This morning at an event in San Francisco, Microsoft
announced the next version of its Windows operating
system: Windows 10.
The name is definitely not in line with expectations,
but also comes on the heels of rumor talk that it
could pick up another title. Happily, the last 943
people to cover the operating system got the name
wrong. I am among them.
Starting today, Microsoft will launch a Windows
Insider Program that will give users who are
comfortable with running very early beta software
access to Windows 10. This first preview will be
available for laptops and desktops. A build for
servers will follow later. Microsoft says it is opening
up this beta process to get more feedback from
more users early on, but also noted that this will be a
learning experience for the company and that some
experiments users will get in new builds may not
make it into the final version.
The company went on to detail that its new operating
system will have a tailored user experience between
different screen sizes — that’s to say that if you are
on a smaller device, you will see a different sort of
user interface. The code will run across all device
categories: “One product family. One platform. One
store.”
Microsoft is currently riffing on the following:
Enterprise value, device management, the ability to
customize the store to the device you are on, and a
way to protect data. Or, to put it more precisely,
there will be the ability of the enterprise to manage
their devices, and “customize” their application store,
and so forth.
Put more bluntly, the company is going for the
enterprise crown.
As expected, the company is bringing back a few
features of Windows 7, too, including a redesigned
start menu that combines the basic Windows 7 menu
with the (resizable) tiles of the Windows 8 start
screen. Windows 8 Metro apps can now also open in a
windowed mode on the desktop, so you aren’t taking
into the full-screen mode by default and you can use
a “modern” Windows 8 side by side with a standard
Windows desktop app.
Windows 10 will also allow users to work with
multiple desktops. Thanks to Microsoft’s new “Snap
Assist” UI, the company is making it easier for these
power users who need these multiple desktops to
grab apps from multiple desktops and move them
around.
And yes – if you really want love your keyboard, you
can always drop back down into the command line,
too, which has also been improved quite a bit.
While Microsoft focused mostly on the regular mouse
and keyboard combo for interacting with the
operating system, the company stressed that it is not
giving up on touch. Windows 10 will still have a
Windows 8 like Start Screen for users on touch-
enabled machines, for example.
Some of the gestures will change a bit in Windows 10
(swiping in from the left now gets you a task view, for
example), but the overall feature set seems to be
very similar to that in Windows 8 and even the
Windows 8 Charms bar is still available.
One thing Microsoft did not show (at least so far), is
any other consumer features in Windows 10. What
the company did talk about a bit, however, is that
Windows 10 for the phone will look and work almost
exactly like the slightly pared down modern UI on
Windows 10. One thing Microsoft clearly learned
from the experience with Windows 8 is that if it
wants to build a single operating system and user
interface for every device, it can’t just optimize for
edge cases. Microsoft’s Joe Belfiore, for example,
noted that while it was an obvious choice to combine
the interfaces for tablets and phones, “the real rub
comes in the middle.” This time around, he said, he
feels “pretty positive about the outcome we are
going to get.”
Source: techcrunch.com/2014/09/30/microsoft-announces-windows-10/

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