Windows 10 releases on July 29. It will be a free update for users who have been using genuine versions of Windows 7 or Windows 8, although it makes for a bulky 3GB update and the offer is valid for only one year after its release date.

Windows 10 comes with a lot of new features but also revisits features of Windows 8 that might have thrown off quite a lot of users. The main problem with Windows 8 had to do with its focus on the touch- based user interface that many people on laptops on desktops disliked because it sidelined the desktop mode. It was a risk on Microsoft’s part to push a new Metro interface onto its users who loved the desktop on previous Windows and had gotten used to its ease of use in their daily computing. To completely rehash this interface was definitely a risk that did not pay off well for Windows 8, but with Windows 10, the desktop is back and it’s in focus.

One of the major features that users of Windows 8 didn’t like was the removal of the traditional Start menu that has been with Windows for such a long time. The new full-screen tiled menu did not appeal to desktop users, and that forced Microsoft to switch back to the earlier feature in Windows 8.1. Windows 10 comes with a Start menu but it adds better stuff to it. The Start menu looks and feels like the old Start menu, albeit tweaked a little graphically, but it also comes with a view of the live-tiles from Windows 8. The tiles sit next to the Start menu and can be accessed from the Start menu itself. Programs can be pinned to this tile view or removed completely for a minimalist Start menu view. Metro apps are still there, but unlike with Windows 8, they are not restricted to the full-screen mode and now run within the desktop environment and float there, much like in all the other windows on the desktop.

One of the most prominent features that had been missing from the Windows line, the multiple desktop feature, has been available on other operating systems like Mac OS or Linux for a long time. Windows 10 introduces this feature to Windows and is a welcome addition since it reduces desktop clutter and provides a much cleaner and organised feel when one is working on the operating system. An easier way to understand multiple desktops would be to think of it as a separate Chrome window with different tabs within it. Another addition to the operating system is Cortana, something many Windows Mobile users may already be aware of; for those not in the know, Cortana is a voice-command system much like Apple’s Siri. Cortana seems more responsive on Windows 10 and recognises voice a lot better even if you have a distinct accent. Cortana provides you with vocal answers to some of the simple questions you might ask it but for more complex questions it will open up a browser window with Bing results for your question.

Microsoft has been notorious for its Internet Explorer browser. People have bashed Internet Explorer for its lack of stability and rudimentary adoption of new web standards like HTML5 or CSS3. Microsoft, in response to the growing disapproval of Internet Explorer, has thus decided to ship Windows 10 with a brand new browser called Edge Browser (previously codenamed Project Spartan). The new browser aims for simplicity, which it does flaunt in its simple UI design, but it fails to do anything better than browsers like Chrome and Firefox. Edge does come with an annotation feature that lets you highlight and comment on different parts of websites but its other features leave much to be desired. Edge scores much lower than Firefox and Chrome on a HTML5 tests and since services like YouTube are making the switch from Adobe Flash Video to HTML5 videos, this may cause a problem for Edge users in the future.

Onto the general look and feel of the operating system. Windows 10 has a very similar look to Windows 8. Windows 10 does not have the transparent Aero feel of Windows 7 and sticks to the flat minimalistic user interface ideas of Windows 8. The super-bar, more commonly known as the taskbar, now has a dark-coloured background but functions similar to Windows iterations before it. The notifications are similar to Windows 8 as well but now appear on the bottom-right corner of the screen rather than the top-left corner as in Windows 8. Windows 10 has completely been overhauled to blend seamlessly with other aspects of the operating system—the system tray menus, for instance, have been changed visually and do not feel out of place or pulled from previous versions of Windows like they did on Windows 8. The settings on Windows 8 felt unfinished and basic and to get to advanced system options, users had to go back to the Control Panel. Windows 10 comes with a full-featured settings menu with all of the advanced features offered on the Control Panel built into it. The Control Panel is still there for users who want to stick to the well-known feel of the menu.

Windows 10 feels like a mix of Windows 7 and Windows 8. Microsoft seem to have rectified what they did wrong with Windows 8 and have pushed for a more unified approach for Windows 10. Windows 10 feels more like a desktop operating system, unlike the tablet approach of Windows 8, and offers new features like Metro apps with subtlety. Unlike Windows 8, it does not push users to adopt a new user-interface that many users might not be willing to invest in, but offers new apps as a feature that can be used or ignored. Windows 10 goes back to what it did best with Windows 7 and sticks to it, which might be a good direction for Microsoft to take since laptops and desktops are still in wide use. Pushing people to use tablet PCs as their primary computing device might not be the right thing to do at the moment as tablets are still quite basic and can’t offer the raw power of laptops or desktops that users might need for running advanced software like the Adobe Creative Suite. The desktop environment still seems active and alive and Windows 10 appreciates that, while providing tablet mode as an option.

Windows 10 definitely seems like a good operating system. It’s free, so give it a try and if it doesn’t appeal to you, you can always revert to your original Windows 7 system.