John Aldred wrote on 11/3/2014 7:35 PM:
On Mon, 03 Nov 2014 19:10:03 -0500, Big_Al wrote:

John Aldred wrote on 11/3/2014 6:47 PM:
My own impression of Win 10 TP is that it is not sufficiently different
from 8.1 to merit skipping a version number and going to 10.

Bringing back the Start Menu to the desktop is a welcome change.
Turning off the hot corner for the Charms Bar is a debatable point.
Adding additional desktops could be useful.
Overall I don't see these changes as sufficient to shake off the bad
press that win 8 received.

Personally I didn't have a problem with 8.1 - in fact I rather like it
:-)

What do others think of Microsoft's new offering?

I agree and I don't like the way they handled the menu. IMHO they
botched it again. What in the world was wrong with Windows 7 menu?
Then add some functionality to get the the start screen if you want it.
If I'm a desktop user I surely don't need tiles in any fashion. They
hold no value for a desktop. My mouse pointer isn't that big.

I may just stay on 8.1 till it dies (or I do) if 10 doesn't get that
much better. I paid $39.99 for win8, if 10 is free, I might go up. My
3rd party menu works and fixes the menu so why not if it's free.

You can get rid of the tiles on the desktop menu simply by right clicking
each one in turn and unpinning it. When the last one is gone the sidebar
on the menu disappears.
You can access any of the Modern Interface tiles from the desktop start
menu by clicking on the "All Apps" bit at the bottom. A column of
miniaturised tile icons then appears in the menu.

Apologies if you were already aware of this.

I did, but it's more the point, 'Tiles on the desktop?' I'm a
perfectionist at heart, and I'm sure I'll never be satisfied :-)