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Microsoft announces Windows 10 (video)

by Mark Tyson on 30 September 2014, 22:35

Tags: Windows 8, PC

Quick Link: HEXUS.net/qacjrj

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Microsoft took us by surprise by announcing the next version of Windows will be called Windows 10. At an event in San Francisco tonight Microsoft’s Executive Vice President of Operating Systems, Terry Myerson, teased that the new OS would be called Windows One. But then he admitted Microsoft had already used that name previously, so the company instead plumped for Windows 10 to signify the crossing of a major 'Threshold'.

Microsoft's new OS is said to represent a major step forward in the unification of the Windows family, hence the strapline "One product family, one platform, one store". Myerson explained in the Windows Blog announcement that "Experiences – no matter what device you’re on – just need to work" and that is what's promised in the new mobile-first, cloud-first world where Windows must exist, from IoT devices to datacentres. However, he added that just because mobile and cloud are important, Microsoft isn't forgetting the enterprise and business users.

Myerson also introduced the Windows Insider Program. This is intended for PC enthusiasts and IT professionals who want to use the various pre-releases of Windows and the experimental features they may contain. In his blog post he encouraged all readers to sign up and get their hands on the first Insider release of the Windows 10 Technical Preview. That will be available to download tomorrow, 1st October. Myerson revealed that while techy folk can play with the preview from tomorrow consumers will have to wait until sometime after next year's BUILD conference to get hold of Windows 10 and "some amazing new devices".

As for the Windows 10 reveal, most of the new features had been seen before in various leaks, like the videos we published on HEXUS. These key features include:

  • The new Start Menu
  • Everything can run in a window
  • A task view button to give an overview of open apps and docs
  • Multiple (virtual) desktops

There were a couple of things that we haven't discussed before from the pre-official reveal leaks. These are 'Snap Enhancements' which allows users to snap (up to four) windows into a new quadrant layout (see above) for your multi-tasking fun. Windows makes 'smart suggestions' about which windows should be where to make best use of screen space. Also Microsoft promised that the new File Explorer will help you find recent and frequently used files even faster.

You can see a video with Microsoft's Joe Belfiore demonstrating many aspects of the Technical Preview version of Windows below.



HEXUS Forums :: 31 Comments

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The new Start Menu
Still looks like an advert. Besides, its only “new” because they botched windows 8, this is like new coke all over again.

Everything can run in a window
Same with windows 386… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noEHHB6rnMI#t=351

A task view button to give an overview of open apps and docs
What like the thing that appears when I “alt + tab”? Its been there since XP, maybe earlier?

Multiple (virtual) desktops
Thats new, for windows at least.

So out of the “new” things we've got 1 actual new thing. Maybe windows 11 will support *gasp* multitasking! And 640k of memory!
maxp779
Multiple (virtual) desktops
Thats new, for windows at least.
No it's not…. It was just dropped as an MS supported utility accessed feature in Vista.
To be fair this looks more like 8.2 than a new version number but at the same time from what I can see everything that is being done seems to be about refinement.

New/return of the start menu - personally I had no issue with the start screen but this is for all the people who were complaining.

Metro apps in windows - wasn't really an issue before for me but I can see the benefit of not having to ‘leave metro’ for desktop apps. You can also see the unification of the modern apps across ALL platforms - in my opinion this is the BIG feature because no other major OS can do this (yeah I know about Ubuntu but it's not really a major os), it's something MS have been edging towards since before win 8. It's great for metro app developers.

The task view button is more than just alt-tab maxp779, it's more for virtual desktops, it shows each desktop, it's programs and allows you to add/remove them etc. Pretty useful when you think about it, kind of like task switching in android in a way.

Virtual Desktops - Can't say I've ever had a need for them but it's nice to have them back.

I'm hoping that the refinements that are being done to the OS also go down to battery usage, Windows still sucks compared with OS-X and in some cases linux in this area and it's about time they did some improvements.
Overwhelmed - not!
Dear Microsoft, software are not apps and don't need an app store. Please stop following Apple and releasing .1/.2 updates to your OS and call them SP1 or SP2.