Post date: Oct 30, 2015 2:51:11 PM

Blog Post for October 30^th

5 reasons I hate Windows 10 already

During the past few weeks I have had a handful of students bring a laptop to my office or the classroom and want help with a document. As they fumble through the many tiles and screens and icons and endless lists of stuff, I have cringed, because they’re running Windows 10 and not really sure how to use it. Several managed to find their document, while others were not as lucky.

Today, a girl came in help; her father, who is an IT guy, decided it was a good time to install Windows 10 on her laptop—in the middle of her assignment for my class. It turns out that she was using “his” Microsoft office and now her word program doesn’t open up, and neither do her documents (Thanks, Dad!) I talked her through attaching them to an email and she worked on the classroom PC and made progress. I also encouraged her to go get a legal version of Word at our campus bookstore.

When Windows 8 came out, I took one look and said, “no thank you.” I was relieved that our campus didn’t seem gung ho on upgrading our computers, and neither was my personal IT Guru, Mike, who has kept me supplied with great computers for the last 18 years or so! He didn’t like Windows 8 and neither did my son Jon, also an IT guy. So when I learned that the next great version of Windows was skipping “9” altogether, I was hopeful, until I found out that it was more like 8 than 7.

So, after watching my students’ struggles to navigate what is being promoted as a great, intuitive interface, I went online, typing in “I hate Windows 10” and was amazed by the numbers of articles, blog posts, and rants on even the Microsoft community discussion board about some of the problems with Windows 10. One of my favorite websites, Techrepublic, had a slideshow of screen shots that just increased my desire to hang onto Windows 7 for as long as possible.

What don’t I like?

1) The overall look seems to have turned a well behaved PC into a giant Phone. My students didn’t seem to understand how to navigate and I wasn’t sure how to help them.

2) Along with that, the tiles bug me. It looks like Microsoft tried to copy the look of a tablet, but my icons work on my iPhone and iPad. Many people have complained about the look and functionality of the tiles (or lack of functionality, in some cases)

3) Bing – I have not warmed up to Bing as a search engine. I like Google better—sorry, Microsoft. Of course, I am a Google Docs, Gmail, and Google Sites user, so how do you compare that to a search engine with a name that sounds like a computer beep?

4) The STORE – my husband, Mike, is a very smart man. He downloaded Windows 10, played with it, hated it, and installed Linux or something on his home computer. He said it was all about making the PC an appliance that you wanted to buy stuff for at the Store.

5) Cortana – To be honest, I have not really embraced Siri yet, and I’m not sure that I want to develop a relationship with another female, especially one who likes Windows 10!

In the meantime, I am trying to ignore the increasingly nagging reminders that my free download is waiting for me. I heard a wonderful speaker who is both a lawyer and a librarian once say, “When the product is free, YOU are the product!”

I might get some hate mail from Window 10 fans, but everything I’ve observed, read, and learned about Windows 10 scares me more than any Halloween movie I can imagine. I want my PC to be as usable as possible; therefore, I am waiting as long as possible to download it!

(Happy Halloween, everyone).

For More Information,

http://www.techrepublic.com/pictures/screenshots-a-preview-of-microsoft-windows-10/

Kaelin, Mark. “Screenshots: A preview of Microsoft Windows 10.” Tech Republic. My 19, 2015.

Last updated on 10/30/2015