Gaurav wrote: 1. End of Microsoft support means nothing. Security patches ending won't cause your PC to get hacked unless you run unknown apps from untrusted sources. It's just a tactic that Microsoft uses to scare everyone. In fact I am willing to take that 1 in a billion chance that my PC will get hacked because of a security vulnerability. That is lesser of the two evils, the one option being extorted by Microsoft perpetually with ridiculous changes that you can't say no to. Microsoft will bleed you dry without offering any additional value, and while secretly eliminating what you paid for.
I agree, and it feeds into point 3) actually. All the systems I manage have automatic updates turned off. Win10 does require that the IT admin really _manage_ the systems. Automatic, userland stuff just won't cut it. Once you do this though and patch regularly using either WSUS or a third party product like WSUS Offline, things are about as covered as they can reasonably be.
To be fair though, up until probably Win8 or the early 8.1 period we were allowed to be lazy (admins) because the quality of MS patches was, with a few exceptions, pretty high. Things changed however and now you can't rely upon the downloaded patches to not break your business. Its an admins worst nightmare actually. So, for mine, I no longer allow _any_ systems to automatically patch up.
Instead, I rely more upon perimeter defence and internal software controls to keep out zero day exploits ... zero day problems being things you can't guard against with patching in any event.
However, its a game you can't ultimately win to try and continue to run systems that are not manufacturer supported. For a while it all seems fine, but try and run Vista on a new system today ... its not always easy. The longer the older system remains unsupported the worse things get. Note, I understand that this is not an OS structural thing, but 'unsupported' triggers third party manufacturers to no longer test against or support the older systems. Third party support contracts against business applications often won't be entertained unless you are also running a 'supported' base OS.
Of course, in the home use realm, none of the above is important. You could quite happily run win7 for many many years.
Gaurav wrote: 2. The driver model hasn't changed between Windows 8.1 and Windows 10 so it will be possible to run Windows 8.1 for a very, very, very long time. Even NVMe SSDs have native drivers in Windows 8.1. USB 3.1 - yep. Bluetooth Low Energy. Yep 8.1 supports. Miracast? Yep. There hasn't been any hardware technology evolution or revolution big enough to require the dreadful abomination called Windows 10.
Sure. Win10 is really Win8.2 with a heap of bolt ons.
Gaurav wrote: 3. No amount of Registry tweaking, configuring and tuning can fix the awfulness of updates in Windows 10.
It can, but its not trivial. Home users with moderate knowledge will never get there, so, your point is well taken. I can't have random driver and other changes, let alone entire OS upgrades under the guise of an 'update' happening willy nilly in my business fleet. Its just laughably dangerous.
Gaurav wrote: 4. UI inconsistences have increased 100 times more in Windows 10 vs 8.1. Settings and notification area shit is all over the place.
Sure. I concede that point. Its generally stuff that my end-users don't interact with, but sure, initially it all drove me nuts. Again, with significant tweaking, a lot of the silliness can be circumvented and Win8 or even Win7 functionality returned. I use, for example, the network flyout from Win8.1 on my Win10 systems. Its makes a lot more sense for VPN use than the rather foolish way Win10 wants to do it oob. Metro interaction is pretty limited, really only to the occasional forced use of the "PC Settings" thing. Mostly, the old Control Panel methods still work and can be presented either via CS or other ways.
Gaurav wrote: 5. Windows 8.1 is the fastest out of Vista, 7, 8.1 and 10 in my benchmarks. Also besides synthetic performance, Windows 10 has real-world UI sluggishness issues due to use of managed code in the UI/graphical shell. Plus, it is unstable and breaks on its own. It also has loads of unnecessary crap which cannot be uninstalled, fully disabled and continues to take loads of memory. It also comes back when you do updates.
I've not seen this. Benchmarks for me are coming out so close to each other that theres nothing in it. Also, memory usage between the two is really similar, falling in Win10's favour once the 'junk' is stripped out via an SOE script (removal of modern apps, pulling various levers via the registry). New patched desktops here are utilising about 0.7GB before Office/AV or other apps are installed.
Gaurav wrote: Windows 10 has severely regressed in several core areas:
1. Updates (or the way the OS is serviced) which affects user productivity and long-term stability and desired configuration
Yep, sure. no argument from me. It can be mitigated, but thats beside the point - it shouldn't have been released (and continue to be maintained) in this fashion.
Gaurav wrote: 2. User interface which has pathetic usability. The entire UWP/Metro UI control stack should be canceled and something better based on modified Win32 controls for touch should be built. Making the controls usable still won't fix their awful design of most apps though
Again, my users, and myself, aren't subjected to the whole metro thing so to a large degree I can't comment. Metro apps are either uninstalled or hidden (thanks CS!) with only a few exceptions.
Gaurav wrote: 3. Poor performance due to use of managed code in the OS unlike fast, low footprint native code (C++)
No comment. I just don't know. With Metro essentially gone in our installations, its presenting visually very much like Win7 but with significant speed improvements and some of the 8.1 niggles taken care of.
Gaurav wrote: I think those who say Windows 10 is actually better than 8.1 or 7 don't have a complete understanding of operating systems and therefore cannot see just how bad it is. They have no idea of the crap they are accepting. What can I say - ignorance is bliss. 
I would have agreed back at release. In fact, we didn't roll out Win10 until a year later, and even then, there were enough problems to make us wary. However, in a managed environment with a proper SOE application, its presenting to our users in a way that they are more than happy with, and ultimately, its not about admins or programmers, its about end users. If it was a bear to use, they would complain, and they are not, they are happy - but its taken a significant amount of scripting and tweaking to get there.
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