Some reasons to avoid Windows 10

[killer de bug]

You know if this didn't adversely affect so many people it would be funny but ............. http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-36367221

Microsoft has faced criticism for changing the pop-up box encouraging Windows users to upgrade to Windows 10.

Clicking the red cross on the right hand corner of the pop-up box now activates the upgrade instead of closing the box.

They should be sued for this.

[rene]

https://www.grc.com/never10.htm

[The Old Timer]

I wonder if all will be back to normal for Windows users after June or July passes. Will MS end it or extend it further.
It doesn't matter to me as the only Windows computer I have isn't connected.

[xenopeek]

In short, Microsoft plans to update Win10 with a "compression store", which "compresses unused pages" in RAM instead of writing them to hard drive. They assert that it will allow to maintain more programs in RAM at a time.

Another feature copied from Linux? We've had zram (formerly know as compcache) for a while. Here's an early article about compcache: https://lwn.net/Articles/334649/

In practice, users of new Win10 build experience system slowdown.

Did you have a source for that or is that your opinion? Using zram will be significantly faster than using swap or zswap on Linux and I don't see how that would be different for Windows. Hard disks (the spinning kind) are slow and memory page compression is blazing fast with suitable algorithms.

[Alexiy]

In short, Microsoft plans to update Win10 with a "compression store", which "compresses unused pages" in RAM instead of writing them to hard drive. They assert that it will allow to maintain more programs in RAM at a time.

Another feature copied from Linux? We've had zram (formerly know as compcache) for a while. Here's an early article about compcache: https://lwn.net/Articles/334649/

In practice, users of new Win10 build experience system slowdown.

Did you have a source for that or is that your opinion? Using zram will be significantly faster than using swap or zswap on Linux and I don't see how that would be different for Windows. Hard disks (the spinning kind) are slow and memory page compression is blazing fast with suitable algorithms.

I didn't know about zram.
I have seen some complaints in the internet, but haven't bookmarked them, so I can't provide source except Superuser. I was a bit anxious while writing this thread . Feel free to correct it.

[mike acker]

You know if this didn't adversely affect so many people it would be funny but ............. http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-36367221

Microsoft has faced criticism for changing the pop-up box encouraging Windows users to upgrade to Windows 10.

Clicking the red cross on the right hand corner of the pop-up box now activates the upgrade instead of closing the box.

They should be sued for this.

cheaper to just install MINT

[Ascaris]

Microsoft is not the mean megalith of the PC world that it once was - the company is on the defensive, constantly playing catchup to innovation from Apple, Android, and yes, even Linux.

It seems pretty mean to me, given all they've done to make Windows 10 into... well, into what it is, and the way they've used malware techniques and dark patterns to trick people into infecting themselves with it. The "old" Microsoft brutalized their competition (ie Netscape), but the "new" Microsoft puts the screws to its own customers.

The combination of Windows as a Service and mandatory, monolithic, cumulative updates is about as scary a combination as anything Microsoft has pushed out to date, given their lack of concern for their own customers they've shown lately. We have no way of knowing what Windows 10 will evolve into-- not even Microsoft knows that for sure. What we do know is that once nearly everyone is on 10, there's nothing stopping them from taking any cynical action they want, even those that harm the customer but help MS. You'd have to intentionally break the Windows Update system to stop the updates from automatically installing, and if you did that, you'd be missing every other update from that point forward, including all bugfixes and security updates.

Will MS one day decide that Win32 is too "insecure" (that will be the excuse) to be allowed and begin to withdraw support for it in favor of its UWP apps? I don't doubt for a moment that it has crossed their minds. It would be disastrous for customers to lose that massive software library, but it would mean that nearly everything would have to come from the Windows store, where MS gets a lovely 30% (I believe) commission on each sale.

In the past, it would be unthinkable for MS to do that, just as it would be right now. They worked way too hard to ensure backward compatibility, even to the point that many say it has held Windows back (though I don't agree with that). That was when Windows was a series of boxed products, though; they wanted people to keep buying successive versions of Windows (or a new PC with the newest Windows on it), so making customers happy was a big part of the deal.

With only one version of Windows "as a service," though, it's their way or the highway, and as the other versions of Windows die through attrition, people can either take the Windows 10 deal or jump ship, and many are too ensnared by Microsoft's vendor lock-in efforts to really be able to do the latter. As I commented in another thread the other day, the continuous release of new Windows versions introduced a level of competition into a monopolistic market; in effect, MS was competing with its own older products each time it released a new one (as 10 is now competing with 7 and 8). In the coming years, though, it will be Windows 10 alone in the Windows market, since Windows 10 is "the last Windows version," and the full force of their monopoly can be brought to bear like no time in the past.

Maybe it won't be withdrawal of support for Win32 programs. It's an admittedly extreme example of what they could do with "Windows as a service." We have no way of knowing what they have planned, or what plans they will formulate in the coming years. What we do know is that they are more than willing to throw their own customers under the bus if it suits their purposes. Anyone with Windows 10 on their computer has already agreed to these changes! You've agreed to any changes MS wants to make as long as that device still runs Windows.

That's why I am here. I like Windows 7, but the clock is ticking, and I loathe Windows 10, so better to begin the migration to Linux now when I can comfortably still use both.

I'm beginning to discover all kinds of flexibility in Linux that simply does not exist in Windows. I can put /, /home, /etc, /usr in separate partitions-- can't even come close to that in Windows (unless you use tricks like making file junctions, which seems like asking for trouble). In Windows, \users has to be on the same volume as \windows, and the registry lives there too. Reinstalling Windows means obliterating the old installation and having to rebuild it all from scratch, or else performing an in-place repair install, which is fraught with many of the same problems as in-place Windows upgrades-- which any Windows person would tell you is much more troublesome than a clean installation.

Another example would be how I was able to get the wireless light on my laptop to work in Mint 17.3 without too much trouble-- all it took was a couple of simple shell scripts. I'm new at this; I haven't even edited a shell script before, and I had no idea that Linux passes data around by making it into pseudo-files, so writing a 1 to a certain file turns on the LED.

That is... just awesome. In Windows, these kinds of things are handled by binary executables; they either exist or they don't, and when they do, they're often not configurable at all. My Asus laptop has dedicated buttons for useless functions like "Splendid," "Instant Fun," and nonsense like that-- stuff that got removed the first hour I had the box open when the laptop was new. The Asus ATK0100 programs that make the buttons work don't have any configurability. so those two buttons have been dead since the day I got the PC.

In Linux, though, I discovered the acpi_listen command, and I already know how to turn those ACPI events into action by virtue of the experience with the wifi button.

(and as an aside: Seriously, Asus? Instant fun and splendid get dedicated buttons, but no volume up or down?)

Hm, maybe that's what I will make them into... 'cause I can!

[Portreve]

I've been browsing the Superuser today and found this problem. In short, Microsoft plans to update Win10 with a "compression store", which "compresses unused pages" in RAM instead of writing them to hard drive. They assert that it will allow to maintain more programs in RAM at a time. In practice, users of new Win10 build experience system slowdown.

Well, in principle at least, you could try WINE or Crossover to support whatever software it is you are using Windows to run.

Fortunately for me, LibreOffice Calc opens the Excel files my company and I trade back and forth in.

[killer de bug]

Did you read his post before answering?

[Pierre]

like Microsoft did pay to this woman:
http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-36640464

"Microsoft has agreed to pay a Californian woman $10,000 (£7,500),
- after an automatic Windows 10 update left her computer unusable.".

[Alexiy]

like Microsoft did pay to this woman:
http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-36640464

"Microsoft has agreed to pay a Californian woman $10,000 (£7,500),
- after an automatic Windows 10 update left her computer unusable.".

Ha, another W10 'success' story.

[Moem]

"Microsoft has agreed to pay a Californian woman $10,000 (£7,500),
- after an automatic Windows 10 update left her computer unusable.".

Hmm! I do still have my Win7 install... haven't booted or updated it in more than half a year. What if...

[BigEasy]

...another thread "Windows upgrade: fast, easy and I love the results" on the way.

[Alexiy]

Ridiculous - my Windows 10 took 25 minutes to boot last time. I guess i'm stuck with this situation until I get a new PC. I would appreciate if someone told me some tips to reduce boot time, although I doubt there are any. I'm using Windows mainly for testing my apps.

[linux-dummie]

If Linux were a commercial product, this would be a great sales-pitch for it:

- I thought this would be more difficult to use.
- Gee, it looks pretty, doesn't it.
- Hmm, my computer seems faster now!

[Moem]

Ha! I'll tell my mother you said that, she'll get a laugh out of it.

[TooMuchTime]

Reinstalling Windows means obliterating the old installation and having to rebuild it all from scratch, or else performing an in-place repair install, which is fraught with many of the same problems as in-place Windows upgrades-- which any Windows person would tell you is much more troublesome than a clean installation.

It has been known since the Windows 95 days that the best Windows upgrade path includes fdisk.

[TooMuchTime]

Ha, another W10 'success' story.

Wouldn't it have been great had she taken the $10k and bought a brand new killer system and installed Linux Mint?

And your W10 success story statement would still be true!

[coder123]

I've been browsing the Superuser today and found this problem. In short, Microsoft plans to update Win10 with a "compression store", which "compresses unused pages" in RAM instead of writing them to hard drive. They assert that it will allow to maintain more programs in RAM at a time. In practice, users of new Win10 build experience system slowdown.
Damn, I regret upgrading to Windows 10. If only I reverted it earlier. If this "feature" will come, I fear that my computer with 4 GB RAM will work even slower (I do have Xubuntu, though).

For details read the second answer.

Having a lot of a RAM will slightly help with this because it won't fill up so quickly aside run that I'd recommend trying to Use Linux for everything you do. Granted I just recently got Win10 myself but I only use it for gaming.

[MajorMuff]

I have not had a single issue running W10, I honestly don't get what all the fuss is about.

In my opinion, W10 is the best Windows version so far.