I know – after saying how I’d struggled on Monday morning, here I am on Tuesday.
But you see, I have a triumph and a disaster to tell you about. Sadly, it’s Microsoft’s triumph and my disaster… Not that I mind Microsoft having a triumph, but I’d rather not have a disaster, even a small one.
Microsoft’s triumph is that they’ve finally finished Windows 10. Well, very nearly. Nearly enough to announce the launch date: July 29th – which is bang on when they said they were aiming for.
Well, that’s when it’ll be available to download as a free update if you already have Windows 7 or 8. If you want to buy a disk in a shop, you’ll have to wait a bit longer and if you want to buy a new PC with it already on, well, they haven’t announced that yet. (But I don’t expect it’ll be much later.)
I wouldn’t normally have bothered writing an extra email to tell you that – I’m planning to tell you a bit more about it in next Monday’s email anyway. But Microsoft have also started telling people they can get the new version… and it could be a bit confusing.
You may get a little message on your PC pop up saying you can get Windows 10. That could be confusing or even seem suspicious, since it’s not out for another month and a bit.
What’s happening is that you can now book the free upgrade. You won’t actually get it until July 29th, but it’s likely that so many people will want it that not everyone will be able to download it at once on the first day. So if you want it on the first day, you need to book it. And that’s what you’re being offered now – booking the free upgrade.
Even if you don’t book it now, you’ll still be able to get it – just not on the first day or so that it’s out.
I’ve mentioned before that I’m quite impressed with Windows 10, but I’d probably recommend holding off – for just a few weeks.
Partly because there’s always the possibility that there’ll be some big bugs that get fixed in the first week or two after it’s out. Partly because I’ll be bringing you more info in the next few newsletters about whether it’s worth getting the upgrade and how to go about it if you do – best read that lot first!
My (small) disaster
I hadn’t planned to mention my new book (Tablet Help is at Hand) again. But when I gave it it’s last mention, last Thursday, there was a silly problem with the page where you can order it. Basically, the service that actually processes the orders was “full” because so many people had ordered it. It’s not a big problem as I can “empty” it again… but none of us spotted it happening…
And that meant that if you tried to order the book online after about 6pm on Friday, you couldn’t. You’d have got a rather cryptic error message.
Sorry – the only excuse is… well, actually I don’t have one. But it’s working again now (I’ve literally just tested it by placing an order myself. Hopefully Louize, Simone or Laura will spot it’s me and not put it in the post…). So if you tried and couldn’t order it, you can again now.
And if you’re not sure whether your order went through or not, you can email us at [email protected] and we’ll check.
My apologies!