ITS Recommendation for Windows 10

Microsoft released Windows 10 on July 29th, 2015 and is offering the operating system as a free upgrade to eligible Windows 7 and 8.1 installations for one year.

ITS Recommendation

Information Technology Services (ITS) will support personally-owned Windows 10 devices on our network and with supported College software.  ITS strongly recommends that College community members thinking of upgrading to Windows 10 adopt a “wait and see” approach, continuing to use earlier supported versions of Windows (Windows 7 Service Pack 1 and Windows 8.1) until the initial bugs and compatibility issues in Windows 10 are identified and fixed.

At this point there are no plans to replace Windows 7 as the officially supported operating system on campus.   This stance may change in the future, but not before the summer of 2016. Please do not upgrade any College-owned hardware to Windows 10 without first consulting with ITS.

What is New in Windows 10

Windows 10 is the new Microsoft platform not just on computers but also on Windows Phones and Surface tablets.   Windows 10 can intelligently switch between keyboard and tablet mode if you have a tablet or touchscreen-enabled device.

Windows 10 re-introduces the Start Menu in a way that combines the different approaches of Windows 7 and Windows 8.1.    The Windows 8.1 Charms Bar (swipe in from the right-side of the screen) has been replaced and its functions moved to the Action Center in the taskbar at the lower right of your screen.

Microsoft Edge is a new streamlined web browser that allows more integration with the operating system in the form of annotation, reading lists, and voice commands, similar to phone web browsers.

There is less of a learning curve migrating from Windows 7 to Windows 10 than there was with the release of Windows 8 in 2012.

Compatibility at Swarthmore

Windows 10 will be available in seven versions.   All seven versions will be supported on Swarthmore’s network.

Most College applications function as expected in Windows 10 running on current PC hardware, including SwatNet, College printers, and Swatmail.  Notable software and services that are not currently supported include Stata 13, ArcGIS 10.3.1, and Cinderella.

For more information, visit Microsoft’s Windows 10 webpage

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows