By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla
I just went through a 30 minute overview briefing on Windows 10 with Marc Aube, Windows 10 Launch Lead at Microsoft Canada and have learned what this latest version has in store when it comes to market on July 29th.
Windows 10 is an important release for Microsoft, not just because it is a unifying OS that's designed to run on a variety of devices but also because Microsoft hopes it will convert millions of users who are still on older and unsupported versions (such as Windows 7 and earlier). Microsoft's target is to get 1 billon devices running on Windows 10. Hit jump for more interesting facts about Windows 10.
Windows 10 rolls out primarlily for PC's in August. The XBox and mobile versions are expected to follow whenever Microsoft is good and ready to release those versions.
For users of Windows 7 and users of Windows 8, Windows 10 is going to be quite familiar. The new OS is a hybrid of the best features and user interfaces from those two previous versions. Windows 10 will also be highly customizable and can be made to run purely on desktop mode or optimized for touch devices such as tablets.
Windows 10 is a free upgrade to non-enterprise users who have licensed copies of Windows 7 and Windows 8 on their devices. The system requirements for Windows 10 are surprisingly low impact ( 1GHz processor, 1GB or 2GB of RAM as well as a minimum of 16GB of storage). This makes it possible for the OS to run smoothly on everything from smartphones, 8-inch tablets, 2-in-1's and notebooks and desktops.
Windows 10 and Windows 10 Professional will also be sold in USB thumbdrives come July 29, pricing in Canada hasn't yet been announced. Expect to find these at your Microsoft Store or online.
What's new
Catering to such an unprecedented number of devices puts the onus on Microsoft to make the experience equally smooth an trouble-free across the board, and they promise that they have. A feature called Continuum optimizes the experience for the hardware. Some examples of this is the OS identifying and adjustng to 2-in-1 devices (like the Surface and Surface Pro) by automatically shifting to a touch-focused UI once the keyboard is removed or stored.
Continuum also automatically adjusts depending on the screen size and resolution. It will enable easy to use buttons on smaller displays, like smartphones an 8-inch tablets. it will also automatically fill up the pixels of a larger higher-resolution monitor or display.
Cortana, the personal voice assistant that debuted on Windows Phone 8.1 is now embedded into Windows 10 and not just on the desktop. Cortana is integrated in the browser, inside apps and on the Start menu (that's back too, by the way).
Cortana makes Windows 10 a very proactive OS, if you're looking for a restaurant Cortana will seek out and present more information such as phone numbers, addresses, nearby attractions, Yelp ratings and other key information that would have required cutting and pasting into Bing or Google and another 10 minutes to aggregate. All this information is available instantaneously.
Also new is Microsoft Edge, which is the new browser that ships with Windows 10. Aside from a more streamlined look and feel as well as increased compatibility wiht modern web standards. Aside from having Cortana built into Edge, it has some other neat tricks. It allows for inking using a stylus or a finger (or a mouse for non-touch devices) so you can annotate websites and add drawings as well as text boxes. It is also easy to share these annotations right from Edge.
Software updates and built-in antivirus features are supposed to be better than ever which means less for users to worry about since these functions will run in the background.
What's gone?
The Charms bar, which was one of the lynchpin UI features of Windows 8.1 and which gave quick access to Search, Share, Start, Devices, and Settings, is now gone. It has now bee replaced by Notification Centre, which now contains multiple shortcuts to most used functions.
The focus on the Metro-style tiles will also be reduced. You can still gain access to those touch-focused apps via the Start menu but they don't take over the screen anymore, unless you really want them to.
Windows Media Centre is also gone as is native DVD playback, which is unfortunate for us who enjoy watching movies and TV on our PCs. Desktop gadgets are gone too, I doubt those will be missed. Soliataire, Mineseeper and Hearts are similary not part of the brave new Windows 10 world.
I'm hoping to get my hands on a Windows 10 PC to review in greater detail, so stay tuned for that but in the meantime, it looks like there's a lot to get excited about when Windows 10 is finally released later this month.