Can anyone point to any credible source of information about 'banning non App Store stuff'? Also surely it's the OEMs that bundle PCs with bloatware not Microsoft? Is there any evidence that MS are going to take away the option to uninstall stuff including optional windows components?

Do you have a link?

It sounds unlikely though. People forget that MS also has to cater for the business market. If businesses can't customise the install of W10 to suit their needs they just won't use it.

Now this page will be a source. I haven't read everything about W10, but this is the first place where I saw it.

A link is what I'm asking for

Alanwarwic has been posting his fears about how an app store leads to banning of installation of apps from outside the app store since before the launch of Windows 8.

It's not happening, the Win32 applications is the only serious developer ecosystem Microsoft has right now and these apps are not going anywhere or Windows as a platform is down the toilet.

What is positive though is they are allowing these Win32 applications to be published in the store and found there. Using App-V style technology, they will come with Store benefits like easy install and uninstall and using the store purchase authentication rather than having to deal with ISV licensing and codes etc.

I think there may be some confusion due to the new way MS want to have the unified system. I think that the 'only apps from the official store' talk refers to the Universal apps that will apply across platforms.
If they were going to ban Third party programmes from the desktop, I'm guessing they would have done it from day one and they haven't.

It's not the updates he's bothered by but the inability to control them. I assume with Linux you can?

I bet it's disabled in Win 10 Home. If you fork out for Win 10 Pro (or you already have Win 7/8.1 Pro for the free upgrade) then you'll be OK. Or at least get 8 months' grace.

Thanks for all of that, very interesting. My scanner is getting on now, but thankfully HP still produces it, ok the shape is different and the controls are slightly different, but it is the same scanner, which means they have to update the drivers. The problem is that is all they update and to get it working on 8 is a fiddle.

The main software comes with the drivers with it, but old drivers, so I have to install the new drivers first and then install the software.l
The windows 10 built in scan software works, well sometimes. It sometimes get confused with duplex scanning.

My printer is already wireless, but I have got it on USB to the main computer, I use it wireless from the laptop and tablet, not that I use either that often.

I use start is back for Windows 8, it is not available on window 10 yet as far as I know, It is the the size of the menu, it is massive, I know now that it can be reduced in size, but it is still pretty wide and the silly tiles, MS should really give people a choice of having tiles or text,.
I agree with you about Linux menus,

You're sorted then. Nuff said.

While it is not bloatware, not everyone wants one drive either and yet there is no way to get rid the one drive folder, at least you can get rid of skype.

You can, well with Mint you can. I can get Linux to check for updates and I can then choose what updates I want to install.
Linux updates software as well as the Os if the software is downloaded from the repositories.

I agree with you on that. Tbh, I've gotten used to having no menu on Win 8.1 now. Been using it at work for 4 months now and on laptop before that. Though laptop is not my main PC.

But I assume Classic Shell (and others) will still do business on Win 10.

The drive Windows 10 is on is pretty old and at the end of it's life and too small to do much with anyway, but ok for testing out 10.

You're not obliged to install Office. Anyway, what is bloatware? It's largely just a way of describing software/features that you don't care for. But this is subjective.

For example, people say that Office has a ton of features that most people don't use. Most use, say, 5% of its features.

MS replied: "yes, but everyone uses a different 5%."

Not just with Office, but with other products too, vendors sometimes strip out the so-called "bloat" and then are met with howls of protest about feature X, Y and Z no longer being there. Look what happened to the stripped back Opera 15 for example.

Why not test the Start it Back + + beta to go with the Insider builds.
http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/1740...tisback-beta3/

I suppose they could theoretically lock down the Home edition in this way, but obviously not businesses. It would give them a greater incentive to look for alternatives. Plus there's a ton of bespoke business applications that could not possibly work in this way.

But even locking down the Home edition would not be the smartest move. It would just accelerate the consumer market decline.

Thanks for that, I knew that a 10 version was in progress, but I did not know how far they have got with it.
Installed and working and what a difference.

That would kill windows even faster than is happening now. I know must people install software that have been downloaded these days, but not being able to get software from other sources would certainly put people off windows.

Yes, that is the way I see it going. If the business model gives it near free to manufacturers then the best case would be a $10+ app to unlock it.

The totalitarian no going back and the compulsory installs do strongly hint towards some sort of plan.

It's the Universal apps you won't be able to get from anywhere else. Third party apps will still work on desktops. There hasn't been any indication that they would block these.
Obviously for phone and tablet the case is different and if you want an app that works through all three then insisting it only comes from the official store makes sense.

Free and legal workarounds will pop-up for all sorts of issues when the code has settled

The compulsory updates likely make those very short lived.

Who has gone for the Custom Upgrade/Install and who has clicked Express (Recommended)?

I was rather perturbed by what MS thought default Privacy settings should be

I only allowed sharing Location Data (for weather and news and maybe maps)

You can control Windows Updates too, but most people have them either on or off because they can't be bothered to check the other options.