Windows 10 - my 2 cents 6th July 2020
I am a 60 yo IT support guy working in a University. I've been working with Windows since, well, even before Windows back to the latest, greatest DOS 5.0 (remember HIMEM.SYS memory management – what a breakthrough, UMA and HMA, together at last) and monochrome screen days. I have working with W10 since the 1507 release 5 years ago.
W10 gets a lot of grief on forums, and some of it is justified and some is not. Personally I've decided it's not for me as a core OS. I run Linux Mint as a base with W10 LTSC in a VBox for ADS management. Active Directory Services is really the only reason I need to run Windows at all. All other functions like RDP, drive mapping etc., work fine in Linux.
I can say in W10's favour:
It's simple and quick to install, we always clean install an Enterprise version in place of what comes with the machine. People forget how tedious it was to install Windows XP.
It has excellent accessibility features, disadvantaged users can be up and working in no time flat.
Students seem to like it. They are generally competent users and appear mostly unperturbed by the push notifications and constant updates. We use domain GP to control this but there’s always something from somewhere (usually MS) that pops up when you’re least interested.
It is universally recognisable and usable to students from just about anywhere, they usually know how to adjust the language settings.
Easy connectivity, especially compared to W7. Just make sure you’ve got an Ethernet port and cable handy if it updates a laptop. (A wired mouse is useful too, as touchpads are a common failure on updates).
My dissatisfaction stems from:
Advertising, ie: app notifications, entirely unprofessional and seriously garbage. I know how to switch them off but lots of people don’t and I get service calls about it.
Loss of control of my computer, with telemetry, unwanted apps and resetting my defaults.
Can't clone a profile without getting into DISM and all its tedious minutia, fine for 3000 corporate PCs but difficult if you're using a widely varied fleet for multiple user groups and multiple purposes.
Start Menu. Install a full suite of Labview and/or ANSYS and see what happens to your Start Menu then (Hint: every single .exe).
New days, new systems
Bottom line is 'Get with the program or get Linux'
I am a 60 yo IT support guy working in a University. I've been working with Windows since, well, even before Windows back to the latest, greatest DOS 5.0 (remember HIMEM.SYS memory management – what a breakthrough, UMA and HMA, together at last) and monochrome screen days. I have working with W10 since the 1507 release 5 years ago.
W10 gets a lot of grief on forums, and some of it is justified and some is not. Personally I've decided it's not for me as a core OS. I run Linux Mint as a base with W10 LTSC in a VBox for ADS management. Active Directory Services is really the only reason I need to run Windows at all. All other functions like RDP, drive mapping etc., work fine in Linux.
I can say in W10's favour:
It's simple and quick to install, we always clean install an Enterprise version in place of what comes with the machine. People forget how tedious it was to install Windows XP.
It has excellent accessibility features, disadvantaged users can be up and working in no time flat.
Students seem to like it. They are generally competent users and appear mostly unperturbed by the push notifications and constant updates. We use domain GP to control this but there’s always something from somewhere (usually MS) that pops up when you’re least interested.
It is universally recognisable and usable to students from just about anywhere, they usually know how to adjust the language settings.
Easy connectivity, especially compared to W7. Just make sure you’ve got an Ethernet port and cable handy if it updates a laptop. (A wired mouse is useful too, as touchpads are a common failure on updates).
My dissatisfaction stems from:
Advertising, ie: app notifications, entirely unprofessional and seriously garbage. I know how to switch them off but lots of people don’t and I get service calls about it.
Loss of control of my computer, with telemetry, unwanted apps and resetting my defaults.
Can't clone a profile without getting into DISM and all its tedious minutia, fine for 3000 corporate PCs but difficult if you're using a widely varied fleet for multiple user groups and multiple purposes.
Start Menu. Install a full suite of Labview and/or ANSYS and see what happens to your Start Menu then (Hint: every single .exe).
New days, new systems
Bottom line is 'Get with the program or get Linux'