How Would Windows 10 Be… If Developed by Apple?

We could spend thousands of words debating the negative details of the Windows 10 interface, while on the other side, Mac OS users swear by the superiority of its appearance. So here's a small mental exercise: what would Windows 10 look like if Cupertino were in charge of its design? Only one person is capable of answering that question—Avdan and his concepts.

Over the past three weeks, I've installed Windows 10 1909 four times. Beyond some technical restrictions—such as systems limited to 2 GB of RAM that feel a bit better with 32-bit builds—I didn't encounter any major surprises, but the interface still feels like a work in progress. It has improved compared to the initial builds, but there's still much to optimize.

One wonders where those ideas might come from, those final touches that finish polishing the operating system. Not a few have mentioned KDE, but many heads turn towards Cupertino. A more advanced collaboration between Apple and Microsoft seems impossible… but we also believed that the Linux community would never work with Redmond, and here we are. How crazy would it be to imagine Windows 10 with Apple elements?

Avdan's Concept Video

Avdan did the heavy lifting for us with a new concept. Menu bar on top, start bar below. Start menu with Tiles that follow the style of icons in iOS, Siri suggestions at the bottom, and a more horizontal use of space. iCloud and iMessage integrated into the explorer, the return of Safari as a browser (Safari stopped supporting Windows in 2012 with version 6), and a redesigned notification center set the pace.

The Dark Mode chosen by Avdan is much deeper, and not entirely comfortable—at least, for my eyes. It also incorporates unlocking the computer with an iPhone, dynamic wallpapers (we recently explained how to use videos in Windows 10), and a redesigned search system.

In summary, it's not terrible, but it doesn't feel like Windows. Comparisons with KDE 5 are inevitable, and some users believe this goes in the opposite direction—i.e., Mac OS designed by Microsoft. What do you think? Leave a comment!