The ONLY feature I want to see in the new Windows version is an option to install in one of three modes...

Desktop mode (Desktop/Workstation/Server PC's) Touchscreen mode (Tablets/Smartphones) Desktop/Touchscreen Hybrid mode (AKA Win 8 mode/POS mode - for touchscreen supported laptops)

Why would any sane or rational person want any touchscreen support/apps installed on a workstation where all the pro design/graphics/video software they use has a time tested and far more efficient wimp interface and doesnt have a touchscreen display anyway?

Windows is bloated enough already without the need for useless charm bars etc.

I recently got an ASUS RJ550K ROG laptop with Win 8.1 on it and ran classic shell as a start button replacement....perhaps it was because of the pre-installed version of Win8.1 on this particular laptop but I always had to deal with apps and touch interface stuff like the charm bar and I didnt want that stuff clogging up my machine any longer not to mention all the ASUS pre-installed bloatware.

Anyway recently added an SSD boot drive and found Win7 x64 drivers for everything and am running Win7 now...couldnt be happier. Thanks for the info.

Still the hard drives in these laptops are insane slow and clearly require a SSD to get a more decent user experience. I wouldn't buy these laptops at all.

:-)

Asus makes many good laptops. Just personal experience. And for normal work most HDDs are pretty fine. So, do not understand complains. Personally upgraded around 20 computers, tablets and laptops to Win 8.1. Various things can happen, but all are fixable fast and all went smooth in the end.

It'll be called Windows 10, shock is not smaller than previous name.

Full event

Technical preview download link

http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=510225

Key - NKJFK-GPHP7-G8C3J-P6JXR-HQRJR

This actually looks like a good improvement!

Is Microsoft watching your every move on the recently-released Windows 10 Technical Preview? That may be the case thanks to portions of Microsoft's privacy policy, which indicates that the company is using a keylogger, among other methods, to obtain information about the software's performance.

Microsoft also revealed that when users open a file, the company collects information about the file, the program that opens the file and how long it takes to open said file.

Surprise. Something tells me that quite soon we'll see free Windows (for every computer, not tablets) but with special protection from terrorists and pedophiles (always works best) that will store copy of each created file in cloud for inspection and will monitor your usage patters, files and texts to check if you think about anything wrong.

The developer community is pretty savvy and I have to believe something like this would be found (and the company knows this).

Yet, it is step far ahead of previous previews. And I think that if they offer free version with such "features" and rise 2x-3x price for current one - around 90% of people will choose free one.

Cortana

Microsoft’s new service agreement states that,

“WE WILL ACCESS, DISCLOSE AND PRESERVE PERSONAL DATA, INCLUDING YOUR CONTENT (SUCH AS THE CONTENT OF YOUR EMAILS, OTHER PRIVATE COMMUNICATIONS OR FILES IN PRIVATE FOLDERS), WHEN WE HAVE A GOOD FAITH BELIEF THAT DOING SO IS NECESSARY TO.”

CORTANA ALSO LEARNS ABOUT YOU BY COLLECTING DATA ABOUT HOW YOU USE YOUR DEVICE AND OTHER MICROSOFT SERVICES, SUCH AS YOUR MUSIC

But you can turn off many of these features to prevent this data gathering?

I'll stick with 7 ! It might say it's data mining is turned off, but are you sure ? They might say it's not in the final release but are you sure ? In light of what's been revealed the last couple of years, I'd guess this is highly suspicious programming done in cooperation with nsa.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2692435/will-windows-10-tps-spooky-data-collection-carry-over-to-final-version.html

“When you acquire, install and use the Program, Microsoft collects information about you, your devices, applications and networks, and your use of those devices, applications and networks. Examples of data we collect include your name, email address, preferences and interests; browsing, search and file history; phone call and SMS data; device configuration and sensor data; and application usage,” reads the privacy statement.

Specifically, Microsoft may collect “voice information” when people use “speech-to-text” features, file information about files that users open, and “typed characters,” meaning text that users compose. Microsoft explains that these bits of potentially very personal and sensitive information are collected to improve, respectively, speech processing, application performance and auto-complete and spell check features. But the disclosures must surely read to privacy advocates like a Stephen King short story.

“Many features that transmit data to Microsoft are enabled automatically. You may not have the option to turn off the transmission of data for certain features in the Program. To stop the transmission of all data, you must completely uninstall the Program from all of your devices,” the statement reads.

@peternap - yeah ms ....and apple aren't to be trusted. Makes one wonder exactly how much they do know already. I think we're fast approaching the point of no return, where we either allow all this to happen....or disengage completely from digital discourse.