Phenquestions
Microsoft released a new preview build of the upcoming Windows 10 version 1903 feature update yesterday; it included, among other changes, a new top apps listing in Search.
Windows 10 users who run the build get a list of popular applications that they use the most on the device on top of the search results.
The top apps are displayed when users open the results so that they may be launched right away without firing off a search first.
The very first question that came to my mind after seeing that was why. Why would Microsoft add a list of applications to search results?
Here is why I think that the addition is something that is not particularly useful:
- It is displayed on top of the search results; means, fewer results are displayed without scrolling. Also, users may focus their attention on top apps and not the search results.
- Top applications are the most used apps by a user. It seems likely that these apps are already pinned to the taskbar for quick access or accessible on the desktop.
- Some or even all of the apps may be open already as they are used the most on the device.
- The Start Menu lists top apps as well if that has not been disabled.
- Users may have pinned the top apps to the Start Menu for quick access.
Microsoft changed Windows Search in Windows 10 significantly when it launched the operating system. The company linked Cortana to Search, likely to increase its exposure on the system, and added web searching to search next to that.
Web search was not particularly useful either and even the newly added preview option for web results or the separation in its own tab in search, did not help a lot to improve its usefulness.
The addition of top apps feels like a change for change's sake, and less like something that would be of benefit to the majority of Windows 10 users.
My most used applications are Firefox, Chrome, QuiteRSS, Explorer, and Thunderbird; all of them are pinned to the taskbar and just one click away from launch. The replication of these apps in Search is completely redundant. Microsoft will hopefully add an option to disable the feature when it is launched officially.
Now You: Do you think that this is a useful feature? Are there users that would benefit from this?
