Windows 10: Three Years In

It’s hard to believe that it’s already been three years since Microsoft rolled out Windows 10. Usually, the thought of Microsoft releasing a new version of Windows is about as much fun as  contemplating a root canal. So naturally, there was much skepticism at the time about this release. Could an “operating system as a service” be reliable or would this be another Microsoft fumble? The Giant of Redmond was still stinging from the botched release of Windows 8 and although 8.1 addressed many of the complaints, the damage was done. Users were holding on to Windows 7 (which at the time was probably the best Windows ever) like it was gold.

Back in 2015, I was running 8.1 on my big work machine. To me, 8.1 was pretty meh so I figured I might as well upgrade to Windows 10. At that time, Microsoft was also pushing 10 to an annoying degree and, yes, I succumbed. Truth be told, I am kind of a sucker for new versions of software…be they applications or OS. So I was damn curious. I gave it a few weeks just to make sure there were no major complaints of catastrophe from other users and then I took the plunge.

My experience over the past three years has been overwhelmingly positive. No, really. Windows 10 has been, dare I say, extremely reliable. Weekly updates are scheduled for off-hours and aren’t intrusive. Since 2015, Redmond has also released five major updates to Windows 10 (Threshold 2 and Redstones 1-4) and, at least for me, updates have occurred without any hitches or glitches. Is this really a Microsoft product? To be sure, there have been a few bumps for Microsoft along the way. The push to get a new version of the OS out on a regular schedule has occasionally brought trouble: witness the rushed release of current build 1803 (Redstone 4) earlier this year which Redmond had to quickly pull due to increased numbers of BSODs. But they got things sorted before I even updated, and this release Windows 10 has been reliable.

While there has been no radical overhaul to the OS since 2015, each major release has added useful features. I know that there are already scads of tech blogs and review sites that have analyzed every minute detail of the operating system to the nth degree, but indulge me while I sum up a few things that I have found to be the most handy:

Virtual Desktops

Yes I know Mac OS had already offered this for years, but it was about time Microsoft caught up with this highly useful feature. It debuted with the first iteration of 10 back in 2015 and was very welcome indeed.

Cortana

I was a little late jumping on the Cortana bandwagon and yes I can stubbornly cling to old ways of doing things. But I have come around to using Cortana which I have discovered to be a much more intuitive search tool compared to the old “search” of pre-10 builds.  And they have been making improvements to Cortana with each major release. It now features a Lists feature app that lets you create lists that sync across devices. So if I create my “to do” list on my big machine, it is synced with my laptop.

Redstone 4’s incorporation of a timeline and its integration with Cortana, I have to admit, is pretty freaking amazing. It works brilliantly on my 2-monitor set-up and is evidence that Microsoft understands they still need to cater to multi-taskers like me. If 8 was an attempt to shift the OS to a more mobile-friendly interface–something Windows users weren’t really asking for–then 10 has, if not taking the OS in the opposite direction, created an even better interface for power users who have lots of screen real estate.

 

Windows Hello

This was another one that seemed dubious to me before I tried it. I don’t have a webcam on my big machine, but my Samsung Notebook 9 has one and I use Hello’s facial recognition to log into the machine. I have to say it works pretty darn well, most of the time. Even in low light or when I’m not wearing my glasses, it seems to have no problem recognizing me. Perhaps this is an indicator of an increasingly rushed (or lazy?) society, but it’s nice not having to login in with a PIN or password.

Windows Action Center

Although this feature was available in previous versions of Windows, it was dramatically transformed with 10. Whereas the old “Action Center” looked like a simple pop-up menu alerting you to security and maintenance issues, the current one appears as an entire sidebar and is much more customizable. You can receive notifications from a whole host of apps, or you can turn them off in Settings. Some users still find the Action Center annoying, but there’s also a “focus assist” setting (formerly known as “quiet hours”) that allows you to turn on and off notifications and create rules for alarms and priority notifications.

Design and Interface

Microsoft returned the Windows UI to flatland with the release of Windows 8. The theme continued with Windows 10, but with more refinements and with a more integrated feel between the modern theme introduced with 8 and Windows explorer. Recent updates have begun to add Windows’ new “Fluent Design” features that add a little more visual spice to the OS. My favorite is “acrylic” which adds a slight transparency and blur to certain windows. It’s a bit like a revival of Aero, but much more subtle and sophisticated. I’m hoping Microsoft will introduce fluent design elements into other parts of the OS- especially Explorer.

If I have any complaints, there still remain some inconsistencies between the “old” Windows (versions 7 and earlier) and the modern interface first introduced with Windows 8. For example, you can perform many of the same maintenance tasks using either the traditional Control Panel or the more contemporary-looking “Settings” dashboard. I can understand why Microsoft has done this- they were burned when they took away the beloved Start button in Windows 8, so they are probably loathe to remove long-used and familiar features.

 

There’s also whole other raft of stuff that I really don’t care about, but some people might find useful. I won’t bother discussing those here…there’s plenty of information about them at other sources.

Overall, I don’t have any major gripes with 10 and the experience has been mostly smooth sailing thus far. I know a lot of readers of this blog are Mac users, but if you are a Windows user who has 10, I’d be curious to learn of your experiences. Has it been trouble-free? A nightmare? Do you feel like you’re marching into a brave new future or do you long for the good ol’ days when Mark Zuckerberg was still in diapers and software came in a box?

Matt Strieby September 8, 2018 OS, windows, Windows 10