Windows 10: Win 10 Tech Preview is interesting but not compelling

Lol, sure... The problem with that suggestion is that Win32 (and thus the desktop) is dead. It is on its way out, with each new release of Windows Metro will subsume more and more of its functionality until at some point it will be on life support.

Right now, Metro is a subsystem of Win32, in the not so distant future that will be reversed.

 

I think the speed alone is compelling and it has kept me from going back to 7 for over a week now.

Now if they will enrich the interface by reconsidering Aero and gadgets, keep the App interference minimized....

 

I like WTP! I find it fast, smooth and all around nice.
What's compelling is MS's obtrusive presence throughout and at the 'backdoor'!
Oh well, I did click on the 'I accept' button! *Wink
(I think it's the first EULA I've read completely!)

 

Well maybe its just me *Smile but the biggest problem I'm finding is that it just doesn't feel any different to using 8.1 aside from the snipping tool and pdf's I mentioned the other day.

I love the full size start screen, in fact that is one of the things that drew me to 8.1. I don't want a start menu or to revert back to a start me. Maybe things will develop (when Aero arrives *Party) but until there are some big changes I really wonder whether to continue at the moment. I probably will... but you know what I mean.

 

I already went back to 8.1 on my desktop PC. I'll leave 10 TP on my laptop for now.

 

you can disable the menu and use the start screen ,right click on the taskbar and go properties and navigation I think ,same as setting boot to desktop in win8 ,I to don't like the start menu ,never used it much since win95

 

I think the new Start Screen best delivers that. It will have a chunk of the old Start menu MFU list along with the Windows 8 Start Screen, but probably more improved.

This I agree with, unified experience is best. Packaging a mobile/touch version and a desktop/mouse version doesn't seem all that logical, but at the same time it does. It depends on device context. I'd rather have the touch only version on an 8 inch tablet, I'd rather have a good multitasking set up on my desktop PC.

 

"You can disable the menu and use the start screen ,right click on the taskbar and go properties and navigation I think ,same as setting boot to desktop in win8 ,I to don't like the start menu ,never used it much since win95"

Unfortunately not quite so straightforward. I am hoping that it will be simplified in a future release.
Procedure is Right click Taskbar - Properties - Start Menu Tab.
Click the item at the top "Use the start menu ..etc"
You will then get a pop up asking you to log out and in again. After that, you will be in the alternative menu. The procedure works either way.

MS refer to this as "To Switch" and "Quick and easy" Easy? I guess. Quick - not likely.

 

Honestly, the Tech Preview isn't much of an enticer to upgrade anything as this build is just intended strictly for IT admins in the enterprise to see what's coming down the pipeline soon and get them salivating to upgrade their Windows 7 machines to 10. It's just an appetizer for that crowd.

The Consumer Preview is when we'll get a truer glimpse at Windows 10 for what it's worth. Continuum and Cortana will be the main display, there BETTER be a freaking vastly improved version of Xbox Music, metro 2.0 for the Start Screen, and pretty much how Windows will scale on different PCs and devices. The Developer Preview this time round might actually be final code versus releasing a Release Candidate.

As for the app snap in the four quadrants not working, it's not because those apps need to be updated for 10. Certain Windows 8 apps that were built for 8 (like the Windows Phone companion app ironically enough) and ran under 8.1 will not snap 50/50 properly not be resizable. In 10, they have to be tweaked for basically any size now as they're resizable like no other now.

I'm more or less will be updating and upgrading all the PCs I've done with Windows 8 and some older 7 ones to 10 for sure. What's known about it makes me pretty confident it's going to be an inTENse release. *Cool

 

How about Windows X. Sounds very appropriate.
I am even more suspicious than Coke Robot. I suspect that this is Windows 8.1 (possibly update 2, which was cancelled) with a subtle implant of a preliminary start menu and a better Metro option switch to satisfy the menu complainers. A couple of insignificant things thrown in to top it. It is only an interim builds to test the water. Most of the system files remain unchanged from Windows 8.1.
There are some remarkable claims of "enormous" improvements in boot speed and performance of individual items. Running Windows 8.1, alongside Windows X, on two identical laptops, shows me none of these. There are marginal differences, agreed, but nothing, so far, mind blowing. But it is early days. Let's wait for the other shoe to drop.

 

Thanks *Smile I have W10 as a parallel installation to W8.1 with both set up pretty much identically. Apart from knowing ones an 8yr old Acer laptop and the other a modern Dell you can't really tell the difference. Now switch back to Vista and it really hits you. You think, Wow, that looks nice, soft outlines, coloured and highlighted text on the left hand menus and so on. Give 10 a bit of that and I'll be paying more attention.

 

Hi there

If the SEARCH was a bit better, the start menu more customiseable and above all if I could change the text size so I could actually READ it then I quite like the idea of a menu.

On W8.1 I used a cascading menu type of system via a "Custom Toolbar". With the menu you could replace your Custom toolbar with your items you've placed on the Menu.

For a desktop type of system a Cascading menu is far better and simpler than endlessly scrolling tiles -- even on a Mobile phone the tile scrolling system gets tiresome when say you've got 4 pages of apps or more -- and the other draw back of a Tile system is that it's essentially "One dimensional". A lot of what we use on a desktop may need to have say a Main item and a lot of sub menus and sub-sub menus (i.e a Cascading menu) if the application is a complex one and has a lot of different functionality in it.

W8.1 was OK but I think the menuing system is far better for what I need to do on a desktop provided the Menu works properly !!!.

Cheers
jimbo

 

sorry I missed a step ,was on win8 when I typed it and my memory it's shot ,thanks for the clarification

 

If you use the built in AeroLite theme you don't have to install anything. I use it as I prefer the look. Enable Hidden Aero Lite Theme In Windows 8 For (Slightly) Improved Performance | Redmond Pie

 

I have mixed feelings about Win10 TP. One one hand, since I did a test "upgrade" from Win 8.1, I was astounded by how well that went. Nearly everything carried over without problems. There was no learning curve at all, and the experience was so close to Win8.1 that I had to change the Theme in order to know for sure which Windows version I was running.

But, on the other hand, because it was indistinguishable from Win8.1, there was nothing really compelling about it -- that would make me rush out and PURCHASE an upgrade (presuming such a thing was available).

And therein lies the dilemma facing MS -- if they make it too different (as they did forcing the Start Screen on desktop users switching from Win7 to Win8), they face a backlash from lots of their community of Windows users. But on the other hand, if they make it too similar, they get backlash about it not being "compelling" and the result of lower sales (in buying upgrades) than they had expected.

I was already running in Desktop mode all the time (since I can't stand using the Tiles on a non-touch machine), and I was also using Start8 (because I actually LIKE menus), so Win10 TP didn't change the UI experience hardly at all. Perhaps more interesting changes will come later with the Consumer Preview.