The WinToUSB tool (http://www.easyuefi.com/wintousb/) can create a bootable Windows 10 USB thumb-drive (or hard disk drive, which is much faster). You boot from this drive to lock-in your entitlement w/o actually having to upgrade to Windows 10. (You must use the Windows 10 "1511" update to do this. The earlier Windows 10 version won't activate w/ a Windows 7/8/8.1 product key.)
Create and boot from a Windows 10 thumb-drive and use the "Activate Windows" functionality with your existing Windows 7/8.1 key. This will lock-in that PC's Windows 10 entitlement w/ Microsoft's servers. No changes are made to your existing hard disk drive.
If you're paranoid like me, you can even disconnect your hard disk drive while you perform this procedure to ensure no changes are made.
I validated the "digital entitlement" to install Windows 10 after performing this procedure on a PC. I put a clean hard disk drive in it, installed Windows 10 from scratch, skipped entering the product key during install, and found that the machine was "Activated with a digital entitlement" after installation completed.
I wonder if I'm going to miss out on new games that are DirectX 12 only, which is Windows 10 only. I see on Steam [1] that 43% of people use Windows 10 now. Could this be a problem soon?
So many pros and cons to upgrading, I can't believe I even have to think about this stuff. Very unhappy with Microsoft about it all in all, who usually I don't have a problem with.
Windows 10 is a better experience in my opinion. The search works much better on the machine, they fixed some of the basic tools to manage MS and they have added scaling (which doesn't work well on old winforms apps but it is awesome otherwise).
You're already on windows so the privacy is a big deal anyway, they could just push an update that sends data back to them and make that the default. I mean what's stopping them right? (There may be a legal reason I don't know about.)
Windows 10 allows you to click a bunch of toggles that Microsoft says they are going to respect. If you were on Linux I'd say, ok you don't trust them don't use it, but you are already trusting Microsoft in this regard, so look into what you have to turn off and turn it off.
Cortana is awesome. I actually like using it a lot of times, but that's me and this is 1000% an opinion. I love the voice recognition tools out there.
If you want to stay on windows 7 due to security I'd say take the plunge and go linux. If you aren't upgrading because of the UI, I'd say try it out I really enjoy it. If you want to roll back you can.
If you are going to game in the future or buy a pc in the future you will HAVE to get windows 10. So holding out against windows 10 now but not windows in general just doesn't make sense to me. Eventually windows 7 will stop getting security updates, and you''ll have a really hard time getting anything to run on it. You'll be forced out anyway, and then you'll be paying for it.
Wow that was a REALLY long response, but basically my opinion is upgrade or switch to Linux. Also a lot of game support is moving to Linux so that isn't a terrible option either. I just don't think Win 7 is a long term decision either way.
1) no privacy... not really. Windows (like several other OS' and applications) will, by default, send data to the cloud for processing and collect telemetry data about the user. I really wish they had made it easier to opt out of (and indeed not made the privacy invasive stuff the default) but I wouldn't say that equates to "no privacy". Also with a bit of effort you can turn that stuff off.
2) People calling it malware... well that's a subjective description, not sure I see the basis for it.
3) Ugly flat UI.. Again that's a matter of taste I guess. Personally I quite like Windows 10's new look
4) Nope the windows 8 full start screen is gone in 10 in desktop mode.
> really wish they had made it easier to opt out of (and indeed not made the privacy invasive stuff the default)
Which is it?
You can stop lots of upload by disabling Cortana and other cloud features, but you can't be 100% sure of what data is leaving your system. On other hand with popularity of cloud services and mobile sending all data back home, overall privacy feels like a lost cause.
Win 10 gives substantial performance improvements, new features and also developer experience is so much improved. Most the kinks of UI are sorted out, and it feels much more polished and at home on a laptop.
The controller has a settings app, which is ONLY available through the windows store. This download failed many many times with error codes (why MS uses those when it's not DOS days anymore boggles my mind) which led nowhere useful online. After seriously hours of tinkering with registry settings, powershell to remove and reinstall the Windows store program (not a normal program you can add or remove, but more like a windows "component", like Cortana, which you can't completely remove without breaking the start menu...get ClassicShell and it might work). I finally got it working with a combination of the CCleaner registry repair tool + tweaking.com Windows Repair, using "completely reset Windows store" IIRC.
Why is it that with Linux, you can do the equivalent of swapping the engine while you're driving down the freeway without a hiccup, while in Windows, changing a flat tire requires removing the transmission and trying random screws you find on the side of the road to put it back together?
Terrible experience in all, and in my hours of researching trying to get this stupid thing working, I found that I was very much not alone in my Windows store problems. I would personally never spend money on the Windows store, since it's proven itself to be a huge piece of junk.
- search stopped working after upgrading - twice it has changed my local account to a Microsoft account without my approval (and failed to sync a password change from online) - after upgrading my computer my copy now requires activation and support says I have to buy a copy since my product key was a 7 one before upgrading
I love the new search on win 10. I feel that the windows key is smarter now.
If it did that to me with the product key I'd be pissed. If customer support doesn't fix that I'd consider that a reason to move to linux too. It hasn't happened to me but if it had I'd move.
I can't tell if your serious or sarcastic.
It seems like such a wide open backdoor to continued free upgrades that it almost looks intentional...
To the last, I grapple with thee;
From Hell's heart, I stab at thee;
For hate's sake, I spit my last breath at thee.
But, even though I would probably like a lot of what Windows 10 has to offer, I will never, ever voluntarily upgrade to 10. I'll buy a new laptop with 10 installed, but not upgrade, just because I object to Microsoft's aggressive tactics so much, that I want to make a futile gesture of holding on to my current Windows OS out of sheer irrational spite.
[1] http://www.cnet.com/news/microsoft-pays-woman-10000-over-for...
[2] https://www.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/4mcdon/i_live_i...