I am so happy to see those nag messages disappear from my computer, you know the ones reminding you that your period of time to upgrade to Windows 10 will expire on July 31?   Now that we are in August one less thing popping up that bothers me.

The question being do I upgrade or not?  And friends and family who look to me for advice on such issues want to know what I am doing and why.  Intuitively I felt that upgrading was unwise likely do to past experiences with O/S upgrades and backward compatibility of existing hardware and external devices.

For example, I own an older Nikon digital camera, Coolpix 995, which is a newer version of my first digital camera, a Coolpix 990.  Getting software that works for this camera for versions of Windows newer than XP has currently been a challenge.  Driver’s are not available for Windows Vista, 7 and definitely not for Window’s 10.  So such is likely for any devices I currently own.

Also, I like to buy used equipment at bargain prices.  I have learned through my own experience that electronic equipment has a short shelf life and prices drop quickly as newer versions of equipment enter the market.  By creating obsolescence in software, hardware becomes prematurely unusable due to compatibility issues.  When this occurs the current solution is usually to discard the item and buy a new replacement.

Another thing besides compatibility and premature obsolescence is extra work and other unknown issues which will inevitably arise from the upgrade.  I have an ‘Elitebook’ HP 8530 W laptop computer with Window’s 7 for my business and personal use, which I purchased for a bargain on Ebay.  I have spent a lot of time setting it up to work properly, I have no need to upgrade the software.

Let someone else figure it all out, then maybe in a couple of years I will buy a more powerful model at a lower price with Windows 10 or the current version already installed.   So I did not upgrade, and I am okay with that.