Windows 10 Is Making Too Many PCs Obsolete. REALLY???

[DougGuy]

I have been saying this for YEARS!

Microsoft, is actively engaging in a plan that will render your not too old computers USELESS to run windows 10. They FORCED Windows 10 update/upgrades on all of us, now they are FORCING millions of windows users' hardware into early retirement because they won't support the hardware, BECAUSE they want you to go buy newer faster hardware to run Windows with!

This keeps the hardware makers in business, so Microsoft will still have a market to sell their software! It's all a BIG CONSPIRACY!

Well, let me introduce you to the world of Linux, where MANY distributions of this FREE open source operating system have been diligently working their behooties off making linux easier and safer for Windows users to simply flip Microsoft the bird and move on over!

Linux Mint is probably the best of the user friendly distros, it is also the most downloaded of all the various flavors of Linux, it is fast, safe, and runs without issue on your old hardware, yes the same hardware that is no longer supported in Windows 10! You mean theres nothing wrong with the CPU and Motherboard? Wake up and smell the coffee my friends, the time to get away from Microsoft is now and the way to do this is by using Linux.

It is a free download, it runs like you would expect it to run, and the Cinnamon desktop environment is SO user friendly for a Windows user, you can't go wrong. Most of the software you run in Windows will run in Linux once Wine (a Windows emulator, installed in Linux Mint when you get it) is installed, and the list of stuff that won't run in Linux is getting shorter every day. It already does everything that M$ Office does, for FREE, with Libre Office, there are free CAD programs, just about everything you can think of, is free open source in Linux. QuickLoad very happily runs in it and there is more that will also run.
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Windows 10 is making too many PCs obsolete


Windows 10 will be supported until Oct. 14, 2025 — unless your computer has a Clover Trail CPU. Then you’re out of luck.

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols By Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols

Computerworld | Jul 24, 2017 4:00 AM PT
computer waste junk pile [DOKUMOL / CC0 via Pixabay]
Credit: DOKUMOL

Opinion by Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols


Microsoft released its latest Windows 10 update earlier this year. The name, Creators Update,makes it sound bigger than it is; it’s really a minor step forward. But about 10 million Windows 10 customers have to face up to an unpleasant surprise: Their machines can’t update to Creators Update.

That’s how many poor sad sacks bought a Windows 8.x laptop in 2013 or 2014 with an Intel Clover Trail processor. Any of them who have tried to update their PC with the March 2017 Creators Update, version 1703, had no success and were presented with this message: “Windows 10 is no longer supported on this PC.” Boy, that must have been fun!

Not the end of the road for your three-year-old machine, though. I mean, you could always keep running the last version of Windows 10 on your PC. It wasn’t as if you went directly to a permanent blue screen of death. And anyway, Microsoft eventually backed off some, announcing that, while you can’t update those machines, you can still get security patches.

Now, that’s one giant corporation with a big heart.

I remember when Microsoft was forcing “upgrades” to Windows 10 down our throats. There you were with a machine on the low end of Windows 10 hardware compatibility. You might have had some doubts about making the move to 10, but Microsoft was just so persistent. You must be pleased as punch you surrendered now.

Some people have told me that it’s not fair of me to expect Microsoft to support aging hardware. That’s bull, and I’ll tell you why.

You may have noticed that PC sales have been declining for years. Know why? PCs last for years. I’m still running computers that are over a decade old.

If it’s not broke, don’t fix it. Better still, don’t spend your IT money replacing it.

PCs aren’t smartphones, which die in two to four years. I expect my PCs to last for at least ten years — especially when I’m running desktop Linux on them.

But what do I expect? Of course Windows 10 needs more hardware muscle than older systems can supply. But tell me — I’m serious — what the heck did Windows 10 add to PCs that was worth having? I can’t think of a thing. Windows 7, to me, is still the best version of Windows. Microsoft, of course, wants you off Windows 7.

People tell me, “No, no, we need new powerful hardware to deal with today’s operating systems and applications.”

Really? Excuse me if I missed something, but aren’t we moving our applications to the cloud? Sure, if you’re editing videos on your PC, you need power. But I can do 99% of my work on an ARM-powered Chromebook with 2GBs of RAM. So can you, I would bet.

So tell me, Microsoft, why can’t you fully support Windows 10 on these older PCs? They’re not that old, and they can already run the earlier versions.

Admittedly, the first generation of Clover Trail was … odd. The graphic processing units in Clover Trail PCs were underpowered from day one. Still, Microsoft urged Clover Trail owners to move to Windows 10 just as tirelessly as it did those running PCs with a best-of-breed 2015 i7 Skylake processor.

I’m ticked off not just that Microsoft is willing to dump customers. It’s that it is treating poorly people who upgraded in good faith. To my mind, Microsoft made an implicit promise that it would be there for these customers. It has broken that promise, and those customers deserve better.

But, looking ahead, why should I believe that Microsoft won’t dump me, with my powerful, but no longer new, chips, on the next go-round?

Yes, I get it. Microsoft can’t support old hardware forever. But maybe Microsoft should adjust its business model in recognition of the fact that today’s hardware doesn’t become obsolete as fast as yesterday’s hardware did. And maybe, when it introduces a new operating system that demands a lot more from hardware, it should throw in a few new features that make it all worthwhile.

Or maybe you would like me to introduce you to a nice Chromebook or suggest you try, say, Mint Linux on your PC. I think you’ll be a lot happier, and if you’re already running mostly cloud-based applications, you won’t be missing anything by bidding Windows adieu.
Related:



Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols has been writing about technology and the business of technology since CP/M-80 was the cutting-edge PC operating system, 300bps was a fast Internet connection, WordStar was the state-of-the-art word processor, and we liked it!


http://www.computerworld.com/article...-obsolete.html

[Riverpigusmc]

yep. My PC stealth loaded 10 one night, and now my PC will not see the CD drive. HP says nothing can be done

[Idz]

The old folks running unsupported WinXP have discovered the system is much more stable, virus attacks have greatly diminished, and software just works. Most of the problems with computers began when Microsoft and other system managers demanded continuous connection to the internet to allow them to backdoor 'update' your computer. Those same open doors are what hackers use. Most of the updates pushed out are to close the doors to some hack but never to lock the door. We never had hacking problems on the old telephones because they were only connected when you picked them up. What is needed is an operating system and a switch on the computer that you switch on to connect to the internet when you want to and the rest of the time you can work while disconnected from the hackers.

[cuzinbruce]

Windows 10 is the worst piece of maggotware I have ever encountered. Slow, unstable, ***. I have to do a powerdown reboot once or twice a day. The Creator's Update added icons to the start menu for trash like GroovTunes. The picture viewer wants to intrude into everything, organizing collections, albums, folders, without regard for what I want to do. I try to burn the images on a SD card to a CD, Win10 intrudes but doesn't recognize NEF files (Nikon RAW), only jpg's. Still haven't been able to get that done. Crashed it the first week I had the laptop playing SOLITAIRE! Total crash, had to figure out that holding the start button down long enough will finally turn it off, regardless. I had Win7 before. Everything has been changed. Not where it used to be, behind a drop down box, or whatever. Reason is to invalidate everything users had learned on previous systems. And the Acer laptop is total ****. Last one was fine, used it for years. Still having to use it because the new one (new 12/2016) is so miserable. The "Precision Touchpad" is anything but precise. The fools are trying to turn the computer into some kind of iPhone. Using "gestures" to scroll up or down. Tap with one finger to do one thing, tap with two fingers to do other things. But just brush it and it does something you don't want. They did away with the right and left mouse buttons, now part of the touchpad, but don't work worth a darn. And Windows 10 came loaded with all kinds of ****, McAfee (which protects against NOTHING), Amazon, eBay, Skype, a password manager, Windows Office and more. I cold go on and on. Windows 10 is miserable. And the new Acer laptop is total ****. I will NEVER buy anything that says ACER again. The one before was fine but they really screwed up with this one. Enough for now.

[Bookworm]

I recently suffered a non-recoverable problem on my 3 year-old desktop. I took it to a local guy, had him put Windows 8 Pro on it.
He tried to push W10 on me, probably because he had it, but I refused.

If it happens again, Linux is where I'm going.

[NoAngel]

I know Apple has their own share of issues but that ain't one of them. Really, didn't you guys learn anything from Vista?

[rockrat]

I had an old Win 8 laptop computer, wife decided to use. It was still NIB and when she started to use it, it downloaded win 10. She has almost thrown it thru the wall at times. My old win 8 laptop seems to keep on plugging along, but I disabled the auto update long ago.

[Tom W.]

So how would someone like me who never saw anything but Windows download Linux Mint? And would Windows still be on my laptop?

[dragon813gt]

I have a Lenovo Ultrabook that's running Win 8.1. My work laptop is a Dell running Win 7. Win 7 is great but doesn't support a touch screen. And for causal internet browsing around the house I really like the touchscreen on the Lenovo. It's useless for any real work but convenient when it's resting on your lap and you're playing catch w/ your 3yo at the same time. He won't leave me alone when I'm home

More than anything paying on a monthly basis to use a piece of software is what bothers me. I want to buy it and be done. It's what pushed me away from MS Office into Open Office. Which has more options but isn't as user friendly, at first. MS is shooting themselves on multiple fronts.

I'm sure I will try Linux at some point in the future. And I feel sorry for the people that were either forced or inadvertently upgraded to Win 10. I was not going to let that turd onto my computer strictly because of how intrusive it is. I can't tell you how many things I had to turn off on my step daughters laptop. Win 10 is one big spyware program IMO.

[popper]

I want to buy it and be done.

Sorry, Win 3.2 was the last of that. Too many issues that users wanted to fix and lawsuits abound.. MS fixed that by RENTING it to you. Then everybody decided to follow suit. Every time they changed CEO, SW got rewritten. Registry has gotten changes many times.

if you’re already running mostly cloud-based applications

The new $maker for MS.
Never tried Cimmeron desktop, big problem with Linux is the failure mode - of the DOS. Maybe fixed in new stuff, node crashes were common on PCs.

[WebMonkey]

Xubuntu is what I like to install for migrating winxp~7 users.
The desktop is very similar in look&feel.
Mint/mate are also in my distro library.
My most powerful PC though still runs 7.
You can see why @
Www.qrz.com and "lookup" kb0wlf

[Handloader109]

Well my desktop downloaded and installed win10 and I couldn't stop it. So far except for allowing intrusions and bu ning thru my internet usage, it's been decent. I would have rather stayed with 7. Best since xp. I've two older laptops running win7 pro. One does ok, other is way slow. But works for a couple of applications... Darn Microsoft!

[dragon813gt]

Sorry, Win 3.2 was the last of that. Too many issues that users wanted to fix and lawsuits abound.. MS fixed that by RENTING it to you. Then everybody decided to follow suit. Every time they changed CEO, SW got rewritten. Registry has gotten changes many times.

I said software, not OS. I understand the OS is going to be updated on a regular basis. But I don't have to pay for these updates. I can refuse them and the computer will still work. No money changes hands after my initial purchase.

Now software like MS Office is being billed on a monthly basis. Don't pay the bill, the program no longer works. Before you paid for the software once and it worked. You got updates for free sometimes. Sometimes you had to pay for it. But the software worked as long as the computer did. This is what I have a problem w/. I don't want updates all the time. I want a program that I paid for that works every time I open it.

[Paper Puncher]

So how would someone like me who never saw anything but Windows download Linux Mint? And would Windows still be on my laptop?

I am not familiar with the Mint version of Linux. I use the Ubuntu version. You can go to https://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop the Ubuntu download site and at the bottom of the page in the center there is "How to create a bootable USB stick on Windows" It is a sort of tutorial. By putting Ubuntu on a USB stick you can try it out without changing anything on your computer.

If you decide to load Ubuntu on your computer there is a dual boot option. It leaves windows on your machine and lets you choose which operating system you want to start.

[DougGuy]

So how would someone like me who never saw anything but Windows download Linux Mint? And would Windows still be on my laptop?

First thing you would need is the Linux Mint OS on a bootable USB drive (IF your laptop supports booting from USB!). A couple of ways to do it. The easiest way is to go downlod an app called Etcher https://etcher.io/ which is so simple to make a bootable USB stick with it's sick how easy it is. You can download the portable version of Etcher, run it, select the Linux Mint .iso file, select the USB stick, and click FLASH and it does the rest.

What Windows are you running on it now? You would need to know if it is a 64bit machine or 32bit. Most newer stuff is 64bit and will easily support booting from USB. If it has more than 3GB of ram in it, it is a 64bit system because 32bit cannot address more than 3gb.

Anyway, you would download the Linux Mint iso, burn it to USB as I described, boot off the USB and you can run Linux in a live version without writing anything to your hard drive or changing anything at all, it will run a full blown Linux Mint operating system from ram.

If you want to then install Linux Mint, you can opt to install it so you can use both Linux and Windows, or you can take Windows completely off the drive, (not recommended just yet).

What I do, is get a separate solid state drive and stick it in the laptop and load linux on it, saving the drive with windows on it in case you want to go back.

[waksupi]

yep. My PC stealth loaded 10 one night, and now my PC will not see the CD drive. HP says nothing can be done

Happened to me, too. I restarted in safe mode, removed all the W10 files, and blocked it from future updates. Worked fine.

[nicholst55]

I installed Win GWX Control Panel, and it blocks all that Windows 10 nonsense. It runs seamlessly in the background, and automatically blocks all Win 10 'updates.'

[GhostHawk]

My wife and I each have an Asus T100 convertable tablet running win 8.1.

After our backup Win 8 laptop upgraded to win 10 while it was supposedly shut down I installed never10 on both our systems.

The latest release of Win 10 won't allow you to install software from anywhere other than MS or the App store.

I have played off and on with varius Linux distro's for 20 years but the fly in the oinment was always direct x. Linux simply could not run the games windows systems could.

I am hoping this has or will change soon. Getting tired of Microsoft.

[TexasGrunt]

I've got a 4 year old Asus ROG laptop. It's updated to Win10 and I have no problems with it. The best version of Windows in years. IMHO Windows 8 sucked. There's a big reason there was no Windows 9.

I do two things with my computer. Surf the web, and play either Diablo 3 or No Man's Sky. I also play a bit of Civ VI and a couple of other games.

I have a feeling most problems are due to the carbon keyboard interface.

[kayala]

I went to OSX about 6-7 years ago, never looked back since.