GEC NEWS WIREWhen Microsoft unveiled the first look of Windows 10 in the last quarter of 2014, it had left the tech gurus and enterprise giants wondering about its future impact on IT. So here it is! Unveiled a month back and so far faring with more positive than negative reviews.
“Better keep yourself clean and bright; you are the WINDOW through which you must see the world.”- George Bernard Shaw
Playing with words here, the quote above is truly apt for Microsoft’s Do or Die OS— Windows 10. The phrase ‘Once a leader, always a leader’ has no place in the corporate/consumer world and Microsoft just got the taste of it with its 2012 Windows 8- a novelty which failed to garner rave reviews from the world or Microsoft loyalists. The fact that people have the option for switching to other OSs, given umpteen of them in the store, as well, truly drove Microsoft to come with a cutting edge Windows 10.
The missing 9:- The numerical distance between 8 to 10 has been a very interesting mystery that was cleared by Terry Myerson in Seattle. “Windows 10 will be our most comprehensive platform ever,” Terry Myerson, head of the operating systems group, told the audience. “It wouldn’t be right to call it Windows 9.”
The world welcomed Windows 10 with much fervour. New flavours and features of the various editions of the Windows (Windows 10 Home, Pro, Enterprise, Enterprise 250 LTSB Education, Mobile, Mobile Enterprise and IoT Core) have been making waves in the market.
To begin with, Cortana can be named as one of the key features designed for a successful modern enterprise, especially in the era of Big Data and analytics. Apart from being a super intelligent personal assistant, the Cortana Analytics Suite, according to TechRepublic, takes advantage of machine learning, unlimited data storage, and perceptual intelligence to “transform data into intelligent action. At its most recent Worldwide Partner Conference, held in July 2015, Microsoft announced several new cloud-based initiatives, the most interesting of which for enterprise businesses was the Cortana Analytics.
Microsoft’s Cortana has been a very ambitious project. On the surface it offers similar features like Google Now and Siri. Apart from having a few unique skills under its hat, it is a sister to siri in attitude. According to reports, “Both Cortana and Google Now offer something that Apple can’t deliver with Siri right now because Microsoft and Google can draw on huge amounts of user data through the services they offer. Apple doesn’t have the search engine, email system, and other services Microsoft and Google do.”
Edge is yet another cool offering of Microsoft in the Windows 10. Named in its early phase as- project Spartan- the edge has pushed off a few old legacy bags off the ‘edge’. It has a more optimized code base than the internet explorer that facilitates speedier and richer browsing and also gives a very improved user experience with a much organized and minimum-icons browser frame.
What’s in store for the Enterprises?
According to a tech review, to safeguard software compatibility and business continuity, Microsoft will allow IT administrators greater flexibility in delaying and postponing non-critical updates. Apart from that, enterprise customers can also join Azure Active Directory, a unified MDM (Mobile Device Management) platform it will also streamline all upgrades that would eliminate all deployment wear and tear as in the past. Some quick points for enterprises would be: the enterprise edition of Windows 10 gives IT and organizations more flexibility and choice; it also makes use of several security features including Windows Credential Guard and Windows Device Guard.
EDP (Enterprise Data Protection) is also an added enhancement for Windows 10 which uses containerisation file techniques to personal and enterprise data. Quoting David Treadwell, corporate vice president of Microsoft here, “what it does is allow the enterprise to have full control over corporate data, and the user to have full control over personal data, and you can’t move between them.”
Windows 10 is getting additional improvements to help protect end users from identity theft and phishing attacks without restricting or affecting the user experience. This is done with the introduction of user identities for accessing devices, applications, and even websites.
A step closer to the Digi Workplace: BYOD’ 10
Windows 10 gives you the freedom to work from anywhere on any device. Work productivity is enhanced with Windows 10’s easy integration with Office 365, Azure and mobile.
Rather than continuing to deal with these two silos, Windows 10 will now allow you to choose between Mobile Device Management or the traditional Active Directory and Group Policy model on any device with the new operating system installed. This new approach to management is based on a focus on mobility first rather than the traditional static desktop first approach, and provides different functionality from granular control of a mobile device to the ability to reset or restrict applications on a desktop.
Looking at the Cloud through the Window
The whole idea of ‘Be mobile, go mobile’ is realized as Windows 10 is claimed to be the first OS provided by Microsoft that is hybrid cloud and mobility oriented. According to a report published by Avanade, Windows 10 enables a range of new features such as Multiple Active Desktop support, Continuum (cross-device support) and integrated OneDrive file storage to remove collaboration barriers to mobile and multi-device workers. Hence, apart from providing a seamless integration, the OS also gets a step further close to the digital workplace.
Tech reviewers and analysts have looked into this as a possible threat too as the Home edition’s ties to the cloud could possible leave the gates open for attackers. Various features such as ‘find my device, collaborative document editing, and location based services etc are some of the features feared to be the gateways of threat.
Windows as a Service
The whole debate around Windows evolving to become a service has been causing quite a stir in the enterprise world now. According to reports, the Enterprise edition of Windows 10 will not be free. Thus, large companies will have to pay for using Windows 10. Jim Alkove of Microsoft puts across in his blog, “When discussing moving to a Windows as a Service model, the question of application and device compatibility is often top of mind for customers. Our intention is to help ensure that existing apps “just work” based on addressing challenges that many organizations experienced as part of Windows XP to Windows 7 migrations, and we are working to help ensure excellent compatibility between Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 10
For You, For All
More hands-off remote deployment and minimized migration scenarios are claimed to be some of the best offerings of Windows 10— which makes this OS best fit for not just the end users but for the whole IT ecosystem as well. Apart from bridging the gap between traditional desktops and mobile devices, the Windows 10 also catalyses across multiple channels of streamlined access, improved mobility and seamless integration. With its sandboxed security model, Windows 10 is dramatically reducing the management and helpdesk costs of Windows.
The launch of Windows was very calm, breaking tradition, but the impact has been quite loud we guess……
“Having a big launch with celebrities, it might be news-worthy, but it’s not necessarily the step to a billion happy and engaged Windows users,” says Windows chief Terry Myerson
