Curtain up on Windows 10
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£22.95, www.torchdirect.co.uk ICROSOFT has thrown in the towel on its unpopular operating system Windows 8 and unveiled its replacement… Windows 10. The company says the numerical leap underlines the significance of the new release, but the real reason is likely to be more prosaic: it’s worried that a program called Windows 9 would be mistaken for the older Windows 95 and 98.
Unlike Apple, which typically announces new software just a few weeks before launch, Windows 10 is still on the test bed, and it will be over a year before it makes its way into the shops – yet its announcement renders the Windows PCs and phones currently in shops prematurely obsolete. Also unlike recent Apple software, it won’t be free – which means most users will see it only if they buy a new PC.
If Apple is the Ferrero Rocher of computing, Microsoft is the Werther’s Original. Its portfolio of programs – Windows and Word, especially – were designed for an earlier era of offline technology. That’s why the company now wants to “unify” its software, so that it works seamlessly no matter what sort of device you’re using: mobile phone, tablet or PC.
Another reason for the failure of Windows 8 to break the mass market was the initial absence of a start menu. So Windows 10 will come with a menu that incorporates the “tile” design of Windows phones.
Microsoft has a poor record in Windows releases: Not only version 8 but also the earlier Vista and ME editions all failed to take off. Around three-quarters of users still prefer Windows 7 and Windows XP, even though the latter is no longer officially supported. The reasons are obvious: why spend good money trying to fix something that isn’t broken?
If you do decide to buy a new PC late next year, or upgrade your existing machine, here’s what you can look forward to.
A “task view button” that displays all your running apps and files; a new “quadrant layout” that arranges four apps neatly on the same screen; the ability to switch between more than one desktop screen, so you can group related activities together and reduce clutter. (Apple Mac users can already do this).
All of which suggests that Microsoft is still only taking baby steps with Windows 10. Welcome to a leap into the known.