Well, this morning I had a few updates to my system, so I let them in. After the updates were finished I noticed a new Icon on the lower right of my taskbar... it kinda looks like the icon for my aps page.
Well it turns out I have the opportunity to upgrade to windows 10.
Now, I was forced to upgrade to windows 8.1, and I do mean forced, my laptop would ask me if I wanted to upgrade to 8.1, it did that for about a week.
It then started to interrupt my online time, about once every half hour, then once ever 10 minutes, finally I could not even get my computer to boot up unless I "accepted" the upgrade because it would reboot.
Now I am wondering, just how aggressive is the windows 10 "voluntary upgrade" going to be?
It is on my task bar now, but will it just stay there? or will it start to interrupt my online time to "suggest" I upgrade?
We shall see....

Maybe time to load Linux
IF win 8.1 will let you  

Time to get a Mac.

http://liliputing.com/2015/06/windows-10-is-a-free-for-anyone-testing-the-ins...

Windows 10 is free for anyone testing Insider Preview builds



Microsoft’s Gabe Aul says even if you did a clean install of a Windows 10 Insider Preview build from a downloaded ISO disc image, you’ll received a free update to the final build of Windows 10 once the operating system is released… and it’ll remain activated.

That’s good news for folks that had performed a clean install rather than performing an upgrade from Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 operating systems.

It also means that you might be able to score a free Windows 10 license on July 29th even if you’re not currently running an operating system that’s eligible for a free upgrade.


Now, it is not enough to mock the triple forked tongue with which MS speaks, nor hoot at the various mouths that say the apparently completely contradictory things --- one must actually TRY to go do it.

As we speak I am downloading the ISO that is referred to above, after creating a gmail.account and a matching MS Insider Preview account so I am a freshly minted all clean definitely not running Linux at all supposedly windows loving Win 10 trial person.    I am doing this on an old 15" XP laptop as I can sacrifice it completely and feel like I lost very very little in doing so.

We shall see, now won't we?    I am going to do the clean install mentioned above and see what happens to the old XP machine when I turn it back on ......

         

So far I am having issues getting the ISO to burn to a DVD.   Part of this is the near one hour time to download the ISO.   There are several ISO images out there --- here is a link to an IT based image that gives a DVD that can be plopped on to multiple machines (supposedly).

http://www.alphr.com/operating-systems/1000350/how-to-burn-windows-10-iso-to-...

..... follow the instructions, start the download and go to bed --- it will either be there or not in the morning.    

You need to burn it to a DVD using the ISO "image" burn function of your favorite DVD burning software.

Fair warning --- the image needs a modern burner software  (nothing that is XP era is going to  even recognize the format).

Fair warning --- you are going to need a fairly modern DVD drive that is in good shape to write the format.   Your next trap may be getting the DVD reader on your old machine to recognize what the modern DVD writer wrote.

    nobody said this was going to be easy ......

Further trap -- trying to write the ISO to a USB drive then finding out your old laptop can't be set to boot from a USB drive.

You know, I begin to see why MS didn't try to upgrade the old XP machines, there are too many aged out incompatibilities to deal with concerning hardware, drivers, processor/video speed, etc.

Having spent most of a day now in the World of Windows, I once again realize why I personally do not want to use a Windows machine again, ever.    Windows is an unmitigated pain in the ass, sometimes I think intentionally so by MS's past plans and business decisions.

This is the second time I have said "you jest keep it" to MS's attempts at getting me to upgrade to Win 10.

I know I am not a typical "computer user" anymore but if they really want to suck everybody into Win 10 they need to make it a lot easier to do.


=========================================


I am also stubborn and persistent ...... I finally got the Vista machine to create two bootable DVDs of Win 10 Preview (one 32 bit and one 64 bit) that the Vista machine can read.    

(Note: this does not mean the older XP machines can read them -- but the Vista machine that wrote them can)  

Wife and I are discussing it -- she doesn't want any interruptions to her life and
"I don't want to learn anything new -- I am 3 years away from retiring, so screw it."    

She lives off her phone and iPad now while laying on the couch watching Downton Abby and only goes upstairs to use her PC every other day or so for something the iPad simply won't do.

Like most of us, we don't want to learn anything new or more complicated.


=========================================


Ironically, the 64 bit ISO image Win 10 can be read by both my old 15" laptops (one Vista, one XP) with the XP machine grinding very slowly while loading the Win 10 preview.

The irony is that both machines run Linux Mint quick like a scalded dog --- but the new "improved" Win 10 runs like thick cold molasses on the same machines.

Win 10 for PC is NOT lighter or faster, indeed, quite the contrary -- it is BULKIER and slower even.


=========================================


If you have a late Vista machine or a Win 7 machine, you can go to Win 10 with only a somewhat irritating noticeable performance penalty using your cruffed up old Vista and Win7 machine as a comparison point.   Linux on the other hand smokes both the old and the new windows, running well on the Win7 and Vista grade of machinery.

XP machines need not apply to convert to Win 10, you will fight like hell to get it loaded and then be disappointed in the way it runs -- go to Linux on the old XP machines instead and be pleased with the upgrade in speed and performance that you will see compared to your old fragmented, cluttered & choked down XP installation that you upgraded.

Is Win 10 a reason point to get a new machine?   Not if your old stuff meets your needs and you are happy with it.   Upgrading to Win 10 may cause you to get dissatisfied with your old stuff as it is slower and "somewhat lacking" when trying to run Win 10.  

Remember, once all of Win 10 gets out there completely it will require a microphone on every PC so you can talk to Cortana, and a camera so you can video Skype etc. etc. etc.     Upgraded older machines will lack mics and cameras and all these other "get to use all the full features" support hardware items ....

Should you even be considering buying a new PC period, considering what is coming up in the next year or so?    No, you would be buying a new copy of an obsoleted technology.    If you are "buying the future" simply chose your next cell phone very carefully and roll with that pathway going forward.

Burned both .iso images onto discs, so now I have a x32 bit copy and a x64 bit copy of win10.
Took me approx. 2 hours to go the full route with downloading / making / installing win 10 on the 15" laptop.
I already had a Microsoft account so signing up for the insider was as easy as saying "yes" and automatically I was registered.
However during the install process I had to boot from cd/dvd, because when I opened my file folder and clicked on the install.exe it kept telling me that it would not upgrade from vista or xp, but once I hit restart on my laptop with the disc in, "viola" it loaded. (laptop was vista)
I'm off to play with it this morning, I have not looked at my hard drive since the load, it will not allow a multi-boot start, so I don't know if it re-partitioned the disc or not.
I was lucky in that it recognized my wireless router right off the bat all I had to do was put in the password.
I did find all my original discs for the vista load in a file cabinet so I can totally reload it if needed.

About joining the Insider Preview, it is my understanding that since I joined before the deadline, I can now use win 10 on all my computers. They suggest using an "older system" and not use your primary because it could fail.
Funny huh? Letting you use it now, but not on your main system... yup I signed the agreement, lets hope it doesn't fry my little laptop electronically, just software.

76 gigs? I'm not sure my extant machine can handle that

liliputing just added an update to their article:

http://liliputing.com/2015/06/windows-10-is-a-free-for-anyone-testing-the-ins...

liliputing also references this article on ComputerWorld:

http://www.computerworld.com/article/2938636/microsoft-windows/microsoft-mudd...

Microsoft's double speak has confused the issue about a free update to the final Windows 10 build for Windows 10 Insider Preview users.