News - Windows 9 to be a free upgrade for Windows 8 users

[Muninn]

With the amount of logic shown by Microsoft it could just be they count version numbers in Base-9 and we've never realised before

[Saracen]

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On the 2nd point I'd suggest there is actually a 3rd group alongside those you mentioned: Those who like the new UI and find it preferable.

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Except that the group under discussion was those that didn't stick with Windows 8 long enough to notice 'under the hood' improvements. Presumably, those that liked it did stick with it, so aren't those being referred to in the quotecI referred to.

If you consider all those that tried Win8, then clearly, yes, a lot liked it. But clearly, a lot didn't, and that's the group in question, that might well have stuck with Win8 had MS simply included done way for users that didn't want the new UI to turn it off. That's all it needed - for MS to officially sanction what loads of people ended up doing with Start8, ClassicShell, etc., and include a button to switch, or an install option, a control panel function or functions, or hell, even a registry key to edit.

But no, MS decided, in their arrogance, to try to force users to adopt their new UI, and that didn't wotk out so well, did it?

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It strikes me that adding a start menu to the current 8.1 options would solve all of those problems, as once 8.1 is configured to boot to desktop you would never see the MUI with a start menu installed unless you use Metro apps which you don't. As you say, all the other issues (cloud etc) are optional.

Unless MS take the 'give with one hand, take away with the other' approach obviously.

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Well, sort-of, yes.

It's still something of a kludge to have two 'modes' running, with potential for wasted cycles, context swirching, etc, when the user (say, me) doesn't want MUI, tiles, etc., at all.
Maybe it's being a bit purist, but if MS do genuinely intend to bow to so many user's wishes, after a year or more of sticking their heads .... erm ... in the sand, I'd rather expect a cleaner solution than MS just sticking their version of ClassicShell on and adding an install hardware detector looking for a touchscreen. After all, we could do that a year or more ago.

Personally, given their Win10 announcements and the emphasis on cloud first and foremost, as their strategic direction, they do indeed appear to be heading towards a future I have absolutely no intention of adopting, that being, cloud-centric personal computing. I am, personally, NOT putting my data on the cloud, now or ever, and WILL NOT install an OS unless I can be absolutely sure it cannot happen by accident, simply because some setting is not set right. And I'm not yet convinced that will be the case with Win9. Time, and maybe a play with the Tech Preview, will tell. But I'm not impressed by the mood music coming from MS.

[jim]

I moved from Windows 7 to Windows 8, and will probably move to Windows 10 when it comes out (assuming it is free).

However, at the simplest level, I worked with Windows 7, and I work around Windows 8. Hopefully that will change with Windows 10.

And this is from someone who liked, and will still defend, Vista.

[SineWave]

Great *business* move. They should do nothing less if they want to win over all the W8, W7 and XP users to use the new Windows. It would also be a great idea to keep "service packing" it for the next 10 years to get rid of all the bugs that piled up since Vista, or better - since Windows 2000. If they want to sell something, then they should sell the service packs, just like Apple had been doing, and forget about shuffling the user interface [to say it politely] with each new version of Windows. Keep the changes in the GUI minimal, and the changes to the code [bug fixing] maximal.