I can't even type a simple expression with parenthesis. There's no RPN option. There isn't a "financial" setting (only scientific and programmer, for some reason). The list goes on; I'm sure I'm not alone on this one.
It is so, so, so basic it's essentially useless, I end up being forced to open Excel, run Python in the terminal, go on Wolfram Alpha or, worse yet (!!) grab pen and paper to perform basic math.
I know this is unrelated to UWP, but I'd rather they focus less on improving an UI that is inevitably trivial (little boxes with numbers arranged in a grid within a bigger box) and instead added some much needed features.
The fact that I am using a computer must be lost on whoever decided to green light this abomination as the default calculator in any OS ever, let alone one released in the 21st century.
Use Scientific mode and parentheses work fine
I've not used a physical for some years, but even then the Casio ones had a backspace, and had apparently done so for a good few generations.
https://qalculate.github.io/ https://bitbucket.org/heldercorreia/speedcrunch/
I feel time spent working on projects for a company that hasn't spent the better part of 3 decades trying to dominate and control the entirety of the computer market using strategies that destroy competition and supress innovation, that tracks and monitors its users, that has such a small amount of respect that it will inject ads into a product most customers are forced to purchase should they wish to own a computer, is more valuable in that it makes the world just a slightly better place, rather than a slightly shittier one.
Though I didn't just mean patches from "contribute", it could also mean voice/ideas/discussion: instead of pseudonymously complain on HN, there's Feedback Hub and GitHub Issues. As an option that's available.
Anyway, for instance, you could see that RPN is on the radar: https://github.com/microsoft/calculator/issues/128
I don't think this sort of argument works.
The reason it's open source is most likely because it's got nothing of value to competitors but lets them point and say "see, we've changed, look we make things open source now"; aka marketing.
Fwiw, it seems to go far beyond marketing that Calculator is open source, as community contributions have made it into releases and Calculator has seemed to benefit from more (and more diverse) development resources than it had in XP/Vista/7.
Here is what i use as a calculator on Windows: http://runtimeterror.com/tools/calc/calc.hta.txt
It looks like this: https://i.imgur.com/eWZfcXB.png
and not only is much faster to open than Windows Calculator (ironic, considering it loads an entire browser engine) but also more compact and doesn't waste any screen space (100% of its window is dedicated to its actual functionality instead of being an obsolete skeuomorphism that was originally made to help people associate desktop calculators with the virtual desktop metaphor used on the Macintosh back in 1984 when actual physical desktop calculators could be found everywhere).
I bet a lot more than 1% of Windows users have touch screens at this point, since they've become more-or-less standard on high-end laptops.
Mind, it still could easily be < 10%, given how many people have old/cheap PCs.
I don't quite know what the solution is though. The last thing Windows 10 needs in addition to its two separate control panels, command lines, and web browsers are two separate calculator apps.
Even on iOS I use the search field for math & unit conversions rather than the Calc app, since it's easier to refine/fix your formula
However, I really like the live weather tile, and I use it every day, sometimes several times a day by just pressing the start button, looking at the forecast, and pressing it again to go back to my app.
It was not intrusive and helpful. I also used the live calendar and mail that way (I hate notifications) -- and the photos too to see if new pics had been synchronized.
I'm afraid Windows 10 is going way from Windows 8, and closer to Windows 7. I don't think this is progress.