Apple is busy putting the finishing touches on its next operating system, but Microsoft gave the world an early look at the next version of Windows today that is set to run on everything from smartphones to PCs.
Microsoft says its next version of Windows will be the most comprehensive platform ever, and while the company is retreating from the disaster that was Windows 8, it’s bringing back some classic features and stealing a few things from the Mac too. If you’re considering making the jump between operating systems, here’s a guide on how to switch Mac to Windows with all the essential steps.
Here’s everything Mac users need to know about Windows 10:
It’s called Windows 10
Would it have made sense to follow up Windows 8 with Windows 9? Yes. But because the last operating system Microsoft released was such a disaster, Redmond decided they needed a number buffer, because 9 is just too damn close to 8.1.
The Start Menu is back
PC users were perplexed to see the Start Menu disappear in Windows 8, but the software engineers at Microsoft have decided to bring it back in Windows 10. Now the Start Menu is customizable, resizable, tile-friendly and you can type commands into it. This is a huge deal to most Windows users.
They copied OS X’s Expose feature
Expose is one of my favorite features of OS X, allowing you to feel like you’re working on four different displays on just one tiny Macbook Air screen. Microsoft finally got the clued in on its awesomeness and decided to copy it with a new multiple desktop view feature. Basically, it lets you switch between different desktops with apps running in their own areas, you know, just like OS X.
Command Prompt got a redesign
Average users rarely touch the command prompt but Microsoft took extra time to note the UI improvements its design team made to Command Prompt so that it’s a better productivity tool. They even added the ability to paste in directories into the prompt with Ctrl+V – just like you’ve been able to do in Terminal on OS X for over a decade.
Windows 10 is also the next version of Windows Phone
Windows 10 will support screens ranging anywhere from 4 inches up to 8- inches. Microsoft says they see it as a natural step forward from the Windows 8.1 model, and are trying to blend the experience across PCs, tablets, and smartphones, but building a platform that scales from small devices all the way up to Azure in a way that’s still appealing to users will be a tough task (as Windows 8.1 already proved).
It won’t come out until after Apple unveils OS X 10.11
In a lot of ways Windows 10 is trying to catch up to the appeals of OS X, but Microsoft isn’t even going to get this baby out until later in 2015. No word on pricing yet, but once it hits stores Apple will have already unveiled OS X 10.11 Compton, which will be free to anyone who has purchased a Mac.
Buster Hein is a freelance writer who lives in Phoenix, Arizona. Twitter: @bst3r.
74 responses to “6 things Mac users need to know about Windows 10”
Um, that’s not Expose. Also, Expose is literally useless. Please tell me how it’s useful. I’d love to start using it for some reason.
I use it all the time for multitasking. Probably just depends how you use it.
Mission Control (Expose) makes it real easy and fast to see what windows I have open and quickly switch between them. One of my favorite features. Beats CMD+Tab. I guess it’s only relevant if you have a touchpad.
Expose is different from Mission Control these days. Expose now is a feature that shows all windows from the active foreground app, plus the minimized windows. It’s a different gesture on the trackpad and unlike Mission Control it can’t be triggered by the Magic Mouse.
I have used Expose for years and have enjoyed it quite a bit. There are often times when I need to grab a particular window and bam there are all my windows and and just grab the one I want instead of shuffling through looking for them.
@Steve Chavez @Tom Mack @eric_dunn you are all talking about Mission Control, NOT Expose. Expose shows you one, and only one, app. If you need to focus singularly on one app, I could understand – but why not just go to full screen for that app? Mission Control is very useful, but not Expose.
Expose is different from Spaces/Mission Control, though. I get the value of each of those.
This link might help:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyKN81GJqY8
That’s what you said, but not actually accurate. Expose is separate from Mission Control (as shown in the Trackpad options here).
Windows X Cheetah, xOS, xPay, xWatch, and Siri-X? I like it!
OS X Compton?? The jokes are gonna be hilarious.
Watch apple roll up one on Windows and say 10.10 is now 11.
They should do that^^
Is this some kind of Beats by Dre abstract reference?
Expose? You you mean Mission Control? Well, Windows did not copy that from OS X. The feature originated form Linux desktop environments, KDE (I remember) to be exact.
I feel bad for linux because they come out with a lot of great stuff that OS X has used for years. I feel like Apple’s always keeping tabs on linux and could care less what Windows is doing. I wished Microsoft would have done the same, I think it’s contributed to the downfall of their OS in recent years. They seem to be getting with it though but who know what they’re doing. With every OS they seem to go in a new direction. It’s confusing.
Me too. Some of the best ideas and innovation comes from open source projects, but they aren’t as vocal as cooperations, so people might mistakenly give credit to the companies rather than the actual innovators.
As for Windows, I think starting with Windows 7 they are focusing on versatility.
Does it matter where they copied it? Fact is, it should have been there for at least 7 years because it’s one of the best features on Mac and Linux PCs
No, but they should credit the actual source. I agree that Windows is very late to the party.
11. Microsoft did not buy and rebrand OS X.
OS X 10.11 Compton AWESOME!!
I can’t agree more, Windows has some great aspects but they really need to do a version ground up, fix Registry dependance and all otherwise it’s just new clothes
I don’t think you guys understand how complex and difficult that would be to start writing an OS from scratch. They can rebuild individual elements but starting from a blank canvas and going forward would disrupt just about everything in their ecosystem.
Well, they are jumping a digit, so they should put the effort in. Not that I’ll ever use it anyway.
I might toy around with it in a VM but I’ll never own a PC again so no change of it being my daily machine…unless I get a new job at some point that requires a PC but I did a good job of getting my current job to switch me to mac within 2 months of working there.
Sometimes you have to just bite the bullet and do it. Apple did it when they switched from PPC processors to Intel and the OS to BSD unix based system. They did it by including rosetta for a while for legacy apps. Why could MS not do the same?
I’m not sure that’s the same thing. Did they really start from an entirely new code base? My understanding was they rewrote the way the processor interacts with instructions in the operating system rather than creating it all from a blank UNIX canvas.
Looks to me like they started over, but I didn’t read the whole thing. I’ll get back to you shortly. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_OS_X
The interesting thing is Apple has actually done it twice. First from 68k to PPC to intel. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple%27s_transition_to_Intel_processors
Honestly though, I’m not an expert so you could be write about Apple and PPC -> Intel. But it just seems like they probably worked around it.
Hahaha
mac it is
It’s still the same old Windows. Just a slightly different UI. Well not different at all, it’s just reminiscent of the old Start Menu. It will still get the annoying viruses, you’ll still have to deal with driver crap, the system slowing down after weeks, .dll file errors, BSOD, have to dedicate some CPU power and other sys resources for the AV and other third-party Internet Security crap that needs to run in the background because without them, your computer will be full of viruses in no time plus you need to do scans regularly @_@, you have to browse through a plethora of control panel settings to find what you really want to find, inconsistency of colors across multiple PCs depending on their varying display monitors and manufacturers… Same old story really.. It’s going to be the same experience.. If some of I have mentioned above changes, then bravo.. But meh I hardly think any of those will change. It’s Windows! Still is! Never ever going back to it. OS X is the best for my workflow as a graphic artist, photographer, and musician. ^_^
I run 4 Macs and 2 windows pcs, one with 7 on since Jan 11 and have never had and Dll errors or BSOD, No problems with it at all, not saying its perfect but I dont recognise what your saying.
My personal favorite is OSX but Windows 7 has been rock stable for me.
I don’t agree either. I’m a windows developer and mac developer. I’m also a beta tester for a large audio manufacturer and a pro photographer and I used to run a recording studio all PC based. Windows 7 has been utterly rock solid.
I really wish people would stop bashing windows I have likes and dislikes of both platforms but what you’ve said above just isn’t accurate. BSOD is more often than not a hardware related issue btw …
I’ve also built lots of mission critical servers in the past and you would generally be laughed at if you suggested running OSX on such a machine, windows or linux all the way. In many ways comparing OSX to Windows is comparing apples and oranges. OSX is definitely more of a “Consumer OS” and Windows is definitely more of an “Enterprise OS”.
Both platforms have their quirks but to continually bash Windows by blaming the hardware is ridiculous. The hardware is completely unrelated to the OS on the PC platform, that’s part of the appeal. I have a beast of a machine here that to get a MacPro equal is around 4 to 5 times the cost for essentially the same hardware …
oh do enlighten us why OS X on a server is cause for laughing
They only bash Windows because they need that feeling of superiority. Plus, they tend to read in small snippets, so they think they have the answers. I have Windows 7, and never had any issues. I’ve never used OSX, so I have no issues with that either.
So maybe they should just goto Windows 7.1 :D U know what’s crazy, people probably would actually buy it!
Windows has to work on hardware supplied by OEMs. Apple designs their own systems. If Apple can’t get their stuff to work on the hardware they select/design easier than MS can, then that would be pretty pathetic.
BTW, most of the BSODs are due to third party drivers, not the OS itself.
Windows reminds me of American cars made in the early- to mid-80s: so shoddily built, so contemptuous of the customer, that it allowed many foreign companies to gain a foothold in the American market. And that was the brilliance of Apple: they knew most people didn’t want to have to type commands and install drivers and such; they just wanted their computers to work, simply.
I spent far too many years on awful Windows platforms that would freeze without warning, slow down noticeably over time, make it virtually impossible for anyone outside of IT to figure out a simple issue, etc. I don’t know that I would ever return to the platform after so many years of awful experiences (that, I might add, continue to this day at work).
they’re running out of ideas
As far as I know Yosemite is 10.10, not 10.11. Unless there’s something I’m missing.. I have the Yosemite GM installed and it says 10.10.
damn, you got a little beast there…
OS X’s name always changes after XX.10. In this case, OS X 10.11 Compton.
Unless I’m missing something Yosemite is 10.10. I have the GM installed and the version number is 10.10, not 10.11.
“..Windows 10 is trying to catch up to the appeals of OS X, but Microsoft isn’t even going to get this baby out until later in 2015.”
As in the version AFTER Yosemite.
Jokes. Learn em.
People still pay for Operating Systems?
sadly…yes.
7. It fills up space on slow news days
Not very surprised that this review is very subjective. Stating irrelevant facts, claiming features to be copied from osx which have been present for years in both windows and linux is disapointng. I have been using windows from the 80s, linux from the 90s and osx from 201x. For me, every user who claims osx to be more stable refuses to see apple really messed up unix (try using apple server). Most apple users i met hardly do anything other than open safari. They don’t understand their os. Linux still has some rough edges but linux mint is reallly a good alternative. Windows 7 was spot on, windows 8 is ok, for most a step too big too take. Osx looks nice, ok but what design steps did osx really take since beginning of osx other than strip it of its more powerfull features and push users to the terminal?
I don’t see too much wrong with OS X as a version of UNIX.
Calling the review subjective, then go on to be subjective yourself. No a smart move. FYI, ask the photography, TV and graphic design industries what system they prefer to use, and I can guarantee you they just don’t open safari. To say something looks nice is simplistic at best when you don’t understand how something actually works. Ever wondered why you never have to defrag a Mac? Because of its good looks of course. Moron.
Not having to Defrag a Mac has nothing to do with Apple, it has everything to do with the Unix Filesystem underneath. So I guess now you have no clue about how computers work either, MORON!
Calling people a moron doesn’t give you any cred, just shows you up to be what you are. OSX is barely Unix any more than windows 8 is XP. Somehow I’m guessing you know nothing about OSX but quite a lot about abuse and trolling. Back under the bridge with you.
Copying? Catching up? Hahaha!! That’s rich coming from you, Applehead!! Lol!!
This Mac user only needs to know it’s Windows. That’s the most important thing.
Stupid click bait article.
I am far from a Windows fan, but even I know that various *nix systems have had some of the features you say MS copied, long before even Apple’s OS had them.
Oh, and did you know that MS has their own version of *nix. Has for decades. So any of these cool *nix features, they may have had first; just not in Windows.
Stop with the who copied who poop.
Who copied who isn’t the issue. How slow MS is to copy is a concern. Maybe in 20 years MS will catch up.
Seems like they are literally just trying to confuse buyers with the 10. It’s just like when Word jumped from version 2 to version 6 to one up Word Perfect 5.1.
What’s the other reason not to go with 9? It’s a good number with a lot of marketability.
This is an astounding waste of time. Why would I care what Windows does or doesn’t do, it’s totally immaterial.
It’s pretty obvious that Windows 10 was named Windows 10 in the hope that some of the positive opinions held about OSX somehow rub off on Windows. This is said only half in jest.
Tiles in the start menu is a stupid ass idea.
Tiles anywhere is a stupid idea.
Buster, I read Cult of Mac daily and usually enjoy your columns, but lately your columns have gone by way of National Enquirer. You hold Apple as though they can’t do no wrong and their products/software as new and unique. Apple software is not the greatest, the Apple Watch is not revolutionary, and we know how they blown it with iPhone 6. Quality reporting involves an article where the storyline holds its own. I love and use Apple products, but understand, we must demand more Apple. We pay a ton for products that at best are similar or on-par with other products. The difference is really the hardware but the software can use some work.
I use the heck out of Expose and Spaces. Honestly couldn’t live without them.
I’m glad to see they brought back the Start Menu and that it’s customizable. But like others have pointed out, unless this is a massive rewrite, it’ll still be the same crappy old Windows we’ve all come to know and hate. It’s an unstable, vulnerable, buggy POS. Wasn’t it Steve Jobs himself who called Windows a third-rate operating system? He was being polite too.
So to me, the top six things to know about Windows 10 is that it still sucks, because at the core, it’s still Windows.
We’ve had alt + tab feature for years. OS X doesn’t have snap. The windows in OSX have separate menu bars which is retarded. No pen input or touch in OS X.
“No pen input or touch in OS X”. That’s because it’s a desktop OS, not a tablet/phone OS. When you try and merge the two you get something truly awful. Like Windows 8 for instance.
If anything, they copied Mission Control: it shows a birds eye view of all apps running on current desktop PLUS all desktops.
It’s funny how they kept comparing everything to win7 on the keynote instead of win8. It’s like saying “Compared to 5 years ago we…” but indeed don’t expect Registry and DLL’s and UAC to go anywhere.
Definitely a step forward though for many because the presence of the Modern UI is less prominent on desktop PC’s (I use bootcamp on my iMac to play some nostalgic games which of course have nothing to do with the dual ecosystem they created with win8).
zero = zero + vomit
Just come out with Windows 7.1 and it will be a solid buy for many. They can argue that all Win 8 users are beta testers and all refunds will be given back.
disaster to whom????????? those morons that stuck in 80’s or 90’s and cant figure out ANYTHING NEW in life?? Its funny those who spend 10 min and LEARNed its Features, Options, SHORT CUTS, and Customization that is NOT available on ANY OS out there, LOVE IT and think is the BEST OS IN THE WORLD, NOT a disaster. So please speak for those LOW IQ ppl and NOT us intelligent ppl that learned it in less than 3 min, including my 13 years old son. So please explain,why is a disaster, when you can do EVERYTHING MUCH faster and way BETTER than Win7??????????
I’ve re-read that comment twice, and honestly have no idea whether you’re ranting about OS X or Windows 10 or pancakes or what, or whether you’re even commenting on the right article.
Whatever you’re typing on, though, nice to see it’s got a solid Caps key. Cheers!
A+ example of Apple derangement syndrome here.
WIN 10 is really meaningless as no consumer cares. MS is the last to realize it but after spending 20 years degrading Windows as the cheap OS that is wonky, ridden with malware and upgrades are all the board (Vista, Bob, and WIN 8) – and of course, their whoel arrogance behind tiles /Win 8/Win 10 design (you like IOS & OSX, well, we will make ONE OS and you WILL use it because we decide what you USE!) … WIN 10 will “sell” when included with a $399 PC or when the phone is $29 or a tablet is $99 – pricing beyond that will result in the exact same number of sales today. Of course, enterprise will be forced to upgrade but they can make their screens like WIn 7 but consumers will not care a wit – power users will still buy macs and