8 ms·

I have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, Windows badly needs a better update mechanism. This has been a huge pain point for consumers for a long time,

I have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, Windows badly needs a better update mechanism. This has been a huge pain point for consumers for a long time, which often results in buying new hardware instead of updating the browser, etc. On the other hand I think this will drive people away from Windows and towards OS X and Ubuntu. Oh right, there is no downside to this!

deadcast 11y ago
Haha yeah! I really can't wait until I can do ALL of my day-to-day dev work on a Linux OS. Soon though... very soon...
- mikegioia 11y ago
  Just out of curiosity, what dev work can't you do on Linux? I usually only hear that case for games or graphic/video editing.
  - deadcast 11y ago
    Haha actually that is the case! I need to use Unity and the latest Linux build[1] doesn't yet have all of the features like in the latest version 5.3.3 for Windows/OSX. It's still experimental but now that I think of it... I might not need all of the features in the latest release, hmmm. Also I need Remote Desktop Connection to do some contract work. I know other non-Windows remote desktop applications exist but I'm currently stuck with what their IT department will give me. :) EDIT: Thinking more about the remote desktop connection. I could just use a Windows VM on Linux. Dang, that never crossed my mind before. [1] http://blogs.unity3d.com/2015/08/26/unity-comes-to-linux-experimental-build-now-available/ http://blogs.unity3d.com/2015/08/26/unity-comes-to-linux-exp...
    - mikegioia 11y ago
      Haha, sorry about that. I forgot about game dev :O
      - deadcast 11y ago
        No worries! ^_^
    - passcod 11y ago
      The rdesktop (and GUI frontends) Remote Desktop client on Linux is perfect for this. Supports the Windows RDP protocol. All you need is to find the raw connection data (if they don't give it to you, e.g. if they use "remote desktop connection files"). We have various Windows servers at work yet no developer uses Windows (it's all OS X and Linux).
      - deadcast 11y ago
        Whoa very cool! Never heard of rdesktop before but I'll definitely check it out. Thanks!
ross-life 11y ago
> On the other hand I think this will drive people away from Windows and towards OS X and Ubuntu. They already pushed too far. Was a life long Windows user, used at home for gamedev and Steam, chosen at work (mainly QA) because it's what I knew extensively, VS is great and it's what users used. Was literally the only Windows user in a sea of OS X machines at some companies. Now? All my personal and work devices run Ubuntu or Arch. My partners devices now all run Ubuntu or Arch. Projects I'm planning that were going to be "Windows first" will now be "Linux first". Sounds silly, but I was enjoying the progress Windows was making security-wise. From Vista to 7 and 7 to 8 (and even to 10) the "under-the-hood" part of Windows seemed to be making great strides in protecting the user, even if they were screwing up the UI. But everything they've pulled with 10 have completely pushed me away from the platform. Adverts in my OS? The nagging? The "updates can be installed even if you really don't want them"? Phone-homeing I can't turn off at all with a consumer edition? I understand wanting to make it hard to turn it off so they can collect reliable stats or protect the consumer from themselves but as a technical user I want my OS to do exactly what I want it to do. MS completely killed that.
- Terr_ 11y ago
  IMO Microsoft has completely pissed-away huge amount of accumulated techie-goodwill in an astonishingly short period of time. I think it's due to how much of it really does look like malice (or at least disrespect for computer-owners) rather than mere incompetence.
brownbat 11y ago
On the one hand, a bunch of old insecure machines will get fixed. On the other hand, a bunch of other old insecure machines will get bricked. In other words, win/win for security teams fighting botnets.
- gherkin0 11y ago
  > On the one hand, a bunch of old insecure machines will get fixed. That makes little sense. If a machine is automatically installing Windows 10, it was already automatically installing security updates. Windows 10 won't make it and less "insecure" than it was with Windows 7.
  - tim333 11y ago
    I believe 10 has some security improvements over 7. At least I hope so. I was thinking of upgrading my mum's pc basically for that reason.
    - gherkin0 11y ago
      If it has, they're not to the point of making Windows 7 "old and insecure" in comparison to it. But if it has, I'd like to know what they are. About all I've heard about Windows 10 are its privacy invasions and its attempts to take control away from its users.
      - brownbat 11y ago
        My original comment was tongue in cheek, trying to mirror the OPs "everything's an upside!" post. That said, MS does tend to roll out major security architecture improvements between versions. Incremental updates are helpful, but new architectural defenses against malware happen with major revisions. As a consequence, "old versions of windows" (though admittedly mostly XP) are one of the worst things about the internet right now. As someone who works in security, MS moving to the forced upgrade model that Chrome pioneered will solve one of my biggest headaches in the long run. I know that's selfish, and the tradeoffs for users may not be worth it, but man, old versions of Windows are the bane of my existence. Anyway, as to specifics, the DEP and ASLR in Windows 7 were the big enhancements, but Windows 8.1 had better sandboxing features that are carried forward, and Windows 10 has improved encryption and authentication. Forcing people away from IE to Edge is huge. I probably can't do this topic justice in a comment, but if you're really interested in more info, lots of info can be found spread across several articles by just googling Windows+10+security.

deadcast 11y ago

Haha yeah! I really can't wait until I can do ALL of my day-to-day dev work on a Linux OS. Soon though... very soon...

mikegioia 11y ago
Just out of curiosity, what dev work can't you do on Linux? I usually only hear that case for games or graphic/video editing.
- deadcast 11y ago
  Haha actually that is the case! I need to use Unity and the latest Linux build[1] doesn't yet have all of the features like in the latest version 5.3.3 for Windows/OSX. It's still experimental but now that I think of it... I might not need all of the features in the latest release, hmmm. Also I need Remote Desktop Connection to do some contract work. I know other non-Windows remote desktop applications exist but I'm currently stuck with what their IT department will give me. :) EDIT: Thinking more about the remote desktop connection. I could just use a Windows VM on Linux. Dang, that never crossed my mind before. [1] http://blogs.unity3d.com/2015/08/26/unity-comes-to-linux-experimental-build-now-available/ http://blogs.unity3d.com/2015/08/26/unity-comes-to-linux-exp...
  - mikegioia 11y ago
    Haha, sorry about that. I forgot about game dev :O
    - deadcast 11y ago
      No worries! ^_^
  - passcod 11y ago
    The rdesktop (and GUI frontends) Remote Desktop client on Linux is perfect for this. Supports the Windows RDP protocol. All you need is to find the raw connection data (if they don't give it to you, e.g. if they use "remote desktop connection files"). We have various Windows servers at work yet no developer uses Windows (it's all OS X and Linux).
    - deadcast 11y ago
      Whoa very cool! Never heard of rdesktop before but I'll definitely check it out. Thanks!

ross-life 11y ago

> On the other hand I think this will drive people away from Windows and towards OS X and Ubuntu. They already pushed too far. Was a life long Windows user, used at home for gamedev and Steam, chosen at work (mainly QA) because it's what I knew extensively, VS is great and it's what users used. Was literally the only Windows user in a sea of OS X machines at some companies. Now? All my personal and work devices run Ubuntu or Arch. My partners devices now all run Ubuntu or Arch. Projects I'm planning that were going to be "Windows first" will now be "Linux first". Sounds silly, but I was enjoying the progress Windows was making security-wise. From Vista to 7 and 7 to 8 (and even to 10) the "under-the-hood" part of Windows seemed to be making great strides in protecting the user, even if they were screwing up the UI. But everything they've pulled with 10 have completely pushed me away from the platform. Adverts in my OS? The nagging? The "updates can be installed even if you really don't want them"? Phone-homeing I can't turn off at all with a consumer edition? I understand wanting to make it hard to turn it off so they can collect reliable stats or protect the consumer from themselves but as a technical user I want my OS to do exactly what I want it to do. MS completely killed that.

Terr_ 11y ago
IMO Microsoft has completely pissed-away huge amount of accumulated techie-goodwill in an astonishingly short period of time. I think it's due to how much of it really does look like malice (or at least disrespect for computer-owners) rather than mere incompetence.

brownbat 11y ago

On the one hand, a bunch of old insecure machines will get fixed. On the other hand, a bunch of other old insecure machines will get bricked. In other words, win/win for security teams fighting botnets.

gherkin0 11y ago
> On the one hand, a bunch of old insecure machines will get fixed. That makes little sense. If a machine is automatically installing Windows 10, it was already automatically installing security updates. Windows 10 won't make it and less "insecure" than it was with Windows 7.
- tim333 11y ago
  I believe 10 has some security improvements over 7. At least I hope so. I was thinking of upgrading my mum's pc basically for that reason.
  - gherkin0 11y ago
    If it has, they're not to the point of making Windows 7 "old and insecure" in comparison to it. But if it has, I'd like to know what they are. About all I've heard about Windows 10 are its privacy invasions and its attempts to take control away from its users.
    - brownbat 11y ago
      My original comment was tongue in cheek, trying to mirror the OPs "everything's an upside!" post. That said, MS does tend to roll out major security architecture improvements between versions. Incremental updates are helpful, but new architectural defenses against malware happen with major revisions. As a consequence, "old versions of windows" (though admittedly mostly XP) are one of the worst things about the internet right now. As someone who works in security, MS moving to the forced upgrade model that Chrome pioneered will solve one of my biggest headaches in the long run. I know that's selfish, and the tradeoffs for users may not be worth it, but man, old versions of Windows are the bane of my existence. Anyway, as to specifics, the DEP and ASLR in Windows 7 were the big enhancements, but Windows 8.1 had better sandboxing features that are carried forward, and Windows 10 has improved encryption and authentication. Forcing people away from IE to Edge is huge. I probably can't do this topic justice in a comment, but if you're really interested in more info, lots of info can be found spread across several articles by just googling Windows+10+security.