Can Windows 10 Change The Game For Microsoft?

The latest but the last operating system in Windows series, Windows 10 has lots of attractive features which had been missing in its earlier releases

– Raj Nimesh, Senior Market Analyst, Client Devices, IDC

Microsoft recently announced the launch of its ‘last’ operating system in Windows series, Windows 10. Why I am calling it ‘last’ is because post this announcement, Microsoft will offer upgrades to its users and launch of new series of Windows will come to an end. Having said that, Windows 10 comes with many new and attractive features, which were missing in its earlier releases. Under all possibilities, this OS is likely to impress its users and change the way people see Windows, especially after a not-so-pleasing experience with Windows 8.

Windows 10 is expected to hit the Indian markets in summer this year and promises to be the most exciting Windows OS ever. It has added features for all users including gamers and developers. It comes with some unique features that users have never experienced before, such as new and advanced Cortana for PCs, new UI, a new web browser (Spartan) and universal apps.

It’s new and free

In order to bring as many customers on board, Windows 10 will offer free upgrades to all the Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 users. However, the free upgrades will only be offered to the consumer segment and the commercial segment continues to pay for upgrades. The free upgrade will, however, be offered only for 1 year after the launch, as Microsoft wants to attract as many estranged Windows 8 users which account for mere 15% of total Windows users. Windows 7 continues to dominate the market with over 50% market share. Microsoft promises to provide smooth and seamless transition to its existing users without the loss of installed applications and data and minimal configurations requirement which they expect to achieve using new runtime configuration tools.

Windows 10 gives a fresh new experience to its users and at the same time provides a familiar user interface to Windows 8 as well as Windows 7 users. For the first time, it has come up with the feature of Start Menu expansion wherein the expand/compress mode provides a familiar look to both Windows 8 and Windows 7 leaving them contented.

The OS is much faster and lighter as compared to its predecessors, and its gaming features require same hardware requirement as Windows 7. This means gamers with lower hardware configuration can have better graphical experience while using Windows 10 powered with DirectX 12 API. This new API is also expected to bring down the power consumption by almost 50%, leaving gamers with higher battery life and increased play time.

Welcome, Spartan!

Windows 10 will also have a new browser called Spartan along with existing Internet Explorer (IE). Unlike IE, which will maintain its industry standards, Spartan is expected to have better speed and features and is expected to compete closely with Google Chrome and Apple Safari.

Spartan has been built to be compatible with how the web is written today. It comes with built-in technology for easy mark-up to help write or type directly on web pages which can be shared with other groups through emails or other applications. Apart from this, Spartan can also be made voice enabled by activating Cortana’s controls. With some unique features, Spartan is expected to give much better experience to its users as compared to Internet Explorer.

New and advanced Cortana

The biggest and highly promoted feature of Windows 10 is Cortana on PCs. A digital assistant had been associated with only smartphones so far and for the first time it comes to a PC. Neither Apple nor Google have ever tried this before and hence it will be interesting to see how successful Microsoft will be in bringing Cortana to this part of the technology world.

This version of Cortana is not only advanced, but intelligent enough to assist you personally as it understands natural languages. Microsoft describes it as a whole new natural way of interacting with your PC and claims it be world’s most personal digital assistant. Cortana is provided at the extreme left of the task bar and can be activated by saying “Hey Cortana.” She is intelligent enough to play the music of your choice, can search and show photos, can search your hard drive, one drive, calendar, contacts, internet and interact with users intelligently. She can even create and send emails. However, whether it will solely manage to drive the market, is questionable, as a very low number of users actually use voice-enabled functions.

Better security and efficiency for business

Windows 10 offers better security resulting from two factor authentication which will require physical access to the machine, making it difficult to hack. This added feature comes from a password protection as well as biometric recognition. Whereas password can be acquired by hacker, the biometric protection will require physical access to the machine. However, in order to facilitate the user accessibility, the second degree of authentication can be achieved via other mobile devices by connecting through Wi-Fi or Bluetooth.

Windows 10 will also support the universal apps which can be used on any device running on this OS. The users therefore, can have same experience of apps while using Windows PC, phone, tablet or workstation device.

Same platform for all devices

Another enticing feature of Windows 10 is that its users can have same platform for all the devices. This will certainly add some more share to Microsoft’s phone and tablet market. However, it seems highly unlikely that customers will give up their existing iOS or Android devices and shift to Windows OS, especially when Lumia experience has not been very pleasing for most of the users. The commitment of its users towards Windows has definitely taken a hit over the past few years encouraging them to shift to iOS and Android, and all the efforts of Microsoft have gone in vain. Though Windows 10 might win over hearts of PC users, it is highly unlikely that users will install it on all the other devices.

Final Word

All in all, this Microsoft OS comes with some really attractive features and is expected to provide a better experience to disgruntled Windows 8 users, even as they continue to impress Windows 7 user base.

Though end-users shift from Windows 8 would be imminent, Windows 7 users might as well wait for user experience. Having lost considerable ground on the rapidly growing smartphone market, this launch may still have little impact in convincing existing iOS and Android users to move to Windows. However, it definitely has the ability to arrest the migration from Windows to other operating systems. And that may well be a starting point to the rejuvenated Windows ecosystem.