The Windows 10 Review: The Old & New Face of Windows
by Brett Howse on August 25, 2015 8:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Operating Systems
- Microsoft
- Windows 10
OneDrive
OneDrive is Microsoft’s cloud storage for consumers, and it of course is built into Windows 10. For free, it comes with 15 GB of storage, and there are a couple of paid tiers to increase that storage. If you purchase Office 365, as a bonus you get unlimited OneDrive storage (right now it just shows 10 TB but it's increasing over time) so if you do need space in the cloud consider that.
OneDrive has changed dramatically from the Windows 8.1 implementation, and not necessarily for the better. In Windows 8.1, going through the Windows Explorer view you could see all of your files in OneDrive whether they were synced to your PC or not. Opening a file which was not on your PC would initiate a download of it, and then the file would open and stay synced on your computer. If you wanted to free up some space, you could just right click a file or folder and choose “Make available online only” and it would remove the local copy.
OneDrive in Windows 8.1 showing "Online-Only" Placeholders
This was an incredibly simple way to access a huge amount of online storage without having to have it copied to your PC first. However, for Windows 10, that feature is gone, and we have a reversion to the Windows 7 style of sync client.
In Windows 10, OneDrive is installed by default, and out of the box it does not sync any files or folders from OneDrive. If you don’t interact with it, you will get a pop-up asking you what files or folders you want to sync on this PC. You can drill down to subfolders just like in Windows 7 and just keep those synced, but compared to Windows 8.1 this is a major downgrade. Once you get used to being able to see all of your folders, it makes it really easy to save files and access them later. According to Microsoft, this was too complicated for end users though, and people would see the placeholder files for their online data and assume it was on their computer. Then they would go somewhere with no internet access, and they would have no access to their data which they thought was on their computer. I can kind of get that argument, but regardless the solution we have in Windows 10 is a huge step back in terms of functionality.
OneDrive Sync Client in Windows 10
With the huge amount of storage you can get in OneDrive now, and the relatively small amount of local storage available on SSDs, the placeholder system in Windows 8.1 was really nice.
In the Windows 10 sync client, you get all of the options you would expect. You can set where your OneDrive folder is stored on your PC, choose which folders to sync, and enable things like automatically copy photos to OneDrive when a camera is connected.
There are also a couple of other features which have come to OneDrive lately. You can now (finally) sync folders that other people have shared with you, although the method to do so and the end result is kind of complicated. In OneDrive on the web, you can now “Add this folder to your OneDrive” which will add the folder within your own OneDrive, and there the files will be synced as you want based on your settings. It’s a kind of clunky solution, and I’m not sure why they didn’t just add a “Shared” folder in the OneDrive shell. Also, I’m not sure if this will cut into your own storage, and since this feature is rolling out to users now, I don’t have access yet to test it.
You can also set OneDrive to let you "Fetch" files off of your computer through the OneDrive web client. This feature is one that was part of older Microsoft tools, and those tools have been phased out in favor of SkyDrive/OneDrive, and Microsoft is bringing their feature sets to OneDrive.
With that out of the way, Windows 10 does have some functionality for OneDrive which did not exist on Windows 8.1, and it is very handy. From within the Windows Explorer shell, you can now share a file directly from OneDrive by simply right clicking the file and choosing “Share a OneDrive link”. This was only available on the web before, and being able to create a web link for a file from within Windows Explorer is much more convenient.
It seems like I’ve been harsh on OneDrive, and I have, because Microsoft offers some of the most competitive priced online storage, and then they make it difficult to use. The Windows 8.1 solution was much nicer for many people, but perhaps with the changes to allow unlimited storage for Office 365, the placeholders would themselves take up too much space and be too much work to sync. Regardless, I’m hoping this gets improved over time.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
293 Comments
View All Comments
boeush - Thursday, August 27, 2015 - link
When had MS *ever* released a new product version (whether OS or not) that wasn't half-baked? This is SOP for MS. The rule of thumb with MS products has always been, and continues to be: unless you want to bleed on the bleeding edge, wait for SP1 before installing.Fiernaq - Wednesday, August 26, 2015 - link
The ability to scroll inactive windows is awesome. I currently use a third party tool to gain that functionality called X Mouse Button Control. There's one other feature I use that program for, though, and if that feature is also included in Windows 10 then I can finally drop that program (as nice as it is) from my list of "install this on every computer I ever use" apps. That other feature is desktop icon placement saving/loading with keyboard shortcut. Does anyone know if this feature has made it into Windows 10 yet?thekdub - Wednesday, August 26, 2015 - link
I like it. I upgraded from Win 7 Ultimate on a 5 y/o HP laptop as a sort of test platform before making the jump on my gaming desktop that currently has 8.1 Pro installed. No issues with the upgrade, definitely a lot easier than reinstalling Win 7 on a new SSD which was an absolute nightmare. Boot time is actually faster on the laptop, and it feels quicker overall despite having mostly older/slower hardware (though it does have a technically faster 850 EVO vs the 840 EVO in the desktop). I barely had any driver issues with the upgrade despite the outdated hardware, and even the otherwise terrible Radeon mobile drivers work like a charm without having to resort to Leshcat drivers. The UI looks cleaner and it's a pretty easy transition from 7 as far as usability. Most things are where you'd expect them to be and it's not hard to figure out the rest.I did end up installing Classic Shell as I still prefer how it organizes the start menu, although I do really like the ability to add and customize live tiles with the new start menu (however, they do take up more space than I'd like and it's quite ugly when you only have 3-4 tiles). I also had to use Classic Shell to match the color of my start menu and taskbar to my desktop, as the default options end up being pretty ugly outside of grey or black.
With that being said, I'll wait till DX12 rolls out before I upgrade my desktop. I've been pretty happy with 8.1 once I installed Classic Shell and until games start using DX12 I see no real reason to upgrade right now. I anticipate the transition will be even easier with hardware that actually has Win 10 drivers available.
mrbofus - Wednesday, August 26, 2015 - link
"With this release, the system now supports pen input for any text field. Let me say this again. Any text field now supports pen input."Wow, I would have assumed this was the case back with Windows 7, or at least 8. Crazy.
mrbofus - Wednesday, August 26, 2015 - link
Great write-up, Brett! I love all the topics you cover in-depth! Excellent work.HerveS94 - Wednesday, August 26, 2015 - link
edge has so much potential, but so it has a long way to go before it takes over google chrome in terms of features etc.Ratman6161 - Wednesday, August 26, 2015 - link
Well its very sad that this turned into an I hate Microsoft rant/pissing contest practically with the first comment. What a waste of time. Windows 10 is not mandatory for anybody so if you don't like it and don't want it, then don't use it. Stick with whatever version you have if you want to or go download your favorite Linux distro if you don't want to use Windows at all.Or if you want to talk about it, please try to have an intelligent discussion. This is rapidly turning into the sort of mutual flame war that inevitably causes me to give up on web sites...or at least disregard their comments section.
Oxford Guy - Wednesday, August 26, 2015 - link
"If you don't like Stalin killing people then don't live in Russia!""If you don't like people running over grandmothers for fun with their cars then move out of that neighborhood!"
"And, no one needs to use Windows once Windows 7 is no longer updated with security updates rather than hidden telemetry."
dmacfour - Friday, August 28, 2015 - link
What an idiotic comparison.Nobody chooses to live in a authoritarian nation. You can't just opt out of it and choose a new country.
Windows is a product that you choose to buy. They are legally mandated to serve you or your best interests. If you don't like it, use a competitor's OS, it's as simple as that.
mrbofus - Wednesday, August 26, 2015 - link
"they are also scalable and can work on small phones, all the way up to large desktop devices, with different layouts depending on"On the "Mail, Calendar, and People" page, the last sentence of the second paragraph just cuts off mid-sentence.