WIndows 10

8.1 resolved most intuition issues. I expect 10 will be even better. If the free upgrade offer is legitimate then that's pretty cool.

It was a bold assumption that we'd all benefit from a unified touchscreen capable OS on desktop PC's. Windows 10 should be better than 7 and I expect many businesses will move to this, of which many many have skipped 8.x altogether.

The free upgrade offer is legitimate - it was announced yesterday along with details of Windows 10 and various other things including the Holodeck.

One stand-out feature I noted from the link (thanks Gwyn ) was the ability to detect the device type and adapt accordingly for keyboard/mouse or touchscreen. This may improve the experience for users of both types hopefully, or at least reduce the amount of manual configurations needed.

They lost me when they assumed the two brand new windows 8 laptops I bought where touch screen. I don't want a touchscreen laptop.

I went apple and I can't see me ever going back to MS and I know a lot of ex win 8 users who have done the same. I've seen the light and like being productive on my Mac rather than constantly being nagged about Ms updates all the time and security updates on what seemed to be a weekly basis.

Mike, ok, fair enough, 'boffins' might be stretching it maybe ... These dedicated guys and gals are not exactly aged professors, but rather the younger generation of techie IT worker, forging a career in an ever changing industry .... If anyone will know their compooter stuff its them! Now if they can't figure it out what chance is there for the likes of some of us ... The common man, ordinary guy, just those who depend on some consistency and something to keep hold of!

Oh come on Nigel, they go through very basic training and have to learn everything from washing machines to digital cameras, especially now that the owners seem to be merging all the Currys and PCworld stores to save money. The majority of staff don't have anything other than a basic knowledge in the products they sell, they know more about the extended warranties than anything else.

The common ordinary guy is usually more clued up than you give him credit for, thanks largely to Google.

All I know Nigel is I installed Windows 8, updated to 8.1 with no problems, it still runs really well - exactly what you need from a product.

I would think that was the bare minimum you would expect from a product

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I also have used win8 and updated to 8.1 successfully, and can get it to do all I need. My points have never been about not being able to use it, or it crashing and things like that .... They are about the changes to the interface, the location and structure of components and how users access features compared to the previous version. A lot of this falls into the ' if it ain't broke ...' category, plus, as many members have written on here and the various other related threads, there are unnecessary extra hoops to jump through to achieve simple bread and butter tasks. An OS by definition and purpose should make these things logical and intuitive as much as possible, and win 8 has failed in this IMO (and many many other opinions as well , evidenced by any internet search on the subject.

I only hope that Microsoft have learned from this experience and will do the common sense (and business sense) thing and restore those ' ain't broke' aspects in addition to the new advances in speed, security etc.

Maybe what you should expect but it's not always the case!

Here's a quick win8 question teaser for our win8 boffins out there, just to illustrate my point about logic and intuition with the bread and butter stuff.....

Assuming no installation of Classic Shell (that's a Third party add -on) who can tell us the steps needed to ' sign out' of your windows 8 login (used to be termed log out in previous versions .... Just sign -out ... From whatever screen or view ... How do we 'sign out' ... ? If there's a simple way I don't know as always I am the first to happily learn about it along with others right here. Ok, over to the win8 PU experts!

(I've cheated with my guidebook open in front of me ... Here's a clue ... You start with a right click ... But where? )

Nigel - what's this 3rd party add on you keep on about??? I don't have any add on's - I right click to log off.
You mention about all of the people who aren't happy with the system but how many people are happy? You don't like it fine but for me I still think its the best operating system by far.

You have one year from it's launch to upgrade to 10. If you decide not to do so then you will have to pay for it should you decide after the first year to do so.

Well you pay a license fee now for a new machine with Windows 8.1 on it, unless it is a small screened tablet or phone, so what difference does it make if you pay a small fee for W10 on a new computer should you need one? Just be grateful they are offering you a free upgrade.

I'm beginning to regret starting this thread.

As you have read on this forum most people , who take the time to familiarise themselves with it have no problem with the OS. They don't use a third party add on - I have no idea what it is you are using.

Who cares why Microsoft chose to call the next release 10? Why does Google choose Jelly Bean or KitKat?

Windows 8 does not assume everyone has a touchscreen. I use it with a mouse with no problems, as do most people.

Maybe the thread has served it's purpose of informing people of what WIndows 10 will bring, for free for those eligible, and it should now be closed, before it gets nasty.

Nigel - bottom left corner. (Typed on a Win7 machine )

Myles