Windows 10 upgrades – So far, so good

So far I haven’t had any upgrade related problems with the two systems of mine that I upgraded to Windows 10.  I waited until the last month of being able to update for free on each of them.

I really only use 2 systems running Windows on a regular basis.  One was a notebook that had been running Windows 7 Professional and whose use has really been limited since I got a 9 inch Android based tablet and Bluetooth connected keyboard.  I started having problems with Windows Update on that system not completing, and made the decision to apply the free update to Windows 10 to it.  That took a while to get the download and installation to complete, but once it did, everything seems to be working fine on that system.  I did have to uninstall a lot of the OEM provided security software I was using on it, as it was not supported under this newer version of Windows.

[amazon_link asins=’B00ZSI7Y3U,B00ZSHDJ4O,B01IIA1J94′ template=’ProductCarousel’ store=’edwi04-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’1c5c4245-0481-11e7-a5c2-f59f9c239e7c’]

The second system I updated on the very last possible day to upgrade for free, was my main desktop which I use for web browsing and PC gaming.  It had been running Windows 8.1 Professional and after the upgrade is now running Windows 10 Pro.  It’s upgrade was pretty straight forward and took less time to complete.  I haven’t run into any issues with the Steam distributed games and the Nvidia applications and drivers I use on that system.  I declined a lot of the options that would have changed default applications and added new Microsoft stuff, so my user experience really hasn’t changed that much, and I like it that way.

 

Pokemon GO – Fading fad or mobile game with legs?

Pokemon GO screen
Pokemon GO screen

Like so many folks I quickly downloaded and installed Pokemon GO onto my cellphone when it was released in the US, and tried playing it with mixed results due to the enormous number of users trying to connect to the game’s servers at the same time.

[amazon_link asins=’B01H482N6E,B01IAPIPY4,B01KZAGK9E’ template=’ProductCarousel’ store=’edwi04-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’547ba10d-0481-11e7-92d2-75672f730ae7′]

I didn’t have any detailed knowledge of the card based game and characters that are related to this most recent addition to the Pokemon universe.  Simply logging into the game on your phone and trying to play it also didn’t teach me very much about it.

Pokemon Go home screen
Pokemon Go home screen

I could see my trainer on a map with the streets and other things that surround me in real life, shown in simplified form on my cellphone’s screen.  Every so often a creature would appear near me, and I would flip a Pokeball towards it using my finger on the touchscreen of my phone, to try and hit it, and thus capture it.

Pokemon GO Beach St
Pokemon GO Beach St

Seeing the game characters superimposed on top of the real world is the augmented reality (AR) that a lot of people are seeing for the first time, when playing this game.

Pokemon GO at the hair salon
Pokemon GO at the hair salon

When people ask to see the game, this is usually what they want to see you demonstrate.  I normally play with AR turned off since the game uses battery charge pretty fast, as a way of making mine last a little bit longer.

Pokemon GO and an external battery pack
Pokemon GO and an external battery pack

I was sent an external battery pack as a gift when I signed up for Project FI service, and you can see it in the photo above sitting on the bar with a USB cable running back to my phone.  I use this arrangement when I know I’m going to be playing Pokemon GO for a couple of hours, and I want to avoid running my cellphone’s internal battery out of charge.

Pokemon GO common creatures
Pokemon GO common creatures

After a while you will notice that some of the same creatures are found more often than others.  You are encouraged to keep catching all of the ones you see, but at some points it does get routine and monotonous.

Pokemon GO pizza topping
Pokemon GO pizza topping

Catching the same common Pokemon over and over while hoping to get a more rare and powerful one becomes the main activity, and I think this is where a lot of casual players will start to lose interest and begin to play the game much less than when they began.

Pokemon GO stats
Pokemon GO stats

As your trainer character levels up higher, some different options become available to you, and the characters you see become slightly stronger and harder to catch.  I continued to play until I was past level 13 before I began to skip opportunities to play that I would have taken advantage of before.

I really think that the large crowds of people playing Pokemon GO is going to be a fad that fades out, but that it will still be commonplace to see some people playing it in public from now on.  The exceptions to this is going to be if a new release adds something new and interesting to bring players back, and also in those locations where a rare Pokemon is commonly found and even casual players will login and attempt a capture because they see others doing it.