This is a rant. I can't stand behind Windows anymore. I've lost time, money and had to restore more data because of this OS than ever before. I've performed around 50 home user upgrades and I'm not doing it anymore. I attend a local weekly Linux meetup where we install Linux on user's machines. We help them learn the basics of using a Linux based OS, show them open source software alternatives, and answer any questions we can. Attendance is up over 400% this year. I hate the argument "Win10 is new give it time". Maybe you don't mind bricking your personal computer and calling someone to fix it. I'm not going to put beta rollout garbage on a users PC and end up having to charge ungodly amounts of money to spend hours debugging a install, restoring data I shouldn't need to backup in the first place, and in general just spending too much time on an OS upgrade. The #1 question I get is, " Will Windows 10 be intentionally spying on me?". As much of a convoluted question that is, and with how convoluted the EULA is with the free upgrade, there is absolutely no way I can say no. Even if the data collected is anonymous in nature, the data will include private information which can and will be tracked back to the end user. I hope corporate environments move towards alternatives like RedHat and begins to snuff out Windows' market share in big business. What I really can't stand is Microsoft saying that the software is good, there is no problems. And also saying we're only collecting data clearly outlined in the EULA, when the EULA doesn't outline it at all. It boils down to trust, and whether or not I can hang my hat on a Windows 10 install/setup. But I can't trust it at all, so I'm not going to do it anymore. Windows 10 is garbage.
I kind of find all these problems with Win10 puzzling. I upgraded after a few months of being bugged by the update software, all my drivers worked fine, haven't had any weird bugs or issues, my software runs fine. Just confuses me why it would be so consistent for me and not for others.
I'm finding myself going in the same direction. I have a number of machines at home, and the first one to update did have some issues- kept having to revert the touchpad drivers every update, and the wifi connection would take a very long time to establish. Neither are an issue anymore on that machine. The other laptop, the MS account broke and I can't open any MS apps, like calculator- haven't found any methods to fix this yet, but have to admit I haven't searched that hard as I'm focusing more and more on just going ~90% Linux and using Windows in a VM when absolutely necessary.
I try to be product and OS agnostic, so privacy issues and such aside, I'm just not finding the UI and control panel intuitive enough to keep me, or built in features of integration/cloud/sync enticing enough. I'm far more 'addicted' to google services that MS, and I really think my days using MS at home are numbered.
I've had clients upgrade windows 7 computers. They are buggy even with a clean install.
I have very few problems with just running a linux environment other than I make gaming YT videos and I need windows for just a little longer. As soon as I can play everything just fine, BYE GARBAGE.
Remove the privacy issues with the plethora of applications out there and install Tiny Wall. I've had zero issues with Windows 10 outside of the privacy concerns and it's been resolved...
Going Linux is not an answer (in 2016) if people want to play the latest AAA titles; don't even get me started with KVM as I went through all of that and 1) it's a hassle and a half and 2) forget playing simulators while sharing a CPU.
I also strongly disagree with your statement below:
Maybe you don't mind bricking your personal computer and calling someone to fix it.
How do you brick your computer? I also have a hard time believing that someone who is unfamiliar with Linux can suddenly feel comfortable and competent enough to fix their issues, after using it for a fraction of the amount of time they've used Windows. Linux requires someone who has some technical (or development) knowledge to truly understand what's going on and fix it.
They most likely meant, when they typed "bricking your computer", bricking the windows 10 install. Perhaps showing up that there is no installed media to access or perhaps the MBR has been overwritten incorrectly or even portions of it not written to it at all. I have upgrade 3 machines in my home, absolutely no issues with drivers, programs, or windows itself. Yes, I have removed the privacy issue. Its been rock solid. I recall trying out linux mint one time and mounted my disk to browse the files to test out video and music playback and also to scan my drive for viruses if any.
My MBR was destroyed, luckily, I just had to copy over the important files from my SSD to my HDD and do a reinstall of Windows 7.
My wife is a typical "Farmville User". She likes Linux and hates Win 10.
I am not to worried about privacy, I have already posted enough stuff to get my name on several lists:) Already had my identity stolen, hope the thief enjoys my two digit credit score:).
On my Linux build I did stay away from the latest stuff and stuck with cheap but rock solid components and knew they would work. 8320e w/ GTX 770. I have had one problem and it's nothin. ACPI not detected on boot.
My APU build a few problems with BF4 but next update it was fixed.
I and the rest of the world have no desire to see me do a youtube video.
If you want to play the latests HALO neither will work well.
It does make a great reason to build TWO gaming computers!
I just upgraded my laptop to W10 with a clean install and everything is working okay. Nothing ground breaking as new features but I'm not having too much issues too. What's making me insane is the interface: what the actual fuck were they smoking while "designing" this new piece of shit of interface? I'm using a fucking PC not a tablet so why on earth I would want my settings to be randomly distributed between the classic and well know control panel and in a shitty "settings" portion with a dumb finger-friendly interface? Also, still on the subject "I'm not using a fucking tablet" why there are so many apps? I want "PROGRAMS" with a decent interface like in Windows 7, why's that not possible anymore? I want the option during installation to put every element for PC so I don't have to deal with all of this bullshit, going back and forth from control panel and settings to find stupid things. rant over
Also give the users back the option to set the bars corlor's indipendently from the accent color, because that's annoying as hell.
Well damn. I guess i should stop playing XCOM 2 on Linux then :/
Joking aside, ive noticed windows 10 has had more technical issues than the previous version. And on the privacy side, it just goes to show just how much people just dont care about whats being done to their privacy. :(
I have to be honest, I adopted W10 in September and besides a brief period where loading HW-monitor would crash the system, it has been basically flawless. Doubtless others have had more trouble, but in my experience that's the case with basically every OS.
My main issue is privacy; Microsoft's desire to harvest data and potential inability to stop others doing the same. I'm pretty much accepting at this point that it's an unstoppable peep hole in my bathroom wall.
When 16.04 comes out I will be moving to Ubuntu Mate as my main OS. Will still need windows for productivity and games, but I'm looking forward to the transition.
Les and less these days. Without going to far off topic, ill just say, consider (if you have the time) shifting your work to open software, lots of people use free software exclusively for work.
I recon ive had similar technical issues as you with windows 10, no major things, but minor things, software issues. Gone are the days of B(lue)SOD I now get B(lack)SOD very ocasionally.
mouse input is shit on Linux. I don't care how many games are supported on Linux, until a Linux distro has decent mouse input, Linux is not viable for gaming. Why do people have desktops instead of laptops or tablets? Productivity and/or Gaming but gaming is completely ignored.
Actually the best available windows version is Windows 7. Still use them, still get updates and still it's highly customizable and tweakable. I don't need any fancy-pantsy metro menus, DRM and controlled environment.
It comes down to what's in your game library, what software you use and how much time you're willing to waste. Potentially Linux can do anything, but people tend to forget it's not a certainty. I find the Linux for gaming/productivity debate frustrating to say the least, but that's a whole different topic. I've investigated what Linux can do for me and identified the hoops that I'm willing to jump through. Linux is making great inroads though imo, with enough common sense I think I'll be able to slowly divorce myself from windows more and more over the years, maybe make the break entirely one day.
Back on topic, I am curious about one thing; Are the majority of Windows 10 problems related to upgrading from 7/8? and if so is it hardware related? In my case it was a clean install on a new system. My old man has recently taken advantage of the free upgrade on his laptop and so far he seems ok.
Meh
Havent had a single issue with windows 10 yet and I have it installed on 3 different computers.
Do I care about the spying stuff?
Not really... at least not right now
Will I care when it is used in such a way to harm / inconvenience me, most likely.
When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.
When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.
When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.
When they came for the Jews,
I remained silent;
I wasn't a Jew.
When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out.
okay,, so its a LITTLE OTT to quote that for the windows 10 spying but I think its a slippery slope
I've performed around 50 home user upgrades and I'm not doing it anymore.
I wouldn't have done it in the first place. Upgrading home user PCs is a nightmare, and I fee your pain, but I would love to see how many calls you would get back from the customer after upgrading them to Linux.
Exactly how many disasters out of the 50 upgrades did you have?
I hope corporate environments move towards alternatives like RedHat and begins to snuff out Windows' market share in big business.
Yes, Linux is great... but will never completely take off in the business world until the community comes up with a Linux version of Active Directory and Group Policy. Yes I am aware of software that makes the two talk, but getting the Group Policy portion to talk costs money, and still requieres a Windows domain controller. This is the only thing holding me back. Of course this only pertains to the end user experience and not to back office servers. I have some clients that use Linux, but they use linux based machines as a thin client to connect to a Remote Desktop Server so they can run windows programs. So in actuality they don't even know they are running Linux.
I have tried to migrate companies away from MS Office to Libre Office, Open Office, and google docs. They always come back to Microsoft Office and are willing to pay thousands of dollars for it. The only people I have been able to successfully convert to Linux are the people who browse the web, check their email and nothing else.
As far as the privacy goes, sure it sucks but it is not a Microsoft problem. It is a social problem. Even if Microsoft stood it's ground and said we will not spy on our customers, Google, Apple, and every ISP and telco provider would need to do the same. Oh, and lets not forget the world governments. Pretty much the same for every company wanting to sell you something.
Even if every company in the world stood up and said "We will not collect data on our customers!" and yet the governments still collected the information, there would be no difference. The people need to stand up and say the spying will not be tolerated and things will begin to change. Switching to Linux really does nothing to solve the privacy issue. That needs to be fixed by your vote to keep your personal information private.
i felt the same way when i got windows 10, i just downgraded to 7, it works a lot better.
I guess I was a little angry when I wrote this so I'd like to clarify a few points. The people that I upgraded from another version of Win to Win10 asked me to do it. For money. They'd call me up and ask me if it was something they can do themselves, and I'd say sure just back everything up in case something goes wrong. As soon as I'd say that, I'd be scheduling a service call to do the upgrade. My number one call two weeks ago was, "my computer stopped working when I upgraded to Win10." I've had to recover a lot of cat pictures and family photos, format, and clean install so many botched upgrades that would BSOD (hardware driver issues) or boot loop because of a corrupt boot record. I'm on a first name basis with a few service reps at MS because I've had to argue for a customer that the key I recovered from a botched install is still valid. Now they want to downgrade, and their downgrade path is gone due to a botched upgrade. I hold an MCP and it's still a pain in the ass. Anyone saying there upgrades went fine, well I'm going to tell you this, you got lucky and I'm happy for you. Try it 20 more times on older Win7 machines while loosing money. I literally had to stop doing field installs because I was missing appointments due to issues with upgrades. And on my Linux points I made, well I understand big companies can't just switch to Linux. It's wishful thinking on my part, and I was wrong. But the small up and coming companies can. They can lead the way. My company runs CentOS and everyone loves it. I provide applicable 3rd party Linux training to admin and tech staff alike. And when I do Linux installs on Win machines for free at our meetups, I do hand out my cards and I do get calls back. But I get calls back from happy people with questions, not pissed off people with a non functional PC. And five 9's I can solve their issue over the phone. All the people saying you can use third party tools to lock your Windows PC down from data gathering, well it's too bad you have to do that in the first place. I get the game is life thing. I used to have hardcore gaming machines and I get the DX12 and everything else. But I'll stick with games that don't require me to toss my hat in a ring that says I'm OK with installing an OS that is designed to data gather whether or not I let it. I'm just not happy with Win 10. At all. Thanks for all the replies.
I do understand where you are coming from. I too went through a time when I was fed up with windows. At the time I was doing support for home users. This was back in the XP days. Everyone had virus and malware problems all the time. I moved some clients over to Linux and crossed my fingers just to avoid all of the malware. Looking back it would have been easier to just let them keep getting their viruses and doing yearly reloads.
Also keep in mind that the problems you encounter are the very reason you have a job. I am grateful for every IT problem that I encounter. It provides me with new challenges every day and a fun way to make a living, even though it can be frustrating at times. If you can't change the circumstances just change your perspective and the world lights up in your favor.