There has been a lot of hype surrounding the launch of Windows 10, and I must admit, it’s damn pretty.
I’ve been a Windows user since version 3.1 (which shipped on floppy disks) so I consider myself well versed in Microsoft’s ups and downs.
Simply put, Windows 10 is everything I wanted Windows 8 and 8.1 to be. They have restored the start menu (which wasn’t broken and didn’t need fixing) and made store apps window friendly instead of full-screen pains in the posterior.
Visually, the overall design and attention to detail are top-notch, and in my opinion, finally in the same league as Mac OS X.
More than that, the upgrade process was flawless on my PC. I have an all in one with touchscreen, i7 CPU, 16GB RAM, and 2TB SATA hard drive – and from Windows 8.1 desktop to Windows 10 desktop, the upgrade process took just 50 minutes. Also, every app worked without having to reinstall or repair anything, including Office 2013, Adobe Creative Cloud, and my audio production software that uses USB licensing dongles.
I was planning on doing a clean install, but I haven’t had time to install my SSD hard drive yet. I’ve always been a firm believer in clean installs, until now, as I really don’t feel the need with Windows 10. But my Windows 8.1 was relatively fresh (a few months) anyway.
Granted the cold boot to desktop isn’t quite as fast as it was with Windows 8.1 but once I install my SSD I imagine that won’t be an issue.
And sure, Internet Explorer has been replaced with Microsoft Edge (but I prefer Firefox and Chrome anyway) and you have to go into the advanced section of the Windows Updates menu to turn off the torrent like sharing of updates with other random users on the Internet, but I think those are very small prices to pay for a vastly better operating system.
There is also an option to turn the start screen back on if you prefer that over the start menu – although I’m sure no one would admit to this.
If you didn’t reserve your copy before the launch you can use the tool on this page to create the install media and start the upgrade manually or perform a clean install.
For the die-hard Windows XP fans who eventually became die-hard Windows 7 fans – Windows 10 is definitely the next OS bandwagon to jump on.
