WINDOWS 10: The best hidden features, advantages and potential functionalities

Microsoft’s new OS would be Windows 10 after the giant’s decision to skip intermediate version 9 after Windows 8. The next version that is touted as much smarter and productivity driven has some definite dynamism over 7 and 8!

Some of the front-line features and boasting upgrades of Windows 10 are:

An enterprise centric OS: 

Windows 10 that is the single OS for all the devices (mobiles, tablets, laptops and desktops) has been hailed as having potential of delivering much to the businesses in the form of certain sought after features that range from data security to productivity.

The new OS has fluent compatibility with the enterprise’s management systems including the connected ICT infrastructures of the company. With seamless integration with the allied components and software, the new OS produces a robust platform for the enterprise’s team to operate.

Another major enterprise oriented benefit of the Windows 10 is the safety of enterprise data from being doled out of the ICT infrastructure of the company. This has always been a huge concern of the companies of all kinds and none wants to loose or share their confidential information with rivals. This has been ensured through the effective buffers between the corporate and personal (user) data of the company. Thus the crucial and confidential files remain under cover unless specifically made available.

Customization is yet another business centric feature that allows the companies to use the new smart OS as per their requirements and orientations by employing their selected business apps of choice. This also ensures overall efficiency for the enterprise in the form of high throughput at the nodes and interfaces of the company.

Objective on screen productivity and Multi-Tasking:

The user can launch multiple desktops that open up as mini windows at the bottom and tell about the apps in use in real time. Moreover, the newly introduced ‘Snap Assist’ user interface allows the user to toggle and share app from different desktops on the screen. This enhances the user competence to utilize apps of business relevance in close consonance.

Continuum Feature:

This is a unique feature introduced in Windows 10 that serves to add switching functionality for the user to opt for the input modes of touch or type. Through this feature this new OS has an advantage over the previous Windows 8 thus eliminating confusing touch/type dual orientation. Now user of device can opt for the mode of input and the duality is done away with user’s choice at the touch n type devices.

The active feedback through the Insider Program of Microsoft:

Microsoft has come up with its unique ‘Insider Program’ for receiving active feedback from its users and enthusiasts from around the world. The users are invited as ‘Insiders’ to share their views and concerns about the functionality and features of the new OS and ultimately will be provided a platform with Company’s engineers and interface team to help built an ultimate Windows 10. This is certainly unique and a deviation from the previous versions.

The high functionality Start Menu:

A well toned up and up scaled Start Menu is boasted by Windows 10 and this menu serves to deliver improved functionality to the user as compared to the previous versions. A good deal of user customization has been brought in where the user can resize the tiles of the Menu.

Besides, the search/navigation has been made easy including the web searches that can be directly worked from the Start Menu.

Improved command prompt:

This is a new addition in Windows 10 and is aimed at providing direct functionality to the techie users. Now there is no need to get to the context menu; instead get it done through Ctrl+V.This is a new addition in Windows 10 and is aimed at providing direct functionality to the techie users. Now there is no need to get to the context menu; instead get it done through Ctrl+V.

Home Tab of the Explorer:

The explorer has a Home Tab that has specialized alignments of folders, favorites and recent files (a files’ specialized version of the Windows Vista feature – Recent Places). Now get on to your destination directly and swiftly.

Recycle Bin on your taskbar:

You can customize Recycle Bin on to your taskbar and have the functionally customized as per your needs.

Additionally, this being a technical preview for the enterprises, the full OS is also likely to have features like Cortana and ‘Notification Tray’ which could potentially define the superiority of the new OS Microsoft.

The technical preview has got a good and welcoming response from the critics and users and is likely to be launched by the end of 2015.

Here’s What Windows 10 Looks and Feels Like

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It’s time for Microsoft to open source Internet Explorer

Being the only closed source mainstream browser isn't a good position.

In the world of mainstream Web browsers, Microsoft stands alone. Apple's Safari browser is a closed source shell wrapped around an open source rendering engine, WebKit. Google's Chrome browser is a closed source fork of an open source shell wrapped around an open source rendering engine, Blink. Opera, too, puts its own shell around the Blink engine. Mozilla's Firefox is entirely open source.

But Internet Explorer is closed from end to end. While the same kind of logical separation as is found in Safari and Chrome exists—the Internet Explorer shell is separate from the Trident rendering engine—both components are entirely proprietary.

This puts Internet Explorer at a disadvantage. While the Web community has a multitude of different priorities and agendas, and the different participants frequently do not see eye-to-eye, it nonetheless has a consistent attitude of openness. Web standards are developed in public, and except for Internet Explorer, Web browsers (or at least, the most important parts of browsers, their rendering engines) are likewise developed in public.

This enables open discussion of and experimentation with new features. The public bug trackers that go hand in hand with the open development lets interested third parties monitor the development of features they care about and even provide detailed feedback before the code has been finalized.

And while it's a minority interest, the availability of source enables the community to find bugs and even contribute fixes.

It's time for Microsoft to fit in with the rest of the browser industry and open up Trident.

One might argue that this argument could be made of any software, and that Microsoft should by this logic open source everything. But I think that the browser is special. The community that exists around Web standards does not exist in the same way around, say, desktop software development, or file system drivers, or user interfaces. Development in the open is integral to the Web in an almost unique way.

One could also argue that there is some precedent with Microsoft's decision to open source large parts of .NET. In open sourcing .NET, Microsoft has been able to solicit feedback from the community—including bug fixes—and improved the ability of .NET developers to detect and diagnose problems both in their own code and in the .NET code.

The community targeting the Web has development expertise, and developing Trident in the open would allow them to bring this expertise to bear on the browser's engine, just as it is doing so for .NET.

Opening Trident's development might have further advantages down the line. It's hard to imagine a world where Internet Explorer for OS X is ever a major concern again, but equally, it's not impossible that one day some industrious developers might make Trident work on that platform.

In so doing, they'd make it easier for designers and developers using OS X to test their projects in Trident, without having to use Windows virtual machines or other such heavyweight approaches. It's not going to revolutionize anything, but it could make Trident a little more relevant to a community that otherwise cares little for it.

Although Microsoft has endeavored to be more open about how it's developing its browser, and which features it is prioritizing, that development nonetheless takes place in private. Developing in the open, with a public bug tracker, source code repositories, and public discussion of the browser's future direction is the next logical step.

Speculation is currently rife that with Windows 10, Microsoft will in some ways put Internet Explorer out to pasture. The browser is believed to have a new name, a new shell, new extension capabilities, and a new, streamlined version of Trident, one that has much of its support for legacy Web pages removed.

This represents an ideal time for the company to make this kind of move. With a cleaned up engine representing a new baseline for future development and a range of new developer-oriented extension capabilities, the time is right for Microsoft to stop being the odd one out and open up Trident. Put it on GitHub, track its bugs and development branches in public, make it a peer to WebKit, Blink, and Gecko.

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