• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Microsoft Announces Windows 10

D

Divvy

Canadians burned my passport
whatsinaname said:
lol

By4GyZdCUAAWuL3.png:large
Click to expand...

looool

This deserves its own thread it's so funny
 
D

deltatheta

Member
LyleLanley said:
Is that really how it works? They don't go by the kernel version or something?
Click to expand...

There are millions of Windows apps that people need to be able to use when they upgrade. For every app that does it the right way there's another that does it in some dumb way.

Microsoft goes to extreme lengths to maintain compatibility.

I'm a little skeptical that this was the actual reason because they could just expose a different string to applications while calling the product something else. The major version has been 6 for several releases now for this very reason.
 
Duxxy3

Duxxy3

Member
Installed on virtualbox. Works great. THIS is what windows 8 would have been if Microsoft listened to people in the windows 8 preview build. This is a true replacement for windows 7.
 
K

kabel

Member
LyleLanley said:
Is that really how it works? They don't go by the kernel version or something?
Click to expand...

More like:

Code: 
// os_ver.cpp
// compile with: /clr
using namespace System;

int main() 
{
   OperatingSystem^ osv = Environment::OSVersion;
   PlatformID id = osv->Platform;
   Console::Write("Operating system: ");

   if (id == PlatformID::Win32NT)
      Console::WriteLine("Win32NT");
   else if (id == PlatformID::Win32S)
      Console::WriteLine("Win32S");
   else if (id == PlatformID::Win32Windows)
      Console::WriteLine("Win32Windows");
   else
      Console::WriteLine("WinCE");

   Version^ version = osv->Version;
   if (version)
   {
      int build = version->Build;
      int major = version->Major;
      int minor = version->Minor;
      int revision = Environment::Version->Revision;
      Console::Write("OS Version: ");
      Console::WriteLine("{0}.{1}.{2}.{3}", 
                   build, major, minor, revision);
   }

   return 0;
}
 
D

deltatheta

Member
Actually, now that I think about it, this is C# code, and .NET was never on Windows 95.

Microsoft has had this actual problem in the past, though.

oldnewthing said:
Version numbers. Very important. And so many people check them wrong.
This is why Windows 95's GetVersion function returned 3.95 instead of 4.0. A lot of code checked the version number like this:

Code: 
  UINT Ver = GetVersion();
  UINT MajorVersion = LOBYTE(uVer);
  UINT MinorVersion = HIBYTE(uVer);
  if (MajorVersion < 3 || MinorVersion < 10) {
   Error("This program requires Windows 3.1");
  }
Now consider what happens when the version number is reported as 4.0. The major version check passes, but the minor version check fails since 0 is less than 10.
Click to expand...
 
J

jstripes

Banned
Zombie James said:
Leave it to third-party developers to fuck things up. This is a really horrible of checking which version of Windows you're running on.
Click to expand...

I generally have this deep hatred of third party Windows devs.

So many of them have this stubborn attitude of "That's how I did things in 1999, and that's how I'm going to keep doing it."


A few years ago I had to overhaul a network at a small company. They used multi-thousand dollar subscription software for their booking. This software was dominant in the industry.

Had had to give interns local admin rights (scary stuff right there) because this software, apparently still in "active development", stored some of its stuff in Program Files.

Holy fucking shit.

That's Windows 98 era fuckery right there. In the 2010s. I talked to support on the phone, and they said they had no intention of changing it and just to deal with it.


And Microsoft panders to these idiots, giving them no incentive to ever change.
 
I

Iced_Eagle

Member
whatsinaname said:
lol

By4GyZdCUAAWuL3.png:large
Click to expand...

Beware of anonymous bullshit on the internet.

For starters, humoring the fact that they even are an MS employee, they even say that is a rumor. They clearly aren't someone in the know so don't treat this like it's true (aka, they don't work on Windows).

Second, that's not even how you check for the version on Windows. When you ask for the version number, you will get the kernel number you are on, for example Windows 10 will return "6.4". Early on in the process, the engineers don't know what the product will be called, which is why you don't bother working with the product name at all. That's why everyone uses the kernel version number, because that won't change even if the product name does.

The only way you can even get the friendly product name as far as I know is to use WMI, which didn't even come installed on Windows machines until Windows 2000. MS did offer WMI for Win95 and Win98, but it was an optional download the user had to install for it to work.

You could obviously work around the problem without WMI by implementing your own logic for "if they are on this major version, and this minor version then I'll assume it's Windows 95", but obviously you can see that uses the version number anyway, and thus isn't an issue.

Finally, even if this were true, and a developer went completely against all of the guidance MS has ever released and supported for how to check the version number, that's why MS has compatibility shims. Considering that to do this sort of check requires an optional download, the amount of software that would even theoretically do this would be tiny, and thus they could add it to a compatibility list and it would be fine. It's silly to think that it's a technical reason they couldn't name it Windows 9. It was clearly a marketing decision.

I call complete bullshit on that rumor.
 
D

dLMN8R

Member
Again, it's not a rumor, it's a joke.

Us engineers who have been working on this product for the last many months didn't find out about the name Windows 10 until yesterday!

Even the highest-profile people explicitly focusing on compatibility issues didn't find out till yesterday.
 
Z

Zombie James

Banned
Initial impressions:

- Setup was damn fast on my VM.
- Stable so far, no crashes.
- Windows' font rendering is still shit but thankfully MacType still works.
- The feedback app is simple to use and there are a lot of great suggestions already.
- The customization options need serious works. I can't change any of the UI fonts? Really?

Going to give it a whirl on my laptop later tonight.
 
S

SegaShack

Member
When the computer first restarted it wouldn't boot my hard drive. Was freaking out but luckily when I powered it on and off it worked fine.
 
Jzero

Jzero

Member
Screw it. I just replaced Windows 8.1 since dual booting with GPT partitions takes longer than I want.
 
L

lastflowers

Banned
Iced_Eagle said:
Beware of anonymous bullshit on the internet.

For starters, humoring the fact that they even are an MS employee, they even say that is a rumor. They clearly aren't someone in the know so don't treat this like it's true (aka, they don't work on Windows).

Second, that's not even how you check for the version on Windows. When you ask for the version number, you will get the kernel number you are on, for example Windows 10 will return "6.4". Early on in the process, the engineers don't know what the product will be called, which is why you don't bother working with the product name at all. That's why everyone uses the kernel version number, because that won't change even if the product name does.

The only way you can even get the friendly product name as far as I know is to use WMI, which didn't even come installed on Windows machines until Windows 2000. MS did offer WMI for Win95 and Win98, but it was an optional download the user had to install for it to work.

You could obviously work around the problem without WMI by implementing your own logic for "if they are on this major version, and this minor version then I'll assume it's Windows 95", but obviously you can see that uses the version number anyway, and thus isn't an issue.

Finally, even if this were true, and a developer went completely against all of the guidance MS has ever released and supported for how to check the version number, that's why MS has compatibility shims. Considering that to do this sort of check requires an optional download, the amount of software that would even theoretically do this would be tiny, and thus they could add it to a compatibility list and it would be fine. It's silly to think that it's a technical reason they couldn't name it Windows 9. It was clearly a marketing decision.

I call complete bullshit on that rumor.
Click to expand...

^agreed.

Regardless, it's hilarious.
 
Z

Zeknurn

Member
Iced_Eagle said:
Beware of anonymous bullshit on the internet.

For starters, humoring the fact that they even are an MS employee, they even say that is a rumor. They clearly aren't someone in the know so don't treat this like it's true (aka, they don't work on Windows).

Second, that's not even how you check for the version on Windows. When you ask for the version number, you will get the kernel number you are on, for example Windows 10 will return "6.4". Early on in the process, the engineers don't know what the product will be called, which is why you don't bother working with the product name at all. That's why everyone uses the kernel version number, because that won't change even if the product name does.

The only way you can even get the friendly product name as far as I know is to use WMI, which didn't even come installed on Windows machines until Windows 2000. MS did offer WMI for Win95 and Win98, but it was an optional download the user had to install for it to work.

You could obviously work around the problem without WMI by implementing your own logic for "if they are on this major version, and this minor version then I'll assume it's Windows 95", but obviously you can see that uses the version number anyway, and thus isn't an issue.

Finally, even if this were true, and a developer went completely against all of the guidance MS has ever released and supported for how to check the version number, that's why MS has compatibility shims. Considering that to do this sort of check requires an optional download, the amount of software that would even theoretically do this would be tiny, and thus they could add it to a compatibility list and it would be fine. It's silly to think that it's a technical reason they couldn't name it Windows 9. It was clearly a marketing decision.

I call complete bullshit on that rumor.
Click to expand...

nofunallowed.jpeg

I'll still continue to think of it as the explanation to the name until someone at Microsoft leaks the real reason.


Btw, has anyone had a chance to see if the Oculus Rift DK2 works on the TP?
 
S

Sir Abacus

Member
dLMN8R said:
Again, it's not a rumor, it's a joke.

Us engineers who have been working on this product for the last many months didn't find out about the name Windows 10 until yesterday!

Even the highest-profile people explicitly focusing on compatibility issues didn't find out till yesterday.
Click to expand...

You guys have done an outstanding job. I've already started setting up a test of our corporate SOE on 10 and there was a pretty minimal amount of hassle.
 
X

xenist

Member
Merely an hour in and 10 is much more desktop friendly than 8. The upgrade from 7 SP1 to the technical preview took about 45 minutes and zero user interaction and I only had to manually install the NVidia drivers. MS seems to have done a good job. Hope the next couple of days go equally as well and I won't have to ditch 10 and never look back like I did with 8. I'm even giving IE11 a try.

This post is dedicated to the Win 8 defense force that called everyone an MS hater who's afraid of change at every possible chance.
 
D

Deleted member 1235

Unconfirmed Member
dLMN8R said:
Again, it's not a rumor, it's a joke.

Us engineers who have been working on this product for the last many months didn't find out about the name Windows 10 until yesterday!

Even the highest-profile people explicitly focusing on compatibility issues didn't find out till yesterday.
Click to expand...
Looking forward to trying it! Enterprise link appears borked at the moment though. I can only download the personal link. What version of powershell is included?
 
Jzero

Jzero

Member
Awesome, Windows 10 didn't delete my programs like the previous developers preview did.

i4KhlTiqOtiUa.png


I like that the borders are smaller. The shadows also seem to be stronger.

The only thing i don't like is the file explorer icon.
 
I

InaudibleWhispa

Member
lemonlyman said:
Really? I read that it erases all applications. That's awesome! I may give it a shot now.
Click to expand...

Kept everything for me too. When it first boots you wouldn't even know anything changed until you press start (or look at the watermark). The only thing I had to reinstall was my graphic drivers.
 
L

Legato.Reborn-

Member
dLMN8R said:
Again, it's not a rumor, it's a joke.

Us engineers who have been working on this product for the last many months didn't find out about the name Windows 10 until yesterday!

Even the highest-profile people explicitly focusing on compatibility issues didn't find out till yesterday.
Click to expand...

It's too late mang, the quote wall has already happened. It is now internet fact.
 
Woffls

Woffls

Member
How do I get my full-screen start menu back? :(

start_zps8f89b8d3.png


Presumably the new start menu will just expand to fill almost the whole screen if you have enough tiles there? I'm going to download a bunch of free apps and see what happens. All that's important is that they stay in the same place and I know where to click without having to look if I want to load Excel or whatever.

Ape said:
Fuck... seriously considering maining Windows 10. Talk me out of it.
Click to expand...
I'm running it on my laptop for a few days to see what happens. If it goes well, I'll main it on my PC as well. I did this with Win 7 and 8 on the earliest versions I could, and everything was fine.

Did that help? :p
 
M

Mohasus

Member
So uh... if I mount the iso, can I install it in a new partition? It seems to upgrade my installation without giving any options other than what to keep.

Or how should I copy it to a flash drive? Rufus? W7 USB tool?
 
T

TharpDaddy

Member
Woffls said:
How do I get my full-screen start menu back? :(

start_zps8f89b8d3.png


Presumably the new start menu will just expand to fill almost the whole screen if you have enough tiles there? I'm going to download a bunch of free apps and see what happens. All that's important is that they stay in the same place and I know where to click without having to look if I want to load Excel or whatever.
Click to expand...

Pretty sure I read there's a way to enable the old Metro screen. I can't recall how exactly, though. Maybe someone else in this thread has a better answer.
 
Z

Zombie James

Banned
Woffls said:
How do I get my full-screen start menu back? :(

start_zps8f89b8d3.png


Presumably the new start menu will just expand to fill almost the whole screen if you have enough tiles there? I'm going to download a bunch of free apps and see what happens. All that's important is that they stay in the same place and I know where to click without having to look if I want to load Excel or whatever.
Click to expand...

IIRC, Continuum isn't in the preview yet.
 
I

Iced_Eagle

Member
Woffls said:
How do I get my full-screen start menu back? :(

start_zps8f89b8d3.png


Presumably the new start menu will just expand to fill almost the whole screen if you have enough tiles there? I'm going to download a bunch of free apps and see what happens. All that's important is that they stay in the same place and I know where to click without having to look if I want to load Excel or whatever.


I'm running it on my laptop for a few days to see what happens. If it goes well, I'll main it on my PC as well. I did this with Win 7 and 8 on the earliest versions I could, and everything was fine.

Did that help? :p
Click to expand...

In the taskbar properties you can re-enable the start screen. Obviously once continuum is in the builds, that wont be an issue.

Ape said:
Will the preview version upgrade to the full version or do I need to downgrade to W8.1?
Click to expand...

Should take you all the way to the full release.
 
T

TharpDaddy

Member
Woffls said:
How do I get my full-screen start menu back? :(

start_zps8f89b8d3.png


Presumably the new start menu will just expand to fill almost the whole screen if you have enough tiles there? I'm going to download a bunch of free apps and see what happens. All that's important is that they stay in the same place and I know where to click without having to look if I want to load Excel or whatever.


I'm running it on my laptop for a few days to see what happens. If it goes well, I'll main it on my PC as well. I did this with Win 7 and 8 on the earliest versions I could, and everything was fine.

Did that help? :p
Click to expand...

Figured out how to change it back! Bring up the start menu, right click in any empty space on it, click "Properties", then "Start Menu" and then uncheck "Use the Start Menu instead of the Start Screen."
 
D

dLMN8R

Member
In the tech preview, you can re-enable the full-screen start by right-clicking the taskbar, Properties, Start Menu, disable "Use the Start menu instead of the Start screen"
 
T

TharpDaddy

Member
Reversed said:
Has anyone tested its compatibility with other software? Any issues?
Click to expand...

So far I only had 1 issue and that was with my Xonar DG audio card drivers. I had to use an open source alternative. I had this same issue with Windows 8 for a long time, though. Asus is really bad with their audio drivers. Everything beyond that has worked perfectly.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

  • Poll
Former employee says Microsoft doesn't really care if you pirate Windows
Business 2
56
2K
Trilobit replied
Microsoft is updating PRISM emulator which will bring more x86 games to ARM systems
19
2K
twilo99 replied
[Verge] Windows 11 is now the most popular OS for PC gaming
2
94
4K
simpatico replied
  • Poll
Microsoft declares 2025 'the year of the Windows 11 PC refresh'
Platform 2 3
111
5K
Miles708 replied
Microsoft says it’s starting to test ads inside the Start menu on Windows 11
2
65
5K
Badlucktroll replied
Top Bottom