Windows 10 cometh.
Well, Microsoft has one amazing thing going for Windows 10. Tons of free press. If you're into tech, you really can't avoid reading *something* on a nearly daily basis about the new operating system. And the press is reasonably balanced and most of the hate is unfounded nonsense about support and cost of the OS.
For the average user however, not much changes. Firstly, while most people miss the reason Microsoft wants to make the upgrade free in the first place, I think the hopes are overly ambitious and I don't that any of what the haters have to say really factors into things at all.
Friends, family, people I don't even know. The vast majority won't upgrade to Windows 10 even though its free. And this is true for much the same reason people hate Windows 8. People don't like change. Period. It doesn't matter how good it is. If you are tech illiterate you'll shit your pants at the notion of upgrading your operating system. Largely because you don't actually know what any of those words mean.
The vast majority of people who won't upgrade won't be skipping out because of the forced upgrades, or because the OS is "new" and likely bug prone, or because they are confused by the licensing terms (which they likely didn't even read) or because Media Center is gone (because, honestly, most of them don't have this) or because OneDrive placeholders are gone (they didn't know they were there in the first place)! These people will skip the upgrade because they don't want things to change. Or because they think the upgrade offer is adware. Or because the very notion of pressing the buttons that cause this to happen unassisted would send them into cardiac arrest. THOSE are the reasons I think a VERY large number of users won't upgrade.
There will be a small number of people who are still convinced in all of the conspiracy theories or refuse to give up control of the update process (despite those actually being aware of this change also being the most likely to have their machines up to date). But those are a minority.
And my suggestion. While I love Windows 10 (and also loved Windows 8 and even 7 before it), if you're not sure what upgrading your OS entails and haven't seen any of Windows 10 (odds that such a person is reading this is admittedly low)... DON'T UPGRADE! I don't care if you're on Windows 7 or 8.1 and get it for free. THINGS WILL CHANGE. YOU WILL LOSE YOUR SHIT.
When Windows 8 came out, there was a video of a guy who video taped his dad using Windows 8 for the first time (and his dad was supposedly a techy person) who was seemingly totally incapable of adapting to ANY UI change whatsoever. You WILL see such videos again for Windows 10. Though, more likely than not, this time it will be people coming from Windows 8 who can't understand Windows 10. Any substantial amount of tangible change in an operating system will result in decent chunk of people being at least temporarily disoriented and to various degrees the first time using a new OS. And some habits will never change. And some of those habits are tied to hardware. You're much more likely to get along with Windows 10 if you just leave it alone until you buy your next PC. With the hardware changes that come with it, you'll be more in a frame of mind to adapt to OS changes.
I also wager that once again there will be people who dislike how Windows has changed and vow to move to Apple PCs. To those I have just this to say, I'm going over to a friend of the families tomorrow to help them setup their WiFi on their Mac that they've had since January apparently. That is right... MacOS is so different from Windows that normal people who grew up with Windows can't even figure out how to connect to the freaking internet. Don't be an over-corrector. The correct response over change is NOT to switch to something EVEN MORE DIFFERENT.
For the average user however, not much changes. Firstly, while most people miss the reason Microsoft wants to make the upgrade free in the first place, I think the hopes are overly ambitious and I don't that any of what the haters have to say really factors into things at all.
Friends, family, people I don't even know. The vast majority won't upgrade to Windows 10 even though its free. And this is true for much the same reason people hate Windows 8. People don't like change. Period. It doesn't matter how good it is. If you are tech illiterate you'll shit your pants at the notion of upgrading your operating system. Largely because you don't actually know what any of those words mean.
The vast majority of people who won't upgrade won't be skipping out because of the forced upgrades, or because the OS is "new" and likely bug prone, or because they are confused by the licensing terms (which they likely didn't even read) or because Media Center is gone (because, honestly, most of them don't have this) or because OneDrive placeholders are gone (they didn't know they were there in the first place)! These people will skip the upgrade because they don't want things to change. Or because they think the upgrade offer is adware. Or because the very notion of pressing the buttons that cause this to happen unassisted would send them into cardiac arrest. THOSE are the reasons I think a VERY large number of users won't upgrade.
There will be a small number of people who are still convinced in all of the conspiracy theories or refuse to give up control of the update process (despite those actually being aware of this change also being the most likely to have their machines up to date). But those are a minority.
And my suggestion. While I love Windows 10 (and also loved Windows 8 and even 7 before it), if you're not sure what upgrading your OS entails and haven't seen any of Windows 10 (odds that such a person is reading this is admittedly low)... DON'T UPGRADE! I don't care if you're on Windows 7 or 8.1 and get it for free. THINGS WILL CHANGE. YOU WILL LOSE YOUR SHIT.
When Windows 8 came out, there was a video of a guy who video taped his dad using Windows 8 for the first time (and his dad was supposedly a techy person) who was seemingly totally incapable of adapting to ANY UI change whatsoever. You WILL see such videos again for Windows 10. Though, more likely than not, this time it will be people coming from Windows 8 who can't understand Windows 10. Any substantial amount of tangible change in an operating system will result in decent chunk of people being at least temporarily disoriented and to various degrees the first time using a new OS. And some habits will never change. And some of those habits are tied to hardware. You're much more likely to get along with Windows 10 if you just leave it alone until you buy your next PC. With the hardware changes that come with it, you'll be more in a frame of mind to adapt to OS changes.
I also wager that once again there will be people who dislike how Windows has changed and vow to move to Apple PCs. To those I have just this to say, I'm going over to a friend of the families tomorrow to help them setup their WiFi on their Mac that they've had since January apparently. That is right... MacOS is so different from Windows that normal people who grew up with Windows can't even figure out how to connect to the freaking internet. Don't be an over-corrector. The correct response over change is NOT to switch to something EVEN MORE DIFFERENT.
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