Hmm... Overall I think Win8(.1 update 1) is better than Win10.

BunnyJ said:

Huh?? Wow.. the masses buy the products and make up the majority and usually they get what they want.

Those who shout the loudest aren't always those that are right.

Win8 made more sense on touch-screen devices. To use Win8 on touch-screen was to really 'get it'. But touch-screen on regular laptops will add to the price significantly. And as netbooks, undercooked smartphones and tablets have shown us, people will tolerate poor performance if they didn't pay a lot for the device. Only if you have high brand name such as Apple, will people pay more for better.

Win 8 wasn't hard to use on keyboard and mouse. If one wanted, you could pretty much ignore all those live tile modern apps and continue using Windows 8 in desktop mode, which itself had a number of improvements over Windows 7 (copy dialouge window, mount iso's and native pdf reading without needing adobe reader). But they complained how it was too different, so Win8.1, and then 8.1 update 1 after it, took multiple back-steps to accomodate more familliar menu interfaces for keyboard and mouse users.

Now, with Windows 10, we see a desktop mode more geared towards keyboard and mouse, and a ''tablet mode'' which doesn't run anywhere near as smooth as windows 8 did with touch-screen gestures. For me, tablet mode keeps having glitchy problems with it, to the point where I just never use it at all.

Looey said:

Windows 10 has moved some items from the Control Panel to settings. I don't see a reason for that other than for smart phones and tablets maybe. I think it will confuse a lot of people. Why they changed "personalize" on the desktop doesn't make any sense. Microsoft will hear complaints galore when people try to customize Windows 10 for the first time. For example, you have to know to click on themes and then desktop icon settings to make changes. I think Microsoft has added extra steps that didn't need to be there. They took something simple and complicated it.

Let see, you like the Control Panel, I like the Settings. . .:)

Win8.1 has the highest user satisfaction rate of any Windows version ....... among touch users. I forget what the percentage falls to for desktop users.
There should be a poll.

I fall into the Win8 is Great ... Win10 Redstone is When pigeon hole for most of the reasons already stated by people who, at this time, prefer Win8.1

Edwin and a few other members have installed the 10.0.135 leaked version and have initially raved about it - so the jury is still out.

Slartybart said:

I fall into the Win8 is Great ... Win10 Redstone is When pigeon hole for most of the reasons already stated by people who, at this time, prefer Win8.1

Edwin and a few other members have installed the 10.0.135 leaked version and have initially raved about it - so the jury is still out.

I'm guessing 'redstone' is Build 10130, or another recent build which seemed to take a few step-backs from earlier Win10 Tech Preview Builds? Do we have an estimated time of arrival for 10.0.135 on the fast ring? I'm not writing-off Win10 entirely, but it's surprising how much smoother overall Win8.1 feels for me right now, now that I've gone back to it.

ksdixon said:

I'm guessing 'redstone' is Build 10130, or another recent build which seemed to take a few step-backs from earlier Win10 Tech Preview Builds? Do we have an estimated time of arrival for 10.0.135 on the fast ring? I'm not writing-off Win10 entirely, but it's surprising how much smoother overall Win8.1 feels for me right now, now that I've gone back to it.

Sorry, I should explain things better when I use MS code names

There are two release planned for 2016 - both code named Redstone Spring (q1) and Fall (Q3). All Windows releases are really hardened after the first major update (Win 7 SP1, Win8.1 Update 1).

I'll keep playing with the TP, but will wait until the Spring to upgrade my machine. We have a full year to take advantage of the Free update offer - I spent too much of my life on the bleeding edge - I'll wait until Win10 matures.

The next drop will probably be 136, not 135 - no idea when though. There were just 3 WU today, so who knows ... if the telemetry is good, Friday might be the day.

strollin said:

Are you serious? I didn't say it wasn't profitable to go with the masses but overall the masses don't have a good reputation for choosing wisely.

I guess all of those of us that are considered part of the masses just have no idea how to use our computers. . .darn and here I thought I was doing fairly well. . .again. . .learned something new. . .:)

Thanks for the review, its a good read, i've just installed win 10 ,so going to be interesting to see how it compares to win 8.1, i'm liking it so far i think its a big improvement on win8.1