Questions on Windows 10

[Diablo1099_v1legacy]

So basically I'm a massive Killer Instinct fan, been following it since it was first revealed in e3 back in 2013, but even that wasn't worth getting an Xbone for me.
However, this recently happened:

Now, I haven't really been following Windows 10, but I did hear that there is a free upgrade period that's starting once the OS is out.
I guess I want to get the Escapist's view on the system before I get it and possibly brick my system.
I mean, if they are giving it away for free, something must be up, right?

 

[Zykon TheLich_v1legacy]

I believe Cracked had an article on this yesterday, after the mess that was Windows 9 I thiwsfwafpozzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz$%^$%^$%%$£^"&$*&"$%helpmeeeeeeeeeeeee

 

[Hoplon]

So basically I'm a massive Killer Instinct fan, been following it since it was first revealed in e3 back in 2013, but even that wasn't worth getting an Xbone for me.
However, this recently happened:

Now, I haven't really been following Windows 10, but I did hear that there is a free upgrade period that's starting once the OS is out.
I guess I want to get the Escapist's view on the system before I get it and possibly brick my system.
I mean, if they are giving it away for free, something must be up, right?

well, if your on win 7 or 8 its a free to upgrade for the first year. both of those most people have a little button on the task bar about reserving the upgrade.

so if you are really worried, wait three months to see how it shakes out. since people aren't on the full release yet.

if your on a reasonably modern PC you should be fine.

 

[Frezzato]

I don't think something was wrong when MS announced Win 10 would be free for one year. I mean, it's not a malevolent decision, to exaggerate my point. I think it's very cool of them.

I think the decision was made as a sort of apology for Windows 8, which by some accounts (on here anyway) really isn't that bad. Personally, I thought it was crap.

So yeah, I think MS is compensating for how terrible Windows 8 was perceived as being, and are trying to recover some cred with the PC buying/building public, just like how they backtracked [http://www.gamespot.com/articles/microsoft-if-youre-backwards-compatible-youre-really-backwards/1100-6408741/] with Xbox One "backwards compatibility".

Obviously, there are still some business deals going on under the hood, like how King is getting a copy of Candy Crush [http://www.pcworld.com/article/2922508/windows-10-will-ship-with-candy-crush-saga-preinstalled.html] distributed with every copy of Windows 10. Money has certainly been exchanged for that crap. Or revenue will be shared. But that's how business goes, and we get to reap the benefits for one year, starting this July.

 

[cathou]

my guess is that microsoft hope to get a lot of cash with transactions on windows store. the bet is that they will get more revenu by having more pc running windows 10 and doing micro transaction than having less pc with windows 10, but that paid for the OS

 

[Hoplon]

my guess is that microsoft hope to get a lot of cash with transactions on windows store. the bet is that they will get more revenu by having more pc running windows 10 and doing micro transaction than having less pc with windows 10, but that paid for the OS

I certainly think that is the business model as well, after all there are probably a billion PC capable of running win 10, is a hell of a market to sell to.

 

[Hoplon]

My only question is:

-Will my games and shit that worked on Windows 7 work on Windows 10?

That is all.

Should do, isn't like going from win 98 to XP, these all have the same core. that said there will be issues with drivers, there are always issues with drivers.

 

[Hoplon]

There is a year to observe and make the call, not like it's super urgent.

 

[ForumSafari]

My only question is:

-Will my games and shit that worked on Windows 7 work on Windows 10?

That is all.

You'd need to define 'shit' but I've been using Windows 10 on my main PC for a few months now and it seems really stable. I've not had anything refuse to work.

 

[MysticSlayer]

I don't think something was wrong when MS announced Win 10 would be free for one year. I mean, it's not a malevolent decision, to exaggerate my point. I think it's very cool of them.

I think the decision was made as a sort of apology for Windows 8, which by some accounts (on here anyway) really isn't that bad. Personally, I thought it was crap.

I think it was more Microsoft waking up and realizing that no one else was charging for upgrades. Even Apple dropped charging for Mac upgrades a few years ago. It will also be easier for them to shove the Windows Store compared to on Windows 7, and with how much potential money there is to be made there, it is no doubt much more financially beneficial to them to lower the barrier of entry to Windows 10. The recent Windows XP fiasco probably helps things as well.

Overall, I think it is less a matter of benevolence and apologizing on Microsoft's part and more just good business sense. And by that I mean that they realized that Apple did something and it worked.

I guess I want to get the Escapist's view on the system before I get it and possibly brick my system.
I mean, if they are giving it away for free, something must be up, right?

Like I said above, the idea of a free upgrade is probably more of a matter of them seeing how well it has worked for Apple for the last couple of years, and as someone who uses Mac, I would hardly say that Mac has become obnoxious in its money-grabbing ever since Apple started offering upgrades for free. That's not to say Microsoft isn't going to pull stuff (their deal with King is surely showing that they're doing more than Apple does), but avoiding the Windows Store will probably negate every reason they offered the upgrade for free.

Also, I seriously doubt it will brick your system. Even as someone who doesn't like (i.e. hates) Windows 10, it isn't that bad. Your system will at least turn on and be usable. (Yeah, yeah, I know, "bricking" is used to mean far more than actual bricking, but that still doesn't mean I have to like the way it is used.)

But I'm not going to say much beyond that. I've tried out Windows 10, but I didn't use it for gaming. Besides, I've been using Mac and Linux almost exclusively (only using Windows when forced to) for 4+ years now, and those two are so far superior to Windows for how I use my computer (i.e. everything but heavy gaming) that I would be a fool to switch. Anyways, my opinion probably doesn't mean a whole lot to people who still enjoy Windows or are looking at it from a gaming perspective.

 

[Poetic Nova]

Bit dissapointed that it seems that Killer instinct needs W10 to run. I'm not planning on upgrading at all myself.

 

[VladG]

They are giving windows away for free because they finally figured out that PC is a massive market for software right now (I'm talking mainly games, but not only. They've already integrated their own apple-like store in windows 8) and they want a large installed user base.

Since they aren't top dog in the console market, they are pushing windows as a gaming platform again (I don't expect to see any xbox exclusives any more. Everything will make it's way to PC).

There are... shadier reasons for it, sure. But mainly it's to get a large installed userbase to which they can sell other stuff and evolve their ecosystem.

As for upgrading.. wait a bit. It's going to be free for one year, no reason to rush. It's always going to be better a few months down the line when software/hardware manufacturers optimize for the new OS.

 

[Frezzato]

I think it was more Microsoft waking up and realizing that no one else was charging for upgrades. Even Apple dropped charging for Mac upgrades a few years ago. It will also be easier for them to shove the Windows Store compared to on Windows 7, and with how much potential money there is to be made there, it is no doubt much more financially beneficial to them to lower the barrier of entry to Windows 10. The recent Windows XP fiasco probably helps things as well.

Overall, I think it is less a matter of benevolence and apologizing on Microsoft's part and more just good business sense. And by that I mean that they realized that Apple did something and it worked.

[...]

The interesting thing about Apple is that, even when they did charge for their OS that one year, it was only like $20. Then the next two iterations were free, right? Amazingly Yosemite installed and works on my 2009 polycarbonate MacBook.

And I was going to suggest that there were more financial motivations on behalf of MS, but I couldn't really think of anything beyond deals like the one with King and perhaps the old model of OEM bulk licensing and such. In fact, I totally had no idea there was an app store for Windows like with mobile.

Then again, I still think it was a conciliatory move from Microsoft, at least partially. This is because Windows 8 won't be 3 years old by the time Windows 10 is released. I believe that time frame is even shorter than Vista's, but nowhere near as bad as ME.

 

[cathou]

I think it was more Microsoft waking up and realizing that no one else was charging for upgrades. Even Apple dropped charging for Mac upgrades a few years ago. It will also be easier for them to shove the Windows Store compared to on Windows 7, and with how much potential money there is to be made there, it is no doubt much more financially beneficial to them to lower the barrier of entry to Windows 10. The recent Windows XP fiasco probably helps things as well.

Overall, I think it is less a matter of benevolence and apologizing on Microsoft's part and more just good business sense. And by that I mean that they realized that Apple did something and it worked.

[...]

The interesting thing about Apple is that, even when they did charge for their OS that one year, it was only like $20. Then the next two iterations were free, right? Amazingly Yosemite installed and works on my 2009 polycarbonate MacBook.

And I was going to suggest that there were more financial motivations on behalf of MS, but I couldn't really think of anything beyond deals like the one with King and perhaps the old model of OEM bulk licensing and such. In fact, I totally had no idea there was an app store for Windows like with mobile.

Then again, I still think it was a conciliatory move from Microsoft, at least partially. This is because Windows 8 won't be 3 years old by the time Windows 10 is released. I believe that time frame is even shorter than Vista's, but nowhere near as bad as ME.

but again, when you sell your laptop 2000$, you probably dont need that much more money of the os to make profit. i dont think you can compare mac os with windows, because apple make profit on the hardware, which microsoft doesnt control

 

[Nerva]

MS doesn't really make much money on OS sales to individual consumers, they make money selling to businesses, which will STILL have to pay for Windows 10. What you conclude beyond that is of course, up to you.

 

[MysticSlayer]

The interesting thing about Apple is that, even when they did charge for their OS that one year, it was only like $20. Then the next two iterations were free, right?

I don't really remember how long they charged for upgrades for, but yeah, I do remember them being only like 1/5 the cost of Windows.

Amazingly Yosemite installed and works on my 2009 polycarbonate MacBook.

And from what I understand, El Capitan is still expected to run on 2008-2009 computers, depending on what type it is. However, upgrading to Maverick pretty much killed my computer in terms of speed. It still runs reasonably well for a 4 year old computer, but the drop in speed was instantly noticeable. As a result, I'm not too sure I want to figure out what Yosemite or El Capitan will do it, despite how great those two looks.

Besides, I've since set up my MacBook to dual-boot Mac and Xubuntu, and Xubuntu decided it wanted to be the default OS and sort of kicked Mac OS aside. I can't say I'm displeased as I've set it up to look and feel like Mac (even better in my opinion), and the boost in speed compared to Maverick was about as noticeable as the drop in speed I got when switching to Maverick. Overall, despite how much I love what I've seen of Yosemite and El Capitan, I doubt I'll be upgrading until I get a new computer, and that will probably be a while, mostly because of how reliable my computer runs compared to any other one I've had for as long.

In fact, I totally had no idea there was an app store for Windows like with mobile.

I think they added it in Windows 8. At the very least, I believe that was one of the complaints Valve had against it, probably because they saw it as Microsoft trying to completely take over software sales on Windows, including games. Despite my dislike of Windows 8, I do think that that particular complaint was a little too paranoid to take seriously. Do I think Microsoft would love it if they completely controlled software sales on Windows? Sure, but I doubt they can force, and I would hope they aren't stupid enough to try to force it.

 

[DoPo]

I've been using Windows 10 on my main PC for a few months now and it seems really stable. I've not had anything refuse to work.

Something is not right, in that case. I suggest you take your computer to an exorcist.