Topic: Windows 10

We reported on some of the more gaming related announcements from todays Win 10 event (there's also holographic tech, now).
As my entire plethora of devices, computers and gaming consoles are purely Windows based (yes, both Xbox run on adapted versions of Windows... It's brand name comes from "DirectX Box" as an early inside reference to the OG), these features very much excite me!

Will anyone be re-thinking their loyalty to Apple in the years to come? (They made good MP3 players, I'll give 'em that)

I have a Windows touch screen mid tier ultra book I got when Windows 8 came out. I already use mostly Microsoft services and now i'm waiting for a Flagship Lumia and the Band 2.0. Once I get a new laptop sometime next year its going to be a surface pro at this point. Call me a fanboy if you will, but i'm a micosoft nerd and honestly have been ever since falling in love with the OG windows phone interface.

I can't wait to install Windows 10 on my PC laptop next week and looking at windows 10 mobile next month.

I'm just hoping on the games side we see Microsoft studios put more effort into the mobile and tablet side games.

As long as its not as bad as Windows 8 is I will check it out. But then again when it comes to Windows they have a good year then a bad year for me so if they keep up that pattern then Windows 10 will be good.

I really don't mind 8.1? Many give it slack but it's really just Windows 7 with a nice tile-based overlay. Live-tiles are EXTREMELY useful to me and save SO much time, I really don't see the issue that folks had with 8? If you want to boot directly to desktop, you can?

Flagship Lumina better have that 42MP camera that was available in one of the latest ones, that is a CRAZY phone. I forget the name.

I quite like Windows 8.1 - Windows 8 though was a bit of a disappointment but with downloadable programmes I was able to gt back certain Windows 7 (and earlier) features that were missing. Glad Windows 10 will be a free upgrade. Not sure I will use many of the new features - particularly the streaming from Xbox feature but at least the new Xbox app may well be better and more stable than Smartglass.

Also the Hololens intrigues me more than the current trend for VR headsets. I like the fact that it doesn't shut off the world around you like VR does. Help me Obi Wan Kenobi, your my only hope...

You know, that is one Star Wars effect that I don't know how they pulled off with smoke and mirror filmmaking! That and the "chess" board on The Falcon. I'll have to read up on how it was done.

I agree that HoloLens WILL be a big deal, maybe only within design, engineering, and computer modeling circles at first but the tech looks amazing. Onboard CPU, GPU and VPU with dual cams similar to Kinect. No AR markers? Looks like a damn fine way to push pixels. If it also supported VR... well then goodbye Oculus and Google Glass.

I'm excited. I like Microsoft, but I won't get anything of theirs. 8 was a disappointment to me. The live tiles were great and the interface was beautiful, but search being buried in the dreaded charms, activated by hovering over an invisible corner was as unintuitive as they possibly could have done. 10 seems to be a much refined 8, with the ability to windows Metro apps and Cortana to boot. The ease of use improvements never hurt either (command prompt is finally bearable for once). Not even counting the performance improvements and DirectX 12 support. I was gonna pay full price for it, but it's free. That's a lot of consumer surplus for them, but I won't complain. One thing's for sure, and that's that they'll retain their market share and then some. Playing it safe. As far as my phone goes, I was less certain of staying with Windows, but they seem to have gotten that right too. Good job guys. Competition works out for everybody.

Search can be activated by pressing the Windows key and then just typing your search.

For me, it makes it far easier to launch programs than even the old-school Windows 98 Start Menu did. Windows Key....type "ph"...press return...Photoshop CC 2014 loads. Don't even need to have a hand on the mouse if I don't want to.

Part of the reason I'm not bothered about Cortana, given that I can probably type just as quickly as I can speak.

So Windows 10 is out now, how is everyone enjoying it? Any bugs to report, things that don't seem pratical? I currently don't have a PC so I am curiously how it is.

Its ok - I miss having easy access to things like Control Panels and some of the other System tools but after deleting all the MS apps/tiles etc that clutter everything and just moving all my programmes to the tiles, its OK. The new Xbox app is not that different from the Xbox Home page - as long as I can use it to receive and type my messages, I really don't care about anything else - If I could remove the Activity Feed from it, it would be infinitely better!!! Other than that though, its not that different from other windows - the tiles are now on the windows (bottom left) icon and the original desktop is back. I only want a PC to browse the web and check my mail so I have spent a while sorting out my 'start' menu/tiles - deleting all the unnecessary rubbish (all the MS Apps) and putting in the better alternatives - Firefox/Chrome/Safari, Thunderbird and security/cleaning programmes.

Mm I had the age old windows problem (wouldn't switch off - usually a driver problem but everything looks good) says the battery meter app failing to respond (it's a desktop). It then asks me to cancel (which I do). It then wants to collect the error info and reboot (thus coming back on!) FFS Microsoft, why do you always have this sort of problem.

Also, why can't they just have a power off button, why do you have to right click. Maybe that's why the problem above occurs, no one in Ms development bothers to switch off so they invest no time in the code for it.

I'm having some issues with it on one computer, but not the other. On the brighter side of things, the graphic drivers from AMD are good for once. You should wait though; By Black Friday I assume it will be fine.

I've been checking my laptop but no notification to say I have 10. Do you get an email or something to say it's ready to download or does it do it itself? BTW I have registered for it as I got an email confirming it.

I checked the icon - the one I used to register and was in the bottom right of my taskbar - and it told me my update was ready to download. Funnily enough,I got an email today from MS telling me that while I wait for my upgrade, I could check out some information on it ... I would check the icon rather than wait for the email!

Be prepared for a looooonnnnnngggg wait though when you do download and install! The install part took around an hour for me.

@BAMozzy Thanks for that. I checked last night and the night before but no update. The icon is in the bottom right as you say but it just has a box saying something like "notify me when ready".

I'm finding that I can work a lot faster with Windows 10. Isn't hyperbole to say that they've sped up the general functions of the O/S considerably. Switching between running tasks is much quicker and even third-party apps see the benefit. Photoshop, Fireworks, Chrome - all running much quicker than before.

Plus the upgrade was absolutely flawless for me. Not a single driver needed fixing or piece of software needed to be reinstalled. Just took a 30 minute work break while it upgraded, and when I came back it was done and I just carried on where I left off.

Seriously impressed!

Mine took around an hour to install and I had to reinstall Spybot. I haven't noticed any significant improvements to speed of any programmes (I tend to use Firefox and Thunderbird) and the boot up speed is not significantly increased (if at all). I don't think much to the new xbox App as it has a heavy focus on the Activity Feed. The programme list has been replaced by apps and tiles - annoying that this also focussed on MS Apps (until I deleted them all) and replaced all the tiles with the programmes I use.

Can't comment as to the bootup speed since I don't switch my PC off. As for the Start Menu, it doesn't really affect me since the apps I use for work are all pinned to the taskbar anyway, but I can see how it would be annoying if you use it lots. All the same, first thing I did was remove all the default apps from the tiles area on the Start Menu.

The program list is (sort of) available via the "All Apps" button at the very bottom on the left side of the Start Menu, but it doesn't compare to the old style.