The secret behind why Windows 10 is so good

"Microsoft listened to you. More than anything else, that's why Windows 10 won't be another Windows 8 or Vista."

In conversations with CNNMoney, top decision makers at Dell, Hewlett-Packard (HPQ, Tech30) and Toshiba noted that Microsoft requested their input throughout the process of creating Windows 10. They said Microsoft listened to their feedback -- and, vicariously, PC customers' feedback -- and made a better operating system as a result.

Responding to customer demands. The PC makers said that process was vastly improved from the way that Microsoft (MSFT, Tech30) conducted its business ahead of the Windows 8 launch. They said Windows 8 felt forced on them while Windows 10 felt like more of a conversation.

"It's pretty cool how responsive Microsoft has been to feedback," said Mike Nash, HP's head of product strategy. "We were right there in the room planning Windows 10 with them from very beginning."

"There's a new dawn at Microsoft," said Allison Dew, Dell's marketing chief (and a former Microsoft employee). "What we've seen in terms of development and cooperation with Microsoft this time around is unlike what we've seen in past years."

Windows is good again. The result, they say is a much more refined operating system that customers will get excited about. That's a very different experience from Windows 8, which literally had customers calling their PC companies in droves wondering how to get to the desktop or turn their PCs off.

"We're more excited about this launch than we have been in a really long time," said Dew. "I've been through amazing windows launches and some that weren't quite as amazing. This has the feel of something amazing."

"Windows 8 was a difficult out-of-the-box adjustment to consumers," said Jeff Barney, head of Toshiba's U.S. PC business. "Windows 10 has good features and is generating some buzz -- that's enough to get people back to the PC market.

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