windows 10 Goodbye Windows 8.1. Hello, Windows 10.

[Ice_Blue]

I have been using the Windows Technical Preview for six days now.

I installed it on a secondary SSD, and select this in the UEFI boot menu when restarting my PC.

 

My main drive still has my 8.1 Pro installation, but I haven't seen the need (so far) to use it.

 

In daily use, so far, the T.P. has been rock solid. I have encountered a few minor bugs, but nothing that is near a show stopper.

 

I used a license from my Office 365 subscription, and in fairly heavy daily use, Office has had nary a problem.

 

It (T.P.) seems lighter and quicker than Windows 8.1, although that may be partly placebo.

It uses the same amount of RAM as 8.1, and to me, responds slightly faster.

 

What I like most:

- Universal mouse scrolling. For years, I used Always Mouse Wheel to scroll the window that is under the cursor without having to click inside the window first. This is built in now, so it's one less entry in my startup programs.

 

- (Almost) border-less windows. I always hated the thick windows borders from Vista onwards.

 

- Shadows around windows that add depth to the desktop environment. I rather liked the shadows in Vista and Windows 7, and was sorely disappointed to see them removed in Windows 8.

 

- The fact that I can run Store apps in a window on the desktop.

 

- I can now pin the live tiles of these apps to the start menu, and check them by simply pressing the WIN key.

 

- All of my custom legacy apps, some from almost 12 years ago, run flawlessly, without having to use the compatibility shim.

 

- I can still boot into the start screen, which had started growing on me. It's so nice to have the best of both worlds.

 

- It still has everything that Windows 8.1 has.

 

Whatever negatives I find (not much so far, and only minor stuff), can also apply to 8.1 as well, so I cannot hold them against the T.P.

 

I think Microsoft is going to have a killer OS on their hands in the near future, especially with the coming enhancements to the touch side of the OS, Cortana on both desktop and mobile, and cross-device integration of some areas of the OS.

 

After the last few days, I am fairly certain that I will not be using Windows 8 on my system any more.

 

If the current development trend continues, I see a bright future for Windows.

 

 

 

 

[Shiranui]

In other words: it is what Windows 8 should have been.

Is this going to be a free upgrade from 8?

[Ice_Blue]

  On 08/10/2014 at 01:43, Shiranui said:

In other words: it is what Windows 8 should have been.

Is this going to be a free upgrade from 8?

 

According to various sites, it may be. But it's just conjecture at the moment.

[link6155]

Snapping is still a bit unintuitive right now on the technical preview. Windows do not unsnap once you drag them off the edges of the screen like in previous version of windows. However, I do find the ability to snap 4 windows to be a great addition. I'm expecting all of this to be ironed out in the release preview and then polished up in the RTM build.

[soulburner]

I agree, using Windows 8.1 after testing the Technical Preview just doesn't feel right. 

 

  On 08/10/2014 at 01:39, Ice_Blue said:

- Universal mouse scrolling. For years, I used Always Mouse Wheel to scroll the window that is under the cursor without having to click inside the window first. This is built in now, so it's one less entry in my startup programs.

 

I never realized how much I needed this until I found it in Win10. Must install Always Mouse Wheel now on all pre-10 versions ;)

[yepp]

  On 08/10/2014 at 01:39, Ice_Blue said:

What I like most:

 

1) (Almost) border-less windows. I always hated the thick windows borders from Vista onwards.

 

2) I can now pin the live tiles of these apps to the start menu, and check them by simply pressing the WIN key.

 

 

1) Registry Tweak to Decrease Window Border Size and Padding in Windows 8.1 :rolleyes: : http://www.askvg.com/registry-tweak-to-decrease-window-border-size-and-padding-in-windows-8/

 

2) In Windows 8.1 you can add live Tiles to the Start Screen and check them by simply pressing the WIN key :D

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

  On 08/10/2014 at 01:43, Shiranui said:

In other words: it is what Windows 8 should have been.

Is this going to be a free upgrade from 8?

Pretty much. Had they released Windows 8 with the Windows 10 user experience, adapting to the device type it's running on, there wouldn't have been any of the major complaints.

[Mugwump00]

  On 08/10/2014 at 01:39, Ice_Blue said:

 

 

What I like most:

- Universal mouse scrolling. For years, I used Always Mouse Wheel to scroll the window that is under the cursor without having to click inside the window first. This is built in now, so it's one less entry in my startup programs.

 

 

 

 

Never noticed that!  Nice spot, I don't recall it being mentioned anywhere?

[CyclingGuyNOLA]

I've also been using W10 all week without booting into W8 and so far I haven't had a reason to not use W10 exclusively.

 

So far the only thing I have found that I don't really care to much about is the dropdown menu. I tend to use one hand most of the time sitting sideways at my desk to keep my legs stretched out (old blood clot in leg from driving a truck keeps leg uncomfortable) and have actually grown accustomed to moving cursor over to Charms Bar. Now it's click the dropdown then move back over to Charms Bar.

  On 08/10/2014 at 09:04, Mugwump00 said:

Never noticed that!  Nice spot, I don't recall it being mentioned anywhere?

 

Love having this. Since trying the Preview I jumped to a Comfort Mouse and now can't live without the Wheel.

[dead.cell]

  On 08/10/2014 at 01:39, Ice_Blue said:

What I like most:

- Universal mouse scrolling. For years, I used Always Mouse Wheel to scroll the window that is under the cursor without having to click inside the window first. This is built in now, so it's one less entry in my startup programs.

 

- (Almost) border-less windows. I always hated the thick windows borders from Vista onwards.

 

- Shadows around windows that add depth to the desktop environment. I rather liked the shadows in Vista and Windows 7, and was sorely disappointed to see them removed in Windows 8.

These are pretty cool. I've used Display Fusion for the universal mouse scrolling. It was something that I really liked about OS X in my brief usage with it, that I decided I must have this.

 

The shadows coming back is also pretty awesome.

 

I think the thing I'll look forward to most is how well the UI will end off, and how much less work modders will have to do in order to make it absolutely perfect.

 

Kind of like how Zain perfected an almost perfect Windows 7's interface. (used it for years, best visual style ever for being close to the original, not over the top, and very elegant)