But not Windows 8? I avoided 8.1 because I didn't like the changes regarding privacy. My guess is that Windows 10 will be even worse. By service Microsoft probably means a method to sell users to advertisers.

@ Kit

I do not know what the actual situation is yet but I think we should hold off on the negative assumptions for now.

Who knows, maybe it is actually better. I will do my usual cloned backups and give it a go and see for myself. Then I will decide if it deserves negative and/or positive comments.

I wonder what the difference is between 10 and 8.1. I find 8.1 the best MS OS since 2k. I can't say anything bad about it so far and I've been using it exclusively for a year now.

Holographic lens, Cortana for PC, Xbox app also unveiled

Mike

Well I always hope to be pleasantly surprised but after 8.1 have my doubts. I don't like the general push toward the cloud. Anyway, more info from the BBC.

"Developers are not paying much attention to Windows for mass market consumer apps, and you could even argue that for enterprise software most of the energy is going into mobile apps for iPad and Android tablets."

A bit of deja vu here, when IBM PCs and compatibles started to overrun main frame computers. Microsoft was the winner then. Who will be the next winner? Apple, Google?

The word "service" scares me. I see all sorts of denials that Windows 10 will be a subscription based OS, but that sure is what it sounds like. It sounds like it will be free for a year, and after that if you want the "service" of getting security updates, you will have to pay a monthly fee. I really hope I'm wrong, but that's what it sounds like.

Given that Microsoft's latest Office offering introduced a subscription model, Laurence's speculation about Windows 10 possibly devolving into a subscription arrangement after the 1 year free period may not be all that too far-fetched (no offence meant).

With that in mind, I think that I'll defer updating to 10 until things become clear.

I think it's time for some company to start making drivers for old stuff to new OS's unless Microsoft has this tied up into a knot.
JJK

It's too early to tell but if Win 10 becomes subscription after a year it will be a disaster for MS. Knowing this upfront no one will upgrade and if they sneak this in after the year is up then I know I'll be reinstalling Win 8.1. I hope many of us will save a clone of our Win 7/8.1 installations because I don't expect to install much new software during the free Win 10 period so it won't take long to roll-back.

Other than that, I'm looking forward to new improvements in back-up, stability and security. I'm not too bothered about all the touch and voice features.

can Vegas run on Linux?

I've heard of some limited success getting Vegas to run under Linux/WINE, but that was back with the old XP-compatible versions. I don't know if WINE has kept pace with the new Vista/7/8 APIs.

I watched the whole presentation yesterday and have since followed up on Reddit in the Windows & Windows Phone subreddits and the fear of a Windows 10 subscription model has already been addressed as not going to happen according to Microsoft's Terry Myerson in this article: http://www.pcgamer.com/microsoft-windows-10-will-not-be-sold-as-a-subscription/

I'd bet MS makes Windows free in the next 5 years and charges for everything else. I'm thinking this will happen because they're still THE OS for computers. Apple might have iJunk but I know people who thought they STOPPED selling desktops years ago. And those people owned iJunk. Go figure. :)

I've said it before and I'll say it again, everyone I know who's USED Win 8/8.1 for a bit like it better and don't want to go back. If 10 goes back to the old "slow" way of doing things I'll wait. I didn't get XP until 2k support stop, I can do the same with 8.1.

@TheHappyFriar - I"m guessing that although Microsoft has reintroduced the start button, I wouldn't be surprised if you can still go full Metro/Modern UI for those that want it. It seems to me after listening to the full presentation yesterday that the new leadership at Microsoft is finally listening to those 1.5 billion users they said are using Windows. I even committed to the Windows Phone completely as of this month ordering a Lumia 1520 Phablet and have moved my business email and calendaring to Office365 Business Essentials for a whopping $6/month per user (me being the only user). A monthly Office365 Home subscription for very latest Word, PowerPoint, Excel and Outlook costs $10/month for 5 users and each user gets 1TB of OneDrive cloud storage - a screaming deal IMO. After a month of testing I realized that Microsoft has learned some important, if not painful lessons on how to do things.

But I refuse to subscribe to Adobe's software given they have had numerous issues with their users having connectivity problems and having the software quit working in the middle of projects from what I've read.

I need to reassess Vegas Pro again after my tirade in December around it. I was under deadline pressures from several projects and now that I have some down time, it will give me an opportunity to retest and determine if it's a right move for me or not.

Windows 8 was quite cheap when it first came out (about $50 from memory). Since I am a sucker for bargains, I bought it. It is still on the shelf gathering dust. I have not felt the need to install it and learn a new interface. I am almost reconciled to Windows 7's idiosyncrasies.

I'm curious, what do you like better in 8.1 than 8 and why move from 7? I have 8 on a hybrid machine but honestly without Classic Shell to fix File Explorer it would be unusable. I especially dislike the wordy file copying that comes with 8. Unfortunately Classic Shell doesn't fix it. It does with 7. What is faster about 8/8.1? Thanks.

When Windows 8 came out I immediately tried to update my studio computer. That computer is an Lenovo all-in-one model where everything is built into the screen and uses mostly laptop parts. Unlike most though it is a reasonably powerful quad core i7 with 16GB of RAM and an nVidia graphics card.

The attempt was a definite failure as there simply weren't drivers for the laptop style components that would work with Windows 8.1. I could update it, but not if I wanted bluetooth, ethernet, wifi, etc.

My other computer is a Dell laptop. I wonder if Windows 10 will be close enough that the existing drivers work, or if they will be a bit more on top of driver development this time if they aren't.

I think all they meant was that if you upgrade in the first year after it's released it's free. You won't be charged anything else after that, ever. They may charge you for future versions, but if you have win. 7 or 8 now and upgrade to 10 within the first 12 months you get it for free, that's all.

@Kit
Windows 8.1 adds some of the right-click context menus and easy power off/restart options that Windows 8 did not have. Mine unofficial and anecdotal experience is that Windows 8.1 seems to have lower CPU requirements and is fairly nimble; faster than Windows 7. I had two XP PCs that I upgraded to Win 8 when they offered the $40 upgrade two years ago. Surprisingly, the upgrade went quite smoothly and these PCs are actually faster than they were with XP. The upgrade to 8.1 was (is) free, and, again, it brings back many of the navigational features you're used to in Windows 7.
I've come to like Windows 8.1, though I will not install it on my Vegas PC (Win 7 pro 64-bit), since I've learned the hard way that "if it ain't broke, don't fix it".

(A further advantage of upgrading to Window 8 is that support will end in 2023, I believe, whereas Win 7 ends in 2020;I could be slight off on that; point is support is obviously longer for Win 8)

I agree, Win 8.1 has been good to me and upgrade was easy from XP. I do bypass Metro. It is a nicety that MS seems to be offering 10 for free, but if it is a marketing scam to force us into a subscription plan then ooooooo backlash.....

I've really grown to like 8.1. Much faster and slicker. Whenever I use my Win 7 partition now it feels clunky. Lot's of folks go on about missing the classic 'start button' (and I was one of them) but 8.1's start screen is much more flexible.