American Software Company announces new operating system and new direction at release event
Windows has been mired in controversy and criticism since Windows Vista was released to widespread disappointment in 2007. The operating system (OS) was buggy, crash-prone, and filled with a needless number of user approval requests. While the OS was a successor to the highly-praised Windows XP OS, Microsoft lost consumer confidence, especially given the emergence of Apple and its MacOS as a viable replacement for even the most hardcore business professionals.
Windows is dead. Long live Windows.
With Windows 7, Microsoft regained the public’s trust. With Windows 8, Microsoft managed to release a product that was confusing to both the ardent user and the casual consumer. Deciding to forego everything it had learned with its Windows 7 OS, Microsoft’s Windows 8 removed the precious start bar, moved the Start Menu to its own screen, and introduced an user eco-system designed more for tablets than desktops or laptops. In short, Microsoft had embraced a future that few of its users were ready to even consider.
Since Windows 8 was released two years ago, Microsoft has been forced to admit that redefining its entire existence is something that should be done slowly, while making sure that users understand the directions to be taken. Windows 10 looks to be the precise OS suited for the task of looking to the future, while staying firmly rooted in a well-designed past.
At an event in Redmond, California on Jan. 21, Microsoft held its most significant Windows 10 event yet. Though the OS was announced on Sept. 30, 2014, at an event in San Francisco, the next Windows OS was given a chance to properly show off its trimmings last week – show off its trimmings it did.
With Windows 10, Microsoft seems to have learned its lessons from its past “experiments.” Windows 10 marks the return of both the start button and the start menu, while simultaneously allowing users to expand the start menu to fill a complete screen if they so choose. Apps, like the Windows mail, contacts, and calendar app are also designed with a tablet in mind, but allow desktop users an opportunity to communicate with a keyboard and mouse.
Seamless integration between tablets and desktops is paramount to Windows 10, as is Xbox One and Windows Phone. Windows 10 will be available for smartphones as well as computers, while users will able to stream movies and games from their Xbox One consoles to their tablets and desktops.
“Windows 10 is the only platform that enables innovation across this broad family of devices. We were inspired to bring more personal computing to the home and to the workplace, to enable our customers to do great things,” said Terry Myerson, Microsoft’s Executive Vice President of Operating Systems.
To say that Microsoft has learned from its competitors is an understatement. Apple’s “Continuity” between its tablets, phones, and computers was widely publicized with Mac OS X Yosemite, and Microsoft’s adage seems to appeal to a similar mindset. Computers, phones, and tablets are no longer individual devices; with more and more people owning three or four “computers,” users require seamless integration across multiple platforms.
Perhaps the most interesting aspects of Windows 10 are Cortana and Project Spartan. Cortana, based on the character from the popular Halo videogames, is an artificial intelligence designed to act as a guide and personal assistant. Cortana will be available on every device supporting Windows 10, including desktops, where she can be called on to organize files, search the internet, and communicate with the OS.
Project Spartan is Microsoft’s answer to the Internet Explorer detractors. Every iteration of Microsoft’s Internet Explorer (since 2006’s IE7) has been met with widespread disdain and disappointment. In an age when everyone has access to the internet, a browser designed with the user in mind is the most important service companies can offer. Mozilla’s Firefox and Google’s Chrome browsers are two of the most popular and efficient browsers available for download, while Internet Explorer is diminutively referred to as “the browser you only ever use to install other browsers.”
With Project Spartan, Microsoft plans on bringing its Windows 10 OS into a new age. However, the event spent little time on Project Spartan, only showing the browser when presenters were using the internet. For now, Spartan conforms to Windows 8’s Metro design sensibility, featuring flat design in full bliss.
Multi-device integration, a fully-functioning personal assistant, a new browser that embraces the internet age, and a company that seems to have learned from its many mistakes – Microsoft is back.
Windows is dead. Long live Windows.