Windows 10 is the latest and biggest proving ground of whether the new Microsoft is better at building software than the old one.
Wednesday’s release of the newest version of the Redmond company’s operating system comes with typically high stakes. Microsoft in the past two years has turned over a majority of its top executive ranks, slashed tens of thousands of jobs and deployed a new organizational structure and philosophy designed to push the company’s units to collaborate, rather than compete.
In Windows 10, those changes have resulted, among other things, in a faster browser to replace the bruised Internet Explorer, a built-in voice-activated digital assistant and search tool, and a return of the traditional Start Menu, which took a back seat in the interface of Windows 8.