Windows 10 looks and feels great.
I used the newest build of the OS for as long as I was able amid demos and breakout sessions, on both a Microsoft Surface Pro 3 and a Lenovo Yoga 3 Pro. The changes from the currently available build aren’t big ones, but they’re smart, and make the system easier to use.
It’s great progress for an operating system that we’ve all come to use as a whipping boy, and with good reason. When I first saw Windows 8, I was confused. How was I going to click on tiles when I use a keyboard and mouse? I was impressed by the ambition of the operating system, which pointed a bold direction for computing in the near future. Unfortunately, it was the wrong direction.
That fundamental flaw has dogged Windows 8 from the get-go, and while Windows 8.1 took steps to improve it, the operating system hasn’t fundamentally changed to bridge the gap between how Microsoft thought consumers used their computers and how they actually do.
Windows 10 offers a better solution with Continuum, which lets a laptop act like a laptop and a tablet like a tablet, and lets one device switch simply and smartly between the two. The Surface Pro 3 is the perfect example of this class of in-between device, and when I pulled the keyboard from it, a slider popped up above the Notification Center asking if I wanted to switch to tablet mode. I sure do. Flick the switch and a new version of the Start screen appears, where you can mash those tiles all you want. Click the keyboard back into place and you’re allowed to go back to the pure desktop.
