Server OS as a workstation... hmmmm

Server 2016 in all its minimalist glory. Start menu and extras courtesy Stardock :)

OK before I get roasted YES I KNOW it's not the purpose for which it's intended, however....

It happens I have a couple of unused licenses so here are my thoughts on the topic of using a server OS as a everyday desktop system.

I am very much in the school that less is more and rather than give you some long winded blurb I'm gonna break this down to plus and minus points with a conclusion.

Lets start with the negatives..

1) Cost! 100's rather than 10's, also bear in mind the system is licensed on Cores, got a range topping i7 or Ryzan and you will certainly hit the limits (16 cores per license).

2) Technicality, You need to KNOW what the hell your doing! (Installation/Configuring) Enough said.

3) LTSB ( this is either a plus or a minus ) but don't expect sweeping feature updates every few months

Now the Positives ( My take )

1) SECURITY!!! by default this baby is designed to be Locked down tight! You cannot disable enhanced defender, no unnecessary services are running, you have to start a few! For the truly paranoid you can add Immunet (Free) or Malwarebytes to supplement defender. But check out the latest Real world tests for defender its pretty solid.

2) Privacy, local account, passworded. No location , no Cortana, everything turned OFF by default.

3) Boot time.. Blistering

4) Dross (No Store,No Candy Crush in fact no extra crap at all).

5) Memory usage better!

6) Gaming... this is not a placebo effect as some have mentioned from my limited testing BF1 (DX11  & 12) loaded significantly faster and latency was a few milliseconds down, frame rates identical to Win 10.

7) Windows update - NO automatic crap, it asks me IF I wish to download and IF I wish to install, thank you windows may I be in charge for a while.

This OS once dialed in and configured correctly feels like a modern windows 7 on steroids. 

Now a final word as mentioned this is really really a stupid thing to do, its expensive, technical and not what it was designed for..but its lovely :)

Hugs, KL