78 PCWorld SEPTEMBER 2020FEATURE WINDOWS 10 AT 5
I use each of these as ways of interacting
with Windows and my PC, for productivity’s
sake. But for many users with disabilities, one
or a combination of these input mechanisms
may be the only way they can interact with a
PC. Neither Apple (touchscreens...on a
Mac?) nor Google get anywhere close to the
level of accessibility that Windows 10 offers.- THE DREAMS THAT DIED
In some cases, Windows didn’t change the
world—the world changed it. We remember
the features that rose in a blaze of glory...
before they died a sputtering death, or
otherwise shuffled into obscurity. We tip our
hats to the HoloLens mixed-reality headset
(go.pcworld.com/mrhd); the fun Story Remix
app with 3D animations (go.pcworld.com/
srmx) you could insert into your photos and
videos; the utopian vision of Paint 3D (go.
pcworld.com/pn3d) and its trove of
shareable images.
And then there was Cortana,
one of, if not the flagship feature of
Windows 10 (go.pcworld.com/
fshp), with voice actress Jen Taylor’s
cheery voice welcoming you to the
world of Windows. Today, Cortana’s
not so much the voice of Windows
as just another Windows 10 app
(go.pcworld.com/anor), with
neither an appliance nor a mobile
operating system to call home.
Windows 10 Mobile is another
sad story (go.pcworld.com/sdst). It sat by
and watched Google’s Android and Apple’s
iOS take over the smartphone market, as
Microsoft’s mobile ambitions died a slow,
painful death (go.pcworld.com/pnf1).
But there’s a bright note, too: Microsoft’s
mobile apps for Android and iOS are
excellent, especially Outlook, and the
company’s been busy enriching Teams and its
other mobile apps with complementary
features. Microsoft may not have a mobile
version of Windows 10, but its mobile app
ecosystem is surprisingly robust.
What’s next for Windows? Well, if recent
reports are true, development on Windows
10 could slow, as Microsoft shifts its efforts to
the cloud (go.pcworld.com/efcl) and to
Windows 10X. Windows 10’s future could
hold yet more game-changing features. For
now, however, we’ll have to wait.RIP Windows phone.