As many of my clients may have noticed, there is a little icon down by the time in the lower right hand corner with the Windows logo, and when hovered over or clicked, reminds you that Windows 10 is coming and YOU can UPGRADE! This is news that rides on the same concept that Apple has had for quite some time, upgrading users to the latest version of their operating system if they are within roughly two versions. However, as I have done more reading on the pros and cons of this, I can’t help to feel suspect of Microsoft.
As we all have experienced, such generosity of a “free upgrade” has never really been under Microsoft’s Modus Operandi. “Free”, as my father used to say, is NEVER free. There is always something given up. As it turns out, the “give up” is a clear picture of how long your computer will experience the FREE upgrade before you are asked to purchase extended support for the operating system. What this means is that Microsoft (without yet having offered a clear answer to this) can shut off your system updates without the paid for extension, rendering your machine vulnerable to the many horrors that we have come to know, i.e. viruses, rootkits, spyware, scamware, etc.
Forbes offered a great series of articles in their tech section about the upgrade: http://www.forbes.com/sites/gordonkelly/2015/07/14/windows-10-unanswered-questions/ and his questions were priceless. To date, I am not sure that the answers have been offered.
Additionally, they force every update to run, regardless of whether you want it or not. This act throws millions of users into “guinea pig” status with regards to testing the operating system for business users (whose OS allows them a bit more control).
I expect that after the June 29th release, there will be many new questions.
Meanwhile, I understand that Windows 10 offers users a cleaner more integrated graphical user interface (GUI) that is “familiar” as opposed to the foreign frustration that came with Windows 8. I am hoping that Microsoft, as has been their history, got this one right. They usually have some aggravating OS changes (remember Millennium? Vista?) and then plug in something more manageable (like Windows 7). I am holding my breath!