A lot of rumors have hit the web recently about a reported Windows 9 operating system, and whilst Microsoft have been working away to make their latest OS, it has been revealed today that the new OS will in fact be called Windows 10. The Windows 10 reveal by Microsoft gave us an interesting insight into what to expect from the operating system, as well as a loose date for it’s release.
The first thing I’d like to address about Windows 10 is of course the new approach to the start button – it’s a feature that Windows 8 completely ruined, and it turned many happy Windows users into confused, frowning non-Windows users. In the Windows 10 reveal, Microsoft announced that the Start button is making a return, and whilst it resembles the Windows 7 approach, live tiles have been pinned onto the start menu, and these can be resized by the user.
The Windows 10 reveal showed that the operating system will also be getting a new task viewer, replacing the Windows 8 equivelant that a lot of users weren’t so happy with. Microsoft put emphasis into ‘Snap assist,’ a feature that allows users to snap windows to each other to make more use out of screen real estate – this has been in Windows for a while, but it’s nice to see Microsoft haven’t dropped it. Some tweaks have also been made to Windows Explorer to make it more fluid and user friendly.
Perhaps one of the most interesting additions announced alongside the Windows 10 reveal are universal Windows apps – these are special responsive applications that have been designed to work on any Windows 10 platform, including the desktop, tablets and smartphones.
There’s obviously quite a lot more to learn about Windows 10, and the technical preview should be on it’s way fairly shortly. The consumer release will be later in 2015, perhaps in the second half of the year. You can read up on the official Windows 10 reveal here.
