Windows 10

[jlewis]

Are most of you signing up to reserve and update to Windows 10, seems the update reminder is on PC every day? Anyone have any pros or cons? Currently using 7 and have no problems with any programs.

Thanks for any input.

 

[mcb39]

I certainly have no intention of updating.  I am working with Win 7 Pro and everything is good.  From what I have heard; if you accept that free update, it is only for a year and then you have to pay.  Anyone??????????

[jklcpa]

I certainly have no intention of updating.  I am working with Win 7 Pro and everything is good.  From what I have heard; if you accept that free update, it is only for a year and then you have to pay.  Anyone??????????

I don't have any plans to upgrade any current device either. Why mess with a machine that is working perfectly now?

The upgrade offer begins on 7/29/15 and will be available for one year until 7/29/16.  If a person accepts the free offer, it is free forever on that device. The person would not be required to pay for it after that time.

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/windows-10-faq?ocid=win10_auxapp_context

What are the basic facts of the Windows 10 upgrade?

Microsoft is making Windows 10 available as free upgrade for qualified Windows 7, Windows 8.1, and Windows Phone 8.1 devices. It will be available starting July 29, 2015; people can reserve their free upgrade today.

You only have until July 29, 2016 to take advantage of this offer. Once you upgrade, you have Windows 10 for free on that device.

 

[Jack from Ohio]

There will be no operating system on any of my personal, nor any of the firm's computers except WIN7 Pro for at least 3 more years.  WIN7 is going to be supported till at least 2020 per Microsoft.  It is solid, reliable, and all the peripheral companies have drivers for it. 

Not going through the VISTA fiasco ever again.

My recommendation is: DO NOT sign up for, install or upgrade to WIN8, WIN8.1 or WIN 10.  WIN7 Pro will be available as OS on new computers for several years, if you choose a proper supplier. 

Edited July 16, 2015 by Jack from Ohio

[Eric]

I agree that there are risks to upgrading, and few benefits.  Best to leave a working business machine alone.

But I guarantee that there isn't going to be a VISTA fiasco, since Windows 7, 8, and 10, are all essentially Vista.

[jklcpa]

Last night after this post was updated I started looking at the differences in Win 10 compared to earlier versions and noticed that it doesn't include any software or drivers to run any floppy drives or CD/DVD drives, so if you want a machine with anything other than a hard drive, have any software that still updates on CD on DVD, or have anything stored on that type of media, you'll have to purchase add-on software to run a drive.  More and more things will be moving to cloud-based software.

[Eric]

Floppy drives I might believe, it's pretty rare to even find a motherboard that supports one these days.  But I'm pretty sure that's not true about CD/DVD drives.  It might lack software for playing DVD/BluRay movies or something, but CD/DVD/BluRay drives will continue to work.

I'm almost certain you can preorder Windows 10 on DVD.

[Abby Normal]

I'm not going to update any of my main 8.1 computers, but I'll probably update my spare computer AFTER next tax season. I don't like to get too far behind in technology. Plus I'm sure some clients will have 10 before too long, and I need to be familiar enough with 10 to know my way around, so I can support those clients. If all goes well with my tests, I may consider updating, but there may be no compelling reason to update.

[Randall]

I agree that there are risks to upgrading, and few benefits.  Best to leave a working business machine alone.

But I guarantee that there isn't going to be a VISTA fiasco, since Windows 7, 8, and 10, are all essentially Vista.

I agree Eric.  I have 8.1 but I don't want to update to 10.  I see no benefit at this time and I shouldn't be in the market for a new system for several years out.

 

[NECPA in NEBRASKA]

It looks like I can't wait any longer. I'm going to go order a computer to be built today or tomorrow. Should I stay with Windows 7 Pro? My hard drive is apparently failing and I can't see putting more money into a five year old computer. 

[JMovichEA]

I would use Win 7 Pro, Win 8.1 seems to work ok, based on some other comments, but there may some interface differences that you might not like. My new computer has Win 7 Pro and I'm quite happy with it. I recommend you have an SSD installed too. Boot times are fantastic.

Edited July 16, 2015 by JMovichEA

[mcb39]

It looks like I can't wait any longer. I'm going to go order a computer to be built today or tomorrow. Should I stay with Windows 7 Pro? My hard drive is apparently failing and I can't see putting more money into a five year old computer. 

I, personally, would definitely stay with Windows 7 Pro.

[Jack from Ohio]

It looks like I can't wait any longer. I'm going to go order a computer to be built today or tomorrow. Should I stay with Windows 7 Pro? My hard drive is apparently failing and I can't see putting more money into a five year old computer. 

I would use Win 7 Pro, Win 8.1 seems to work ok, based on some other comments, but there may some interface differences that you might not like. My new computer has Win 7 Pro and I'm quite happy with it. I recommend you have an SSD installed too. Boot times are fantastic.

I, personally, would definitely stay with Windows 7 Pro.

There will be no operating system on any of my personal, nor any of the firm's computers except WIN7 Pro for at least 3 more years.  WIN7 is going to be supported till at least 2020 per Microsoft.  It is solid, reliable, and all the peripheral companies have drivers for it. 

Not going through the VISTA fiasco ever again.

My recommendation is: DO NOT sign up for, install or upgrade to WIN8, WIN8.1 or WIN 10.  WIN7 Pro will be available as OS on new computers for several years, if you choose a proper supplier. 

Just like I said.  I agree with all of the above.  If your supplier of choice says he/she cannot provide WIN7 Pro as operating system, contact me.  I will put you in touch with one that can.

[NECPA in NEBRASKA]

Thanks, everyone! That is my preference. I know Windows 7 Pro and love it. I will ask for an SSD. I don't know what the heck it is, but I will look. 

[mcb39]

Thanks, everyone! That is my preference. I know Windows 7 Pro and love it. I will ask for an SSD. I don't know what the heck it is, but I will look. 

An SSD is a Solid State hard drive.....which is much faster than an ordinary hard drive.  They used to be too expensive for many people to bother with, but are becoming more affordable every day.

[Randall]

I disagree.  If I were buying a new system today, I would go with the latest os.  W10.

[Eric]

 

In case anyone is interested in an overview of the release version of Windows 10 that'll be out in a couple weeks.  

I'll be installing Windows 10 on a spare machine in a couple weeks so I can do some testing with the new Edge browser.  I imagine it'll be quite a speed improvement over IE. 

[Eric]

I disagree.  If I were buying a new system today, I would go with the latest os.  W10.

It's not an unsafe choice as far as driver and software compatibility goes.  Like I said, under the hood, the guts are all essentially the same as Vista, with gradual refinement and optimization with 7, 8, 8.1, and now 10.  As the above video states, they've made it faster and more lean to bring down the hardware requirements.

The interface is a different story.  8 brought huge sweeping changes, with gradual refinement in 8.1 and 10. These changes didn't degrade software compatibility or the stability of the operating system, but they did upset a lot of people.  For a new computer, I think the decision comes down to how comfortable you will be with the changes to the interface.  If you're one to embrace change and enjoy poking around a new system to see what's new, then go for it.  If what you see in the video gives you hives, then stick with 7 for as long as you can.

Edited July 17, 2015 by Eric
Words.

[Abby Normal]

The interface is a different story.  8 brought huge sweeping changes

I assume you're talking about the so-called 'Metro' or modern UI. You don't have to use that. I don't. There only a handful of esoteric things in PC Settings that are not in Control Panel.

Most people missed having a familiar menu, but I was never fond of the menu, so I just learned to live without it. I use icons on the Desktop, Taskbar and Quick Launch Toolbar. MS keeps trying to kill the Quick Launch Toolbar. They even lied in the help pages saying it was no longer a part of windows, but it's always been there in the background. I have 28 icons in my Quick Launch Toolbar, 100s on my Desktop and my 7 most used programs pinned to my taskbar that I activate with WinKey+1 thru 7.

8 did fix 7's clunky UI for File Explorer and brought a host of other refinements to windows. It's much easier to add peripherals in 8 than ever before. In fact it's automatic in some cases.

[Eric]

I assume you're talking about the so-called 'Metro' or modern UI. You don't have to use that. I don't. There only a handful of esoteric things in PC Settings that are not in Control Panel.

I realize you don't have to use it, and I don't either.  My feeling is that 8 is perfectly usable because you can avoid the Metro/Modern UI, but "It's avoidable" isn't exactly high praise. 

They didn't give enough (any?) thought to integration of the Modern UI in Windows 8--to me it feels "bolted on". 

[Randall]

I can't imagine buying a new system with W7.  It may be supported until 2020 so buying today may be ok.  But what about next year and the next?  What about buying when there's only one more year left of W7 support?  By then, maybe W11 or W12 will be out.  Will you be afraid of the latest os?  Or will you be confident enough by then to go with W8?  I think this will go on and on.  I've always liked to buy the latest, use it as long as I could, then buy new with the latest.   I was fortunate enough not to have to buy new when Vista came out and could continue using my xp until W7 came out.  I may have bought Vista, may have gotten burned or not.  I don't know.  But W8 has been out almost 3 years.  Get the latest and learn the new interface.

 

[Abby Normal]

I can't imagine buying a new system with W7.  It may be supported until 2020 so buying today may be ok.  But what about next year and the next?  What about buying when there's only one more year left of W7 support?  By then, maybe W11 or W12 will be out.  Will you be afraid of the latest os?  Or will you be confident enough by then to go with W8?  I think this will go on and on.  I've always liked to buy the latest, use it as long as I could, then buy new with the latest.   I was fortunate enough not to have to buy new when Vista came out and could continue using my xp until W7 came out.  I may have bought Vista, may have gotten burned or not.  I don't know.  But W8 has been out almost 3 years.  Get the latest and learn the new interface.

 

And, at some point, that new printer, scanner, mouse or keyboard you want won't even have drivers for win7.

[Abby Normal]

I realize you don't have to use it, and I don't either.  My feeling is that 8 is perfectly usable because you can avoid the Metro/Modern UI, but "It's avoidable" isn't exactly high praise. 

They didn't give enough (any?) thought to integration of the Modern UI in Windows 8--to me it feels "bolted on". 

They wanted something that would work on tablets and look tablet-y. Their mistake was trying to make desktop users use it and making it full screen. In Win10 it's still there but its made to look menu-y.

[Abby Normal]

Also, I use 7 at home and 8 at work, and some programs, notably Firefox, is slicker on 8 than it is on 7, even though it's the exact same version of Firefox. There are things in 8 that programmers can utilize that simply aren't there in 7.

My IT guy says 8 is much more secure and easier for him to work with than 7.

[Eric]

They wanted something that would work on tablets and look tablet-y. Their mistake was trying to make desktop users use it and making it full screen. In Win10 it's still there but its made to look menu-y.

And it makes sense that they would want some continuity between different devices using their windows OS given the move toward tablets and smart phones among the general public.  My complaint was that the execution was poor in Windows 8. 

I never minded the full-screen start menu, although not having a visible button to activate it in 8.0 was a mistake they shouldn't have had to correct in 8.1.  I use my windows key on my keyboard, but the Start Button is a convention that has been ingrained in people since Windows 95.  Leaving it out of 8.0 was dumb.  

What did bother me was that running Modern UI apps transported you to Metro-land, and left you feeling kind of stranded once you got there.  Microsoft did a bad job of integrating the Modern UI stuff with everything else.  And by default, some metro apps were associated with common tasks like picture viewing... so you're sitting at your familiar desktop, you attempt to open a JPG file, and you're booted to a full-screen environment tailored for tablet use. Try to listen to music, and you're sent to XBOX Music or whatever it's called, instead of Windows Media Player.  Of course you can change the default applications back to their Windows 7 defaults, but it's something you have to frig with... and something a novice user might not understand.

Anyway, once you correct those things, it's fine.  It's not like Vista where driver compatibility was terrible and performance was just as bad.  The core of the OS is fast, stable, and solid.  Windows 10 allowing you to run Modern UI apps in a window on the desktop is a significant step in the right direction.