Microsoft has taken the wraps off its new version of Windows. Windows 10 brings back some old favourites, while looking into a cloud-first, web-first future. By Graham Barlow, Dan Grabham
Microsoft has announced the successor to Windows 8, cutting version 9 out of the chronological sequence altogether and jumping straight to version 10.
“I think we’d all say that Windows is at a threshold,” said Terry Myerson, executive vice president of the Operating System Group at Microsoft, introducing the new Windows 10 while making a joke about the well-known codename for the next OS, “and now its time for a new Windows.”
The Windows 10 name came as a surprise to everyone, since most of the press had speculated for months that it would be logical for the new operating system to be called Windows 9. But as it turns out, that name wasn’t even in the running, and even Windows 10 wasn’t the first choice for Microsoft.
“Considering our One Microsoft strategy,” said Myerson, “the names of our products like Xbox One, OneNote and OneDrive, it’s obvious what the name should be: Windows One. But unfortunately, Windows 1.0 has been done by the giants that came before us [Bill Gates and the original version of Microsoft Windows], and because we’re not building an incremental product, the new Windows is Windows 10.”
Microsoft’s desire for the name to be a break with previous versions of Windows may be wishful thinking, as the features revealed so far look essentially like Windows 8 with a Start menu. In fact, Windows 10 seems like what Windows 8 should really have been in the first place.
Flexible and adaptable
This time though, it looks like the company is getting it right. For a start, Windows 10 will run on a wider range of devices than any previous version of the operating system – from tiny Internet of Things style gadgets to smartphones and tablets, all the way up to full-sized desktop PCs. In effect, the new OS is a continuation of Microsoft’s much criticised ‘Windows everywhere’ strategy, which stands in stark contrast to Apple’s use of separate operating systems for different devices – OS X for desktops and laptops, and iOS for tablets and smartphones.
After some trial and error, it seems that Microsoft might have hit the mark by giving users of Windows 10 an experience tailored the type of device they are using. So expect touchscreen features on touchscreen devices, and traditional desktop visuals for devices that come with mice and keyboards.
Microsoft’s ‘one product family’ approach has benefits for developers too, who will now be able to write an app just once and have it run on a whole range of devices, with everything available from just one store.
Down to business
But the real target for Windows 10 are what it calls ‘enterprise users’. It’s nothing to do with Star Trek – Microsoft wants to persuade the legions of businesses currently using Windows 7 to upgrade their PCs from to Windows 10.
Many enterprise PCs are still running Windows 7, and companies’ system administrators have held off upgrading to Windows 8 because the change in user experience was too radical. With Windows 10, Microsoft is aiming to create an experience that will be immediately familiar to people, whether they’re used to running Windows 7 or 8. That means some of the staples of Windows 7 (including the Start menu) are going to make a welcome return. It also means that Windows 10 will be backwards compatible with all the apps you are running now. “Windows 10 is going to be our greatest enterprise platform ever,” said Myerson.
The new Start menu in Windows 10 looks like a hybrid of Windows 7 and 8. All the familiar Start menu items from Windows 7 are there, including jump lists, All Programs (now called All Apps) and Search (which now looks for results the internet as well as your PC). There are also a few new additions, including a simple power button for restarting or turning off the PC and a ‘me’ tile at the top of the menu. Most impressive of all is a new sidebar that’s like a miniature version of the Windows 8 Start screen, complete with Live tiles, grafted onto the side of the menu. It initially looks as unnatural as it sounds, but you get used to it very quickly. The new Start menu is highly customisable, too; you can change the size of tiles with ease, and make the whole menu bigger or smaller.
Windows 10 also solves the issue in Windows 8 where Modern apps would run full screen, but traditional apps would exit to the desktop to run. Now all apps can run inside traditional, resizeable, windows on the desktop. They snap to the side of the screen when you move them around too, so it’s easy to make your desktop look nice when running multiple apps. In fact, there’s a new Windows 10 feature called Snap Assist that suggests other open apps you might like to snap as well. Again, all these features are designed to make Windows 7 users feel at home in the new operating system, with a Taskbar and Start menu always visible.
Windows manager Joe Belfiore was the first person to demonstrate Windows 10. “We want all these Windows 7 users to have the sentiment that, yesterday they were driving a first generation Prius, and when they got Windows 10 they didn’t have to learn to drive something new, but it was as if we got them a Tesla,” he explained. From our initial look at the new OS, we’d say that’s a fair analogy. It’s different, but works in a familiar way.
Multitasking
It’s no coincidence that productivity and multitasking are areas where Apple’s mobile devices are often criticised, and that’s clearly why they form a key part of Microsoft’s vision for Windows 10. A new button (currently called Task View, although its final name may change) lives in your taskbar and shows live thumbnails of all your running apps in one screen. Users of OS X will recognise it as being somewhat similar to the Exposé feature that Macs have had for a while now.
Microsoft has also added another feature familiar to Apple users – multiple desktops. These are accessible from Task View, and are simply a way of organising all your open apps into different areas – so you could have one desktop with all your financial apps open on, another for web browsing and email, and so on.
Microsoft hasn’t forgotten users with keyboards either. Windows 10 makes some improvements to the traditional way of switching between apps with the classic [Alt]+[Tab] keyboard combination. Now it switches between virtual desktop as well as between apps, so you also switch to the desktop that contains the app you’ve selected.
There’s even something interesting for the real hardcore Windows devotees who use the Command prompt (accessible by typing cmd into the Search bar) to perform tasks without navigating menus. Now you can use [Ctrl]+[C] and [Ctrl]+[V] to copy and paste text to and from the command prompt and Windows.
One for all
Belfiore conceded that all these little tweaks aren’t groundbreaking, but once you start to put them all together, Windows becomes a lot more useable, which has been the chief criticism of Windows 8 so far. We’d agree, but the real test is how Windows 10 is going to perform on the vast range of devices it is designed for – everything from touchscreen phones and tablets to laptops and full desktop systems.
To this end, Microsoft has introduced a new feature called Continuum. This enables Windows 10 to change its mode of operation for 2-in-1 convertible devices, such as the Lenovo Yoga and Microsoft Surface. When you’re using your Windows 10 device as a tablet, Continuum gives you an appropriate view for a touchscreen (including full-screen apps, larger Start screen), but when you attach it to a keyboard and mouse, you get a traditional desktop, Start menu and taskbar. Continuum was actually too new for Belfiore to demonstrate live, so we were treated to a video of it working instead. It certainly looked promising and finally presented a solution to Microsoft’s problem of having one operating system work on all sorts of different devices.
Users of touchscreen devices will also be please to know that rumours of the death of the Charms bar have been greatly exaggerated – it’s still there if you swipe right. The screen that Belfiore demonstrated looked very much like the old Windows 8 Charms bar, but he said he expects the bar to look different in the finished version.
Second wind
The presentation also contained a rare admission from Microsoft that it missed the mark with Windows 8 when it came to the idea of productivity on touch devices. “With Windows 8 we didn’t get it quite right,” admitted Belfiore. “With Windows 10, we think we have a better approach.”
As for launch date and price, we didn’t get anything definite, but according to one graphic shown, the ‘launch wave’ looked like it would take place in the middle of 2015. Myerson said that early next year Microsoft will “start talking more about the consumer story” and at the Build conference in April, the company is intending to “continue the dialogue of Universal apps”.
In the end we didn’t get to explore much of Windows 10, but we liked what we saw. Microsoft is keen to emphasise that there are lots more consumer features coming in Windows 10, so there are bound to be more announcements to look forward to over the next few months. And once the Technical Preview gets into people’s hands, more new features that have been baked-in already will no doubt be revealed.
To us, it looks like Microsoft has done enough with Windows 10 to tempt the millions of Windows 7 users that it is targeting to upgrade. It already looks like there are good reasons for people to switch, but as it stands, the new operating system is hardly breaking new ground, but then we’ll hold back judgement until we’ve seen the final version. We’re hope there’s lots more in store for us in Windows 10 that we just haven’t seen yet.
Top 10 features
1. Touch interface
Windows 10 is designed to appeal to experts and novices alike, and Microsoft was at pains to point out that it hasn’t given up on touch. The Charms bar is still there, for example, although we expect it to disappear if you’re using a non-touch PC (see ‘Continuum’, right).
Microsoft says it wants to ‘evolve’ the touch interface, which means it will be changing quite a bit. Task switching will no longer work on the left, and combined with alterations to Charms, that’s goodbye to most of the problem with Windows 8 . As Joe Belfiore said at the preview, “We want Windows 7 users to feel like they upgraded from a [Toyota] Prius to a Tesla, but they don’t need to learn a new way to drive.”
2. Start menu
The most noticeable change is the new Start menu. It carries over some features from the Windows 8.1 Start screen, and can be resized to suit you.
3. Task View
There’s a new Task View in Windows 10, so users can switch between virtual desktops. Microsoft has acknowledged that many people use the Taskbar rather than shortcuts such as [Alt]+[Tab].
4. Snap Assist
A new Snap Assist feature helps you decide the best way to snap your apps. You can snap windows into new screens and tile Windows, just as you’ve been able to since Windows 2.0/3.0.
5. Command prompt
Another feature for power users is the ability to use keyboard shortcuts in the command prompt, so you will finally be able to copy and paste commands. Hardly groundbreaking, but very useful.
6. Windows Explorer
A new Home location is the new default view in Windows Explorer. There’s also a ‘Share’ button on the Windows Explorer taskbar (we really hope this is in the context menu, too).
7. Continuum
Continuum is an on-the-fly mode for 2-in-1 devices, which detects whether a keyboard has been added or removed and adapts the OS accordingly. For example, a back button appears to help you navigate the desktop with touch if the keyboard is detached.
8. Universal apps
Windows 10 will also usher in a new app model: Universal Windows apps. This is the new name for Metro apps/Modern apps/Windows Store apps. Windows 10 will be able to run on all devices from phones to servers, and there will be one app store for the lot. All older Windows Store apps will work with Windows 10.
9. Floating apps
Universal apps also work on the desktop and ‘float’ in their own windows. On the desktop, these apps have a ‘...’ icon that provides more options. This replaces the commands that used to be in the charms on the right-hand side of the screen.
10. Business and enterprise
Part of the reason why Microsoft demonstrated Windows 10 without all the consumer features is to show enterprises what new the operating system is capable of at this stage. This version of Windows will have plenty of features for businesses, including a customised store and protection for corporate data. Mobile Device Management will be supported for all devices, and Windows 10 will keep personal and corporate data separate.