10 Scenes From Microsoft's Windows 10 Launch Party

The Wait Is Over

Microsoft finally launched its much-anticipated operating system, Windows 10, on Wednesday, and celebrated the release with launch parties at Microsoft retail stores in major cities across the country.

CRN attended one of Microsoft's many opening-day festivities at the Microsoft store at the Prudential Center in Boston. At the event, Microsoft store staff members showed off the new operating system in demo sessions to users and highlighted some of the many new features of Windows 10.

Bostonians lined up at the door of the store for not only the Windows 10 launch, but also a meet-and-greet opportunity with a local sports celebrity.

Continuum

Staff members at the Microsoft store demoed and highlighted some of the top features of Windows 10, and that, of course, included Continuum.

Continuum might be the coolest feature of Windows 10. The operating system is interchangeable as a mobile OS and OS for desktop PCs. When tablets are locked into keyboards, Continuum has the look of the OS shift into a PC-friendly appearance, but when the keyboard is unlocked, the OS shifts into tablet form, for a touch-screen-friendly look.

Cortana

Cortana is the digital assistant of Windows 10 and Microsoft's answer to Apple's Siri, and Google Android's Google Now. Microsoft has carried Cortana over from Windows Phone onto Windows 10, so it is available for use on not only mobile devices, but now PCs as well.

Team members at the Microsoft store demoed the capabilities of Cortana as it can assist users with finding directions, looking up addresses, finding documents, applications and other content on the device, and more.

Microsoft Edge

Microsoft Edge is Microsoft's new web browser, replacing Microsoft Internet Explorer. Microsoft Edge comes on Windows 10 and shows promise to be far superior to Microsoft's old web browser. Edge features faster web browsing, distraction-free reading on the web, and touch-screen-friendly note-taking.

The web browser cleans out all the content on webpages that may be distracting to items a user is trying to read or look at. In addition, users can draw right on a webpage, underline important sentences, take notes, and even just doodle by using the touch screen.

User Interface

Windows 10 has an all-new and improved user interface that may seem familiar to Windows 8.1 users in some areas but also familiar to Windows 7 users in other areas. For example, Windows faithfuls can welcome back the start button that they last saw with Windows 7, but left them on Windows 8. Microsoft has brought the start button back on Windows 10 for easier searching options.

Windows 10 also is more touch-screen-friendly and, as mentioned earlier, the UI of the OS is interchangeable to mobile and desktop modes.

Microsoft kept a Windows 8 UI feature where the most popular applications of the user are brought to the front of the screen, so favorite apps are never buried in task bars or folders and are always just a click away.

Patrice Bergeron

In Microsoft retail stores in major cities across the country, local sports celebrities are greeting fans. For example, many members of the U.S. women's soccer team are greeting store-goers in select locations. In Boston, Bruins star Patrice Bergeron is greeting fans for two hours on Wednesday night at the Microsoft store at the Prudential Center as part of the Windows 10 launch party.

Bruins fans lined up outside the doors of the Microsoft store as early as 7 a.m. to grab tickets to come back and meet and greet Bergeron at 7 p.m. that evening. The store served snacks and held giveaways all day long for attendees and those waiting patiently in line.

Microsoft Answer Desk

Microsoft retail stores are helping customers upgrade to Windows 10 with their in-store Answer Desk. Users who are interested can make an appointment with the Answer Desk any day of the week to get free assessments and answers to questions about the upgrade process. The Answer Desk also offers other services, such as software repair, extended diagnostics, virus removal and PC tune-ups, to name a few.

Summer Coding Camp

During the Windows 10 launch event, the Microsoft store had its regular commitments going on at the same time, including its summer coding camp.

The Microsoft retail store holds a summer camp program where young children stay at the store with camp counselors and learn how to code on Microsoft devices. If you have any Windows 10 questions, it's a good bet they'll know the answer.

Laptops

On the same day of the Windows 10 launch, many of the leading PC vendors are shipping new and old laptops with Windows 10 preinstalled.

The Microsoft store had some of these machines on display, including systems from Dell and Hewlett-Packard. The store demoed the capabilities of the OS on these machines and held workshops to show store-goers how to use Windows 10.

There were many different 2-in-1 devices on display as well.

Surface Pro 3

Of course, it wouldn't be a Microsoft store without the Surface devices. The shop had Surface Pro 3 machines on display throughout the store where staff members were running workshops and demoes of Windows 10.

The Surface Pro 3 is quite friendly to the new Windows OS as Microsoft has really designed the capabilities of the platform to its top selling machine. With its Continuum feature of switching back and forth from tablet to PC mode, Windows 10 is built for those on the go or at a desk, just like the Surface Pro 3.

Mobile

Microsoft had many of its own mobile phones on display, including the Lumia devices, and that of other vendors that run Windows, including the HTC One (M9).

While the mobile phones are still running on Windows Phone, Windows 10 will be available for smartphone and will be preinstalled on unreleased Microsoft smartphones going forward. The mobile version of Windows 10 will be released later this year, and is now on the desktop and select 2-in-1 tablet and PC devices, such as the previously mentioned Surface Pro 3.