Share your thoughts on the new Windows 10

[TP76]

but one I really want is color back in the title bar and transparency...

I agree, that how I have my Slackware box setup, dark gray panel with opacity controls.... unfortunately MS is all about limiting choices. Just seems that every new release is more restrictive than the last. Meanwhile Linux has hundreds of windows managers. Although I'm perfectly happy with Mate - I might be giving enlightenment a try next. The amount of flexibility and configuration settings with this manager are mind boggling. I already have 8 or 9 windows managers I can flip to within seconds, what's one more? I just have to make sure Enlightenment is fairly inobtrusive and doesn't overwrite any of the base Slackware packages.

 

[KansasSooner]

While it's true there are many desktop themes available for Linux modifying the elements of said desktops is lacking in a lot of cases, especially compared to what Windows had up through Windows 7. Ubuntu has even locked it down more now. The available tweaks are limited (and Ubuntu's default is garish to say the least) and though there are window themes that can be downloaded most don't work anymore, a lot even stopped working when Gnome 3 arrived. I don't understand why Linux won't let you customize the workspace more and why Microsoft has decided to remove a lot of the customizations.

 

[cezero]

I like it.

Saying "no" to all of the invasive stuff during installation is just the beginning, though. Have to go into settings after installation, and say "no" to about 10 pages worth of permissions after that.

Made the search bar at the bottom only "search windows".

 

[TP76]

While it's true there are many desktop themes available for Linux modifying the elements of said desktops is lacking in a lot of cases, especially compared to what Windows had up through Windows 7. Ubuntu has even locked it down more now. The available tweaks are limited (and Ubuntu's default is garish to say the least) and though there are window themes that can be downloaded most don't work anymore, a lot even stopped working when Gnome 3 arrived. I don't understand why Linux won't let you customize the workspace more and why Microsoft has decided to remove a lot of the customizations.

Try Mate KS, it's a pretty polished Gnome 2 fork. Gnome 3 is Gnome's Windows 8 and Vista rolled into one - they tried to take on too much and made some really questionable decisions. It's horrible... like Ubuntu Unity bad.

You need the right windows manager... there plenty of customizable windows managers out there (Enlightenment almost has too many layers of configuration). XFCE is another very quick small manager that's surprisingly customizable. Haven't played around with Cinnamon yet. KDE is pretty full featured, but haven't really used it much. Might load it up and use it for a week or so since I've neglected it so much.

 

[KansasSooner]

XFCE is another very quick small manager that's surprisingly customizable.

So far XFCE is the only one I've got work with RDP from the Windows side (i.e. use the Linux box remotely from a Windows box). I was hoping Zorin would work with gnome 2 settings but it failed to recognize the setting. I did try Mate on a Mint install (just like the instructions said) and it messed up big time on me.

 

[TP76]

Loaded up KDE 4.9, using it now - pretty polished, and plenty of options. Not bad. Not as fast and responsive as XFCE and Mate tho - a few too many bells and whistles.

 

[TP76]

So far XFCE is the only one I've got work with RDP from the Windows side (i.e. use the Linux box remotely from a Windows box). I was hoping Zorin would work with gnome 2 settings but it failed to recognize the setting. I did try Mate on a Mint install (just like the instructions said) and it messed up big time on me.

Compiling a windows manager for Linux can be troublesome. I had Linux Mint with Mate on my laptop and hated it - the install was easy with no hitches, but Mate on Mint wasn't quite the same. Maybe it was Mint bastardizing and limiting the Mate features, putting it's own tweaks on it. On Slackware it's fantastic.

 

[KansasSooner]

Compiling a windows manager for Linux can be troublesome.

How hard can it be to allow a user to set font type, size and color of the title bar for a window? Hell, I could do that using VB 1.0 under Windows 3.0...and it was a part of Windows through Windows 7.

 

[TP76]

How hard can it be to allow a user to set font type, size and color of the title bar for a window? Hell, I could do that using VB 1.0 under Windows 3.0...and it was a part of Windows through Windows 7.

Well, let's see... in KDE (which is what I'm in right now) looks like settings>application appearance>Fonts with about 9 different options ranging from the Title bar to general appearance.

 

[KansasSooner]

settings>application appearance>Fonts with about 9 different options ranging from the Title bar to general appearance

I'll check Zorin again tomorrow, but I'm pretty sure they've locked that down just like Ubuntu has for Unity.

 

[TP76]

Zorin looks to be using it's own homespun Windows manager. Looks like they have some compiz elements with the Cube and Stacked Windows. Compiz isn't really being maintained and it's pretty old.

Welcome - Compiz Wiki

 

[TheDayMan]

When I try to run the update to be able to sign up for Windows 10, I get an error. I've tried everything that microsoft recommends, I've arrived at I probably need to reset my computer. So that sucks...

 

[KansasSooner]

Zorin looks to be using it's own homespun Windows manager. Looks like they have some compiz elements with the Cube and Stacked Windows. Compiz isn't really being maintained and it's pretty old.

Welcome - Compiz Wiki

Yeah, but it's still kind of cool compared to the dull look of Ubuntu and Mint gave me problems every time I tried it.

 

[KansasSooner]

When I try to run the update to be able to sign up for Windows 10, I get an error. I've tried everything that microsoft recommends, I've arrived at I probably need to reset my computer. So that sucks...

You could try installing the ISO from DVD or USB. It's available here:

Windows 10

 

[TheDayMan]

You could try installing the ISO from DVD or USB. It's available here:

Windows 10

Right on. Thanks!

 

[TP76]

Yeah, but it's still kind of cool compared to the dull look of Ubuntu and Mint gave me problems every time I tried it.

It was kinda cool - I had Compiz Fusion with Emerald theme manager running with XCFE back with Slackware 12. The look of shock on Windows users' faces was priceless.

Lost it's novelty very quickly tho... it was somewhat buggy and after a few weeks I removed it from my system.

Spinning transparent 3d cube, Burning windows, exploding windows, wobbly windows, windows that vanish into a genie bottle... I'd rather have system stability, than wonder if some weird effect is going to crash my x-window system.

 

[KansasSooner]

Spinning transparent 3d cube, Burning windows, exploding windows, wobbly windows, windows that vanish into a genie bottle...

I don't think they included that in Zorin, at least I haven't seen it in Zorin. But yeah I remember it from another small distro I looked at once...didn't really care for all that.

 

[TP76]

Well - I couldn't take anymore of KDE back to Mate, going to have to downgrade it from OK, to kinda sucks. Not a fan at all, maybe I'll try it again when it's on version 6.X.

 

[TP76]

I like it.

Saying "no" to all of the invasive stuff during installation is just the beginning, though. Have to go into settings after installation, and say "no" to about 10 pages worth of permissions after that.

Made the search bar at the bottom only "search windows".

MS is not selling operating systems anymore - they're selling you!

 

[night]

What is the consensus here? Is the upgrade worth it?