Interactive live tiles may be making a comeback in Windows 10

By Jon Martindale April 30, 2015

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Microsoft is looking to get back in the good books of fans who felt neglected by the initial tablet-focused design of Windows 8, and is making a big splash over the return of the traditional desktop. That doesn’t mean the firm is throwing out the baby with the bathwater, though, as it is offering innovations on many of its last OS’ biggest successes. For example, live tiles are making a comeback, and in Windows 10 they could be much more interactive.

While the Start screen won’t be quite so dramatic or pronounced in Windows 10 as it was in 8, live tiles will still offer up-to-date information without the need to open up the software or web page in full. This time around, the tiles will auto-scale and resize themselves, adapting to different screen sizes and formats to make them fit better. And the custom themes previously reserved for Microsoft’s own applications are now being extended to third party developers.

Related: Cortana learns a few new tricks in Windows 10 build 10079

Of course the big feature addition that’s likely arriving at some point is the interaction, which should mean users can skim through headlines on a favorite news site without actually visiting, or check comment sections to see if a certain reply has popped up that’s worthy of reading in full.

While unconfirmed, there is also the potential for the introduction of such features on the Xbox One as well, since we know that there will be features that are supported by both platforms.

Unfortunately the interactive tiles are not a cut-and-dried feature anywhere for now. Microsoft has discussed the potential for this feature previously and it was mentioned yesterday during the Build 2015 conference as “being worked on” (via WinBeta) but in the meantime it’s just fingers crossed and wishful thinking.

Would you like to see interactive live tiles introduced in Windows 10?

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