Re: [Update] Windows 10 Discussion
 

How to remove:

http://www.windowscentral.com/how-re...dows-10-app-pc

Re: [Update] Windows 10 Discussion
 

No rush ;

(From windows central site).

Re: [Update] Windows 10 Discussion
 

The implication of getting it "first" and "reserving" suggests there's going to be limited supply and a wait for people who don't "reserve"

---------- Post added at 22:07 ---------- Previous post was at 22:06 ----------

You could just... not install unimportant Windows Updates.

Re: [Update] Windows 10 Discussion
 

I believe it was flagged as important, was released a week or two ago and didn't indicate that this was what the update was for. In those circumstances I could understand why people just updating Windows as normal could be forgiven for installing this accidentally.

Edit: It was flagged as Recommended recently, which means it would be an automatic install for the majority of people. Again, I can't fault people for not realising they had this installed.

Re: [Update] Windows 10 Discussion
 

limited supply of digital media lol lol only limiting factor is bandwidth so those who reserve get access to the bandwidth before those who do not. Just like those who "reserve" their seat at the cinema or use fast track to get on a ride at Alton towers get preferential treatment

As you see their terminology was just fine only you didn't understand it

Re: [Update] Windows 10 Discussion
 

Are you saying it was previously important and now changed to just Recommended? That's sneaky...

I can see it being "Recommended", i.e. Microsoft recommends you allow them to recommend you upgrade to Windows 10, but certainly not Important. And I've never seen the class of a Windows Update change retrospectively.

Yes, it would be an automatic install for the majority of people, but the majority of people aren't the ones complaining. It's the ones who oppose the idea of Microsoft deploying additional software to their system, yet choose to allow Microsoft to deploy any software to their system that are complaining.

Re: [Update] Windows 10 Discussion
 

I got it wrong sorry. it was an optional update from March until May, when it changed to Recommended, and thus part of a normal Windows update for machines MS deemed "eligible".

And I understand what you are saying. I think most users trust Microsoft to deploy updates as they see fit and maybe this one could've been a bit better. The option to say "No, and go away" to the Windows 10 button would be welcome.

Re: [Update] Windows 10 Discussion
 

Ah, OK. Still sneaky, though perhaps not quite as much.

I agree, and to be honest I was rather "WTF" when I saw it on my own computer. It's rather coy how the update makes no mention of what it actually does and the icon has no option to remove it, they seem to be pushing really hard to move users onto Windows 10...

Personally I just went into Task Manager, shot the task, and deleted the folder because that's what I do to unwanted programs :D

Ironically, I will shortly be upgrading the machine concerned to Windows 8.1...

Re: [Update] Windows 10 Discussion
 

The Free Windows 10 Will Support Unlimited Clean Installs

http://news.softpedia.com/news/The-F...s-483135.shtml

:D:D:D:D well done MS

Re: [Update] Windows 10 Discussion
 

Really no one should need to do a clean install any more than once anyway. Unless of course like many in IT you appear to enjoy having to reinstall everything over and over again

How I will be doing things on July 29th

Take a system image of my working 8.1 pro

Upgrade to 10 take a system image.

Recover to clean install update and install any drivers then take a system image

Install all applications and take a system image

With all these in place I can mess around with any of the install run tests on different applications and if anything goes wrong I have a choice of where to recover from. Once I am happy everything is working I can get rid of some of the images until this point I will keep everything. I will then back up my fully working windows 10 install to a couple of places so it is safe as well as keeping a local image. With this hardware then I will never need to run a clean install as can easily recover to a fully tested working system in minutes

Re: [Update] Windows 10 Discussion
 

I assume that those of us on the technical preview will be upgraded to full version on July 29, or will we have to clean install?

Re: [Update] Windows 10 Discussion
 

Why only once? I do a clean install at least once a year or if replacing hardware more often.

Many others would do the same. I back up all my files though but no need for a full image.

Re: [Update] Windows 10 Discussion
 

Depends on your needs. As an IT Technician, my needs for software change quite regularly, and I only reformat the machine (usually) once a year, and tend to install software as and when I need it. I reformat twice or more on the odd occasion that I really need to. So, the amount of time I would save by switching to using images would be minimal at best. At worst, it would take me longer to generate all the images than it currently does to re-install what I need.

Re: [Update] Windows 10 Discussion
 

well I could for all you know be creating an image whilst sitting here typing on a forum so time it takes to create is irrelevant as I do it when using the machine anyway. I am different to you in as much as I use the same software so the time I save is in all the installations and of course by keeping a incremental system image you save time on all updates unless you create a slipstreamed installation which would negate any time saved :)

---------- Post added at 18:10 ---------- Previous post was at 18:06 ----------

only hardware that would force the need for a reinstall would be a total switch in chipset anything else is unlikely to require one


Many others take no backups system images save time in the ways previously mentions ie updates etc

I know full well that restoring a fully stable system image with everything I use takes a hell of a lot less time than installing windows installing drivers updating windows installing applications and so on but each to their own :)

Re: [Update] Windows 10 Discussion
 

I had to reinstall after a disk corruption issue. It's always useful to have.

Re: [Update] Windows 10 Discussion
 

One thing i have not read about and curious is about the licencing aspect.

Now they state that windows 10 will be free as long as that device lasts, now im upgrading from a Windows 8.1 retail kit where my licence is transferable to another system, so are microsoft saying now they wont honor this in the upgrades?

Re: [Update] Windows 10 Discussion
 

This seems to imply that you can still do a transfer with a retail version

http://www.zdnet.com/article/windows...o-you-qualify/

Re: [Update] Windows 10 Discussion
 

So for example lets say i change my PC in a year the licence can be carried over?

Re: [Update] Windows 10 Discussion
 

That seems to be the case, unless they are being particularly nasty.

Also this

http://www.anandtech.com/show/9334/m...fter-upgrading

says that once you've got the W10 update, your existing Win 8.1 licence key will activate a fresh W10 install without issue. However it's not clear whether if you move your install to a different machine whether you'd have to do a two-step install i.e. Win 8.1 > 10.

Re: [Update] Windows 10 Discussion
 

So what happens if I restore my laptop (which comes with windows 8), can I automatically upgrade each time to Windows 10 again?

Re: [Update] Windows 10 Discussion
 

That seems to be a yes.

Re: [Update] Windows 10 Discussion
 

Has anyone noticed that pressing the F8 Key when first booting doesn't take you to the boot menu anymore.

I always use it when restoring a system image so I hope they will bring that function back.

Re: [Update] Windows 10 Discussion
 

It changed in Windows 8/8.1

http://www.howtogeek.com/126016/thre...-options-menu/

Re: [Update] Windows 10 Discussion
 

I have win 8.1 Pro and I still use the F* to get into the boot menu and boot from a Recovery USB stick to restore a system image.

Re: [Update] Windows 10 Discussion
 

Bios should have a separate boot menu not tied to windows

F8 on some bought up this menu but only if pressed prior to hard drives being read then it would give safe mode option but safe mode as we know it has changed now

To access it set safeboot in MSCONFIG

Re: [Update] Windows 10 Discussion
 

the system recovery to get into safe mode etc is a pain, you have to go into settings, and say you want to reboot into safe mode on next reboot :(

so if you can't get into windows, you're a bit screwed :(

Re: [Update] Windows 10 Discussion
 

I wonder what idiot came up with that? :nutter:

Re: [Update] Windows 10 Discussion
 

To enable the F8 key in Windows 8 or 8.1

right click start button and select command prompt Admin copy and paste following command and press enter

bcdedit /set {default} bootmenupolicy legacy

to turn off again enter

bcdedit /set {default} bootmenupolicy standard

make sure you use Command Prompt as Admin

Re: [Update] Windows 10 Discussion
 

There is an alternative:

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-gb/w...ings-safe-mode

Which then allows you to choose Safe Mode

Re: [Update] Windows 10 Discussion
 

I still don't understand why they changed it from something that worked perfectly well (F8) and everybody knew how to use and try to hide it so you need to re-activate it BEFORE you know you need to use it. Perverse logic at best.

Re: [Update] Windows 10 Discussion
 

Reading some of the information, it's down to the change to UEFI and SSDs

http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/win...nto-safe-mode/

F8 only works if you catch the right point in the boot process. With newer machines it's all much quicker than it used to be i.e potentially down from a many seconds window to 1 second or less. So it's less likely you can hit the kit at the right point consistently to trigger the menu.

Re: [Update] Windows 10 Discussion
 

That's just crazy. How on earth would you expect any non-expert user to ever manage that?!?!

Lol.

---------- Post added at 14:48 ---------- Previous post was at 14:46 ----------

To be fair the whole idea is that YOU never NEED to use it.

Windows recovery is designed to be either fully automated, or not intended to be something an end user is able to do one their own anyway.

---------- Post added at 14:51 ---------- Previous post was at 14:48 ----------

That just sounds like a load of rubbish. Not least because UEFI + SSD systems are still a minority now in 2015, let alone when Windows 8 was released.

But on top of that, the "F8 window" has never been long or consistent on any system in the past and it's never been used as an excuse before... not to mention on any multi-OS systems it's at least 30 seconds by default. Sounds more like they're retrospectively making up a fake explanation to cover up yet another dumb "tablet optimized" decision they don't want to admit.

Because face it, removing a keyboard function and replacing it with a touchscreen F8 interface stinks of the whole turning-every-PC-into-a-tablet design philosophy of Windows 8. If it was really anything to do with the timing window being too short they'd have just made activated by a hold-down-the-button-continuously feature like all the other startup/safe mode/bypass modes are.

Re: [Update] Windows 10 Discussion
 

windows 10 build 10130 ISO's now available

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/preview-iso

Re: [Update] Windows 10 Discussion
 

I want a new build, too many bugs in 10130 here.

Re: [Update] Windows 10 Discussion
 

I can see me not upgrading until well after the release date. All i see at the moment is bug after bug after bug being reported. It just does not give me confidence to trust them at release date.

Re: [Update] Windows 10 Discussion
 

Agreed. I've always had a rule in the past that I won't touch a MS Windows OS until at least the first Service Pack or equivalent!

Re: [Update] Windows 10 Discussion
 

I am upgrading but keeping my windows 8.1 intact as well. Sometimes a build is released focusing on certain aspects the last couple I think GUI the last few builds the other bugs a consequence of the other

On top of that to be quite honest I think the free upgraders are basically playing OEM and doing the RTM compatibility tests for them I am not concerned about the lack of time between now and then. We could be 6 weeks or more away from an RC build

Re: [Update] Windows 10 Discussion
 

Paul Thurrott and Mary Jo Foley been saying they be patches on release day too that's what they working on now mainly is bug fixes

Re: [Update] Windows 10 Discussion
 

Patches on release day :LOL:

I will wait till they have a fully working product that does not need patches on release day.

Re: [Update] Windows 10 Discussion
 

Windows as a service means that Windows 10 will constantly be getting patches by design, forever.

Re: [Update] Windows 10 Discussion
 

exactly and the fixes will come quicker which is a good thing

Re: [Update] Windows 10 Discussion
 

Nobody ever releases something that works straight out of the box though, look at all the computer games released every year. You can pretty much guarantee putting a game in on launch day, and there will be a 2 GB download straight away for that game.

Re: [Update] Windows 10 Discussion
 

Had my notification earlier in the week. Got it on my main PC but not on my media centre :confused: both running Win7 x64.
Still undecidied if I am going to migrate to 10 tho. But I do like the sound of the increase in games framerate.

Re: [Update] Windows 10 Discussion
 

As with most software, but at the moment the existing bugs if carried over to release date will make it a no go on release date for me.

---------- Post added at 11:05 ---------- Previous post was at 11:04 ----------

Well lets see if the bugs they have now are fixed for release date, some of them have been in windows 10 at least 2 of there updates over the last month.

For instance the start menu keeps stopping and needs a reboot to fix, a start menu they are hyping all the time. :rolleyes:

Before you say its my machine it does it on 2 laptops and on my test machine.

Re: [Update] Windows 10 Discussion
 

well that's what they are mainly working on now bug fixes so should be fixes by 29th of July

Re: [Update] Windows 10 Discussion
 

Well lets hope so as i like windows 10, i don't like the bugs

Re: [Update] Windows 10 Discussion
 

Difference is, most software becomes feature-stable at some point whereas Windows 10 supposedly will not.

The whole idea is there will never be a final release date. Every update will be a release and introduce new bugs as well as fixing existing ones.

Re: [Update] Windows 10 Discussion
 

Sorry if this has been covered before, heard from various sources (computer mags) there could be a chance of Windows being a subscription program.
Anything heard by others or is it just a wind up.

Re: [Update] Windows 10 Discussion
 

That's so untrue.

Re: [Update] Windows 10 Discussion
 

that is untrue it not going subscription don't know what some people still push this lie

Re: [Update] Windows 10 Discussion
 

You do not know what the future brings.

I do not see any press releases saying it will never happen. Please furnish me with such if such exists

Also it is not a lie it was never posted anywhere as canon it was just a theory based on Microsoft future plans. In 14 months time you may very well have to eat your words

One thing for sure is if this is it and Windows 10 is the last name it carries or it switches to just Windows next year when Redstone is pushed and that is it will have to be paid for somehow.
Get Windows free now never be expected to pay for M$ operating system again I do not think is ever going to happen I can see there been "Gold" or "Silver" packages ( see what I did there ? I shown M$ are not adverse to subscriptions lol) but this is just a theory not a lie

Re: [Update] Windows 10 Discussion
 

Gabriel Aul ‎@GabeAul

@briguy943 "Windows as a service" just means that we'll continuously keep it up to date. There is no ongoing fee.

there Gabe Aul tweeted ages ago about it had to look for a while to find it in this thread lol not going to be a subsciption

Re: [Update] Windows 10 Discussion
 

more proof here no subscription

http://www.winbeta.org/news/stopping...fee-windows-10


Gabriel Aul
‏@GabeAul @OjJanne @Microsoft Please allow me to close that door for you: No annual fee for Windows 10.
http://blogs.windows.com/bloggingwin...ws-windows-10/ …
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/windows-10-faq …

hopefully that stop people worrying about subscription it not going to happen at all

Re: [Update] Windows 10 Discussion
 

So how do you see M$ making money?

Re: [Update] Windows 10 Discussion
 

they sell windows to business still in volume licences and people that don't take up free offer will have to buy it after the first year and office is there biggest money maker

Re: [Update] Windows 10 Discussion
 

but the businesses have to options which means one lets gets patches and feature updates and the other just the patches. They get the upgrades too

So you are telling me M$ are going to sell Windows to businesses and home consumers once they let them just keep upgrading the software for free? that is financial suicide

The only demographic that needs to keep upgrading hardware is the gamer specially now the tech is where it is. A basic computer now has so much power that a hell of a lot of businesses will not need to buy a new machine again for years and years unless one breaks of course. SO buy Windows 10 then not have to buy another OS for what could be decade or longer .

I still think at some point in the not to distant future we will see a subscription based or some sort of annual payment to keep the upgrades going

Re: [Update] Windows 10 Discussion
 

Gabe Aul confirmed no subscription for windows 10 what more proof is there MS has said it

Re: [Update] Windows 10 Discussion
 

I asked for your opinion. Do you believe everything Cameron says? or your misses for that matter??

Windows 10 is not going to be subscription based I accept that but there are already 2 new builds on the roadmap one for this year and one for next year. I still seriously think before the end of this decade we will see a new way of paying for windows whether sub based or one off payment based because I can not see how M$ can sustain free operating system development purely on income from new customers.

I have stated why I think this all I want is your opinion on what you think the future holds on this subject

Re: [Update] Windows 10 Discussion
 

Microsoft will just make there money elsewhere.

Hardware sales and business supscriptions as well as office sales/subs.

So not charging for windows updates is feasible.

Re: [Update] Windows 10 Discussion
 

I hope you and Dave are right but the future is a long time my opinion is it will be short lived

Re: [Update] Windows 10 Discussion
 

Hopefully it will stay like it is now as Gabe says, but we can't see several years into the future.

They will still make money from new pcs with Windows oem on it and businesses, which is where they got most of their money from anyway i think.

Re: [Update] Windows 10 Discussion
 

Firstly businesses will have to upgrade some will some wont those that do will only ever need to buy one more licence and have upgrades forever. Office365 is already subscription as lets face it Office has not changed that much in 12 years so why would business need to update that? I just can not see it as sustainable myself :)

Re: [Update] Windows 10 Discussion
 

Remember MS also have the Xbox and make a lot of money from that. Lumia smartphones.

So really Windows is just a little thing in their world.

Re: [Update] Windows 10 Discussion
 

Most bigger companies will routinely replace hardware from a support and standardisation point of view. Standard deployment images etc.

Anyone know what the breakdown on profit between Windows and Office? Office will not be free for most companies.

Also any ideas on the cost of windows in a virtualized environment?

J

Re: [Update] Windows 10 Discussion
 

I'd rather believe the opinion of a Microsoft product manager over yours.

---------- Post added at 16:20 ---------- Previous post was at 16:17 ----------

Business will NOT be able to buy one license and have upgrades forever. They will have to pay for a new copy of Windows every time they buy a new computer.

Same reason that Windows XP hasn't changed much in 12 years yet businesses had to update it.

And how many business do you know that use 12 year old desktop PCs for their day-to-day office work?

---------- Post added at 16:23 ---------- Previous post was at 16:20 ----------

Correct.

Any amount of money they may lose by giving away upgrades for free to existing users is minuscule in comparison to the number of paid-for new copies that will be sold during that time.

Only a tiny minority of people would ever have purchased a new copy of Windows to upgrade an existing machine.

Re: [Update] Windows 10 Discussion
 

I am not asking anyone to believe my opinion just posting what it is. Thought this was a discussion board am I mistaken?

---------- Post added at 00:49 ---------- Previous post was at 00:43 ----------


hmmmmm less than a month ago you had the same opinion funny that ba dum dum tush

Re: [Update] Windows 10 Discussion
 

Can an image be set for the sign in screen?

Re: [Update] Windows 10 Discussion
 

You're claiming businesses can buy consumer licenses when they cannot.

Windows SA, EES and Academic schemes have have always been subscription based.

Re: [Update] Windows 10 Discussion
 

No I do not

Pro and Enterprise are targeted to businesses . Pro is also been given to consumers who grade from windows 8 pro some like myself who only paid 14.99 for it

Re: [Update] Windows 10 Discussion
 

Some people don't like the art of discussion, some people think they know all and allow their egos to run rampant on forums like this. Just saying!

Re: [Update] Windows 10 Discussion
 

Is there anywhere that people can suggest things they would like to see in windows 10 without being one of the beta testers.

What i would like to see is a feature where u can choose what program to use to open videos in different folders. For example i could have 2 folders with MP4 but want to open the videos within the folders using different programs.

Re: [Update] Windows 10 Discussion
 

according to here you keep your old license for windows 7 or 8.1 when upgrading to windows 10 good news first answer

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/w...2-7a2ca891dc16

Re: [Update] Windows 10 Discussion
 

I don't think there is a way to do that by default - file associations are set at a system level not by a folder.

However if you've got each program pinned to the taskbar you can select the file you want to open, hold down the 'Shift' key and then drag it onto the appropriate program's icon. This should then open it with that program (with a tool tip that says as such)

Re: [Update] Windows 10 Discussion
 

When 10 is GA, is it wise to jump straight in or wait a (short?) while for any gremlins to be ironed out?

Also, is there any consensus on whether Win 10 is appreciably slower (on the same hardware) that 7 or 8.1? I have an old PC (Dell XPS Studio 8100 i5 8GB SSD GTX750Ti) and wondered if it would noticably slow down if it was upgraded (from 7 to 10) ..

Re: [Update] Windows 10 Discussion
 

Depends how important stability is for you. Windows 10 is already far more stable than pre-XP Windows versions as it is.

Not as far as I can tell. For games (at least those using DX12) it should be appreciably faster.

Re: [Update] Windows 10 Discussion
 

Installed the 10130 build over the weekend, and it seems much better already than the 10074 build. I might just sit on this build now until the general release of 10.

Re: [Update] Windows 10 Discussion
 

I am running a Family desktop PC with 5 local User accounts, currently this PC is running Win 8.1.

Does anyone know if I can upgrade to Win 10 and keep the user accounts intact or will I have to rebuild the accounts under Win 10?

It may seem a silly question but I haven't upgraded a PC with more than one user account on before.

Re: [Update] Windows 10 Discussion
 

I upgraded to Windows 10 from 8.1 with 3 accounts, so you shouldn't have a problem.

Re: [Update] Windows 10 Discussion
 

The Windows' upgrade process has always preserved all user accounts.

Re: [Update] Windows 10 Discussion
 

Thanks for your helpful replies. I'm going to wait a few months before I upgrade, so I won't get it in the neck from the other users if there are any niggling bugs at release! Will probably upgrade my laptop first to see how it goes though!

Re: [Update] Windows 10 Discussion
 

Just a quick question. I'm using classic shell atm. Does this need uninstalling before installing windows 10?

Re: [Update] Windows 10 Discussion
 

I would uninstall just to be safe, you may need to uninstall a firewall too as I had to do that with Comodo otherwise after the upgrade I had no internet.

Re: [Update] Windows 10 Discussion
 

I think i read somewhere that the windows 10 installation now uninstalls any antivirus or firewall before installation and then installs the latest version of what u had when it finishes.

I could be wrong tho but im sure i read it somewhere.

Re: [Update] Windows 10 Discussion
 

It doesn't install the latest version, it is the same as it has always been with other OS upgrades, if you dont want problems then clean install othwrwise think ahead and remove some software that will often cause an issue.

Re: [Update] Windows 10 Discussion
 

No it doesn't, but Classic Shell does reset itself for the new operating system afterwards.

Re: [Update] Windows 10 Discussion
 

The Windows 10 installer will tell you what you need to uninstall before installing Windows 10.

Re: [Update] Windows 10 Discussion
 

Still not clear on this one: has anyone who has upgraded noticed any significant degradation in any area re: performance? If so, what sort of h/w was this on? Thanks ..

Re: [Update] Windows 10 Discussion
 

I haven't noticed anything in normal windows as i don't play games on the PC, if you're worried about game performance then don't be as Direct X12 will blow direct x11 out of the water.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/29008...is-insane.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sc4dsiq-I7g

Re: [Update] Windows 10 Discussion
 

leaked build 10147 video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkwkl27eCxw

Re: [Update] Windows 10 Discussion
 

Looks good also more new icons again.

Re: [Update] Windows 10 Discussion
 

Getting the final release on July 29th
Windows Insiders running the Windows 10 Insider Preview (Home and Pro editions) with their registered MSA connected to their PC will receive the final release build of Windows 10 starting on July 29th. This will come as just another flight. I’ve gotten a lot of questions from Windows Insiders about how this will work if they clean installed from ISO. As long as you are running an Insider Preview build and connected with the MSA you used to register, you will receive the Windows 10 final release build and remain activated. Once you have successfully installed this build and activated, you will also be able to clean install on that PC from final media if you want to start over fresh.

If you are running the Enterprise edition of the Windows 10 Insider Preview, to upgrade to the final release of Windows 10 Enterprise you will need to download and activate it from Volume Licensing Service Center. As a reminder, the Enterprise edition of the Windows 10 Insider Preview is not eligible for the free upgrade offer and can be upgraded to the final release of Windows 10 through an active Software Assurance agreement.

http://blogs.windows.com/bloggingwin...review-builds/

Re: [Update] Windows 10 Discussion
 

Im wondering will Microsoft be offering free ISO downloads alongside these free updates if people wish to do a fresh install.

Re: [Update] Windows 10 Discussion
 

Yes.

Re: [Update] Windows 10 Discussion
 

Will OEMs recieve windows 10 before everyone else as has happened in the past?

Re: [Update] Windows 10 Discussion
 

looking at the blogs all be on the 29th of July

Re: [Update] Windows 10 Discussion
 

Normally OEMs get it early so that their pc are available in the shops from the release date.

Re: [Update] Windows 10 Discussion
 

Normal has ended. RTM was when the OS was released to the large OEMs to be installed and tested on that hardware, Public release was often after. Windows could always be sourced prior to the retail release easily enough so I never waited

Re: [Update] Windows 10 Discussion
 

It has been over 10 years since I was in the computer trade, I guess times have changed.

Re: [Update] Windows 10 Discussion
 

Looking at blogs the current expectation is RTM and RTOEM in 3 weeks.

Re: [Update] Windows 10 Discussion
 

RTM was also the date on which the files (presumably ISOs) got sent the to the disk manufacturers so they could ensure they had an adequate supply of disks ready to go for launch day. Even the largest duplicating factories on the planet need adequate time to run off hundreds of thousands of copies of a disk.

Then there was the time actually required to get these disks to the distribution centres and the shops.

This is why manufacturers often had to release patches to fix bugs almost on the day of release. They had to release the software to manufacturing several weeks early, but still carried on bug fixing.

Now, they can carry on almost until the release time. They might have to upload it a day or two early to allow the content delivery networks used by the various app stores and Windows Update to catch up, but it's still a lot quicker that waiting for someone to run off 100,000 disks.

Of course, they still need to give their OEMS (and other people) time to adequately test it.