Video Production and Windows 10

I'm invoved in the video production business, and
my question involves Windows 10 performance in that
application. Among those of you who have some
experience with video handling, have you been seeing
any Windows 10 gotchas that a video production
outfit might need to be aware of.

We obviously don't need an operating system that
interfers with complex, long-haul, full-bore, hours-
long, rendering operations. Are there major changes
in memory handling that might interfere with, or
slow down, complex video slicing and dicing? Are
there changes in Direct X or any of the other
hardware-access proceedures that are being changed
in Windows 10?

The systems we're using now are the ubiquitous i7
3rd and 4th-generation Intels coupled with 16 gigs
of memory and a variety of Nvidia GT cards. All of
our systems are EUFI capable. We're using Grass
Valley Edius 7 video slicing suites, along with the
usual AfterEffects and assorted Adobe image gizmos.

Windows 7 64-bit is the standard in the house right
now. Do we need Windows 10? Are there any
advantages? But more importantly, are there any
pitfalls?

Brad Holoman wrote:

I'm invoved in the video production business, and
my question involves Windows 10 performance in that
application. Among those of you who have some
experience with video handling, have you been seeing
any Windows 10 gotchas that a video production
outfit might need to be aware of.

We obviously don't need an operating system that
interfers with complex, long-haul, full-bore, hours-
long, rendering operations. Are there major changes
in memory handling that might interfere with, or
slow down, complex video slicing and dicing? Are
there changes in Direct X or any of the other
hardware-access proceedures that are being changed
in Windows 10?

The systems we're using now are the ubiquitous i7
3rd and 4th-generation Intels coupled with 16 gigs
of memory and a variety of Nvidia GT cards. All of
our systems are EUFI capable. We're using Grass
Valley Edius 7 video slicing suites, along with the
usual AfterEffects and assorted Adobe image gizmos.

Windows 7 64-bit is the standard in the house right
now. Do we need Windows 10? Are there any
advantages? But more importantly, are there any
pitfalls?

One issue (yet to be resolved) is the behavior
of Windows Update and "reboot policy".

Windows 10 Core/Home/No_Name has a fully automated
Windows Update, with no controls to disable it. In
addition, it will pop up a dialog box, stating it
needs to reboot within the next 24 hours.

Windows 10 Pro (suitable for Domain Join) has a
slight tweak on this theme. It is supposed to have
some control over when to reboot. But the details
of the plan haven't been leaked (Microsoft likes
to leak these details, rather than state them plain and
simple on an official web page).

Microsoft is on a mission to give us "reboot anxiety",
and it's working.

To stop Windows Update, you can try unplugging the network
cable. But this would be inconvenient for moving
video content to your NAS or to a second machine.
And the instant the network comes back up, Microsoft
Maintenance Man goes back into action. I've watched
downloads for updates start just seconds after the
network cable is plugged back in, so it's relentless.

I ran into this problem, right after starting a 40 hour
video conversion. I see a dialog box, stating that
I must reboot within the next 24 hours. Now, I'm ****ed.
So I shut down the conversion (losing several hours of
conversion time), rebooted the machine, unplugged the
network cable, and started my conversion run under Windows 10
all over again. Secure in the knowledge "they can't get
me a second time".

Not exactly a strong endorsement.

As for performance, the OS reserves a bit of CPU cycles
for its own usage. This could have to do with how
Task Manager works. Unlike in WinXP, Task Manager behaves
more like a regular program and not "like a boss". It isn't
privileged any more, not in the same ways. Task Manager
can be overwhelmed - if enough cycles are used by
other programs, if the OS runs out of Paged Pool memory,
you can lose the ability to kill tasks in Task Manager
on Win10. I've actually had to use the power button
on the PC, to regain control. (The NeatVideo trial
plugin leaks pool memory on purpose, and you can use
it for a test case.)

To get the performance back, if you start more threads of
execution on your user program, you can squeeze more
performance out of it (maybe another 3% to 5%). I experimented
with this on 7ZIP file compression, telling the program to
use more threads than cores.

Based on this "our maintenance is more important than
your activities" philosophy of Microsoft, I can't really
give any kind of endorsement for usage of Windows 10 for
Content Creation. It is a Content Consumption OS, where
a user stops updating their Facebook page, stops viewing
the latest Netflix, when the reboot dialog comes up
on the screen. For someone doing long running computation
jobs, the applications themselves would need to have
"take a break" features added, to checkpoint a computation,
then restore things later and carry on. Maybe future applications
for Windows, will help compensate for this "father knows
best" approach Microsoft espouses now.

*******

With regard to Windows 7, the trick there is the
memory license the OS uses. That's how we end up
paying a bit more for Windows 7 Pro, when Home
Premium might otherwise have been sufficient. The
Windows 8 (or soon, Windows 10) table, isn't being
quite as stingy. And you don't generally need to
buy a more expensive version, just to be allowed
to use the RAM you bought. Just recently, a 128GB
memory kit became available for the PC, so you
could hit the upper limit on the cheapest Win8 version.

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/lib...8VS.85%29.aspx

Windows 7 Ultimate X64 192 GB
Windows 7 Enterprise X64 192 GB
Windows 7 Professional X64 192 GB
Windows 7 Home Premium X64 16 GB
Windows 7 Home Basic X64 8 GB

Windows 8 Enterprise X64 512 GB \
Windows 8 Professional X64 512 GB \___ Win10 should be similar
Windows 8 [Core/Home] X64 128 GB /

You can install Win10 Preview on a blank hard drive
on your computer, and test the behavior for yourself.
Current version is build 10130. This OS becomes
non-bootable on Oct.15. Win10 RTM should be completed
July 29. The Preview will operate past that
date.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/w...so-update-1504

Based on my testing, I've backed up my opinion above, by
placing an order for Win 7 Pro for my newest machine.
It hasn't arrived yet.

Have fun,
Paul

Paul wrote:
Brad Holoman wrote:

I'm invoved in the video production business, and my question
involves Windows 10 performance in that application. Among those of
you who have some experience with video handling, have you been seeing
any Windows 10 gotchas that a video production outfit might need to be
aware of.
We obviously don't need an operating system that interfers with
complex, long-haul, full-bore, hours-
long, rendering operations. Are there major changes in memory handling
that might interfere with, or slow down, complex video slicing and
dicing? Are there changes in Direct X or any of the other
hardware-access proceedures that are being changed in Windows 10?
The systems we're using now are the ubiquitous i7 3rd and
4th-generation Intels coupled with 16 gigs of memory and a variety of
Nvidia GT cards. All of our systems are EUFI capable. We're using
Grass Valley Edius 7 video slicing suites, along with the usual
AfterEffects and assorted Adobe image gizmos.

Windows 7 64-bit is the standard in the house right now. Do we need
Windows 10? Are there any advantages? But more importantly, are
there any pitfalls?

One issue (yet to be resolved) is the behavior
of Windows Update and "reboot policy".

Windows 10 Core/Home/No_Name has a fully automated
Windows Update, with no controls to disable it. In
addition, it will pop up a dialog box, stating it
needs to reboot within the next 24 hours.

Windows 10 Pro (suitable for Domain Join) has a
slight tweak on this theme. It is supposed to have
some control over when to reboot. But the details
of the plan haven't been leaked (Microsoft likes
to leak these details, rather than state them plain and
simple on an official web page).

Microsoft is on a mission to give us "reboot anxiety",
and it's working.

To stop Windows Update, you can try unplugging the network
cable. But this would be inconvenient for moving
video content to your NAS or to a second machine.
And the instant the network comes back up, Microsoft
Maintenance Man goes back into action. I've watched
downloads for updates start just seconds after the
network cable is plugged back in, so it's relentless.

I ran into this problem, right after starting a 40 hour
video conversion. I see a dialog box, stating that
I must reboot within the next 24 hours. Now, I'm ****ed.
So I shut down the conversion (losing several hours of
conversion time), rebooted the machine, unplugged the
network cable, and started my conversion run under Windows 10
all over again. Secure in the knowledge "they can't get
me a second time".

Not exactly a strong endorsement.

As for performance, the OS reserves a bit of CPU cycles
for its own usage. This could have to do with how
Task Manager works. Unlike in WinXP, Task Manager behaves
more like a regular program and not "like a boss". It isn't
privileged any more, not in the same ways. Task Manager
can be overwhelmed - if enough cycles are used by
other programs, if the OS runs out of Paged Pool memory,
you can lose the ability to kill tasks in Task Manager
on Win10. I've actually had to use the power button
on the PC, to regain control. (The NeatVideo trial
plugin leaks pool memory on purpose, and you can use
it for a test case.)

To get the performance back, if you start more threads of
execution on your user program, you can squeeze more
performance out of it (maybe another 3% to 5%). I experimented
with this on 7ZIP file compression, telling the program to
use more threads than cores.

Based on this "our maintenance is more important than
your activities" philosophy of Microsoft, I can't really
give any kind of endorsement for usage of Windows 10 for
Content Creation. It is a Content Consumption OS, where
a user stops updating their Facebook page, stops viewing
the latest Netflix, when the reboot dialog comes up
on the screen. For someone doing long running computation
jobs, the applications themselves would need to have
"take a break" features added, to checkpoint a computation,
then restore things later and carry on. Maybe future applications
for Windows, will help compensate for this "father knows
best" approach Microsoft espouses now.

*******

With regard to Windows 7, the trick there is the
memory license the OS uses. That's how we end up
paying a bit more for Windows 7 Pro, when Home
Premium might otherwise have been sufficient. The
Windows 8 (or soon, Windows 10) table, isn't being
quite as stingy. And you don't generally need to
buy a more expensive version, just to be allowed
to use the RAM you bought. Just recently, a 128GB
memory kit became available for the PC, so you
could hit the upper limit on the cheapest Win8 version.

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/lib...8VS.85%29.aspx

Windows 7 Ultimate X64 192 GB
Windows 7 Enterprise X64 192 GB
Windows 7 Professional X64 192 GB
Windows 7 Home Premium X64 16 GB
Windows 7 Home Basic X64 8 GB

Windows 8 Enterprise X64 512 GB \
Windows 8 Professional X64 512 GB \___ Win10 should be similar
Windows 8 [Core/Home] X64 128 GB /

You can install Win10 Preview on a blank hard drive
on your computer, and test the behavior for yourself.
Current version is build 10130. This OS becomes
non-bootable on Oct.15. Win10 RTM should be completed
July 29. The Preview will operate past that
date.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/w...so-update-1504

Based on my testing, I've backed up my opinion above, by
placing an order for Win 7 Pro for my newest machine.
It hasn't arrived yet.

Have fun,
Paul

Wonder if somebody will come up with a utility to disable updates
similar to the Start 10 utilty to straightin up the start menu.

Dino wrote:

Wonder if somebody will come up with a utility to disable updates
similar to the Start 10 utilty to straightin up the start menu.

Give it a week, and someone will haxor it.

We need RTM though, to see how it is armored.
Remember that an OS like this that Microsoft "owns",
will be armed like BattleStar Galactica. For example,
if you modified the HOSTS file, I'm sure the OS would
just temporarily move it out of the way, and "call home".

Nothing would really surprise me, on either side
of the issue (haxor versus the Microsoft Maintenance Man).

"The Hapless Microsoft Maintenance Man"

http://www.blogcdn.com/jobs.aol.com/...93nm081910.jpg

Paul

In message , Paul writes
Dino wrote:

Wonder if somebody will come up with a utility to disable updates
similar to the Start 10 utilty to straightin up the start menu.

Give it a week, and someone will haxor it.

We need RTM though, to see how it is armored.
Remember that an OS like this that Microsoft "owns",
will be armed like BattleStar Galactica. For example,
if you modified the HOSTS file, I'm sure the OS would
just temporarily move it out of the way, and "call home".

At the moment, if W10 RTM behaves the same as the preview, I think that
forced updates will be the deal breaker. I have consistently fed this
back to MS, but their position seems to be hardening.

Yesterday, I had occasion to use a Windows 8.1 machine that was last
updated in August last year. It took something like 8 hours of
intermittent work to get the updates completed. If the machine had to be
usable immediately, I could have just disabled all updating and carried
on, whereas W10 could have been effectively dead until the 122 updates
were completed. Everyting will depend on how idle the machine has to be
for updates to start.

I do audio. I have been testing the preview. Several of my external usb
interfaces won't install with the Windows 8.1 drivers, even though
Microsoft seemed to imply no driver differences.

I haven't got round to any serious testing of firewire interfaces.

The start menu, as supplied, is poorly laid out and uses poor colour
differentials between scroll bars and background, and W10 also has
ghostly scroll bars that vanish beneath the mouse cursor if one needs to
think.

--
Bill

In article ,
says...

One issue (yet to be resolved) is the behavior
of Windows Update and "reboot policy".

Windows 10 Core/Home/No_Name has a fully automated
Windows Update, with no controls to disable it. In
addition, it will pop up a dialog box, stating it
needs to reboot within the next 24 hours.

Windows 10 Pro (suitable for Domain Join) has a
slight tweak on this theme. It is supposed to have
some control over when to reboot. But the details
of the plan haven't been leaked (Microsoft likes
to leak these details, rather than state them plain and
simple on an official web page).

We would be using Pro, of course. But it still
doesn't sound good. It will be a game-killer for us
if the "feature" is retained in the final product.
One of our staffers, who has been experimenting with
some of the Windows 10 previews, has mentioned this
particular problem. It sounded like FUD to us, but
your mention of it seems to confirm that the fear
may not be unwarranted. Grass Valley has been very
tight-lipped with us because Microsoft is being very
tight-lipped with them. If Microsoft goes through
with these draconian update requirements, it would
seem to represent a very irresponsible attitude
towards its clients, to say nothing of the fact that
it would be a bone-headed business decision. Surely
Microsoft must understand that we have work to do on
these machines, and that work requires hours, and
sometimes days, of sustained activity.

To stop Windows Update, you can try unplugging the network
cable. But this would be inconvenient for moving
video content to your NAS or to a second machine.

That's simply not an option in a 13-suite setup, as
you well know, especially considering the fact that
we have recently converted from SDI to an IT-based
network.

I've watched downloads for updates start just seconds
after the network cable is plugged back in, so it's relentless.

That's disturbing.

Unlike in WinXP, Task Manager behaves more like a regular program
and not "like a boss". It isn't privileged any more, not in the
same ways. Task Manager can be overwhelmed - if enough cycles
are used by other programs, if the OS runs out of Paged Pool memory,
you can lose the ability to kill tasks in Task Manager
on Win10. I've actually had to use the power button on the PC,
to regain control.

That may not be much of an issue for us because the
Grass Valley suite has turned out to be extremely
reliable. I wouldn't be able to say that if we were
still using Adobe Premier. But it's gone now,
partially for that reason. In any case, this lack
of privilege for Task Manager seems to be a giant
step backward.

Windows 8 Enterprise X64 512 GB \
Windows 8 Professional X64 512 GB \___ Win10 should be similar
Windows 8 [Core/Home] X64 128 GB /

So you're saying Windows 8 may be an option for us.
The problem is; Windows 8 has such a negative
reputation among our video editors that we may have
a mutiny on our hands if we try it. :-)

Thank you for your input, Paul. In terms of
considering a new OS, the management is looking at
the calendar more than at actual developing needs at
this point. In previous years, the calender has
indicated an OS change about every five or six
years. If the problems you indicated turn out to be
serious ones, that calender may have to be revised.

In article ,
says...

Give it a week, and someone will haxor it.

Is that a realistic possibility? If it is, does
Microft retaliate in some fashion? And how might
they retaliate?

It's a surreal situation when third parties have to
come up with patches in order to prevent Microsoft
from destroying itself.

We need RTM though, to see how it is armored.
Remember that an OS like this that Microsoft "owns",
will be armed like BattleStar Galactica. For example,
if you modified the HOSTS file, I'm sure the OS would
just temporarily move it out of the way, and "call home".

This is beginning to sound more bizarre by the
moment.

Brad Holoman wrote:
In article ,
says...

One issue (yet to be resolved) is the behavior
of Windows Update and "reboot policy".

Windows 10 Core/Home/No_Name has a fully automated
Windows Update, with no controls to disable it. In
addition, it will pop up a dialog box, stating it
needs to reboot within the next 24 hours.

Windows 10 Pro (suitable for Domain Join) has a
slight tweak on this theme. It is supposed to have
some control over when to reboot. But the details
of the plan haven't been leaked (Microsoft likes
to leak these details, rather than state them plain and
simple on an official web page).

We would be using Pro, of course. But it still
doesn't sound good. It will be a game-killer for us
if the "feature" is retained in the final product.
One of our staffers, who has been experimenting with
some of the Windows 10 previews, has mentioned this
particular problem. It sounded like FUD to us, but
your mention of it seems to confirm that the fear
may not be unwarranted. Grass Valley has been very
tight-lipped with us because Microsoft is being very
tight-lipped with them. If Microsoft goes through
with these draconian update requirements, it would
seem to represent a very irresponsible attitude
towards its clients, to say nothing of the fact that
it would be a bone-headed business decision. Surely
Microsoft must understand that we have work to do on
these machines, and that work requires hours, and
sometimes days, of sustained activity.

To stop Windows Update, you can try unplugging the network
cable. But this would be inconvenient for moving
video content to your NAS or to a second machine.

That's simply not an option in a 13-suite setup, as
you well know, especially considering the fact that
we have recently converted from SDI to an IT-based
network.

I've watched downloads for updates start just seconds
after the network cable is plugged back in, so it's relentless.

That's disturbing.

Unlike in WinXP, Task Manager behaves more like a regular program
and not "like a boss". It isn't privileged any more, not in the
same ways. Task Manager can be overwhelmed - if enough cycles
are used by other programs, if the OS runs out of Paged Pool memory,
you can lose the ability to kill tasks in Task Manager
on Win10. I've actually had to use the power button on the PC,
to regain control.

That may not be much of an issue for us because the
Grass Valley suite has turned out to be extremely
reliable. I wouldn't be able to say that if we were
still using Adobe Premier. But it's gone now,
partially for that reason. In any case, this lack
of privilege for Task Manager seems to be a giant
step backward.

Windows 8 Enterprise X64 512 GB \
Windows 8 Professional X64 512 GB \___ Win10 should be similar
Windows 8 [Core/Home] X64 128 GB /

So you're saying Windows 8 may be an option for us.
The problem is; Windows 8 has such a negative
reputation among our video editors that we may have
a mutiny on our hands if we try it. :-)

Thank you for your input, Paul. In terms of
considering a new OS, the management is looking at
the calendar more than at actual developing needs at
this point. In previous years, the calender has
indicated an OS change about every five or six
years. If the problems you indicated turn out to be
serious ones, that calender may have to be revised.


Regarding the Windows Update issue, part of the problem
is the quality of the patches being delivered. If you
visit a few of the Windows sites that track such things,
they're all the time running into "troublesome" patches.
To date, we've been dealing with this, by delaying a few
days, while the various people in the food chain, work
on it. The quality of patches would need an order of magnitude
improvement, for them to be fully automated. I'm purposely
behind on updates, wanting to give them time to "stew".
That option might not be available in Windows 10 - not
enough delay possible to "ride it out".

Having the ability to hide updates, was also useful for
managing them on my end. For example, by spotting
posts in these groups, we got a warning about '583 patch,
the one that a Windows 7 user would receive, to nag
them about updating to Windows 10 for free. Such an
advertising or announcement feature would be fine, if it
announced itself once, and then remained quietly on the
sideline. But that's not the Microsoft style. Consequently,
if I was doing my updates today, I'd open the Windows Update
of Windows 7 and hide '583 so it cannot install. Will that
option be available in Win10 RTM ? Dunno. The Windows 10
preview doesn't even *have* a Windows Update control panel,
so it would be pretty hard to hide updates without it.

I've placed my order for a copy of Windows 7, which
will last me until 2020. The year 2020 is the end
of Extended support for it (security updates).

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/lifecycle?p1=14481

As far as whether someone can control Windows Update,
a number of people managed to make menu replacements
for the OSes. So we know there are lots of skilled
people out there.

If you're domain-joined and have your own WSUS
server, maybe that would provide some leverage ?
Some companies set up their own WSUS, to control
the release of patches. Which presumably will be
part of the Enterprise controls for Windows Update
(Enterprise will have more control than people
out here will be getting).

Paul

Brad Holoman wrote on 6/14/2015 10:05 PM:


I'm invoved in the video production business, and
my question involves Windows 10 performance in that
application. Among those of you who have some
experience with video handling, have you been seeing
any Windows 10 gotchas that a video production
outfit might need to be aware of.

We obviously don't need an operating system that
interfers with complex, long-haul, full-bore, hours-
long, rendering operations. Are there major changes
in memory handling that might interfere with, or
slow down, complex video slicing and dicing? Are
there changes in Direct X or any of the other
hardware-access proceedures that are being changed
in Windows 10?

The systems we're using now are the ubiquitous i7
3rd and 4th-generation Intels coupled with 16 gigs
of memory and a variety of Nvidia GT cards. All of
our systems are EUFI capable. We're using Grass
Valley Edius 7 video slicing suites, along with the
usual AfterEffects and assorted Adobe image gizmos.

Windows 7 64-bit is the standard in the house right
now. Do we need Windows 10? Are there any
advantages? But more importantly, are there any
pitfalls?



You mention DirectX, and if my memory serves me well I think I saw mention that Win10 now comes with the new DirectX 12.
What that implies I have no idea. But obviously some research on differences would be needed.

In article ,
says...

You mention DirectX, and if my memory serves me well I think I saw
mention that Win10 now comes with the new DirectX 12.
What that implies I have no idea. But obviously some
research on differences would be needed.

If there are problems with any of the hardware-
address methods, it will obviously be Grass Valley's
problem to solve. But we don't want to be in the
position of having to insist on responses from Grass
Valley simply because we've made a whimsical
decision to elope with Windows 10.

In article ,
says...

The quality of patches would need an order of magnitude
improvement, for them to be fully automated.

Abosolutely. If Microsoft is going to rudely
interrupt our workflows, they had better have
something that works. If it doesn't, MS is exposing
itself to some huge-scale support nightmares if
their bug-killers make a wrong move.

The Windows 10 preview doesn't even *have* a Windows Update
control panel, so it would be pretty hard to hide updates
without it.

Amazing.

If you're domain-joined and have your own WSUS
server, maybe that would provide some leverage ?
Some companies set up their own WSUS, to control
the release of patches.

I'm not an engineer, so I don't know exactly how
we're connected to the outside world. That may be an
option to consider if we're so equipped. But I have
to say, this whole notion of switching to Windows 10
may become more problematic than it is worth.

On 6/14/2015 10:05 PM, Brad Holoman wrote:

Windows 7 64-bit is the standard in the house right
now. Do we need Windows 10? Are there any
advantages? But more importantly, are there any
pitfalls?

You've been given a lot of good advice so far, so I'll only add my $.02
view. IMO, for media production (and other similar single-focused
applications) nothing above Windows 7 offers any functional benefits
that would offset the plethora of potential show-stoppers such as the
loss of control over updates or unstoppable pop-ups about newly
available children's games.I'd start researching some other OS for the
duration of Win7's support period.

--
Best regards,

Neil

On 06/15/2015 05:32 AM, Paul wrote:

[snip]

I've placed my order for a copy of Windows 7, which
will last me until 2020. The year 2020 is the end
of Extended support for it (security updates).

and by 2020 should have completely switched to Linux :-)

[snip]

--
"It should be made clear that in order to live a Christian life, any
Christian must be able to discriminate and hate, because that's what the
bible says." [Bernhard Kuiper, Colorado Springs pastor]

Bill wrote:
In message , Paul writes
Dino wrote:

Wonder if somebody will come up with a utility to disable updates
similar to the Start 10 utilty to straightin up the start menu.

Give it a week, and someone will haxor it.

We need RTM though, to see how it is armored.
Remember that an OS like this that Microsoft "owns",
will be armed like BattleStar Galactica. For example,
if you modified the HOSTS file, I'm sure the OS would
just temporarily move it out of the way, and "call home".

At the moment, if W10 RTM behaves the same as the preview, I think that
forced updates will be the deal breaker. I have consistently fed this
back to MS, but their position seems to be hardening.

Not sure which MSFT you're referencing. Hardening ? Lol...the WU
decision was made quite some time ago.
Don't be surprised if the same extends to Win7 before it's EOL.


Yesterday, I had occasion to use a Windows 8.1 machine that was last
updated in August last year. It took something like 8 hours of
intermittent work to get the updates completed. If the machine had to be
usable immediately, I could have just disabled all updating and carried
on, whereas W10 could have been effectively dead until the 122 updates
were completed. Everyting will depend on how idle the machine has to be
for updates to start.

How fast was your isp provider internet service ?

Yesterday, a Clean install of Win 8.1 Update (released May 2014, 3
months before August last year) on an i3 Acer 8GB RAM, 250SSD, 50Mbps
internet conection took slightly more than an hour and a half to fully
update Windows 8.1 through June 2015 (iirc about 20 minutes of that was
the necessary time during shutdown and restart). This morning Office
2013 took another 45 minutes to fully update with about 10 minutes
necessary during the shutdown/restart.

I do audio. I have been testing the preview. Several of my external usb
interfaces won't install with the Windows 8.1 drivers, even though
Microsoft seemed to imply no driver differences.

There is a lot of variation on external usb devices. I've two identical
external drives. In a few of preview builds only the USB device with a
SATA drive was recognized. The last two builds both external were
recognized and accessible.

I haven't got round to any serious testing of firewire interfaces.

I should try that, even though I don't need it...one of those external
devices is also firewire capable. Thanks for reminding me.


The start menu, as supplied, is poorly laid out and uses poor colour
differentials between scroll bars and background, and W10 also has
ghostly scroll bars that vanish beneath the mouse cursor if one needs to
think.

Yes, still needs work...though MSFT hasn't really addressed some of the
color/visibility concerns that first appeared in their programs (Office
2010, Windows Essentials) - I'm not expecting much since I believe that
priority is low or sent to the circular file.

--
...winston
msft mvp consumer apps

On Sun, 14 Jun 2015 20:05:33 -0600, Brad Holoman
wrote:

Windows 7 64-bit is the standard in the house right
now. Do we need Windows 10? Are there any
advantages? But more importantly, are there any
pitfalls?

Windows 10 gives you a new web browser with the ability to scribble
over web pages. I never realised until I saw this gimmick just how
desperately I didn't need it, so I guess it's not really an advantage.

Rod.