Windows 10 or OS X? A Mac User Falls For the PC Again

With a simpler interface and new features, Microsoft’s Windows is more like Apple’s OS X than ever before

With Windows 10, the PC has more in common with the Mac than ever. WSJ’s Joanna Stern parodies those classic Mac vs. PC ads—with a surprise 2015 twist.

By Joanna Stern, WSJ
July 28, 2015 1:54 p.m. ET

You can blame Vista and the constant pounding of Ctrl+Alt+Del that came with it. Or you can blame those clever Mac vs. PC ads. But about eight years ago, after growing up with Windows computers and countless games of “Solitaire,” I bought my first Mac. And I never looked back.

Until now.

I’ve spent the past month solely using Windows 10, and I’ve fallen in love with Windows again. In fact, I’ve rarely missed Mac OS X. I’m more productive and faster at handling my many open windows on Microsoft ’s latest than on Apple’s. If you had told me a year ago that I’d write those words, I’d have said you’re on some mind-altering drug.

After unsuccessfully zigging for the past few years with Windows 8—which awkwardly layered a touch interface over old-school Windows—Microsoft has zagged back to the desktop it knows best with Windows 10.

Available starting Wednesday as a free upgrade on Windows 7 and 8 PCs, it takes the traditional underpinnings and spruces them up with a modern design, a helpful personal assistant and better windows-management tools. Unlike Windows 8, it stays out of your way, just letting you do what you need to do better. It’s what Windows should be in 2015.

It’s not surprising that I’ve fallen so hard for Windows 10. For nearly 30 years, the two computing rivals have picked and pulled features from each other. At this point, both Windows 10 and Apple’s upcoming Mac OS X El Capitan have so many nearly identical functions that at times it can feel like playing “Can You Spot the Difference?”

(Continued here.)