Looking for a killer app in Windows 10

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Can you find one? I sure can’t. InfoWorld Woody on Windows
[See the full post at: Looking for a killer app in Windows 10]

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If there is one, you will probably have to buy it from the Windows Store.

Have you seen the price of Tums? It's enough to give you heartburn.

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“The new Start menu looks nice, but it isn’t nearly as useful as Windows 7’s –all of those apps in a massive, unmanageable blob still makes me cringe.”

Incredible ! W 7 Start menu is not stellar, by a long shot. Managing to downgrade that in W 10 is quite an achievement…

In order to reach a program in my W 7 Start menu (after careful customisation), I have to :

– Click on Start menu
– Click on All Programs

That’s one extra, totally useless step.

Generally speaking, the whole hullabalo around Windows Start menus is ridiculous. You mean, we have this huge piece of software called an operating system, and we’re arguing about a tiny dangling bit named Start menu ?

This should be a no-brainer. Do we have Start menus, debates about Start menus and philosophical doctrines of Start menus in Firefox, Word, Google, Twitter… you name it ?

I once read that Microsoft had a whole, dedicated developers team for… that’s right, Windows Start menu. And they still can’t get it straight. The Start menu, in my supposedly superior W 7, still looks like it was put together by committee, with no unified look, unrelated bits and bytes stuck together, clunky logic — and looking totally different from the rest of Windows.

Oh, and it’s a pain to customise (which you have to do). As for saving the customisation, forget it.

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Adobe Flash!!

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Nope, I haven’t spotted one yet.

Last I looked – and I admit it was in the time of build 10586 being fresh – even the Apps made by Microsoft themselves were nothing to write home about. Many folks say that Gadgets were better, and I can’t say I disagree.

I remember when things like supplied games (e.g., Solitaire) did things that few others had ever accomplished – e.g., animation, which was impressive in an era when computers weren’t even 1/1000th as powerful.

Kind of says the Metro/Modern/Universal environment is kind of lacking, doesn’t it?

Maybe serious effort really DOES need to go into building an application (note: specifically differentiated in spelling from “app”) in order for it to be useful or impressive.

We’ve had web browsers for a long time now. So given that I can visit weather.com tell me, why do I really need a Weather App that’s thrown together from a few lines of web-like code?

Cloud integration should facilitate more and better communication, right? So why have we lost the ability to transfer files via Skype? Why has the Feedback App virtually NEVER worked right? Why is Calculator still limited to 64 bit numbers?

Why should we put up with privacy invasion with no actual upside to make it worthwhile?

-Noel

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I’m sorry I misread the title…

I thought it said looking for an app to KILL Windows 10…

never mind…

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These people are out of ideas. If they had some, they wouldn’t need to coerce or trick users into adopting Win10.

Desperate characters…

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The 31 day ability to roll back to Win 7?

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HA!

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Pokemon Go! Killer App

People have been both seen and caught playing while driving. One day someone will be killed

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You can drag&drop the most used ones above the “All Programs”, and order them as you wish. And if you use many programs you may uncheck the “Use large icons” box then drag more apps to there.

You can find that box by Right clicking on the Start button > Properties > Customize… > Use large icons

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That is the a Win 7 backup app. Nothing to do with Win 10. 🙂

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If Microsoft had had the sense to buy out Ivo Beltchev’s Classic Shell – whose “Classic” style is STILL better/more useful than anything Microsoft has ever implemented – EVEN IF they just made the Classic Shell modes optional, I’d have listed that as a must-have feature for Win 10.

But noooooo….

Since I have to add it manually, and deal with Microsoft’s petty “application is incompatible” declarations (presumably because they want to force users to see their ad board), that’s at least two reasons NOT to like Win 10!

Bigger picture-wise… Microsoft tried (possibly somewhat successfully) to deflect the public outcry over de-focusing on the Desktop – where the work gets done – into a pigeon hole: Loss of the start menu in Win 8.1. That was clearly a long-term strategy to get everyone to think they’ve capitulated and are now heroes for giving back what the public wanted.

We see what you did there, Microsoft.

-Noel

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Interesting article, looks like the French data authorities are looking into Win 10 at last. It’s time someone did

http://www.techrepublic.com/article/windows-10-collects-too-much-user-data-lacks-security-says-watchdog/?ftag=TRE684d531&bhid=24599977487960047840462147647251

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Hear, Hear Noel;

+1 ur comments.
Love Classic Shell.
JF

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@Bernie
Distracted driving has become as dangerous, if not more, than DUI with many people. Younger people in particular, although not the only offenders, seem totally oblivious to the risk to themselves and others of using smartphones, etc. to text and do whatever while on the road. People are being killed and injured and the public education campaigns are ineffective. When you see as many drivers as I do going down the road looking into their laps, you know they are doing a lot besides driving. I guess the devices got smarter faster than the people using them.

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I doubt if many people would be surprised that MS is getting pushback in Europe. Finally MS is encountering criticism that it may not entirely ignore and something like this is past due in respect to Win 10. Much of the Win 10 EULA should be deemed invalid and unenforceable. MS was always long on arrogance but the last year has really gone entirely over the top. The US is still far too permissive regarding the privacy rights of licensed users but I suspect things are going to change as people have become much more aware of the issues involved than even just a few years ago.

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Actually, I’ve made a Windows Explorer Favorite out of my Start Menu folder, and I do all my filing of program shortcuts there.

So I get the benefit of a normal and ages-old logic of folders, sub-folders, moving, renaming and whatnot, instead of having to cope with that devilish non-Windows window called the Start Menu, which insists on jumping shut whenever it likes.

Unfortunately, Windows thinks that only administrators should work in the Start Menu. Since I work by default under a non-admin user account, each and every change has to be validated by the admin password. Copy a shortcut, type your password. Create a subfolder to accomodate the shortcut, type your password. Correct a typo in the shortcut’s name, type your password. Grrr…

When I’ve had enough, I change users and go under admin, but that’s a pain for such a non-critical and frequent management task.

On the other hand, installing most software under my non-admin user account is a breeze. In spite of the fact that installing software is supposed to be one of the most dangerous things you can do. Go figure…

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Trick question about killer app, but easy to answer:

1. Windows 10 is a way out of Windows 8
…just like…
2. Windows 7 was a way out of Windows Vista
…and just like…
3. Windows XP was a way out of Windows Me

Has the “killer app” ever been other than a means to flee a prior dud version of Windows? Wouldn’t a lot of people have been content to remain with Windows XP and now Windows 7?

I personally do not see a compelling reason (to date) to prefer Windows 10 over Windows 7 (although Microsoft killing the Windows Update mechanism for Windows 7 for the better part of a year has been pretty insufferable)….

For my type of usage, Windows 7 has been rock solid. Rock solid is the killer app I want most. Not sure Windows 10 is there even after a year.

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Good point, but Win7 had a LOT of killer apps – several categories of them.

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Such as? (Networking is not a killer app.)

PC World is more positive than InfoWorld:

10 compelling reasons to upgrade to Windows 10
http://www.pcworld.com/article/3093793/windows/10-compelling-reasons-to-upgrade-to-windows-10.html

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Also see Brad’s take from earlier this month:

http://www.pcworld.com/article/3092365/windows/10-reasons-why-you-shouldnt-upgrade-to-windows-10.html

And my take from last year:

http://www.infoworld.com/article/2954263/microsoft-windows/10-reasons-you-should-upgrade-to-windows-10.html

I’m not saying Win10 is bad – I’ve been using it for nearly two years, and I’ve written two 1,000-page books on the topic. I’ve also converted all of my production machines to Win10. But there are many, valid reasons for sticking with Win 7 or 8.1.

Networking enables many killer apps – and the difference in networking between XP and 7 is enormous.

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I think there are some games that involve shooting people. Those are probably the only killer apps I know about.

Windows 8.1 seems to do everything 10 does except the start menu –leading me to believe that Windows 8.1 with Classic Shell is one of the best laid-out, most stable choices for an OS we have right now. I’d go as far as to call Windows 10 “Windows 8.2: Now with a Start Menu”. Oh, and more telemetry.

(Disclaimer: I use 7, 8.1, and 10, and have nothing against 10 now that I feel it’s a stable daily driver).

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