Microsoft Windows 10

There's a good chance you've noticed that Microsoft has released Windows 10 recently. Of course, the American company would like nothing more than for you to update your older version of Windows to their latest release. You'll find our thoughts about this all below.

Of course, it's always great news when a new version of Windows is released. A lot of music software (like DAWs) need it to run, as do countless virtual instruments. And there will come a time when the currently popular Windows 7 will enjoy its well-earned retirement. However, we do still advise caution.

Risk

Windows 10 is a new operating system, and while it's been exhaustively tested, there might still be some teething problems. If your media player stutters a bit, or your browser crashes on you, that can be quite annoying, but nothing more than that. However, stutters and crashes become much more of a problem when you're working to create your own unique content - a music project in your DAW, for instance. You don't want your computer to crash while you're working on something like that. Of course, we're not saying that it will, but we certainly can't promise it won't happen. Additionally, there are things like drivers for your audio or MIDI interface to consider!

Our advice

Our advice is to give it some time. There will undoubtedly be some bugs, so it might be best to leave those for others to discover. Again: when a simple application crashes that can be a bit annoying, but when your DAW crashes while you're working on a project, that can be downright frustrating.

Furthermore, many manufacturers will need time to properly test their software with Windows 10, after which they'll likely post their thoughts on the matter on their own websites, probably with a link to any required drivers. Of course, you should use beta drivers at your own risk, so once again we'd advise you to wait for a stable release.

In short, if you're pondering the purchase of a piece of software - or a product that needs software to operate - first wait for what the manufacturer of said software has to say about Windows 10. After all, if something doesn't work (yet) in Windows 10, Bax-shop Customer Service can't do much more than advise you to downgrade to Windows 7, for instance.

As such, we strongly advise caution. While it's perfectly possible that the upgrade to Windows 10 will not result in any critical problems, neither we at Bax-shop nor our suppliers can guarantee that at this point.