Windows 10: Upgrade or Avoid?

If you're not an avid follower of tech you might not even know that there is a new version of Windows on the way, Windows 10. If you're currently using Windows 8/8.1 then don't worry, you haven't missed a version. The number 9 is considered unlucky in Japan and therefore Microsoft has opted to go directly to 10 from 8.

Should you upgrade on day 1 of Windows 10 release?

Previous experiences with upgrading Windows has generally been that the educated users waited until at least the first Service Pack was released - to deal with the initial slew of bugs and issues. Microsoft has been running an extensive BETA program for Windows 10 which means that there should be less issues post-upgrade. The BETA feedback has been largely positive and I suspect that the transition to Windows 10 might be relatively painless for most users.

What if I don't like Windows 10?

Microsoft has long been criticised for making the whole prospect of downgrading Windows a complete misery. Lessons learned here and they have made it much more straight forward. If you don't like Windows 10 you will just be able to roll-back to the previous version.

What other improvements are in Windows 10?

There are a number of improvements but here are my personal selection from the list:

• Email addresses: You no longer need a dedicated Microsoft email address to create an Windows account, you can now use any email address provider you like.
  
• Cortana: A personal assistant within the desktop that uses voice to help you search, navigate and manage your on-line activities. Cortana will be released for mobile as well to help sync your data across all devices.
  
• Virtual Desktops: Windows 10 has a great function that allows you to create multiple workspaces and to be able to move between them effortlessly. It should make working within multiple applications much more straight forward.

What are the current issues users are facing?

There are some issues with Windows 10 for some user groups:

If you have older software applications in use it might be that the developers of those applications are not planning to update them for Windows 10. Its worth checking if the software providers are planning to update and to not upgrade until they have.

If you use your computer for your small business or other important matters then its safer to wait a few weeks after release before upgrading. There is still a lot of potential for loss of data or for software applications to not work as expected. 

If you didn't upgrade to Windows 8 and are still using Windows XP or Windows Vista then the Microsoft offer to upgrade Windows 10 for free doesn't apply. There are some bigger issues for Microsoft when upgrading from XP/Vista and therefore they are adding a fee. The range of fees is between £99 and £189 which is not insignificant and will come as a bitter pill for many people.

Summary

The big picture here is that Windows 10 is a substantially better product than Windows 8 and with the host of new features and the very simple and slick interface it should appeal to the majority of users. Microsoft has clearly listened to the feedback on Windows 8 and has endeavoured to fix some of the more inhibiting issues, and even managed to make it look better in the process.