DaCostaBR: I figured I would do it while it's free but wait for the last possible minute, hoping that by then all the kinks had been worked out. With Directx 12 it would eventually be preferable or even required for the AAA new releases to have Windows 10.
That's more or less what I did going from Windows XP to Windows 7 and it served me well.
DaCostaBR: The thing is: I really don't want to upgrade. Everything I hear about it just makes it sound worse and worse, such as all the current and older games with performance problems on it, and the constant spying it does on your PC that you can kinda disable but not really. I think I'll have to do it soon, better than delaying the inevitable and having to pay for it and it probably won't be cheap.
Don't upgrade if you don't want to of course. Examine other options and try to find something that you're more comfortable with. It may require making some compromises to do so however. Some people are comfortable with such compromises and willing to give up on certain conveniences etc. while others are not. It's really an individual thing to figure out in the end.
As an aside though, it's important to note that Microsoft backported a lot of the spyware you speak of (telemetry gathering) to Windows 7 and 8.x as silent upgrades. If you're using Windows 7 or 8.x currently and were unaware of this then they're already spying on you with those updates. If that is the case, google for "how to remove Windows 7 telemetry updates", there are lots of articles out there.
DaCostaBR: Do you ever intend to upgrade to Windows 10?
I've decided quite a while ago that I will never upgrade to Windows 10. It's not based on intention though, but rather based on a concrete decision I've already made.
DaCostaBR: I know the audience here, you'll probably say no.
Actually you might be surprised but in reality the majority of all Windows users, gamers included will upgrade to Windows 10 at some point in time or another. It might be within the year of free upgrade time frame, during their next brand new PC purchase or build, or their next major hardware upgrade, or perhaps even at the last second before Windows 7 goes end-of-life and no longer receives security updates.
Some people will even continue to run Windows 7 without security updates for months/years after it is no longer supported much like people still run Windows XP that way.
Whatever people do in the short term though, lets face it - the majority of Windows uses including Windows gamers are locked via vendor-lockin to the platform. Most people are strongly tied to Windows due to computing habits, software compatibility, hardware compatibility, their job or other factors where they simply need Windows around, or they greatly desire certain conveniences it has to offer that they either can't find alternatives for, or they just can't and wont do without. Most people despite how they feel about Windows 10 right now, spyware or not - will switch to Windows 10 eventually because Microsoft has everyone by the balls.
Right now Direct X 12 is pretty much a non-threat that nobody needs to really care about at the moment, and it will continue to be that way for quite a long time as long as the number of systems out there running older releases of Windows is still high enough that game companies don't want to discard a massive percentage of their potential market. I'd say it will be at least 2 or more years before there are any significant numbers of Direct X 12 only games out there, and I'll speculate that while Direct X 12 will get utilized more in the short term, I believe that Vulkan will end up being more widely adopted in the mid to long term and stands a good chance to break Microsoft's proprietary API vendor-lockin tactic.
Microsoft has stated they aren't going to put out updates for Windows 7/8.x to support new CPU architecture releases like Skylake for example. Anyone buying a Skylake or newer processor in the future has to make a decision of whether they want to use Windows 10 or to abandon Windows and use Linux or Mac instead more or less. Similar hardware issues will arise with other hardware also as Microsoft does the bare minimum if anything for new hardware on older versions of Windows.
Everyone saying they do not want Windows 10 or will not use Windows 10 ever will slowly feel the Darth Vader grip of Windows 10 choke holding them around the neck as they hear the sound of the clock ticking ever louder. They'll either cave in for games, for work, for compatibility, for a new CPU that doesn't work in older Windows or some other reason because that's the way Microsoft has designed it, to put a choke hold on people and move them quickly en-masse to Windows 10, and drag the remaining people kicking and screaming over the next 12/24/48 months or whatever, and judging from the adoption growth so far they're being successful at it.
Out of 5 friends of mine for example who made very bold anti-Windows 10 claims to date, 2 of them have realized at least one major thing they would miss out on (such as Skylake) and have already announced they're probably going to go with Windows 10. Most people's angst against it is arguably just at least in their own minds (mine is), but they will also cave in rather quickly at the first sign of major inconvenience or problem that arises.
I predict that the number of people who are truly steadfast in their decision to never switch to Windows 10 are very small, as it will be a tough problem to avoid doing so for most people unless they're truly willing to give up a lot of things. That is my prediction.
What I've said may have some people wondering what makes me so sure that I wont eventually cave in and make the switch also then. Let's just say I'm an incredibly stubborn propeller head who is willing to give up certain conveniences and other things more so than the average person, and while I do not currently game in Linux - I am more than comfortable with Linux for 22 years now and more and more of my computing that is done in Windows currently will be moving to Linux or moving back to Linux over the next 4 years. I've got other plans for handling specific issues with other software etc. that should more than meet my personal needs but which would probably not go over well with the majority of consumers out there.
DaCostaBR: After all a lot of you are still using Windows XP. I guess I just want someone to reassure me either that Windows 10 is not so bad, or that I'll be perfectly fine never upgrading.
"a lot" is relative of course, but there are already way more Windows 10 users out there than those remaining still using XP. If you're a stubborn gearhead such as myself you may be able to avoid Windows 10 completely and seek greener pastures elsewhere as well, but otherwise most likely you'll end up either forced or feeling like you're forced to upgrade to Windows 10 and probably will make the change at some point in time once the "cons" of not upgrading start to add up in problems that outweigh the cons of things you may not care for about Windows 10.
In 2 years, people like me will have to hide underground to stay clear of the Windows 10 army out there. I can hear them mounting their horses already. I'm mounting my penguin however. :)
