Being a long time Windows user and fan (not sure I know why any more though) I of course used the Windows Update Advisor to get the Creators update as soon as it was available. Not that there was any surprises of course. As a Windows Insider I already had it installed on one of my devices and so I knew what it contained. Anyway, since the update now has gone public I thought it was time for another of my rants about Microsoft.
As you can surmise from the post title I am not overly impressed. Sure there is plenty of updates under the hood as well as quite a few visible ones but, from my point of view as a user, Microsoft really did not fix very many of the gripes I have had since Windows 10 made its debut.
However, I should perhaps start with the update itself, the experience of which is why I decided to write this rant.
As usual the update reset a few settings here and there, for instance the display rotation lock. Since this is almost always the case with a major update you have to go through every bloody settings screen to see if something got screwed up.
What really pissed me off though was that, on my Desktop PC, the update completely reset my Start Menu and messed around every single icon on my Desktop. What the fuck Microsoft? How can you shove something like that out the door? I had everything set up like I wanted it and now I had to spend a lot of time redoing all that work. This is the kind or arrogant, fuck the users, attitude that Microsoft has shown way too much of lately. It is the same, actually even worse, with Windows Phone where they have now screwed their user base twice(!) by forcing them to buy new devices if they wanted the latest OS version on their devices.
So, is there at least some worthwhile changes? Well, to me, not that much.
I have written some previous rants about Windows 10 which can be found here and here. As I wrote most of my pet issues are still around. For example:
- Email is not really syncing properly. If I delete an email on one of my devices I usually end up deleting it on the other ones (phone, 2nd tablet etc…) since it takes a really long time before the other devices realize that the email is gone, even when I have everything set to update as the changes come.
- URL’s pinned to the start page still sucks. They almost never gets the right icon or description and there is no way to edit them as there is for the desktop icons. Luckily a 3d party developer created an app that at least works around this problem. Have a look at the Pin More app. It costs 2.99$ but it is well worth it.
- Tile updates are unreliable to say the least.
- Still cannot get custom sounds to work.
- The photos app is still crap.
- Etcetera…
The few changes that I do care about is really things that should have been there from the starts and I almost would call then (bug) fixes rather than new features.
The folders in the start page are nice but it has ben around on Windows 10 Mobile for quite some time so why has it taken so long on Windows 10?
The changes to the update mechanism is not really bringing me much. I would still like to have something simple as a notification when new updates are available and the choice to start download/install or not.
Edge is still not ideal to me. Especially the way it handles shortcuts. And why the hell is swipe left and right disabled by default. Also, to my horror, I have found that Chrome is both faster and works better on most my machines. To bad that there is not a tablet/touch version of Chrome.
The 3D stuff? Couldn’t care less!
The settings are moving around again. Something that are more annoying than an improvement. More settings seems to be available in the new Controls app now but for Christ sake Microsoft, finish this thing instead of making small changes forever.
Gaming mode. Why? Should you not just be able to install a game and play it?
Cortana? Almost never use it. I do NOT want to talk to my devices. Why should I be able to set up monthly reminders in Cortana? That is what the Calendar app is for.
The bottom line is that I got a somewhat painful update experience that in the end gave me very little return value. Seriously Microsoft? After such a long time? Get your act together!
PG's Ramblings 