Tuesday, August 11, 2015

Windows 10 Apps

Windows 10 - Post Upgrade Application Notes


Almost a week has passed since my first PC was upgraded with Windows 10. Whenever a device is upgraded I spend some time on new settings, configuring apps (mostly password and permissions) and culling out any older apps. The Windows 10 upgrade from Windows 8 was easy, with a single exception -- see the: Windows 10 Upgrade article.  This post will cover impressions of the base applications and general User Experience.



Disclaimer, Because: Lawyers 


Since 2007 I have worked at both Dell and Microsoft. I do not build PCs, nor do I develop operating systems. The views in this post are mine. I have not been compensated for my opinion, but will gladly accept piles of cash once my post is up. (FAQ).


Quick Grades of Windows 10 Applications

 

Edge Browser

The Windows 10 design mantra is "flat". Digital Trends gives a great overview in their Technical Preview's New Design. Applications should look and feel the same on any device and the Edge browser certainly demonstrates flat. Users of the old Firefox browser might feel right at home. 

I use IE11 at work, so the jump backwards(?) is still growing on me. Edge is fast, but compatibility is a question - especially for users in work environments. My IE11 doesn't work with many corporate apps, so I suspect Edge will need a bit of tweaking. SoftPedia covers the topic: Microsoft Edge Compatibility Warnings. The upgrade does not remove IE from your system.

The absence of Extensions is almost nice. Edge rendered PDF files and XML file quickly and easily. I really (terribly) miss my LastPass extension. I'm reluctant to store passwords in Windows, so the inability to load the LastPass extension makes me do gymnastics to login to sites. 


Cortana 

Cortana is enabled right in the Start Menu. Voice recognition for search is really very good. The collection/assortment of search results, via Bing, is solid. Cortana was so good it made me review the Firefly app on my Amazon phone. Also of note, the Search feature looks at Apps, Files on your local device and the web. So, brush up on your Search syntax for best results.


Firefly was able to listen to 4-5 seconds of a song, recognize the song and album and return the details with a link to purchase the album. Microsoft has not really closed the sales loop with Amazon effectiveness. Expect more work in this area.

Start Menu, Tray and Notifications

The return of the Start Menu is worth the price of the upgrade. OK, the upgrade as free, but I would have paid money to get this feature. The Start Menu and Task trays make up the best part of Windows 10. Search and Cortana are readily available. The Settings menu can be reached from several different locations, and a Notifications icon brings phone and table features onto the desktop.

Some tap actions are still a bit tricky - requiring multiple attempts. My big fingers need a bit more precision to work the Calculator app in desktop mode. Be careful about trying to close an app by swiping down from the top of the screen... it is easy to throw the window below the task bar. 

If you used ALT-Tab to switch between apps, Windows 10 adds an icon to the task tray to provide this feature. Tap, and open apps will tile on the screen for you to jump between apps.


eMail App 

The eMail app has not impressed me. It does have easy setup for multiple accounts. I setup Outlook mail and Google mail and was able to connect and download messages. But it has extra taps to switch between accounts (click on Menu, then Accounts, then the email account). Ugh. Someone need to rethink the extra steps. The eMail app has a link to the Calendar app, but no direct link to People / Contacts. Sure, it has an icon that looks like a head/shoulders, but it takes you to a feedback window. Again, the User Experience misses by a fraction. 

OneNote 

I am a very long time OneNote user, and have to say that the Windows 10 version is hideous in the new Flat layout. It was so hideous that I deleted it immediately and reinstalled the full OneNote client. Other Win10 features and functions need me to adjust a bit... but I spend a lot of time in OneNote, and the Windows 10 version did not work for me. 

Reading List (App)

The Reading List should be a beautiful, simple app. When visiting a web page you can click the STAR icon to save to Favorites or to Reading list. Imagine, spending your day surfing, discovering new sites, saving full pages of info into categories for offline reading, syncing the list across your devices. Amazing! But, not really. Only works with the Metro version of Internet Explorer, and not with Edge. I'll continue using Feedly and Favorites, and "Send to OneNote", but hope this app gets some love.


Windows 10 Functionality - Quick Hits

Using Split Screen with Twitter makes staying in the Twitter stream easy. Dock Twitter to the left, Edge to the right, then links that are clicked in Twitter will appear on the right. You don;t lose you place in the Twitter stream. Nice. 

Touch icons/elements - some require more than one attempt to invoke. Designers will catch up. In the meantime, those crappy pop-up ads that were hard to close in Win7 and Win8, are still hard to close. 

Keyboard focus is still not perfect. You will often have to call the keyboard by double/triple tap into a field, or invoking from the tray. It even happens at the login screen, so I'm blaming the OS and not the apps. Hiding the keyboard is also more obvious.

No SWYPE keyboard - I've caught myself trying to Swype more than once. At least the predictive speller is more consistent in Windows 10. 

Lack of DVD Support seems to make sense since the desktop or tower PC is dead (Note to Microsoft: the desktop form factor is not dead yet). If you are going to dump the DVD, then provide a full set of drivers for other video file types. Some video formats fail to play in Windows 10. Media conversion apps and work arounds are already on the web.

~Xolo