4 years ago, Microsoft released first developer preview of Windows 8. They took the risk and migrated their design philosophy from traditional keyboard-mouse friendly desktop applications to full-screen touch-friendly Metro apps. This was the major transformation in their beloved Windows 7. The complete desktop environment and its features were treated as a separate app in Windows 8 (the same way MS-DOS was a bit important part of Windows 95). People loved (and still love) the Windows 7 the way it was. 'Start menu', which was the heart of Windows was replaced with a Start screen full of large square boxes. All the crucial system functions were moved to so-called 'Charms bar' in right side of screen. With this major step, Microsoft basically intended to move users from 'traditional' desktop environment to 'modern' touch-based tablet environment. It was also a part of Microsoft's plan to make users familiar with their metro apps (or modern apps, or store apps, whatever you call it!) to gain share in mobile market with Windows 8's mobile variant, Windows Phone 8. Windows RT was yet another variant of Windows 8 specially for ARM-based tablets.
Well, a device with Windows RT created an ok tablet. Microsoft released Surface, Surface 2 and Surface 3. But it was in direct competition with Apple's giant, iPad along with many cheaper Android tablets and hence failed to gain popularity. Nokia Lumia devices with Windows Phone 8 gained a bit of popularity and their market share increased by 0.8-1% (Still a huge move in mobile market for Microsoft!) which was decreased by 0.5% in 2015 Q1. Coming to desktops, Microsoft forced users to buy Windows 8 which came along with newly purchased notebooks. Only 15-20% of industry users were actually migrated to Windows 8.
Windows 8 basically confused users to choose between modern interface and desktop interface. All the core functionalities of OS were moved to full-screen Metro based settings instead of friendly Control Panel. Microsoft later came up with a minor update, Windows 8.1 which basically tried to fix the situation with Start button on taskbar, close and minimize buttons on title bar of modern apps etc. But nothing worked. An attempt of Microsoft to bring uniformity in mobile, desktop and tablet environments failed miserably. With this whole mess that Microsoft created with Windows 8, there was a need to go back to basics, making Windows the way users loved it. And this was the foundation stone of Windows 10! This is the last time we are seeing any major Windows release. Microsoft basically wants to stop hurdle of getting users to its latest platform by 'Windows as a service' strategy, just like Apple's Mac OS X. Apple has been providing users free yearly upgrades for OS X since 10 years. This is the first time in history Microsoft is adopting this strategy for its products and it's really a good change. With Insider program, Microsoft listened to feedback from millions of Windows fans and added new features accordingly in preview builds.
29th July 2015, was a big day for Microsoft. Windows 10 was released as a free upgrade to all genuine users of Windows 7 and Windows 8/8.1. Just like Windows 7 cleaned up mess created by Vista, Windows 10 is here to clean up mess created by Windows 8. Windows 10 is basically amalgamation of all good features of Windows 7 and 8. Microsoft basically added many new features to the OS keeping all the beloved features intact and removed all annoying touch specific features like charms bar.
After boot, you are taken to friendly desktop instead of full-screen start screen.
Taskbar looks much improved with some extra useful toolbars. After clicking on start button, you can notice the return of 2-column Start menu with newer look and feel. But I personally still find Windows 7's start menu much friendlier. All the 'live' tiles inherited from Windows 8 are still on the right side. Love them or hate them, they are there and the only way users have is to adopt this change.
"All Apps" takes you to the list of all applications containing apps from Windows Store as well as "traditional" desktop apps.
Looks good! If you have used Windows 8 for long time, it's like meeting your lost older friend again!
All the apps from Windows Store now have a new home. These apps now launch in their individual windows instead of alien full-screen.
This is a welcome change. You can now resize, minimize, maximize or close these windows. Metro UI is now significantly improved with much better design and new controls friendly for keyboard-mouse and touch as well.
Windows 10 now comes with Microsoft's answer to voice assistant, the Cortana, a rival for Google Now and Apple's Siri.
You can quickly create a new instance of clean desktop, in case it is crowded with opened apps. Few issues are still there in this feature. But they will be fixed in new updates.
With all the funny internet trolls and bad reviews, Microsoft has finally decided to kill its highly criticized web browser "Internet Explorer" from Windows 10. Windows now comes with fresh new "Edge".
Unlike Internet Explorer, Edge is a WebKit based browser and serves as a good alternative to Chrome and Firefox, especially for those who avoid these opensource browsers for security issues. Edge performs a way better and faster than IE.
Windows 10 comes with a dedicated "Action Center" on right side which contains all important system notifications and Quick toggle actions like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Airplane mode etc.
All the important system settings in Windows 10 are now moved to modern "Settings" app. While Control Panel is still available for advanced configuration settings, Settings app is designed for quick settings like System, Devices, Network, Accounts, Updates etc.
I still find Control Panel sophisticated and friendlier than Settings app. Some advanced settings are available in both Settings and Control Panel.
People which are "used to" with Windows 7 are going to find Settings app as totally alien interface. I expect improvements in Settings app in coming updates.
There is a special feature in Windows 10, called as "tablet mode" designed specially for touch-based devices and acts as updated tablet version of Windows 8.
This was the most demanded feature by Windows fans. It shows a touch-friendly interface specifically designed for tablets. But obviously, no one is going to use it on desktops and laptops.
Unlike previous versions of Windows where you can disable Auto-Updates, in Windows 10 you can't simply disable Auto-Updates. You have no idea when your computer downloads and installs updates. But this is the major step of Microsoft to kill piracy by forcefully providing all users the latest updates. After finishing installing updates, Windows requires a restart which a user can schedule on his demand. Instead of providing updates for complete OS after few years, new update program of Windows will now provide updates for individual apps and components like start menu, taskbar etc.
Windows NT kernel, which is the heart of Windows, now has version number NT 10.0, directly jumping from NT 6.3 in Windows 8.1.
After boot, you are taken to friendly desktop instead of full-screen start screen.
Taskbar looks much improved with some extra useful toolbars. After clicking on start button, you can notice the return of 2-column Start menu with newer look and feel. But I personally still find Windows 7's start menu much friendlier. All the 'live' tiles inherited from Windows 8 are still on the right side. Love them or hate them, they are there and the only way users have is to adopt this change.
"All Apps" takes you to the list of all applications containing apps from Windows Store as well as "traditional" desktop apps.
Looks good! If you have used Windows 8 for long time, it's like meeting your lost older friend again!
All the apps from Windows Store now have a new home. These apps now launch in their individual windows instead of alien full-screen.
This is a welcome change. You can now resize, minimize, maximize or close these windows. Metro UI is now significantly improved with much better design and new controls friendly for keyboard-mouse and touch as well.
Windows 10 now comes with Microsoft's answer to voice assistant, the Cortana, a rival for Google Now and Apple's Siri.
With "Ask me anything" toolbar of Cortana, you can search apps, settings, web, files and a lot more.
"Multiple Desktops" is yet another good feature of Windows 10. It is same as Ubuntu workspaces.
You can quickly create a new instance of clean desktop, in case it is crowded with opened apps. Few issues are still there in this feature. But they will be fixed in new updates.
With all the funny internet trolls and bad reviews, Microsoft has finally decided to kill its highly criticized web browser "Internet Explorer" from Windows 10. Windows now comes with fresh new "Edge".
Unlike Internet Explorer, Edge is a WebKit based browser and serves as a good alternative to Chrome and Firefox, especially for those who avoid these opensource browsers for security issues. Edge performs a way better and faster than IE.
Windows 10 comes with a dedicated "Action Center" on right side which contains all important system notifications and Quick toggle actions like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Airplane mode etc.
All the important system settings in Windows 10 are now moved to modern "Settings" app. While Control Panel is still available for advanced configuration settings, Settings app is designed for quick settings like System, Devices, Network, Accounts, Updates etc.
I still find Control Panel sophisticated and friendlier than Settings app. Some advanced settings are available in both Settings and Control Panel.
People which are "used to" with Windows 7 are going to find Settings app as totally alien interface. I expect improvements in Settings app in coming updates.
There is a special feature in Windows 10, called as "tablet mode" designed specially for touch-based devices and acts as updated tablet version of Windows 8.
This was the most demanded feature by Windows fans. It shows a touch-friendly interface specifically designed for tablets. But obviously, no one is going to use it on desktops and laptops.
Unlike previous versions of Windows where you can disable Auto-Updates, in Windows 10 you can't simply disable Auto-Updates. You have no idea when your computer downloads and installs updates. But this is the major step of Microsoft to kill piracy by forcefully providing all users the latest updates. After finishing installing updates, Windows requires a restart which a user can schedule on his demand. Instead of providing updates for complete OS after few years, new update program of Windows will now provide updates for individual apps and components like start menu, taskbar etc.
Windows NT kernel, which is the heart of Windows, now has version number NT 10.0, directly jumping from NT 6.3 in Windows 8.1.
NT 4.0
NT 5.0: Windows 2000
NT 5.1: Windows XP
NT 5.2: Windows XP 64-bit Edition
NT 6.0: Windows Vista
NT 6.1: Windows 7
NT 6.2: Windows 8
NT 6.3: Windows 8.1
NT 10.0: Windows 10
Finally, a good step by Microsoft to make sense in OS version number by matching it with NT kernel version number.
Thus, with so many welcomed good features and few shortcomings (that we hope to be fixed with updates), Windows 10 acts as a worthy upgrade from Microsoft after Windows 7. Microsoft has finally understood its dominance on desktops and solved most of the mistakes made with Windows 8. Our beloved desktop OS is now much powerful, faster and better to use. If you are a Windows 7 user who hesitated to use Windows 8, this is the time for you to upgrade. You will get most of your PC with Windows 10.
Microsoft now comes with "One Product Family, One Platform, One Store" strategy and we have high expectations on Windows 10 to fulfill it. Mobile variant of Windows 10 which is "Windows 10 Mobile" is expected to launch in September and has already captured attention of mobile users with its preview. But everything related to it in my next post. If you still have questions in mind regarding Windows 10, you can post them in comments. Thanks!
