Microsoft’s Sway app is now generally available for Windows 10, as well as for iPhone and iPad. Sway, which has been called a ‘digital presentation tool’, was first released on October 1^st 2014, and later updated in December that year.

Microsoft has reported how the new app exceeded its own expectations in terms of popularity, although it’s not surprising that it is a hit with students and businesses. In this video it is demonstrated how Sway can be used for presentations as an educational exercise, for blogging, or to promote business products.

While Sway is in some ways familiar with OneNote Microsoft has said that the two are different, with Sway being more about presentations than collecting ideas. Sway works by taking images, text, or media from places such as your Facebook or Twitter account, or from your own devices, and storing that data in the cloud. From there you can drag and drop images, text, video, and set that to your chosen soundtrack. Want to impress your lover on your first anniversary? A Sway presentation might do the trick. Here musician Daria Musk impressively, and beautifully, uses Sway to demonstrate the genesis of an idea before she writes a song and how she then composes that song.  Not sold? Look here at how Sway was used to create a remarkable resume/portfolio.

Sway for Windows 10 is now available in the Windows store, for free. If you have a Windows Phone and Sway for Windows 10 you can directly load your photos into the app, while another nice feature is the caching of data. This means you can still present your Sway presentations when you’re offline. Mary Jo Foley of ZDNet reports that Sway for Windows 10 is now available for PC and tablet, but it will be a few months until the a Windows Phone specific Sway app comes out.

Photo credit: Microsoft Sway