Windows 10

Yes, the Start menu is back. Yes, there are virtual desktops. No, the Charms bar hasn't gone away. And no, we don't know when Windows 10 will ship or what it will cost. But we've seen the technical preview of Windows 10 and the word to bear in mind for this release is productivity.

Microsoft's Joe Belfiore repeatedly emphasised that this is a very early build without even all the features that have been announced, and that there might be rough spots. We didn't see any problems in the time we had to try it out at Microsoft's San Francisco event, but what's clear is that there is plenty more to come.

This isn't the place to look for changes in Explorer or the control panel, let alone desktop tools like Paint and Notepad or Store apps like Music and Video. The technical preview is about the core features that are supposed to prove Microsoft can balance touch, mouse and keyboard without making any users feel abandoned.

Start Menu : Windows 10

As expected, the Start menu is the default if you use Windows 10 with a keyboard and mouse, though you can keep the full-screen Start screen if you prefer it. Even on the Start menu, you can pin Live Tiles in multiple sizes on the right, but on the left you also get the familiar list of pinned and recent applications, complete with jump lists for files, the search box that you can also use to run commands and a power button for shutting down or restarting your PC.

Snaps, apps and virtual desktops

The search box has all the Windows 8 features, including results from Bing and the Windows store, and a separate Search menu next to the Start button gives you trending topics directly from Bing, too.
Snaps, apps and virtual desktops

Using Alt Tab to move between open windows is a keyboard shortcut that's been around since 1990 and it still gives you a line of windows to choose from. As with Windows 8.1, those now include any modern apps you have running, and those now open as windows on the desktop like any other software you're running, ready to be resized or snapped side by side. The new Task View button on the taskbar is there to introduce the idea of moving between windows to the vast majority of Windows users who've never tried Alt Tab.

Snapping does more than the 'two desktop apps getting half the desktop' layout that you get in Windows 8. If you have one narrow window, the second window can take up all the rest of the space, or you can snap four apps, one in each corner. Windows will even show thumbnails of open windows to help you pick the one you want to snap without rearranging everything.