There’s a fine line here that Windows10 appearsto be
crossing,becausethe last timeI checked,this was my computer,
not Microsoft’s, and in that respect,I decidewhatgoeson and
whatcomesoff it.
Howeveryou interpret this, clearlyWindows10 is more
paranoidaboutwhatcodeit considersto be acceptableon the
platformthanpriorreleases.And as it evolves,thingsit oncewas
happyto run it suddenlytakesexceptionto. Therefore, it isn’t
somethingyou’dwantto take chanceswithif you’re runninga
missioncriticaltool,giventhat you can’t effectivelycontrol the
upgrades,and the potentialfor subsequentdeletions.
Whateverthe technicalargumentsagainstWindows7, I’ve
neverseenit removemy software withoutany reference,and in
that respectit’s clearlypreferable.
And that bringsus neatlyto the subjectof the new policy
regardingupdates,whichisn’t to everyone’s likingeither.
4.UpdatesYouCanControl
I wouldn’t entirely recommendit, but on Windows7 you can
decidenot to do updates,for whateverreasonyou decide.And
there are occasionallyvery goodreasonsnot to do this. Windows
8 first introducedthe idea that Microsoftwouldlike to change
that control, and in Windows10 the abilityto deferupdates
entirely vaporised.
There are only two optionswithWindows10: receiveupdates
or get none.There is no cherry-pickingthe onesyou’dlike and
ignoringthosethat do undesirablethingsto yoursystem.
This can be a problemfor homeusers,especiallyif they’re
connectedto the internet via a metered connection,but it’s a
completenightmare for businessusers.Whata businessuser doesn’t
wantis an updateto be appliedbefore the companyIT teamhas had
a chanceto evaluateit and for it to do somethingundesirable.
To placatebusinesses,Microsofthas a greaterdegree of control
over updatesin the enterpriserelease,but you only get to delay
themtemporarily. Someupdatesare considered mandatory, so
they’llhaveto be appliedwithina relativelyshorttimescaleeven
if that breaksyourlocalsystems.
IT departmentsthat don’t like this idea havea simplesolution:
stickwithWindows7, where they can defersomeupdates
indefinitelyif they prove to be problematic.
Withoutgeneralacceptancein the businessworld,Windows
10 can’t fully succeed,and giventhe failure of Windows8 to
penetratethat market,this mightbe a policythat Microsoftis
forced to revise in time.But for now, this is a very goodreason
for businessusersto stickwithWindows7, where they have
100%control over updates.5.HardwareCompatibility
This isn’t somethingthat Microsoftis talkingmuchabout,
unsurprisingly, but a significantnumberof oldercomputershave
problemseitherrunningWindows10 or the upgradeprocessto
get you to it.ThosewhofindMicrosoft’s
attitudeto personalprivacy
concerningwon’t be inspired
bya service thatit added
recently calledDiagTrack