Windows 10 Revealed

• Author: David Canton
• Date: January 21, 2015

Microsoft gave details today about the Microsoft 10 OS. (Yes, they are skipping 9). For those still on Win 7 because you were not thrilled by the Win 8 interface, you will likely go direct to Win 10, as it attempts to address the interface issues that people did not like. (If you are still using Win XP – you are in dangerous territory, and should probably disconnect from the internet given that it is not being updated.) Win 8 works really well on a tablet (the surface pro 3, for example), but the touch design interface did not translate well to mouse interaction. Microsoft has spent a lot of time listening to input from Windows Insider program feedback.

Some of the features of Win 10:

It uses the same kernel across multiple devices, and will be more seamless to share use and experience on various devices – whether it is a desktop, tablet, laptop, phone, wearable, or whatever. They refer to it as a universal platform. It knows what your device is, and serves up the right interface. Even to the extent that if you have a tablet it offers to switch modes when a keyboard is attached or detached.

It has better security.

For the first year, Win 10 will be a free upgrade for those running Win 8.1. And after the first year, free to those still running Win 7.

They are looking at Win 10 as a service, meaning that there will be more continuous improvement.

Cortana, the Microsoft equivalent to Apple’s Siri and Google’s Google Now interface will be available on all Win 10 devices, including PCs.

There will be universal apps that run the same code on any Win 10 device, including Outlook and a version of Office.

IE is being replaced with a new browser codenamed “Project Spartan”.

For those into gaming, there will be an XBox app forWin 10.

For the office, they have created a “Microsoft Surface Hub” with 84″ 4K display with integrated cameras, speakers, mics, Wifi, … Skype for...