On Jul 30, 2015, at 8:21 AM, Richard Turner <[email protected]> wrote:
Two things:
1. Edge, the new default browser is only accessible to NVDA beta so
people will have to figure out how to launch IE in Windows 10 for web use 2.
Here is an extremely long review from an accessibility perspective from
CoolBlindTech:
http://www.coolblindtech.com/stepping-over-the-threshold-windows-10-in
-10000-words-thoroughly-reviewed/
If you copied this review into Word it is about 31 pages, but a lot of that is
chatter but it is a good, positive, thorough review with some warnings for
accessibility.
Richard
-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On
Behalf Of M. Taylor
Sent: Thursday, July 30, 2015 12:13 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Microsoft Windows 10 review: Microsoft gets it right
Hello Everyone,
As so many of us use our iOS devices in combination with Windows, I
thought it appropriate to post this cNet review, on-list.
I have done my best to remove any orphan links or references but I may
have missed a few.
You may find the link to the original article at the end of the text.
Enjoy,
Mark
Microsoft Windows 10 review: Microsoft gets it right
By: Nate Ralph
Reviewed: July 28, 2015
The Good:
Windows 10 bridges the gap between PCs and tablets without alienating
anyone. The new OS combines the best bits of old and new Windows
features into a cohesive package, while correcting nearly all of the
missteps of Windows 8. The upgrade process is mostly painless, and
free for most Windows
7 and 8 users.
The Bad:
Many of the new features will be lost on those who don't care about touch.
Automatic, forced updates could spell trouble later on. Cortana's
features are better suited for smartphones.
The Bottom Line:
Windows 10 delivers a refined, vastly improved vision for the future
of computing with an operating system that's equally at home on
tablets and traditional PCs -- and it's a free upgrade for most users.
Windows 10 is the Goldilocks version of Microsoft's venerable PC
operating system -- a "just right" compromise between the familiar
dependability of Windows 7, and the forward-looking touchscreen vision of
Windows 8.
This new Windows, available as a free upgrade for existing Windows 7
and Windows 8 noncorporate users, is built from the ground up to
pursue Microsoft's vision of a unified OS that spans all devices
without alienating any one platform. It's an attempt to safeguard
Microsoft's crumbling software hegemony, assailed on all sides by
Google and Apple. And it's a vision of the future as Microsoft sees
it, where a single user experience spans every piece of technology we touch.
Welcome to Windows as a service.
Yes, this new OS is chock-full of fresh features. To name just a few:
a lean, fast Internet Explorer replacement called Edge; Microsoft's
Siri-like voice-controlled virtual assistant, Cortana; and the ability
to stream real-time games to your desktop from an Xbox One in another
room. (And in case you're wondering: there is no "Windows 9" --
Microsoft skipped it, going straight from 8 to 10.)
But Windows 10 is also the end of a long, awkward road that began with
the release of Windows 8 in 2012, when Microsoft tried to convince a
world of keyboard and mouse wielders that touchscreens were the way to go -- or
else.
Ironically, in 2015, the PC hardware for that touchscreen future is
now here
-- everything from 2-in-1s such as the Lenovo Yoga line to convertible
tablets with detachable keyboards, like Microsoft's own Surface. And
Windows
10 smoothly lets users transition from "tablet" to "PC" mode on such
devices like never before.
For the rest of the PC universe -- including those who still prefer
good old-fashioned keyboard and mouse navigation -- Windows 10 is a
welcome return to form. The Start menu, inexplicably yanked from 8, is
back and working the way you expect it to. Those live tiles from the
Windows 8 home screen still exist, but they've been attached to the
Start menu, where they make a lot more sense. And the fiendishly
hidden Charms bar has been morphed into the more straightforward (and easier to
find) Action Center.
As always, there are some quibbles and gripes with the end product,
but all-in-all -- after living with Windows 10 for months -- I can say
it's a winner. It's flexible, adaptable and customizable. And it's
been battle-tested by an army of beta testers for the better part of a
year, making it one of the most robust operating system rollouts in recent
memory.
A fresh Start
The Start menu is back; it's almost funny how relieving that is. That
humble Start button has been a fixture on the lower left corner of the
Windows desktop since the halcyon days of Windows 95, offering speedy
access to apps and settings. Press it on Windows 10, and you'll see
the latest step in a long conversation about the state of the PC industry.
I spend more time than I'd like to admit rearranging the Start Menu.
The past sits on the left: a neat column with shortcuts to your most
used apps. Press the "All Apps" button and you'll get an alphabetical
list of all of the apps installed on your PC. There are folders in
there too -- press them, and extra options will fly out, just like they always
have.
The future -- or at least, the future as Microsoft envisions it --
sits on the right side of the Start menu. These are the colorful,
animated live tiles that debuted in Windows 8, pulling double duty as
app shortcuts and informative widgets. You can resize these live
tiles, drag them about to arrange them into groups and pin as many
apps as you'd like -- the entire Start menu can be shrunk or expanded
to suit your liking. It's essentially a miniaturized version of the
fullscreen Start menu we saw in Windows 8. Hate live tiles? Then unpin
them to excise them from your computer, leaving you with the narrow column of
frequently used apps we've known for so long.
One step back, two steps forward
The Start menu in Windows 10 is admission that Windows 8 maybe have
been a bit too forward thinking. But Microsoft hasn't abandoned that
vision of unifying all manner of devices under a single operating
system: Continuum in Windows 10 is the latest attempt to bridge the
gap between touch and non-touch devices, and this time it doesn't
force us to relearn how to work with our PCs.
To start, there's no divide between the Windows 8-style "Modern" apps
you get from the Windows app store, and those you install the old-fashioned way.
Everything exists as a traditional windowed app, sharing space on the
desktop. If you're on a two-in-one device like Microsoft's Surface Pro
3, pop the keyboard off and Windows 10 will switch to tablet mode. The
Start menu and your apps will stretch to take up the entire screen,
and all of the miscellaneous apps and shortcuts on your taskbar will
disappear, to give your finger fewer obstacles to hit
Reattach the keyboard, and everything slots back into place. It's an
instantaneous, seamless process (once you've shooed away the annoying
confirmation window). It's also entirely optional: you can disable the
feature and switch to tablet mode manually, or forget that this whole
touch concept exists at all.
This is what Windows 8 always should've been: an operating system that
bridges the divide between touch and non-touch, without alienating
folks who fall into one camp or the other. Like it or not, the future
belongs to devices with touchscreens. But Microsoft (finally)
understands that we'll all get there at own pace, and Continuum makes
the transition painless. And now that there are so many hybrid devices
to choose from, making the switch to touch without abandoning the
interface we know is more important than ever.
Learning new tricks
Microsoft hasn't stopped at making touch make sense on a Windows PC.
With Windows 10, just about every facet of the OS has been tweaked and
updated, and a few new features have been rolled in. In typical
Microsoft fashion, there's a dizzying array of keyboard shortcuts and
touch gestures for each of these features, giving you no fewer than
three ways to access the things you're trying to get to. No need to
memorize them all -- just use whatever suits you (or your device) best.
Virtual desktops
If I had to pick my favorite new feature, I'd go with virtual desktops.
Click the new Task View button on the taskbar and you'll get a
bird's-eye view of all of the apps you've got open. Drag one of those
apps onto the "new desktop" button, and it'll be moved to its own
independent workspace. I can keep one workspace focused on work, a
separate desktop for gaming forums, yet another workspace for the new
camera lenses I'm checking out; there's no limit to the amount of
virtual desktops you can create, and each one is treated as its own little
private island.
Virtual desktops are far from a new development, and they've been
available in past versions of Windows thanks to third-party apps. But
it's nice to see Microsoft catching up here. The feature could still
use some work: desktops are numbered, but if you create a lot of them
it can be hard to keep track of where everything is. The "traditional"
Win32 apps you might download and install from a website are happy to
open a new instance on any desktop, while clicking the shortcut on an
app from the Windows store will yank you back to whatever desktop you used it
on last.
You can move apps across virtual desktops -- just drag them, or
right-click to shunt them over -- but there's no way to reorder the
virtual desktops themselves, which would be really useful for staying
organized. I'd also like to be able to set a different wallpaper for
every virtual desktop -- I can do both of those things in Apple's OSX
operating system, and have always found it really handy.
Windows Snap
The Snap feature introduced in Windows 7 has gotten a bit of an
upgrade, too. Drag an app to the left or right side of the screen, and it'll
"snap"
to fill that space. The new Snap Assist feature will then chime in,
showing you little thumbnails of any other apps that are currently
open -- click a thumbnail, and it'll fill up the remaining space. You
can also snap an app into a corner of your display and fill your
screen with up to four apps, divided equally across the screen -- this
could prove useful for folks with massive monitors.
Action Center
The new Action Center replaces the "Charms" introduced in Windows 8,
and is another nod to mobile operating systems. Click the Action
center icon on the taskbar to bring up a panel that houses all of your
app notifications, and offers quick access to a few important system
settings, like toggling your Wi-Fi network or switching in and out of
tablet mode -- you can choose the options that turn up here in the
settings menu. If you're coming from Windows 7 and have no idea where
to find some of the settings you're used to, there's a good chance you'll find
them here.
Wi-Fi Sense
I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Wi-Fi Sense. While technically not a
new feature (it's part of Windows Phone 8.1) its presence in Windows
10 should've been a welcome addition: Wi-Fi Sense connects your
devices to trusted Wi-Fi hotspots.
I love the idea. Automatically sharing Wi-Fi credentials with my
friends would remove much of the hassle of most social gatherings,
when people just want to jump on my Wi-Fi network. And -- this part is
key -- Wi-Fi Sense doesn't share your actual password, so it
theoretically eases a social transaction (the sharing of Wi-Fi
connectivity) without necessarily compromising my network security.
Until Wi-Fi sense offers granular control over sharing, I'd avoid it.
But the implementation is, in a word, daft. I do want to automatically
share my network with a select group of friends who are visiting, and
have them return the favor. I don't want to automatically share access
with everyone in my Outlook address book, or on Skype, or the random
assortment of folks I've added on Facebook over the years. Give me the
ability to choose who I share access with, down to the individual, and
I'll give it a shot. Until then, I'll be leaving Wi-Fi Sense off -- I recommend
you do too.
Windows Hello and Windows Passport
Microsoft is also beefing up security with Windows Hello. The feature
will use your Windows 10 devices' camera or a fingerprint scanner to
turn your body into a password. Once you've authenticated yourself
with Windows Hello, Windows Passport will then give you access to a
number of third-party sites and products, without forcing you to log
in all over again. This should make it a bit more convenient to log in
to your devices, so you don't skimp on traditional measures, like
having a robust password. The only catch is that Hello isn't widely
supported on a lot of existing hardware: you'll need a device sporting Intel's
RealSense camera, or a fingerprint scanner.
Original Article at:
http://www.cnet.com/products/microsoft-windows-10/?roi=echo3-281910863
52-293
96149-dd7f5e652252fc71d16b9ce74dfd1ee2&ftag=CAD1acfa04&bhid=2269466738
168683
9172315209628767
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