Windows 10 - Because it's too good to be called Windows 9

SoxFanInCali

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Has anyone else downloaded the Technical Preview? I've got it running in a virtual machine, and after 5 minutes I already like it better than Windows 8. On a PC, it boots directly to the desktop, the Start Menu is back (although it's been tweaked a bit to add Windows 8-style tiles), and the apps that used to run full-screen now run in windows that can be re-sized and minimized. This would be a much easier upgrade to roll out in a corporate environment to people used to XP/Win 7.
 
It's still buggy, so it shouldn't be installed over your OS on your primary computer, but if you've got a spare machine lying around or want to run it in a VM, it's pretty nice.
 

NoXInNixon

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The rumor is that it can't be called WIndows 9 because too many people have written scripts that determine what version of windows is running by looking for strings containing "Windows 9" to look for Windows95 and Windows98.
 
That's just dumb enough to possibly be true.
 

SumnerH

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NoXInNixon said:
The rumor is that it can't be called WIndows 9 because too many people have written scripts that determine what version of windows is running by looking for strings containing "Windows 9" to look for Windows95 and Windows98.
 
That's just dumb enough to possibly be true.
 
I'm guessing this wasn't the reason for the skip, though there is certainly some brain-dead code that does this.
 
Internally (to programs) Windows 95 was version "4.00" and 98 was version "4.10".    Windows 8 was version "6.10".  You'd have to be pretty stupid to write software that looked up the marketing name rather than the version to do this kind of comparison.  OTOH, there are some pretty stupid people writing code--but not nearly as many as the Reddit article that proposed this theory claims.  If you run the query they claim gives over 4000 examples of that kind of code, you see that there are a lot of extraneous hits that don't actually do anything like that.
 

wade boggs chicken dinner

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So MS has been pretty successful these past couple of years (revenue and stock price) while releasing pretty mediocre (at best) products - Windows 8, surface RT, surface rt2, etc.

Wonder what would happen if they released something good?
 

kenneycb

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I hated Windows 8 when I first got it, especially since I don't have a touchscreen.  I hate it somewhat less now that I've been using for a couple months.  I'm just happy they're bringing back the Start menu.  Not having that blows.
 

JerBear

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kenneycb said:
I hated Windows 8 when I first got it, especially since I don't have a touchscreen.  I hate it somewhat less now that I've been using for a couple months.  I'm just happy they're bringing back the Start menu.  Not having that blows.
Download classic shell.
 

wade boggs chicken dinner

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I thought people were very positive about the surface 2 and 3.
Surface Pro 3 has gotten positive reviews. Pro 2 is good but I'm not sure it sold. Still I was referring to the RT 1 and RT 2, which seemed (at best) pointless.
 

AlNipper49

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wade boggs chicken dinner said:
So MS has been pretty successful these past couple of years (revenue and stock price) while releasing pretty mediocre (at best) products - Windows 8, surface RT, surface rt2, etc.

Wonder what would happen if they released something good?
Because a lot of their other stuff is awesome. 2008/2012 were/are unbelievable. They did mostly the right things with Exchange and SQL. Lync/Skype
 

ScubaSteveAvery

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Also, as more people get 2012 up and running I think Lync will be even more popular in the workplace.  The screen sharing and VTC are still a bit behind Jabber, but with Skype they should be able to integrate video more thoughtfully going forward. 
 

rembrat

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NoXInNixon said:
The rumor is that it can't be called WIndows 9 because too many people have written scripts that determine what version of windows is running by looking for strings containing "Windows 9" to look for Windows95 and Windows98.
 
That's just dumb enough to possibly be true.
 
I say fuck it and break the internet and your desktop applications. It's the only way we can move forward.
 

johnmd20

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kenneycb said:
I hated Windows 8 when I first got it, especially since I don't have a touchscreen.  I hate it somewhat less now that I've been using for a couple months.  I'm just happy they're bringing back the Start menu.  Not having that blows.
 
You could have downloaded an App for 2-3 bucks that put the start menu back in all its glory. This helps you not at all now. But if you're dying to get it in the Windows 7 version, I used it and it works very well. Start Is Back.
 
And the Surface 2 is an amazing tablet that is fast, gorgeous, and consistent. But it didn't sell.
 

Blacken

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SumnerH said:
I'm guessing this wasn't the reason for the skip, though there is certainly some brain-dead code that does this.
It doesn't surprise me, though I expect there's more to it than that. The JVM is spec'd to this. It returns "Windows 95", "Windows 98", "Windows NT", etc.
 

SumnerH

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Blacken said:
It doesn't surprise me, though I expect there's more to it than that. The JVM is spec'd to this. It returns "Windows 95", "Windows 98", "Windows NT", etc.
 
Java does the right thing.  System.getProperty("os.version") returns the version number ("4.0", "4.1", etc).  System.getProperty("os.name") returns the human-readable name ("Windows 95", "Windows 98", etc).
 

Couperin47

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johnmd20 said:
 
You could have downloaded an App for 2-3 bucks that put the start menu back in all its glory. This helps you not at all now. But if you're dying to get it in the Windows 7 version, I used it and it works very well. Start Is Back.
 
And the Surface 2 is an amazing tablet that is fast, gorgeous, and consistent. But it didn't sell.
 
or downloaded Classic Shell for free and had an even better solution...
 

AlNipper49

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Yeah, the rule of thumb is if you need something that your PC didn't come with, then go to ninite.com  .  If it's not on ninite (or Steam if it's a game) then don't install it :)
 

Follow33

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AlNipper49 said:
Yeah, the rule of thumb is if you need something that your PC didn't come with, then go to ninite.com  .  If it's not on ninite (or Steam if it's a game) then don't install it :)
 
I think you just changed my life.
 

wade boggs chicken dinner

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Well MS introducing Windows 10 today; wonder if anyone cares.
 
Big features supposed to be:  developers can write apps once and then easily port to other devices and XBOX; MS introducing new browser ("Spartan").

It's going to be a free upgrade from Windows 8.x and Windows 7.
 

Blacken

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SumnerH said:
 
Java does the right thing.  System.getProperty("os.version") returns the version number ("4.0", "4.1", etc).  System.getProperty("os.name") returns the human-readable name ("Windows 95", "Windows 98", etc).
It does not do the right thing for earlier OSes, which is what I expect transformed into the "String.startsWith" meme.
 
 
AlNipper49 said:
Yeah, the rule of thumb is if you need something that your PC didn't come with, then go to ninite.com  .  If it's not on ninite (or Steam if it's a game) then don't install it :)
Chocolatey, motherfucker.
 
(OneGet is Chocolatey with a funny hat on top.)
 

Blacken

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wade boggs chicken dinner said:
Big features supposed to be:  developers can write apps once and then easily port to other devices and XBOX;
The stuff to do it has been there for a while now (though the XBONE stuff has been publicly locked). Nobody's doing it, which I think is prompting the opening of the XBONE stuff a little more.
 
MS introducing new browser ("Spartan").
Still the same core. Not a big deal.
 

AlNipper49

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Blacken said:
It does not do the right thing for earlier OSes, which is what I expect transformed into the "String.startsWith" meme.
 
 
Chocolatey, motherfucker.
 
(OneGet is Chocolatey with a funny hat on top.)
YOU HAVE BLOWN MY MIND