5 Reasons To Be Excited About Windows 10

by Jay McGregor  July 22, 2015


It’s taken a while for Microsoft to clear up some of the loose ends around Windows 10’s availability, price and support but what is clear is that this update is expected to be the biggest, most well-received and feature-rich update in recent memory. So what can you look forward to?

• Edge -  Internet Explorer isn’t quite gone, a version still exists in Windows 10 for Enterprise. But for everyone else, the new Windows default browser is ‘Edge’. With Edge comes some huge improvements on the much maligned IE – most notably speed. Edge, Although the version I saw still isn’t completely finished (some websites didn’t quite render properly), loading sites and navigating around was quick.
• Windows 7 users will find it easy to use -- Windows 10’s UI is a nod to Windows 7, and is a natural successor to the 2009 iteration. So much so that Microsoft told me that “if you’re a Windows 7 user, you’re going to come to this and feel like an expert”. That’s an accurate description. Windows 10 doesn’t have the steep learning curve Windows 8 did. Users will find this version familiar and easy to navigate. The desktop and start menu particularly play a large role in helping navigate around the UI. This, combined with the removal of fullscreen apps,  makes Windows 10 an instantly recognisable and user-friendly OS. 
• Cortana -- The awkward and poorly-acted adverts don’t do Cortana justice. Yes, it’s another personal assistant, but this key difference is that Cortana is on your desktop. And yes, I’m aware that Google GOOGL +2.36% Now is -sort-of- also available on desktop, but Cortana is built into the OS. It’s a key part of the everyday user-experience. Well, Microsoft hopes it will be. 
• Universal apps -- The current Windows apps store is lacking, not just in quantity but also quality. Microsoft is hoping to tackle this by making it easier to develop apps for Windows 10. All apps developed for Windows 10 can easily be made compatible (with a few UI tweaks) for mobile and Xbox use – or ‘universal apps’ as they’re known. This means that the new Windows store is the same across all platforms, with only compatible apps appearing in the right platform. Microsoft has also made it easier to turn iOS and Android apps into Windows apps for developers. Microsoft told me that it took two weeks for mobile game developer King to turn Candy Crush Saga into a Windows game using iOS code. The core of Microsoft’s apps strategy here is to make it as easy as possible to build and deploy apps on Windows 10, so it can close the app gap between itself, iOS and Android. 
• UI Tweaks and Support -- Windows 10 has undergone a dramatic UI change from the controversial Windows 8. Aside from looking like a souped-up version of Windows 7, it now boasts a number of nifty productivity tweaks that really enhance the experience. Personal favorites of mine include: multiple desktops; ‘snap feature’; the left-sided notification center (which is open to third parties); and continuum, which syncs your data, apps and personal settings across all Windows devices. 


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