At the Microsoft Windows 10 Event yesterday, Microsoft gave us a first look into what we can expect with the new Windows 10 Operating System.
The iconic start button will return in Windows 10. The start menu will now expand into a full-screen view, much like the Windows 8.1’s home screen, however it should be cleaner and easier to use. It’s another effort to adapt for touchscreens while keeping the best features of desktop Windows. Continuum, a new feature, is aimed for convertible devices making the switch from a mouse and keyboard to a tablet screen almost instantaneous.
Cortana will now be on your computer’s desktop working as a personal assistant and natural-language interface. Cortana will be located next to the start button on the task bar and will respond to both spoken and typed queries. Among Cortana’s many features, it will be integrated into the new Maps app, reminding you where you parked your car.
Windows is replacing Internet Explorer with the new, cleaner browser codenamed Project Spartan. Spartan will have a “note-taking mode” that lets you draw all over pages with a stylus or add comments with a keyboard, then save the results on OneNote. A clean “reading mode” does what you might expect: it formats a page like a book and adds a syncable reading list that’s basically “Pocket for Microsoft” or Safari’s page-saving feature. And like just about everything else Microsoft announced today, Spartan has Cortana built into it, contextually recognizing information like restaurants or plane flights and offering extra information.
For the first year after launch, Microsoft will offer a free upgrade to Windows 10 for Windows 7, Windows 8.1, and Windows Phone 8.1 users. Windows 10 will be available for Windows Phones in February, and the full Windows 10 for all your other devices will launch later in the year.
To learn more about the new Windows 10 you can check out their site here.
To stay up to date with all of the Windows 10 announcements you can check out this article.