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Over a week with Win10, and…well…here it is. And I wish it wasn't so negative. I've been putting this off, because I wanted to be positive about it, but...it's at best halved my productivity since I installed it.
Let me start by saying: I hated Win 8.0, and thought that Win8.1 was “too little, too late”.
But I really wanted Win 10 to make me go “Wow!”
It didn’t.
If you come from Win 8.x, then Win 10 is better. But frankly, anything is better than Win 8.x, that's not difficult.
If you come from Win 7, or Win XP then…oh dear.
1) It’s ugly. Very ugly. It’s flat, it’s dull, and all the apps that used to look good on Windows don’t anymore – all the 3D elements (including indented panels) are gone, all the rounded corners are gone. Everything is square, flat, and surrounded by a black line. Not nice to sit and look at, when you are used to prettiness – and all the more unpleasant when you wrote the apps and know how much work you put into making them pretty and pleasant to use.
And the buttons look like they were sketched in as placeholders. All the new icons are monochrome: white on black. I’m guessing that this is to look “simplistic” and “fresh” – but if that’s the case, why is Edges icon Blue, and curly? Consistency is not an MS trait here…
Tiles are horrible – particularly the “live” ones. Fortunately, they are easy to get rid of, and never see again.
2) It doesn’t like you. Like me, you probably had a local login on your system – in theory that is still available, but Win 10 doesn’t make it easy to do, so you give in and sign in with your Microsoft ID. Which works fine! Until you try to edit a file in Word (which works, Office 2010 is still running under Win 10) and notice (too late) that it’s read only. Everything in your documents folder – which for me is everything (including projects) to make it easy to back up – is read only. You can fix this – I explained how a week ago – but it’s unnecessary, and if you aren’t computer literate it’s going to be a problem.
3) It doesn’t care about your backups. In fact, the default power scheme puts the computer to sleep about fifteen minutes in, which breaks the backup… It’s fixable…but why? Was the computer set to do that before? No. No, Microsoft, it wasn’t…
4) It doesn’t like your browser. So it sets Edge as your default. And Edge is…um…nasty. It’s ugly (so it fits right in with Win 10), but its toolbar takes too much room. It is faster than Chrome and Firefox – slightly – but that’s pretty irrelevant compared to the discomfort of using it. I went back to Chrome.
5) It really doesn’t like Google – Bing is the order of the day, and it takes work to bodge round that.
6) Cortana I can’t comment on – it won’t run on my PC because I didn’t approve all the conditions of the Microsoft total-lack-of Privacy agreement – and without that, it doesn’t run. But I can talk to Google anyway – and did, two or three times – and I swear at my computer enough without it understanding what I say!
7) Metro apps are no longer full screen! Wow! They are just twice the size of everything else, and…full of curves…hmmm… So you are using a desktop app, and it’s the right size, click on settings and you get text twice the size in a new window. 
8) Windows Defender. Oh dear. Despite whatever you tell it to do, if your computer “becomes idle” it starts Antimalware and scans the whole thing. This takes a whole core, and monopolises your HDD, so your whole computer slows to a crawl. It took 38 minutes to display the Windows Defender UI at one point because it won’t show that while the scan is in progress. 
Kaspersky trial version now installed and so far that has all stopped.
I wanted to love this. I really did. But as time went on, “love” has changed to “tolerate”. And that’s looking unrealistic as well. It really isn’t as good as Win 7 from a user point of view. You get the feeling that it actually, genuinely hates you and is trying to mess up your life.
To be honest, with the exception of some apps including VS2013 closing faster (why?) I haven’t found anything I would have paid my own money for. Faster boot? So what? I turn it on, I go make coffee. Who cares if it’s a little faster?
Have I uninstalled it and reverted to Win 7? No, not yet. I still may. But despite all this, I want it to work. I want it to suddenly wake up, cough with embarrassment, apologise, and be good. I don’t think it will, and I don’t think it’s going to persuade anyone away from Android phones and iPads. Rather the opposite – if I had considered getting a Windows Phone or a Surface before I certainly wouldn’t now.
It’s Win8.x, attacked with a blunt chisel, and with the worst bits hacked off – the joins still show. I just get the feeling that Win8.0 should have been Alpha test, 8.1 should have been Beta, and Win10 should have been a Release Candidate. And that Microsoft has been listening only to those who say “it’s wonderful” and ignoring everyone who says “this is horrible”.
So: should you upgrade?
If you are running Win 8.x, then yes. It is better – but that’s a relative term.
If you are running Win 7, then…yes, probably. Provided you take a good disk image first. If only because you are going to get support calls from friends, family, customers – and just telling them “I don’t touch it” doesn’t work anymore.
If you are running Win XP? Then…no. Because it’s going to mess up your computer so bad it may never work again…upgrade to Win 7, you’ll love it!
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
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Ouch...
I'm currently running Win10 on my laptop, which came with Win8.1 and is only really used for vacations, LAN parties, and video chat while I'm doing something else on my Win7 desktop... Haven't tried upgrading anything important yet.
Sounds to me like they focused on making it easy for all of the new installs and the computer-illiterates, while screwing over those of us who know what we're doing. Pretty dumb move, since when that "Upgrade to Windows 10" thing pops up, those illiterates ask US whether it's safe to click on.
But hey... Weekly updates now, right? Maybe Microsoft will push a few upgrades and fix some of the headaches... I doubt they'll do anything about Google/Chrome vs. Bing/Edge, but the power settings, access rights, and malware things might get some attention.
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Ian Shlasko wrote: Sounds to me like they focused on making it easy for all of the new installs and the computer-illiterates, while screwing over those of us who know what we're doing. Pretty dumb move, since when that "Upgrade to Windows 10" thing pops up, those illiterates ask US whether it's safe to click on.
Ian,
That's exactly what I was thinking. Glad I kept it confined to a VM to play with first. Was easy to delete: it's not going to touch any of my "live" systems!
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Very interesting: I have resisted the quite strong urge to upgrade and will not now do so. Windows 7 works very well, thank you and I see no need to cause myself a large dose of pain to upgrade to a system that, frankly, is not getting rave reviews here from anyone.
I will wait until I buy a new machine that comes with it, perhaps after it has gone through a decent patching/upgrade/fix period.
The urge to buy new shiny toys has lost it's appeal after being let down so many times by the promise of wonder but the delivery of disappointment.
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Your post could have been written by me. Exactly. I sat here and watched (even played with it in a VM, checked to make sure my applications run there, etc.) Still ... there wasn't one (not ONE) feature offered that made me feel an OS retool was necessary; plus I hated the GUI!
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I agree. It is quite an improvement on my wife's system, because that was 8.1. But mine was Windows 7, and I have not yet seen anything that I would class as 'much better'. My main gripe is the "slide scroll" on my laptop's touchpad does not work in any of the new style apps. But I am going to stick with it, but only to save more pain sometime in the future. It seems Microsoft never learned the lessons of Vista; or they did, but then destroyed the collective memory.
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Thanks, up-voted for the detailed write-up!
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Quote: So: should you upgrade?
Possibly. Lubuntu is waiting for you. 
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Indeed, I switched to Kubuntu; so thank you Microsoft for finally pushing me to make areal effort with Linux.
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If I wasn't so deeply invested in development for the Microsoft platform (I.E. just a 'user') I'd have switched to my MacBook pro and OS/X. I really hate to say that. As it is, I think when it comes to upgrading ANYTHING Microsoft I'm at a wall that I'm simply not going to climb. I develop for the desktop and web using VS2008 and tools that came out right about then. Everything works. My applications even run on Win10 without any modification. Absolutely nothing I'm doing (either now or the foreseeable future) depends on upgrading the OS or those tools again.
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I'd recommend checking out the newer versions of VS, especially if you use XAML.
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Thanks for the really nice feedback.
I have bookmarked it and I will use your arguments whenever someone asks me.
I had consider to give a try because I was about to buy a new laptop. But as the need is not so high right now I will patiently wait until SP2 or SP3.
Luckily I have a very nice backupy of my and my wife's Win7 laptop. As far as Hardware survives...
I think I will start having a look in Linux. Probably it is a better time investment for me right now.
M.D.V. 
If something has a solution... Why do we have to worry about?. If it has no solution... For what reason do we have to worry about?
Help me to understand what I'm saying, and I'll explain it better to you
Rating helpful answers is nice, but saying thanks can be even nicer.
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Nelek wrote: I think I will start having a look in Linux
Also install both Mono and Wine.
You'll miss having Visual Studio on there, regardless of what you do. The rest I did not miss.
I love WinForms; they're predictable for anyone who has ever dealt with them, and it is nice to have a stable environment to put them in.
Bastard Programmer from Hell 
If you can't read my code, try converting it here[^]
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Eddy Vluggen wrote: You'll miss having Visual Studio on there, regardless of what you do. The rest I did not miss.
I am quite away from VS last time. New job has nothing to do with it. But for private projects there is always VM-Ware or similars
Eddy Vluggen wrote: Also install both Mono and Wine.
I'll have a look, thanks for the tip
M.D.V.
If something has a solution... Why do we have to worry about?. If it has no solution... For what reason do we have to worry about?
Help me to understand what I'm saying, and I'll explain it better to you
Rating helpful answers is nice, but saying thanks can be even nicer.
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Eddy Vluggen wrote: I love WinForms; they're predictable for anyone who has ever dealt with them, and it is nice to have a stable environment to put them in.
Same here, it's what I base all my development on. My clients love the simple and reliable applications I develop for WinForms (and they run in Win10 too should anybody go there). Very mature development platform. I don't write "cute" games & stuff, just solid DB applications for small business.
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ClockMeister wrote: and they run in Win10 too should anybody go there
I do not consider Win10 "stable". Also not testing nor aiming at the platform.
Bastard Programmer from Hell 
If you can't read my code, try converting it here[^]
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I concur. I mainly point out that if you're developing WinForms applications there isn't much danger that your platform is going to go away. Whether they intended to or not, Microsoft (by swinging back toward desktop) vindicated any developer that has chosen to use that platform for expression. I.E., it ain't going away. Certainly not before you or I retire! 
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Thanks for the very helpful and specific points
I'm sticking with Win 7 for the moment.
“That which can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence.”
― Christopher Hitchens
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I enjoyed Windows 8. Windows 10 is definitely better, so I really like Windows 10.
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Sacrilege, inferring that Vista is better than Win8(or any OS).
YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF YOURSELF.
Bad Forogar.
Paulo Gomes
Over and Out 
Measuring programming progress by lines of code is like measuring aircraft building progress by weight.
—Bill Gates
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Actually, Win8.1 with a couple of tweaks is fine. (Start8 and starting up in desktop mode). I never see the "metro" unless I specifically want to play a game that's there or something but as a work environment it's just fine. As I said in another post I get happier by the day I chose to sit this upgrade out. I'd rather get work done for my clients than screw around with the OS any more.
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So, I have until 14th January 2020 to continue "Windows Update"ing. After that, perhaps Windows 10.1 will be available.
- I would love to change the world, but they won’t give me the source code.
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Thank you. I am now solidly committed to staying with W7.
Marc
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I still have Vista running on a sandboxed machine along with DOS, Win95, Win98, XP and various Linii in offline VMs in case I ever needed them again. 
But Win8 I deleted and erased every trace of it ever having been on any of my machines.
I never bothered with Win8.1 even though I heard it was an improvement. 
I so wanted Win10 to be good as I fear that they will be dropping Win7 support as soon as they can, but... 
