Windows 10 gets 4.5/5 Stars Review
Windows 10 rights a lot of the Windows 8 wrongs which version 8.1 only put right in small part.
Here are the 5 Key Features of Windows 10
1. The new Start menu is split in two, with a list of commonly used applications and settings on the left hand side and Windows 8-style "live tiles" on the right, optimised for touch-based computing.
2. The Edge browser is includes a number of nifty features like Read Mode and Web Note, allowing users to read and interact with web pages in the way they want.
3. There is now a button on the taskbar that gives you a zoomed-out view of all the apps you have running, and lets you select the one you want or create multiple virtual desktops.
4. Microsoft's personal assistant, Cortana, also learns about you over time, such as the music you like and the sports teams you support, and proactively highlights relevant news and information from the web.
5. Unlike with previous versions of the operating system, Windows 10 works across all Microsoft devices, including PCs, tablets, smartphones.
I would think most people are going to use
Edge as a browser for use on here.
If, like me, you stopped using Internet Explorer years ago, Microsoft's new web broswer, Edge, is a revelation. It feels more like the Google Chrome browser, with a light, stripped-back user interface and a simple set of tools along the top, under the search bar.
For example, "Favourites" lets you bookmark a page and cache it for reading offline, "Web Note" lets you annotate live pages and then save a screenshot of the page, and "Share Page" lets you send a link to friends via email or social network (or maybe even your mates on MoneyAM?).
Maybe you are going to have to go out and buy a microphone? Why? Well for the new
Cortana.
This is Microsoft's new Windows 10 'virtual personal assistant' which appears as a search box on the task bar. You can either type queries into the search box or issue voice commands by saying
"Hey Cortana," and then asking a question. That will be a bit of fun (or not?). Hmmm?
To start with, at least, most people will use Cortana just as they would any other search function. Questions like "How old is Harrison Ford?" or "How do I get to Buckingham Palace?" will return responses from Bing search. However, Cortana is designed to be cleverer than that.
If you give her access to your email and calendar clients, for example, she can start to act more like a real personal assistant, extracting relevant information and proactively offering information.
So, in theory, if you have been discussing a particular airline flight in an email, and that flight is delayed, Cortana will alert you to the delay. Or of you have a meeting across town and there is heavy traffic, it will tell you when you need to leave to avoid being late.
(Hmmm? Is this stuff for real? Hmmm?) Hey, 'this just has to be' and is sure to get more and more refined as the years go by.
Windows Media Center has gone.
Awww! Anyway, it has been replaced with modified versions of Xbox Music and Xbox Video, which have been renamed as 'Groove' and 'Movies & TV' respectively, and a built-in Xbox app, that offers a unified view of your games, the activity of your friends, and your own gaming activities.
These all feel much more slick and modern than the clunky old Windows Media Center app, which was essentially built for offline media consumption. You can stream and download music and videos and import your own collections to make all your music accessible in one place. Of course if you use third party streaming apps like Spotify or Netflix, these will have to be downloaded separately.
Problems?
Well, just remember that there are
4.4 million Windows 10 'insiders' out there who are continuously monitoring and providing feedbackon bugs and glitches, and the ability to issue regular updates over-the-air, Microsoft could not be in a better position to give customers the Windows experience they have long been hoping for.
I am personally extremely optimistic about it and am going to be 'in ASAP' on Windows 10. I do think it's going to be OK and that we'll like it.
One
Key Feature we are bound to like on here is going to be the ability to run multiple "desktops" side by side, which is the virtual equivalent of having mutiple PC monitors with different apps open on each screen. It's quite a niche feature, but one that some people will no doubt find useful. You can also "snap" applications that are open to different corners of the screen to make them easier to view.
Here's what it might look like: