{"id":5741,"date":"2020-07-29T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-07-29T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aviancetechnologies.com\/blog\/blog\/windows-10-at-5-years-how-it-transformed-the-pc\/"},"modified":"2020-07-29T11:00:00","modified_gmt":"2020-07-29T11:00:00","slug":"windows-10-at-5-years-how-it-transformed-the-pc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aviancetechnologies.com\/blog\/windows-10-at-5-years-how-it-transformed-the-pc\/","title":{"rendered":"Windows 10 at 5 years: How it transformed the PC"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Windows 10 at 5 years: How it transformed the PC<\/h2>\n

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As Windows 10 turns five years old this week, it\u2019s a good time to look at how much Windows 10 has changed the PC\u2014with everything from Windows Hello to free updates, seemingly in perpetuity.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Microsoft began shipping Windows 10 to PCs on July 29, 2015\u00a0\u2014\u201cordering pizza for 1.5 billion people,\u201d as one Microsoft executive put it. Few remember now that PC makers barely made the launch, with even Microsoft admitting most PCs would ship with Windows 8 pre-installed instead\u2014even as PC makers\u00a0hoped and prayed that Windows 10 would outsell the debacle that was Windows 8.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Well, it did.\u00a0Improvements like Windows Hello might be taken for granted now, but they were groundbreaking for their time. (Apple Macs still haven\u2019t quite figured out what these \u201ctouchscreen\u201d things are!) As Windows 10 celebrates its fifth birthday, let\u2019s look back at 10 ways the operating system has transformed our computing lives…mostly<\/em> for the better.<\/p>\n

1. The power of free<\/h2>\n

Wow, a free upgrade? Chrome OS does it, as do Android, iOS, and now Macs. But at the time, a free transition from Windows 8 to Windows 10 still managed to make the world sit up and take notice, legitimizing the model so prevalent today.<\/p>\n

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So far, Microsoft\u2019s chosen to charge for applications like Office, not the Windows 10 OS itself.<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

What many don\u2019t realize, however, is that so far Windows is one of the only Microsoft products to skip away from Microsoft\u2019s pursuit of subscriptions, whether they be Microsoft 365, Xbox Game Pass, or a more generic support agreement. Many have wondered whether Microsoft would eventually establish \u201cWindows as a service,\u201d requiring users to pay for patches or new features. Microsoft has yet to make that leap, instead encouraging users to pay for Office and its Xbox game subscription. Really\u2014a subscription for Microsoft Solitaire?<\/p>\n

The downside of free is that you have to make money somehow.<\/em> In Windows 10, Microsoft\u2019s early answer to this question was data, and the telemetry that some saw as a privacy risk. (Here\u2019s how to reclaim your privacy in Windows 10.)<\/p>\n

2. Windows Defender: From zero to hero<\/h2>\n

Historically, if you wanted to protect your PC, you purchased an antivirus subscription. Microsoft promised to change all that with Windows 10\u2019s free antivirus program, Windows Defender, which started out as notoriously subpar. But wait! Over time, Microsoft\u00a0really<\/em> beefed up Defender, and it went from the industry\u2019s doormat to a champion in just a few years. Today, there\u2019s an argument to be made that Defender is good enough to protect your PC\u2014no subscription required.<\/p>\n

3. Windows Hello and the death of passwords<\/h2>\n

Windows Hello could be the best feature Windows 10 added to the PC ecosystem. While fingerprint readers had been in use before then\u2014Apple, for example, launched Touch ID in 2013 with the iPhone 5s\u2014facial recognition via a PC\u2019s user depth camera debuted with Microsoft, Windows 10, and PCs like the Lenovo Yoga 15. Windows Hello just worked then, and it still does today.\u00a0<\/p>\n