Microsoft Corp. has announced in an unprecedented surprise that Windows 10 is now available as a free upgrade or with new PCs and tablets. Windows 10 includes the Xbox app and Microsoft Edge for a familiar, yet more personal experience.
It’s claimed to be the most secure Windows ever, Windows 10 is delivered as a service and kept automatically up-to-date with security updates although Microsoft is determined that they control how you will update Windows 10. It offers one unified experience that will become available on the broadest range of devices, including PCs, tablets, phones, Raspberry Pi, Xbox One, HoloLens and more — with more than 2,000 devices or configurations already in testing. The new Windows Store and Windows Software Development Kit is also now available, opening the door to better experiences on Windows 10.
A new era of Windows starts today. From the beginning, Windows 10 has been unique — built with feedback from over 5 million fans, delivered as a service and offered as a free upgrade. Windows 10 delivers on our more personal computing vision, with a natural, mobile and trusted experience. Along with our partners, we’re excited to deliver the best Windows ever, which will empower people and organizations around the world to do great things.” Terry Myerson, executive vice president, Windows and Devices Group, at Microsoft.
We’ve already upgraded to Windows 10 and taking it through its paces testing everything from performance to multimedia to gaming to usability. Stay tuned for our review!
People around the world will celebrate the launch of Windows 10 Wednesday at fan celebrations in 13 countries and via a new yearlong initiative to celebrate people and organizations making a difference around the world. Microsoft encourages people to share how they plan to #UpgradeYourWorld and to vote for a global nonprofit to receive a cash donation by simply mentioning the nonprofit in a post on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter and using the hashtags #UpgradeYourWorld and #vote. More information on Upgrade Your World can be found at http://www.windows.com/upgradeyourworld.
What we’re looking forward to on Windows 10?
Windows 10 is fast and familiar — with the return of the Start menu and Live Tiles for instant, streaming updates. It’s supposedly the most secure Windows Microsoft has ever released. With enhancements to Windows Defender and SmartScreen to help safeguard against viruses, malware and phishing. Windows Hello, offers a fast, secured, password-free way to log in. Keeping up-to-date is also simple, as free updates will help people stay current with the latest features and security updates for the supported lifetime of the device.
Windows 10 sees the return of the Start Menu and it’s about damn time.
Windows 10 is more personal and productive, with voice, pen and gesture inputs for natural interaction with PCs. It’s designed to work with Office and Skype and allows you to switch between apps and stay organized with Snap and Task View. So here’s what’s been overhauled.
Microsoft Edge
It’s finally a browser that we don’t need to be embarrassed about using.
The browser lets people quickly browse, read, and mark up and share the Web. And it could eventually see us saying that it’s finally a browser that we don’t need to be embarrassed about using. While building Microsoft Edge, Microsoft wanted to reminisce to simpler more personal times, bring people’s experiences online back to what we used to do in the physical world such as passing Note back and forth with pen and paper. A simple, personal, easy and fun experience. Web Note, one of the key features in Microsoft Edge, does just this by allowing you to use your finger or a stylus to draw right on a web page and then easily share it with others or save it for yourself. For instance, you’ll be able to jot down Note on a page – recipes, running routes, game times, etc. – and share it out with people. And, of course, there’s the more lighthearted side of this. You could “edit” articles however you want, adjust pictures, add captions.
Integrated Xbox App
With Xbox on Windows 10, Microsoft is bringing some features from Xbox Live and some of the most popular Xbox experiences into Windows 10 itself. The built-in Xbox app is the place where your world of gaming comes together. It is a unified view of the games you care about, your friends, and your gaming activities. The sheer size and scale of Windows 10 coupled with the robust Xbox Live gaming network provides a huge opportunity for gamers and for game developers.
For gamers, Windows 10 unifies their gaming across devices, letting them play with friends on PCs, phones, and Xbox consoles. It also extends the reach of their Xbox games because players can stream games from their Xbox One console to Windows 10 PCs. Windows 10 also brings new features to PC gamers, like built in Game DVR for nearly any game and DirectX 12 graphics capabilities.
For developers, Windows 10 brings one core operating system, one application platform, one gaming social network, one store, and one ingestion path across more than one billion devices. With the Windows 10 Universal Windows Platform, any developer can create a single game and target multiple devices making it much easier to bring content to gamers on all Windows 10 devices. Built-in apps including Photos; Maps; Microsoft’s new music app, Groove; and Movies & TV offer entertainment and productivity options. With OneDrive, files can be easily shared and kept up-to-date across all devices.
Continuum
Continuum will optimize apps across touch and desktop modes. A Microsoft Phone Companion app enables iPhones, Android or Windows phones to work seamlessly with Windows 10 devices.
Office Mobile
The all new Office Mobile apps for Windows 10 tablets are available today in the Windows Store. The Word, Excel and PowerPoint apps offer a touch-first experience for small tablets. For digital note-taking needs, the full-featured OneNote app comes pre-installed with Windows 10. The upcoming release of the Office desktop apps (Office 2016) will offer a feature set for professional content creation. Designed for the keyboard and mouse, these apps will be optimized for large-screen PCs, laptops and 2-in-1 devices such as the Surface Pro.
Apps available on Windows 10
The new Windows Store opened today and began accepting new apps for Windows 10. The Windows Store offers one-stop shopping for popular free and paid apps, games, movies, TV shows and the latest music, which can work across all Windows 10 devices. All Windows Store content is certified by Microsoft to help keep devices safer. In addition to existing Windows 8.1 apps such as Netflix, Flipboard, Mint.com and The Weather Channel, the Windows Store provides a constant stream of the new and updated Universal Windows Apps and games, including “Minecraft: Windows 10 Edition beta”, Hulu, “Candy Crush Saga” and others including WeChat and QQ, which will launch soon.
Easy to upgrade for free, devices now available
Upgrading to Windows 10 is easy for customers running a genuine Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 PC or tablet. Starting Wednesday, people who reserved their upgrade to Windows 10 will be notified in waves when their upgrade is ready to be installed. For business customers, Windows 10 is available to start deploying within their work environments, and starting Aug. 1, organizations that have volume licensing can upgrade to Windows 10 Enterprise and Windows 10 Education.
Free upgrade programs will be available from today, with Windows 10 software becoming broadly available in retail stores around the world between mid-August and September. Some of the older devices have reportedly not gotten the upgrade for which a fix is available here.
Devices running Windows 10 will be available in some retail stores today, with many, many more devices to become available in the weeks and months ahead. Microsoft has also worked closely with retailers in UAE to introduce programs to help people easily upgrade, including Emax, Jumbo Electronics, Sharaf DG and many more leading retailers.
The Windows 10 Home Edition will have an estimated retail price of$119. The Pro version will be around $199, and upgrading from Home to Pro will cost $99.
