back to article Windows 10 out, users happy, PCs upgraded, my work here is done – says Microsoft OS chief

Joe Belfiore, Microsoft's head of operating systems, is going to take a year-long leave of absence from the biz once Windows 10 has rolled out. By November, Microsoft should have finished emitting Windows 10 to smartphones, completing the play Redmond is making for a single operating system to cover all possible computers and …

  1. Andy Non Silver badge
    Mushroom

    Light fuse and

    retire to a safe distance.

    1. Mark 85

      Re: Light fuse and

      I was thinking "he tossed the grenade and ducked"... But hey, if he's not there when the crap really hits the fan, his stock options are safe. And being far away from the designated target area is a good plan.

    2. Someone Else Silver badge
      Mushroom

      Re: Light fuse and

      Isn't that what Sinofsky did?

      1. jason 7

        Re: Light fuse and

        Sinofsky bolted about a week after launch. At least this time he waited 10 weeks!

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Goes into hiding before he's lynched.

    1. wolfetone Silver badge

      I feel sorry for his kids, they're stuck with him now.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Disappearing after a Windows rollout..

    ... it's becoming a tradition in Redmond. Why? <G>

    1. P. Lee
      Coat

      Re: Disappearing after a Windows rollout..

      Some cruel people might suggest that they are all at sea already.

      1. Mark 85
        Devil

        Re: Disappearing after a Windows rollout..

        Some cruel people might suggest that they are all at sea already.

        Put there by MS or by a bunch of pitchfork and torch wielding users???

    2. chivo243 Silver badge
      Headmaster

      Re: Disappearing after a Windows rollout..

      @LDS

      Redmond? I thought this was SOP in all Corporate ecosystems? Land a good job, fuck it up royally for a few years, get a big bag of cash, move to the competitor and run them into the ground, rinse, repeat until you have enough cash...

  4. Paul Hovnanian Silver badge

    Snapping more family pics

    Thank goodness for iPhoto.

    1. Dan 55 Silver badge

      Re: Snapping more family pics

      Presumably he won't be using a Lumia phone as they've just nobbled the Lumia Camera app on Windows Phone 10 or whatever it's called these days.

      1. Michael B.

        Re: Snapping more family pics

        Er, no they haven't. The Windows Phone 10 camera is the same as the Lumia Camera.

        1. Dan 55 Silver badge

          Re: Snapping more family pics

          My mistake, they got rid of the rest of the Lumia apps...

          http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/09/07/ms_farewells_more_of_nokias_legacy/

  5. ma1010
    Linux

    Windows 10 Out, Users Happy...

    Yes, I threw Windows 10 out, and now I'm quite happy with my Linux Mint Rafaela installation.

    1. Novex

      Re: Windows 10 Out, Users Happy...

      I never even started with it. With all the retrocompromises being applied to Windows 7, I'm also jumping the MS ship to Linux Mint. Am I happy with Mint? Yes, but there are some teething troubles which really shouldn't be there (Bluetooth problems, hibernation problems, WINE problems) but I'm willing to stick it out for a while. If they can't get sorted, I can always try a different, non-Ubuntu derived distro. The only thing left with Linux is the lack of higher grade commercial software for it, like Adobe products, and other specialist music and graphics stuff which I use some of. But I can keep a restricted install of W7 for those I suppose, and a VM for non-hardware related software.

      1. Whistlerspa
        Unhappy

        Re: Windows 10 Out, Users Happy...

        "Re: Windows 10 Out, Users Happy...

        " Yes, but there are some teething troubles which really shouldn't be there (Bluetooth problems, hibernation problems, WINE problems) but I'm willing to stick it out for a while. If they can't get sorted, I can always try a different, non-Ubuntu derived distro. "

        Unfortunately they are not teething problems but ongoing limitations. I used to be a full time Linux user but with the advent of laptops replacing desktops I've found that hardware incompatibility has become more of a problem with Linux Distros. Hibernation issues , video card issues and wifi issues typify this.

        1. Prst. V.Jeltz Silver badge

          This post has been deleted by a moderator

          "This post has been deleted by a moderator "

          what is this? IMDB? that must have been a pretty offensive post!

          Penguin related I suspect

          1. chivo243 Silver badge
            Devil

            Re: This post has been deleted by a moderator

            one of my posts was deleted by moderator. I changed the wording of the title, and the next time my post got many happy upvotes...

        2. Stuart 22

          Re: Windows 10 Out, Users Happy...

          Easy one first - WINE. Yep, and usually caused by badly coded apps that don't stick to the API or require odd libraries. Thankfully I found alternate and sometimes better solutions. My really old and good Windows apps run beautifully in a Win2k VM. No activation issues, its small, its swift despite being 32bit. Better than Wine?

          Bluetooth. I've always found it a pain no matter what the device and whether Linux was even involved. LAN is the way to go. Good cameras do it that way, the rest will follow. Indeed if you have KDE Connect why on earth would you even think of using Bluetooth?

          Hibernation? Nope installed on three netbooks without issue. Maybe its my distro or my hardware but it isn't inevitable.

          YMMV

          1. wdmot

            Re: Windows 10 Out, Users Happy...

            Hibernation? Nope installed on three netbooks without issue. Maybe its my distro or my hardware but it isn't inevitable.

            The problem here is that if hibernation doesn't work with Linux on his laptop, there's generally no one on the forums who knows how to get it to work. Not necessarily that there isn't someone out there who knows, you just have no access to them. Same really goes for other hardware issues. I guess the fix is to buy a laptop with Linux pre-installed, which presumably means the manufacturer has gotten everything working correctly under Linux.

        3. JakeMS
          Linux

          Re: Windows 10 Out, Users Happy...

          Sometimes Hibernation issues where you are unable to boot back up after are actually due to the way the user set up the OS..

          "What! That's preposterous! How dare you! It can't be my fault!"

          So let's break down how Hibernation GNU/Linux actually works:

          Dumps entire contents of RAM into SWAP, on boot tries to read that swap and put it back into RAM, then boots up.

          Now herein lies the problem.. If like most people you have 64GB or more RAM chances are you either didn't create a SWAP partition (Who needs it anyway when you got 64GB or more ram right?) or you created a SWAP partition that doesn't match your ram. For example you have 64GB of ram but only created a 2GB "emergency" swap partition.

          So here's what happens if you only have 2GB of SWAP, but 64GB of RAM:

          Prior to going into hibernation you may be actively using say, 4GB of ram. No problem, you got 64GB why worry about a measly 4GB?

          Well when you go into hibernation it's going to try to put that 4GB into your 2GB SWAP partition. That's not going to work and some RAM data will simply not fit.

          So now when you try to boot back up your system reads the swap, restores the 2GB that was successfully saved.. but this isn't enough you need the other 2GB that was lost. Thus your system simply doesn't restore correctly or at all.

          This is usually most noticeable when the following happens:

          - Suspend to RAM works.

          - Hibernation fails.

          So yeah.. if your having issues booting back up after attempting hibernation.. check your SWAP. I've found when helping people with Hibernation issues this is the most common reason for it not working.

          If it still doesn't work after checking SWAP, you may have hardware incompatibility issues.

          Have fun!

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Windows 10 Out, Users Happy...

            " If like most people you have 64GB or more RAM "

            WHAT !

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Windows 10 Out, Users Happy...

        The only thing left with Linux is the lack of higher grade commercial software for it, like Adobe products

        No, that's a feature!!

  6. Steve Davies 3 Silver badge
    Thumb Down

    Warning! Incoming

    Big globs of Horse Poo detected heading for Redmond.

    If MS thinks that it is 'Job Done' then I'd really like to have some of what they are smoking.

    IMHO, they are living in a bubble of denial. A bubble created by their natural instinct to stick fingers in their ears and shout Na na na na na na I can't hear you.

    Being serious for a moment.

    No one I know will move to Windows 10. These are not IT experts but ordinary people who just don't want everything they do slurped and sent to MS (and god knows who else). Most are moving towards Mac's becasue they need to run tools like Photoshop.

    This is all of MS's own doing. They don't seem to be inclined to even recognise that some people have issues with W10.

    1. The Original Steve

      Re: Warning! Incoming

      "Ordinary people" are aware of the telemetary in Windows 10 but aren't IT experts or work in IT...? Jog on. Most "IT experts" I come across don't even know about it, let alone the great unwashed!

      And most people you know "are moving towards Mac's because they need to run tools like Photoshop"... Really? Are you from the 90's? Every major desktop platform, including Linux has a plethora of excellent, best of breed photo editing packages. Photoshop is identical on OS X or Windows, and Linux has dozens of tools that can do the job too. Nobody, truthfully, as opted for OS X because of Photoshop for about 15 years. If anything there are more photo editng applications for Windows than Mac, and none of the platforms has some magical edge when it come to heavy photo editing.

      The fact you believe this questions why on earth you are even visiting El Reg. Computer Active forums down or something?

      1. Martin an gof Silver badge

        Re: Warning! Incoming

        Re: The Original Steve

        Interesting argument you have there:

        1: users, even technically literate ones are unintelligent and unaware of W10's telemetry

        2: users are intelligent enough to realise that there's more to image manipulation than Photoshop on a Mac.

        No. Your average "arty" type will almost always choose a Mac for one or more of these reasons:

        a: that is what they have always used

        b: that is what they used in college

        c: all their arty mates use Macs or

        d: it still has a better "image" (i.e. it's a fashion thing).

        No matter that Photoshop works the same on a PC, "real creatives use Macs".

        It's pretty much the same mindset as that which has made Office (and in particular Word) the dominant system despite some quite excellent alternatives, and it's the same mindset that really wouldn't consider buying a Mac for general office work, even though Office is available for OSX.

        I'm sure we'd all like to think Windows 10 will be the point at which the average PC user will realise there are good - nay better - alternatives available, but we all hoped (expected?) that when Windows ME came out, when Vista came out, and again when Windows 8 came out, and were proved wrong.

        Unless you count the fact that people are buying tablets in preference to a PC, I suppose.

        :-)

        M.

        1. JimS

          Re: Warning! Incoming

          -No matter that Photoshop works the same on a PC, "real creatives use Macs".

          I worked in the print trade for over 10 years and was staggered at how attached some people were to their Macs. We had an in house repro studio and they never quite forgave me for upgrading them to PC's that enabled them to work faster for a fraction of the price of Mac based products. They didn't have an argument beyond "but it's a Mac", because the PC's did exactly the same job, some of them even looked pretty.

          I was also trained as a chippy when I left school. Had I walked in to the local builders merchant and been presented with the choice of a hammer with glitter on it or the same one without, I'd have taken the one without, especially if it was a third of the price.

          Right tool for the right job every time and unfortunately, since apple moved to Intel, Macs just don't offer anything above the "Ooh, I saw that on TV" appeal any more.

          I also no longer like their OS, it's clunky, full of IAP and just feels wrong to me, fine if you just want to browse the web and get your email. Which is probably why their popularity has grown with the masses.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Warning! Incoming - JimS

            Cool story bro.

            Your hammer analogy is fucking stupid though.

            And printer driver issues continue to be a massive pain in the ass on Windows.

            And graphics performance on OS X is better than PC because of the way the OS handles images, especially PDF.

            Lets just ignore facts and base your entire point of fatuous statements about 'glittery hammers' and 'cheap is best'.

            1. MrXavia

              Re: Warning! Incoming - JimS

              "And printer driver issues continue to be a massive pain in the ass on Windows."

              I would say opposite, I find mac drivers are always inferior to windows ones, usually if you need to use a 'special' function of a printer (such as a flip/book/etc) the mac driver can't do it but the windows one can...

              1. John P

                Re: Warning! Incoming - JimS

                We've got a few MFPs and an ancient HP LaserJet 2300, which just works and is still going strong.

                Windows 7 dealt with all of these pretty well once you found the right drivers. Windows 8 was a massive ball-ache to get set up for all of them, lots of patching inf files and trying 17 different ways to use a driver it really didn't want to use. Windows 10 however, upon being told to look for printers on the network, found all of them almost instantly and set itself up with absolutely no intervention from me.

                I had to send a test page to each one as I thought it was lying to me. No OS will ever be perfect but, from my personal experience, Windows 10 has made massive improvements in both the upgrade and peripheral experience.

                1. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

                  Re: Warning! Incoming - JimS

                  "Windows 10 however, upon being told to look for printers on the network, found all of them almost instantly and set itself up with absolutely no intervention from me."

                  Quite the contrary to my experience with the brief insider test. Firstly it confined itself to a subset of my LAN & would never have found the printer. Secondly, once some fixes had been rolled out to change subnet masks it still didn't help because it didn't have a driver for the printer, HP2030. I went to the HP site & downloaded the W8 version which worked OK. Maybe they ported more drivers later but this was getting close to release date.

            2. JimS

              Re: Warning! Incoming - Anonymous Coward

              Thanks bro,

              Never had issues with printer drivers, but then we weren't really running any old kit, I remember there being an issue with one of the scanners, but that was soon sorted with a call to the manufacturers.

              -And graphics performance on OS X is better than PC because of the way the OS handles images, especially PDF.

              Never seen any real proof of this, and I've worked side by side with Macs / Linux / Windows machines for years. You'd have had a point if we're talking Power-PC, now though if there is a difference, it's imperceptible on modern machines.

              No where did I mention cheap is best, just that the similar powered machines were far cheaper.

              It's just opinion ya know, no need to have a fit.

            3. This post has been deleted by its author

              1. JimS

                Re: Warning! Incoming - JimS

                Isn't it just. Today's Macs are great if you don't need to do much beyond looking at pictures, maybe make a YouTube movie or check your email, for everything else it's clunky as hell. It's like they've gone backwards if you're a professional try to get a job of work done.

                Give me OS 9 over X any day.

                1. chivo243 Silver badge
                  Joke

                  Re: Warning! Incoming - JimS

                  @JimS

                  Bite your tongue man! Take the chooser and that atrocity that was the finder(still is btw) and leave them in the past where they belong. There was some other system thingamobob that drove me crazy too, I guess I have blocked it out ;-}

          2. HausWolf
            Meh

            Re: Warning! Incoming

            We just had a "real creative" join our company and he is upset with his brand new 16G, SSD Precision Laptop and insists his 4 year old macbook is faster and we should let it on our network.

            That and he insisted I install Safari for him as a web browser, because it's better.

        2. Prst. V.Jeltz Silver badge

          mac vs pc

          "real creatives use Macs".

          ..and people with jobs use PC!

      2. Captain DaFt

        Re: Warning! Incoming

        -"Ordinary people" are aware of the telemetary in Windows 10 but aren't IT experts or work in IT...? Jog on. Most "IT experts" I come across don't even know about it, let alone the great unwashed!-

        Are you trying to tell me that artists are more informed than "IT experts"? Because on most of the art sites I frequent, they are howling over that little thing called Win10!

        -And most people you know "are moving towards Mac's because they need to run tools like Photoshop"... Really?-

        Yes, really. Many are edging away from Photoshop to other software since the subscription model, but most depend on Photoshop.

        -Linux has dozens of tools that can do the job too.-

        True. But for people that've used Photoshop for years, and know nothing else, they're better equipped to climb the North face of Everest than tackle the steep learning curve of most free offerings.

        -none of the platforms has some magical edge when it come to heavy photo editing.-

        No, but people are familiar with Windows, and OSX isn't so different, plus most major commercial art software is supported on both, so it's easier for them to jump ship to OSX, than jump into Linux Distros, None of which support the software that they're familiar with.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Facepalm

      Re: Warning! Incoming

      "These are not IT experts but ordinary people who just don't want everything they do slurped and sent to MS"

      Would these be the same people running an Android phone?

      Sigh...nothing like MS hatred to distort reality.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Warning! Incoming

        @ Lost all faith - not at all - fact is, it appears that more non-tecchies are aware of the bad sides of Windows 10 than are aware of the bad sides of Android (although some do seem to be getting a bit jumpy over recent security problems with Android). Why? No idea. as yet, but if I were to guess it'd be a combination of (a) because Windows has changed its behaviour and Android hasn't, and people tend to notice change, and (b) form-factor. Most people nowadays seem used to their pocket computers otherwise known as phones behaving as they do rather than like desktop computers. With desktop computers, there's always been the expectation that your data is in your PC. With phones that's not the case, as time has passed, folk have become gradually used to more and more of their phone experience being rather 'cloudy'.

        The fact that you and I can see the illogic of the situation is neither here nor there, and nor does it imply that all non IT-tecchies are stupid overall - most, if not all of us have areas in which we're not strictly rational or hold apparently contradictory beliefs/wishes. The thing about IT is that the threat isn't as obviously visible as a gang walking down the street intent on mugging, and the bait is a shiny bit of tech that appears to do very useful and/or fun things.

        Besides, what's amiss with hating a company that has behaved in an extremely underhanded, ant-competetive manner, forcing its product on people that dont want it (and making them pay for it whether wanted or not in the past too)? I find it hard to credit that anyone with a decent grasp of the word 'ethics' could fail to see how worthy of hate MS is.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Happy

          @Esme - Re: Warning! Incoming

          I find it hard to credit that anyone with a decent grasp of the word 'ethics' could fail to see how worthy of hate MS is.

          Thanks for that.

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Warning! Incoming

      "No one I know will move to Windows 10."

      I hate to say this, but milions upon milions of others will move to Windows 10. Sad, maybe, but true. As long as it's not worse than Windows 8, or Vista (and it doesn't appear this way), it will become "THE" OS. Not for you, or me, or maybe hundreds of thousands of people following the penguin, not for milions of i-os-whatever fans, but for overwhelming majority of "computer" users on this planet - absolutely. (I'm not counting Androids, because they're not the main OS for their user base).

  7. pewpie
    Flame

    Get back here, fucko - you ain't done yet.

    Your job will be done when you are nailed to the prow of the good ship windoze, as it sinks into the sea of eternal stink, for betraying the trust of all windoze users, regardless of whether they wanted to swallow your malware laden excuse of an OS update or not.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    WTF?

    Is it just me?

    Or does the Windows logo on that shirt looks like barred as if it were on a jail?

    1. bobgameon

      Re: Is it just me?

      It's not barred its made up of 1's and 0's. It's a binary coded message.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Joke

        Re: Is it just me?

        Indeed, it reads, "All your data belongs to us".

        1. omnicent

          Re: Is it just me?

          Shouldn't that be "all your data are belong to us"...?

          1. Chika

            Re: Is it just me?

            We get signal.

    2. harmjschoonhoven
      Thumb Up

      Re: Is it just me?

      BTW the bridge in the background was probably designed with a slide rule.

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    No safe harbour

    Wonder how the EU debacle will effect the bottom line for M$' dial home device?

  10. conscience

    Smoking something whacky or living in the real world?

    The work is done? What work? And for achieving what?

    After years of resisting, my technophobe 65 year old mother has had so many recent problems that she's asked me to please get rid of Windows altogether, something I've been offering to do for the last few years but she was always happy with Windows previously. All her friends who purposely upgraded to Win 10 wanted their old OS back without exception but only a few managed to do so, but all were very angry.

    That's the same request I've had from many friends who I help with their PCs, so I'm currently moving them all to Linux (Mint/Mate) instead of Windows 10, few game or use Windows-only software so it's an easy task.

    As a geek who used Windows since 3.1, my sole remaining Windows installation right now is a Windows 7 installation patched to SP1 level only (no other updates), used offline only, and even then only still exists for a few DX11 games, everything else is already Linux. I can't help noticing that many new games are available for Linux now as well so it won't be long before there is no reason to use Windows at all any more.

    IF Microsoft actually believe they've done well here (and it's not just PR bull-spin) then they appear totally deluded. No change there then.

  11. Stu 18

    well I like the spending time with family bit

    Although sailing off to sea is only real if it is a 30ft yacht not a cruise ship with 600+ people. Still the idea of not sacrificing your entire life (and kids growing up time) to the company should be applauded. Not very American I suppose.

    That MS has completely lost the plot re OS and can't listen and don't envision a future that people want to be a part of is very regrettable.

    Because though I do put the boot in - which they deserve - the reality is that there is only bits and pieces that I'd want to 'hook my trailer up to' from any of the other major players. I mean seriously yay Mac from the company that listens even less and you do what your told. Yay Google the company that defines data snooping.

    Yay linux, oh but it won't run autocad or office or any of our multi-thousand dollar modelling applications. Yes I realise there are alternatives for some things, but our customers in multi million dollar engineering firms don't think how can I get cheap software, they think about getting the job done and the associated issue of retaining skilled labour that can use said applications.

    1. keithpeter Silver badge
      Windows

      Re: well I like the spending time with family bit

      "Yay linux, oh but it won't run autocad or office or any of our multi-thousand dollar modelling applications."

      I thought that corporate windows installations didn't get all the data slurping and intrusive updates. Am I wrong?

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: well I like the spending time with family bit

      Yay linux, oh but it won't run autocad or office or any of our multi-thousand dollar modelling applications.

      They didn't run much in the way of big-name games either, but look at what Steam is doing.

      Yes, the corporate world is more conservative. For now, people are clinging to the life-raft called Windows 7. When that sinks, it's either move to Windows 10 or abandon the Microsoft ecosystem altogether. If enough do the latter, then Adobe/Autodesk's hand will be forced.

      1. Grikath

        Re: well I like the spending time with family bit

        "They didn't run much in the way of big-name games either, but look at what Steam is doing."

        Using a pass-the-fence client that needs to be Always Online, Phones Home, and limits quite a few games to play *only* through the client?

        You can have the most secure OS/HW setup in the world, and proceed to install the Steam client... might as well install Flash while you're at it...

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: well I like the spending time with family bit

          Using a pass-the-fence client that needs to be Always Online, Phones Home, and limits quite a few games to play *only* through the client?

          Never said it was ideal… although to be honest I wasn't aware of all the issues there.

          My point being that this wasn't even an option 10 years ago. If you wanted a game of Half-Life years ago, your only option on Linux was WINE.

          A Linux version of Photoshop/Autocad will probably be terrible at first, as they learn how to cater for a new market. Eventually though, they'll "get it", and we'll get something that's truly useful.

          1. frank ly

            Re: well I like the spending time with family bit

            I know that Office 2000 (yes, I'm behind the times) seems to run perfectly well under WINE and that WINE claims to be able to 'emulate' all the way up to Win 7. I haven't tried any other 'major' Windows applications under WINE, just minor bits and pieces that I like to use. Can Photoshop run under WINE?

            1. Anonymous Coward
              Anonymous Coward

              Re: well I like the spending time with family bit

              Can Photoshop run under WINE?

              Depends on the version. That said, if Adobe were to officially "support" Photoshop on Linux using this method, it'd be a pretty poor way to do it.

            2. Anonymous Coward
              Anonymous Coward

              Re: well I like the spending time with family bit

              Currently have CS6 running without a hitch under Wine/PlayOnLinux on Mint 17.2.

      2. BinkyTheMagicPaperclip Silver badge

        Re: well I like the spending time with family bit

        What Steam is doing is to somewhat increase the number of Linux games, usually with worse performance and less features than the Windows versions, especially lying about whether games work with controller support. If you're a die hard Linux fan, it's great, but as a platform agnostic gamer it's a sore disappointment.

        Operating system sales, like consoles, are driven by app availability. There needs to be a compelling reason to move, and for the majority of people Linux does not provide that. Users will simply stay on Windows 7/8, sales of 10 will decline, and Microsoft will be forced to release 11/10.1 with concerns addressed - as happened with 8.

        Until you see Adobe test the water with a Linux app, it'll be business as usual. Even if people start to shift to Linux, they'll be running Windows software in VMs for years - there is no such thing as a sudden change.

        There's a reason it took OS X six releases before they dropped compatibility layers..

        1. theOtherJT Silver badge

          @BinkyTheMagicPaperclip

          What Steam is doing is to somewhat increase the number of Linux games, usually with worse performance and less features than the Windows versions, especially lying about whether games work with controller support.

          I've actually seen far better perf for Source engine stuff on Linux with OpenGL than on Windows with DirectX. Other games seem to be more of a toss up. Borderlands seems to be about a wash, no real improvement either way. Terraria (hardly a graphical powerhouse) runs a bit less well on Linux, but it looks like the Linux port is pretty much just a baked in wine anyway - probably to be expected of a game that was originally written in XNA.

          Anyway, I'm not a die-hard Linux fan - it's horses for courses as far as I'm concerned - but given how far Steam has pulled the Linux gaming platform in such a short time I'm far from disappointed, I'm actually very impressed. No, it's not a like for like match for Windows, but then the Windows version of Steam has nearly a decade's worth of head start, so I wouldn't really expect parity this early on.

          1. BinkyTheMagicPaperclip Silver badge

            Re: @BinkyTheMagicPaperclip

            I'm surprised, but my main gaming box triple boots between Windows 8 (DirectX is faster than on 7), XP (games that support EAX, and not OpenAL), and SteamOS, so I'll try a direct A-B comparison of Portal.

            It's nice that Valve released SteamOS, but it was still pretty beta last time I checked. Didn't like CRT monitors (ok, not much of a surprise), not happy with 4:3 aspect ratio monitors (less forgivable), only output from my sound card via optical (a pain), and claimed that numerous games were fine with an XBox controller, when they were unusable.

            It's possible Humble Bundle have done more for Linux, at least a while back.

            As I said, it's not that this is bad - it's just that it's more a treat for an avid Linux fan, than a dedicated gamer. It's a lot better than OS/2 ever managed..

      3. Chika
        Alert

        Re: well I like the spending time with family bit

        Yes, the corporate world is more conservative. For now, people are clinging to the life-raft called Windows 7. When that sinks, it's either move to Windows 10 or abandon the Microsoft ecosystem altogether. If enough do the latter, then Adobe/Autodesk's hand will be forced.

        Now I'm known by many for my opposition to portals and cloud services, but here's an interesting thought.

        Yes, Windows 7 is providing a lot of support to corporates and other users who need products from Autodesk, Adobe, Corel or whatever and it does a damn good job of it, but if these people object to Windows 10 as an upgrade path then you can see a possible dead end here.

        The fact that these and other companies are increasingly shifting off a thick client platform and into portal/cloud setups would, however, seem to indicate that they could be covering their arses. Not now, probably, but in the future we could see these products becoming less dependant on specific operating environments like Windows and more dependant on technologies that interface with their portals.

        If I was Microsoft, I'd be pretty worried about that sort of thing, especially if my actions right now started to push users away from Windows and onto rival platforms, whether it was Apple, whatever Linux distro with whichever GUI or some unseen competitor that could pop up at some point. By bullying users into using a system that they object to for whatever reason, Microsoft risks it all. Adobe, Autodesk + dog are in a better position right now and, if they play it right, could be the companies that shape the next computer generation.

        (Mind you, as part of this generation, I think they're all greedy bastards who deserve every kicking they get!)

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Pirate

      Re: well I like the spending time with family bit

      Although sailing off to sea is only real if it is a 30ft yacht not a cruise ship with 600+ people. Still the idea of not sacrificing your entire life (and kids growing up time) to the company should be applauded.

      In the article it said he was going to Southampton. I assume that's for his kids' sex education from some dockside hookers. Aaarrr, me hearties, pass the penicillin!

  12. Innocent-Bystander*

    After a Project That Size

    I'd be taking some time off too.

    1. hplasm
      Devil

      Re: After a Project That Size

      "Windows 10 out, users happy, PCs upgraded..."

      Pick any one.

  13. martinusher Silver badge

    Roll out the system and reitre before the odure hits the air moving device...

    The idea behind Windows 10 is sound but the execution is showing signs of being a bit creaky. My own experience with it has been that its lacking a few features -- it doesn't run legacy games, Bluetooth audio is missing (audio is a bit hit and miss, anyway) and its start menu system is unstable. Having little tiles on the start menu (when it works) that are pictures or the weather and the like seems to be a high price to pay for a clunky system. (The system isn't home made -- its a Lenovo ideaCentre.) I use computers for work; I wouldn't even try to use W10 for anything serious.

    So maybe it is time to take to the high seas.....

    1. King Jack

      Re: Roll out the system and reitre before the odure hits the air moving device...

      "The idea behind Windows 10 is sound". Please explain?

  14. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Going to take a year's leave of absence...

    Because he's hoping that GoNads will have become GoneNads before he returns as the conquering hero [sporting cutlass, eye patch and talking parrot endlessly squawking "Pieces of 8, Pieces of 8, Pieces of 8, Pieces of 8, Pieces of 8..."]

    1. Someone Else Silver badge
      Coat

      Re: Going to take a year's leave of absence...

      [sporting cutlass, eye patch and talking parrot endlessly squawking "Pieces of 8, Pieces of 8, Pieces of 8, Pieces of 8, Pieces of 8..."]

      But...but...but...there are very few pieces of Windows 8 in Windows 10. (You could make it better, though, if there were more pieces of 7 in it....)

  15. N2

    once Windows 10 has completely rolling out?

    dosnt make sense

    Do you mean - once Windows 10 is completely rolled out

    1. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

      Re: once Windows 10 has completely rolling out?

      And it's not completely rolled out. It's on perpetual rolling release.

  16. Howard Hanek
    Happy

    Will the Surveys Continue?

    Will he continue with the surveys asking his family monthly if they enjoyed the family experience?

  17. John Crisp

    Periscope depth Number One.

    Prepare Torpedoes....

  18. James 47

    Windows 10

    I gave it a shot, i don't like the UI and it would occasionally crash and somehow corrupt my BIOS.

    Uninstalling it and going back to 8.1 was surprisingly easy but they just rename the Windows 10 "windows" folder to something explorer won't list. And Windows Update still nags me to install it

    1. x 7

      Re: Windows 10

      " and somehow corrupt my BIOS."

      really??? In what way, and how did you fix it?

      Personally I can't see any way that can happen without bricking the machine, requiring a BIOS flash - and I'm sure you've not had to resort to that

      1. James 47

        Re: Windows 10

        I have a button on my motherboard that resets the BIOS. The machine would fail to boot, telling to insert bootable media.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Windows 10

      There's a registry hack to disable the upgrade nagging found on Windows 7 or 8.x.

      Windows 10 needs Classic Shell.

      Also, I've never believed in upgrading over an existing installation of Windows... things might get wonky. Fresh install on a wiped or new drive for me.

  19. This post has been deleted by its author

  20. earplugs

    Mission Accomplished ! (sic)

    Get back here, fucko - you ain't done yet.

  21. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Worried for the 600 Passengers...

    Not sure I'd want to be getting on a packed boat with Joe Belfiore for a World tour, it would be like an intense, hard sell timeshare holiday pitch except for Windows 10.

    That ship is surely to have a few gaping holes too, only found once its put to sea, patched over patches in the bow of the ship. Basically unfit to sail, but hey, launch it anyway.

    ...and of course, real life Pirates are far worse than the ones in Cyberspace.

    Has Joe really thought this through?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Worried for the 600 Passengers...

      I think if he tried it, he'd be tossed overboard.

      No, I think for him, this is truly a holiday, and not a work trip, so the job of selling Windows gets left on the US mainland.

  22. Anonymous Coward
    Windows

    And why not?

    He deserves it. More desktop machines are already running Windows 10 than AAPL has shipped in all time, corporates will adopt 10 like gangbusters in 2016, Linux remains a rounding error on the stats, November update ready to go, Microsoft store purchases are sky-rocketing, Windows 10 Mobile is looking good and the universal app strategy is coming good.

    1. Steve Todd
      WTF?

      Re: And why not?

      That IS sarcasm isn't it?

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: And why not?

        yes, Friday sarcasm come early :)

      2. Snapper

        Re: And why not?

        I think the icon (Windows User) and having to abuse alcohol and grow a beard because of depression is indicative of the level of sarcasm in use.

        Either that or he's a complete tool!

  23. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    @The Original Steve - "Computer Active forums down or something?"

    I used to buy the mag regularly but stopped eventually when I realised (a) that it wasn't telling me much of a technical nature that I didn't already know and (b) that the stories it addressed were a week or two old and had already been done to death on The Register (amongst others).

    How superior of me.

    I bought a copy last week, though, because I couldn't resist the large story headline in the top right corner - "WINDOWS 10 JUNK", and how to remove it. This was nicely juxtaposed with the main cover story - "The Worst MALWARE EVER". That wasn't about Windows 10, but I think it should have been.

    Anyway, I realised that what the likes of Computer Active are doing is bringing the discussions that we have at the technical level of EL Reg commentards to the masses. Therefore it suits a valuable purpose.

    It also means that the masses are a lot more aware of the issues that us 'superior people' talk about than you might think.

  24. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Belfiore has been given the Sinofsky treatment

    It's a game of thrones in the senior leadership hierarchy at Microsoft. Remember that Belfiore was a Ballmer guy. SatNad wants his own loyalists around him.

  25. TRT Silver badge

    That guy...

    looks like Keanu Reeves on drugs.

    1. Tim Brown 1

      Re: That guy...

      Yes, it's weird that a guy in charge of a supposedly cutting-edge OS still has his haircut (wig/dye) stuck in the 90s!

      1. TRT Silver badge

        Re: That guy...

        I like that he's got a crosshair on his chest, though. Very thoughtful.

  26. Planty Bronze badge

    Users less than happy.....

    Not the ones I have come across. 75% are LESS then happy. Windows 10 is a buggy mess that fixes some of the windows 8 mistakes, but is still huge downgrade from Windows 7

    I'm not complaining, I get 3 or 4 calls a day from botched free upgrades that no longer connect to the internet and need network settings and drivers fixing. I'm quids in. I guess many other windows 10 champions also have financial motives too.

    1. GW7
      Unhappy

      Re: Users less than happy.....

      "Windows 10 is a buggy mess that fixes some of the windows 8 mistakes, but is still huge downgrade from Windows 7"

      I think microsoft are busy "fixing" that by putting buggy windows 10 related updates into windows 7, such as telemetry updates, so that when it all eventually goes titsup, windows 10 won't seem so bad. Given their aim of putting windows 10 on everything, why wouldn't they crapify the previous versions via updates?

      I was stupid enough to attempt a system restore after the latest brace of "security" updates unexpectedly left my windows 7 PC behaving oddly when coming out of hibernation. System restore failed, saying no files were changed. It lied. Files were changed and the PC was left even more crippled. Lost its update history, all restore points, and windows update has its knickers in a knot maxing out the CPU, even when set to "never check for updates". chkdsk and sfc say everything's fine (more lies?). Time to wipe and reinstall. Thanks microsoft (not).

      Grrr

  27. Hellcat

    Money where your mouth is.

    Can everyone who's claiming they'll never support a Windows 10 (and I presume Server 2016) machine please record this fact somewhere legally binding. I'll be quite happy to take over your job and/or your clients.

  28. Halfmad

    Another MS story, time to read the comments from linux and Mac fanboys.

    Different day, same **** comments from people bashing MS, claiming that they don't know anyone using Windows 10, that they can't run photoshop and all their friends are moving to macs.

    Get a grip folks, Windows 10 is fine, I use it alongside Linux Mint at home. At work we've only just moved to Windows 7 but 10 won't be far off now and it's already winning a few fans there. Sadly work aren't interested in trying out Linux and my experience of running apple servers was not a happy 6 years so I'll never try that again..

  29. john devoy

    Windows10 itself is fine, the problem is MS then decided to treat its users like morons and bolted on a ton of spyware and an update system that hides what it's doing.

  30. Winkypop Silver badge
    Devil

    Windows 10

    They literally can't give it away.

  31. Stevie

    Bah!

    Can't speak for why others are saying "I've tried it. I hate it" but I suspect it has to do with two major factors: the "use search to do anything" model and those bug-ugly assymetric tiles confronting anyone trying not to use search to do something.

    As for people swotching to Macs, I don't see that in my neck of the woods. Even my mother in law knows you don't "need" a mac to do any home computer related stuff. Anything you can run on a Mac has a version on Windows or an equivalent. Would that were true of the opposite case: there have been times I've been tempted to switch. Not many, not often, but some.

    I won't be using Win 10. They finally went a needless gui change too far.

    1. chivo243 Silver badge
      Pint

      Re: Bah!

      @Stevie

      "Even my mother in law knows you don't "need" a mac"

      Yes, quite true, but when she calls every few months because the system gets so freaking slow it needs a reinstall... AV quits working properly, browser is hijacked and anti-malware refuses to launch and then ya gotta nuke from orbit.

      My hourly rate x 3 hours to fully restore a computer x the number of times I must do the next, next, install dance + the original cost of the Dell/HP/Lenovo + AV license etc quickly adds up to the price of a mac with a little left over for a couple of pints.

      1. Stevie

        Re: Bah!

        Yes, quite true, but when she calls every few months because the system gets so freaking slow it needs a reinstall

        Hasn't been true for some years now. Restore points make undoing clickbait pit traps undoable while drinking a nice cuppa. Your way indicates a rather dated knowledge of the OS in question. And if you really charge the price of a Mac to Do It The Hard Way, well, you are overpaid. Well done for being able to put that over your audience. Kudos.

        But please continue to babble your out of date FUD. It is your right to look daft if you want to.

        And of course, MS have, post Win7, made everything harder to do in the name of simplicity. They don't have an answer on how to make 8 and 10 work if the search facility is borked by evildoers, but there you go. Young people and change for it's own sake have turned a market killer into a business killer.

        Won't make for more Mac sales though. Linux will still steal the market from under Apple's increasingly off-message noses, just like Windows 95 did twenty years ago.

  32. ColonelClaw
    Joke

    Or perhaps the rumours of Flock of Seagulls reforming are indeed true?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Hey, I used to like that band!

  33. chivo243 Silver badge
    Coat

    common theme here

    I see a lot of people have tried W10 and go shrieking into the night. Jumping ship to anything but Windows. Even the other windows guy in my office won't touch 8, 8.1 or 10. I'll use W7 (when I need Windows) until Charleton Heston comes and pries it out of my cold dead hands.

    If I had to guess, there is not anyone under 40yrs old on the UI design team at M$ That is the thought that wakes me up in the middle of the night, that and I need to pee...

  34. BobRocket

    Win v Android

    Perhaps MS should create a free version of Windows that works on Android Phones/Tablets, preferably based on XP.

    Android sucks really, it is like Graphical DOS with TSRs. Each app is fullscreen, why can't they be windowed so I can see the contents of one app whilst working on a different one.

    Why can't I have a task bar and a start menu ?

    Won't someone think of the children.

  35. x 7

    rat leaving a sinking ship. Hopefully he wont sink the one he's joining.

  36. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Recently, my Win 7 install became corrupt

    Possibly due to the various windows update activity, patches and (unwanted) Win 10 downloads.

    Not being a savy windows nerd, I had two choices:

    1. Live with the blue screens

    2. Allow Win 10 to install and hope that resolved it

    I went with option 3:

    - Learn the hell how to repair my Win 7 environment.

    RESULT:

    a. I have learned new skills

    b. I have a fully working Win 7 environment

    c. I don't have Win 10

  37. Supa

    Minimum save distance.

    I guess the sea provides him with minimum safe distance away from the Skynet OS M$ pushed on the world.

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