Windows 10 Part 2

Blah.

And Blah again.

Microsoft has utterly destroyed the desktop PC experience with Windows 10. It had mutilated it with Windows 8 and now it has completely screwed it up.

They also kind of lied. Early indications were Solitaire would be back, and free, without signing into an Xbox account.

That was the case for a day.

Over the weekend, I went back to look at Solitaire and there was a little Xbox symbol over it. To try to play, it wants me to create an Xbox account. I can play as  "guest" (with ads) or I can pay $10 a year to play something that used to be for free. Here's a nice story detailing the Solitaire problem, as well as what privacy users see as a major fault in the program.

You know what? I can go to shockwave.com or games.com, where I already have accounts, and play solitaire without having to sign into an Xbox account that I don't want.

I think the big change with Windows 10 is that nothing, I mean nothing, is free now. You'll pay for the OS when you buy a computer, and then it'll probably want a subscription to keep you up-to-date.

They want you to pay $100 a year to use Office 365. Subscribe, subscribe, subscribe. Use the cloud, subscribe.

Screw that. Really? But I know millions of people and businesses will accept this new "licensing" purchase model, and that will be that. The rest of us will either have to go along or . . . maybe buy a MAC.

Because that is now my plan. To switch to a MAC the next time I need a computer, even if they do cost 5x more than a PC.

Don't get me wrong. This is still an improvement  over Windows 8. But it's a backwards move from Windows 7. It's a move that takes the PC environment and tries to turn it into a smartphone.

My desktop isn't a smartphone.

There are people who like it, to be sure. It seems to work well on newer Surface devices, from what I've read. I have a first generation Surface and apparently it isn't going to update to Windows 10, at least, not yet. Maybe at some point. I don't use it much because I don't like Windows 8, and was surprised recently to turn the thing on and find it had updated itself to Windows 8.1.

It is early days yet, and I keep getting downloads. Maybe Windows 10 will improve over time. Maybe this morning I'm simply irked at Dell, which keeps telling me in a pop up message that now that I've installed Windows 10, the only way I can do a back up and restore disc is to pay them money for something else. But sorry, guys, I am not putting out more dough. If I have to restore this thing to the initial Windows 8.1 that came on it when I bought it two weeks ago, then so be it. But you will be getting a word or two from me soon about this, if nothing else so I can find out how to disable your stupid messages.

I wait to see what others says about Windows 10 over the next few months. Maybe in a few weeks, I won't hate it, either. Maybe by then I'll have worked out the kinks and figured out my concerns and rid myself of the irritations.

But for now, I wish I had Windows 7 back on a desktop.

And by the way, I might be in the market for an old MAC notebook, just so I can familiarize myself with the product. I've never used them, not even an iPad, so if you know of anyone selling, let me know.