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The woes of Windows 10

economist.com

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Re: The woes of Windows 10

#61

Post by akappa »

alex_anglin wrote: post #46
akappa wrote: post #20

I think there's an obvious and more general question here to be answered: if a piece of software is good enough, namely, it "disappears" when you are trying to do your job, then why bother to change it? Yes, the new version might enable a more efficient workflow, or might be faster to boot-up. But people hate changes and you need to invest considerable time in upgrading a piece of software (the upgrade itself + learn…

I'm sure you would agree that security updates/upgrades are an exception to your rule.

Yes, and so does MS: https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2016/01/skyla...

Re: The woes of Windows 10

#62

Post by jasonkostempski »

alex_anglin wrote: post #46
akappa wrote: post #20

I think there's an obvious and more general question here to be answered: if a piece of software is good enough, namely, it "disappears" when you are trying to do your job, then why bother to change it? Yes, the new version might enable a more efficient workflow, or might be faster to boot-up. But people hate changes and you need to invest considerable time in upgrading a piece of software (the upgrade itself + learn…

I'm sure you would agree that security updates/upgrades are an exception to your rule.

Forced, untimely, security updates are certainly unwelcome and the #1 reason I'm off Windows completely at home.

Re: The woes of Windows 10

#63

Post by corin_ »

fetbaffe wrote: post #54
webwielder2 wrote: post #2

It's bizarre that people continue to think of Windows PCs as being predominantly owned by individuals or even individuals with a specific interest in technology.

Correct! Compare it to a group that care about their PC, i.e. gamers, 50% of Steam users run Windows 10. https://www.pcgamesn.com/steam-hardware-survey-windows-10-ad...

Maybe I'm misreading your comment but I think you're implying that people who care (like gamers) are less likely to be using Windows 10, but it's the opposite - 50% is far higher than the total market share Windows 10 has.

If I misunderstood your meaning, then this comment can just be a clarification instead of a correction :)

Re: The woes of Windows 10

#64

Post by deburo »

akappa wrote: post #20

I think there's an obvious and more general question here to be answered: if a piece of software is good enough, namely, it "disappears" when you are trying to do your job, then why bother to change it? Yes, the new version might enable a more efficient workflow, or might be faster to boot-up. But people hate changes and you need to invest considerable time in upgrading a piece of software (the upgrade itself + learn…

Indeed, Win7 being good enough and not degrading in any way is a big challenge facing Win10 adoption, and that has been said times enough before. Once Win7 is out of support, may it be from popular applications or simply security updates, we may see things changing.

There's also the factor of familiarity to consider. People buying new machines will learn the new system, and overtime as they learn how to use it, they will prefer it to older system versions. However, this is another long-term factor, and as such Windows 10 seems doomed to only slowly gain adoption.

Note:

Considering the reputation Windows 10 got for itself at launch, this is less surprising. For non-technical users, the upgrade to Win10 has probably been pointless or frustrating: new concepts, new default applications and system UIs these users have learn to perform their ordinary tasks. What's more, for many users, upgrading their system to Win10 left them with an unusable machine. Win10's launch was a mess.

Re: The woes of Windows 10

#65

Post by yokohummer7 »

IMO the success of Windows 7 was an exception, not the norm. Comparing the adoption rate of Windows 10 to that of Windows 7 might be a little harsh. 24% isn't actually that bad, considering Windows 7 is still good enough.

Re: The woes of Windows 10

#66

Post by jasonkostempski »

happypants23 wrote: post #55
frik wrote: post #25

No wonder that Win10 fails like Win8 - Microsoft doesn't care about users, they only care about their shareholders. Win8 and Win10 looks like designed by color blind designers with a bad taste the brutalism of UI design plus the phone-home spyware features that cannot be deactivated. Windows 7 is too good and the perfect OS, if you don't install some recent spyware updates it will last at least until 2020 - and who k…

I rather like the clean aesthetic of Windows 10, and am now using it as my main OS. Sure, it's by no means perfect, and there is still work to be done. But by and large I am happier with Windows 10 than with MacOS, Ubuntu, GNOME, and so on. Oh, and the whole "spyware" trope is becoming overworn. User analytics is here to stay, and practically every website and browser does it anyway. At least you can disable it in Wi…

"At least you can disable it in Win 10 if you are so inclined."

Where is that option? Also, it's easy to get a browser that doesn't phone home and a plugin that stops websites from doing it.

Re: The woes of Windows 10

#67

Post by aluhut »

burkaman wrote: post #23
aluhut wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What are the advances of using 10 instead of 7 for gaming?

You need Windows 10 to use DirectX 12, that's probably the biggest advance. The Windows Display Driver Model is also updated, I don't know if this actually matters for most games though.

> You need Windows 10 to use DirectX 12, that's probably the biggest advance.

More like a threat ;)

Re: The woes of Windows 10

#69

Post by pdog »

Windows 10 is a great operating system, but if you have an existing business-critical workflow, why would you update your major version? Stick with what works unless you have a reason to update. It's why some multinational companies are still running COBOL programs after nearly sixty years.

Re: The woes of Windows 10

#70

Post by mark-r »

Microsoft is their own worst enemy. My wife can't transition fully from XP to the Windows 7 PC I built for her, because it doesn't have Outlook Express or any reasonable substitute. We can't upgrade the living room PC because Windows 10 doesn't include Media Center.

I'm also not fond of the way Windows 10 updates are so aggressive, you'll essentially be replacing your OS every so often without any say-so. If I had any faith that this would be painless I might be tempted to try it, but see above. Windows 7 is darn near perfect, you can pry it from my cold dead hands.

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