Windows 10 is a curious combination of enormous potential and disappointing current reality. With big advances in many areas, and fumbling starts in many others, it’s a mixed bag, particularly for anyone relying on the Microsoft-developed Universal apps. For example, if you need to run a Mail client on Windows 10, the Microsoft-supplied Universal Mail app works, but the Maps and Photos app will have you pulling your hair out.
Windows 10 does what it set out to do: Bring the Windows 7-style interface into the tiled universe. It is, in many ways, what Windows 8 should’ve been. It has all the advancements from Windows 8 — security, stability, power saving, and on and on — with much of the Windows 7 interface fully integrated. Windows 10 makes the old-fashioned desktop an integral part of the product, instead of an accidental tag-along, as it was in Windows 8 and, to a lesser degree, Windows 8.1.
At some point — sooner rather than later — I figure most Windows 8/8.1 users will want to upgrade to Windows 10, although there may be some touch-sensitive types who won’t like the new Tablet Mode.
For Windows 7 users, it may make more sense to hang tight for the foreseeable future — or at least until Windows 10 Update 2 or 3 or 4 or 17 may be available. Sit back and watch the rollout unwind. It will take months for the major problems to surface and be corrected by Microsoft. It will take longer — perhaps much longer — for updates to make the promising new features attractive enough to warrant upgrading.
Brian Fox, Systems Engineer
