Windows 10 - Final Verdict - Just Okay...
On July 29th - Windows 10 officially released. I've been a part of the Fast Ring Insiders since the beginning of the program back last October and have been documenting my experience with Desktops, Laptops, AIOs, Tablets and Phones across the various builds that have been released.
It appears as though build 10240 is the official release build as none of my machines upgraded to a new build this week. The good news is that MS has released an ISO of the build along with a tool to help upgrade existing machines.
Throughout that time I've been pretty critical of MS with their approach to Windows 10 and the associated native apps that provide a portion of the overall experience and while the last rounds of builds starting with 10160 showed some promise - even 10240 - the "RTM" build still had issues...
When I look at Windows 10 - here is what I see....
A good core that is efficient and fast. Good overall driver support that covers a large spectrum of devices. I would expect nothing less from MS since they have performed pretty well in this space through several Windows versions.
A very mixed UI environment that has roots as far back as Windows XP and has pieces of Windows Vista, 7 and 8 as well. This is the most disappointing part of Windows 10. Sure there is the new Settings UI - but for many advanced features - MS just provides a link to a legacy window. To me this is really sloppy..
Some improved native apps (when compared to Windows 8) but not a greatly improved store. The news, sports, weather & finance apps have a new look - but are they really any better than what was in Windows 8.1..
There is the new Groove (Music) and Movies and TV apps - and to me they are just continuing improvement programs. But Groove still gets some album artwork completely wrong.
Some new gimmicks like MS Hello login... that only work with the absolute latest hardware..
Some potential game changers like xBox Gaming... if your a gamer...
And what is the end result for previous generation users...
If your a Windows XP, Vista or 7 user and would like to add feed based apps like News, Sports, Weather and use XBox Music (now Groove) and play xBox games then you may see some value in upgrading. But you'll need new hardware to really take advantage of all the new capabilities.
If your a Windows 8 user and want a better desktop experience along with new versions of the same News, Sports, Weather apps, etc - then you may see some value in upgrading. Like Windows 7 - you'll need new hardware to take advantage of some features.
Of the two OS above - I would say the folks on Windows 8 are more likely to upgrade and probably should since MS is going to leave Windows 8 behind as quickly as it can - just like it did with Vista.
But in my opinion that's where the value stops. Many things about Windows 10 really aren't that great of a change and that's the problem.
At the end of the day - Windows 10 is a mashup trying to take some of the new capabilities introduced in Windows 8 while retaining legacy Windows features to keep older users happy. And in my opinion the end result is fair at best.
If you are willing to buy into the MS ecosystem of Windows 10, Office365, Groove Music and xBox Live you will have a new experience - but I can't say you'll have a great experience.
For example the Maps app in Windows 8 is accurate, is Windows 10 it's not.
Live tiles are slow and the font's are sometimes messy...
Touch in Windows is just okay. Sure it works for consumption apps like Groove. But not for content creation and Office 2016 doesn't change that and it doesn't matter if the touch screen is large or small. I have touch on both a 25" HP AIO and a Dell 8" tablet and the experience with both is average.
Edge is just not ready - I'm writing this post on Windows 10 - but using Chrome - since Edge can not display the Blogger edit page properly. The good news is that IE 11 is available..just hidden in the Windows Accessories folder...
MS claims that some 14M devices have already upgraded to Windows 10 and that some 1B devices are capable of running it. Considering that 5M folks were a part of the Windows Insider Program and many of those like me have several devices then it's not an unfeasible number.
The good news is I have not seen much negative press yet in terms of upgrade failures, etc. There was a problem with one security upgrade - but MS quickly posted a workaround.
I have Windows 10 as primary OS on a laptop and a tablet - all of my desktops are dual-boot Windows 8.1 / Windows 10. I still have not made the final upgrade of the Windows 8 partitions to Windows 10 and I'll probably wait a bit before I do..
While Windows 10 is for MS the beginning of a new era of Windows as a Service and that apps like Office will be delivered via Office365 - I think that Windows 10 will probably be my last Windows OS.
I think that Windows as we know it has run it's course and the fact that MS seems unwilling to write a whole new OS to me confirms that.
Bottom line - should you upgrade to Windows 10 ? If you've bought into the MS Ecosystem - so you use OneDrive, XBox Live & Music, Office365 and have a newer machine that Windows 10 can take advantage of - then I say yes - go ahead and upgrade.
But if you have an 5 year old+ machine with an old HDD and limited video and networking capabilities - I say wait until you are ready to buy a new machine and don't just blindly upgrade to Windows 10.
The big change in the marketplace today versus when Windows 7 was released back in July of 2009 is that there are some very good alternative choices out there. So I recommend that you take a very hard look at your use cases and apps and then make a decision on your next platform.
It appears as though build 10240 is the official release build as none of my machines upgraded to a new build this week. The good news is that MS has released an ISO of the build along with a tool to help upgrade existing machines.
Throughout that time I've been pretty critical of MS with their approach to Windows 10 and the associated native apps that provide a portion of the overall experience and while the last rounds of builds starting with 10160 showed some promise - even 10240 - the "RTM" build still had issues...
When I look at Windows 10 - here is what I see....
A good core that is efficient and fast. Good overall driver support that covers a large spectrum of devices. I would expect nothing less from MS since they have performed pretty well in this space through several Windows versions.
A very mixed UI environment that has roots as far back as Windows XP and has pieces of Windows Vista, 7 and 8 as well. This is the most disappointing part of Windows 10. Sure there is the new Settings UI - but for many advanced features - MS just provides a link to a legacy window. To me this is really sloppy..
Some improved native apps (when compared to Windows 8) but not a greatly improved store. The news, sports, weather & finance apps have a new look - but are they really any better than what was in Windows 8.1..
There is the new Groove (Music) and Movies and TV apps - and to me they are just continuing improvement programs. But Groove still gets some album artwork completely wrong.
Some new gimmicks like MS Hello login... that only work with the absolute latest hardware..
Some potential game changers like xBox Gaming... if your a gamer...
And what is the end result for previous generation users...
If your a Windows XP, Vista or 7 user and would like to add feed based apps like News, Sports, Weather and use XBox Music (now Groove) and play xBox games then you may see some value in upgrading. But you'll need new hardware to really take advantage of all the new capabilities.
If your a Windows 8 user and want a better desktop experience along with new versions of the same News, Sports, Weather apps, etc - then you may see some value in upgrading. Like Windows 7 - you'll need new hardware to take advantage of some features.
Of the two OS above - I would say the folks on Windows 8 are more likely to upgrade and probably should since MS is going to leave Windows 8 behind as quickly as it can - just like it did with Vista.
But in my opinion that's where the value stops. Many things about Windows 10 really aren't that great of a change and that's the problem.
At the end of the day - Windows 10 is a mashup trying to take some of the new capabilities introduced in Windows 8 while retaining legacy Windows features to keep older users happy. And in my opinion the end result is fair at best.
If you are willing to buy into the MS ecosystem of Windows 10, Office365, Groove Music and xBox Live you will have a new experience - but I can't say you'll have a great experience.
For example the Maps app in Windows 8 is accurate, is Windows 10 it's not.
Live tiles are slow and the font's are sometimes messy...
Touch in Windows is just okay. Sure it works for consumption apps like Groove. But not for content creation and Office 2016 doesn't change that and it doesn't matter if the touch screen is large or small. I have touch on both a 25" HP AIO and a Dell 8" tablet and the experience with both is average.
Edge is just not ready - I'm writing this post on Windows 10 - but using Chrome - since Edge can not display the Blogger edit page properly. The good news is that IE 11 is available..just hidden in the Windows Accessories folder...
MS claims that some 14M devices have already upgraded to Windows 10 and that some 1B devices are capable of running it. Considering that 5M folks were a part of the Windows Insider Program and many of those like me have several devices then it's not an unfeasible number.
The good news is I have not seen much negative press yet in terms of upgrade failures, etc. There was a problem with one security upgrade - but MS quickly posted a workaround.
I have Windows 10 as primary OS on a laptop and a tablet - all of my desktops are dual-boot Windows 8.1 / Windows 10. I still have not made the final upgrade of the Windows 8 partitions to Windows 10 and I'll probably wait a bit before I do..
While Windows 10 is for MS the beginning of a new era of Windows as a Service and that apps like Office will be delivered via Office365 - I think that Windows 10 will probably be my last Windows OS.
I think that Windows as we know it has run it's course and the fact that MS seems unwilling to write a whole new OS to me confirms that.
Bottom line - should you upgrade to Windows 10 ? If you've bought into the MS Ecosystem - so you use OneDrive, XBox Live & Music, Office365 and have a newer machine that Windows 10 can take advantage of - then I say yes - go ahead and upgrade.
But if you have an 5 year old+ machine with an old HDD and limited video and networking capabilities - I say wait until you are ready to buy a new machine and don't just blindly upgrade to Windows 10.
The big change in the marketplace today versus when Windows 7 was released back in July of 2009 is that there are some very good alternative choices out there. So I recommend that you take a very hard look at your use cases and apps and then make a decision on your next platform.
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