Windows 10 - Initial Impressions
So with surprisingly little fanfare, Microsoft announced Windows 10 on Sept 30 and released a Tech Preview on Oct 1.
It was obvious from the announcement that MS is trying to put Windows 8/8.1 behind them as quickly as they can. But did they ?
What bothered me a bit about the announcement itself was watching Terry Myseron. While the approach to the announcement seemed relaxed, Terry didn't appear that way. Reading from his prompter and not looking that comfortable.
Additionally, while MS discussed their 1.5b Windows users and the great breath of customer experiences and platforms, the approach with Windows 10 to me seemed to be more like Windows 8.2....
So of course I downloaded and loaded the Tech Preview on a standard desktop I have. Here are some of my initial impressions.
The install process was traditional Windows 8-like. The one challenge I have is that my particular desktop is a Core i7 with an ICH10R controller. Windows discovered it as a traditional AHCI controller and installed generic drivers, which initially cause my system to run slow and perform a weird beeping and HDD id loop that slowed the install. Post Install I was easily able to update the driver to Intel's Rapid Storage Technology driver and get back to normal. It's a bit of a nuisance though - you would think that MS and Intel would have this down by now.
One of the points that was stressed in the announcement was UX improvements with new start menu, desktop views, snap views, windowing of Modern apps, etc., that MS stated would make it easy for Enterprise Customers to transition from Windows 7. What was interesting is that XP and Vista were never mentioned.
So the new start menu is nice. It's kind of hybrid between Windows 7 and Windows 8.1. When you left click you get a more traditional Windows start menu with Apps and then an customizable, expandable pane to the right that initially shows a small collection of the Modern apps, like Contacts, Mail, Skype, etc. Others such as news, finance, sports, etc and listed in the "all apps" under the traditional menu pane. The 'tiles" are live tiles - so you will see them update while in the start menu. You can easily drag apps from the All Apps section to the App Pane and then size the tiles as you want..
If you right click on Start, you get the Windows 8.1 style of Control Panel items, task manager, etc. What I would like to see if the ability to customize the items in the right click selection.
What is absent is the Modern Desktop entirely... it's gone. If you have a traditional Keyboard & Mouse machine - which the vast majority of us do, the "Modern" UI is gone and I think will never return. Which then raises the question to me about Modern Apps - why have them ?
One of the things I did like about Windows 8 was the introduction of the Bing Apps like News, Sport, Finance, Weather, etc. It was nice to have the content and the Modern view with those apps was nice. The navigation was painful though and I hated not having a way to close apps easily. That was addressed with Windows 8.1 and Update 1.
So with Windows 10, Modern Apps are treated much the same way as any Windows app. You can launch, resize, snap, close, etc. So now the question becomes about their usability. So far from my limited testing - they appear to resize properly and the content is still usable. What will be interesting to see is how these apps may evolve. At the announcement MS indicated that there will be a more customized experienced for desktop/laptop, hybrid and tablet formats.
Another new UX feature is the Desktop Collection - so the ability to select a group of apps or view and save it as a desktop - then switch between those. So very Unix-like. For the Power User this is a really nice feature and long overdue for Windows.
All in all Windows 10 provides a nice UX experience for the traditional desktop keyboard and mouse user and I guess if anything the question is why did this take so long to get right.
Windows 8 was released two years ago - and I argue that many of the "Features" in Windows 10 should have been in Windows 8 day one. Additionally many of the Modern apps at Windows 8 release were abysmal and just now are starting to be usable.
So as with any OS - I always ask two questions - 1. Could I use this everyday and 2. Would I recommend it. So yes I could use Windows 10 everyday and in fact I am writing this blog entry from Windows 10. And yes I would recommend it. If you are currently have a Windows 7 machine and were tepid about the move to Windows 8/8.1, then Windows 10 will help ease that concern and you will feel comfortable with the UI.
What I do recommend however is that if you have not upgraded your machine to SSD - do so. Windows 8 and now 10 were designed for those drives and run very well with them. It's not they won't support traditional HDD - but the performance difference is so dramatic and the price points have come down to the point where they are very affordable.
As far as the naming / versioning is concerned - I think it is an overreaction on the part of MS. Sure Windows 8 took it on the jaw pretty hard in the press and even with me - I panned it pretty good a few times - but things started to evolve with Windows 8.1 and I feel the many UX changes introduced with this build are really Windows 8.2 With that said, I understand the need for MS to try and put Windows 8 in the rear view.
Bottom line - if you have the resources to test Windows 10 - please do so - I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.
It was obvious from the announcement that MS is trying to put Windows 8/8.1 behind them as quickly as they can. But did they ?
What bothered me a bit about the announcement itself was watching Terry Myseron. While the approach to the announcement seemed relaxed, Terry didn't appear that way. Reading from his prompter and not looking that comfortable.
Additionally, while MS discussed their 1.5b Windows users and the great breath of customer experiences and platforms, the approach with Windows 10 to me seemed to be more like Windows 8.2....
So of course I downloaded and loaded the Tech Preview on a standard desktop I have. Here are some of my initial impressions.
The install process was traditional Windows 8-like. The one challenge I have is that my particular desktop is a Core i7 with an ICH10R controller. Windows discovered it as a traditional AHCI controller and installed generic drivers, which initially cause my system to run slow and perform a weird beeping and HDD id loop that slowed the install. Post Install I was easily able to update the driver to Intel's Rapid Storage Technology driver and get back to normal. It's a bit of a nuisance though - you would think that MS and Intel would have this down by now.
One of the points that was stressed in the announcement was UX improvements with new start menu, desktop views, snap views, windowing of Modern apps, etc., that MS stated would make it easy for Enterprise Customers to transition from Windows 7. What was interesting is that XP and Vista were never mentioned.
So the new start menu is nice. It's kind of hybrid between Windows 7 and Windows 8.1. When you left click you get a more traditional Windows start menu with Apps and then an customizable, expandable pane to the right that initially shows a small collection of the Modern apps, like Contacts, Mail, Skype, etc. Others such as news, finance, sports, etc and listed in the "all apps" under the traditional menu pane. The 'tiles" are live tiles - so you will see them update while in the start menu. You can easily drag apps from the All Apps section to the App Pane and then size the tiles as you want..
If you right click on Start, you get the Windows 8.1 style of Control Panel items, task manager, etc. What I would like to see if the ability to customize the items in the right click selection.
What is absent is the Modern Desktop entirely... it's gone. If you have a traditional Keyboard & Mouse machine - which the vast majority of us do, the "Modern" UI is gone and I think will never return. Which then raises the question to me about Modern Apps - why have them ?
One of the things I did like about Windows 8 was the introduction of the Bing Apps like News, Sport, Finance, Weather, etc. It was nice to have the content and the Modern view with those apps was nice. The navigation was painful though and I hated not having a way to close apps easily. That was addressed with Windows 8.1 and Update 1.
So with Windows 10, Modern Apps are treated much the same way as any Windows app. You can launch, resize, snap, close, etc. So now the question becomes about their usability. So far from my limited testing - they appear to resize properly and the content is still usable. What will be interesting to see is how these apps may evolve. At the announcement MS indicated that there will be a more customized experienced for desktop/laptop, hybrid and tablet formats.
Another new UX feature is the Desktop Collection - so the ability to select a group of apps or view and save it as a desktop - then switch between those. So very Unix-like. For the Power User this is a really nice feature and long overdue for Windows.
All in all Windows 10 provides a nice UX experience for the traditional desktop keyboard and mouse user and I guess if anything the question is why did this take so long to get right.
Windows 8 was released two years ago - and I argue that many of the "Features" in Windows 10 should have been in Windows 8 day one. Additionally many of the Modern apps at Windows 8 release were abysmal and just now are starting to be usable.
So as with any OS - I always ask two questions - 1. Could I use this everyday and 2. Would I recommend it. So yes I could use Windows 10 everyday and in fact I am writing this blog entry from Windows 10. And yes I would recommend it. If you are currently have a Windows 7 machine and were tepid about the move to Windows 8/8.1, then Windows 10 will help ease that concern and you will feel comfortable with the UI.
What I do recommend however is that if you have not upgraded your machine to SSD - do so. Windows 8 and now 10 were designed for those drives and run very well with them. It's not they won't support traditional HDD - but the performance difference is so dramatic and the price points have come down to the point where they are very affordable.
As far as the naming / versioning is concerned - I think it is an overreaction on the part of MS. Sure Windows 8 took it on the jaw pretty hard in the press and even with me - I panned it pretty good a few times - but things started to evolve with Windows 8.1 and I feel the many UX changes introduced with this build are really Windows 8.2 With that said, I understand the need for MS to try and put Windows 8 in the rear view.
Bottom line - if you have the resources to test Windows 10 - please do so - I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.
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