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Upgrading to Windows 10 anyone?

OK, so here's the verdict. I like Windows 10 more than Windows 8. So I'm happy with my install on my laptop.

I will not be upgrading my Windows 7 computer unless 10 suddenly acquires new superpowers.
 
DBT said:
Iznomneak said:
At this point, I can't see any reason to recommend anybody to upgrade to it - with the exception of upgrading off of Windows 8.x, which I think is worse.
Click to expand...

Wouldn't Linux be a better option than either Win10 or Win8?
Click to expand...

I used to use Unix/Linux years ago and am slowly considering going back to it. That said, my business currently depends on Microsoft products such as SQL Server and Visual Studio, so I need to stick with Microsoft technologies for now. The learning curves can be steep and expensive for changing technologies. So it's a decision that I don't take lightly. I haven't been happy with Microsoft's direction for the last few years.
 
Iznomneak said:
DBT said:
Wouldn't Linux be a better option than either Win10 or Win8?
Click to expand...

I used to use Unix/Linux years ago and am slowly considering going back to it. That said, my business currently depends on Microsoft products such as SQL Server and Visual Studio, so I need to stick with Microsoft technologies for now. The learning curves can be steep and expensive for changing technologies. So it's a decision that I don't take lightly. I haven't been happy with Microsoft's direction for the last few years.
Click to expand...

Up until W7, that argument was a good one; but IMO, most users would find the transition from W7 to Linux Mint (for example) less arduous that that from W7 to W8; and at the application layer, most users would find the transition from Office 2003 to Libre Office less confusing than the transition to Office 2007.

Power users maybe not. But the majority of users don't use many specialist software packages, and wouldn't know a SQL Server if it bit them on the bum.

IMO it is the failure to keep a consistent user experience that has been Microsoft's biggest blunder.
 
bilby said:
Iznomneak said:
I used to use Unix/Linux years ago and am slowly considering going back to it. That said, my business currently depends on Microsoft products such as SQL Server and Visual Studio, so I need to stick with Microsoft technologies for now. The learning curves can be steep and expensive for changing technologies. So it's a decision that I don't take lightly. I haven't been happy with Microsoft's direction for the last few years.
Click to expand...

Up until W7, that argument was a good one; but IMO, most users would find the transition from W7 to Linux Mint (for example) less arduous that that from W7 to W8; and at the application layer, most users would find the transition from Office 2003 to Libre Office less confusing than the transition to Office 2007.
Click to expand...

I agree that an end user would not have such a big learning curve. I am speaking as a software developer with an established set of products. Transitioning software to a new platform is not trivial and is very expensive. More often than not, it is not worth the time and effort.

bilby said:
Power users maybe not. But the majority of users don't use many specialist software packages, and wouldn't know a SQL Server if it bit them on the bum.

IMO it is the failure to keep a consistent user experience that has been Microsoft's biggest blunder.
Click to expand...

We are on the same page here. I attend a lot of Microsoft related conferences. I tell the Microsoft folks, "How would you like if I came into your home, move all your tools to a new location so you can't find anything and you have to use Google to figure out how to use a hammer and nail."

IMO, a user should not have to "re-learn" an operating system. I should be able to upgrade to a new OS and be just as productive without any additional training.
 
Iznomneak said:
bilby said:
Up until W7, that argument was a good one; but IMO, most users would find the transition from W7 to Linux Mint (for example) less arduous that that from W7 to W8; and at the application layer, most users would find the transition from Office 2003 to Libre Office less confusing than the transition to Office 2007.
Click to expand...

I agree that an end user would not have such a big learning curve. I am speaking as a software developer with an established set of products. Transitioning software to a new platform is not trivial and is very expensive. More often than not, it is not worth the time and effort.

bilby said:
Power users maybe not. But the majority of users don't use many specialist software packages, and wouldn't know a SQL Server if it bit them on the bum.

IMO it is the failure to keep a consistent user experience that has been Microsoft's biggest blunder.
Click to expand...

We are on the same page here. I attend a lot of Microsoft related conferences. I tell the Microsoft folks, "How would you like if I came into your home, move all your tools to a new location so you can't find anything and you have to use Google to figure out how to use a hammer and nail."

IMO, a user should not have to "re-learn" an operating system. I should be able to upgrade to a new OS and be just as productive without any additional training.
Click to expand...
Key word there. Upgrade. Some of MS's releases have been put out there for people to buy with little to no improvements. Vista from XP? ME from 98? 8 was a bomb and 10 from 7 is still unnecessary.
 
Iznomneak said:
DBT said:
Wouldn't Linux be a better option than either Win10 or Win8?
Click to expand...

I used to use Unix/Linux years ago and am slowly considering going back to it. That said, my business currently depends on Microsoft products such as SQL Server and Visual Studio, so I need to stick with Microsoft technologies for now. The learning curves can be steep and expensive for changing technologies. So it's a decision that I don't take lightly. I haven't been happy with Microsoft's direction for the last few years.
Click to expand...
Instead of Visual Studio you would simply use MonoDevelop.
 
bigfield said:
Iznomneak said:
I used to use Unix/Linux years ago and am slowly considering going back to it. That said, my business currently depends on Microsoft products such as SQL Server and Visual Studio, so I need to stick with Microsoft technologies for now. The learning curves can be steep and expensive for changing technologies. So it's a decision that I don't take lightly. I haven't been happy with Microsoft's direction for the last few years.
Click to expand...
Instead of Visual Studio you would simply use MonoDevelop.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I'll check it out.
 
Jimmy Higgins said:
Iznomneak said:
I agree that an end user would not have such a big learning curve. I am speaking as a software developer with an established set of products. Transitioning software to a new platform is not trivial and is very expensive. More often than not, it is not worth the time and effort.

bilby said:
Power users maybe not. But the majority of users don't use many specialist software packages, and wouldn't know a SQL Server if it bit them on the bum.

IMO it is the failure to keep a consistent user experience that has been Microsoft's biggest blunder.
Click to expand...

We are on the same page here. I attend a lot of Microsoft related conferences. I tell the Microsoft folks, "How would you like if I came into your home, move all your tools to a new location so you can't find anything and you have to use Google to figure out how to use a hammer and nail."

IMO, a user should not have to "re-learn" an operating system. I should be able to upgrade to a new OS and be just as productive without any additional training.
Click to expand...
Key word there. Upgrade. Some of MS's releases have been put out there for people to buy with little to no improvements. Vista from XP? ME from 98? 8 was a bomb and 10 from 7 is still unnecessary.
Click to expand...

Microsoft stated that Windows 8.x was intended to be write-once, support multiple devices. Unfortunately what works for a phone or tablet is slower and more cumbersome vs big screens, a mouse and multiple windows.
 
Home from vacation. Both old and new computers started giving me the message that Windows 10 is ready once they were on the internet again.

I decided to try with the old computer. It takes so freaking long to boot Windows 7 these days. At least 20 minutes. I thought I'd see what Windows 10 is like. All the old computer is used for, aside from playing DVDs and iTunes movies on vacation is that kid sometimes uses it to play games.

Anyway, it's been 4 hours now and it has not yet presented me with the license agreement that it said would pop up. It's just going twirley with the message "Working on it..." Every now and then I've seen the command prompt window pop up and go away. Task Manager shows the "Get Windows 10" app is running so I wait...

The new notebook appears to have sorted out all it's Windows Update issues. It finally installed all the updates that kept failing. All things Windows 7 appear to be working correctly now. Not going to rush to install Windows 10 on this computer.
 
I upgraded; took only half an hour. Decided what the hell; better get it over with since I'll want it for DX12 eventually anyway and otherwise I might end up forgetting to take advantage of free stuff while it lasts.

Nothing major went wrong; although there's a few minor inconveniences and general stupidities (WHY THE FUCK DOES THE WINDOWS MAIL PROGRAM NOT LET ME SHIFT-CLICK SELECT MAILS!?). All in all I give it a rating of 'adequate'
 
The "Get Windows 10" app is still just going twirley twirley saying it's working on it....

It's been well over about 7 hours now and it still has not come up with the license agreement. Task Manager says it's running...

Hmmm...

And Norton Security Suite keeps poping up saying I need to install a Win10 compatible version. But I did that twice already. I let it sit there waiting and it eventually tells me to close it because another download app is running (Win10) and so I close it but it just comes back again. This has happened 6 or 7 times today while the "Get Windows 10" thing just twirls and twirls.
 
Beware. They have already released a bad update. If you're a home user you don't get a choice. It loads, fails, demands a reboot--and upon reboot it loads, fails, demands a reboot.
 
Loren Pechtel said:
Beware. They have already released a bad update. If you're a home user you don't get a choice. It loads, fails, demands a reboot--and upon reboot it loads, fails, demands a reboot.
Click to expand...

After over 7 hours I quit it. Rebooted and then went to Windows Update and installed from there. It started right away. It took 2.5 hours but it appears that Win10 is now working fine on the old Notebook.

Over vacation it was taking 20 minutes for the old notebook to boot up and another 15 minutes to launch iTunes to watch a movie. Now it boots in 3 minutes and iTunes is ready in 2 minutes. A vast improvement for what I now use it for.

I tested and the kids game appears to work fine.

Since this new computer appears to now have fixed it's Windows Update issue (for now) I'm in no rush to install Win10 on it right away. I'll get to know Win10 on the old notebook.

But I'm pretty sure that this new notebook has the same win10 waiting. When I do get to installing Win10 on this one I'll do it from Windows Update and not that app on the system tray.
 
Until Saturday, my partner's father was still running XP on an old Pentium.

Since Windows 10 would require him to buy new hardware and learn how to use a new operating system, I decided to skip the new-hardware bit and introduced him to Linux Mint, instead.

Saved him a few hundred bucks, and now he has a computer that easy to use and is almost immune to viruses.
 
bigfield said:
Until Saturday, my partner's father was still running XP on an old Pentium.

Since Windows 10 would require him to buy new hardware and learn how to use a new operating system, I decided to skip the new-hardware bit and introduced him to Linux Mint, instead.

Saved him a few hundred bucks, and now he has a computer that easy to use and is almost immune to viruses.
Click to expand...

Being almost immune to viruses, do you still use antivirus software like Norton or whatever (or perhaps some other software is more compatible?), or is Linux secure enough on its own?

Sooner or later I'll most likely go to Linux and give W10 a miss. You have largely convinced me to go with it.
 
DBT said:
bigfield said:
Until Saturday, my partner's father was still running XP on an old Pentium.

Since Windows 10 would require him to buy new hardware and learn how to use a new operating system, I decided to skip the new-hardware bit and introduced him to Linux Mint, instead.

Saved him a few hundred bucks, and now he has a computer that easy to use and is almost immune to viruses.
Click to expand...

Being almost immune to viruses, do you still use antivirus software like Norton or whatever (or perhaps some other software is more compatible?), or is Linux secure enough on its own?

Sooner or later I'll most likely go to Linux and give W10 a miss. You have largely convinced me to go with it.
Click to expand...

For work, I use Red Hat, which is provided by my employer, and comes with their approved Symantec anti-virus as part of the official RHEL client image (which also includes a variety of other standard software, such as Open Office).

For my own machines, I use Lubuntu and Mint (Lubuntu on the older hardware); I don't bother with AV software on the Mint machine, and have not had any issues so far; I use Clamtk on the Lubuntu machines, but I don't think it has ever detected anything genuinely nasty. I understand that there are some Linux viruses in the wild; but they are not commonplace; and as a positive decision is usually required to raise the user privilege level in Linux (unless you are a crazy person and run everything as root), most malware has to announce its presence in order to infect you.

Of course, things are likely to change if Linux becomes hugely popular for home users, as that would attract more black hats.
 
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