Windows 10 Technical Preview Gets More Mac Features

Microsoft has once again updated the Windows 10 Technical Preview of ahead of its release sometime next year.

The software company announced the newest build of the Windows 10 Technical Preview on its Blogging Windows website just yesterday. Immediately after that announcement users who installed the operating system began receiving it through Windows Update.

This build doesn’t include a lot of visual changes. For example, the Continuum interface that Microsoft hopes to bring to convertibles is still missing. So are the visual changes that it’s already said are coming to Windows 10’s notification area.

Read: What is Windows 10?

What is included in this new Windows 10 Technical Preview update are a host of changes behind the scenes. Those changes are based on user feedback and what other computing companies – like Apple, mainly – offer their users.

With the first version of Windows 10 Microsoft added a way for users to create multiple Desktops. With these Desktops users could sort their apps based on tasks. At the time many remarked that it seemed awfully similar to Expose in Mac OS X. With this build Microsoft has borrowed the three finger gestures from Mac OS X. Swiping up with three fingers gives users the expose-like Task View. Swiping three fingers down shows the Desktop. Swiping three fingers to the left or right switches between apps. A three finger tap brings up Search.

Changes included in the build based on user-feedback include options for disabling the Search and Task View buttons that were added to the Desktop’s Taskbar. It’s changed the icon that sits in Windows Store app’s title bar and holds more options. New icons for folders, support for MKV video files in Windows Media Player are included too.

Not a single Windows 10 Technical Preview update has launched without controversy. With the first version it was adding the option for users to miniaturize the Start Screen into a very familiar Start Menu complete with Windows Store apps and Live Tiles. With the second version it was that Task View. With this version of the Windows 10 Technical Preview changes made to the OneDrive cloud-storage support are drawing some criticism.

Read: Windows 10 9860 Update: What’s New & Different?

With Windows 8.1 Microsoft added direct OneDrive integration in Windows for the first time. By moving a file to the OneDrive folder, users could sync that file to Microsoft servers for backup. Microsoft also added placeholders for files that weren’t locally synced but were stored. The Windows 10 Technical Preview ditches placeholders entirely.

Now what users see on their PC is what’s actually stored there. This means that Windows 10 users won’t find themselves on a flight and without a file they need because they thought it was synced to their PC and it wasn’t. This also means there won’t be an easy way to see all of what’s stored on OneDrive unless the entire folder for OneDrive is set to sync or users frequent the OneDrive website.

How well this change will go over with real-world casual users remains unclear, but Windows 10 testers definitely don’t seem happy about it. Of course, many of them likely weren’t happy about the Start Menu making a return for notebooks and desktop PC users either. Normal users are likely to upgrade on that feature alone if they don’t have a tablet.

Read: Don’t Install Windows 10

The Windows 10 Technical Preview is free to all users who wish to try it, and getting the latest versions is really as simple as signing up for the Windows Insider Program and having new versions show up when they’re made available by Microsoft. The company is providing access to Windows 10 early in the hopes of actually incorporating feedback about changes as they are made. The hope is that this will lead to a more polished and better working Windows for everyone.

Installing the Windows 10 Technical Preview on your personal computer is a bad idea now. Besides some pretty big issues, it breaks the built-in restore system for every Windows 8 device. A final version of Windows 10 is scheduled for next year.