Microsoft’s Evolution: 8 Windows 10 Changes You Should Care About
by TeachThought Staff
So the live streamed event from Redmond is over. What do we know about this fall’s Windows 10 release?
The big takeaway is a unified experience a cross mobile and desktop, along with a push for voice recognition, and a continued uncertainty exactly how a company with built-in marketshare should evolve itself without losing its identity.
So, the nuts and bolts then. What are the Windows 10 changes we should expect?
Microsoft’s Evolution: 8 Windows 10 Changes You Should Care About
1. It will be a (temporarily) free upgrade
The big news is free Windows 10 for all Windows 7, 8, and Windows Phone users. (Details are still thin, but you apparently get 12 months to upgrade at no cost.) While Apple does the same with OSX, that’s a big step for Microsoft whose business model is very different.
You can’t cobble together a blazing fast Mac for $600 like you can a desktop PC, and upgrade whenever you want, however you want. Other changes for Windows 10?
2. They’re continuing to merge mobile and desktop
The goal? One OS to rule them all. It’s not clear exactly how this will work–you’d think there would have to be some kind of mobile-specific OS for phones, but what do I know?
At the least, there will be a far more unified experience across Windows desktop, laptop, and mobile, something Apple lacks with there iOS and OSX lineup. Let’s see how the long-rumored iPad Pro changes things later this year.
3. It will have deep Cortana integration
Cortana is like Siri, but better. Microsoft continues to bet heavy on voice integration, which cost them with the Xbox One. If they bake it in, then that won’t happen.
4. Internet Explorer is being chloroformed
A new browser will please those who left IE for Chrome, Safari, or Firefox a long time ago. The project to replace it is currently called “Project Spartan.” (A little trivia: Spartan and Cortana are both allusions to Microsoft’s famous Halo video game series; work that into your next conversation at a party)
The new browser will focus on readability, and allow users to take notes with a stylus or add comments with keystrokes. Time will tell how big an impact this makes. Is there a future for the internet browser?
5. Continuum is kind of like Apple’s Handoff
Which means the ability to switch between table and PC mode, depending on which device you’re using. (Which may answer the question about Windows Phone?) If they want to be both mobile and not, this may be among the most important changes they’ve made.
6. They’re using OneDrive (their Cloud platform)
Microsoft’s OneDrive isn’t elegant, but it offers enormous cloud space for very low cost, and should be central to Microsoft’s efforts to evolve. OneDrive is underrated. Let’s see what they do with it; done well, it’ll be iCloud but for every platform at the same time.
7. Office should be more mobile-centric
Recent documents. Print from mobile. Sweeping, pinching, and zooming compliment clicking and dragging. Mobile sharing, mobile collaboration.
8. There will be two versions of Microsoft Office
An early, touch-optimized form of Microsoft Office for Windows 10 will be released “in the coming weeks,” and free with Windows 10 (much like Microsoft’s recent releases on iOS and Android). In the second half of 2015, a full mouse-and-keyboard version (called Microsoft Office 106) will be released as a standalone product.
Both versions will be gussied up, taking advantage of the latest collaboration and document marking users have come to expect.
Microsoft’s Evolution: 8 Of The Biggest Changes For Windows 10