NO to Windows 10

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My verdict on Windows 10:   

Do not install Windows 10.

If the word privacy and the concept of privacy mean anything to you then you should stay away form the biggest data slurp this world has ever seen. That IMHO is what Windows 10 is going to be.

Here is an example of what others think about Windows 10; this a literal quote from a reply to an article about Windows 10 privacy settings (bolding added by me):

Microsoft has built into Windows 10, the most comprehensive personal surveillance system ever built into an OS. . .
I cannot, for the life of me, envision any reputable business or government entity running this illegal and unconstitutional monstrosity - and still claim that they are able to protect client/citizen's privacy. Doctor's, lawyers, banks or anyplace where client/patient privacy is important should probably avoid Windows Malware 10 at all cost.

And as far as technical "improvements" are concerned here is a snippet from one of the support forums I follow. A user of this forum put it very nicely and IMHO he nailed it precisely:

Personally, I haven't seen a compelling reason to upgrade to Windows 10. ... I haven't found a good reason to upgrade from Windows 8.1...

PRO: Start Menu.
CON: I already have Classic Shell, which is more like the Start Menu to which I am accustomed, and much more configurable.

PRO: Edge Browser.
CON: I'd rather use Firefox.

PRO: Cortana.
CON: This is a security risk just waiting to happen; that being said, this may be a pro... Then again, maybe not. I'm on the fence...

PRO: Multiple Desktops.
CON: Already available to XP and above from Microsoft Sysinternals Desktops 2.0.

PRO: Windowed Universal (Metro/Windows Store) Apps.
CON: I haven't found any Universal Apps that are any better than the desktop programs I already have installed.

PRO: Comes with Solitaire:
CON: You can get solitaire in Windows 8.1 also, from the Windows Store.

PRO: New Mail and Calendar Apps.
CON: Not even as capable as Microsoft's Windows Live Mail 2012 with Microsoft Accounts, and relatively useless with some other accounts. Where are my local folders? Why is the Spam from the junk folder archived forever, it's Spam!?!

PRO: New Photos App.
CON: Better photo editors are out there.

PRO: DirectX 12.
CON: I can't think of a con to this one, except I don't really play games on this computer. That's what consoles are for. (And I don't really care about the XBox App...)

PRO: Unified Settings.
CON: Thanks for moving around the Control Panel again...

PRO: New Task Switcher.
CON: Alt-Tab

PRO: Schedule Restarts.
CON: Forced Windows Updates. Because Microsoft never fudges updates...

PRO: Hello.
CON: Like I have an infrared 3D camera...

etc.

So far for the quote. I had a similar compilation in an earlier article; in case you are interested it is here.

As I said above, my verdict is clear; if you have a well working Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 system there is no compelling technical reason to upgrade to Windows 10; you only would give up what vestiges of privacy there are left in the brave new world of Windows 10 home computing.

As usual I welcome comments and suggestions right here in the blog. Thank you in advance.

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