Posted: 2014-11-29 08:37
Microsoft has released a new build of the Windows 10 Technical Preview: Build 9879. There was a build before this that I didn't write about, but there wasn't much to speak of as is the case with this build. The online media outlets would like to believe otherwise, but they're getting paid to write articles and will make news out of absolutely nothing. There could be the slightest tweak to the GUI, and all the tech news sites would be all over it like flies on horse shit. As technology has slowed down in terms of memory size and CPU speed increases, the media outlets are grasping at straws in the sense of reporting on things that are totally inconsequential and banal.
The new build failed to install the first time around, and I've had this problem before with previous builds. A couple builds ago I had to do research online for this same problem, as the preview build I was attempting to install kept failing. With build 9879 the install failed once, but had success the second time around. Microsoft needs to fix whatever is causing the build installs to fail, as many other people online have written about the same problem. When I finally got the new build successfully installed, one of the first things I noticed was that SpyDrive was configured to automatically start upon boot. I can't remember if it was booting with Windows on previous builds, but looking back I think it was. You can't really blame me for not noticing, as I am only using Windows 10 PRISM Edition sparingly. OneDrive can be uninstalled in the Programs and Features dialogue in Control Panel, although I decided to remove the registry key instead. The location of the key is found at: ComputerHKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionRun
The second thing I noticed after installing the new build, is that all the crappy/useless Windows store apps that were installed by default and that I had uninstalled came right back. The area where you uninstall a Windows store app is in an obscure location which makes absolutely no sense. It's found in PC settings under something called "app sizes". Microsoft needs to have one control panel where everything is unified. The PC settings interface is absolutely horrible and geared more towards a tablet, although it would in my opinion be a negative experience on a small device with a touch screen as well.
The Windows Mobility Center is looking dated, and on my laptop it has two missing tiles that are filled up with a solid green color. Microsoft needs to improve the look of the GUI when tiles are missing; just filling it up with green space makes it look ridiculous. This is not Windows 3.1, or at least I thought it wasn't.
The PC settings GUI provides for a very distasteful experience, and looks like it was designed for a third grader. The problem with it is that every screen is in a linear format, so you have multiple levels of screens incestuously nested inside of each other like a clusterfuck, which requires clicking the back or forward buttons a bunch of times to achieve anything. Some people may forget which level they are in and get completely confused, as it doesn't show the user how many rat nests in they are. In any commonplace desktop environment of today, including WIndows, the more folders somebody opens which all share the same window, the user sees the full file path in the address bar so they know exactly how many paths in they are. Microsoft has tried to make something simple for users, but instead it just makes the experience of tweaking settings and options a complete disaster. I started getting frustrated when trying to configure the wireless network settings, as it was a bunch of clicks forward and backwards to get anything done. I believe you can still configure your wireless adapter and network settings in the age-old control panel, but I'm writing this from the standpoint of an ordinary user who will click the signal strength indicator in the tray. Windows 7's wireless network tray interface is the definite winner here, as there's no comparison.
Tabs and icons are designed for making it easy for users to configure options, and date back to the days of the Xerox Alto. Here's a picture of an options dialog box running on the Xerox Star which was introduced in 1981, and as you can see, we have lots of options all one screen.
Here's another screenshot of the PC settings screen. Many of the options Microsoft chose to allow users to configure are stupid choices, and they're stupidly using precious space for things that could be more intelligently organized together. The whole thing looks really bizarre and ugly.
In this build there's something new called "Home", which displays user-defined links to folders. I don't understand why they added this because it's completely redundant. Links to folders can already be added using "Favorites" found in "This PC", formerly known as "My Computer" or just "Computer". In the picture below, I haven't changed anything from the default settings so it's an out-of-the-box experience. Notice how the downloads folder is listed three times, and four if you count the large icon in the main window? All but one link are already listed by default under "This PC", so there's no need for the redundancy. Some of the items under Home had a pin next to it and others didn't, so just out of curiosity I pinned something to Home that was already listed there and didn't have a pin next to it. Then I unpinned it and it disappeared completely. How does that make any sense? If it were there by default and had no pin next to it, then it should have gone back to that state. Obviously there is some bug here. It's also nonsensical that you can pin something to Start that's already pinned to Home, so here we have yet another redundancy.
I also don't like the new option when right-clicking on an icon on the desktop: "Pin to Start", especially when I have the Start menu configured not to show any tiles. Microsoft is attempting to make it seem like the "Pin to Start" functionality is there for the user's advantage, when it all ties in with their ploy to control you with their store. Don't fall for it, and don't take the bait.
The store is still looking infantilizing and completely idiotic:
By default, Xbox Music (rather than Windows Media Player) is the application which opens up media files. It looks so hideous and stupid that obviously any reasonable person who's halfway intelligent will set the default back to WMP or some other media player like foobar2000.
Windows 10 PRISM Edition provides a real shitty experience for the user, and offers absolutely zero advantages for anyone already using Windows 7. Even though it boots faster than Windows 7, that's not enough of a reason to give Windows 10 much praise. My advice is to stay as far away from it as possible, and if Microsoft ever changes things for the better, I'm sure you'll be hearing about it right here on this very forum. Last but not least, don't buy into all the hype emanating from the sellout online tech news sites that vehemently defend Windows 10 and its keylogging/spying functionality and beautiful ingenious interface. You never know which site is or isn't being paid by Microsoft to run a PR article making Windows 10 look like something wonderful.
The new build failed to install the first time around, and I've had this problem before with previous builds. A couple builds ago I had to do research online for this same problem, as the preview build I was attempting to install kept failing. With build 9879 the install failed once, but had success the second time around. Microsoft needs to fix whatever is causing the build installs to fail, as many other people online have written about the same problem. When I finally got the new build successfully installed, one of the first things I noticed was that SpyDrive was configured to automatically start upon boot. I can't remember if it was booting with Windows on previous builds, but looking back I think it was. You can't really blame me for not noticing, as I am only using Windows 10 PRISM Edition sparingly. OneDrive can be uninstalled in the Programs and Features dialogue in Control Panel, although I decided to remove the registry key instead. The location of the key is found at: ComputerHKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionRun
The second thing I noticed after installing the new build, is that all the crappy/useless Windows store apps that were installed by default and that I had uninstalled came right back. The area where you uninstall a Windows store app is in an obscure location which makes absolutely no sense. It's found in PC settings under something called "app sizes". Microsoft needs to have one control panel where everything is unified. The PC settings interface is absolutely horrible and geared more towards a tablet, although it would in my opinion be a negative experience on a small device with a touch screen as well.
The Windows Mobility Center is looking dated, and on my laptop it has two missing tiles that are filled up with a solid green color. Microsoft needs to improve the look of the GUI when tiles are missing; just filling it up with green space makes it look ridiculous. This is not Windows 3.1, or at least I thought it wasn't.
The PC settings GUI provides for a very distasteful experience, and looks like it was designed for a third grader. The problem with it is that every screen is in a linear format, so you have multiple levels of screens incestuously nested inside of each other like a clusterfuck, which requires clicking the back or forward buttons a bunch of times to achieve anything. Some people may forget which level they are in and get completely confused, as it doesn't show the user how many rat nests in they are. In any commonplace desktop environment of today, including WIndows, the more folders somebody opens which all share the same window, the user sees the full file path in the address bar so they know exactly how many paths in they are. Microsoft has tried to make something simple for users, but instead it just makes the experience of tweaking settings and options a complete disaster. I started getting frustrated when trying to configure the wireless network settings, as it was a bunch of clicks forward and backwards to get anything done. I believe you can still configure your wireless adapter and network settings in the age-old control panel, but I'm writing this from the standpoint of an ordinary user who will click the signal strength indicator in the tray. Windows 7's wireless network tray interface is the definite winner here, as there's no comparison.
Tabs and icons are designed for making it easy for users to configure options, and date back to the days of the Xerox Alto. Here's a picture of an options dialog box running on the Xerox Star which was introduced in 1981, and as you can see, we have lots of options all one screen.
Here's another screenshot of the PC settings screen. Many of the options Microsoft chose to allow users to configure are stupid choices, and they're stupidly using precious space for things that could be more intelligently organized together. The whole thing looks really bizarre and ugly.
In this build there's something new called "Home", which displays user-defined links to folders. I don't understand why they added this because it's completely redundant. Links to folders can already be added using "Favorites" found in "This PC", formerly known as "My Computer" or just "Computer". In the picture below, I haven't changed anything from the default settings so it's an out-of-the-box experience. Notice how the downloads folder is listed three times, and four if you count the large icon in the main window? All but one link are already listed by default under "This PC", so there's no need for the redundancy. Some of the items under Home had a pin next to it and others didn't, so just out of curiosity I pinned something to Home that was already listed there and didn't have a pin next to it. Then I unpinned it and it disappeared completely. How does that make any sense? If it were there by default and had no pin next to it, then it should have gone back to that state. Obviously there is some bug here. It's also nonsensical that you can pin something to Start that's already pinned to Home, so here we have yet another redundancy.
I also don't like the new option when right-clicking on an icon on the desktop: "Pin to Start", especially when I have the Start menu configured not to show any tiles. Microsoft is attempting to make it seem like the "Pin to Start" functionality is there for the user's advantage, when it all ties in with their ploy to control you with their store. Don't fall for it, and don't take the bait.
The store is still looking infantilizing and completely idiotic:
By default, Xbox Music (rather than Windows Media Player) is the application which opens up media files. It looks so hideous and stupid that obviously any reasonable person who's halfway intelligent will set the default back to WMP or some other media player like foobar2000.
Windows 10 PRISM Edition provides a real shitty experience for the user, and offers absolutely zero advantages for anyone already using Windows 7. Even though it boots faster than Windows 7, that's not enough of a reason to give Windows 10 much praise. My advice is to stay as far away from it as possible, and if Microsoft ever changes things for the better, I'm sure you'll be hearing about it right here on this very forum. Last but not least, don't buy into all the hype emanating from the sellout online tech news sites that vehemently defend Windows 10 and its keylogging/spying functionality and beautiful ingenious interface. You never know which site is or isn't being paid by Microsoft to run a PR article making Windows 10 look like something wonderful.