Microsoft says Windows 10 is faster and has user-interface improvements over Windows 8.1, the last version of Windows. Credit: Contributed by Microsoft
In Tuesday's print edition of the American-Statesman and on MyStatesman.com, you'll find my guide to Wednesday's launch of Windows 10, what may be the last official version of Microsoft's computer operating system.
In the piece, I talk about what the system requirements are, how much it will cost (for a lot of people: $0) as an upgrade and what some of the new features are, such as the new Edge web browser and a personal assistant addition named Cortana.
Here’s and excerpt from the column:
Should you upgrade?
Some people prefer to wait a while before upgrading to a new operating system to make sure all the bugs are worked out. Windows 10 has been tested by millions of users in a beta program and seems like a relatively safe bet, but it wouldn't hurt to wait and see if your computer's stability is crucial to a business or your home sanity.
In general, you should ask yourself:
1. Is my Windows 7 or 8 computer already running exactly how I want it, and do I want to risk changing that?
2. Is trying out new features and having a potentially faster system worth the time and potential trouble?
3. Am I using crucial older software that may have trouble running on a new OS or that hasn't been tested out on Windows 10? Maybe I should Google about that.
And now that Microsoft’s very strange embargo has lifted, I can freely talk about my first impressions of Windows 10.
It’s fine! Perfectly fine. Nothing that’s going to knock anybody’s socks off, but some very necessary tweaks and improvements.
The design changes make it a much easier-to-approach system if you still use a mouse and keyboard, but it’s also very touch-screen friendly. (Microsoft provided a loaner Lenovo touch-screen laptop for testing Windows 10.)
The system overall feels speedy and responsive. I had a few weird graphical errors playing video games within Valve’s Steam system and I’m still getting used to juggling screens and window sizes. The Microsoft Edge browser is definitely faster, but also fairly unremarkable and generic-looking. I had some Wi-Fi connection issues at times when logging back in to Windows 10, but I can’t tell if that’s the software or a possible hardware issue.
Cortana is an intriguing idea, bu it’ll take a while for me to figure out how useful it’ll be in day-to-day use.
It’s tough to judge an OS with just a few days’ casual use. I’ll have more to say about it by next week.
Got thoughts on Windows 10? Are you planning to upgrade? Let me know in the comments.
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