Windows 10 rolls out July 29th

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by nyplayer

By Roll back are you including restoring an Image? I have Imaged my system that I can plan to upgrade ... I am sure that if I restore that image I can re-activate 8.1. Maybe there is no roll back if you Install the upgrade and cannot uninstall it but I doubt the license itself will be null and void for a clean re-install of 8.

Right, it sounded like (and it still does by the wording) that the Windows 7/8 key is no longer valid, ie you'd be unable to activate it ever again. So long as I can reinstall (from scratch) or restore an image, that's fine.

[nyplayer]

Originally Posted by stanger89

Right, it sounded like (and it still does by the wording) that the Windows 7/8 key is no longer valid, ie you'd be unable to activate it ever again. So long as I can reinstall (from scratch) or restore an image, that's fine.

Just Completed it on my I7 Laptop ... It did remove WMC which I do not use on this laptop... It does ask you to confirm removal so it does not remove it blindly.

You can go back to 8.1. See attached image.

Some observations.
1. Sage works just as good as before.
2. Java 7 is not used in the new browser .... the new browser does not accept plugins. (Edge Browser).
3. Much better performance and snappier than windows 8.1
4. I recommend it unless you want to keep WMC one off the reasons I will not be upgrading my production server.
5. The sage Webserver appears to fully work in the Edge Browser.

[reggie14]

Regarding downgrades, my guess is that you could get into trouble if you ever end up in a situation where you have to re-activate Windows 7. That is, if you upgrade, but then restore a backup of Windows 7, you'll probably be OK, since Windows will already be activated. But, if you got a new machine and tried to use an old key previously used with a Win10 upgrade, you might be out of luck.

I don't know what would happen if you did an upgrade, restored a backup, and then later made sufficient hardware changes to require a re-activation. But, I would expect/hope that a call to the activation hotline would clear it up...

[nyplayer]

Originally Posted by reggie14

Regarding downgrades, my guess is that you could get into trouble if you ever end up in a situation where you have to re-activate Windows 7. That is, if you upgrade, but then restore a backup of Windows 7, you'll probably be OK, since Windows will already be activated. But, if you got a new machine and tried to use an old key previously used with a Win10 upgrade, you might be out of luck.

I don't know what would happen if you did an upgrade, restored a backup, and then later made sufficient hardware changes to require a re-activation. But, I would expect/hope that a call to the activation hotline would clear it up...

I have never had a problem calling for activation even if I completely moved my license to a new PC...and I have Installed and updated many windows PC's. 99% of the time you do not even speak to a live person. I would think that once you upgrade to windows 10 ... Your old key probably will be associated with a Windows 10 activation. If you decide to re-activate your key on another PC you would lose your windows 10 activation.

[randyth]

Originally Posted by nyplayer

...
1. Sage works just as good as before.
...

Great to hear. I'll be upgrading my Sage-based HTPC tomorrow.

-Randy

[Denali]

The rollback is only valid for 30 days after install.

Upgraded my old hardware with minor problems. Yesterday Get10 icon said my hardware was compatible, today said my video card 7600GS not compatible. Upgraded from downloaded ISO image. All seemed to work but the video and mouse was jittery with the default VGA driver. Reinstalled the last 7600GS driver and video and mouse now back to normal. Seem to be a little peppier than 8.1. If it's as stable as XP I'll be happy.

[KryptoNyte]

Originally Posted by nyplayer

I have never had a problem calling for activation even if I completely moved my license to a new PC...and I have Installed and updated many windows PC's. 99% of the time you do not even speak to a live person. I would think that once you upgrade to windows 10 ... Your old key probably will be associated with a Windows 10 activation. If you decide to re-activate your key on another PC you would lose your windows 10 activation.

99% of the time, I have to speak to a live person. I purchased (4) Windows 7 Family 3-Pack Upgrades (that's 4 x 3 = 12 upgrades from XP licenses), which turned into a complete nightmare. Each time I call, they ask me how many computers I have the product installed on, and each time I tell them three. That's when they say that I can only have one key used on one computer. It's like Microsoft conveniently forgot that they sold this "Family 3-Pack" upgrade. I'll definitely be watching to see how this fiasco goes.

[KryptoNyte]

I'm not sure I really understand what was wrong with Windows 7. We were missing a proper touchscreen interface, which could have been fixed with an OS update (rather than calling it Windows 8, or Windows 10 for that matter).

Microsoft needs a payday every three years, even when they have to artificially create the "need" on their own. I'm still trying to figure out how they are going to turn Windows 10 into a yearly payday.

[KryptoNyte]

Here's what really gets my goat (as if anyone wanted to hear my soapbox standup). The US government decided that they were so in bed with XP that they would take your money and mine, and pay Bill Gates millions of dollars (once again, yours and mine) to keep the security updates coming on XP, but only for the government, and not for those folks that actually paid for it.

[nyplayer]

Originally Posted by KryptoNyte

I'm not sure I really understand what was wrong with Windows 7. We were missing a proper touchscreen interface, which could have been fixed with an OS update (rather than calling it Windows 8, or Windows 10 for that matter).

Microsoft needs a payday every three years, even when they have to artificially create the "need" on their own. I'm still trying to figure out how they are going to turn Windows 10 into a yearly payday.

It is called free enterprise imagine if apple stopped at the first IPhone they probably would be out of the Cell Phone business by now. That is just the way it is companies have to find ways to keep making capitol or else nothing will get done. Employees have to be paid a revenue stream is required.

[reggie14]

My machine definitely isn't liking the upgrade. First, it took three tries to install it. The first time it failed because it couldn't modify the system reserved partition (probably not enough free space). The second try failed silently, apparently due to a problem with Windows update. It did successfully install on the third try, but then...

It blue-screened about 5 minutes after booting to the Win10 desktop. I've got nothing now. Reboot just brings me to a blank screen, and I can't get into safe mode despite my best efforts. I'm not overly concerned, since I can always just restore last night's image, but I might decide I'll just stick with Windows 7 for a while...

[Taddeusz]

Originally Posted by KryptoNyte

I'm not sure I really understand what was wrong with Windows 7. We were missing a proper touchscreen interface, which could have been fixed with an OS update (rather than calling it Windows 8, or Windows 10 for that matter).

Microsoft needs a payday every three years, even when they have to artificially create the "need" on their own. I'm still trying to figure out how they are going to turn Windows 10 into a yearly payday.

It's called progress. Despite the horrible Metro screen Windows 8 did improve things. Mostly under the hood. For one it progressed to a more modular kernel that allows it to run with less RAM.

Today it's less about product and more about services. Azure is now their star product/service. Plus, they're still selling new copies to OEM's and the whole server line. Giving everyone free upgrades to Windows 10 ensures a significant number of consumers are running the latest version with the lifecycle that won't expire any time soon. Consumers will take that free handout even if they don't think they need it. There's enough buzz to want it and no monetary cost associated with upgrading.

[KryptoNyte]

Have you installed Windows XP recently? It's a smooth, crazy fast OS, until you get deep into the windows updates when the speed starts to fall off.

Free enterprise doesn't mean that a company gets to artificially destroy the predecessor product under the presumption that they can re-sell the product as something "new" and "better." But that's what's happening.

If Microsoft needs to get paid for security and general OS updates, then lets call it that.

[KryptoNyte]

Originally Posted by Taddeusz

There's enough buzz to want it and no monetary cost associated with upgrading.

So, where's the catch? Microsoft did all this work for nothing? I don't think so.

[nyplayer]

Originally Posted by KryptoNyte

Have you installed Windows XP recently? It's a smooth, crazy fast OS, until you get deep into the windows updates when the speed starts to fall off.

Free enterprise doesn't mean that a company gets to artificially destroy the predecessor product under the presumption that they can re-sell the product as something "new" and "better." But that's what's happening.

If Microsoft needs to get paid for security and general OS updates, then lets call it that.

You are talking about XP maybe in a rinky dink server and file sharing environment .... there is no way in the world that XP can do what I need it to do on my I7 Intel laptop.

[nyplayer]

Originally Posted by reggie14

My machine definitely isn't liking the upgrade. First, it took three tries to install it. The first time it failed because it couldn't modify the system reserved partition (probably not enough free space). The second try failed silently, apparently due to a problem with Windows update. It did successfully install on the third try, but then...

It blue-screened about 5 minutes after booting to the Win10 desktop. I've got nothing now. Reboot just brings me to a blank screen, and I can't get into safe mode despite my best efforts. I'm not overly concerned, since I can always just restore last night's image, but I might decide I'll just stick with Windows 7 for a while...

Since most of my stuff is on our network cloud .... What I did was restore a baseline Install of my machines which I had done when I had initially Installed W7 and W8. So I had nothing but a clean Install of w7 and w8 on my machines that I upgraded.... maybe that is why it went without a hitch on the machines I upgraded.

[Taddeusz]

Originally Posted by KryptoNyte

So, where's the catch? Microsoft did all this work for nothing? I don't think so.

I don't know. However, they do collect statistical information for various purposes. Including data to target ads.

[Taddeusz]

Originally Posted by KryptoNyte

Have you installed Windows XP recently? It's a smooth, crazy fast OS, until you get deep into the windows updates when the speed starts to fall off.

Free enterprise doesn't mean that a company gets to artificially destroy the predecessor product under the presumption that they can re-sell the product as something "new" and "better." But that's what's happening.

If Microsoft needs to get paid for security and general OS updates, then lets call it that.

Then what does "free enterprise" mean to you? To me it means that a company can do whatever the market wants or will bear. This case is probably more what the market will bear but media buzz turns it into what is wanted. It's not a new thing to create the market for a new product. Many companies do that.

And I have installed XP lately. It feels like it's a nearly 15 year old operating system. For comparison that's like still running Windows 3.0 at the time when Windows XP first came out.

[reggie14]

Originally Posted by nyplayer

Since most of my stuff is on our network cloud .... What I did was restore a baseline Install of my machines which I had done when I had initially Installed W7 and W8. So I had nothing but a clean Install of w7 and w8 on my machines that I upgraded.... maybe that is why it went without a hitch on the machines I upgraded.

Perhaps... Something is seriously wrong with my machine. I gave up trying to recover to the Win10 install. I'm trying to restore my old backup, but that's complicated by the fact that I can't get my motherboard to boot off a USB stick...

Update: Whew... my motherboard- an Asus P8Z77-V- is apparently awfully picky about what USB ports its willing to boot off of, and what other USB devices can be plugged in at the same time. I was finally able to boot into the Acronis recovery tool and its restoring the backup. I've used the backups a few times, but this is only the second time it has saved me from a major problem.

[nyplayer]

Originally Posted by reggie14

Perhaps... Something is seriously wrong with my machine. I gave up trying to recover to the Win10 install. I'm trying to restore my old backup, but that's complicated by the fact that I can't get my motherboard to boot off a USB stick...

Update: Whew... my motherboard- an Asus P8Z77-V- is apparently awfully picky about what USB ports its willing to boot off of, and what other USB devices can be plugged in at the same time. I was finally able to boot into the Acronis recovery tool and its restoring the backup. I've used the backups a few times, but this is only the second time it has saved me from a major problem.

Great good luck.