Windows 10 retail pricing is confirmed by Microsoft

[HEXUS]

Windows 10 Home will retail for $119 and Windows 10 Pro will retail for $199.

Read more.

[DemonHighwayman]

Any idea what the differences between the home and the pro versions are ?

[Saracen]

Well, my first question is whether UK pricing is at £1=$1, or whether there is/will be something resembling (allowing for VAT etc) a decent exchange rate consideration?

If so, that's about £125 ex VAT, or £150 inc VAT, for Pro.

So, will I upgrade existing Win7 or Win 8 licences, even "free? It depends on getting answers to a number of questions about the way Win10 works now and in the future, and on the ability to revert to those original licences. The jury is still out.

Will I pay those £ rates for new, retail, non-OEM non-upgrades? If I get satisfactory answers to questions determining whether I use Win10 at all, then yes. The prices, given possible adjustments from recommended to street, are reasonable .... if/when I need new licences.

BUT .... does Win10 offer me much over and above Win8, or even Win7, to be prepared to PAY for an upgrade? Not that I'm yet seeing, no. So, after the free upgrade period expires, I doubt I'd be prepared to pay anything beyond a VERY small part of that rate for an upgrade.

And I'm still waiting for clarity from MS on a number of critical (to me) matters before I'm even willing to upgrade for free.

Right now, my expectation is to go Win -> Linux, not Win7/8 -> Win10.

[shaithis]

Any idea what the differences between the home and the pro versions are ?

Almost certainly the usual...

VHD Boot
Hyper-V
Domain joining
BITS
and a few other bits and pieces.

Normally Pro will support 2 CPU sockets, when standard/home will support 1.

[Saracen]

Almost certainly the usual...

VHD Boot
Hyper-V
Domain joining
BITS
and a few other bits and pieces.

Normally Pro will support 2 CPU sockets, when standard/home will support 1.

And Bitlocker, IIRC. ir is that BITS?

[shaithis]

And Bitlocker, IIRC. ir is that BITS?

Oh yes, keep thinking that's still ultimate/enterprise only but they binned ultimate and added it to pro.

BITS = Background Intelligent Transfer Service

[azrael-]

Almost certainly the usual...

VHD Boot
Hyper-V
Domain joining
BITS
and a few other bits and pieces.

Normally Pro will support 2 CPU sockets, when standard/home will support 1.

And Bitlocker, IIRC. ir is that BITS?

BITS is the Background Intelligent Transfer Service, which is typically used to download updates.

Bitlocker *might* be "Pro" only. AFAIR it was limited to either Pro and/or Ultimate with Win7, then was limited to Pro with Win8 (in the absence of an Ultimate version).

EDIT: Bah! Should've refreshed the thread before commenting...

[Saracen]

Oh yes, keep thinking that's still ultimate/enterprise only but they binned ultimate and added it to pro.

BITS = Background Intelligent Transfer Service

Thanks (and you, az) for the bits on BITS.

As I understand it, Bitlocker ended up in Win10 Pro because it was in Win7 Ult, and Ultimate and Pro merged into one version in Win10.

That is a factor to consider for me because I do requiee encryption. Whether it's Bitlocker or not, in future, remains to be seen, post the TrueCrypt thing, but I do have Win7 Ult because of Bitlocker, even though I also used TrueCrypt on some machines.

[shaithis]

I'm at the point where I want to use BitLocker, I even have purchased and installed the TPM module......I just need to do the deed soon.....I just keep bottling it and thinking about accessing data in the event of a system failure....

[aidanjt]

Microsoft is hoping for the fastest Windows OS adoption rate ever to wipe the spectre of Windows 8 from its memory.

It's a shame then that they just shrunk the Windows 8 start screen down into a menu.

[DemonHighwayman]

Thanks for the info chaps, so it just seems to be stuff for professional users in the pro version... I guess that's where it got its name !

[azrael-]

Microsoft is hoping for the fastest Windows OS adoption rate ever to wipe the spectre of Windows 8 from its memory.

It's a shame then that they just shrunk the Windows 8 start screen down into a menu.

Indeed. Although to be fair since build 10120 the Start Menu has gotten a bit better again. Still not up to par with the one in Win 7, though.

[shaithis]

It's a shame then that they just shrunk the Windows 8 start screen down into a menu.

Yes, I have been expecting the old Win7 start menu to occupy that left-hand side of the menu for a while now but it looks like it won't be happening.....this alone is going to irritate a LOT of people who are still hankering for the start menu back.

I still find it bemusing that there is now a "Tablet Mode", yet when not in TM, the UI is still designed for a tablet with a single scrollable long list of entries instead of the multi-tiered nature of the old start menu.

[Saracen]

I'm at the point where I want to use BitLocker, I even have purchased and installed the TPM module......I just need to do the deed soon.....I just keep bottling it and thinking about accessing data in the event of a system failure....

I'm sure I don't need to teach grandma about sucking eggs, but ..... extensive testing of recovery on test systems, and a suitable offline backup regime, with carefully considered backup intervals.

It's hard, of course, to keep effort and inconvenience at a minimum and still avoid ANY risk, but a layered approach ought to keep it within sensible bounds. And if in doubt, realtime sync to a 'duplex' server.

I.e. sync encrypted live data to an encrypted NAS A, and have an encrypted backup NAS B constantly sync'd to from NAS A.

[Saracen]

Yes, I have been expecting the old Win7 start menu to occupy that left-hand side of the menu for a while now but it looks like it won't be happening.....this alone is going to irritate a LOT of people who are still hankering for the start menu back.

I still find it bemusing that there is now a "Tablet Mode", yet when not in TM, the UI is still designed for a tablet with a single scrollable long list of entries instead of the multi-tiered nature of the old start menu.

Hold up .... as someone not using Win10 preview, are you saying I STILL can't use a tiered Win7-style Start menu, but do have to put up with a bolt-on Tonka-style tiled piece of MUI-style garbage?

If so, until/unless some third party comes up with a GOOD fix for that, like Start8 etc, then MS will be getting a 0% adoption rate from me, even with "free upgrade".

[GuidoLS]

Yes, I have been expecting the old Win7 start menu to occupy that left-hand side of the menu for a while now but it looks like it won't be happening.....this alone is going to irritate a LOT of people who are still hankering for the start menu back.

I still find it bemusing that there is now a "Tablet Mode", yet when not in TM, the UI is still designed for a tablet with a single scrollable long list of entries instead of the multi-tiered nature of the old start menu.

Hold up .... as someone not using Win10 preview, are you saying I STILL can't use a tiered Win7-style Start menu, but do have to put up with a bolt-on Tonka-style tiled piece of MUI-style garbage?

If so, until/unless some third party comes up with a GOOD fix for that, like Start8 etc, then MS will be getting a 0% adoption rate from me, even with "free upgrade".

No, you are not stuck with the Metro interface - you can delete all the tiles, and leave yourself with what is, essentially, a not quite as spartan Windows classic start menu, with a few more stuck options.

The last 4 updates have all featured a slightly different variation - I think I prefer the latest one - it's completely resizable, and hopefully, I'll be able to turn it, and the task bar, back to the standard classic battleship grey. So, if anything, IMO it's actually closer to WinXP, without having to use any mods - the exceptions being color and the start button, which is the Windows Logo.

If anything, the majority of the complaints from the Win8.1 "upgrade" are no longer applicable here. The one bit of strangeness is the power selection (off/sleep/restart/etc) is above the All Program (all apps) selector, where in the past, it was the opposite. Some may disagree, but aesthetically, I find it as clean, and as usable, as Win7 set to classic mode and set for performance.