Distant Worlds Universe and Windows 10

[alboy01]

I recently bought Distant Worlds Universe from Steam Which is great.
I have Windows 8.1 and was thinking of getting the free update to Windows 10 sometime in the future.
My question is that Steam say it requires Internet Explorer and Windows Media Player which I have at the moment but I understand that Windows 10 do not come with Internet Explorer and Windows Media Player so will the game still play ok if I upgrade to Windows 10.

[Uncle Lumpy]

I was reading up on Windows 10 yesterday and have the same question about whether DWU will function. I downloaded my version of the game and don't use Steam.

[mordachai]

You might want to wait to switch to W10... just so that there is time for some other poor sucker to cut themselves on the bleeding edge and microsoft to fix their day 0 bugs.

Anecdotally: the software I write for work I just tested on the latest prerelease build (1072 I think) - and we ran - but had various issues. Some will be fixed for the real release coming out in a month - and some will probably require coding changes on our part. New OS = new compatibility issues - so I would be very surprised if everything worked just so on day 1.

[ElanaAhova_slith]

There is also another issue related to win10 - besides explorer being gone: The finance model of Win10. As a client side application, will MS be charging a monthly 'license' fee for running win10 on your PC? There are many rumors about this on a number of sites. I have win7, and the option to upgrade to win10 'for free.' I will wait and see exactly what win 10 will be, and cost, etc. before making a decision to upgrade. Caution, is, I believe, the order of the day.

[Uncle Lumpy]

I agree with you mordachia. I was planning on waiting regardless. I was merely wondering how the design team of DW might address this concern. They have a Great game and system, and I would really hate to see MS screw it all up. I have also heard the rumors regarding a "fee" being charged for W10.

[Bingeling]

It is a good idea to wait a bit. I will be very surprised if the free upgrade carries a future fee, since MS is not exactly in a dominant position anymore.

I see the free Win 10 upgrade as a way to push some new features in general, and to help their mobile OS get a better market share through integration with the computer.

[mordachai]

Bingeling - I think that is absolutely their initial intentions. "Get everyone running the same thing" - that will vastly cut down on their support headaches, and will make it possible - for the first time in their history as a company - to introduce technology that developers can actually use! Our company has to ensure XP compatibility (this is the last year we're choosing to support it - but still)! So all of the goodies MS made for Vista (which was almost all about under-hood-changes), and Win7, and Win8, and now Win10 are totally out of bounds for us (and almost all other app vendors - you simply cannot write code that requires real businesses to update their OSes - fart in church would go over better).

...but I very much think that MS will *try* and charge maintenance fees in time - maybe not for a year or more - but it's where everything is going (that doesn't want to have zero revenue stream). Maybe there will be levels of stuff - the OS itself has no subscription - but your OneDrive does - or your AntiVirus (as it already does) - and MS Office will be all about subscription models - and so on.

...but I don't think that's a reason not to get on Win10. I - and every company out there - are going to love having a single platform to target our code for - to test our code for - and in a few years time nobody will support Win7 or Win8. But that's just my 2c.

Edit: and Win10 "will be MS last OS" - meaning that they'll just continue to improve it - rather than have this stupid and ultimately self-defeating cycle of releasing a new OS every 3 years or so, fragmenting their own market. So... given a few years, every Windows device will be a Windows 10 device.

[Bingeling]

Don't hold your breath when it comes to companies moving from XP and IE6.

MS will surely try to earn money in some way, but they know computers is a fading technology. Even if the OS, and even Office, is free for private use, it does not have to be for businesses. And support is not likely to be free at all, just like it is not today.

When it comes to patching the OS, charging for that is a pure loss. They have to do the security updates, and keeping the OS relevant is the way to keep people using it. Cloud storage is one area where they probably hope to make some money, as well as in getting you to buy a MS phone.

[btd64]

My advice, Wait 90 days after release and then we will know....GP

[CyclopsSlayer]

Reportedly, current users of Win7 & 8 will get the free upgrade without future fee.
Given the **365 Applications, they will likely make their money by renting what used to be Core components.

It wouldn't surprise me in the least if Office365 is joined by IE365, MediaPlayer365, LiveMail365... ChaChing!

But yes, I too am wondering about DW:U and Win10 compatibility. Will most likely just stay with Win7 for the near future.