Ask Slashdot: Would You Recommend Updating To Windows 10?

Plenty of users are skeptical about upgrading to Windows 10. While they understand that Microsoft's newest desktop operating system comes with a range of interesting features, they are paranoid about the repeated update fiascos that have spoiled the experience for many users. Reader Quantus347 writes: Whenever I think of Windows 10 these days I, like so many others out there, immediately feel a swell of rage over the heavy-handed way the "upgrade" has been forced on me and so many others. I had to downgrade one of my computers that installed windows 10 over a weekend I was away, and as a result, I have been fending off the update ever since. I find myself wondering if Windows 10 is actually that bad. With the end of the "free" upgrade period quickly coming to an end, my fiscally conservative side is starting to overwhelm my fear and distrust of all things new, and I'm wondering if it's time to take the leap. I've been burned too many times for being an early adopter of something that proved to be an underdeveloped product, but Windows 10 has been around for long enough that I'm wondering if it might have it's kinks worked out.

So I ask you, Slashdot, what are your experiences with Windows 10 itself, aside from the auto-upgrade nonsense? How does it measure up to its predecessors, and is it a worthwhile OS in its own right?

Comments

Re:You have to know how to secure a Windows 10 PC

[aheath]

A better answer to your question is that I haven't found any features of Windows 10 that would warrant my updating from Windows 7.

Re:You have to know how to secure a Windows 10 PC

[Joce640k]

I tried upgrading on my secondary laptop as an experiment.

"All your files are right where you left them!"

Nope. I was assigned a "temporary account" when I tried to login and all my files had vanished. Luckily the process for going back to Windows 7 seems to work.

Next: I go on the net and read about how Microsoft is busy turning the start menu into a big advertising platform. How you can't turn off automatic updates. etc., etc.

I can't wait to see what Windows looks like six months from now after the free upgrade period is over and Microsoft starts doing all that _other_ stuff they have planned. Stuff they're holding off on at the moment because nobody would ever upgrade if they knew the truth.

By that time Microsoft will own your PC. You won't be able to turn off the updates, it'll be too late to go back to Windows 7.

Suckers!

Me? I'll give it a miss. Windows 7 is working just fine.

Re:Yes

[QuietLagoon]

...Yes the HARDCORE FOLKS will cry "SECURITY! MALWARE! INVASION OF PRIVACY!!11!" and more nonsense. The average person who asks me if they should upgrade I say yes....

When I have been asked by "average persons" about the upgrade, I explain the data harvesting that Microsoft will be doing to them and their family. These are not the HARDCORE FOLKS you seem to look down upon, but regular computer users. I showed them Microsoft's comments on the data that are being harvested. I did not add my opinion, I just showed them what Microsoft was saying about the data harvesting.

.
So far, not one has said they wanted to go forward with the Windows 10 installation.

Re:You have to know how to secure a Windows 10 PC

[Anonymous Coward]

Direct X 12 ?

It'll be a while before games fully take advantage of it. But that's probably the only one.

Compared to Win7, everything else Microsoft considers a "Feature" requires more phoning home, more data harvesting, and frankly -- Cortana is an ad for the ads on Bing, Live Tiles are just ads for the MS App Store, and whatever That Cloud Shit is called this year is just someone else's computer: for my use case, they're antifeatures and I'd disable them even if they didn't require a MS Account..

Re:You have to know how to secure a Windows 10 PC

[pezpunk]

this, exactly. most of the differences between Windows 7 and Windows 10 are anti-features that don't stop bugging you to use them.

Re:Depends on what you have

[damnbunni]

There are absolutely no tiles in my Windows 10 start menu.

You ARE aware there's a text menu to the left of the tiles, and you can right-click the tiles and Unpin them and they go away, leaving you with just an old-style all-text-with-little-icons Start Menu, right?

There are some things about 10's start menu that I don't like, but 'huge colorful tiles instead of a list of programs' is absolutely invalid.

Re:You have to know how to secure a Windows 10 PC

[Joce640k]

For a fair comparison you need to reinstall a fresh copy of Windows 7.

Your Windows 10 installation will slow down over time, just like every other version of Windows. Guaranteed.

Re:You have to know how to secure a Windows 10 PC

[Gr8Apes]

A more insightful question is one you should ask yourself: "With a company almost as anti-consumer as Sony, why are you still doing business with them?"

A better question regarding windows 10 is: "If I have to learn all this technical crap just to retain some privacy, perhaps I should look at an alternative OS. I've heard about Macs and Linux, maybe they aren't so bad".

Re:You have to know how to secure a Windows 10 PC

[Holi]

"if you need to run windows on new hardware (Kaby Lake processors and later), you will have to install Windows 10"

Yep think about that, an operating system still in it's supported lifecycle can no longer be used on new hardware, not for any technical reasons but because Microsoft wants to make more money by having your OS serve you ads.