Computers

Microsoft wants Windows 10 everywhere, including on your head, starting in 2015

Microsoft wants Windows 10 everywhere, including on your head, starting in 2015
Microsoft previewed Windows 10 at its Washington campus (Credit: Microsoft)
Microsoft previewed Windows 10 at its Washington campus (Credit: Microsoft)
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The Microsoft Surface Hub (Credit: Microsoft)
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The Microsoft Surface Hub (Credit: Microsoft)
Rendering of the HoloLens augmented reality interface (Credit: Microsoft)
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Rendering of the HoloLens augmented reality interface (Credit: Microsoft)
The Microsoft Surface Hub (Credit: Microsoft)
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The Microsoft Surface Hub (Credit: Microsoft)
Microsoft HoloLens (Credit: Microsoft)
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Microsoft HoloLens (Credit: Microsoft)
Gaming with HoloLens (Credit: Microsoft)
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Gaming with HoloLens (Credit: Microsoft)
Creating new holograms with HoloLens and HoloStudio (Credit: Microsoft)
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Creating new holograms with HoloLens and HoloStudio (Credit: Microsoft)
Microsoft previewed Windows 10 at its Washington campus (Credit: Microsoft)
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Microsoft previewed Windows 10 at its Washington campus (Credit: Microsoft)
Powerpoint on a mobile device running Windows 10 (Credit: Microsoft)
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Powerpoint on a mobile device running Windows 10 (Credit: Microsoft)
Microsoft HoloLens (Credit: Microsoft)
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Microsoft HoloLens (Credit: Microsoft)
The Microsoft Surface Hub (Credit: Microsoft)
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The Microsoft Surface Hub (Credit: Microsoft)
Notifications synced on mobile and the desktop (Credit: Microsoft)
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Notifications synced on mobile and the desktop (Credit: Microsoft)
Cortana on mobile and the desktop (Credit: Microsoft)
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Cortana on mobile and the desktop (Credit: Microsoft)
Annotating web pages in Project Spartan (Credit: Microsoft)
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Annotating web pages in Project Spartan (Credit: Microsoft)
The Windows 10 start menu (Credit: Microsoft)
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The Windows 10 start menu (Credit: Microsoft)
The Xbox app works across Windows 10 devices (Credit: Microsoft)
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The Xbox app works across Windows 10 devices (Credit: Microsoft)
The Xbox app (Credit: Microsoft)
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The Xbox app (Credit: Microsoft)
Desktop and touch mode on a 2 in 1 device (Credit: Microsoft)
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Desktop and touch mode on a 2 in 1 device (Credit: Microsoft)
The Windows 10 start menu (Credit: Microsoft)
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The Windows 10 start menu (Credit: Microsoft)
Universal apps on Windows 10 (Credit: Microsoft)
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Universal apps on Windows 10 (Credit: Microsoft)
Windows 10 launches later in 2015 (Credit: Microsoft)
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Windows 10 launches later in 2015 (Credit: Microsoft)
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Microsoft has unveiled an early version of Windows 10, the company's latest attempt to bridge the gap between desktop and mobile operating systems with a new platform for phones, tablets and PCs that will be available for free for its first year for those upgrading from Windows 8.1 and for those still using Windows 7 a year later.

"Windows 10 will run on the broadest types of devices ever," Microsoft's operating systems head Terry Myerson told a room full of reporters at the company's Redmond, Washington campus. Myerson later concluded the presentation by flat-out stating his goal of upgrading every Windows device to Windows 10.

That's quite a lofty goal when you consider that less than 10 percent of desktops in the world run Windows 8.1, more than half run Windows 7, and 20 percent still get by on Windows XP.

In a two hour-plus presentation, a parade of Microsoft leaders gave a tour of the new Windows it hopes will soon power home, business and mobile systems, along with game consoles and a bulky new set of augmented reality goggles called HoloLens. It was a rather epic showcasing of a clear new direction for what CEO Satya Nadella called a "platform and productivity company in a mobile-first, cloud-first world."

Were you to boot up the Windows 10 technical preview today, you'd wind up in the familiar desktop with a revamped start menu that's an oversized hybrid of the old Windows Start button interface next to some of those metro tiles from Windows 8. The tile look also makes up the new homescreen for Windows 10 on a mobile device.

The Windows 10 start menu (Credit: Microsoft)
The Windows 10 start menu (Credit: Microsoft)

The big talking point around the new Windows 10 interface was all about Cortana - Microsoft's answer to Siri and Google Now is integrated into tablet and PC systems for the first time in Windows 10, and even has a dedicated home on the desktop taskbar. Cortana can help compose emails from speech on anything running Windows 10 and also helps fill in data gaps in the style of Google Now, making proactive suggestions, fielding voice queries and autofilling forms along the way.

Microsoft Windows guru Joel Belfiore also introduced the concept of "universal apps" that run across Windows systems, including the Xbox. Inbox for email and a calendar app from the Outlook team, as well as the familiar Office suite and Skype have all been optimized for touch and cross-device use in Windows 10. Local photo and music collections can also be accessed across devices through new universal Windows 10 apps.

Powerpoint on a mobile device running Windows 10 (Credit: Microsoft)
Powerpoint on a mobile device running Windows 10 (Credit: Microsoft)

"In about a month or two months, we're going to add support to our system for you to put your music collection to OneDrive," Belfiore said.

The whole universal app collection also integrates with Cortana, so you should be able to use your voice to attach a photo from your OneDrive collection to a message and send it to any contact in your address book, phone or Skype contacts, which are all merged in Windows 10, kind of like what Google did merging Hangouts with contacts in Android.

Belfiore also shared the details of Project Spartan, Microsoft's next-generation web browser optimized for use on touch devices and desktops. Spartan allows for real-time annotation of web pages through touch or other input, and there's also a reading list, reading mode and sharing features. Cortana is also built-in here again as well. In short, there's a lot of catching up to other modern browsers in Spartan.

Annotating web pages in Project Spartan (Credit: Microsoft)
Annotating web pages in Project Spartan (Credit: Microsoft)

There was also some Windows 10 news for Xbox fans, with an Xbox app that allows for streaming and cross-play of Xbox games to Windows 10 PCs and the Surface Pro 3 with Windows 10, but not phones just yet. It's also possible to capture, edit and share games across Windows 10 systems with a Game DVR.

The marathon press event also saw the introduction of a few new and interesting pieces of hardware, including the aforementioned Google Glass-meets-Oculus HoloLens. Microsoft is baking "holographic capability" into the consumer version of Windows 10 (though it's more like augmented reality that looks like holograms), demonstrating the ability to watch Netflix, hold Skype calls and even create advanced holographic models with its HoloStudio software.

Rendering of the HoloLens augmented reality interface (Credit: Microsoft)
Rendering of the HoloLens augmented reality interface (Credit: Microsoft)

The other new piece of hardware is the enterprise-focused Surface Hub, an all-in-one meeting and collaboration solution consisting of an 84-inch 4K display with built-in proximity sensors, cameras, speakers, microphones, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, NFC and just about anything else that might conceivably aid in communications and productivity tasks. Hosting meetings with the ability to whiteboard, share data and connect devices across geography were just the beginning of the potential applications.

Myerson noted that more Windows 10 information would likely continue to roll out at Mobile World Congress and the Game Developers Conference in March, followed by a pivotal Microsoft BUILD conference in April.

The Microsoft Surface Hub (Credit: Microsoft)
The Microsoft Surface Hub (Credit: Microsoft)

Look for Windows 10 to officially launch later in 2015 with new hardware from both Microsoft and partner companies, including new flagship Windows phones. It will be available for free for its first year for those upgrading from Windows 8.1 and free after a year for those on Windows 7.

We'll have more on the expansive Windows 10 world here on Gizmag in the near future as it unfolds. Meanwhile, check out the below run-down video of the new Windows 10 features.

Source: Microsoft

Windows 10: A New Generation of Windows

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12 comments
12 comments
THY
I could only wish that W10 would be as stable as OS/2 was in the 1990s; but we know no Windows will ever be stable, let alone take us into the future.
Maybe this is why is not named W9 as not to make a connection with the 1990s where Windows was a far second place to OS/2 and only came ahead by bribes provided to magazine reviewers and the dreadful inertia. Maybe is named W10 to try competing against Apple’s OSX. Maybe is named W10 as everybody is skipping releases as they are getting worse every time.
W10 is Windows XP without the ”P” - that could stand for Progress; with the sole advantage of running 64bit and using over 4GB of RAM. Maybe this is why they are going to give it for free.
Tom Lee Mullins
I had used OS/2 Warp years ago. It was really good. The then version of Windows kept crashing and was slow. This is true of Win 8.1 which I currently use. It is slow and prone to malware. I also use - on another computer - the current version of OS/2 called eComStation.
I am hoping to upgrade my Win 8.1 computer to Win 10. I am hoping it is better than Win 8 since it would be difficult to be worse.
I am hoping on the development of ReactOS so I won't have to use any version of Windows.
Eric Brackenbury
Open Source is the way of the future. Linux is so simple to use and install I can’t believe more people aren’t aware of it. Ubuntu or Mint both are very capable and come with upgrades and software FREE people Free.
RonArt
Yet another version of MacroS#!t. If you buy it, more (versions) will come. I keep all my files encrypted in one place and backup them up from there. When a virus comes in, I reboot the machine and start fresh. I don't allow anything extra on my machine, nothing. "Do you want to restart your computer now?" Seriously, what's up with that?
Rex Alfie Lee
Problem Microsoft have got is that their idea of the network is fundamentally like govt where they control it whilst being controlled by govt. The next issue is that they are so far behind in their vision of the world, no-one cares & lastly, what they did when they were in control before made many of us hate them. I for one hate them so much that owning anything Microsoft would show me to have far less integrity than I actually have &I wouldn't do that. On my computer I use Ubuntu, it came with Windows but I crushed it. On all other hardware I run Android & whilst that isn't my preference, at least the base is Linux. To Microsoft, screw you...
Mike Malsed
Yeah - Linux was so simple and well put together that after 2 years, Munich dropped it because people had a hard time using it and it was not as interoperable as was claimed or that they needed.
OS/2 was really good, but there were few applications written for it. Heck BEos was really better than just about anything else out there, but there wasn't anything to DO on it.
Win10 is 10, not 9, because of coding that indicates Win9x. This avoids programmatic confusion. It'd be the same if Apple had an os that expanded on 6 or 7 . . .
thekonger
Are you guys for real, or are you bots from some backwards, disconnected third-world country? Linux? OSX? Ubuntu? If you have specific software targeted to one of these OS's for a specific niche market then sure, but in the real world, people use Windows.
And how can you not be excited about Windows 10? Even Windows 8 is awesome if you know how to use it. Microsoft's only true glitch lately has been Windows RT. Regardless, Windows 8 is a pretty good OS and Windows 10 sounds like it's an excellent next step for MS. It'll be fun to see how it evolves.
THY
OSX is the OS running on millions of iMac computers, not to mention millions of iPhones/iPads. You want to talk about a unified OS, talk OSX – looks and reacts different in iPhones, iPads, and iMacs purposely because these devices are used differently.
Micro$oft is talking about having the exact OS in small, medium and large devices, it doesn’t work that way. Micro$oft has learned nothing.
Micro$oft holograms? Give me a break. Since W95, Micro$oft has always presented each new OS as the next revolution, just to release a bunch of non-unified code that breaks easily and is easily hackable.
“Microsoft's only true glitch has been Windows RT”, really, we have not forgotten about Vista. I still get Blue screens with W7, and there have been trillions of human-hours wasted due to Windows crashing out of nothing.
I mentioned OS/2 from the 1990s because it is better and more stable than the new W7/W8/W?, disregarding there are few current applications for it. Talking about the OS alone, OS/2 is better.
Linux (Red Hat amongst others) is running on millions of computers worldwide, way more stable than W7/W8/W? including running in way more servers than Windows.
I can only wish that all the software that I use would work on OSX or Linux so I can ditch Windows and never look back.
Ken Heslip
OSX isn't running on iphones/ipads. Your ignorance is palpable.
Seriously who still uses Micro$oft any more? "Crapple" are a richer company.
Holograms yes. You wouldn't know the future if an iphone knocked at your door in 2004.
Lunix is way more stable than an OS you obviously don't use. Get out of here. And 1.5 BILLION people use Windows....the next version of which will be FREE....like Linux.
Please stick to Linux. You won't be missed.
thekonger
THY, what are you babbling about? Let me just copy and paste what Ken said 'OSX isn't running on iphones/ipads.' Thanks Ken, for pointing out that THY doesn't know what he's talking about.
THY, I actually made and deployed a few iOS apps - you use Cocoa and Objective C specifically for iOS apps, and they aren't the same as desktop apps. And I always laugh at people blubbering about Windows crashing and not being stable. I'm a programmer - use Visual Studio all day, SMS, IIS, Apache, Adobe CS products, WAMP, and I have a iMac that I used xCode on. Windows is just as stable and virus-free for me as my Mac. Maybe you need to understand computers more if you're having so many problems.
Also, you say 'Micro$oft is talking about having the exact OS in small, medium and large devices, it doesn’t work that way. Micro$oft has learned nothing. '. Well, I wouldn't bet against them, because Windows 8 actually does some of this now. You just need to go out and learn a little about that thar' newfangled technology. Case in point, I'm typing this on my HP Split. Right now it's connected to its keyboard in laptop form with a DVD drive and 23 inch external monitor. It's an i3 running all the software and services I mentioned above. When I finish this, I'll disconnect the screen and boom, it's a tablet. Then I'll sit on my sofa and run Kindle on the tablet (or play a game, or do email, or browse...). It's really an extremely powerful hybrid.
It's a brave new world out there THY, don't be afraid to explore it.
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