500 million machines are now running Windows 10 (halfway to that goal of a billion)

The Verge ^ | May 10, 2017 | Tom Warren

[Darksheare]

How much of that number jump was due to the forced windows update “upgrades”?

[MarchonDC09122009]

Microsoft’s forced Win 10 “upgrade” and related no-choice security/privacy violating user data exfiltration has been Disgusting!

Eff Redmond.
Eff Windows 10.

[dayglored]

> I’m a happy clam on Fedora Linux. Just got tired of the Microsoft tax. A lot more secure.

Fedora was my first Linux back in 2001, and when I switched, I went to CentOS, which is RedHat Enterprise without the support.

Always been a RedHat family fan. At work I tend a few hundred Ubuntu servers, and they're okay, but they feel just a little weird at times. :-)

The Ubuntu folks change things around just because they can. It breaks stuff left and right, every major release.

The RedHat family is stable, and I like that.

[taildragger]

" I bought my mother a new PC and had no choice but to buy it with Windows 10 on it. It really sucks. The interface is completely different and it's loaded with bloatware."

I have a friend in the computer biz and about a month ago we discussed 7. Yes you can still get copies of it, and he is fond of a business version that is actually cheaper that isn't a household name ( agggh, I can't remember it ). He had some demo laptops used for something like a charity event with no time on them that he got for a song and I was toying with getting one, putting a SSD in it with as much RAM as possible and loading 7 or the other option I mentioned. This is still do-able...

[dayglored]

> How much of that number jump was due to the forced windows update “upgrades”?

The first year after Win10 was released was "free upgrade" year, and the uptake rate was really quite good, for three reasons:

• People were excited and curious.
• It was free (if you had Win7 SP1 or Win8.1).
• Microsoft aggressively pushed it out to everybody it could reach, even to the point of p*ssing people off.

After a year of that, it stopped being free, and the uptake rate took a nosedive, for three reasons:

• People were no longer as excited or curious.
• It cost real money.
• Microsoft stopped pushing it out.

How much of the curve was due to which effect? Got me. I think they all were significant.

[Hattie]

Don’t ever look at the errors in your event viewer with Windows 10. The red never goes away. You would have to spend days in the registry to fix it if you dare. Most disappointing operating system yet. Resets,repairs, googling what to do, clean installs, it never stops.

[Varmint Al]

I have a dozen friends using Linux Mint KDE 64 Bit. They are very happy with it. The updates are easy and the system is solid. All were ex-Windows users and it was easy for them to convert over to Linux.

It was easy for them because I installed the OS for them. It is an easy install and much easier than any Windows install I have done. Only a personal password is required and NO authentication is required.

The beauty of Linux Mint is that I can instal the complete OS with all the important applications on one hard drive and then duplicate that hard drive for other computers. All of the necessary drivers are built in. Linux Mint finds the wireless hardware almost automatically and is a snap to setup. (Try that with Windows and the included wireless setup CD)

Also going from Linux Mint KDE 17 to 17.3 is as easy as one click of the Update Manager. The Update Manager automatically checks for updates and does NOT bug you with Pop Ups. The manager icon merely puts a blue dot in its icon's center when an update is avaliable.

I am sure happy I cut the ties with Microsoft 2 years ago.

Here is a link if you are interested in trying Linux Mint 17.3 "Rosa" KDE version.

PS I have installed Linux Mint on about 10 different laptops including 4 Dell 620 Latitudes and it works great.

Update: Linux Mint 17.3 "Rosa" KDE version has all the bells and whistles and is completely customizable. The newer 18.0 version is lacking in many features, in my view.

Good Hunting... from Varmint Al

[DaxtonBrown]

Thanks for the info. I did IT from 1998 to 2005, but I’m rusty. However I’m a technogeek and run my in house business on LAMP and Java. My brother is a admin for a Title company. So what you are telling me is the red hat path was correct for someone like me who wants stable so I can freaking work versus Ubuntu. Should I be migrating to Cent-OS? I was unaware that it is a RedHat line.

[DaxtonBrown]

“I intend to go Linux. I’m in early research now.”

I tested it a long time. Made the full jump a year ago. It was worth it for me. Takes a year to get it all figured out and comfy. But why would I go back to the microsoft treadmill? And Linux improves every six months and you can get whatever flavor you want. A lot of people like gnome, but I’m using KDE which in some ways like going back to XP simplicity. Hey, I’m trying to work, not play games!

[dayglored]

> I had no idea there were that many W7 machines out there! I’d guess the bulk of them are POS systems. I’ll poke around a bit.

I have a hunch most of them are contented business people and private individuals. Certainly Win7 replaced XP in a lot of POS type applications, but most of the remaining XP machines are those POS and ATM installations.

Win7 is the best OS Microsoft ever produced, and IMO, ever will produce. Win8 was a disaster, and Win10 is a moderate recovery from that disaster. I don't think they'll ever get back to the simplicity of use and functionality of Win7 again, the way they're going.

That's just my opinion, but I know it's shared by many.

Please do comment again when you've done some digging. I'm quite curious as to what you find out.

[Nuc 1.1]

The’ll force the enterprise users to W10. It will happen soon enough.

[dayglored]

> ... what you are telling me is the red hat path was correct for someone like me who wants stable so I can freaking work versus Ubuntu. Should I be migrating to Cent-OS? I was unaware that it is a RedHat line.

RedHat is the mothership. :-)

RedHat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is the gold standard edition. Conservative and very stable. You pay for support, and it's VERY good support.

Fedora is the sort of the active development version, many of whose features eventually are incorporated into RedHat. It's for folks who like to be closer to the cutting edge.

CentOS stands for "Community Enterprise Operating System. It is the exact same software as RHEL -- line for line of code and binary -- with only two distinctions:

• "RedHat Enterprise Linux" is crossed out and "CentOS" is written in.
• No paid support available. Just the "community" (forums, etc.)

CentOS is conservative and stable, and FREE. In my opinion, the best of all worlds.

Caveats: CentOS, like RHEL, is not the cutting edge. It is often a release or two behind the latest-and-greatest advances in applications. Brand new drivers for new peripherals sometimes take longer to get released, because they take lots of time to test and validate. I prefer the stability, and can live without being on the bleeding edge.

[Allen In Texas Hill Country]

#NEVERTEN

[MCH]

Should I be migrating to Cent-OS? I was unaware that it is a RedHat line.

There are three Linux distros supported by Red Hat. Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is their bread & butter paid support distro, used by businesses all over the world. CentOS is the "free" mirror version of RHEL that does not include support (beyond open source community). And Fedora is their free open source bleeding edge distro that is used to test/demo/beta new features/patches well ahead of RHEL/CentOS that ultimately feed into a future super-stable RHEL/CentOS release.

I have CentOS 7 installed on a separate drive on one of my home Windows 10 PCs (yes, I actually like Win10!!). Very stable & useful for what it does. Only caveat is that the RHEL/CentOS distros are more oriented for business than personal use, like the Debian-based Ubuntu or particularly Linux Mint distros are. The latter distros are primarily targeted at home PC users vs. businesses, with more games & personal use type packages available.

[dayglored]

> The’ll force the enterprise users to W10. It will happen soon enough.

True, but the keyword is "force". It'll have to be a pretty big stick.

They're already playing games with the latest processors only supporting Windows 10 (Kaby Lake, etc.). The pressure is being applied already.

For whatever reason, they appear willing to have users defect from Windows to Linux and Mac, rather than let them stay on Win7. They're betting on their market share not dropping too much, so that they still have enough leverage to force the enterprise users to bend over. They might be right; time will tell.

[dayglored]

Great reply; looks like we’re on the same page (see #32 above). :-)

[Bob434]

you caN Always buy windows 7 and put it on

[Bob434]

linux mint- try out their ISO CD you can make youirself and try it before installing it- it will run a little lsow off the CD- but it’l give you a good idea if you like it or not without installing it- or try it in a virtual machine—

[Bob434]

if you run linux- look into systemback as a very good system restore program- if you run windows- look at rollbackRX- excellent system restore on steroids- can revert to previous state durign boot incase computer won’t start- saved my bacon more than a few times-

[Bob434]

[[It was easy for them because I installed the OS for them. It is an easy install and much easier than any Windows install I have done.]]

Absolutely it’s easy to install- I can have a linux install from scratch up and running in a little over an hour (coudl go even quicker- but i have several tweaks i do and non standard programs i install which take soem work to get working properly) and have it upgraded/updated in that time frame easily- with windows 7 it takes me literally days of work- days of doign hte tweaks to get it how i like it- the slow as molasses windows updates with many gigs of KB updates to download- reboot etc- plus even gettign hte stupid update to work is a lesson in frustration i n windows 7- then having to secure windows enough to use online fairly safely0- and keeping up with all the virus defenses etc-

Hated all the work that went into maintaining windows- keeping it safe- the horrible days long process of updating in windows updates-

I don’t even bother doing a clone of linux because it’s so quick to just reinstall from scratch- I could do it even quicker if i just went with all defaults- but i do like certain things the way i like them- so i tweak it a bit- and install some programs that take some knowhow and a little time to get installed- I do clean installs, just to keep myself up on what needs to be done as i often forget- wrote most of it down- but there’s still some things i forget- so i just reinstall from scratch fairly often just because it’s so easy and qwuick to do lol-

I do prefer the cinnamon version of mint though- tried the KDE- I like the cinnamon better-