The only road to a much loveable Windows 10 was through Windows 8 and Microsoft knew it. Read our review of Windows 10.

From Stephen Elop’s ‘Burning Platform’ to Satya Nadella’s ‘Mobile First Cloud First’ Microsoft has traveled a road full of deceptively simple yet intricate curves. The journey started with a bet on touch-friendly version of Windows and evolved into a device focused strategy that resulted in Microsoft’s acquisition of Nokia and introduction of the Surface tablet line. Today, almost 3 years after the release of the Windows 8, the Redmond giant has released its latest version of computer operating system for general availability.

The users of Windows 7 and 8 who had reserved there copy of free Windows will be able to get the upgrade as an update that can be downloaded from Windows Update in control panel. Even though Microsoft earlier announced that it will roll out the upgrade in phases, which might span over days and even weeks, I was lucky enough to receive mine the very next morning.
Many users of Windows 10 Insider Program are well aware of what to expect from the full release but rest should rest assure that Windows is ready to be loved again.

 
Start Menu

One of the first things you will (and you have to) notice is the return of our good old Start Menu. However, it has gone through a much needed design overhaul and now includes resizable live tiles as well as improved jump lists. The new design changes also include transparent background and tiles that change their color according to the theme. Customization of start menu has been taken a step further by making tile placement easier and more efficient.

Other additions include ‘Most Recent’ and ‘Most Used’ app-lists that give the Start Menu a purpose to exist and make it more useful and effective. The revamped Start Menu is also resizable meaning you can adjust its width and height depending on your need to pin apps and folders.

Cortana                                                     

Me: Do you know Siri?
Cortana: I know her, but I don’t KNOW her know her.

She tries to be funny and she never fails, she tries to be sarcastic and she never fails, she tries to be sassy and she ends up singing: Frere Jacques, Frere Jacques, dormez-vous, Dormez-vous? Sonnes les matines! Sonnez les matines! Din, dan, don. Din, dan, don.
Helpful every day and Siri on a bad one, Microsoft’s new personal assistant is more than anything alive. Being an on and off tester of Windows 10 preview releases I have personally observed the development of Cortana from its introduction till today and the end result is almost, if not entirely, a representation of constant hard work.

Its user-interface has been polished and now sits well with the dark theme and the new Start Menu. The home screen will tell you a weather forecast followed by the performance of the stocks on your watch list and the most important headlines from the web. To store your personal information Cortana uses a notebook which takes care of all your preferences including Food, Sports, Movies and Events. You can edit the information in notebook depending on your needs and Cortana will have no problem in either remembering or reminding it, all thanks to the calendar and alarm integration. In addition to all these features search is also handled by Cortana. The search pane lists results from web, computer and cloud in one place and in a well-organized manner. You might notice some lag when interacting with it for the first time after every log in but Microsoft is expected to release patches as the Windows rolls out.

Microsoft Edge

There is a good and a bad news for those who haven’t upgraded to Windows 10 yet. Don’t worry Microsoft Edge is here and its great but internet explorer is still not dead. It is not the default browser anymore but if you are a fan you are more than welcome to find it under all apps in start menu.

Microsoft Edge is an exciting prospect but it still isn’t a perfect replacement of Google Chrome or Firefox. The simplistic layout feels refreshing at first but keep on looking at it and you will realize that it is way too simplistic for the kind of a mess that internet is. Yes, it is completely in line with the new Microsoft Design Language 2 but the lack of bright colors and excessively flat icons make it bland and tasteless.

However unlike its dull color scheme Edge shows bright performance when it comes to rendering websites and handling flash or any kind of JavaScript. I did notice some crashes at first but after the first set of Windows Updates released yesterday it seems perfectly stable and responsive. Bing is the default search and it feels like Microsoft really doesn’t want you to change that. Fortunately the browser uses OpenSearch technology and you can change the default browser by first visiting the homepage of a particular search engine and then stressfully diving deep into advanced settings.

Feature wise there are hardly any add-ons but it is on the right track. Microsoft has already announced that Edge will soon support add-ons but you will have to wait a little while longer for that. A great new feature in Edge is Cortana integration. Whether it’s the weather near you, time in another zone or height of Ben Affleck Cortana will search it for you as soon as you type it in the search bar.

Microsoft Edge also introduces the concept of web notes in a whole new way (stalking made easier). You can now take a screenshot of a webpage, edit it in a ‘OneNote like Paint’ and share it with your contacts from inside the browser. I am not sure if desktop users will remain excited about it after some time but as for the Surface and other tablet owners it’s something to look forward to.

In the next part of the review I will talk about the new Universal apps and the bad of Windows 10.