The latest Windows 10 “Redstone” build looks like it’s “borrowing” a concept very similar to iOS and OS X’s Handoff feature — allowing users to seamlessly switch devices as they work, such as moving from a desktop to a smartphone.
Redstone, for those unfamiliar with it, is the developer codename for the Windows 10 Anniversary update, set to arrive some time during the summer. People who have signed up for developer preview versions can use the feature now, or else will be able to as soon as the update is pushed out to their computer.
A note describing the feature gives the example of starting on Mac and then being copied by Windows starting an email on your phone and then moving over to your desktop, or else finding an address on Bing Maps and then immediately seeing the same address appear on your phone.
While a lot of people are going to rightfully point to this as being another example of Microsoft raiding Mac for features it can bring over to Windows, truth be told I’ve never found Handoff to work particularly well. While it can be exceptionally useful from time to time, I’ve always found my experience of it to be inconsistent — thereby making it something I don’t rely on regularly.
Am I, to paraphrase Steve Jobs, just “holding it wrong?” Can Microsoft make a similar Handoff feature work better? Leave your comments below.
Source: Reddit
Via: Redmondpie
Luke Dormehl is a U.K.-based journalist and author, with a background working in documentary film for Channel 4 and the BBC. He is the author of The Apple Revolution and The Formula: How Algorithms Solve All Our Problems … and Create More, both published by Penguin/Random House. His tech writing has also appeared in Wired, Fast Company, Techmeme and other publications.
One response to “Microsoft will steal OS X’s Handoff feature for Windows 10”
Ha! Apple has been “borrowing” from Microsoft and others for years. All Technology companies do it – including Apple.