I’ve had a lot of people asking me about Windows 10 lately, so I figured I should clear up a few misconceptions and offer clients my own personal thoughts on whether or not the upgrade is worthwhile.
Is Windows 10 bad?
If you want the short answer? No.
Windows 10 is the latest iteration of Microsoft’s long chain of operating systems, and has been released to replace Windows 8.1. Windows 10 contains no major changes from Windows 8/8.1 apart from Microsoft “fixing” the start menu. Oh, and making some other visual changes.
10 operates and feels like a more modern Windows 7, and most users have little issue upgrading to 10. This is a welcome change, as users migrating to Windows 8 on release often found the changes included quite confusing.
The reason that 10 has received a bad reputation so far has been due to Microsoft’s free upgrade policy.
While running, previous generation operating systems were being forced to download Windows 10 in the background without user consent. This caused users with low data allowances to receive excess usage bills, often in the sum of several hundred dollars.
Furthermore, users were annoyed by repetitive messages prompting them to accept a free upgrade. These messages became more intrusive as time went on.
Thankfully, this free upgrade offer has now ended, effectively ending all of the above complaints, but leaving users with a purchase cost of around $100 to upgrade to Windows 10.
Should I upgrade to Windows 10?
Again, the short answer? No.
Windows 10 was offered as a free upgrade to users running Windows 7 and 8 until July 29, 2016. During this period, I suggested that all of my customers accept the offer.
This is because Windows 10 offers minor improvements to speed and battery life, plus some general enhancements.
However, since the end of Microsoft’s free upgrade offer, I honestly don’t believe paying to upgrade is worth the expense. There is simply not enough to gain from the upgrade when considering the cost.
Most users would find their $100 better invested towards a new computer, as most now ship with Windows 10 and will offer significant speed increases when compared to a computer older than around 3 years.