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1776

Post New Requests Here / Re: REQ: Convert/Export Certain Browser's "Groups" as Chrome Bookmarks

« Last post by 4wd on June 30, 2015, 10:25 PM »

I decided to try updating Powershell to 4.0, the version that was in your system, Windows 8.1. This time, the cursor window also brought up a box to choose a folder, similar to your screenshot.

-Cocoa (June 30, 2015, 07:59 PM)

I guess it does use something particular to Powershell v4, I suppose I should test for that.

I pointed it to the folder where the cgp files were stored, the conversion happened, then a prompt said "conversion finished, press any key to exit".

I did that.

Don't take it the wrong way but a small piece of advice: read slower



The file will be named CGP2HTML-YYYYMMDDHHMMSS.html and will be in the parent of the folder you chose, (or if it was a root folder it will be in that).  See update.

And no, it won't appear as yellow on blue, that's just the highlighter of the screen capture program

UPDATED:
Added: Colour output
Added: Check for Powershell version
Fixed:  Output is to the selected folder

1777

General Software Discussion / Re: Looking for Software with this feature

« Last post by 4wd on June 30, 2015, 06:16 PM »

I don't think either Robocopy or RichCopy are going to help with item number 2 in the OP because neither of them can rename on file collision.

ie. 'move' and 'keep both' implies one of them needs to be renamed.

See here for an example of using Robocopy and renaming a file:
http://stackoverflow...ination-if-its-newer

Should be reasonably easy to modify one of command files I've done to cater for both conditions.

Basically, the one from here with tests for name and size, (minus the shortcut stuff):
https://www.donation....msg377497#msg377497

But then you're talking about the ability to create filters which goes beyond a simple command file and more into the realm of a backup/sync program with multiple conditions/results.  Something similar was asked for recently and I don't think anyone came up with program that fulfilled the requirements.

1778

Post New Requests Here / Re: REQ: Convert/Export Certain Browser's "Groups" as Chrome Bookmarks

« Last post by 4wd on June 29, 2015, 10:59 PM »

-File with -"C:\Program Files (x86)\Green Browser\Groups", which is where the cgp files are stored, ...

-Cocoa (June 29, 2015, 06:56 PM)

The -File argument points to where the script is which is why I said this:

BTW, you did amend any path in the shortcut to point to wherever you've put the script, right?

-4wd (June 27, 2015, 10:32 PM)

So, if you extracted the script into the folder C:\Powershell Scripts and put the shortcut on your Desktop, then the shortcut needs to be edited to show:

%SystemRoot%\system32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe -noprofile -executionpolicy bypass -File "C:\Powershell Scripts\CGP2HTML.ps1"

I updated the shortcut in the archive with the necessary parameters.

You could also start a CLI, change to the folder where the script is, and type in the command:

powershell -noprofile -executionpolicy bypass -File "CGP2HTML.ps1"



FWIW, running via the shortcut works on all the machines I have access to here, when run from a flash drive.

1779

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 10 Announced

« Last post by 4wd on June 28, 2015, 11:39 PM »

For something different I picked up a Lumia 530 on the weekend for something to play with, (for AU$19 I couldn't resist ).  Going to basically use it as a GPS data logger since the battery in my M1200E decided it didn't want to take a charge any more.

It's currently ~30% into a Fast Insider update to WP10 - maybe I'll have better luck than the netbook.

1780

General Software Discussion / Re: More Firefox-Clone(ish?) adventures - Alienforce

« Last post by 4wd on June 28, 2015, 10:32 PM »

They should have gone with bling://

1781

Post New Requests Here / Re: REQ: Convert/Export Certain Browser's "Groups" as Chrome Bookmarks

« Last post by 4wd on June 27, 2015, 10:32 PM »

On my machine that I use to dev scripts, I will use -unrestricted as above. When deploying my scripts however, to an end user machine, I will just call powershell with the -executionpolicy switch:
powershell.exe -noprofile -executionpolicy bypass -file .\script.ps1

-Cocoa (June 27, 2015, 09:57 PM)

Try adding the -noprofile -executionpolicy bypass switches to the command line in the shortcut.

EDIT: This worked, it allowed the script to run after I changed my policy back to AllSigned, (mine's normally at RemoteSigned).



BTW, you did amend any path in the shortcut to point to wherever you've put the script, right?

Is there a way you can sign it?

Yes, but that means you'd need to import a certificate into your system that I create - bit much for one script.

1782

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 10 Announced

« Last post by 4wd on June 27, 2015, 09:52 PM »

I never could get the Reserve Windows 10 (from Windows Update) to show up on the netbook.

-Deozaan (June 25, 2015, 02:01 AM)

Turned the netbook on this morning intending to image it and then try Win10 ISO install/upgrade from fully updated Win8.1 ... then I noticed the Win10 upgrade icon in the Notification area.

So, now I'll image it like I was going to and then try the MS upgrade method.

Don't know if it's significant but I normally have Give me updates for other Microsoft products when I update Windows turned off (unchecked) because I don't have any other MS products but I turned it on this morning on the off chance it'd do something.

Unfortunately I didn't notice whether the icon was there before I did that.

1783

General Software Discussion / Re: Microsoft "Hyperlapse" tech is finally available to play with

« Last post by 4wd on June 26, 2015, 12:24 AM »

{I mean this literally as I'm, just over the hill in Kilsyth  .}

-MikleB (June 25, 2015, 07:43 AM)

Actually, you're not "just over the hill", you're down the bottom of it - I'm in Kalorama

Regarding the subtitles, I presume you had to insert these into your Vegas video after shooting using Vegas itself ...

The subtitles for that video were burnt into every frame of the original video using either ffmpeg or mencoder, (I forget which - one was definitely easier than the other though), the output being to uncompressed video to avoid recompression artifacts.
The video is then loaded into Vegas and then the playback rate is increased or decreased by holding down Control and dragging the end of the video one way or the other.  On rendering, Vegas (AFAIK) just does frame decimation in order to end up with specified playback length at the specified frames/second.  (BTW, Vegas 11 only allows a maximum 400% rate increase, I had to render, reload, and increase the rate again to get it to ~600%.)

eg.  A 4 minute video at 30fps when increased to a x2 playback rate will have half the total number of frames removed in order to play at 30fps in 2 minutes.

Doing it this way means that the remaining frames are left untouched, so the subtitles are still fine.

What I think MS Hyperlapse is doing (WARNING: simplistic theory following) is it does the frame decimation but then it uses tweening^w to create frames that morph the content between the original frames.  This results in burnt-in subtitles being morphed out of existence.  If you watch the video at First-person Hyperlapse Videos it's very noticable during the rock climb section (~1:55 onwards) where you can see rock formations and the other climber appear to morph between formations/positions.  Note, the default fps setting for MS Hyperlapse is 60fps, this gives them twice the number frames in which to make the result appear smoother.

During panning you have more movement (relatively) than forward motion so the number of inbetween frames created increases so the motion appears smoother and a small time stretch occurs.

I doubt there's anything that can be done about burnt-in subtitles that wouldn't require a massive rewrite to enable text detection within an area, and when that text is changing almost every frame I would think that the effort involved far outweighs the result.

So then, external subtitles - for the basic frame decimation that Vegas uses this isn't a problem as the playback rate is applied linearly across the whole video.
If the rate is set to x2, (assuming 30fps), then 15 frames will removed from each second of the original video and the time between each of the remaining frames will be halved - so the playback time is effectively halved.  Easy to calculate for use in external subtitles.  So easy I wrote two simple programs to do it for me.

With MS Hyperlapse, no such luck - the subjectively different playback speed between areas of low motion and high motion, (where extra frames need to be inserted to give the appearance of smooth motion), means trying to synchronise any external subtitle is a laborious job in text editing.  You'd need to keep referring back to the original video to locate a point where a subtitle should be, locate the same point in the Hyperlapse video, (within milliseconds), and edit the subtitle file with the subtitle start/end time.

If you're not referencing anything in the video, then you can get away with it.  However, for the stuff I'm doing it stands out like dingoes gonads, eg. the altitude reading is still increasing even though the video clearly shows I'm heading down the hill.

As an example, I'll upload a Vegas accelerated and Hyperlapse video some time in the next week or so that shows what using external subtitles looks like in each, (the Hyperlapse subtitles will just be auto-generated, no hand editing).

As for being able to specify a playback time for the end result, I'm not sure that could be done without increasing the number of passes the program needs to do, ie. it would have to run though choosing optimal frames to keep so it could generate a specific number of inbetween frames to end up with a specific playback time.

Finally, it should be noted that the only thing I did in Vegas was apply a rate increase.  I didn't use the Stabilize Media or any Video FX - that'll be my next experiment

1784

Post New Requests Here / Re: REQ: Convert/Export Certain Browser's "Groups" as Chrome Bookmarks

« Last post by 4wd on June 25, 2015, 10:48 PM »

Powershell version, don't know what the minimum version of Powershell it requires is since I'm using v4 (Win 8.1).

It's set to Simplified Chinese input but that can be changed by editing one value or I could change it to use whatever the console is using, (entering a value gives more flexibility I think).  Line 27 in script is where it's set, eg. gb2312 = Simplified Chinese, (PRC).

Double-click the shortcut to run it, (needs to be in same folder as the script unless you edit the shortcut properties).

Code: PowerShell [Select]

1. <#
2. .SYNOPSIS
3.    Converts Green Browser Group files to HTML bookmarks (Mozilla/Chrome)
4. .DESCRIPTION
5.    Reads all ANSI .cgp files in a folder according to encoding specified, saves
6.    to temp UTF-8 file, then reads file and outputs to Mozilla/Chrome compatible
7.    bookmark format.
8. .PARAMETER <paramName>
9.    None
10. .EXAMPLE
11.    PS> CGP2HTML.ps1
12. #>
13.  
14. Function Get-Folder {
15.   Add-Type -AssemblyName System.Windows.Forms
16.   $FolderBrowser = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.FolderBrowserDialog
17.   [void]$FolderBrowser.ShowDialog()
18.   Return $FolderBrowser.SelectedPath
19. }  
20.  
21. Function Convert-UTF {
22.   Param(
23.     [String]$SourceFile
24.   )
25.   $Buffer = Get-Content $SourceFile -Encoding byte
26.  
27.   $Encoding = [System.Text.Encoding]::GetEncoding("gb2312")
28.   $String = $Encoding.GetString($Buffer)
29.   Out-File -FilePath .\C2Htmp.txt -Encoding utf8 -InputObject $String
30. }
31.  
32. Function Write-Header {
33.   Param(
34.     [String]$OutFile,
35.     [String]$Folder
36.   )
37.   '<!DOCTYPE NETSCAPE-Bookmark-file-1>' | Out-File -Encoding utf8 -FilePath $OutFile -NoClobber
38.   '<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=UTF-8">' | Out-File -Encoding utf8 -FilePath $OutFile -Append
39.   '<TITLE>Bookmarks</TITLE>' | Out-File -Encoding utf8 -FilePath $OutFile -Append
40.   '<H1>Bookmarks</H1>' | Out-File -Encoding utf8 -FilePath $OutFile -Append
41.   '<DL><P>' | Out-File -Encoding utf8 -FilePath $OutFile -Append
42.   '<DT><H3>{0} --- {1}</H3>' -f $Folder, (Get-Date) | Out-File -Encoding utf8 -FilePath $OutFile -Append
43.   '<DL><P>' | Out-File -Encoding utf8 -FilePath $OutFile -Append
44. }
45.  
46. Function Out-Bookmark {
47.   Param(
48.     [Object]$File,
49.     [String]$Outfile
50.   )
51.   for($i=0; $i -lt $File.Length; $i++) {
52.     $tmpFile = $File[$i] | % { $_.BaseName }
53.     Write-Host "Converting: " $File[$i]
54.     Convert-UTF $File[$i]
55.     '<DT><H3>' + $tmpFile + '</H3></DT>' | Out-File -Encoding utf8 -FilePath $OutFile -Append
56.     '<DL><P>' | Out-File -Encoding utf8 -FilePath $OutFile -Append
57.     $Lines = (Get-Content ".\C2Htmp.txt")
58.     for($j=2; $j -lt $Lines.Length; $j+=2) {
59.       '<DT><A HREF="{0}">{1}</A>' -f $Lines[$j].Substring($Lines[$j].IndexOf("=") + 1), `
60.                                      $Lines[$j - 1].Substring($Lines[$j - 1].IndexOf("=") + 1) `
61.                                      | Out-File -Encoding utf8 -FilePath $OutFile -Append
62.     }
63.     '</DL><P>' | Out-File -Encoding utf8 -FilePath $OutFile -Append
64.     Remove-Item '.\C2HTmp.txt'
65.   }
66.   '</DL><P>' | Out-File -Encoding utf8 -FilePath $OutFile -Append
67. }
68.  
69. If($PSVersionTable.PSVersion.Major -lt 4) {
70.   Write-Host '** Script requires at least Powershell V4 **'
71. } else {
72.   $sFolder = (Get-Folder)
73.   If($sFolder -eq '') {Exit}
74.   Write-Host '-- Conversion started --'
75.   $aFiles = (Get-ChildItem -Include *.cgp -Path ($sFolder + "\*"))
76.   If(($sFolder.LastIndexOf('\') + 1) -eq $sFolder.Length) {
77.   $sOutfile =  ($sFolder | % { $_.Substring(0, $_.LastIndexOf('\') + 1) }) `
78.                 + 'CGP2HTML-' + ("{0:yyyy}" -f (Get-Date)) + ("{0:MM}" -f (Get-Date)) `
79.                 + ("{0:dd}" -f (Get-Date)) + ('{0:hh}' -f (Get-Date)) `
80.                 + ('{0:mm}' -f (Get-Date)) + ('{0:ss}' -f (Get-Date)) + '.html'
81.   } else {
82.   $sOutfile =  $sFolder + '\' + 'CGP2HTML-' + ("{0:yyyy}" -f (Get-Date)) `
83.                 + ("{0:MM}" -f (Get-Date)) + ("{0:dd}" -f (Get-Date)) `
84.                 + ('{0:hh}' -f (Get-Date)) + ('{0:mm}' -f (Get-Date)) `
85.                 + ('{0:ss}' -f (Get-Date)) + '.html'
86.   }
87.   Write-Host '-- Conversion finished --'
88.   Out-Bookmark $aFiles $sOutfile
89.   Write-Header $sOutfile $sFolder
90. }
91. Write-Host ''
92. Write-Host 'Output file: ' $sOutfile -foregroundcolor "blue" -backgroundcolor "yellow"
93. Write-Host ''
94. Write-Host 'Press a key to exit ...'
95. cmd /c pause | out-null

1785

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 10 Announced

« Last post by 4wd on June 25, 2015, 01:55 AM »

It may be the GPU/onboard video. Have you seen this page of the system specification/minimum requirements?

-Deozaan (June 25, 2015, 01:08 AM)

It's the same hardware as your netbook, Atom N270, Intel® 945GSE chipset with GMA950 Gfx.

They list exactly the same requirements for Windows 8.1 (actually more: PAE, NX, and SSE2), which it's running.

1786

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 10 Announced

« Last post by 4wd on June 24, 2015, 09:17 PM »

-made my stomach so uneasy that I totally lost my courage.

-Curt (June 24, 2015, 07:33 AM)

No need for stress, it's easier than Win 8 was - here's the latest Win10 build installation steps for a local account:

According to dxdiag, the CPU is an Intel Atom N270 @ ~1.6Ghz, which is higher than I thought. DxDiag also says the system model is MS-N031, which I do see in small print on the sticker underneath, nearby the much larger U120 printed on the same sticker.

-Deozaan (June 21, 2015, 03:31 AM)

I installed Win8.1 Pro from scratch and have fully updated it but the Win 10 notifier updates don't even appear as downloads.  Seems strange that Win10 won't install since 8.1 runs fine on it but I'm guessing it's something BIOS related, (I've got the last modded BIOS version), so unless someone has any ideas about what specifically are the requirements of 10 as opposed to 8.1, (posts I've seen all refer back to the Win8 Upgrade Assistant for testing to see if Win10 will install), I'm out of luck on the netbook it seems.

1787

Post New Requests Here / Re: REQ: Convert/Export Certain Browser's "Groups" as Chrome Bookmarks

« Last post by 4wd on June 24, 2015, 07:29 PM »

Case in point, on my system, the "system locale" or what Windows calls "the language setting for non-Unicode programs" varies, changing from time to time, depending on what language I need to display. It is often set to "Chinese (Simplified, PRC)", and sometimes "Japanese (Japan)".

-Cocoa (June 24, 2015, 02:37 PM)

Bingo!  I wish you'd said that at the start.  OK, let's see how far I get this time

I was wrong about the character encoding conversion, oh well ... happens sometimes     Anyway, found a program that will do it at the command line so I can work it into the command file or you can bulk convert all your .cgp before running the reformat.  One or the other, I'll see what happens.

1788

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 10 Announced

« Last post by 4wd on June 24, 2015, 04:38 AM »

A Microsoft account is only required if you want to use Microsoft's services, eg. OneDrive, Windows App Store, etc

Otherwise you need only create a local account just like you did for Windows 7.

1789

Post New Requests Here / Re: REQ: Convert/Export Certain Browser's "Groups" as Chrome Bookmarks

« Last post by 4wd on June 23, 2015, 09:28 PM »

It seems many of the commands are not supported in my Windows 7 SP1 x64 (Ult). Is there some extra dependency?

-Cocoa (June 23, 2015, 05:25 PM)

They are not commands, they're fragments of the url/name that is read - something that wasn't a problem in the abbreviated .cgp in your OP.

You can't convert from ANSI characters to UTF-8 characters from what I've tried and read.  Sure you can convert the file format but that won't fix the original input characters.
(EDIT: I'm stoopid )

Here's the problem, you're not talking about just converting a text file to another text file in a different format/encoding.  You're talking about having a program read each URL, fetch that page, parse it, and then store the page title plus the URL in another bookmark format and character encoding.

This is why both the converter program and command file aren't providing you with what you want - a "format" converter is not what is required.

1. Unfortunately encoding conversion still isn't working right. The non-Romance characters still end up as gibberish when imported. Since the mojibake ends up with even more unusual symbols than normal being displayed when using a wrong encoding, perhaps it was one such character/symbol that caused the app to generate an error and exit?

Exactly, it was the gibberish that is the name field - there is no way around that, it starts out as gibberish, it'll remain gibberish.  The only option is to refetch the page and save the title with the correct encoding.

I'll have a play in Powershell since it supports Unicode.

EDIT: Exactly where are you located and what locale/language is your system set to?

I've been playing around in Powershell and quite frankly, I can't get it to work consistently with some of the sites in your .cgp file.

eg.  Reading the page title through Powershell:

Code: Text [Select]

1. http://www.cnn.co.jp/fringe/35065380.html?tag=rcol;editorSelect

correctly gives:
CNN.co.jp : ＮＡＳＡの「空飛ぶ円盤」、ハワイで飛行実験

Code: Text [Select]

1. http://www.excite.co.jp/world/chinese/

always gives gibberish even though the page is supposedly UTF-8:
中国語翻訳 - エキサイト 翻訳

Not only that but there is mixed encoding, it's not all UTF-8:

Code: Text [Select]

1. http://www.messe.gr.jp/girls/index.html?category_id=&kw=%2588%25E4%258F%25E3%2598a%2595F&pageID=5

this page is Shift-JIS which means the title will be illegible when output as UTF-8.

1790

General Software Discussion / Re: recover an SQL .mdf file that is currently written to a bad sector

« Last post by 4wd on June 21, 2015, 07:06 PM »

Further in my comment you will find the same statement...which applies when questforfla is of the opinion that the hard disk won't survive too long anymore.

-Shades (June 21, 2015, 12:07 PM)

Yes, sorry, should have made it clearer.  I meant make the clone regardless of what recovery software ends up being used - looking back over his posts I was wondering whether this is a new fault or something that's been building up over the last few months, eg.

[2015-03-30] https://www.donation....msg378792#msg378792

I have a need to temporarily use something other than the DB's internal backup of a SQL Express DB.  It normally runs its own backup  every night and i keep copies of what it backs up.   Unfortunately, it is having issues of some kind and until they can resolve them I would like to be able to keep some kind of backup even if it isn't the one they normally keep.

1791

Living Room / Re: good Videos [short films] here :)

« Last post by 4wd on June 21, 2015, 07:30 AM »

Try different browsers as well.

-IainB (June 21, 2015, 05:04 AM)

I tried IE, Pale Moon, and Dragon, all either changing the timezone or going via a VPN, none of them would play the content, just ended up with a black screen ... and they wonder why people download content via bittorrent, (which I'm about to do ).

1792

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 10 Announced

« Last post by 4wd on June 21, 2015, 04:50 AM »

Pretty much identical to my Acer Aspire One ZG5 except I'm using a ZIF PATA drive because it was the first model only available with Linpus on an 8GB ZIF SSD, (AOA110).

Maybe it's time to hack in a SATA interface and shoehorn a SSD in.

1793

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 10 Announced

« Last post by 4wd on June 21, 2015, 03:18 AM »

In a bid to isolate what's going on, what CPU is in yours?  Or what's the netbook model?

1794

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 10 Announced

« Last post by 4wd on June 21, 2015, 02:48 AM »

It finished installing!

-Deozaan (June 21, 2015, 02:22 AM)

You're lucky, first time mine rebooted during install it's gone back to the initial 4 panes and whizzing balls screen and just sits there - no disc activity, nothing.  Have to boot off of a PE disc and see if I can find the setup log.

AFAIK, the apps need at least a 1024x768 screen, for the old 1024x600 netbooks you need to enable downscaling.

1795

General Software Discussion / Re: recover an SQL .mdf file that is currently written to a bad sector

« Last post by 4wd on June 21, 2015, 02:09 AM »

While I'm not a fan...try if you can use CHKDSK, in the off chance Windows is actually able to repair the bad sector(s) or capable of moving data around to spare sectors.

Then I would try software such as TestDisk to retrieve data. At least it doesn't give up that quickly as Windows explorer when copying files. UnstoppableCopier is another piece of software that won't give up easily when copying files. Both are free to use.

-Shades (June 21, 2015, 12:51 AM)

Would it be a good idea to make a sector clone of the HDD before using a recovery program?

1796

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 10 Announced

« Last post by 4wd on June 21, 2015, 02:06 AM »

I'm currently at 49%, upgrading from Windows 7. (~1.2Ghz, 1GB RAM, 120GB SSD, so barely meets/exceeds minimum specs.)

I ran the installer from within Windows 7 (as opposed to booting from the ISO and installing from there).

-Deozaan (June 21, 2015, 01:04 AM)

Yep, I ended up installing 8.1 Pro (which only took ~30 minutes from flash) and have started the W10 installer from a flash drive, currently at about 20%.

I've still got no idea why it wouldn't install from a clean boot but it might have something to do with what the Windows 8 Upgrade Advisor mentioned about NX not being enabled.  The 8.1 install might have put it into the right frame of mind to accept the 10 install.

1797

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 10 Announced

« Last post by 4wd on June 20, 2015, 10:43 PM »

Anyway, I'm going to install it on the netbook just for laughs and will see what'll happen on July 30

-4wd (June 20, 2015, 03:09 AM)

You may have a pretty good shot of it working what with MS trying their best to write Windows 10 so it will not only work on desktops and laptops, but tablets as well.

-Innuendo (June 20, 2015, 10:37 AM)

Not having much luck so far, which is strange since 8.1 pro installed on it OK.  So far tried two different flash drives and a Zalman VE300 with the ISO mounted.  Tried both installing with XP still installed and with a formatted drive, just sits at the initial screen with the balls whizzing round and round.

System (1.6GHz, 1.5GB, 60GB) exceeds the minimum specs (1.0GHz, 1GB, 16GB) so I'm wondering if it's down to a driver issue ... might reinstall 8/8.1 and then see if 10 will install over it.

Anyone know of a debug mode for the install so I can see what is or isn't happening?

1798

Living Room / Re: good Videos [short films] here :)

« Last post by 4wd on June 20, 2015, 09:28 PM »

... overseas viewers may need to access it via VPN.

-IainB (June 20, 2015, 08:04 PM)

If your computer shows as being in a different timezone to New Zealand you'll get a message saying Timezone incorrect, however if you go into your settings and change your timezone, clear out your browser cache, and reload the page, it will allow you to sign up to watch it.

It may do an IP check after sign up but I would have thought that would be part of the initial check before you got that far.

1799

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 10 Announced

« Last post by 4wd on June 20, 2015, 03:09 AM »

None of that makes sense to me.

The Insider Program is already opt-in.

-Deozaan (June 20, 2015, 02:32 AM)

From what arstechnica and other sites are saying, those who had XP/Vista and installed the Preview (with Insider account) now get the stable retail version on July 29 and get to keep it, so you can opt out of the Insider Program at that point but still retain the full licensed version of 10.

What I can see here is it seems like a ridiculously easy way to get from the crippled non-Pro versions of XP/Vista to 10 Pro possibly.  Anyway, I'm going to install it on the netbook just for laughs and will see what'll happen on July 30

1800

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 10 Announced

« Last post by 4wd on June 20, 2015, 02:26 AM »

Via arstechnica which references this MS blog post.

The Insider program for Windows 10 is changing in the run up to the first stable release. Currently, preview builds are all automatically opted in to the Insider Program (obviously; that's the only way to even get them). When Windows 10 is launched, that changes: at that point, the Insider Program becomes opt-in. To opt in, users will have to have a Microsoft account that's registered with the Insider Program, and they'll have to use that Microsoft account with their PC. This change will take effect in the next public build: without a suitably registered Microsoft account, that build will be upgradable to the final release on July 29, and from there on out be restricted to regular, stable builds.

This does, of course, impose some limitations on the "free" install process. In particular, it's unlikely that build 10130 or the other pre-release will be installable and activatable forever, so the window for getting onto the train is limited.

Apparently, even if you have Vista or XP now, you have the chance to upgrade to 10 for free provided you're a member of the Windows Insider program and install the latest Preview build before the deadline, (so possibly ~1 month to opt in).