Windows 10 retail pricing is confirmed by Microsoft

[crossy]

Hmm, I'm very wary of the "free" upgrade because I'm insistent on doing a completely clean install, and folks seem to have been pretty coy as to whether this is actually possible for Windows7, (consensus is since Win8 uses footprint tech then it can recognise that W10 is being installed onto the same machine).

£80 (plus VAT) seems like a heck of a lot for a "Home" OS, and I'd quietly suggest that if MS want to make their uptake figures then a nice introductory price would be a very good idea. I'd suggest £50 for the boxed version and maybe £30 if you want to do the "digital thing".

Shame, because from what I've seen of the preview version of W10 (running on the slowest machine I could find) it's actually pretty good.

[shaithis]

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.

I'm looking at mine and it's just a shrunk metro interface. There are not any "Program Groups" on the start menu. They are just links either in a MRU list and/or an alphabetical list.....with an "All apps" link just like Windows 8.1

The only tiered, cascading entries I can see are programs that register files/settings (I.e. My remote desktop icon cascades into a MRU list, Word cascades into a list of recently edited documents)....which is nothing new of course.

[realstock]

Apparently Media Center feature in Windows 10 is dead, so i won't be upgrading my Media PC. This will force me to look for alternative, that is a shame. Although xbmc has been calling for a while.

For my main PC, I will always wait and let some other poor sod be the guinea pig. Roll on the first Service Pack, or whatever the equivalent will be called.

[shaithis]

Apparently Media Center feature in Windows 10 is dead, so i won't be upgrading my Media PC. This will force me to look for alternative, that is a shame. Although xbmc has been calling for a while.

I've been using MediaBrowser for years, although it's now been re-branded to "Emby". Not all the features are free but it's now been unbundled from media centre to become a stand-alone server (Windows, Linux, Mac, BSD and some NAS devices), with a multitude of clients available for it (one of those being MCE still fwiw but they also have clients for Android, Amazon Fire, Chromecast, Roku, XBox, Kodi (the new name for XBmc), Samsung SmartTV and a stand-lone windows app). Most of the paid for features are extremely cheap (it's probably cost me around $30 over the years to buy several modules)

Bottom line: I ain't worried about the loss of MCE any more.

[Saracen]

....

The only tiered, cascading entries I can see are programs that register files/settings (I.e. My remote desktop icon cascades into a MRU list, Word cascades into a list of recently edited documents)....which is nothing new of course.

Just to be clear, what I want is what I've been doing since Methuselah was in short trousers, which is half a dozen top-level menus, several of which have sub-menus, some sub-sub-menus, and then program entries, at any menu level, which are effectively short-cuts to programs which can start a defined program, using defined switches, and a defined 'startup' directory, which is normally where data resides.

If I can't use the PC UI layout I want, and am comfortable with, and have been using for, oh 20 years or whatever, and have to get used to a new way of organising myself, then I might as well just use linux and stop paying MS licence fees, not just for Windows but for Office, too.

In other words, this is the same objection I had to Win8 MUI, and not, short of 3rd party add-ons, being able to organise my desktop UI how I want it.

If that's the case, I might as well just switch newer machines to Linux now.

[this_is_gav]

Apparently Media Center feature in Windows 10 is dead, so i won't be upgrading my Media PC. This will force me to look for alternative, that is a shame. Although xbmc has been calling for a while.

I've been using MediaBrowser for years, although it's now been re-branded to "Emby". Not all the features are free but it's now been unbundled from media centre to become a stand-alone server (Windows, Linux, Mac, BSD and some NAS devices), with a multitude of clients available for it (one of those being MCE still fwiw but they also have clients for Android, Amazon Fire, Chromecast, Roku, XBox, Kodi (the new name for XBmc), Samsung SmartTV and a stand-lone windows app). Most of the paid for features are extremely cheap (it's probably cost me around $30 over the years to buy several modules)

Bottom line: I ain't worried about the loss of MCE any more.

None of which are any good at live TV though, as far as I know.

I know Kodi has a DVBViewer plugin, but it's rubbish (I've tried it and couldn't even get it to pause/rewind/fast-forward live TV).

[parsnip]

The free upgrade period better last until I get my new PC

[shaithis]

None of which are any good at live TV though, as far as I know.

I've been using MB without any need for liveTV (the only thing I can be bothered to watch live is football and I stream that) although I see there is now EmbyTV (a tuner plugin) although no idea how decent it is.

[GuidoLS]

Just to be clear, what I want is what I've been doing since Methuselah was in short trousers, which is half a dozen top-level menus, several of which have sub-menus, some sub-sub-menus, and then program entries, at any menu level, which are effectively short-cuts to programs which can start a defined program, using defined switches, and a defined 'startup' directory, which is normally where data resides.

If I can't use the PC UI layout I want, and am comfortable with, and have been using for, oh 20 years or whatever, and have to get used to a new way of organising myself, then I might as well just use linux and stop paying MS licence fees, not just for Windows but for Office, too.

In other words, this is the same objection I had to Win8 MUI, and not, short of 3rd party add-ons, being able to organise my desktop UI how I want it.

If that's the case, I might as well just switch newer machines to Linux now.

https://scontent-ord1-1.xx.fbcdn.net...af&oe=55F1F54F
https://scontent-ord1-1.xx.fbcdn.net...79&oe=560294B5

See if this works - may need an edit... yes, it did. Seems Hexus won't let me post pics, even with a link. Either way, that's what the start menu (for me) looks like - it's way too busy when choosing the apps, but I don't typically use it all that much anyway.

Then again, it's really no more sloppy than my Win7 start menu - I just don't like the 0-9 and alpha breakdowns thrown in. I learned my ABC's and 123's 50 years ago. Not saying it's perfect. Just saying it's not a disaster, either. And it's also still not a final, so no telling what options they may add down the line.

[Saracen]

Thanks for that, Guido.

I'm still not sure it does what I want, though, as it seems to be 'most used'. What I want is to be able to create menus, submenus, and menu items myself. And remove stuff I don't want, too. So, top menu items might be :-

- graphics
- utilities
- business
- games etc.

And if I click "business", then I get

/business/accounts
/business/WP
/business/databases etc.

And within databases, a series of shortcuts, each of which starts a database suite using parameters and datasets I can define.

And so on.

It means I can start any one of a dozens of programs, sometimes with specific criteria, with three or four mouse clicks.

It may all be academic anyway, because even if Win10 does allow this, it still leaves a set of questions over the way MS are going which MAY kill it for me anyway.

[GuidoLS]

Thanks for that, Guido.

I'm still not sure it does what I want, though, as it seems to be 'most used'. What I want is to be able to create menus, submenus, and menu items myself. And remove stuff I don't want, too. So, top menu items might be :-

- graphics
- utilities
- business
- games etc.

And if I click "business", then I get

/business/accounts
/business/WP
/business/databases etc.

And within databases, a series of shortcuts, each of which starts a database suite using parameters and datasets I can define.

And so on.

It means I can start any one of a dozens of programs, sometimes with specific criteria, with three or four mouse clicks.

It may all be academic anyway, because even if Win10 does allow this, it still leaves a set of questions over the way MS are going which MAY kill it for me anyway.

As of now, there is no way to do that - at least not that I can find. Classicshell does the trick, but I've held off on re-installing it as each update here lately has broken things, and again, I've found it to be less annoying than expected. I've locked in 2 machines so far - I find the performance in the preview to be beyond acceptable, to the point where I'm playing games with better performance on 'lesser' hardware, and to the best of my knowledge, that DX12 boost for older hardware doesn't apply to DX9/10 cards, so I'm going to go with better optimized on the CPU side of things. I'll probably make a final decision on the rest of my licenses sometime around Christmas - figure 6 months is enough to see how things go.

[Saracen]

Well, as you say, 6 months is enough .... etc. I've waited this long, so there's no rush. I don't need to decide until I need to decide, which rignt now, I don't. But nothing about the way MS have gone about things, the decisions they've made or the apparent direction of travel endears either them or Win10 to me, so I think I'll stick with Win7/Win8+Start8 for now, and when I need new licences, probably just save the money and go Linux.

[Unique]

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.

i didn't like win8 at first, i quickly removed the first couple of beta versions, and i like to play with new versions so that's how bad i thought it was, but you can make win8 and win10 act pretty similar to win7, at least to the degree that it's not annoying and frustrating and you can just get on with things. the benefit to me is the uefi boot, so quicker windows start, although i only currently use win8 as the main OS on a tablet. i'm hanging off for win10 for a new build i'll be doing in the next few weeks/months and hopefully get a clean install and work out some win7 - win10 upgrade deal

[parsnip]

I've been using MediaBrowser for years, although it's now been re-branded to "Emby". Not all the features are free but it's now been unbundled from media centre to become a stand-alone server (Windows, Linux, Mac, BSD and some NAS devices), with a multitude of clients available for it (one of those being MCE still fwiw but they also have clients for Android, Amazon Fire, Chromecast, Roku, XBox, Kodi (the new name for XBmc), Samsung SmartTV and a stand-lone windows app). Most of the paid for features are extremely cheap (it's probably cost me around $30 over the years to buy several modules)

Bottom line: I ain't worried about the loss of MCE any more.

There's just a flood of media options for every OS, it's hard to complain about MCE.

[evs]

I'm more hoping that the Insider pro to RTM will be a smooth one....