoft could get their shit together.
does 'SH!+' mode turn OFF the ability to run "legacy" applications (i.e. Win32 API) or any kind of "backward" compatibility? Because, rumor has it, THAT is the TRUE goal here. That's right, ONE! BIG! HAPPY! UWP! FAMILY! (via "the store") !!! All *DUMBED* *DOWN* to the *LOWEST* common denominator, running 'SH!+' mode "CRapps" from "The Store!!!" Because, it's *MODERN* !!!
ugh, now I need more 'pink liquid' so I don't vomit.
probably the best of the 9x series
That was 95 OSR2, in that it was less crap than anything else 95-ME inclusive as long as you didn't install IE4. Active desktop my left testicle. Other notably less-crap code spewed from Redmond are the version of BASIC CBM used, Win2k with later service packs and Win 7. Everything else, everything else was/is a complete dog's breakfast/dingo kidneys/polished turd/pavement pizza/anus explosion*. I was going to try to work the vacuum cleaner joke in here somewhere but I simply can't be arsed.
*delete as appropriate
windows store for business is a complete mess. there is no way in hell a school would deploy a fleet of windows S over windows 10 education.
the licensing alone would be stupid as you would still need CALS and the cheapest way to get CALS is via educational licensing. this will get you office and 365 for your students.
not sure how this can be seriously pitched.
So just like Google and Apple then. But at least you can choose say no.
You can with Apple too. At least 50% of the applications on my machine have not been bought from the App Store, either because they're cheaper that way, give the people who wrote it more money or are more functional because they do not need to comply with App Store restrictions such as database access. SimpleMind, OmniGraffle et al - IMHO better bought direct.
Stagnant = No updates ever
Subscription-lapsed = The who forgot to pay the piper mode...
Stopping = With a counter that counts down the number of hours until you lose all access to your data that has been moved into the MS Cloud (for your safety and security naturally)
Synics Mode = Where your system goes when you complain too loudly about the costs of the subscription.
I am however assuming that Windows like Orifice will move to a subscription model very soon.
No matter. Whatever they do is far too late for me. I've moved everything to MacOS (laptop) and Linux(servers) now. They can piss into the wind as far as I'm concerned!
And they still owe me £6.78 that was in my Skype account when they deleted it!
I was annoyed when MS killed older Skype, they did it MUCH later on Linux. The replacement is inferior. So I and many others now use Viber (we tried QQ for a while on Windows & Android, but only Chinese on Linux).
~
Only Viber issue is that SOME laptops are assumed to be retina/HiDPI by Viber/QT/Flatback. It's not simply being 1920 x 1080, something knows physical screen size and making a stupid decision. Solution is install, if OK do nothing, if not put QT_SCALE_FACTOR=0.5 in the startup environment: sudo nano /etc/environment works on my Linux Mint 18.3. Another laptop with same 1920 x 1080 also made by Lenovo but larger screen was fine. Both same identical desktop & Linux Mint. This seems to occur with some other Flatpack apps on Ubuntu, but Mint only got Flatpack with 18.3.
It sounds like a classic "Oh Linux is too hard" but really this was simpler than any of the half dozen major issues I've had with Win 10 or with Skype since MS decided it was a Phone App with adverts.
If one uses “appear.in”, https://appear.in, there is nothing to install and one can avoid this kind of ritual for the digital gods!
- doesn’t work on Safari, of course but, what does?
- appear.in it is a browser based video chat system, what Skype could have been if MS hadn’t decided to route all traffic via Langley, Virginia.
I was more thinking of "S" for "shafted" because it locks customers in, a game that Microsoft absolutely loves because of the abuse it can ladle out to customers without any serious challenge.
What's more, unlike their sort-of-competitor (Apple still doesn't have nearly the volume to make that a serious claim), Microsoft plays at best reluctantly ball with Open Standards, something you'll discover when you're trying to get Outlook to talk caldav or carddav. Also note that it "encourages" users away from any use of Open Source - I prefer Firefox (or Waterfox) any day over Edge.
TBH, if Thunderbird's support for RTF was even marginally better it would serve as a good replacement for Outlook, Microsoft's best lock in product ever, but it doesn't get much love anymore from the Foundation :(.
I think "S is for Shafted" is about right. Presumably they didn't think "F is for Free" would work, firstly because despite its rictus grin when being forced to embrace open source MS doesn't really like free, and secondly because it might make it a bit obvious that the long-term plan is going to be subscription Pro and paid-for-by-slurping Free modes.
"something you'll discover when you're trying to get Outlook to talk caldav or carddav. "
Quite true. But to be fair on Microsoft, its a paid for product designed to work primarily with Exchange and O365. However as it is modular and supports addins, there are lots of free 3rd party solutions. For instance:
https://sourceforge.net/projects/outlookcaldavsynchronizer/
And if you are trying to sync to gmail, Outlook can do that:
https://support.office.com/en-gb/article/see-your-google-calendar-in-outlook-c1dab514-0ad4-4811-824a-7d02c5e77126
It really is an utter UTTER mess. I dread the day I am forced to leave Windows 7. I'll probably start experimenting with some type of Linux. Or maybe AmigaOS4. Or maybe just keep using my phone for 99% of my needs and only turn the computer on when I need to type something out or make a spreadshite.
Yep. I've done dual boot with Mint. I'm geared up to switch the family to 'nux when things get too stupid, and their reluctance fades. One child now graduated and employed so uses a work laptop in Windows and has very little use for any kind of personal PC at home any more. The younger one is off to Uni next term and she can use whatever they want them to. But it won't be at home. So I'm free to make the switch.
Be aware that Windows Feature Updates can cause other FUs on a dual/multi boot PC. If Windows does not understand the partitioning it seems quite happy to stamp all over it to get the update done. Fortunately for me, re-installing the various Linux partitions only cost me time - my data syncs to/from my servers.
@ J. R. Hartley and all
"It really is an utter UTTER mess. I dread the day I am forced to leave Windows 7. "
Is ReactOS likely to be able to run your required applications by 2020 Win7 cut off?
https://www.reactos.org/
Just wondering, not being sarky.
I find an old laptop running linux meets my personal needs fine. At work I use what employer gives me to use. Usually a managed Windows PC logged into a network.
ReactOS is nice in theory only. They have a tendency to change their targets before meeting their goals, and are forever behind the curve and unstable. With better organization behind them and a larger community, they may one day make a viable alternative, but Linux or Mac are a much better alternative to Windows than ReatOS in its current state. I'm not advocating either as a replacement, and I do have my biases for Linux, but I also know that everyone has different needs for their use case, so without knowing what you need specifically, I can not make a suggestion. In any case, if you really need to use Windows for your needs, be thankful that the corporate overlords at Microsoft are still allowing you to disable S-Mode. Not sure how much longer that will last.
> as Linux on windows is available as a store app, Window S just makes it easy to run Linux
I am not sure that the store works like that. Just because something is in the store for Windows 10 does not mean that it is available for Windows 10S or S-mode.
Apps may be in the store for Windows Phone 8 but won't show up to be installed for Windows 10.
Just because something is in the store for Windows 10 does not mean that it is available for Windows 10S or S-mode.
Well, one of the requirements of store apps is they must work on Windows 10 S. Meaning, every app in their store is restricted.
Of course, that restriction doesn't apply to Microsoft - Linux isn't available to Windows 10 S, and their apps (like Office) are allowed to do more things than normal apps.
Classic Microsoft. This is a giant land grab, basically trying to force people to use Edge, Bing and Windows Store (instead of the much more popular Chrome, Google, and anything that is not Windows Store)... but they also don't want to push all their chips in the middle so they have the hedge that people can switch make to Windows 10 full mode in the, extremely likely, event they do not want S mode.
This just seems dumb as they are validating Chrome OS, basically telling people that it is the way PCs should work... and Google has the number 1 browser, search and app store (number 1 by a mile in all cases), so why wouldn't people just use the real deal, Chrome OS, if that is what they want to do instead of the Windows mode.
> This just seems dumb as they are validating Chrome OS, basically telling people that it is the way PCs should work.
More like MacOS, which by default forces apps to be from the Apple Store, but can be switched into a mode that allows installing non-store apps. Apple went down this path quite some time ago.
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