I prefer the Windows 8.1 start screen over classic shell. Much faster to use. Â As for 10’s so call privacy and security issues – they are media created. Â The OS is no better or worse than Android/iOS/OSX – and the data are no more revealing about your computer use, than what your car workshop can figure out about your car use, from inspecting the drive computer data. I.e. system health checks.
10 has legitimate concerns, such as compliance issues: data for certain functions gets sent to Microsoft’s servers, parsed, then sent back – Cortana, for example. Regulations in several industries would require these to be disabled to stay in compliance. The average user is likely OK, or at least no worse off from the data-mining that has become almost ubiquitous, but health and other industries with sensitive information need to understand how these services use their data before implementing them.
I admit that most of my aversion to 8.1’s UI is resistance to change though. 7 is my favorite as it is the easiest for me to use.
In an enterprise setting, the company has every opportunity to disable Cortana or other services that interact with central servers. It’s a non-issue, IMO.
This looks suspiciously like Windows 10!
Or 2012
8.1
🙂
8.1 is pretty good, and installing ClassicShell gives it a familiar ui. 10 still has me concerned with the privacy and security issues, among others.
I prefer the Windows 8.1 start screen over classic shell. Much faster to use. Â As for 10’s so call privacy and security issues – they are media created. Â The OS is no better or worse than Android/iOS/OSX – and the data are no more revealing about your computer use, than what your car workshop can figure out about your car use, from inspecting the drive computer data. I.e. system health checks.
10 has legitimate concerns, such as compliance issues: data for certain functions gets sent to Microsoft’s servers, parsed, then sent back – Cortana, for example. Regulations in several industries would require these to be disabled to stay in compliance. The average user is likely OK, or at least no worse off from the data-mining that has become almost ubiquitous, but health and other industries with sensitive information need to understand how these services use their data before implementing them.
I admit that most of my aversion to 8.1’s UI is resistance to change though. 7 is my favorite as it is the easiest for me to use.
In an enterprise setting, the company has every opportunity to disable Cortana or other services that interact with central servers. It’s a non-issue, IMO.