Announcing Windows ... 10?

[Jammrock]

Software made by good programmers will use the OS major and minor version numbers. The quickest way being the .NET System.Environment OSVersion property.

PowerShell way:


PS C:\Windows\system32> [System.Environment]::OSVersion


Platform ServicePack Version VersionString
-------- ----------- ------- -------------
Win32NT 6.4.9841.0 Microsoft Windows NT 6.4.9..

But since .NET has not always been around, or widely used in the 95/98 days, a lot of people use the older WMI method. The WMI method exposes the OS name, which some people use to determine the OS, and not the version number.

PS C:\Windows\system32> Get-WmiObject Win32_OperatingSystem | fl *




PSComputerName : xxxxxx
Status : OK
Name : Microsoft Windows Technical Preview


So it is possible that part of the reason for skipping 9 is to avoid confusion within bad code. I have not heard this in any official capacity so no idea how true it is.

[MultimediaMan]

I always went into WMI win32 stack for the OS major, minor and service pack strings. VERY important if you are packaging software with multiple versions of the same software (Example: IE6 or a Virus Scanner), today you add a check for win32 or win64.

[Umfriend]

yeah I read that too, but don't Windows XP/Vista/7/8/etc. present themselves as NT 5.1/6.0/6.1/6.2/etc. ?

Based on that version nubering, is Windows 10 to Windows Vista what Windows Me was to Windows 95?

[Jammrock]

Based on that version nubering, is Windows 10 to Windows Vista what Windows Me was to Windows 95?

Win10 will likely be the next Win7/XP. Win8 was the experiment (the WinME/Vista), Win10 will be the one people like.

Though unlike some past disliked versions of Windows, there was nothing inherently wrong with the Win8 kernel. It is actually more stable, faster, and smaller than the Win7 kernel. It's just that, you know, people really hate the UI so people don't really care about that part.

[UtwigMU]

Win10 will likely be the next Win7/XP. Win8 was the experiment (the WinME/Vista), Win10 will be the one people like.

Though unlike some past disliked versions of Windows, there was nothing inherently wrong with the Win8 kernel. It is actually more stable, faster, and smaller than the Win7 kernel. It's just that, you know, people really hate the UI so people don't really care about that part.

I get to have i7 3k display notebook for a while, so I may try it. Only problem is activating 8 is a pain, so I need to find another hard drive to back existing windows to and install 10 on 256GB SSD.

Just today I visited some big print company authorized repair center and the techie was still on XP.

[Umfriend]

It is actually more stable, faster, and smaller than the Win7 kernel. It's just that, you know, people really hate the UI so people don't really care about that part.

Sure we did, but we just don't buy a car with a great engine when you need a flight stick to steer and a squeezing ball to accelerate.

[VJ]

Sure we did, but we just don't buy a car with a great engine when you need a flight stick to steer and a squeezing ball to accelerate.

I think I saw that prototype....

Just found the computer switched on yesterday evening. I know there are bios settings to make it wake up (Intel SmartConnect), but I think I switched those off. As there is not much installed, I assume Windows update or so might trigger it.

[VJ]

The taskbar is multimonitor aware (apparently like in Windows 8.1).

At the moment, the start button and shortcuts are duplicated. Active windows can be either shown on both, or on the taskbar of the monitor on which the window is. It would be nice though if the system tray could also be duplicated (haven't found this).

[UtwigMU]

Lenovo fingerprint software gets stuck in endless loop before logon screen is displayed, other stuff seems fine. Haven't installed all the apps but I don't expect any problems with what already works on 7/8/8.1

[UtwigMU]

they've made the apps windoweable but still feedback center takes 1500x1400 pixels (screen is 1620x2880)

T540p doesn't resume from sleep but I can solve that by making it hibernate and dehibernate (yay for SSD).

[VJ]

A bit of an annoyance with usernames...

I had a user "jv" with a password. When I wanted to install something from Windows Store, it says it needs to modify my account to work with Windows Store. I allowed this, and it yielded the the result that my login and password were changed to my login for microsoft. Let's call this Account1.
I added a new account "jv", as it is easier for e.g. remote desktop than entering a email address as login (Account2)

In the login screen, there are now two accounts: Account one (showing the email address as login) and Account2 (showing "jv" as login), and I can click them, enter the appropriate password and login.

From remote desktop, I can enter the email address and the password, and login that way using Account1. However, I cannot login with the name "jv", but I need to enter "jv_2" as username. This is because "jv" is still used internally by Account1, and Account2 internally is named jv_2.

The username jv is basically unavailable at this point. I have a temporary test installation, so I plan to reinstall it anyway. On the new installation, I will choose an account to install things from the Windows Store (e.g., storeuser) and then another account with jv as login.

Not sure if other people run into this, but it is something to know if you want to install from windows store...


I've also seen a few bluescreens, but that may be as I was trying a lot of things with drivers and so. Reinstallation is planned, and I know which ones not to install.

[Jammrock]

Submit feedback about that. That's been the behavior since Win8. The only way I know to use a non-MS account to logon, while still having a MS account to do store and OneDrive, is to be domain joined.

When domain joined you logon with domain accounts and then assign a MSFT account for the store, OneDrive, etc. You just can't do that with a local account, that I know of. Probably because of the push to make Windows a "cloud" OS...thus you have to logon to the cloud.

You're best bet is to submit feedback using the app on the desktop. And get everyone you know using Win10 to do the same. Unless there is a push to change the behavior I doubt the product group will change it.

[Jammrock]

BTW, found out you can adjust how often your Win10 build gets updated. Open the start menu and search for "recovery options".

Select "Preview builds" from the left menu.

Check for a new build and apply it, reboot. Go back to the preview builds page.

You will now have an option to chose how fast you get builds. If you want to stay on the cutting edge change it to fast. If you want to stick with only the stable builds, keep it on slow.

You can also set when preview builds will be auto-installed with the "Change the time..." link.


This is an interesting feature with some implications. First off, this is not like applying updates. This is a new OS build. The build you originally download is 9841. The updated build is 9860. There are, according to press, 7000+ fixes and updates.

The implication is rather obvious. Windows 10 can "slipstream" builds without a complete reinstall or traditional upgrade. Chew on that for a minute ... this could give some credence to a subscription based option for Win10.

[UtwigMU]

I just don't use Microsoft account (except to send feedback - sign in each app separately) and generally simple users also hate it. Some old lady asked me to hack games from Windows 7 to work on her Win 8.1 desktop because she doesn't want to use MS account.

I also don't need or want any of the apps, I need Windows to run my desktop software, if I wanted apps, I'd have bought a Chromebook or Android tablet. I don't want to sign into MS each time I want to play solitaire. It is my computer, I am the admin and signing into some higher authority to allow me to use my computer seems totally communist to me. One day MS may decide I can't use my computer for example. If the app cannot work without some higher power requiring me to talk to the mother ship, this is broken functionality that violates principles of physical security (only people you trust can be allowed physical and administrative access). Presently my company has no Microsoft or NSA employees on it's org chart that would need access to any of our data.

For example I had to verify my Microsoft account via phone twice in past two weeks just to post some windows feedback.

Also when I get Android, I'm going to install Cyanogen and sideload all apps manually. No Google account also.

Next consulting laptop will get Linux and VM and Windows will only be used on workstation laptop for legacy apps.

Thanks for the tip on updated builds Jammrock!

[VJ]

You're best bet is to submit feedback using the app on the desktop. And get everyone you know using Win10 to do the same. Unless there is a push to change the behavior I doubt the product group will change it.

I will submit it, if they want to keep it, it would be nice the usernames don't get messed up in such a way. Or perhaps allow the old username to also be used.

Wouldn't it work to have one account to install from the store, and another to work on the computer? But I'm not sure yet the other account has access to the software that was installed from the store... (need to try that)

This is an interesting feature with some implications. First off, this is not like applying updates. This is a new OS build. The build you originally download is 9841. The updated build is 9860. There are, according to press, 7000+ fixes and updates.

The implication is rather obvious. Windows 10 can "slipstream" builds without a complete reinstall or traditional upgrade. Chew on that for a minute ... this could give some credence to a subscription based option for Win10.

Mine installed the 9860 build yesterday. The desktop icons are blown up, they are huge, and they are set to the minimal size. I suspect it has to do with the fact that I switched from a low resolution monitor to a high resolution monitor. But still, annyoing I can't scale them down (about 6-7 fit on the height of 1080p resolution). So another thing to report.
It also messed up the keyboard on the login screen (but I suspect it just changed the default setting), which caused me a slight panic when I could not login, before I realized it changed the setting.

I also don't need or want any of the apps, I need Windows to run my desktop software, if I wanted apps, I'd have bought a Chromebook or Android tablet. I don't want to sign into MS each time I want to play solitaire. It is my computer, I am the admin and signing into some higher authority to allow me to use my computer seems totally communist to me. One day MS may decide I can't use my computer for example. If the app cannot work without some higher power requiring me to talk to the mother ship, this is broken functionality that violates principles of physical security (only people you trust can be allowed physical and administrative access).

I agree... But they term apps is really over-used: many things in the windows store are programs. My fear is that it may become the default distribution center for applications, in which case it may not be possible to install some without getting them from the windows store.
I fully agree that a computer should work on its own, without any higher authority. Something as stupid as a failed internet connection might result in the computer being unusable.