Windows 10 Upgrade Report

The Windows 10 Task Manager view

We recently published a post about Windows 10 and the upgrade paths available to users who want to take advantage of the Microsoft's free upgrade which will be open for Genuine Windows users until the 26th of July, 2016. We have had our own Amaechi Ilo finish the upgrade from Windows 7 Professional to Windows 10 Professional on a Dell Latitude E6540 and has the following feedback.

According to Microsoft, users must be running the latest version of Windows 7 SP1 or Windows 8.1 Update in order to upgrade as well as must meet the following hardware specifications

Processor:
1 Gigahertz (GHz) or faster processor or SoC
RAM:
1 gigabyte (GB) for 32-bit or 2 GB for 64-bit
Hard disk space:
16 GB for 32-bit OS 20 GB for 64-bit OS
Graphics card:
DirectX 9 or later with WDDM 1.0 driver
Display:
800x600

My notification for a free upgrade to Windows 10 had been on my Windows 7 Taskbar for more than three weeks. I finally clicked on the icon and followed the prompt to RESERVE MY FREE UPGRADE. Apparently, not all Windows systems will get this prompt at the same time as Microsoft confirmed that they were rolling out the free upgrade offer in stages. Tech savvy users however, have the option of manually starting the upgrade process by taking advantage of the Microsoft Media Creation Tool. This batch upgrade process makes sense as it helps them manage the load on their download servers. Enterprise users would not be able to use this tool.

Windows 10 downloading in Windows Update

As soon as I finish the reservation, Windows Update started downloading the update files for Windows 10. It takes my network connection about 2 days (go figure) to finish the 2.69GB+ download. After the download is done, I get another prompt from the Upgrade manager to start the installation. At this point, Windows Update also has pending updates. After making sure that I have all documents backed up, I start the actual installation. It takes about the same time it takes for a new installation (about 90 minutes) for the installation to complete and for me to log on to my desktop.

Windows 10 Start Menu + Search bar

It has been two weeks since the Upgrade and the only critical thing I have observed is that I do not have the options for Windows update as before. In Windows 7, I could schedule updates to check but let me choose when to download. That option is not longer in Windows 10 as you can now only set Windows update to Automatic download (and install) or turn it off completely. I like to manage my data consumption so this doesn't go well with me. The UX, speed, task management and layout (among others) took the best of Windows 7 while retaining the "Tile" design of Windows 8. 

In all, it is a wonderful blend. Whether or not Microsoft will see this same response form it's diverse users is yet to be seen.

Have you upgraded? Share your experience with us.