Microsoft started sending upgrade notices to millions of people on Wednesday. You may see the above notice on your computer at any time, notifying you that you can upgrade to Windows 10 for free. Microsoft is single-handedly straining the content delivery networks that handle the world’s Internet traffic, delivering as much as 40Tb/second as it streams out the Windows 10 upgrade files, far more than any previous web event, according to one source.
There’s a lot to say about Windows 10. We’ll talk about it quite a bit in the next few months. For now, I want to quote selectively from a few prominent reviews of Windows 10 published on Wednesday. See if you can find the hidden theme in the sentences I’ve chosen to quote.
Paul Thurrott / Thurrott.com: “You do have a full year to perform this upgrade. Just wait a month or so and see how it goes for the guinea pigs. Then, you can jump in with both feet, assured that the process has been adequately tested by more than just Windows Insiders.”
David Pogue / Yahoo Tech: “You really are going to love Windows 10. You’ll almost certainly want to upgrade your computers to it, especially since it’s free. But you might not want to do that tomorrow. I’d suggest you wait six weeks.”
Walt Mossberg / Recode: “I advise would-be upgraders who aren’t enthusiasts to wait to upgrade at least for a few months, until the product is more stable and reliable.”
Tom Warren / The Verge: “It’s easy to recommend Windows 10 as an upgrade for anyone on Windows 7 and Windows 8, but maybe not just yet. "Wait for service pack 1" has always been the default advice for new versions and Windows, and it absolutely applies here.”
David Pierce / Wired: “You should upgrade to Windows 10. Maybe wait a couple of weeks for the biggest bugs to be squashed, but do it.”
Brian Chen / New York Times: “Combine the early bugs with the spottiness of Cortana and the fact that third-party app developers are still updating their Windows apps for Windows 10, and the operating system still has a little ways to go before it becomes a solid all-around upgrade.”
Peter Bright / Ars Technica: “Windows 10 is without a doubt better, and with each passing month it’s going to stretch that lead and become better still. But I’d also wait a few weeks, maybe even a couple of months, before making the move.”
Mary Jo Foley / All About Microsoft: “Windows 10 begins rolling out on July 29. To me, this is a soft-launch, as the OS still is lacking some of the functionality and apps that are needed to make it feel "done."”
There are literally hundreds of Windows 10 reviews today that describe the new operating system. All of the above links are worth clicking to read rundowns of the new features that will help you decide if the upgrade will be worth it.
But if you use your Windows computer to get work done, my advice still stands:
Do not – do NOT – upgrade your computer to Windows 10 for at least 30-60 days after it launches.
