The Windows 10 Review: The Old & New Face of Windows
by Brett Howse on August 25, 2015 8:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Operating Systems
- Microsoft
- Windows 10
Windows as a Service
Windows as a Service is the new theme from Microsoft. With every major release of Windows, there are always people who get left on the old version which eventually gets out of date. In the meantime, Microsoft has to create software and security updates for the people stuck on the older versions. The same could happen with Service Packs too, where there are going to be people that never update.
This has certainly put Windows at a disadvantage for developers. Microsoft is constantly updating their APIs and frameworks to add new features for developers to take advantage of, but with people being on such varied versions of the operating system, it is very difficult to target the latest APIs and features since there will always be a large group of people which cannot use these features.
The idea behind Windows as a Service is that as soon as you upgrade to Windows 10, your system will automatically be kept up to date with new features and of course security updates. This should improve the experience over time, and in fact in the couple of weeks since release we have already seen some new features added to the operating system which were not ready for July 29th.
It’s a new model, and some people may be apprehensive about losing some control over their updates. It’s a valid argument too, since as recently as August of last year, there was some Windows Updates rolled out which caused a lot of issues for a lot of people. Microsoft is going to have to earn their user’s trust in order for this model to work.
Windows 10 could very well be the last version of Windows ever released. There is nothing on the horizon yet for a Windows 11, but we shall see how this new Windows as a Service model works out over the next couple of years.
Windows Update Changes
I’ve already mentioned that Windows Update is no longer able to be disabled or deferred at all on Windows 10 Home, and only feature updates can be delayed on Pro. This is a pretty big change over Windows in the past, which offered plenty of options in regards to updates, including the ability to disable them completely.
The one exception to this rule is if your computer is on a metered connection. Wi-Fi and cellular network connections can be set to be metered connections which will limit background data usage on those networks. Ethernet connections cannot be set to be metered at this time.
But Windows Update has also changed in its delivery mechanism. Windows 10 now includes the ability to obtain updates from devices that have already downloaded them. This includes devices on the internet as well by default on all versions except Enterprise and Education. What this means is that if your LAN has several devices, only the first has to get the updates from the internet, and all other devices on the LAN can get them from the first device, which should not only noticeably increase the download speed, but also save a lot of bandwidth as well in the event that you are on a capped network. This mechanism can also be used for Windows Store apps.
The computer downloads the updates and then keeps them in a cache for a short amount of time, and the downloads are subject to the same security measures as Windows Update would be meaning the updates should be signed which should prevent someone seeding bad updates. If you want to stop your computer from uploading data, be sure to set this to LAN only in the advanced options of Windows Update.
These changes are likely the biggest changes to Windows 10 overall as a platform. Disabling security updates is generally not a good idea anyway, but Microsoft is going to have to ensure that they deliver solid updates. I think the Windows as a Service idea has a lot of upsides, but a couple of bad updates will sour people for good, so it is pretty important that their testing is solid. They also need to be careful not too deliver too many updates in too short a time, and force a lot of reboots. Right now, it seems to be about one per week, and that is too often. We've gotten used to Patch Tuesday once per month and accelerating that right after launch is likely accepatble but it is a bit much to ask people to have to deal with this many updates for a long period.
It is also somewhat surprising that after the Windows 10 testing through the Insider Program that the updates that have come so far have been very non-descript. I don't think it's too much to ask that there were some sort of a list of changes that are being implemented, even if it is just on the web rather than in the description. If Microsoft wants buy-in on the new Windows as a Service, it needs to be an open relationship with the end user and not one of "take this update and like it" which is unfortunately how it has started out.
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prophet001 - Tuesday, August 25, 2015 - link
The spyware aspect of this OS bothers me. I'll be using Windows 7 until this is reconsidered.Michael Bay - Tuesday, August 25, 2015 - link
So, the same spyware.prophet001 - Tuesday, August 25, 2015 - link
Windows 7 doesn't even begin to approach this level of intrusion.Michael Bay - Tuesday, August 25, 2015 - link
As long as you believe that.wishgranter - Tuesday, August 25, 2015 - link
The Windows 10 EULA and Microsoft's Privacy Statement declare that Microsoft will access and use the content of people's emails and other files, such as documents uploaded to One Drive, according to Microsoft's discretion. "Share with our partners" also includes law enforcement, wherever Microsoft deems required. And I think Microsoft cannot ignore any instance which they feel should be forwarded to law enforcement without making themselves complicit in any potential criminal activity.Windows 10's all-your-contents-are-belongs-to-us policy is also a widening of the backdoor which law enforcement asks OS manufacturer to build into their systems.
Basically, Microsoft's Windows 10 EULA claims that all files used in Windows 10 may be accessed, searched, and contents utilized by Microsoft, with Microsoft exercizing sole discretion over what it will access, and how it will be used.
I think all businesses, content creators, and even nations should be dismayed at this. It looks like Russia already is concerned with Windows 10's always-on espionage against its users:
http://www.rt.com/politics/312172-windo ... ent-stirs/
If people will recall, Microsoft was previously found to be snooping in people's Outlook emails, and this discovery caused a furor among people, leading to Microsoft saying they would not do this anymore:
http://www.wired.com/2014/03/microsoft_vigilante/1
http://www.theverge.com/2014/3/20/55314 ... l-policies2
But now, Microsoft has made it a guaranteed policy of Windows 10 that they will always do this:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/privacy ... fault.aspx
"Content. We collect content of your files and communications when necessary to provide you with the services you use. This includes: the content of your documents, photos, music or video you upload to a Microsoft service such as OneDrive. It also includes the content of your communications sent or received using Microsoft services, such as the:
- subject line and body of an email,
- text or other content of an instant message,
- audio and video recording of a video message, and
- audio recording and transcript of a voice message you receive or a text message you dictate."
Shouldn't there be a much bigger furor over the discretionless snooping of Windows 10, which includes all Outlook emails, than there was over just Outlook on its own?
Are people OK with their PCs contents no longer being their sole domain and in their privacy, but instead being fully open to Microsoft?
I'm not. I'll be sticking with Windows 7 for now.
Windows 10's motto: Your System is not Your Own
xenol - Tuesday, August 25, 2015 - link
You're reading the TP EULA. The actual Windows 10 EULA is at http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/Useterms/Retail/Win... , which defers the privacy stuff to Microsoft's privacy statement ( https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/privacystatement/ )Which says none or few of the things in the TP EULA (the only one I found in common is they may look at anything you upload to OneDrive, which you can disable on Windows 10 anyway)
Grooveriding - Tuesday, August 25, 2015 - link
Really unfortunate how far Microsoft went with privacy invasion and data trolling with Win 10. Fortunately you can disable what appears to be all of it with options, registry tweaks and disabling services.I would also recommend running a draconian firewall such as Tinywall that blocks all internet traffic and you have to allow applications on a case by case basis. As well as editing your hosts file to block all traffic back to Microsoft's data collection servers. As well, never use the OS with an MS account, just use a local account.
Pretty outrageous MS does not offer an option to disable everything without having to resort to these measures.
hansmuff - Tuesday, August 25, 2015 - link
The "sharing with law enforcement" is automatic for any data Microsoft has. If you're on 7 and use OneDrive, well there you go.Regarding the recording of voice data, that's a given with all of them. Siri, Google, now MS all use online services to improve detection and of course otherwise use that data. And they all send your recorded voice in some form or shape to their servers.
I can see how you'd tie it to Windows 10 because that centralizes a lot of those "new generation" of services that are in the cloud. But those services exist with or without Windows 10. I think it's wiser to educate people about what "the cloud" implies, which is exactly what you say; people do not have control over the data they store.
It's a cloud issue, and the cloud has provided the perfect vehicle for the likes of Apple, Google and Microsoft to take what they want. This goes for your PC, phone, tablet, everything.
Notmyusualid - Tuesday, August 25, 2015 - link
None of my phones or PCs send anything to the cloud.It is called privacy common sense.
Matts8 - Tuesday, August 25, 2015 - link
What phone do you have?