[Mongoose]

So last summer, I built a shiny new gaming rig, and I went with Windows 7 as my OS of choice, which has garnered no serious complaints.  My parents' several-year-old Dell is still running *shudder* Vista and desperately needs a reformat, so I picked up a spare OEM copy of 7 for them a few months back, and with my current holiday week off I'm finally getting around to sorting it out.  My original plan was to not even bother with 7 for them, and just use the key for a straight upgrade to 10, with the added bonus of using their machine as a guinea pig to determine if I want to take the plunge on 10 myself.  Now I'm somewhat waffling on that, and I figure the more prudent move may be to load 7 on there first, so that if/when I do go to 10 and they have significant issues using it, it'll be a simple matter to revert.

So here's my question to everyone using it: with all that's been said and written and debated ad nauseam, is the move to 10 from 7 (for my machine at least) the right one?  I know all about DX12 exclusivity and support end dates and all that, but I also know about the litany of privacy concerns and forced Windows Updates and that whole mess, and there doesn't seem to be any real solid consensus.  (Plus I really like how Aero looks, and I don't feel like mucking about with multiple third-party apps to get something which only mostly resembles it.)  The end date for the free upgrade is near the end of July, so while there's still a few months left, I'm much more aware of the ticking clock now.  Are there legitimate reasons to stay with the the known quantity that is 7, or should I quit stalling and just upgrade already?

[Bobboau]

been using Linux mint as an HTPC/gaming machine for a few years now, I don't get why people still want windows at this point.

[jr2]

I've been using it since the Tech Preview.  I'd take the plunge.

Honestly, what's to stop you from re-formatting and then re-installing 7 if you don't like 10?  Or dual-booting 7 and 10?

[Scourge of Ages]

I've not experienced any notable issues with 10 lately. At first it had some minor bugs that I noticed, but they seem to have gotten ironed out. And it boots up SO fast you guys.

[Mongoose]

been using Linux mint as an HTPC/gaming machine for a few years now, I don't get why people still want windows at this point.

There are those of us who do like to tinker with things to some degree, yet don't envy being trapped in some sort of crazy driver hell, not to mention limited to (in the best case) 10% of game releases.

Honestly, what's to stop you from re-formatting and then re-installing 7 if you don't like 10?  Or dual-booting 7 and 10?

I don't think you can do that if you take advantage of the free upgrade, can you?  Because if you can I'd be all over that.

And I've heard about the fast boot-ups, but when you're already rocking an SSD and can get from hitting power to a functional desktop in all of 10 seconds, that's really the least of my concerns. 

[Grizzly]

Actually, you can revert back to an older Windows without issue. All that is going on currently is that your win 7 or win 8 key is also a win 10 key.

[NGTM-1R]

I've had no real issues with it.

[Grizzly]

Yeah, I liked using it too. With an SSD it cuts down the already quick startup time to near instantaneous and it's overall just a very slick and smooth operating system.

The biggest downside is probably that it wants you to participate in the Microsoft ecosystem (similarely to the google and apple ecosystems). That stuff is all optional, but it does get in the way a bit at the start.

[jr2]

Honestly, what's to stop you from re-formatting and then re-installing 7 if you don't like 10?  Or dual-booting 7 and 10?

I don't think you can do that if you take advantage of the free upgrade, can you?  Because if you can I'd be all over that.

And I've heard about the fast boot-ups, but when you're already rocking an SSD and can get from hitting power to a functional desktop in all of 10 seconds, that's really the least of my concerns. 

http://www.askvg.com/tip-dual-boot-between-windows-10-and-your-existing-windows-78-1-os/

^- Note that you don't have to do the whole clone & upgrade one partition thing now that MS lets you use your old 7/8/8.1 key to upgrade; just clean install 10 on available partition space using the Media Creation Tool (scroll down for the download link, called "download tool now").

[CP5670]

I have held off on this so far. I want DX12 sooner or later, but have all my stuff working properly on 8.1 and am afraid of breaking some obscure game or driver (which may be fixable, but I don't want to spend time doing it). It seems that the auto-updates and telemetry can be disabled with a little work, and the appearance doesn't matter since I would use a custom theme anyway. I was going to try it on my 7-based laptop first but am not sure it supports the switchable graphics driver that uses.

[Mongoose]

http://www.askvg.com/tip-dual-boot-between-windows-10-and-your-existing-windows-78-1-os/

^- Note that you don't have to do the whole clone & upgrade one partition thing now that MS lets you use your old 7/8/8.1 key to upgrade; just clean install 10 on available partition space using the Media Creation Tool (scroll down for the download link, called "download tool now").

Huh, well that's handy.  I may wind up going that route in the end, since it lets me have my cake and eat it too.

And I did go ahead and just put 7 on the parents' machine, for now at least.  They tend to be more trainable tech-wise than most people their age I deal with, but if/when I do the upgrade over the next few months, it'll be nice to have the simple option to revert if the cries of "WAIT HOW THE HELL DO I DO THIS?!?!" become too loud.

[jr2]

I have held off on this so far. I want DX12 sooner or later, but have all my stuff working properly on 8.1 and am afraid of breaking some obscure game or driver (which may be fixable, but I don't want to spend time doing it). It seems that the auto-updates and telemetry can be disabled with a little work, and the appearance doesn't matter since I would use a custom theme anyway. I was going to try it on my 7-based laptop first but am not sure it supports the switchable graphics driver that uses.

If it's like mine, yes.  My laptop isn't even officially supported by Toshiba for Win 10, but Win 10 managed to find suitable drivers.  I'd say dual-boot, and then when you realize you haven't booted to Win 7 in 6 months, delete that partition and resize 10 to fill that space.  That's what I did (I have a 3rd data partition that I've used mklink /d to bind the user {Download, Documents, Pictures, Music, Videos, Desktop} directories of both 7 and 10 to -- use 7 to bind 10, and 10 to bind 7).

http://www.askvg.com/tip-dual-boot-between-windows-10-and-your-existing-windows-78-1-os/

^- Note that you don't have to do the whole clone & upgrade one partition thing now that MS lets you use your old 7/8/8.1 key to upgrade; just clean install 10 on available partition space using the Media Creation Tool (scroll down for the download link, called "download tool now").

Huh, well that's handy.  I may wind up going that route in the end, since it lets me have my cake and eat it too.

And I did go ahead and just put 7 on the parents' machine, for now at least.  They tend to be more trainable tech-wise than most people their age I deal with, but if/when I do the upgrade over the next few months, it'll be nice to have the simple option to revert if the cries of "WAIT HOW THE HELL DO I DO THIS?!?!" become too loud.

Classic Shell

[watsisname]

I gave it my "two-week try it and see if it sucks or grows on me" test, and it passed.  Some annoying features that I disabled from the install/startup (e.g. Aero and those stupid notifications/sounds, market stuff in the start menu), but those were all trivial to get rid of.  Basically I'm just running win10 as if its 7.  It's nice.

[asyikarea51]

Using it because new PC. Yes with SSD it's fast. Dunno on mechs.

But I ran into issues upgrading to a new build (that 10586 fiasco) and reformatting was a pain. Hopefully no more reformats. Else no serious complaints apart from an old game that I really wanted to play again, refusing to work in 10 x64 where it did in 7 x64 (Won't mention title because unsure on legality.)

And maybe SupCom1 dual display not working, but my attempts at this weren't serious at all.

Otakus need to find replacement language tools... besides that, maybe scour around the interwebs for anything privacy and/or making the existing privacy settings easier to find in one place...

The way my system is set up right now w.r.t. drives and partitioning, I won't be seeing Linux any time soon. Arch pissed me off for being n00b-unfriendly and I didn't want to try Mint, although I somehow did get Arch running on an older C2D laptop (via a third-party image), fighting WinXP for dominance over the system clock

Then again, I didn't do anything notable when I previously used Ubuntu studio.

[AtomicClucker]

Win 10, shiny new tech, DX12... and adware.

Did I mention its adware, spies on you so MS can sell that juicy data? Ahem. The other is taking away user control. Some of the latest security updates in 10... includes adding ads directly to your start menu.

Windows 10 is adware, if you get a copy, get the Windows 10 Enterprise LTSB that allows you turn off updates and telemetry. Base Windows 10 is a privacy nightmare and designed to sell your habits to ad companies... and I think MS knew quite well their greatest enemy would be adblockers. That paranoia aside, Win7 is old, but it's stable and well loved. 7/8.1 users are mostly resistant and resilient to changing, and MS has been exceptionally aggressive about forcing it on everyone. Hardware and software realiability? tl;dr is that it's a mixed bag. If you've got professional programs and have a job that relies with it, stick with 7/8.1 for the time being. Win10 still has many programs that are unstable or haven't made the full migration.

Having used a preview copy myself it's good... but not good enough to change. Add Microsoft's decision to start spying on us and you can probably tell how I feel about it - pick it up if you really want to, but be warned it'll take quite a bit of work to lock down Win10, and that doesn't stop MS from shoving updates and driver updates that can break your system. Essentially, you don't "own" your OS, your merely a terminal for a cloud-based piece of adware. Even google and apple admit they track your habits for both telemetry and such, but MS pretty much makes it clear that you don't own your PC anymore. And that's a giant negative in my book, as they take away your ability to control the flow of updates from them to you.

Myself? I use Win7/LinuxMint for both gaming and common use. Win10 is pretty much the first time I'm not migrating to a new windows version until they stop with the adware nonsense. And combined with the pretty creepy revelations that Win10 actively tracks everything... yeah, not even the almighty google is that much of a cretin.

[FrikgFeek]

I don't really mind Microsoft spying on me. I mean, there's nothing I really need to hide and I don't mind if they use that data so ad companies can try to sell me stuff I might actually care about instead of random junk. The fact that updates are forced and that I can't tweak or use my OS in any way I fancy is another thing though, that just crosses the line and that's why I'm still on Win7.

I have Ubuntu on my laptop but I noticed that when I'm gaming I end up having to emulate Windows for most of my games, which makes it kinda pointless. If I'm going to be running Windows for gaming I might as well just use Windows instead of emulating it.

[headdie]

My only significant issues with windows 10 were because I updated from an install of 7 which I had been using for several months.  downloading the install files to a flash drive and doing a clean install to windows 10, which I am on now, is running as smoothly as my windows 7 install was.
Even on my standard hard drives the boot times are fast, perhaps a minute to get to the login screen
Functionality is very similar to windows 7 with a few features though the Settings window is a little annoying because I cant use a control panel "Classic view"
Not noticed any issues with the few older games that I have installed

[The E]

Win 10, shiny new tech, DX12... and adware.

Did I mention its adware, spies on you so MS can sell that juicy data? Ahem. The other is taking away user control. Some of the latest security updates in 10... includes adding ads directly to your start menu.

It's weird. I've never seen any ads in the start menu. Before you posted this, it never even occurred to me to check for it; turns out, disabling this is just one click, and the option to do this is easily discoverable (It's exactly where you expect it to be).

[Col.Hornet]

I switched to 10 when I bought a new notebook <Asus R510j>. The worst issue I had with the new Windows was the task bar which got locked/freezed after one update <they must have screwed something hard>. I had to solve this manually via windows PowerShell and later delete one folder manually. And I noticed recently that the efficiency of the system is dropping. I mean some programs (like Firefox, Photoshop draws damn lines with 2 sec lag)  started working very slowly. Funny part, I'm using the notebook mostly for work (GIS software for university stuff), so the hard drive is free of trash but it seems to be more a configuration issue. And I did not play with configuration much myself. I must figure this out.

But overall I did not have any other problems with 10 worth notice. Personally I would like to stick with 7 but my notebook had the 8 installed in stock. And since I hate 8 the choice to upgrade was rather obvious

[asyikarea51]

If I could stay on 7, I would, but knowing that sooner or later it'll be phased out just like XP was phased out (imagine being stuck on DX9 when everyone is already years ahead on DX11), frankly I see it as a losing battle.

I rejected Vista back in the day so much that I loaded my campus laptop with XP... and then 1.5 years later 7 comes out with only Vista accepted as the upgrade path. Next thing I know, during one of my field trips, I was the only one who couldn't join the games everyone else was playing. (Not that it mattered since I had alternative forms of entertainment, but still.)

Least I wasn't studying in the IT field. Maybe the pressure on me to reformat would've been worse depending on the course modules...

If only I knew about the Enterprise kit beforehand, too late now I suppose. Don't have time or disk space to reformat again (or let alone where to buy the thing, not sure if I can find it retail COTS where I am). Such a chore...