So far, Microsoft's next-gen operating system is looking good.
It's been nearly a week since Microsoft announced that it will follow Windows
8.1 with Windows 10 -- and released its Technical Preview so that those
interested could take a first look at the new operating system. Since then I've
been exploring the new OS, alongside the sparse documentation Microsoft has
released.
Much of the under-the-hood kernel level work has been done; the Preview is a
tool for Microsoft to understand how to bring its next-generation Windows to its
desktop users. That's an important problem for the Windows team to solve before
the new OS is released in mid-2015. Some enterprise customers are still moving
from Windows XP to Windows 7, so Microsoft needs to put in place an upgrade path
from Windows 7 to this new version. It needs, as Terry Myerson, Microsoft's
executive vice president of operating systems, said in San Francisco, "to feel
like going from a Prius to a Tesla" -- without having to learn to drive all over
again.
There are actually two versions of the Windows 10 Technical Preview. The
Technical Preview that most people are referring to is aimed at individual
enthusiast users or SMBs and can be downloaded from the preview.windows.com
site. An Enterprise Preview for volume licensing customers is available from the
TechNet evaluation center.
(If you're planning on evaluating an entire Windows 10 infrastructure, there are
also technical previews for the enterprise-directed Windows Server and the
System Center management suite, which can be downloaded at Technet.)
While this review focuses on the Technical Preview, as it's the release that
most users will explore, I tried out both releases. There's very little
difference between the two at this point, with the Enterprise Preview adding
security and networking features on a par with the current Windows 8.1
Enterprise releases.
As test machines, I used a Surface Pro 2 running Windows 8.1 (which I used to
examine update scenarios) and a series of Hyper-V virtual machines (which I used
to test clean installs). In both cases, I found the installation process quick
and easy.
I created USB installation media from Microsoft's ISO downloads. It's a
surprisingly forgiving installer: One of my test machines was mistakenly set up
with the Technical Preview release rather than Enterprise, and I was able to
install Enterprise over the top of Technical Preview without having to reset the
test PC between installs.
One thing is clear: This is a first cut at the Windows 10 desktop experience and
so naturally it is more than a little rough around the edges. This should be
kept in mind.
User experience
With all the disparagement of Windows 8's user interface, this was clearly the
area that was going to get the most focus from testers. That's not surprising:
Windows 8 was a break from several generations of Windows user experience.
Windows 10 steps back into more familiar territory.
Much of the criticism of Windows 8 focused on the separation between its two UI
models, with desktop apps and Windows Store apps running in separate containers.
Windows 8.1 started to blend the two ways of working, but Windows 10 finishes
the job, mixing the two on the familiar Windows desktop.
The most obvious change in Windows 10 is the return of the Start Menu. As shown
at the Build 14 conference last April, it's a mix of the Windows 8 Live Tiles
with the familiar Windows 7-style menu -- one right next to the other.
Windows 10 Start Menu Simon Bisson
The Start Menu is back, in a hybrid of the familiar Windows 7 Start Menu (jumplists
and all) and the Windows 8 Start Screen, complete with Live Tiles.
Working with the new Start Menu is easy enough: To launch it, all I had to do
was click on the Windows logo in the corner of the desktop. Like the Windows 7
Start menu, it has a hierarchical list of apps and support for Jump Lists
(which, oddly, fly out and replace the Live Tile section of the Start Menu). I
was able to drag to adjust its height and add Live Tiles and pin apps to adjust
the width.
I'm still of two minds about the new Start Menu, though. It works well on a
keyboard and mouse device, but Microsoft does seem to have made some odd
decisions. For one thing, it doesn't support the ability to group tiles that
would make the Start Screen easier to navigate. Instead, I was presented with a
long string of tiles with no way of choosing how they're displayed. Of course,
this is still a preliminary UI, but right now it seems a bit strange, especially
with the work done in recent Windows Phone builds that add features like
collapsible groupings of tiles.
Tablet users will need to wait for the 2015 Consumer Preview to see the new
Windows Phone-like touch UI that was teased in a couple of slides at the launch
event. There's also a planned Continuum experience for two-in-one devices that
will switch from a tablet UI to a desktop UI when in keyboard mode. I'll be
looking forward to trying that out, as one of its target devices, the Surface
Pro 3, has quickly become my day-to-day PC.
One thing to note: If, like me, you do an upgrade Windows 10 install on a
Windows 8.1 touch PC, you'll keep the original Start Screen. It's easy enough to
switch between the two user interface modes -- though if you've filled a start
screen with Live Tiles you're going to get a very wide Start Menu, as all your
Live Tiles will be on the new Start Menu. Mine ended up scrolling off the side
of the screen on the test Surface Pro 2.
Windows Store apps
Microsoft has stepped back from the immersive model for its WinRT-powered
Windows Store apps. They can still run full screen, but the default is a new
windowed mode. This lets Windows Store apps run alongside desktop apps, in fully
resizable windows with familiar controls.
Windows 10 Windows Store apps Simon Bisson
Windows Store apps now run on the Windows desktop, in their own fully resizable
and snappable windows, alongside existing Windows desktop apps.
There's also a new set of controls on the top left of the window that duplicates
the old Windows 8 touch controls and charms. One option gives access to any app
commands, while others replace the old swipe-able charms bar -- with the
addition of print and project buttons.
It's clear that these controls are still experimental. They're very small on a
high resolution screen and don't work at all well with touch. Even so, it's
interesting to see how Microsoft is thinking of delivering its new controls to a
mostly desktop audience.
Windows 10 App Menu Simon Bisson
A new drop down on the left of Windows Store apps' menu bar gives quick access
to the key charms, and to print and screen projection.
The Windows 8 charms bar is in this build of Windows 10; on a touch-screen
device I could still swipe from the right to access the Windows 8 charms.
Microsoft spokespeople were clear that this was only for the Technical Preview
release, and that they were still considering how to change this behaviour. One
change is already in place: Swiping from the left brings up the Win-Tab task
switcher rather than the fiddly Windows 8 task view, which let me tap and swipe
a carousel of my active apps and manage my virtual desktops.
Oddly, the menu bar for Windows Store apps is a couple of pixels bigger than
that for a desktop app. I found it to be a disconcerting mismatch, especially
when I was tiling windows using Windows 10's new quadrant snap feature (see
below). Yes, this is an early look at the OS, but when Microsoft is talking
about how design-led the Windows development process is, it's somewhat
incongruous.
If you prefer to use Windows from a command line (after all, the good old DOS
commands are still there!), Microsoft has finally updated its Windows console
with a set of experimental features. There's now support for the same Ctrl-key
shortcuts as the rest of Windows (at last!), along with the option of having a
translucent console. I found that the same options are also available for the
PowerShell console, something that should make IT administrators' lives just
that little bit easier.
A new snap mode
Windows 8's snap mode let me choose how to display two (or more on
higher-resolution screens) Windows Store apps. It was closely related to the
similar desktop Aero snap mode introduced with Windows 7. Windows 10 brings the
two approaches together with a new quadrant snap mode.
Windows 10 Quadrant snap Simon Bisson
The new quadrant snap feature in Windows 10 helps arrange app windows, both
desktop and Windows Store, to take advantage of monitor screen real estate.
Quadrant snap simplifies the process of snapping more than one app to a screen.
Once you drag an app to a corner, it snaps to fill half the screen, and a new
snap assistant displays the remaining apps so that you can snap another, if you
want. Drag a third app into a screen corner and Windows 10 rearranges the
windows to create a vertical division between that app and another (with the
option to pick and snap a fourth app). Quadrant view with four apps really
requires a large screen to work well.
Currently, Windows Store apps will only snap to half the display -- they don't
support quadrant snapping. That means I was able to snap two desktop apps in the
upper and lower half of the screen, while a Windows Store app occupied either
the left or the right side.
Like the current Windows snap tools, Microsoft offers keyboard shortcuts, adding
Win-Up Arrow and Win-Down Arrow for snapping apps to the top or bottom of the
screen (joining Win-Left Arrow and Win-Right Arrow for snapping them to either
side). Once done, I could adjust the width and height of the snapped windows to
get the optimum layout for the task at hand.
The new snap features are useful, but a little odd at first. It takes some time
to get used to them, and I found myself regularly disconcerted by the
differences between Windows Store and desktop apps. The two should work
identically, and it's somewhat jarring to realise they don't.
I also miss the ability to snap Windows Store apps to one side of a desktop, a
Windows 8.1 feature that proved surprisingly useful with Twitter apps and with
Microsoft's OneNote. While I understand that Microsoft is yet to deliver the
full Windows 10 UI, it's odd to find something that feels it should be a step
forward instead appears to be a step back.
Virtual desktops
Way back in the mists of time, Microsoft offered a series of Powertoys, apps
that in many cases have now become Windows features. Among them was a Virtual
Desktop manager that let you set up four different virtual desktops that you
could use to manage your workspace -- for example, segregating personal apps
from your work apps. (Vista users will remember those used for the Flip 3D task
switcher.) These virtual desktops are now part of Windows 10, controlled from
the Win-Tab task switcher keystroke or from the new task switch icon on the
Windows taskbar.
Windows 10 Win-Tab Simon Bisson
The Windows 10 task switcher now has a carousel of large live app views, and
also lets you switch between virtual desktops – and create new workspaces.
It's easy enough to create a new Virtual Desktop: Just click the + symbol at the
bottom of the task switcher window. Apps can be launched as usual from the Start
Menu or from pinned taskbar icons; Microsoft has added a set of visual cues to
help locate running apps, with a small rectangle under an active app icon on the
taskbar showing that the app is running in another virtual desktop.
Windows 10 Taskbar Simon Bisson
Apps running on another virtual desktop are highlighted by a small bar under the
app icon on the taskbar.
Virtual desktops share the same wallpaper as other desktops, and don't persist
between reboots. If users are going to get the most from this approach, then
Microsoft is going to have to provide a tool that lets you build multi-desktop
environments that are ready to go from boot. I'm expecting to use the tool to
keep mail and IM away from the screen where I'm writing in order to reduce
distractions.
A universal approach to development
It's clear that Microsoft still sees its WinRT development model as the way
forward for Windows. That's not surprising: By offering a sandboxed operating
environment with contracts that allow apps to work together, it's much more
secure than the familiar Win32 APIs. (Introduced in Windows 8, contracts enable
WinRT apps to communicate, even when they've been developed by different
companies and have no direct links.)
At the launch event, Microsoft's Myerson and Joe Belfiore, corporate vice
president, operating systems group, talked a lot about Universal Windows apps, a
new generation of Windows Store apps based on the tools introduced at Build
2014.
Universal apps are Microsoft's latest solution to the old problem of how you can
deliver code that runs on Windows desktops, tablets, phones -- and, according to
Myerson, on Internet of Things devices and game consoles. Instead of working on
a write-once, run-everywhere system, Universal apps let you build a common core
of business logic that can be wrapped in an appropriate user interface for a
device. It's a sensible approach, and combined with Microsoft's relationship
with cross-platform development system Xamarin, also means that apps can be
delivered to iOS and Android as well.
I'm expecting to hear a lot about Universal apps between now and Windows 10's
release. They're the next wave of Windows Store apps -- and with the new APIs
that are being delivered with Windows 10, look likely to finally offer the same
capabilities as the more mature Win32. Microsoft is starting to position
Universal apps as a significant differentiation between its development
platforms and its competitors' tooling, and with a single store for Universal
apps, it has a key way to help developers monetise their apps.
There are certainly a lot more WinRT namespaces in the new release; while
Microsoft isn't intending to focus on Windows 10 developers until its next Build
event in April 2015, there's plenty here for developers to explore. Many of the
new namespaces are focused on productivity and information management scenarios,
which points to more shared code in future Windows Phone releases. Apple's
Continuity lets information flow from phone to tablet to PC, and from an
exploration of the WinRT namespace, it looks as though Windows 10 will be able
to offer something similar.
Programmatic access to contacts, to email and to messaging makes a lot of sense
in a multi-device world, and giving WinRT the tools to do this goes a long way
toward encouraging developers to work with Microsoft's new programming model.
For the enterprise
Microsoft is clearly targeting enterprise users with this latest version of
Windows. While many of the underlying enterprise features rely on a new release
of both Windows Server and the System Center management suite (and the cloud
Intune service), there's a lot that's being done to ensure that enterprise
concerns with Windows 8 won't be issues in Windows 10.
One key concern is the use of Microsoft Accounts for the Windows Store. While
Microsoft hasn't described how the Windows 10 store will operate, a now-deleted
blog post detailed how it would use Azure Active Directory accounts as an
alternative authentication model and would also allow IT departments to curate
their own store experiences. I'd expect Microsoft to announce how this feature
will operate in conjunction with the 2015 release of key Windows management
tools, alongside new Azure AD features.
Then there's the separation of personal and business information on devices
(especially Windows tablets in BYOD scenarios). I talked to senior Microsoft
spokespeople at the Windows 10 event in San Francisco, exploring how a new
container model would allow secure partitioning of work and personal data. Work
apps would get access to the work container and information in one container
can't be copied to another -- even via cut and paste. Some apps, like Office,
will be what Microsoft calls "enlightened" -- able to work in both contexts
while still keeping information under control.
The Windows 10 Technical Preview is most definitely a very early release, and
it's still hard to judge exactly what shape the final product will take. As
alpha releases go -- and the Technical Preview is very much an alpha -- it's
stable and familiar.
I've now installed it as both an upgrade and VM installs, with no problems. I'm
not yet ready to run it as a production OS -- that's likely to wait until the
Consumer Preview, when we'll get a better picture of the final OS. Until then,
what we've currently got is a Windows 10 that still looks very much like Windows
8.1, with elements of a new UI and a new set of APIs.
Many of the key new features, like the containerised separation of user and
corporate data, aren't yet accessible, as they rely on systems management
tooling that won't be available until the early part of 2015. That could be a
problem for IT departments that want to try out those high profile features,
though at this point in the Windows 10 development cycle it's probably best to
use the Technical Preview to explore compatibility issues and to understand the
effects of tuning the delivery of Windows 10 updates.
There's a lot for Microsoft to do between now and launch, especially around
delivering on its user experience promises. But with a timetable that seems to
indicate a release in the second half of 2015, there's still plenty of time.
Many of the nuts and bolts are in place -- what we're waiting for now are the
supporting services and the fit and finish in order to get a better handle on
the final shape of the new Windows.
I'm expecting to hear a lot about Universal apps between now and Windows 10's
release. They're the next wave of Windows Store apps -- and with the new APIs
that are being delivered with Windows 10, look likely to finally offer the same
capabilities as the more mature Win32. Microsoft is starting to position
Universal apps as a significant differentiation between its development
platforms and its competitors' tooling, and with a single store for Universal
apps, it has a key way to help developers monetise their apps.
There are certainly a lot more WinRT namespaces in the new release; while
Microsoft isn't intending to focus on Windows 10 developers until its next Build
event in April 2015, there's plenty here for developers to explore. Many of the
new namespaces are focused on productivity and information management scenarios,
which points to more shared code in future Windows Phone releases. Apple's
Continuity lets information flow from phone to tablet to PC, and from an
exploration of the WinRT namespace, it looks as though Windows 10 will be able
to offer something similar.
Programmatic access to contacts, to email and to messaging makes a lot of sense
in a multi-device world, and giving WinRT the tools to do this goes a long way
toward encouraging developers to work with Microsoft's new programming model.
For the enterprise
Microsoft is clearly targeting enterprise users with this latest version of
Windows. While many of the underlying enterprise features rely on a new release
of both Windows Server and the System Center management suite (and the cloud
Intune service), there's a lot that's being done to ensure that enterprise
concerns with Windows 8 won't be issues in Windows 10.
One key concern is the use of Microsoft Accounts for the Windows Store. While
Microsoft hasn't described how the Windows 10 store will operate, a now-deleted
blog post detailed how it would use Azure Active Directory accounts as an
alternative authentication model and would also allow IT departments to curate
their own store experiences. I'd expect Microsoft to announce how this feature
will operate in conjunction with the 2015 release of key Windows management
tools, alongside new Azure AD features.
Then there's the separation of personal and business information on devices
(especially Windows tablets in BYOD scenarios). I talked to senior Microsoft
spokespeople at the Windows 10 event in San Francisco, exploring how a new
container model would allow secure partitioning of work and personal data. Work
apps would get access to the work container and information in one container
can't be copied to another -- even via cut and paste. Some apps, like Office,
will be what Microsoft calls "enlightened" -- able to work in both contexts
while still keeping information under control.
The Windows 10 Technical Preview is most definitely a very early release, and
it's still hard to judge exactly what shape the final product will take. As
alpha releases go -- and the Technical Preview is very much an alpha -- it's
stable and familiar.
I've now installed it as both an upgrade and VM installs, with no problems. I'm
not yet ready to run it as a production OS -- that's likely to wait until the
Consumer Preview, when we'll get a better picture of the final OS. Until then,
what we've currently got is a Windows 10 that still looks very much like Windows
8.1, with elements of a new UI and a new set of APIs.
Many of the key new features, like the containerised separation of user and
corporate data, aren't yet accessible, as they rely on systems management
tooling that won't be available until the early part of 2015. That could be a
problem for IT departments that want to try out those high profile features,
though at this point in the Windows 10 development cycle it's probably best to
use the Technical Preview to explore compatibility issues and to understand the
effects of tuning the delivery of Windows 10 updates.
There's a lot for Microsoft to do between now and launch, especially around
delivering on its user experience promises. But with a timetable that seems to
indicate a release in the second half of 2015, there's still plenty of time.
Many of the nuts and bolts are in place -- what we're waiting for now are the
supporting services and the fit and finish in order to get a better handle on
the final shape of the new Windows.
