It works, it speaks, it falls a little. Windows 10 is 3 • The registry

Sunday is a great day in Vulture Central. No, not football. Sunday is three years to the day when Microsoft's apology for the Windows 8 generation has been made to computer manufacturers.

Windows 10 would hit end users two weeks later, in charge of undoing the carnage of Metro

2015 Microsoft was still shocked by the damage caused by Windows 8, only partially mitigated by its tracking, Windows 8.1. Broke with success having "corrected" the disastrous Windows Vista with the Windows 7 service pack in 2009, Windows boss Steven Sinofsky had a relatively free hand with the next version of the platform.

Windows 8 previews shipped in 2011, sadly replacing the Start menu, which first appeared in Windows 95, with a chart of similar Windows Phone. Observers, including your humble hack, were amazed at how bad … it was. While the Touch-First interface worked perfectly for the small group of Surface and Windows Phone users, those with traditional PCs found themselves stuck with the mouse, keyboard, and a horribly unexpected mix of PCs. an interface with slightly warmed Windows 7 elements. the new, flat design of Windows 8.

Sinofsky left Microsoft in 2012, as the complete horror of Windows 8 became obvious. Businesses remained en masse despite Redmond's attempt to improve things in Windows 8.1 in 2013. 8.1 reintroduced a Start button (which simply returned the user to the hated screen tiles) and a better integration with Microsoft's cloud storage service, OneDrive. The OneDrive placeholder feature, which saved on disk space while allowing users to view their OneDrive folders, was a particular favorite. Which was unfortunate, as things turned out.

Enter Windows 10

Six years after the release of Windows 7, Windows 10 had a lot to do. Once the name was locked – for a while, it was called "Windows 9", "Windows Next", "Threshold" and "Oh God, Make The Pain Stop" (at least as much as this user was concerned .)

Users were relieved to see the first forced contact mantra in the background, although tablet users faced a somewhat degraded experience. But hey, at least the unloved Windows RT tablet has had a brilliant new Start menu, huh?

Microsoft has set an ambitious goal – to get its new operating system on a billion devices. This is a goal that could have been achieved if the mobile devices had not crashed and had not been badly burned, or if the first version of Windows 10 had not been also bussed. A Start menu that could not handle more than 512 entries was symptomatic of the problems.

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Microsoft wanted the operating system to be distributed free to users of Windows 7, 8 and 8.1 (later on Windows) 7 users refused to let the aging code base out of their fingers.) This excitement may have been a little wrong – so-called forced upgrades and "misleading" updates left the operating system forced on users reluctant. Since then, several charges have been laid against Redmond, one of whom withdrew $ 10,000 from the software maker after claiming that the update had destroyed his computer.

Bugs and forced updates, the first version of Windows 10 how the operating system would be developed and improved. Microsoft has promised that Windows 10 will be its latest version of the operating system, in the manner of the great users of the regulars. From now on, the changes would be gradual, regular and much more frequent.

Four months later, another version

While the market share reached 8%, without even exceeding that of Windows XP, Microsoft issued the first major update for Windows 10 (numbered 1511). Striking users in November 2015, the version took steps to deal with hardware incompatibilities and added some pro – business settings to the business.

Another feature of 1511 was a general storage of the interface. Little by little, discordant inconsistencies that would see users switch from Windows 10 dialog boxes or menus to the world of Windows 8 or 7 (yes, we're watching you, the Windows Control Panel) have been eliminated. A process that continued in the latest version.

A discordant omission was the functionality of the OneDrive placeholder, liked by Windows 8.1 users. The slowness of Microsoft in porting the operating system to its range of Windows phones was an indicator that the mobile platform was probably not much longer for this world.

Happy Anniversary

July 2016 saw the Anniversary update on users' computers. a confession from Microsoft that no, all this thing billion? Nothing will happen from now until 2018. Despite an increasingly intrusive harassment, users have not rushed like an army of lemmings from Windows 10.

However, Microsoft was pleased to note that after a year, the OS had managed to pass Windows XP and Windows 8.1 and sputtering on more than 20% of the desktop computers around the world.

Microsoft had been busy in the long run between the November update and the Anniversary update. Insiders (created in 2014) giving free comments and tests, was quite happy with the release. His replacement for Internet Explorer, Edge, which appeared in the first version of Windows 10, had a lot of love a year later, although users remained far and away en masse.

Other than the seemingly endless polishing of the interface, the most important change to Windows, that the vast majority of users would not notice, was the introduction of the Windows subsystem for Linux . Allowing a developer to run Bash on Windows, via an implementation of Ubuntu, was huge and a clear sign of change of attitude in the bowels of Redmond.

Idiots and nonsense names

Following the Anniversary update, Microsoft took another Before embarking on the strategy of two versions a year, we all got to know and love.

Unfortunately, stupidly stupid bugs had to be crushed urgently. Over-dependence on Windows Insiders for testing appeared as a high-level bunch of bugs crawling out of the woods. First of all, USB webcams were dropped due to changes in the way Windows 10 handled video streams. Microsoft took the line that there was, uh, nothing to see here. Everything is fine.

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More difficult to ignore was the bug that caused a PC to display a blue screen of death by being connected to the rarest of devices: a Kindle Paperwhite

Microsoft n 39 was not so quick to comment on that one.

The "Creators Update" arrived in April with the 1703 release and was fortunately light on major changes. The name itself refers to a presentation given in 2016 by Microsoft where the Surface Studio was unveiled – a device designed for creative with pen, numbering, a tilting screen that was glorious and a price tag to make even the most ardent Apple

Although having some creative leeway, despite the funky title, the creator's update took steps to address Microsoft's criticisms of how much data was erased by the system d & # 39; operation. A new privacy screen allowed for better control, but not the ability to turn everything off completely.

Otherwise, it was normal. Microsoft has continued to eliminate quirks in the user interface, polish the Edge browser and generally tweak the experience. For all intents and purposes, Windows 10 was maturing in the platform that it should have been at launch, but quality issues persisted.

This is the update of autumn. Fall!

Microsoft continued its vaguely insane naming strategy with the Fall Creators Update (aka 1709), which hit in October 2017. Aside from the usual plethora of polishing interface, DIY Edge, and a push for to persuade users of Microsoft's own version of virtual reality (VR) glasses, Windows Mixed Reality, there were two very important updates.

The first was the return of OneDrive's placeholder function, a lot missed from Windows 8.1. Regardless of Microsoft's claims of a total reengineering function, users were delighted to have this feature, which made cloud storage considerably more usable and arrived just in time to repel competing technologies. from DropBox.

The second key update was the completion of the Windows subsystem for Linux, allowing users to install distributions from the Microsoft Store normally moribund. It is difficult to overestimate the huge change that this represents, and it is something that would have been unthinkable a few years ago.

Final Report – good progress, we must make more effort and stop being distracted by your neighbors

update of April 2018, Microsoft had made good progress with Windows 10. Improvements to the fit and finish of the interface, combined with useful features that outclassed the thrift shop, made it a must-have platform for Windows users. the way in the form of Windows Mixed Reality and Windows 10 S (a curious reminder to the restrictive days of Windows RT) has proven to be a distraction.

Quality has also suffered, in the form of the disastrous update of April 2018 which brought some new features (such as the story viewer, Timeline) and a torrent of user complaints .

Not that Microsoft would agree.

With the next release containing a limited set of new features and Mi crosoft focusing more on polishing and fixing what's already there, the delays of Windows 7 should finally feel able to make the upgrade.

Support for Windows 7 ends in January 2020 and if Windows 10 (or Windows 365) the thing will probably end up being called here again) is still not to the taste of users of the venerable platform so it may be time to enter the wonderful world of Linux.

They have wine, after all. ®

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