back to article Microsoft says its latest, dodgy Windows 10 build is good for (almost) everyone

Microsoft has released Build 10130 of the Windows 10 Technical Preview to the Windows Insider program's Slow release ring, despite a few lingering issues – particularly with Redmond's latest hardware. The build was initially only released to the Fast release ring – the one that gets rapid updates of the pre-release OS, even …

  1. robertcirca

    I remember times when we were waiting for a new Windows version

    I remember times when we were waiting for a new Windows version.

    However, all those who are using Windows 7 will wait for another year or even two before they are willing to "upgrade".

    At least most people I know. And as an IT specialist I always use the same OS on my private gadgets as on my work stations.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: I remember times when we were waiting for a new Windows version

      I'm usually an early adopter, but Window 10 and Office 16 are a bloody nightmare, could get any drivers to work, and if your PC is not on a domain then forget about using Outlook, its impossible to manually configure it (i tried for several hours)

      1. Malcolm 1

        Re: I remember times when we were waiting for a new Windows version

        The current Windows 10 build is much improved from a week or so back. The main problem I have now is that the power features (sleep mainly) seem to be very flaky. I have had a couple of BSODs for the first time in years though!

        I tried Office 2016 yesterday - couldn't even get it to launch reliably - Access Violation on startup for all apps. Reverted to Office 2013 quite rapidly.

        1. Davie Dee

          Re: I remember times when we were waiting for a new Windows version

          windows 10 and office 16, no probs here other than surface pro 2 hardware issues

      2. illiad

        Re: I remember times when we were waiting for a new Windows version

        well, I suppose you are getting ready for windows 11... :D :P

        are you also a test driver, testing a model that will not be out until 2016??

  2. ZSn

    Last week

    I've had the 10130 ISO for about a week - it was available to download last Friday so not sure why nobody else did?

    I just updated my win 10 installation with it to update to 10130 and it seems fine.

    1. glussier

      Re: Last week

      The 130 iso that you downloaded last week is not the same as the one available today. The iso, available today, is the last week 130 + this week updates.

      1. ZSn

        oh dear!

        Not unless they've also managed to make it so that it has the same SHA1.

  3. Shadow Systems

    To quote General Akbar, "It's a Trap!"

    Wait, wrong story. *Cough*

    On a semi-serious note I think I'll wait until the day before the free upgrade period expires before upgrading, and even then it will be a download of the ISO so I can apply it to a fresh drive rather than nuking my current copy of W7Pro64.

    I'll have to buy a second SSD (oh darn!), get a Sighted Minion to push the keys until it gets to where I can install my copy of Jaws, but once the ScreenReader is running I'll take care of the rest.

    I don't dare "upgrade in place" over the top of what works, because if it decides to glitch & go all FUBAR then I'll have nothing to which I can roll it back.

    So I'll wait for as many of the bugs & dumbfuckery to get ironed out before I grab my upgrade, and even then it'll go on a different drive entirely.

    /the General walks away shaking his head in dismay...

    1. Steve 114

      Re: To quote General Akbar, "It's a Trap!"

      Caution with a 'different drive'. When I installed 10 on a wiped spare laptop, using the wife's Microsoft credentials (as one does), it remotely disabled the product key on her own 8.1 laptop. Restored by the phone process and both ran, but the Devil sups with a long spoon too.

      1. Paul Crawford Silver badge

        Re: "it remotely disabled the product key on her own 8.1 laptop"

        See, this reason alone is why I won't choose to use Windows unless its the only choice for some special job - they can dick around with my PC at any time of their choosing.

    2. illiad

      Re: To quote General Akbar, "It's a Trap!"

      hey dont need emoticons to see the sarcasm :) :)

      I will add to your quote:

      ---

      General Akbar: "It's a Trap!"

      minion: no, sir this is just a training run, we haven't ironed out the bugs yet... the image of the deathstar is very glitchy, and even our holo-generator crashes occasionally, leaving us standing in an 'empty room'... :/ :/

  4. Howard Hanek
    Childcatcher

    Too Many 0s & 1s

    ...or two many 0s and 1s....I can't make up my mind.

    Actually, the only problem I've encountered is installing it on Intel based laptops and the lack of a proper video driver.

  5. jnemesh
    FAIL

    Nope nope nope nope nope

    And it's not going on my computers either. Not even when they push SP1 out. Windows 8, and Microsoft's incessant drive to become the new Apple (making "walled gardens", obtuse approvals process, restricting other OSes from being loaded on hardware I OWN) has driven me, permanently, away. I don't care how inferior other platforms are, if they are open, I will use them. I refuse to contribute any more of my time or money to Microsoft. I am done.

    1. clatters

      Re: Nope nope nope nope nope

      Agree 100%. My 80 year old dad said last month that "every time that update thing runs, it f*cks up the computer". He's an engineer so he is qualified to use these technical terms.

      Solution, move him to Linux Mint.

    2. nematoad
      Happy

      Re: Nope nope nope nope nope

      "... I don't care how inferior other platforms are, if they are open..."

      Well, if you are thinking about Gnu/Linux or any of the BSDs, then stop worrying. They are not inferior. They are different to what you may be used to, but for most tasks they are just as good and sometimes better. They are more secure, especially BSD, usually are better on under 'specced machines and you have a choice. Don't like one distro, then choose another. You are able, if you wish, to change things, inspect the source code and lastly, in most cases it won't cost you a penny to get all this stuff. What you will have to do is think about what you want to do and learn some new things. It's not hard and if you are like most here it won't be a problem, in fact it might be a pleasure.

      Go to it! The FLOSS world is your oyster.

      1. a_yank_lurker

        Re: Nope nope nope nope nope

        I do not think he was saying that Linux or BSD are inferior but that Windows is so dodgy that something nominally inferior is actually better

  6. channel extended
    Devil

    free upgrade

    I like to help people upgade to win 10.

    The people I don't like that is!

    1. Roland6 Silver badge

      Re: free upgrade

      "I like to help people upgade to win 10."

      I do as well, but my time isn't free...

  7. Innocent-Bystander*

    It's ~80%There

    Some Explorer.exe crashes on shutdown, Photos crashes to desktop in album view, I lose the synaptic pad from time to time for a minute or so, Acrobat pro refuses to install but it's getting there. Remarkably solid for a beta build.

    I still prefer Mint but MS seems to be upping their game with this one.

    1. Asok Asus

      Re: It's ~80%There

      "It's ~80%There"???

      Really??? With only 6 weeks left until the announced RTM date?

    2. Zog_but_not_the_first
      WTF?

      Re: It's ~80%There

      Christmas Eve and the pantomime dame hasn't learnt to sing yet!?

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Microsoft Marketing Car Crashes.

    I'm sure the Microsoft Surface problems (N.B.Not Surface Pro) are due to some MS bright spark cost cutting at the last minute, making the switch to using the Atom x7 Baytrail, rather than a Core-M processor, not realising the knock on development consequences. Intel had probably prioritised driver development for the Core-M, their flagship low power processor, over the Atom x7.

    MS Surface desperately needs a Core-M to be taken seriously as a device.

    As usual, lots of marketing mistakes from Microsoft, ditching the Modern App of Skype, just as you're launching a new Windows 10 OS, whose main new feature is Universal Apps, Modern Apps (across a few more platforms) in all but name. Telling everyone they should use the Win32 Desktop version, says they couldn't get the Universal App finished in time or functionally complete, with the API set of Universal Apps.

    In marketing terms, its all very messy. MS do seem determined to stick to the July Release, it can only end in tears. I'm not sure October 2015 is even realistic, now.

  9. Paul Shirley

    10130 does look subtly better than my previous version, seem to have restored some some visual cues to ui elements (scroll bars are easier to see for example). Still too subtle for me and high contrast is too fugly to use. Still going to be 3rd party theming if it doesn't improve much more.

    This version doesn't hijack and kill my local network so it might actually get some testing.

    Icons really do stink on it.

  10. azaks

    More click bait?

    Another click bait article to get the "anything but MS" crowd frothing and sell more ads?

    Article doesn't say why it calls the latest build of win10 "dodgy".

    FFS people, its a beta upgrade from an earlier beta. Beta products have bugs - thats why they are beta products. No doubt when the product is released, they will state what beta versions they will support an upgrade from. For the vast majority of people, this will be from an earlier, released version of windows, or a clean install.

    In other breaking news, my car makes a really terrible boat...

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Windows 10 just ain't ready.

    Plenty of people telling MS quite vocally, Windows 10 just ain't ready.

    This is getting released in 6 weeks, so approx 4 weeks till cut-off, or 20 working days, take MS meetings out of the equation, thats about 1 day's worth of coding left!

    1. Schlimnitz

      Re: Windows 10 just ain't ready.

      Typical management move: schedule (and publicly announce) critical release for the middle of the holidays.

      Pity the MS drones who have to deliver on those promises.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Windows 10 just ain't ready.

      Unless they have something hidden up their sleeve I think you are right...

  12. James Pickett

    "my car makes a really terrible boat..."

    Strange analogy. This is an OS trying to be an OS, shirley?

    1. hplasm
      Devil

      "my car makes a really terrible boat..."

      Mi Crosoft makes a really terrible Operating System.

      FTFY

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Windows

    It doesn't even boot :S

    I'm not really following the whole developments around Win10 because quite frankly, I couldn't care less because Win7 - which support lasts me until 2020 - does an outstanding job on keeping me happy. However, I do think about the future, so when Microsoft popped the offer for a free upgrade to Windows 10 I figured I could always look what it is about.

    So I ended up inside their Insiders project, got the ISO and figured I could give it a small test run. Obviously using Sun's VirtualBox because Microsoft's own Virtual PC can't cope with this. Which I think is a shame, but that's another story.

    I managed to check out several stages of the Windows 8 build this way but 10 won't even get to the installation screen. All I get is an error which mentions something about my HD being corrupt. So I didn't bother. Guess I'll give this new release another try, but it doesn't really make me feel confident about the future :)

  14. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    KB3070677 fails install

    I have Build 10130 installed on three desktops and one laptop. All clean installs from the .iso. They all fail to install KB3070677 and reboot several times and then revert back to the state prior to attempting to install the KB. It seems that there are a lot of people experiencing the same issue. Repairing Windows Update didn't fix it. Hopefully the next build will be better. Would I recommend it to anyone in the typical end-user community. No, not at this point.

  15. AlbertH
    Facepalm

    Brokenware? What a surprise!

    Win 10 does some peculiar "phoning home", which is incredibly network-intensive. It certainly doesn't "play nice" if run in a virtual machine, and is more unstable than a Californian backyard in the rainy season. It's also incredibly picky about the hardware it's run on. It's dreadfully slow, when compared with "7".....

    Now... back to the Real World™ of FOSS where it can be mended if it's broken!

  16. John in Brisbane

    I like the main pic - very appropriate.

    Look I've been on the slow ring and it's certainly better than 8.x but I've had a string of silly problems for an OS that is supposed to be in imminent danger of release. Finally, while trying to upgrade it's died in an endless restart loop. I thought they should have been further along to be frank. From first install I pretty much used it as my main OS. Not now - unplugged that spare SDD and cranked up 7 again. Ah, my old desktop! I was an idiot 32bit hold-out and 7 is a relief but I guess I'll cough up for 10 and 64bit when the oculus rift emerges.

    Win10 installed and ran in a flash - so next-gen, but then regularly BSODed or simply froze under light load.

    BTW my laptop is my workhorse and Win8 was so annoying that I wiped it and ran a cracked win7 lol

  17. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I must agree

    I had these same problems. first of all build 130 would fail to install. I got it working by simply ticking the option to install other software along with updates. So far so good I think.

    but I wish I never updated, this build is horrible. Machine frequently sits at 100% processor usage. notification area is unstable. Lots of graphics glitches and the latest thing is the start menu has stopped working. I tried everything but cant get it back. I know this is beta but the go live is one month away, I at least expect a stable start menu.

    I like Windows 10 so far (except for the fact there are still two places for system settings, the control panel and Settings menu :/ ) but man they really need to make the final release stable. The world is watching and if Twitter is full of people moaning how their computer is unusable after the update it will be a disaster for MS. Especially after they went on the offensive installing update nag screens for everyone.

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