Windows 10?

[Rick Danger]

If you page back to entries by Mister A435843 concerning the Universal Windows Platform scheme and my entries concerning the weak position in the smartphone marketplace of Windows Phone/Windows 10 Mobile then this latest news from Infoworld.com shouldn't take you by surprise. It certainly didn't take any gift of supernatural insight on my part to predict this event.

The inevitable death of Windows Phone certainly damages, if not ends UWP. The idea of an all Microsoft environment at the user end, with Windows PCs, laptops, Surface tablets, and Windows 10 Phones all sharing the same apps may or may not be dead, but this latest news certainly weakens any arguments Redmond can make concerning this strategy.

Microsoft will now apparently focus on integration of infrastructure and services with non-Windows platforms.


Home Mobile Windows Mobile

The Microsoft admin’s brave, new post-Windows Phone world
Microsoft admins rejoice! Microsoft may have abandoned the mobile device market, but it's actually stronger in the complete mobile market

By Galen Gruman
InfoWorld | May 24, 2016

As the industry was focused last week on Google's I/O developer conference and the specter of its Google Home voice assistant monitoring everything you say, Microsoft quietly dropped a bomb about the future of Windows smartphones: They don't have one.

Microsoft sensibly sold off its overseas low-end phone business, which it acquired from Nokia a few years ago -- those old-school Nokia phones have no relationship to Wndows Mobile or anything else Microsoft does. But it also essentially killed off its Windows phones, moving its own Lumia smartphones and third-party smartphones running Windows Mobile into "support" status.

Translation: "discontinued."

As a result, Microsoft-centric admins now have to face the reality that their mobile portfolio will be made up mainly of Apple devices, with some Samsung and perhaps other Android devices in the mix. The good news, as I'll explain shortly, is that you can support those devices and remain Microsoft-centric.

The all-Microsoft device portfolio won't happen

One of the attractions to many in IT was the notion of an all-Microsoft client environment: Windows PCs and Windows phones running Microsoft software and services, for what was hoped to be a better-integrated, simpler-to-manage IT portfolio. After all, most IT organizations are steeped in Windows and Windows management, and the intrusion of iOS and Android mobile devices has made their lives more complex.

Although Microsoft says it will continue to develop the finally decent Windows 10 Mobile, even Microsoft stalwarts like ZDnet's Mary Jo Foley saw the announcement for what it is: the likely end of Microsoft mobile devices, or at least today's incarnation of it. Foley still holds out hope for a future Surface smartphone that will somehow rewrite history.

Of course, that's an old hope, unfulfilled among Microsoft fans, who've been looking to the future ever since Microsoft abandoned the original Windows Mobile, replaced it with the less-capable, insecure Windows Phone, and debuted the utterly horrible Kin. Microsoft's later Nokia purchase led to more of the same unrealized "maybe next time" hope.

In a Twitter conversation, Foley suggested these long-rumored Surface phones might be high-quality, premium-build devices to attract business users. Umm, like the iPhone has long been and Android devices like the Samung Galaxy S, LG G, and HTC One series have been for several years?

Foley also thought an all-Microsoft device portfolio would attract IT admins who didn't want to mix and match devices. I and several others had to remind her that Microsoft actually provides better support for iOS and Android than it does for Windows phones: better management tools, better applications, and better security.

Foley's worldview is widely shared at Microsoft-centric IT shops. Ironically, you can have an all-Microsoft portfolio as long as you don't define "portfolio" to mean client devices.

Microsoft has been telegraphing the end of ex-CEO Steve Ballmer's Nokia-based mobile strategy for more than a year. Under current CEO Satya Nadella, Microsoft has been instead shifting to mobile management, services, and applications as the center of its mobile portfolio. (To be fair, he's also kept hopes for Windows phones alive.)

Microsoft has many times used the "embrace and extend" strategy to beat out or at least slow successful competitors. That's exactly what Microsoft is doing now, in several areas.

Microsoft-centered management. Microsoft's Intune and System Center have both been retooled to manage iOS and Android, as well as Windows 10 PCs. (Only Macs are excluded.) Thus, IT can continue to use the management tools -- modernized, of course -- it already uses for PCs on those iOS and Android devices almost as if they are mere brands like Lenovo, Dell, and HP rather than alien platforms.

Microsoft has adopted the same API-driven management approach that Apple introduced for iOS and Google later adopted. That sea change means PC management and mobile management no longer need be separate silos. They'll unify, and Microsoft wants to be where they come together in IT.

Microsoft's approach to unified PC and mobile management has scared the leading mobile management vendors such as MobileIron, VMware, and Soti. They have very strong management and security tools for devices, content, and apps, and as a result have squeezed out most of what had been more than 100 competitors in this market.

But Microsoft has put a few management capabilities around Office 365 that it doesn't let those competitors use, to give itself an edge at Microsoft-centered IT shops.

Whether you think of that as dirty pool or taking advantage of its existing strengths, several competitors -- IBM, JAMF, MobileIron, and VMware -- felt threatened enough to create an anti-Microsoft alliance called the AppConfig Community. Such defensive alliances rarely succeed, and they can create more harm by further legitimizing the competitor they're aligned against.

If you're a Microsoft shop -- most IT organizations are -- you can now confidently adopt Microsoft's management tools for non-Microsoft devices. It doesn't matter that Microsoft doesn't support some important capabilities that its competitors do, such as Android for Work. What matters is that Microsoft's suite is good enough for most organizations (few of which have adopted Android for Work, after all), that it leverages their existing Microsoft expertise, and it might provide an advantage in managing and safeguarding data in Office 365.

Beyond client device management, Microsoft has also been steadily making its Active Directory identity and policy management server work with more and more third-party tools. The cloud-based Azure Active Directory pushes in that Microsoft-centric direction.

Microsoft-centered productivity. More than a year ago, Microsoft released a version of Office for iPad that was really good. A quality Android version followed last summer, then a Mac version. Finally, the Windows version and Windows Phone version. (Note the order of release.)

Microsoft pushed Apple out of its historic lead for iOS productivity and revitalized the sagging Mac version of Office. The mobile version of Google Apps have never been very good, and the Web version of Google Apps for the desktop is passable.

As a result, Office is the productivity suite for anyone and everyone, as long as you buy an Office 365 subscription. For IT, that means it can support only one suite (Microsoft's) and ignore or even block Apple iWorks, Google Apps, and the various Android productivity suits, such as Polaris Office. In other words, it's all-Microsoft on the productivity front, or it can easily be.

Yes, Microsoft still has tools like Access and Publisher that are Windows-only, and certain capabilities in Excel, PowerBI, and other tools don't work on Macs, iOS, and/or Android. Windows is still Microsoft's favored platform. But it's clear that Office is now the platform that matters, not Windows.

Microsoft-centered communications. Apple adopted Exchange Active Sync (EAS) protocol years ago for iOS and OS X, so iPhones, iPads, and Macs can play nicely in an Exchange-centered business -- which is most of them.

Microsoft's back-end implementation has been inconsistent and often fails to work properly on clients except for Outlook for Windows -- even Microsoft's Outlook clients for other platforms often fail the compatibility test. The situation gets much worse for Microsoft's collaboration tools, such as SharePoint and Yammer. But it's slowly improving, with OneDrive the first to see some (only some) fruits of Microsoft's years-long effort to make its collaboration and communications clients as good across platforms as Office now is.

Even with all those issues, Exchange is clearly the center of email and calendar communications across Windows, OS X, iOS, and Android -- giving a Microsoft-centric IT department what it wants. Microsoft tells me it'll fix the Exchange back end and open up its APIs so that both Microsoft's and third parties' clients can be equal or at least equal-enough citizens in an Exchange-centered world. Whether they run Outlook or not, who cares? They are still in effect Microsoft clients, though not from Microsoft.

OneDrive is getting there as well, and Microsoft's goal for file storage and access is the same as for Exchange: Power it all from OneDrive/SharePoint on the back end, making Microsoft the indispensable center for whatever clients users happen to have. Oh, and promote Microsoft's technology agenda along the way.

Hardly anyone uses Yammer, so the fact that non-Microsoft tools like Slack and HipChat are better is an acceptable reality for Microsoft shops -- especially because Slack and HipChat can be integrated into Microsoft's cloud-based Azure Active Directory identity management if desired. Microsoft remains the center of gravity, especially for IT. Microsoft-centric admins should love that.

As you can see, the unofficial death of Windows phones doesn't end Microsoft admins' dreams of a single technology platform. It simply shifts it from user devices into IT's systems. Isn't that where an IT admin would want them?

[Rick Danger]

With Microsoft's changes to how Windows will be updated going forward home users, small, medium, and home based businesses, and enterprise customers are all wrestling with how to manage the process.

A recent summit held by consulting giant Gartner in Australia sheds some light on the hurdles that enterprise customers will face in the brave new Windows 10 world. It's pretty clear that application development and testing costs will rise due to Redmond's new approach. This may have an adverse impact on corporate adoption of Windows 10, despite pent up demand. In my opinion, the rosy stories of corporate adoption rates, most of which were published in the Fall of last year were too optimistic.


The Register.co.uk

Software -> Operating Systems
The Windows 10 future: Imagine a boot stamping on an upgrade treadmill forever
Windows-as-a-service will require more frequent testing of everything you run

By Simon Sharwood
17 May 2016 at 05:55

The advent of Windows-as-a-service means that businesses adopting Windows 10 will need to ensure they can monitor their software portfolio for compatibility with Microsoft's latest updates.

So says Annette Jump, a research director at Gartner who today addressed the firm's Infrastructure Operations & Data Centre Summit in Sydney, on the topic of how to prepare for a Windows 10 migration.

Jump said Gartner's research suggests at least 80 per cent of you will have done so by the end of 2018. Most of you will consume Windows 10's Current Branch for Business (CBB), a strain of Windows 10 that arrives four months after the periodic releases of the consumer version of the OS and which Microsoft says it will maintain for at least eight months.

Your challenge, Jump said, is that skipping a CBB release could mean skipping important enhancements, including security tweaks. That in turn means that you'll need to be ready for frequent testing and implementation of new Windows 10 versions.

Jump therefore thinks that when planning a move to Windows 10 you need to talk to your internal developers and make sure they're ready for and/or happy with a faster Windows release cadence. Software suppliers, she added, will need to be brought along for the ride because they typically make major changes every twelve to eighteen months.

And if either set of developer can't do that?

Jump didn't go there but did say “We do not recommend rushing into Windows 10 until you are ready for constant upgrades.” She also said that Windows 10 will never be “finished”. Organisations will need to pick a moment at which it's ready enough for their needs and/or risk appetites, then pull the trigger.

Jump also said that Windows 10 is not a compelling upgrade for most users, because while enhancements like facial authentication are undoubtedly helpful you;ll need new hardware to make them work. Windows 10 is happy on low-specced hardware so you can upgrade without also buying new boxen if you choose.

The analyst nonetheless advised at least starting to prepare for a migration, initially by gathering information about the hardware and software you use that will need compatibility checks. After that three-month effort, she recommended spending another three to six months setting standards and developing a standard Windows 10 image. Include some Windows 10 Current Branch for consumers in those tests so you can get a feel for what's coming in the next CBB release. With all that preparation complete, you'll be ready for pilots and eventually deployment … or just more ready for Microsoft turning off the support tap for Windows 7 in the year 2020. ®

[Moon Raker]

Originally Posted by Rick Danger

Oh Lord. Yet another scheme from Redmond to trick people into upgrading to Windows 10. Again, the question must be asked: Microsoft has been conning Windows users for two months The same document also acknowledged that those who clicked the red "X" in the upper-right corner of the pop-up were approving the scheduled upgrade. "If you click on OK or on the red 'X', you're all set for the upgrade and there is nothing further to do," the document stated.

This story is now making it into the general 'tech' news in the UK. Basically, if you click on the red 'close' icon when the upgrade nagware window pops up then you have scheduled the Win10 update, although it can apparently still be cancelled prior to actual installation. It seems to me the best way around this is to use Task Manager to kill off that nagware app. If the 100+ pages of adverse comment on this thread were not enough to put me off upgrading to Win10 then this action certainly has. I will be staying with Win 8.1 for as long as I can see.

[masque51]

KB3035583 is back for W7, as an important update. How many times do I have to hide this thing?

[Moon Raker]

Originally Posted by Moon Raker

This story is now making it into the general 'tech' news in the UK. Basically, if you click on the red 'close' icon when the upgrade nagware window pops up then you have scheduled the Win10 update, although it can apparently still be cancelled prior to actual installation.

And another update to my update from yesterday! Today (Thursday 26 May) it is now being reported in the UK that MS have back-tracked on the 'close to schedule install' change on the nagware pop-up window and the red X button now just closes the window as it should do. Microsoft state 'customer feedback' is the reason for the change!!! What a bunch of cnuts. As I previously stated, I will continue to use Windows 8.1 and utilise Task Manager to delete that pop-up, just in case MS change their mind yet again and I miss it in the news stories. And much more of this and I might even turn to Macs .....

[philll_77]

Originally Posted by Moon Raker

And another update to my update from yesterday! Today (Thursday 26 May) it is now being reported in the UK that MS have back-tracked on the 'close to schedule install' change on the nagware pop-up window and the red X button now just closes the window as it should do. Microsoft state 'customer feedback' is the reason for the change!!!

www.theregister.co.uk/2016/05/26/microsoft_clarifies_upgrade_trick/
The current article on theregister suggests that M$ haven't changed it, they just admitted to designing it that way.

[rlg118]

http://windowssecrets.com/patch-watc...4ddce7cec3989b

[stockingfan]

Stumbled across this thread & would like to add my 2¢

Apologize as don't presently have time to read this thread as busy in Some Pictures this weekend.

Microsoft acknowledges on its support page, clicking on that red X in the upper-right-hand corner doesn't cancel the upgrade; it lets it proceed as planned.





To cancel the upgrade and stay on your existing version of Windows, you want to push the somewhat less obvious “Click here to change upgrade schedule or cancel scheduled upgrade" (It's right below the date, in the above screenshot).

Supposedly this badgering by Microsoft is ending July 29th.


I’m in process helping friends disable Windows' insistence upon upgrading to 10.
Also to remove the Windows 10 Microsoft forced downloaded onto your PC into a hidden directory called $Windows.~BT, weighing in at "3.5GB to 6GB



disclosure - I’m not a Windows user, but a geek helping friends that are MS-Win users.

[9876543210]

Going to try and keep this as short as possible.

As I've said here before, I've been using these infernal machines since the early 80's and have been a beta tester probably since Vista. So I have the "Windows Insider" POS term. I beta tested Win 10 for maybe four or five months but quit the testing over a year ago just a few days before MS was going to release it to the general public. One of my last emails to MS's "Insider" program was that I couldn't believe they were even thinking of releasing Win 10 to the public (I, and many others, believed it was nowhere near ready for the public). But, they released it anyway.

Anyway, I had Win 10 on a small (60GB) SSD. Just pulled it and stuck in a newer SSD with Win 7 on it and haven't looked back. Once in a while I'll get an e-mail from MS about Win 10 which I peruse and discard. But, about a month ago, they sent me a fancy e-mail with lots of info on their new release and all its features. Having a bit of time, I thought what the hell, so I downloaded it and then forgot about it for a bit.

Finally remembered it so stuck the old SSD in and tried to install. That turned out to be a bit of a nightmare but I finally got it working today and noticed something pretty disturbing (if I understand what is happening).

Part of the nightmare was having to reinstall Win 7 SP1 (twice) and then making sure it activated and then installing Win 10. Finally got the basic install working a week or two ago but didn't have time to play so pulled the drive and put the Win 7 drive back in. So, this afternoon, I had the time so put the 10 drive back in and started playing. And, of course, 10 didn't seem to like the idea it hadn't been reporting back to MS so it kept harping about it not being activated anymore. Then allowed it to do some updates, turned off as many of the reporting activities as I could find, and after one of the updates it needed to reboot. OK.

After the reboot it, all of a sudden, needed me to login. Now wait a minute, I set this machine up to not require a password on startup or login (I'm the only person using this machine and Win 10 will only be used for brief times when I can play). Otherwise the Win 7 drive will be used for anything important.

Then I noticed something (and this is the key point). Win 10 is not asking me to login into the computer, its asking me to login to my MS account. So now, MS will always know when I'm using the computer and, presumably, this is a great place to use their keyloggers.

Hope I've explained this correctly. But does this behavior seem accurate to those more in the know than I? From now on, in order to use Win 10, you are essentially logged into the MS network so they can now monitor all of a users activity?

If this seems accurate I figure I'll reformat that little drive and get rid of all evidence of Win 10.

Thats just really frightening for a machine that is, for all intents and purposes, a standalone machine.

[spicoli]

Originally Posted by spicoli

I updated one computer to W-10 last night. It did not go well.

The first thing that I did was to VPN on to my work computer which worked fine - until I tried to disconnect from the VPN which is a simple one step right click in W-7. W-10 did not let me disconnect. I had to look up a solution on a user forum since MS support "does not support VPN issues". The solution was a long series of steps which finally disconnected the VPN.

The problem with having the VPN connected all the time is security of my work documents etc. and a major slow down of internet speed on my home computer.

When I returned to W-7 all of my security software had been deleted, so I had to reload that. Then I was happily back to square 1.

I used w-10 a little bit and it seems easy to use and it loads applications much faster.

I am having a friend who is more knowledgeable than I figure out the VPN thing (he uses W-10 and likes it). I may go back to W-10 if we can solve that problem (are you questioning my sanity yet?).

I deleted my W-7 VPN and upgraded to W-10. I had to set up the VPN (easy) and now I am a happy W-10 user. So far.... W-10 loads programs faster and it is supposed to have better security - to be honest, I can't see much difference from W-7.