Microsoft Makes Windows 10 'Recommended' Update, Not 'Required'

[kewlguy239]

Microsoft quietly made its optional Windows 10 update for Windows 7 and 8.1 users into a “recommended” update, and your system may automatically upgrade to the new operating system depending on your Windows Update settings.

Microsoft Makes Windows 10 'Recommended' Update, Not 'Required' : Read more

 

[TechyInAZ]

Of course Microsoft had to do this. Please learn that forcing your customers to do stuff makes them mad.

 

[ricdiculus]

Want me to upgrade? Give me at least an option to buy media center. Was really looking forward to Win10, until I learned they removed it. The only thing I use my home pc for is media consumption. WMC allowed me to do the 10ft experience very well and without it, I have no real need to upgrade. Actually I cant if I wish to keep using my HTPC the way it is. I would gladly have paid for WMC if they'd have let me.

 

[Durandul]

Want me to upgrade? Give me at least an option to buy media center. Was really looking forward to Win10, until I learned they removed it. The only thing I use my home pc for is media consumption. WMC allowed me to do the 10ft experience very well and without it, I have no real need to upgrade. Actually I cant if I wish to keep using my HTPC the way it is. I would gladly have paid for WMC if they'd have let me.

XBMC bro, XBMC.

 

[Quixit]

Want me to upgrade? Give me at least an option to buy media center. Was really looking forward to Win10, until I learned they removed it. The only thing I use my home pc for is media consumption. WMC allowed me to do the 10ft experience very well and without it, I have no real need to upgrade. Actually I cant if I wish to keep using my HTPC the way it is. I would gladly have paid for WMC if they'd have let me.

Kodi is a pretty good replacement for Media Center, with a 10-foot interface.

 

[norseman4]

XBMC bro, XBMC.

The experiments that I have done with alternate HTPC applications I could not get my tv tuners to work with, but the setup in WMC is a snap. (XBMC/Kodi has a very sharp interface though)

(My issues could have been that WMC was installed and reserving the tuners.)

 

[velocityg4]

I love that they say people can just change their update settings or manually disable the update. As if the average user understands this. Computer geeks for the most part can't seem to comprehend how clueless the average person is. What seems like a basic concept to us is unintelligible to them.

I suppose for me this is a good thing. As I'll get an influx of business from confused clients. So, uhm, thanks MS.

Seriously I prefer to deal with real problems. Not cleaning up the mess caused by an arrogant companies policy change.

 

[targetdrone]

So what happens after July when the free upgrade to Win10 offer expires or did Micro$oft that too?

 

[rhidir]

Kodi is great - unless you have a cablecard! In any case M$ has Fd Up the Guide to the point that WMC is almost unusable. Almost but thanks to a great effort from a few users on thegreenbutton there is a workaround for the guide problems.

The ones that really got the shaft by M$ are the Windows 8 users that paid for WMC addon and were promptly abandoned.

 

[DrakeFS]

The experiments that I have done with alternate HTPC applications I could not get my tv tuners to work with, but the setup in WMC is a snap. (XBMC/Kodi has a very sharp interface though)

(My issues could have been that WMC was installed and reserving the tuners.)

SilconDust (HDHomerun tuners) has an add-in for live TV with Kodi. It works great, however, last I checked there was no DVR functionality working (it is planned).

XBMC bro, XBMC.

Kodi was not built for OTA TV and requires add-ins to get it working. WMC is still the best OTA DVR on available. Nothing I have used ( Myth TV and NextPVR) even comes close to the ease of use and setup. The most important part of WMC is the built in guide. SilconDust provides this for their plugin as well but until they have a respectable DVR portion built in, I am sticking with WMC.

I am stuck on Win7 (on my HTPC) until SilconDust finishes their add-in. Then I get to test it out and see if it will work for me.

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

It's better than 7 or 8 , no reason not to upgrade.

 

[SteelCity1981]

good im perfectly happy with my windows 7.

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

I'd be happier with a 7th Super Bowl win!!!!!

 

[Ed Chombeau]

Tah Dah; much ado about nothing. Just get used to W10; you will have to anyway--just a matter of time. Of course you can use other OS's besides Windows. Go-ahead.

 

[surphninja]

Even the voluntary upgrade had trouble, with it being pushed to incompatible devices and bugs/crashes during the installation. Making it a forced update on unsuspecting users is going to blow the doors open on problems. So be prepared for your family members to be calling after their systems crash.

Can't believe they're claiming this is "to help customers." This is to help Microsoft. They set an unrealistic goal of Windows 10 devices, and now they're trying to spare themselves the embarrassment of not reaching that.

If they'd just cave and give users the changes they want, this type of coercion wouldn't be necessary; positive word of mouth would get people on board faster than anything. It seems Microsoft didn't learn their lesson with Windows 8: build the OS that best serves the users' needs- no an OS that serves Microsoft's needs.

 

[Ed Chombeau]

Even the voluntary upgrade had trouble, with it being pushed to incompatible devices and bugs/crashes during the installation. Making it a forced update on unsuspecting users is going to blow the doors open on problems. So be prepared for your family members to be calling after their systems crash.

Can't believe they're claiming this is "to help customers." This is to help Microsoft. They set an unrealistic goal of Windows 10 devices, and now they're trying to spare themselves the embarrassment of not reaching that.

If they'd just cave and give users the changes they want, this type of coercion wouldn't be necessary; positive word of mouth would get people on board faster than anything. It seems Microsoft didn't learn their lesson with Windows 8: build the OS that best serves the users' needs- no an OS that serves Microsoft's needs.

 

[Ed Chombeau]

OK; I know that; just facing reality; I can adapt. I know much of MS's help is often useless; but it can be helpful to the novice who has no clue; on what to do about anything.

 

[Tanyac]

I wouldn't upgrade to a new car when my current one is working perfectly, just because they released a new model. My existing car is a single color, whereas the new one is multicolored and has square wheels and a bunch of the new features either fail or just don't work. Then they release updates that wireless and magically update my car as I drive past other drivers and the car suddenly stalls in the middle of a busy highway.

It's the same with Windows 10.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it. "MY" PC just works all day everyday.

 

[ricdiculus]

Want me to upgrade? Give me at least an option to buy media center. Was really looking forward to Win10, until I learned they removed it. The only thing I use my home pc for is media consumption. WMC allowed me to do the 10ft experience very well and without it, I have no real need to upgrade. Actually I cant if I wish to keep using my HTPC the way it is. I would gladly have paid for WMC if they'd have let me.

XBMC bro, XBMC.

I am indeed looking into Kodi/XBMC, but at the moment there is no official support for MyMovies, which is the center piece of my theater set-up. AnyDVD, MyMovies, Imon remote manager, and (at least for now) TotalMedia Theater. The only way I know of making all these things play together seemlessly, is through Windows Media center. It's all packed into a nice silverstone case with 20 terabytes of storage (all VOB folders or BluRay ISO's, in there native format) and it really is a very slick set-up all completely controlled from a Logitech Harmony900 remote.

 

[Murray Henley]

Dear Microsoft, If you want me to upgrade from my perfectly functional Windows 7 to Windows 10, you have to give me something of value in return. I don't care about Cortana and would disable it. I don't care about your "store" and "apps." I don't care about having Skype built-in. All these are fluff. I don't want Windows 10 encryption which is conditionnal on logging in with a Microsoft account... and won't work on my 4-year-old system because the mobo has no TPM.

As I made the mistake of buying Windows 7 64 Home Premium instead of Pro, here is what would make me upgrade to Windows 10 : include Bitlocker for free with Windows 10 Home. Bitlocker is the only feature that I miss with my current Windows 7 OS.

 

[therealduckofdeath]

I can definitely understand why they're doing this. The internet trolls and "knowledgeable" friend and family advisor use FUD to get those who don't know nor bother to care much about what their PC is running stick to old software. Often with the silliest arguments. The same trolls and chronic haters are probably busy doing the reverse about Android. "Waah, why isn't manufacturer X updating their s**t to 6.0?!"....

 

[Crashman]

Want me to upgrade? Give me at least an option to buy media center. Was really looking forward to Win10, until I learned they removed it. The only thing I use my home pc for is media consumption. WMC allowed me to do the 10ft experience very well and without it, I have no real need to upgrade. Actually I cant if I wish to keep using my HTPC the way it is. I would gladly have paid for WMC if they'd have let me.

XBMC bro, XBMC.

WTF? Cablecard Bro

It's better than 7 or 8 , no reason not to upgrade.

Unless you actually have a cablecard tuner and want to keep using it. I don't need any BS over "get your programs over the internet" when some of those programs take a week to get here and all of them require huge bandwidth. "Buy a better connection then", yeh, pay more to do what you're already doing right? "Rent a cable box" when I'm sitting at my PC? And have less control over my programming? I play the lengthy parts of shows in fast forward mode, cable boxes lose audio when you do that. "Then watch less TV"...

You see, all of those workarounds sound like they come from an authoritarian regime, not a company attempting to retain customer loyalty.

 

[PNP Andy]

Can anybody confirm when this is happening? I'm going to have a lot of confused customers and I'd like to staff appropriately.

 

[Nossy]

That's some messed up crap. Forcing water into me when I'm not thirsty - it's almost like waterboarding me.

 

[bigpinkdragon286]

There is absolutely zero replacement for the full functionality of WMC. I spent quite a bit of time looking, and frankly, XBMC and Kodi, etc., really aren't solutions, and for what they do replace, the functionality or quality of the offerings is distinguishably worse. Until WMC or a suitable replacement is reliably available for Windows 10, all of the HTPCs I have built and set up are unable to be upgraded, and all new boxes that may have a tuner card are not going to have Windows 10 either. I would like to add, I too would gladly pay for WMC in Windows, provided of course it hasn't been somehow stripped of functionality. What I suspect is, Microsoft had to kill off the free, pack in WMC in order to roll out a new version that they can monetize. That seems to be the case with all of their offerings going forward.

"Cablecard Bro" - Spot on with this comment. People offering XBMC or other software as solutions, don't understand the problem they are offering to solve.