The World According to Mitch

With the General Availability (GA) of Windows 10, I have been inundated with calls asking my opinion.  I have probably shocked a few people with my response.

Firstly I want to be clear: I do like Windows 10.  I think it has a lot of great features and improvements, and I am sure there are a few things that I don’t particularly care for.  The details of those, which won’t prevent me from running the new OS, are not the point of this article.

“Mitch, I hear Windows 10 is coming out… should I run out to upgrade?”

No.

“Whoa… You don’t like it?”

Yes, I do… I like it very much.

“Then why aren’t you telling me to run out and upgrade?”

Because if your computer works, and there is nothing amazingly new about Windows 10 over your current OS, what is the rush?

“But hey, over the last fifteen years you have been so passionate and excited that I had to upgrade right away!  What’s different?”

This is not a verbatim conversation, but it is an amalgam of several chats and discussions I have had over the past few months.  Let’s look at where we are, and where I am:

1) Starting with Windows 7, Microsoft has released several very good, secure, and stable platforms.  There haven’t been any real duds.  So if you are running any supported version of Windows, you are good.

2) If you are happy with your computer, why change it?

3) In the year leading up to Windows Vista launching I was a user group leader, asked by Microsoft to evangelize that platform.  In the year leading up to the launch of Windows 7 I was a Microsoft MVP, tasked by Microsoft to evangelize that platform.  In the year leading up to Windows 8 I was a Virtual IT Evangelist with Microsoft Canada, paid to evangelize that platform.  Now?  I am older and wiser, I don’t work for Microsoft anymore and am not an MVP anymore.  I don’t run a user group anymore.  All I am is me…

…So let me tell you what I am doing.  Yes, I am upgrading the majority of my systems to Windows 10.  That will include my personal PC (which had been running the Windows 10 Insider builds, so I was able to install the GA bits a few weeks ago), my tablets (which I use to watch movies and listen to podcasts, and are not really mission critical), and one of my Windows to Go (WTG) keys, which I am testing for a work project.  No, I am not upgrading my corporate PCs (either for Rakuten or Yakidoo) because my desktop is not a focus at either company, but my being able to be productive is.  Frankly because it is what we support, my Yakidoo PC still runs Windows 7.

Does this mean you SHOULD or SHOULDN’T upgrade?  No… It means that is what I am doing.  I will say though that from my experience on all three platforms (upgrade from beta, upgrade from Windows 8.1, clean installation) shows me that Microsoft has put a lot of effort into making your upgrade experience a lot easier and more seamless than any version jump in the past.  Rather than having to go out and download an ISO (which I did for my WTG key anyways) you can upgrade through Windows Update.  Nice…

As I type away here, I am occasionally glancing away and looking at an article from Guardian News by Jack Schofield.  Title: Windows 10 review – the final version of Windows might be Microsoft’s best ever.  He’s right… it looks like Microsoft has found a happy medium between what people loved about Windows 7 and what they were trying to deliver with Windows 8.  He makes some great points, and if you are hesitant (and you have a spare machine around) I would try it out on that before diving in.  Virtual machines are nice, but you won’t get the Cortana experience (which I admit I have used once).

There is a new podcast called SurfaceSmiths that I have been listening to that is giving listeners an honest opinion of all things Windows 10… as relates to running it on a Microsoft Surface.  Check them out though, if for no other reason than they also have a segment called Whisky of the Week.

All in all? It’s a good OS, but it’s an OS.  Don’t expect the moon, but expect a solid delivery from the product team.  But if you do not want to upgrade, guess what… I don’t care!