Reader strikes back: Reaction to “10 reasons you shouldn’t upgrade to Windows 10”

Y’all know that I invite – encourage! – contrary opinions. This is a good one, about my InfoWorld article 10 reasons you shouldn’t upgrade to Windows 10, well thought out and expressed, by reader AS:

This article reminds me of the ever annoying moaning and groaning, kicking and screaming tantrum throwing over several Windows releases; not least of which was the ever beloved Windows XP release. You will, perhaps, remember that massive uproar over the problems XP had as a result of being NT based? Yes, that’s right my dear clueless rabble-rousing users…we can’t stagnate, things actually do have to evolve. Time marches on! My message to those people is simple: If you can’t deal with the fact technology -changes-. Do yourself and the rest of us a favor, stop using it. You’ve missed the point(s)!

However, just as Microsoft did and should have done, they ignored these petty tantrums the users threw and let cooler heads prevail. The result: Firstly: a great (argued by some to be the greatest) Windows operating system was born. All it required was people to be reasonable! Sadly, there was a side effect of Windows XP’s greatness: it bread an Anti-upgrade movement that sadly, to this day, irritatingly haunts the Windows Operating system. Worse, it is based on, as stated above, ““petty tantrum” reasoning”.

Windows Vista also had an especially clueless “Anti-Upgrade movement” where-by people actually and quite moronically thought that there 5 or 6+ year old computer was going to forever be sufficient and able to run Windows [insert version here]. You might have a hard time, Woody, actually fathoming the number of dolts I had come across attempting to run Vista on completely inadequate machines. Worse, -they knew- they were completely inadequate. They knew they were being unreasonable in expecting it to work on that hardware; yet…they still insisted Microsoft had committed a major injustice.

My main point, Woody, is that Windows 10 is no worse than any other Operating system out there. Don’t have touch, so what? It works just fine as a Desktop OS.

Don’t have hardware that supports or can run Windows 10 – Well! We covered that above, things evolve and you can’t use the same hardware forever…or in the tech world for very long at all. Keep up, or at least TRY!

And finally: Worried about privacy? Yeah, okay – Stop being a massive hypocrites people! – Ya’ll use Google products hourly, daily, weekly…or you just all the time!

“Microsoft never asked me!” – Actually, in exactly the same way Google did, Microsoft DID ask you. They both asked you. It probably reads something along the lines of:  “by virtue of using our products and/or services – we (Google or Microsoft) can collect data (track)  you and send said data back to the mothership!”. Rest assured you’ll find it plastered all over the EULA and Terms of service along with -many- -many- -many- -many- -many- (…you get the idea…) other scary conditions that even your beloved Google stipulates. Just as Microsoft does.

“Yeah but….” – Yeah but nothing! If you’re going to let Google track you and “phone home” – you need and must surrender having any beef with Microsoft doing the same or similar. Double standards are not a valid argument here.

“Yeah but I know what Google is doing with my data” – Do you? Do you really? Do you have any proof, other than what they “claim” in writing. I have/found/have seen no tangible, real world, example or proof that Google is any more trustworthy. None. So, please do, TRY and explain what makes you trust Google any more than Microsoft?

Long story short, Woody….there are -very- few valid reasons to not upgrade. And for the overwhelmingly vast majority of users….none of those valid reasons apply to them.

Here’s my response:

Even though I wrote that article in July, many of the concerns are just as valid now as they were six months ago. Forced updates. Snooping that isn’t documented and can’t be shut off. OneDrive STILL doesn’t work right. Advertising is getting worse, not better. And a murky gray future, which may include monthly payments for some sorts of features or services.

Since I wrote the article, it’s become clear that consumer versions of Win10 Home and Pro will get subjected to four months of unpaid beta testing.

http://www.infoworld.com/article/3148676/microsoft-windows/woodys-win10tip-wait-for-a-stable-version.html

And the bugs keep coming. You’ve seen the “Wi-Fi drops mysteriously” bug from Thursday, yes?

Notification – but no explanation – for the “Wi-Fi doesn’t have a valid IP configuration” bug

As far as trusting Google more than I trust Microsoft – I have no idea where you got that. I don’t trust either of ’em with my personal data. I use them both, but I don’t like it. I think one of the great debates over the next decade will be about how companies harvest, massage and use personal data. Right now, the whole situation sucks, except in a few European jurisdictions.

Long story short… there are still VERY valid reasons why people want to stick with Win7. I, personally, moved to Win10 years ago – I’ve written two 1,000-page books about it, and I use it all day, every day. But just because I’m willing to put up with the snooping and deal with forced updates and being held out as cannon fodder for four months, doesn’t mean that everybody’s willing to drink the KoolAid.