Any look I take at the new Windows 10, just released, come through the perspective of a confirmed Linux user – this is being written on a computer with a Linux OS, as have been all our recent books and much more. So when I look at the new Windows screen – like the image above – what hits me is how similar much of it is to my Linux (Mint, Cinnamon) screen. Same overall screen approach; same control bar at the bottom; similar view on pressing the start (on Linux, menu) button, except that we Linux users don’t have that annoying checkerboard imagery. (But because Linux is so customizable, we could create it if we wanted to.) And something else: Microsoft is urging people to upgrade, for free, from earlier editions of Windows, promising “We’ve designed the upgrade to be easy and compatible with the hardware and software you already use.” In the past, the wisdom I’ve always heard was, if you want a new version of the Windows OS, get a new computer, because such upgrades are problematic in Windows. (Not so in Linux, where such system updates are routine.) Has Microsoft made upgrading relatively seamless now? It’d be a big plus for the users if they have.
Share on FacebookFirst take
Published in First Take
