My personal experience with Windows 10 Technical Preview

Last week I did the upgrade from Windows 8.1 Enterprise (which is needed for Direct Access) to Windows 10 Technical Preview. When looking for a download just look here. In my case the installation was done in 15 a 20 minutes on SSD drive, not too bad! After the upgrade everything seems to work okay, applications and data were still in place, and new functionality was added. Let's have a look at a few new (and really cool) features!

First there is the new Start menu (where everyone is talking about). Personally I think it's great to have it back now. No more switching between desktop and tiles is easier then loosing focus on desktop everytime. The combination of applications and apps is a good match, and looks/feels good. > Welcome back Start menu!

When you want to change back to tiles or have a tablet device, the Start screen (known from Windows 8.x) can be displayed as well. Just use what you prefer, and fits best on the device you are using. Windows 10 is looking at the device you're using and switch on Start menu or Start screen by default. Seems okay to me!?

When looking at the task bar you will see a few new icons added. They are all handy for sure. First there is 'Search' to find data (documents for example), which is much easier then before. Second there is 'Task view', where you can quickly see which programs or folders are opened/active. Just click the window you want. Another one is 'Favorites', where you can find most used and opened files and folders (e.g. Favorites, Frequent folders and Recent files).

Another great feature is when moving a task to the left- or right side of the screen. In the other part an overview is displayed on other active tasks. Just click a task, and that one will be showed in the other part of screen. When dragging a task to a random corner, it will be placed there, without showing other active tasks. In that scenario you will see 4 opened tasks with only a few clicks. You can also generate a new desktop where (active) programs are not visible at once. Just start tasks on multiple desktops with this!

Applications and apps can run both in same screen now, instead of switching from desktop to tiles screen. Apps can run in a full windows or in a window as shown in the screenshot. Much easier that way if you ask me. No need to go left above to switch from a fullscreen app to desktop (remember?), when working on a fat client device. Things are now as they should be in the first place.

Maybe I missed some more features, but for me these are enough reason to move on to Windows 10 already! No need to worry about things like Direct Access, Office 2013 or other features. All seems to work okay! Expect a Final release in May 2015 and multiple Preview versions (Consumer Preview, Release Candidate) in between.

Windows 10 may be the best OS since Windows 7 finally! Windows 10: One product family, One platform, One store. Love it!

Update: Back to Windows 8.1 now because of Privacy Statements for Windows Technical Preview. But for the few days I used it, I personally think that the OS is great already. Just want some more features like Cortana, and it will be even greater. Thanks!