As anyone who follows my social media will know, yesterday I took the plunge and installed Windows 10. I did this because I'm a geek, I love new shiny things and also because many of my family and friends have been watching me like a scientist watches a lab rat he's just injected with something green and glowing.
I am, if you'll excuse my mixed rodent metaphors, a guinea pig, so with that in mind and with numerous questions ringing in my ears from all around I'm going to give my early impressions of Windows 10, answer some questions and give some opinions.
I'm doing this in two parts, the first wass simple facts about the actual updating and rolling back and can be read HERE. This, Part 2, covers my general impressions of Windows 10.
OK, on to the specifics and my experiences.
I guess I'd better start with some full disclosure stuff. I'm a geek, I have OCD and I like to have some control, so this will be tinged with that, I'll try to keep it in balance.
Pros
I'm going to get the positives out of the way first, because there's a lot of them and in the other section of this post I'm going to be less than complimentary.
From the minute I loaded it Windows 10 felt different but familiar. It took next to no time to feel natural in Windows 10 and find myself zipping around in it like I'd been using it for months.
If you're upgrading from 8 you might need to re-remember a few things but if you're coming from 7 it won't be long before it's second nature.
The simple fact is as an operating system, for day-in day-out use Windows 10 isn't just good, it's great. It's fast (booting and shutting down times are measure in seconds), it's smooth and what it needs to do, it does well.
Possibly the most surprising feature for me has been how they've taken the worst part of Windows 8, the tiles, and actually turned it into a well designed and useful aspect of Windows 10.
It's all part of the new Start Menu which is different from 7, but not enough to be bad.
The left hand side of the new Start Menu is no longer pinned stuff but most used apps and a list of the sort of thing that used to be on the right, documents, pictures etc.
Then the pinned stuff that used to be on the left are now in the new minimised Windows 8 tiles type section on the right.
As you can see I've done a fairly basic set of shortcuts right now but am actually interested to see what kind of active tiles and options I might have for over there. In Windows 8, as the dominant method of picking and opening apps it felt terrible, but now working as a compliment to a more traditional style of start menu I feel like this is what it should have been from day 1. It's useable as a basic option for people who want tradition or a flashy option for people who want more, but without compromising either.
The new menu stylings tend to be intuitive, the new strip options at the top of all windows (you'll know the style if you use Office) actually make it easier to do the more common tasks, and new options appear and disappear as you do it so to me it never felt cluttered.
Standard navigating around your computer's files is almost identical to before just with a few bits of visual tweaking.
Even some aspects that feel like they were designed more with mobile devices in mind like the new Action Centre/Notifications are works for this and doesn't feel overbearing or out of place. Sadly that can't be said for all the aspects, as you'll see later.
So that, by far and away is what I can say is the good side of Windows. As an operating system, it works very, very well which I guess is the most important thing. What it's meant to do and what most folks will want it to do, those are where it shines and I can see why so many people were going gaga over it.
Lots of what's changed feels like it's not change for changes sake but really makes the whole experience better, easier, more intuitive... If the negatives I'm about to get to weren't there I would probably class 10 as a better operating system than even Windows 7 and simply move on, delighted I'd be using it and totally sure it was the best for me.
But that's a big if, so with no further ado...
Cons
We can't really skip over this much longer, there is, especially for an OCD geek like me, a MASSIVE problem with Windows 10. It feels... locked.
I guess it's understandable as we're getting what amounts to a free trial, but it has to be said that in general Windows 10 feels constrictive.
Unlike previous versions where we had fairly hefty control over the programs and features in it, Windows 10 comes full of what they call apps, but many people will call bloatware.
There's an app for photos, an app for music, an app for videos... and they're all stuck there unless you do some sneaky jiggery pokery with some command line fiddling behind the scenes (only be careful as I borked the PC once doing one).
There's also some of Microsoft's own software they've connected into Windows 10 in a fairly concrete manner, OneNote, OneDrive and Edge (the fancy new name for Internet Explorer).
They might be useful and many folks may use them, but I won't, and in principle wanted them gone, especially OneDrive which spreads itself into your PC with folders here and there, shortcuts all over the place and the potential for it to automatically go off and find stuff to stick in the cloud.
Oh, and if you're wondering about Edge... It's Internet Explorer. It just is. They've changed the name to avoid the toxic branding that's always been their browser shackle but sadly, it is what it is.
As I mentioned before, it is possible to get rid of them via the geeky route, but on at least one occasion they returned, and as they're not "officially" removed, just disabled, then they'll always potentially be there, waiting to get themselves back in when I get one of the updates from Windows that are now forced on anyone getting the free Home version of Windows 10.
Gone are the days of checking for updates and choosing whether to install or not, even gone are the days you could skip an update that you didn't want or was broken, now you get it all, all the time. This can lead to some situations where stuff you've cleared comes back and stuff that broken keeps breaking your PC however many times you do a system restore.
It's not a deal breaker but it frustrates me, I feel like I should have control over my own PC and whether I want things of little consequence on it.
I'm most annoyed by the amount of apps that are for mobile devices, phones and tablets. The problem is Windows has been designed as a universal OS for a multitude of devices and what you might gain on a tablet or mobile simply feels like useless faff on a PC.
There's a camera app, a contacts app, a maps app, and an entire app store full of stuff that's there for a mobile phone and has no place on a PC.
Why have a Netflix app when it's not as good as the Netflix website, obtainable from Chrome just a click away? It's also full of potentially iffy stuff, when I loked at Netflix the TOP two suggested apps were pirate streaming apps for Homeland and Blacklist... not something I imagine would endear this store to anyone in the film or tv industry.
In online shopping terms the Play store for Google and the App Store on iDevices are the big flash department stores, they're Harrods, Macy's or Fortnum and Masons.
The Amazon Store is catching up but it's still liek your base brand high street store or supermarket, it's Tesco's or WalMart.
The Microsoft Store feels like a Poundstore/Dollar Store
All in all when you dig deeper you find beneath a good operating system is an underlying bed of almost un-removeable apps that make it feel like it's been designed to be a jack of all trades and as such master of none. It might leave you feeling fulfilled on a tablet or mobile because you'll feel like it's what you're used to but better, but on a PC they feel a bit like a step back.
The same can be said about the new Search function, they now try to squeeze in Bing web search results, although that option can, thankfully, be turned off. It's also, in America, the base for Cortana, and might be soon in the UK too, a digital assistant I have no desire to use and no interest in.
That seems to limit the search's ability to, well, search. I tried a few times to find files I knew were there with no luck. It might be an option I need to fiddle but still.... not a great start and another way I feel like they've ignored the Search function because it's meant to be Cortana, with little hope for anyone who doesn't want to use it.
So that leaves me an almost wholly undecided conclusion. Speaking of which...
Conclusion
I am still, 24 hours in, feeling somewhat split about Windows 10. No, UTTERLY split.
I still feel that if you have Windows 8 and want something more traditional, then you should go for Windows 10 and you'll love it.
The Start menu is back in a way I personally think trumps the old one. The tiles have gone in hiding (though still findable via "tablet mode" and it's fast and smooth.
The problem is if you're updating from Windows 7 and can't let go of some control. This is where I'm struggling, it really can annoy you but in the smallest of ways, like a paper cut. Having an app I don't want in my list, even if it's not used, just vexes me.
Unlike an 8 updater who's getting something much better than the mess they already have, updating from Windows 7 is a strange feeling.
On the one hand it's shinier, some stuff is different but good different, I've already found myself using the new design of start menu and other aspects of 10 like I've been using them all my life.
On the other hand any update from 7 feels like a trade... you get the shiny, but you're distanced from your own computer, what might have felt personal and controllable, suddenly feels restrictive and closed minded.
I'm torn because I truly like Windows 10, I like the mixture of new and old, I like the fact it won't become obsolete with it's incremental updates, I like what it does and mostly how it does it and I feel like the more I use it, the more I learn on it, I'll find ways in which it's even better.
But can I stop myself from demanding control over my own computer destiny? If the apps I've removed suddenly return when I unblock the Store from my firewall, will it feel like an ulcer that just won't go away, an unwelcome houseguest who's taking over my living room and making me buy new furniture?
So that's my dilemma. Can I take an OS that tries to tell me what I have to have, however great it works day in, day out?
Right now, yes. As it stands I'm going to stick with 10. It's good enough that it deserves a chance to impress and a chance to make me forget it's faults and work at it.
But what's going to happen in 29 days time, when my ability to roll back goes away? I'll tell you in 29 days.
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