In Microsoft’s latest Windows 10 preview build released last week, Cortana made an entrance, but the much-anticipated Spartan browser did not. However, little did we realize that some of Spartan made the cut, in the form of an experimental rendering engine hidden under IE’s hood. Microsoft has separated its Trident rendering engine into two separate versions: one is for Spartan, called EdgeHTML, while the other remains under its legacy naming with Internet Explorer. The reason Microsoft doesn’t simply forego the older version is due to compatibility concerns.
Last week, Microsoft made its biggest announcement for the web since it first introduced Internet Explorer in 1995: a new browser, codenamed “Project Spartan.” So, what does this mean for us as designers and developers?
This article will cover the inside story of the rendering engine powering Spartan, how it came to be, and how 20 years of the Internet Explorer platform (Trident) has helped inform how our team designed it.
Though Internet Explorer’s legacy versions are likely to be remembered by web developers for bugs, hacks and dirty workarounds, IE did shape the web in a positive way for web developers by bringing CSS, dynamic HTML scripting and the DOM, AJAX/XMLHttpRequest, drag drop, innerHTML, hardware acceleration, and other technologies to the web.
The new Microsoft browser is going to be powered by a new rendering engine, EdgeHTML.dll. Windows 10 already has it integrated, and it will be separate from Trident (MSHTML.dll) that powered Internet Explorer for decades.
As we know, the latest versions of Trident powering Internet Explorer 11, did show a remarkable support for standards (I started to make a list of some of the notable ones, but stopped after I hit 75 specs). But its progress was heavily weighed down by the burden of legacy support for IE5.5, IE7, IE8, IE9, and IE10 document modes — a concept the web no longer needs.
Project Spartan will also have an updated version of the F12 developer tools. A few of my personal favorites that are in the preview builds or on their way:
Preserve-3d
The most advanced support for ES6 at the moment
XPath
Web Audio
Media Capture API
Web RTC 1.1 (ORTC)
Touch Events
Content Security Policy
HTTP/2
As it turns out, a modern and interoperable rendering engine alone isn’t enough to magically make the web just work. To do that, the browser also has to make sure that sites provide the browser with the up-to-date, “modern browsers” code. So our new engine also comes with a new user agent string.
It also gives me one more opportunity to beat the drum again: user agent sniffing should be avoided at all costs!
“That’s great, but my company has sites that require IE8.”
In order to ensure that we also retain backwards compatibility, we will not be getting rid of Trident. Instead, we designed and implemented a dual-engine approach, where either the new modern rendering engine or Trident can be loaded. This switch happens transparently to the user.
“Yes. We’re working on a plan for extensions for a future update to Project Spartan,” tweeted the @IEDevChat team on Twitter.
There has been talk among various sources (including some of my own) that Microsoft is seeking ways to enable Google Chrome extensions to work on Spartan. All that the team said today was that they are “still building our plan for extensions.”
Late yesterday, Microsoft announced its earnings and while most of the news was good, it was not perfect. With Microsoft forecasting a slowing in growth for the next calendar year due to forex complexities and as they transition into new business models, the market reacted negatively to the news. But, revenue was up for Microsoft and Surface is now a billion dollar business.
The latest version of Windows 10 contains a plethora of features targeted at the consumer. Features like Cortana, Continuum and running modern apps on the desktop were all heavily requested after the launch of Windows 8, and they finally arrive with this iteration of Windows.
Windows 10 build 9926 is the first version of the Technical Preview that allows users of previous Windows version to upgrade directly to this release and try out the testing bits of the new operating system without the pain of downloading and installing it manually.
Same update system for the final version
Windows 10 will be offered as a free upgrade for one year to Windows 8.1 and Windows 7 users, and a similar mechanism is very likely to be offered once the final version of the operating system becomes available.
Users of these two Windows versions will be provided with an upgrade to the RTM build of Windows 10, so again, required input will be minimal, which basically means that everything will be performed smoothly, with reduced chances of errors and issues.
Downgrading won’t be possible
Users who indeed install Windows 10 on their computers over Windows 8 or Windows 7 won’t be able to go back to their previous operating system unless they perform a clean install.
Of course, this is quite a setback and everyone should think twice before upgrading a stable installation of Windows 8.1 or Windows 7 to Windows 10 Technical Preview, especially if they do it on their main computer.
Businesses switching to Windows 10 for Enterprise won’t be getting the operating system as a free upgrade within the first year of release and it will be updated differently as well.
Back in October, it was reported that Microsoft was working on a lock-down update system for Windows 10 business users and it seems that it will be implemented in the Enterprise version of the operating system.
According to Microsoft’s latest blog post, the company’s free Windows 10 upgrade offer won’t cover the Enterprise version of the OS which is provided to software assurance customers. It has also been revealed that updates would be delivered to Enterprise customers differently as well.
Enterprise customers will have a thoroughly tested version of Windows 10 as compatibility with existing hardware and older software is a critical requirement of businesses.
On January 21, Terry Myerson announced that a free upgrade for Windows 10 will be made available to customers running Windows 7, Windows 8.1 and Windows Phone 8.1 devices who upgrade in the first year after launch*. This is something we think consumers and many small businesses will be really excited about, given it is the first time we have offered a free upgrade on this scale. We believe this will allow hundreds of millions of customers to upgrade to Windows 10 soon after launch, create a broad opportunity for our ecosystem partners to drive innovation, and deliver value to all Windows 10 customers.
For enterprise customers and partners, we will continue to deliver exclusive value and offer extensive flexibility in how Windows 10 is deployed and managed as Windows evolves to become a service. For companies that require these enterprise-grade capabilities, Windows Software Assurance (SA) will continue to offer the best and most comprehensive benefits. Windows 7 Enterprise and Windows 8/8.1 Enterprise are not included in the terms of free Windows 10 Upgrade offer we announced last week, given active Software Assurance customers will continue to have rights to upgrade to Windows 10 enterprise offerings outside of this offer – while also benefitting from the full flexibility to deploy Windows 10 using their existing management infrastructure.
Windows 10 helps keep enterprise customers more secure and up to date
Many consumers today expect their devices to receive ongoing feature updates without having to take an action. However, we understand that businesses require more control in how updates are delivered, and at what pace.
For example, systems powering hospital emergency rooms, air traffic control towers, financial trading systems, factory floors, just to name a few, may need very strict change management policies, for prolonged periods of time. To support Windows 10 devices in these mission critical customer environments we will provide Long Term Servicing branches at the appropriate time intervals. On these branches, customer devices will receive the level of enterprise support expected for the mission critical systems, keeping systems more secure with the latest security and critical updates, while minimizing change by not delivering new features for the duration of mainstream (five years) and extended support (five years). On Long Term Servicing branches, customers will have the flexibility to deliver security updates and fixes via Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) which allows full control over the internal distribution of updates using existing management solutions such as System Center Configuration Manager or to receive these updates automatically via Windows Update
We also learned from customers that while having control of mission critical environments is important; they also have many end user devices that are not necessarily mission-critical. Managing those devices as mission critical systems results in significant, unnecessary costs and complexity, while additionally depriving business users of access to the latest functionality.
To that end, we are introducing a new approach for business customers, which we are referring to as the Current branch for Business. By putting devices on the Current branch for Business, enterprises will be able to receive feature updates after their quality and application compatibility has been assessed in the consumer market, while continuing to receive security updates on a regular basis. This gives IT departments’ time to start validating updates in their environments the day changes are shipped broadly to consumers
Businesses choosing to take advantage of connecting end user machines to Windows Update may experience a reduction in management costs, quicker access to security updates and critical fixes and access to the latest innovation from Microsoft on an ongoing basis. Keeping non-mission critical end user devices on the Current branch for Business, while receiving updates automatically via Windows Update, is a best practice for Windows 10 that we recommend for many enterprise users.
The CEO of the world’s largest software maker, who celebrates one year on the job today, is changing Microsoft from the inside out — because he has to.
If former Microsft CEO Steve Ballmer saw Windows as a cash cow that just needed to be milked, Satya Nadella seems to view the software as a workhorse straining to pull the company out of its rut.
He’s got a tough sell.
Sure, almost 90 percent of all personal computers run some version of Windows. But by 2016, over 2 billion people — or more than a quarter of the world’s population — will have a smartphone, according to eMarketer. And where does Microsoft stand in one of the fast-growing technology arenas in the world? In the shadows, with its Windows software for mobile devices holding a paltry 2.7 percent share of the market, well behind Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS offerings.
Nadella, who’s spent the last 23 years at Microsoft, knows that the company’s days as master of the tech industry are long gone. Now he’s trying to make it relevant by pushing Microsoft into the age of mobile computing. For Nadella, it’s a question of “renew” or die.
“You renew yourself every day. Sometimes you’re successful, sometimes you’re not. But it’s the average that counts,”
With Windows 10, the next version of Microsoft’s operating system, due this year, developers are being promised the ability to write to a single code base. That could be the lure Microsoft needs to convince developers who want to write just once and create the apps that look and feel the same across computers, tablets and smartphones, regardless of what software powers the device.
Microsoft also needs to be “a company whose developer tools are perceived as being useful to everyone, not just on their own platforms.”
“Microsoft is going to stay in the phone business as long they’re not cratering,” Gartner’s Adrian said. “Not because they want to get to No. 1 or No. 2 in the phone business, but because as a market participant they learn a lot that extends to the rest of the company.” Microsoft, for instance, can apply what it learns in the consumer market to the enterprise space — and vice versa.
“Ballmer didn’t have a sense of where Microsoft should go,” said Kay. Nadella, with his steadier hand than the famously bombastic Ballmer, might have a better chance of changing the software behemoth’s course.
Nadella knows the outcome for Microsoft if he can’t renew the business.
Microsoft today launched the first part of its Office for Windows 10 in preview. You can download the new Word, Excel, and PowerPoint apps now from the Windows Store Beta that ships with the latest Windows 10 build.
Microsoft says the new Office for Windows 10 apps will work best on touch-enabled desktops, laptops, and tablets. The preview for the same apps will arrive on phones (and very small tablets) running Windows 10 “in the coming weeks.”
Office for Windows 10 (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, and Outlook) is slated to arrive later this year. These new Office apps will be pre-installed (for free) on smartphones and small tablets running Windows 10, but will also be available for download from the Windows Store for other devices.
For context, a universal Windows app is Microsoft’s verbiage for an app that can run on Windows 10 across different form factors, including PCs, tablets, and phones. These Word, Excel, and PowerPoint apps are thus not only built for touch, but they are supposed to be the same app on all Windows devices.
Where can the iPad go from here? Microsoft has been coming up with some pretty good ideas.
The iPad is nearly 5 years old. That product, ever since, has continued to ride a thin dividing line between iPhones and Macs: mobile, and computers.
Apple’s world has since become all about the iPhone. Look at the latest sales numbers, and they’re shockingly lopsided: iPhones now represent almost three-quarters of Apple’s revenue. Macs and iPads, while still selling in numbers that would cause celebrations at other companies, just don’t seem to have the same fire. Sales of iPads, in fact, are trending downward.
But 2015 seems to offer the promise of new things in the world of both product lines: the two biggest rumors predict a “big screen” iPad, and a new “small screen” MacBook Air. The irony? Both of these products are said to include a screen in the 12.5-inch realm.
If these rumors are real, shouldn’t this be just one product? Maybe a thin and light touchscreen tablet, with a detachable keyboard? And maybe — just maybe — running an operating system that combines the best of Mac OS X and iOS?
For me, the answer lies with Microsoft.
What Microsoft is getting right: One world, multiple devices
Windows 8 took a first crack at cross-device one-size-fits-all computing for a variety of types of tablets, laptops and all-in-one PCs, and failed. The experience wasn’t fun for a lot of people, and it turned out that some types of hybrid PCs were better suited to Windows 8 than others.
Windows 10 looks like it’s made all the right improvements, and explores cross-device computing in a way that feels very Google. Universal apps promise to run on phones, tablets, PCs and maybe even the Xbox One. In practice we’ll see how that goes, but in theory it sounds wonderful.
Google’s apps like YouTube, Gmail, Drive and Docs take everything to the next level of true connectivity and I can use Google Drive on any device. It generally works well, no matter where I am. Isn’t that the works-anywhere philosophy brought to life? Microsoft’s apps, especially OneDrive, take a similar approach.
Apple hasn’t been sitting still in this regard. In fact, iOS and OS X have gotten a lot closer, and core apps work are coming together in a similar way
But Macs still stand apart from iPhones and iPads.
Microsoft Windows 10′s Continuum has another solution: it promises to swap seamlessly between touchscreen tablet and keyboard-connected modes, with software that smartly recognizes when keyboard peripherals are attached. It promises to switch between an app-based tablet, or a more traditional computer desktop — intelligently.
Microsoft has revealed more details of just how its personal assistant Cortana will work in Windows 10.
The assistant’s been given a visual representation based on circles, with the variations at the top of the story representing Cortana in different moods and when performing different tasks. The circles will appear as animations in Windows 10 in a small window at bottom left near the revived Start apparatus, according to this saccharine video.
Microsoft’s using broad brush strokes to describe Cortana’s functions, saying “She will learn your preferences, provide quick access to information, and make recommendations personalized for you.” The software will also figure out “… that when you’re on your phone, your interaction is generally going to be brief; when you’re on your PC, your goals are going to be in line with steady periods of productivity.”
This means one will be able to “… tell Cortana on your phone to deliver a reminder that pops up, at just the right time, on your desktop”. There’s also a promise to have “… Cortana to help you easily find the music you want and play it from any of the devices, throughout your home, across PCs, phones, tablets and speakers, in a group setting.”
Microsoft’s also saying that Cortana is no mere assistant, but “the first contextual operating service”.
MICROSOFT looks set to release the final version of Windows 10 earlier than first thought, possibly in June.
The release to manufacturer (RTM) would allow vendors to customise the software and have it ready for back-to-school stock in August. This is a jump for Microsoft, which would traditionally go to RTM in late August for release in October.
Of course, all this could change, and we could be drumming our collective fingers in October after major borkage problems are discovered. Or we may not.
Until last week, Microsoft’s $2.5 billion purchase of Mojang AB made no sense to me. Undeniably popular in the current generation of kids, at some point, Mojang’s Minecraft will fade, like every other fad before it.
Microsoft’s new CEO, Satya Nadella, saw something in Minecraft that no one else had. That’s not a new thing for Redmond.
Games are one area where Microsoft consistently innovates. Direct3D has always performed better than OpenGL, with frequent improvements forcing GPU designers to continuously up their game. Kinect integrated military-grade sensor technology into an affordable bit of kit, becoming the fastest-selling piece of consumer electronics in history.
Nadella’s Microsoft aims for a different goal. Instead of focusing on smaller and lighter and cheaper, Microsoft is going the other way, into faster, stronger, and more engaging, doubling down on the kinds of experiences that will continue to require cutting edge hardware and software – from Microsoft.
The combination of Direct3D, 3D printing support (added in Windows 8.1), Minecraft and Microsoft’s still-in-prototype-but-utterly-spectacular Hololens display creates an operating system that crosses the streams between the real and the virtual. 3D on the screen, 3D spat out of a printer, 3D augmented reality woven throughout the real world: it’s all of a piece.
First the good news: Windows 10 will be free – for one year.
Microsoft announced upgrades to its next-planned client operating system during an outpouring of PR love and vision on Wednesday.
Let’s focus on the tangibles – those free upgrades for 12 months.
Why has Microsoft U-turned on its chief operating officer’s pledge of “no more free Windows”? Why has a company that makes a third of its money on selling licenses to PCs and tablets running Windows drastically extended its recent policy of Windows 8 for free – but only on devices with a screen of nine inches or less?
Because it had to.
Windows 10 is Microsoft’s make-or-break operating system and Microsoft needs to do everything it can to kick-start adoption and move PC customers on. If Windows 10 goes wrong and people don’t upgrade, that’ll be two Windows busts in succession. That would be terrible for business and for Microsoft.
Consumers and businesses both flatly rejected Windows 8.x, with the latter picking Windows 7 as their post Windows XP PC platform of choice.
Windows 7 is now six years old with its end-of-support date penciled in for 2020. If Windows 10 also doesn’t hit, and assuming Microsoft takes another two years to release the next version of Windows – its typical roadmap – then it’ll be 2017 before the world’s largest software company gets another crack at trying to persuade potential customers it’s in their interests to upgrade.
And that’s a real problem.
Now the bad news
Windows 10 is going to be free – for a while. That’s really bad news for PC makers and channel partners, and will prolong the industry’s recovery from its nose spin.
New versions of Windows and sales of new PCs go hand in hand, as the new operating system is either too fat or uses features missing in existing hardware. The best recent example was the sour reception to Windows 8 in Christmas 2012, which was blamed for the worst sales figures since records began in the 1990s.
Microsoft hasn’t said what PC hardware you’ll need to run Windows 10 but with its free upgrade, Microsoft obviously reckons PCs running Windows 7 and Windows 8.x have already got what they need to make Windows 10 work.
PC hardware refresh has been a major hurdle in recent tech history: a reason companies have been slow to dump Windows XP has been finance directors unwillingness to pay for the new PCs that can run Windows 7. Putting Windows 10 on the same PCs as Windows 7 helps Microsoft navigate that hurdle; getting Windows 10 becomes a simple matter of download and corporate IT strategy.
Microsoft is gambling: it is trading short-term PC sales and putting PC partners on hold in the interests of long-term adoption of Windows 10.
As we’ve written here before, offering free products in today’s climate of low-price but fully functioning devices is the way to grow market share.
Microsoft needs market share for two reasons: to make decent money from Windows 10 licenses at some point in the future and get more Windows 10 devices in the field that let people swallow subscription cloud services, like Office 365.
Windows 10 Technical Preview build 9926 comes with a collection of new icons, and as we could all see in the leaked screenshots of new builds, more new icons are expected to be introduced very soon.
Gaming support is one of the features that Microsoft is aiming to improve in Windows 10, but the company is also working on something that would clearly give all of its platforms a significant advantage in the fight against rivals.
At the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, Phil Spencer, head of Xbox at Microsoft, has revealed that, with Windows 10, the Redmond-based tech giant is indeed working to bring together all of its platforms, so gaming will also be impacted by this change.
As a result, starting with the upcoming operating system, users who purchase a game designed to run on any of Microsoft’s platforms will be capable of running it on basically all the other platforms in its portfolio.
Based on the concept of cross-buy, the new approach basically means that you only need to purchase a game once and play it as long as you want on any other Microsoft device, be it smartphone, PC, Xbox console, or tablet.
“With the Windows Store, Microsoft is committed to delivering best-in-class scenarios for gamers and game developers,” Spencer said.
Universal apps and one store for everything
This isn’t an entirely new idea, as Microsoft has been fiddling with the concept of universal apps since Windows 8.1, but the company is only advancing at full speed towards this new approach.
In Windows 10, Microsoft will be offering users a single store across all devices and this will provide access to universal apps, which are designed to run on all platforms.
And once again, everything will come down to developers. Microsoft needs developers to create universal apps and games that would run on all these devices
Microsoft has added the peer-to-peer (P2P) option to system update of the new leaked version of Windows 10 technical preview, numbered as 10036.
This technology added to the update options, enables you to update your windows using an already updated windows system in the local network, so basically you are sharing your update files semi-automatically.
This can be really useful especially to business usage of windows where there are lots of windows systems, so after updating one device’s OS the rest won’t have to download all that again, the updated OS will share the update files and simply saves several gigabytes band wide of the internet, plus, its much faster for those who do not have a fast connection since it’s on the local network and it can be as fast as your LAN lets the system to be.
This new feature also gives you the option to download the updates form PCs on the internet, local network and from the traditional Windows Update servers.
One of the challenges Microsoft has given itself with its goal of making Windows 10 run on almost anything is that lots of devices have rather less storage than PCs, which means Redmond can’t assume users will have hard disk space to burn.
If Windows takes up most of a cheaposlab’s 32GB solid state disk, that’s not going to make for happy punters. Even in developing nations, where people are just as keen on photos of the kids as people anywhere else but lack the bandwidth to dump them into OneDrive.
Redmond’s therefore finding ways to squeeze Windows 10′s footprint and has detailed them in a new post.
The big space-saving change Microsoft’s made is to remove the need for a recovery image to be stored on PCs and fondleslabs. Microsoft says that image currently consumes between 4GB and 12GB, depending on how OEMs implement recovery features.
Compactness via system compression and recovery enhancements
Windows 10 employs two separate and independent approaches for achieving a compact footprint. First, Windows 10 leverages an efficient compression algorithm to compress system files. Second, recovery enhancements have removed the requirement for a separate recovery image.
With current builds, Windows can efficiently compress system files. That gives back approximately 1.5GB of storage for 32-bit and 2.6GB of storage for 64-bit Windows. Phones will also be able to use this same efficient compression algorithm and likewise have capacity savings with Windows 10.
With these new and enhanced functionalities, devices running Windows 10 will have more free space for photos, videos, and music, as the figure below illustrates.
MICROSOFT HAS told potential Windows 10 users that they can expect to have more storage left than they might have expected because of the size of the operating system’s footprint.
Bigger is better is normally the thing, but in operating systems and software updates the opposite is true. Some updates and software are known to be space hoggers and often users will kick up a stink over it.
Microsoft has perhaps learned from this, and has told Windows 10 fans that it is using compression and changes to its recovery system to leave more room for things that users want to store.
“With current builds, Windows can efficiently compress system files. That gives back approximately 1.5GB of storage for 32-bit and 2.6GB of storage for 64-bit Windows. Phones will also be able to use this same efficient compression algorithm and likewise have capacity savings with Windows 10.”
“This reduces Windows’ storage footprint further as the recovery image on typical devices can range in size from 4GB to 12GB, depending on the make and model. Phones already have a storage-optimised recovery solution, so, unlike compression, this enhancement is only for tablets, laptops, and desktops,” they add.
“Even though Windows no longer requires a separate recovery image, Windows can still recover a device from severe corruption. With Windows 10, you can create your own recovery media and back up the pristine state of the operating system and preinstalled software,” it adds.
Terry Myerson / Blogging Windows:
Microsoft announces Windows 10 will launch this summer in 190 countries and 111 languages, partners with Xiaomi to test the OS on Mi 4 devices — Windows 10 Launching This Summer in 190 Countries and 111 Languages — Today at the renewed Windows Hardware Engineering Community (WinHEC) …
Today at the renewed Windows Hardware Engineering Community (WinHEC) summit in Shenzhen, China, I had the honor of speaking about Windows 10 and the innovation and opportunity it offers our valued partners. China is a global epicenter for innovation and we’re excited to be working with the area’s leading hardware and software companies to develop ground-breaking devices and consumer experiences that will help shape the future of Windows 10.
Strategic partnerships with Lenovo, Tencent and Qihu 360 will help Windows 10 reach hundreds of millions of customers in China and spur adoption of Windows 10 worldwide.
Lenovo, one of the world’s leading PC manufacturers, announced they will offer Windows 10 upgrade services at 2,500 service centers and select retail stores in China when the Windows 10 upgrade is available. This will help customers quickly and easily upgrade their new or existing Windows devices to Windows 10. Lenovo also announced their commitment to build Windows phones, to be available in mid-year 2015 via China Mobile.
Tencent, the leading social networking and gaming services company in China, announced it will offer Windows 10 as a free upgrade to its customers on Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 in China, and include QQ, Tencent Video and Tencent PC Manager in the Windows 10 free upgrade pack. Tencent will create a Windows 10 universal app for their flagship QQ app, which has over 800 million customers in China, and bring their most popular PC games, such as “League of Legends,” “Cross Fire” and “Dungeon & Fighter” to Windows 10 and the new Windows store.
Hardware Innovations Enabled by Windows 10
One of the predominant goals of WinHEC is to showcase opportunities Windows 10 presents to hardware and device manufacturers. Windows Hello is one of the new innovations that I was excited to show onstage for the first time.
Windows Hello* will make Windows 10 more personal by providing instant access to your devices through biometric authentication – using your face, iris or fingerprint to unlock your devices – with technology that is significantly safer than traditional passwords. We’re working closely with our hardware partners to deliver Windows Hello-capable devices that will ship with Windows 10. We are thrilled that all OEM systems incorporating the Intel RealSense F200 sensor will fully support Windows Hello, including automatic sign-in to Windows. You can read more about Windows Hello here.
Today, we also shared how Windows 10 will support today’s maker boards, enabling makers to do amazing things with Windows in the fast-growing Internet of Things space.
Windows 10 Launching This Summer in 190 Countries and 111 Languages
March 17, 2015 by Terry Myerson // PC, Phone, Tablet // 16 Comments
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Today at the renewed Windows Hardware Engineering Community (WinHEC) summit in Shenzhen, China, I had the honor of speaking about Windows 10 and the innovation and opportunity it offers our valued partners. China is a global epicenter for innovation and we’re excited to be working with the area’s leading hardware and software companies to develop ground-breaking devices and consumer experiences that will help shape the future of Windows 10.
We continue to make great development progress and shared today that Windows 10 will be available this summer in 190 countries and 111 languages. Windows has always been global with more than 1.5 billion users around the world and here in China hundreds of millions of PCs operate Windows today. That’s why it was particularly fun to show our latest global innovation, Windows Hello, on stage for the first time, and to feature a number of Windows 10 customizations for the China market, such as Cortana in Mandarin.
Upgrading Millions of Customers with Lenovo, Tencent and Qihu 360
On January 21, I shared our commitment to offer a free upgrade to Windows 10 for hundreds of millions of customers running Windows 7, Windows 8.1 and Windows Phone 8.1 for the first year after it is released.
A key way we will make the upgrade experience to Windows 10 easy is through strong partnerships with technology leaders. Today, we shared new partnerships with several world-leading companies to deliver a seamless Windows 10 upgrade experience to our customers in China. Strategic partnerships with Lenovo, Tencent and Qihu 360 will help Windows 10 reach hundreds of millions of customers in China and spur adoption of Windows 10 worldwide.
Lenovo, one of the world’s leading PC manufacturers, announced they will offer Windows 10 upgrade services at 2,500 service centers and select retail stores in China when the Windows 10 upgrade is available. This will help customers quickly and easily upgrade their new or existing Windows devices to Windows 10. Lenovo also announced their commitment to build Windows phones, to be available in mid-year 2015 via China Mobile.
Tencent, the leading social networking and gaming services company in China, announced it will offer Windows 10 as a free upgrade to its customers on Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 in China, and include QQ, Tencent Video and Tencent PC Manager in the Windows 10 free upgrade pack. Tencent will create a Windows 10 universal app for their flagship QQ app, which has over 800 million customers in China, and bring their most popular PC games, such as “League of Legends,” “Cross Fire” and “Dungeon & Fighter” to Windows 10 and the new Windows store.
Qihu 360, a leading internet security company in China, announced it will bring Windows 10 for free to their customers in China through seamless upgrades. Qihu 360, with over 500 million customers on Windows PCs, will enable the Windows 10 upgrade with just a few clicks with accelerated download speeds.
Through a new program with Xiaomi, one of the top smartphone distributors in the world, a select group of Xiaomi Mi 4 power users will be invited to help test Windows 10 and contribute to its future release later this year. These power users will have the opportunity to download the Windows 10 Technical Preview – installing it and providing their feedback to Microsoft.
Hardware Innovations Enabled by Windows 10
One of the predominant goals of WinHEC is to showcase opportunities Windows 10 presents to hardware and device manufacturers. Windows Hello is one of the new innovations that I was excited to show onstage for the first time.
Windows Hello* will make Windows 10 more personal by providing instant access to your devices through biometric authentication – using your face, iris or fingerprint to unlock your devices – with technology that is significantly safer than traditional passwords. We’re working closely with our hardware partners to deliver Windows Hello-capable devices that will ship with Windows 10. We are thrilled that all OEM systems incorporating the Intel RealSense F200 sensor will fully support Windows Hello, including automatic sign-in to Windows. You can read more about Windows Hello here.
Today, we also shared how Windows 10 will support today’s maker boards, enabling makers to do amazing things with Windows in the fast-growing Internet of Things space.
For the first time, a new version of Windows for small footprint IoT devices will be available – for free – when Windows 10 launches. Windows 10 will offer versions of Windows for a diverse set of IoT devices, ranging from powerful devices like ATMs and ultrasound machines, to resource constrained devices like gateways. Through key partnerships with the Raspberry Pi Foundation, Intel, Qualcomm and others, we will provide great options for commercial devices builders, hobbyists and students.
Microsoft today announced that biometric authentication is coming to Windows 10. Windows Hello will let you unlock your Windows 10 device, whether it be a PC, tablet, or a smartphone, with your finger, iris, or face. Microsoft Passport will take this further by letting you access apps and online services without a password.
Microsoft describes Windows Hello as “biometric authentication which can provide instant access to your Windows 10 devices.*” That asterisk is no typo. The fine print states that Windows Hello requires specialized hardware, “including fingerprint reader, illuminated IR sensor or other biometric sensors.”
In other words, this is a long-term play. Microsoft is well aware that many Windows 10 devices will be built to be sold for as little as possible, and Windows Hello simply won’t be available.
(Reuters) – Microsoft Corp is making its biggest push into the heavily pirated Chinese consumer computing market this summer by offering free upgrades to Windows 10 to all Windows users, regardless of whether they are running genuine copies of the software.
The move is an unprecedented attempt by Microsoft to get legitimate versions of its software onto machines of the hundreds of millions of Windows users in China. Recent studies show that three-quarters of all PC software is not properly licensed there.
“We are upgrading all qualified PCs, genuine and non-genuine, to Windows 10,”
ATLANTA: MICROSOFT HAS ANNOUNCED that Project Spartan will be the primary web browser for Windows 10, but said that talk of Internet Explorer’s (IE) death has been greatly exaggerated.
At Convergence 2015 in Atlanta on Monday, Chris Capossela, Microsoft’s chief marketing officer, said Microsoft is “researching” a new brand name for Project Spartan.
He also highlighted that the new browser does not mean Windows is abandoning its longstanding IE brand, despite reports having claimed that Microsoft will be dumping the much-maligned browser.
“We’ll continue to have Internet Explorer, but we’ll also have a new browser, which is codenamed Project Spartan. We have to name the thing,” he said.
Windows 10 is coming this summer, Microsoft has confirmed, and will be free to anyone using Windows 7 or better. Even people who didn’t pay for it.
That’s right, even Windows 7 and 8 users who don’t have a valid Windows license will get a free bump up to Windows 10. The release timing and new upgrade scheme were revealed by Microsoft operating system chief Terry Myerson at the WinHEC technology conference in Shenzhen, China, Reuters reports.
It’s a surprising move given the importance that Microsoft has placed on Windows license revenue in the past, and the lengths Microsoft has gone to to prevent the spread of pirated copies of the operating system. But the company has spent the past year reinventing itself in many ways, including going so far as to announce a free version of Windows for devices with screens smaller than nine inches.
Meanwhile, operating system pricing expectations have also been changing.
The company now offers a range of cloud services, including Office 365, Skype and OneDrive, that Windows users may be more likely shell out for, even if they didn’t buy an operating system license. And even if those customers don’t end up buying cloud services from the company, at least they’re staying in the Microsoft ecosystem.
The company could also be worried about leaving millions of machines running outdated operating systems and software. Unpatched systems can spread malware and viruses, and releasing security updates for decades old platforms is costly. Microsoft has been campaigning to get users to retire Windows XP and the Internet Explorer 6 web browser, but China has been particularly slow to upgrade both. To make matters worse, the Chinese government, which has long clashed with Microsoft over piracy, even banned the use of Windows 8 on government computers largely due to concerns over upgrade costs.
Those of you with long memories will recall a barrage of complaints in the run up to Windows 8′s launch that concerned the ability to install other operating systems—whether they be older versions of Windows, or alternatives such as Linux or FreeBSD—on hardware that sported a “Designed for Windows 8″ logo.
To get that logo, hardware manufacturers had to fulfil a range of requirements for the systems they built, and one of those requirements had people worried. Windows 8 required machines to support a feature called UEFI Secure Boot. Secure Boot protects against malware that interferes with the boot process in order to inject itself into the operating system at a low level. When Secure Boot is enabled, the core components used to boot the machine must have correct cryptographic signatures, and the UEFI firmware verifies this before it lets the machine start. If any files have been tampered with, breaking their signature, the system won’t boot.
This is a desirable security feature, but it has an issue for alternative operating systems: if, for example, you prefer to compile your own operating system, your boot files won’t include a signature that Secure Boot will recognize and authorize, and so you won’t be able to boot your PC.
At its WinHEC hardware conference in Shenzhen, China, Microsoft talked about the hardware requirements for Windows 10. The precise final specs are not available yet, so all this is somewhat subject to change, but right now, Microsoft says that the switch to allow Secure Boot to be turned off is now optional. Hardware can be Designed for Windows 10 and can offer no way to opt out of the Secure Boot lock down.
Paul Thurrott / Thurrott.com:
Microsoft says upgrading a pirated copy to Windows 10 will not result in a supported, “Genuine” license; Reuters report based on misinterpreted quote
A Reuters report earlier this week clearly stated that Microsoft planned to tackle software piracy, especially in China, with a “free upgrade to Windows 10.” But that is incorrect: Instead, Microsoft will continue to treat stolen Windows versions as it always has, and it is not giving amnesty to pirates.
The confusion is understandable, given the headline to the Reuters report: Microsoft tackles China piracy with free upgrade to Windows 10. But the article itself quotes Microsoft executive vice president Terry Myerson, who is leading the effort to develop Windows 10.
“We are upgrading all qualified PCs, genuine and non-genuine, to Windows 10,” Myerson told Reuters in a telephone interview. The plan, Reuters said, was to “re-engage” with the hundreds of millions of users of Windows in China, though there was no “elaboration.”
That may very well be because Microsoft’s stance on pirated Windows copies has not changed at all.
““With Windows 10, although non-Genuine PCs may be able to upgrade to Windows 10, the upgrade will not change the genuine state of the license. Non-Genuine Windows is not published by Microsoft. It is not properly licensed, or supported by Microsoft or a trusted partner. If a device was considered non-genuine or mis-licensed prior to the upgrade, that device will continue to be considered non-genuine or mis-licensed after the upgrade.”
So here’s what’s really happening. Ready? Are you really ready for this?
Nothing.
Absolutely nothing.
This is exactly how Windows works today. The only difference is that with Windows 8.1 and now Windows 10, Windows is more readily available for download. So if you have a non-genuine (i.e. non-activated or “pirated” version) of Windows and you download the readily-available Windows 10 ISOs that Microsoft will make available, yes, you will be able to upgrade. But doing so won’t change anything. Windows is still not genuine. It’s still not supported.
Microsoft will offer Windows 10 as a free upgrade within the first year after launch for PCs powered by Windows 7 or Windows 8.1, and everyone expects the market share of the new operating system to skyrocket very fast in the first months of availability.
Obviously, a free upgrade for Windows 10 is pretty good news for users worldwide, but it’s not all just milk and honey for the rest of the Windows ecosystem.
Partners believe that offering Windows 10 free of charge to computers that are powerful enough to run Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 could have a strong impact on new PC sales, as the majority of customers would upgrade their devices instead of buying a new one.
Windows 10 has pretty much the same system requirements as Windows 7 and Windows 8.1, so computers that have been purchased in the last 5 or 6 years should all be able to run the new operating system pretty flawlessly.
Summary:Microsoft’s Windows 10 software development kit for writing universal apps is now available for download.
On March 23, Microsoft made available for download the Windows 10 Technical Preview tools for developing for the coming Windows 10 universal application platform.
To get the new tools, developers need to sign up for the Windows Insider Program, install the latest Windows 10 technical preview release and install both Visual Studio 2015 Community Technology Preview (CTP) 6 and the Tools for the Windows 10 Technical Preview, which include the Windows 10 software development kit (SDK).
For the last few years, Microsoft officials have been evangelizing the idea that “One Windows” running across a variety of device types will enable developers to create universal apps that will build on a single runtime, use an increasingly similar set of application programming interfaces (APIs) and developer tools and be available from a single store.
With Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8, Microsoft got a step closer to realizing its “One Windows” vision. But with Windows 10, the company is hoping to get even closer to this promised nirvana.
The new universal app platform (UAP)that Microsoft is building with Windows 10 will sit on top of the Windows core. The UAP is a superset of WinRT, the Windows 8 and Windows RT runtime. The migration path to Windows 10 UAP apps is from ‘universal’ 8.1 apps.
Microsoft is making some tweaks to its browser strategy for Windows 10 that center around the rendering engines for its two browsers: Internet Explorer 11 and the one codenamed “Project Spartan.”
Summary:Microsoft’s next Windows 10 Mobile test build, expected around early April, will support a lot more Windows Phone test devices than the first build did.
Summary:Microsoft has released to testers a new Windows 10 Desktop preview build, the first to include the coming new ‘Project Spartan’ browser.
Like Windows 10 Desktop — which runs on PCs, laptops and tablets — Spartan is still not feature-complete at this point. The first Spartan preview does, however, include most of the functionality that Microsoft execs showed off on January 21 during an early demo of Spartan as part of a Windows 10 press event.
Specifically, the integration between Spartan and Cortana, Microsoft’s personal digital assistant, is in today’s Windows 10 release, as is the “Ask Cortana” user assistance technology. The ability to annotate Web pages with a pen or mouse is included in today’s Spartan build. Users can share annotated Web pages using this new “Web Note” technology and view the annotated pages in a variety of browsers.
Internet Explorer is on its way out. The 19-year-old browser has outlived its usefulness, forcing Microsoft to start from scratch with an all-new approach. Project Spartan (which isn’t the final, official name) is the successor to IE, and it supposedly represents a change in direction away from the relative bulk of IE to a minimalist design.
However, Microsoft has promised change in the past; in fact, it has touted the last few incarnations of Internet Explorer as major upgrades that bring the browser into competition. We all know how that turned out. So is Project Spartan worth the hype, or will it remain the most popular way to download Chrome?
Spartan, but not better
Spartan is meant to be, well, Spartan. Internet Explorer is commonly viewed as bulky and slow, and Microsoft wants to fix that perception. Unfortunately, Spartan doesn’t do as much as expected to challenge user preconceptions.
Does the new browser look different? Oh, sure. It offers the “modern” style, or “metro” style, or “universal” style (whatever term is official this week).
Yet the interface itself is not any smaller than that of Internet Explore
Broke, broke, broke
This theme seems to extend over to the browser’s trio of headline features: markups, Cortana and reading view.
In-browser Markup might be the most interesting feature of Spartan, as it fits right into Microsoft’s traditional argument that the Windows ecosystem is the best choice for people who need to do work. Unfortunately, it’s rather half-baked. Activating markup is a matter of clicking a button, but there are only a few ways to highlight, including a small marker, a big highlighter, and text boxes.
Cortana, meanwhile, is almost nowhere to be found. It only rarely appears in the search bar for a limited selection of results, such as local weather
Cortana does have the ability to right-click words or links and “Ask Cortana” about what they might mean or, in the case of addresses, discover directions. This functionality does its job, but it’s frankly a step behind OS X
Reading View, is a winner. It doesn’t offer any customization, but it does simplify pages quickly without stripping necessary images or losing content.
Spartan has a new Web browsing engine called Edge. Well, kinda new. It’s actually a fork of Trident, the browser engine used by Internet Explorer
For now, though, it seems that Edge is not far removed from its predecessor.
3D gaming also seems difficult for Spartan
It appears that Microsoft has done serious work upping the browser’s JavaScript capability
This Spartan isn’t ready for battle
Windows 10’s new browser can summed up in a single word: underwhelming. While the hype about the new interface and Edge browsing engine makes it sound as if Spartan is a bold step forward, in truth the browser is more of an off-shoot of Internet Explorer, and one that’s far from complete.
(As we announced back in September, we will be delivering one application platform for our developers to build apps for with Windows 10. These universal Windows apps will work across the entire device family spanning the PC, tablet, phone, Xbox, the Internet of Things, and more. To go along with this single unified application platform will be a single unified Store. This single Store experience will be the one way for apps and games to be discovered, purchased and updated across all of your devices. We’re also adding music, movies and TV shows into the Store for you purchase and access across all your devices too!
In the latest builds of the Windows 10 Technical Preview, you can see our unified Store experience coming together.
Starting today (rolling out over the course of the next 24 hours), we’re turning on the Movies & TV page in the Store Beta. If you are a Windows Insider running the latest build of the Windows 10 Technical Preview – you will now be able to browse and search for videos, rent or purchase movies & TV shows in the Store Beta and play them in the Video Preview app.
MICROSOFT HAS PUBLISHED some statistics relating to the use of the Windows Store, in turn revealing that businesses haven’t taken to using Windows apps.
The move towards convergence with Windows 10 is now a few months away, and the stats provide some interesting insight into the way that customers are taking to the new-style Windows Apps introduced in Windows 8, and their relationship to the company’s mobile platform.
However, the first point to note is that Microsoft states: “As the vast majority of our users are now using the latest version of the OS, it is the right time to prepare for Windows 10 by moving your apps to Windows and Windows Phone 8.1.”
We hate to be pedantic, but almost 60 percent of users are currently running Windows 7, according to the monthly figures from Net Applications.
Finally, with the worldwide adoption rate of Windows Apps continuing to increase, the company claims that an app in English will attract just 16 percent of the potential audience, but localising it to the top 10 languages gives 65 percent penetration.
Worth thinking about when you’re compiling your universal apps.
A few weeks ago, we came across an update that was supposedly installing on Windows 7 and 8.1 computers to prepare them for the upgrade to Windows 10, and at that time, it all seemed to be a way to nag users and more or less “force” them to switch to the new OS.
While Microsoft hasn’t said anything about KB3035583, the update that has often been referred to as a “Windows 10 downloader,” the company has revealed that there are two more patches that make sure that your computer is ready for the new OS.
KB2990214 for Windows 7 and KB3044374 for Windows 8.1 are both being shipped to users starting this month, and according to information provided by a company employee, you have no other option than to install them.
Microsoft’s launch of Windows 10 will likely take place in late July, according to AMD. During AMD’s latest earnings call last week, president and CEO Lisa Su revealed the launch timing for Microsoft’s Windows 10 operating system. Answering a question on inventory plans, Su said “with the Windows 10 launch at the end of July, we are watching sort of the impact of that on the back-to-school season, and expect that it might have a bit of a delay to the normal back-to-school season inventory build-up.”
Microsoft promised this morning to release by the end of April a set of Office applications that it calls “Universal” for smartphones running Windows 10.
The company has a two-prong productivity strategy in place for Windows: Office 2016 for desktop use, and, for all other Windows 10 experiences, its touch-focused Office Universal apps. The latter apps, according to Microsoft, will function across tablets and smartphones, dynamically changing their design to allow users to better use them based on their current screen size.
After months of rumors, Microsoft is revealing its plans to get mobile apps on Windows 10 today. While the company has been investigating emulating Android apps, it has settled on a different solution, or set of solutions, that will allow developers to bring their existing code to Windows 10. iOS and Android developers will be able to port their apps and games directly to Windows universal apps, and Microsoft is enabling this with two new software development kits. On the Android side, Microsoft is enabling developers to use Java and C++ code on Windows 10, and for iOS developers they’ll be able to take advantage of their existing Objective C code.
After months of rumors, Microsoft is revealing its plans to get mobile apps on Windows 10 today. While the company has been investigating emulating Android apps, it has settled on a different solution, or set of solutions, that will allow developers to bring their existing code to Windows 10.
iOS and Android developers will be able to port their apps and games directly to Windows universal apps, and Microsoft is enabling this with two new software development kits. On the Android side, Microsoft is enabling developers to use Java and C++ code on Windows 10, and for iOS developers they’ll be able to take advantage of their existing Objective C code.
The idea is simple, get apps on Windows 10 without the need for developers to rebuild them fully for Windows. While it sounds simple, the actual process will be a little more complicated than just pushing a few buttons to recompile apps. “Initially it will be analogous to what Amazon offers,” notes Myerson, referring to the Android work Microsoft is doing. “If they’re using some Google API… we have created Microsoft replacements for those APIs.” Microsoft’s pitch to developers is to bring their code across without many changes, and then eventually leverage the capabilities of Windows like Cortana, Xbox Live, Holograms, Live Tiles, and more.
During Microsoft’s planning for bringing iOS and Android apps to Windows, Myerson admits it wasn’t always an obvious choice to have both. “At times we’ve thought, let’s just do iOS,”
Supporting both Android and iOS developers allows Microsoft to capture everyone who is developing for mobile platforms right now, even if most companies still continue to target iOS first and port their apps to Android at the same time or shortly afterward.
Alongside the iOS and Android SDKs, Microsoft is also revealing ways for websites and Windows desktop apps to make their way over to Windows universal apps. Microsoft has created a way for websites to run inside a Windows universal app, and use system services like notifications and in-app purchases. This should allow website owners to easily create web apps without much effort, and list those apps in the Windows Store.
Edge is Microsoft’s new browser shipping on all Windows 10 devices (PCs, tablets, smartphones, and so on). Belfiore explained the name as referring to “being on the edge of consuming and creating.”
Microsoft Edge is the successor to Internet Explorer — which will also be available on Windows 10, but for legacy use cases. However, only Edge will use Microsoft’s new rendering engine of the same name.
Edge will be the default browser for all Windows 10 devices
Developers will be able to take their Chrome extensions or Firefox add-ons and, with “just a few changes,” bring them to Microsoft Edge. Belfiore demoed a Reddit extension originally built for Chrome, running on Microsoft Edge.
While Microsoft is planning to launch Windows 10 on PCs this summer, the phone part of the operating system will debut at a later date. Speaking at a media event at Build in San Francisco today, Microsoft’s Joe Belfiore explained the company’s plans for the launch of Windows 10. “Our phone builds have not been as far along as our PC builds,” explained Belfiore. “We’re adapting the phone experiences later than we’re adding the PC experiences.”
That slower progress means Windows 10 on phones will show up after the PC launch this summer. “There are devices and features that will come not on launch date, but following it,” says Belfiore. “From the device view, our main focus is to kick off the Windows 10 launch wave with a great launch on the PC. You should expect that the other devices — phone, HoloLens, Xbox, Surface Hub — will be staggered, probably not on the same date as the PC.”
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Windows 10 described as “the last version of Windows” because it will receive regular, incremental updates rather than big releases
“Right now we’re releasing Windows 10, and because Windows 10 is the last version of Windows, we’re all still working on Windows 10.” That was the message from Microsoft employee Jerry Nixon, a developer evangelist speaking at the company’s Ignite conference this week. Nixon was explaining how Microsoft was launching Windows 8.1 last year, but in the background it was developing Windows 10. Now, Microsoft employees can talk freely about future updates to Windows 10 because there’s no secret update in the works coming next. It’s all just Windows 10. While it immediately sounds like Microsoft is killing off Windows and not doing future versions, the reality is a little more complex. The future is “Windows as a service.”
Microsoft has been discussing the idea of Windows as a service, but the company hasn’t really explained exactly how that will play out with future versions of Windows. That might be because there won’t really be any future major versions of Windows in the foreseeable future.
Microsoft has altered the way it engineers and delivers Windows, and the initial result is Windows 10. Instead of big releases, there will be regular improvements and updates. Part of this is achieved by splitting up operating system components like the Start Menu and built-in apps to be separate parts that can be updated independently to the entire Windows core operating system. It’s a big undertaking, but it’s something Microsoft has been actively working on for Windows 10 to ensure it spans across multiple device types.
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150 Comments
Tomi Engdahl says:
Welcome to Spartan, Microsoft’s persuasive argument for… Chrome
Change as constant in Redmond’s browser strategy
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/01/26/microsoft_spartan_bet_on_chrome/
Two years after its last browser strategy policy change in Windows 8, Microsoft is shifting the pieces around the board again.
Microsoft last week unveiled Spartan, project codename of the browser for use with anything and everything running Windows 10.
Spartan is for any Windows 10 device, no matter if its input mechanism be keyboard and mouse, touch and gesture or controller and sensor.
Spartan is a “modern” browser, says Microsoft. What does that mean? A browser that works with “modern” standards, it seems.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Windows 10: Charms Bar Removed, No Start Screen For Desktops
http://tech.slashdot.org/story/15/01/26/1532203/windows-10-charms-bar-removed-no-start-screen-for-desktops
two big changes are now certain: the Charms bar is dead, and Start Screen for large devices is no more.
Windows 10: The Charms bar is dead; Start screen dead for large devices
http://www.neowin.net/news/windows-10-the-charms-bar-is-dead-start-screen-dead-for-large-devices
Tomi Engdahl says:
Windows 10 IE With Spartan Engine Performance Vs. Chrome and Firefox
http://tech.slashdot.org/story/15/01/26/2336227/windows-10-ie-with-spartan-engine-performance-vs-chrome-and-firefox
In Microsoft’s latest Windows 10 preview build released last week, Cortana made an entrance, but the much-anticipated Spartan browser did not. However, little did we realize that some of Spartan made the cut, in the form of an experimental rendering engine hidden under IE’s hood. Microsoft has separated its Trident rendering engine into two separate versions: one is for Spartan, called EdgeHTML, while the other remains under its legacy naming with Internet Explorer. The reason Microsoft doesn’t simply forego the older version is due to compatibility concerns.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Inside Microsoft’s New Rendering Engine For The “Project Spartan”
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2015/01/26/inside-microsofts-new-rendering-engine-project-spartan/
Last week, Microsoft made its biggest announcement for the web since it first introduced Internet Explorer in 1995: a new browser, codenamed “Project Spartan.” So, what does this mean for us as designers and developers?
This article will cover the inside story of the rendering engine powering Spartan, how it came to be, and how 20 years of the Internet Explorer platform (Trident) has helped inform how our team designed it.
Though Internet Explorer’s legacy versions are likely to be remembered by web developers for bugs, hacks and dirty workarounds, IE did shape the web in a positive way for web developers by bringing CSS, dynamic HTML scripting and the DOM, AJAX/XMLHttpRequest, drag drop, innerHTML, hardware acceleration, and other technologies to the web.
The new Microsoft browser is going to be powered by a new rendering engine, EdgeHTML.dll. Windows 10 already has it integrated, and it will be separate from Trident (MSHTML.dll) that powered Internet Explorer for decades.
As we know, the latest versions of Trident powering Internet Explorer 11, did show a remarkable support for standards (I started to make a list of some of the notable ones, but stopped after I hit 75 specs). But its progress was heavily weighed down by the burden of legacy support for IE5.5, IE7, IE8, IE9, and IE10 document modes — a concept the web no longer needs.
Project Spartan will also have an updated version of the F12 developer tools. A few of my personal favorites that are in the preview builds or on their way:
Preserve-3d
The most advanced support for ES6 at the moment
XPath
Web Audio
Media Capture API
Web RTC 1.1 (ORTC)
Touch Events
Content Security Policy
HTTP/2
As it turns out, a modern and interoperable rendering engine alone isn’t enough to magically make the web just work. To do that, the browser also has to make sure that sites provide the browser with the up-to-date, “modern browsers” code. So our new engine also comes with a new user agent string.
It also gives me one more opportunity to beat the drum again: user agent sniffing should be avoided at all costs!
“That’s great, but my company has sites that require IE8.”
In order to ensure that we also retain backwards compatibility, we will not be getting rid of Trident. Instead, we designed and implemented a dual-engine approach, where either the new modern rendering engine or Trident can be loaded. This switch happens transparently to the user.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Mary Jo Foley / ZDNet:
Microsoft confirms Windows 10′s ‘Spartan’ browser to get extensions
http://www.zdnet.com/article/microsoft-confirms-windows-10s-spartan-browser-to-get-extensions/
“Yes. We’re working on a plan for extensions for a future update to Project Spartan,” tweeted the @IEDevChat team on Twitter.
There has been talk among various sources (including some of my own) that Microsoft is seeking ways to enable Google Chrome extensions to work on Spartan. All that the team said today was that they are “still building our plan for extensions.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Latest Windows 10 Preview Build Brings Slew of Enhancements
http://tech.slashdot.org/story/15/01/28/0139224/latest-windows-10-preview-build-brings-slew-of-enhancements
Tomi Engdahl says:
There are now more than 2 million people testing Windows 10
http://www.neowin.net/news/there-are-now-more-than-2-million-people-testing-windows-10
Late yesterday, Microsoft announced its earnings and while most of the news was good, it was not perfect. With Microsoft forecasting a slowing in growth for the next calendar year due to forex complexities and as they transition into new business models, the market reacted negatively to the news. But, revenue was up for Microsoft and Surface is now a billion dollar business.
The latest version of Windows 10 contains a plethora of features targeted at the consumer. Features like Cortana, Continuum and running modern apps on the desktop were all heavily requested after the launch of Windows 8, and they finally arrive with this iteration of Windows.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Windows 7 and Windows 8 Users Can Now Upgrade to Windows 10 Technical Preview
http://news.softpedia.com/news/Windows-7-and-Windows-8-Users-Can-Now-Upgrade-to-Windows-10-Technical-Preview-471155.shtml
Windows 10 build 9926 is the first version of the Technical Preview that allows users of previous Windows version to upgrade directly to this release and try out the testing bits of the new operating system without the pain of downloading and installing it manually.
Same update system for the final version
Windows 10 will be offered as a free upgrade for one year to Windows 8.1 and Windows 7 users, and a similar mechanism is very likely to be offered once the final version of the operating system becomes available.
Users of these two Windows versions will be provided with an upgrade to the RTM build of Windows 10, so again, required input will be minimal, which basically means that everything will be performed smoothly, with reduced chances of errors and issues.
Downgrading won’t be possible
Users who indeed install Windows 10 on their computers over Windows 8 or Windows 7 won’t be able to go back to their previous operating system unless they perform a clean install.
Of course, this is quite a setback and everyone should think twice before upgrading a stable installation of Windows 8.1 or Windows 7 to Windows 10 Technical Preview, especially if they do it on their main computer.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Windows 10 for Enterprise is not free in the first year and other changes announced
http://www.neowin.net/news/windows-10-for-enterprise-is-not-free-in-the-first-year-and-other-changes-announced
Businesses switching to Windows 10 for Enterprise won’t be getting the operating system as a free upgrade within the first year of release and it will be updated differently as well.
Back in October, it was reported that Microsoft was working on a lock-down update system for Windows 10 business users and it seems that it will be implemented in the Enterprise version of the operating system.
According to Microsoft’s latest blog post, the company’s free Windows 10 upgrade offer won’t cover the Enterprise version of the OS which is provided to software assurance customers. It has also been revealed that updates would be delivered to Enterprise customers differently as well.
Enterprise customers will have a thoroughly tested version of Windows 10 as compatibility with existing hardware and older software is a critical requirement of businesses.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Windows 10 for Enterprise: More secure and up to date
http://blogs.windows.com/business/2015/01/30/windows-10-for-enterprise-more-secure-and-up-to-date/
On January 21, Terry Myerson announced that a free upgrade for Windows 10 will be made available to customers running Windows 7, Windows 8.1 and Windows Phone 8.1 devices who upgrade in the first year after launch*. This is something we think consumers and many small businesses will be really excited about, given it is the first time we have offered a free upgrade on this scale. We believe this will allow hundreds of millions of customers to upgrade to Windows 10 soon after launch, create a broad opportunity for our ecosystem partners to drive innovation, and deliver value to all Windows 10 customers.
For enterprise customers and partners, we will continue to deliver exclusive value and offer extensive flexibility in how Windows 10 is deployed and managed as Windows evolves to become a service. For companies that require these enterprise-grade capabilities, Windows Software Assurance (SA) will continue to offer the best and most comprehensive benefits. Windows 7 Enterprise and Windows 8/8.1 Enterprise are not included in the terms of free Windows 10 Upgrade offer we announced last week, given active Software Assurance customers will continue to have rights to upgrade to Windows 10 enterprise offerings outside of this offer – while also benefitting from the full flexibility to deploy Windows 10 using their existing management infrastructure.
Windows 10 helps keep enterprise customers more secure and up to date
Many consumers today expect their devices to receive ongoing feature updates without having to take an action. However, we understand that businesses require more control in how updates are delivered, and at what pace.
For example, systems powering hospital emergency rooms, air traffic control towers, financial trading systems, factory floors, just to name a few, may need very strict change management policies, for prolonged periods of time. To support Windows 10 devices in these mission critical customer environments we will provide Long Term Servicing branches at the appropriate time intervals. On these branches, customer devices will receive the level of enterprise support expected for the mission critical systems, keeping systems more secure with the latest security and critical updates, while minimizing change by not delivering new features for the duration of mainstream (five years) and extended support (five years). On Long Term Servicing branches, customers will have the flexibility to deliver security updates and fixes via Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) which allows full control over the internal distribution of updates using existing management solutions such as System Center Configuration Manager or to receive these updates automatically via Windows Update
We also learned from customers that while having control of mission critical environments is important; they also have many end user devices that are not necessarily mission-critical. Managing those devices as mission critical systems results in significant, unnecessary costs and complexity, while additionally depriving business users of access to the latest functionality.
To that end, we are introducing a new approach for business customers, which we are referring to as the Current branch for Business. By putting devices on the Current branch for Business, enterprises will be able to receive feature updates after their quality and application compatibility has been assessed in the consumer market, while continuing to receive security updates on a regular basis. This gives IT departments’ time to start validating updates in their environments the day changes are shipped broadly to consumers
Businesses choosing to take advantage of connecting end user machines to Windows Update may experience a reduction in management costs, quicker access to security updates and critical fixes and access to the latest innovation from Microsoft on an ongoing basis. Keeping non-mission critical end user devices on the Current branch for Business, while receiving updates automatically via Windows Update, is a best practice for Windows 10 that we recommend for many enterprise users.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Microsoft’s Nadella is on a mission to make Windows matter again
http://www.cnet.com/news/microsoft-nadella-is-on-a-mission-to-make-windows-matter-again/
The CEO of the world’s largest software maker, who celebrates one year on the job today, is changing Microsoft from the inside out — because he has to.
If former Microsft CEO Steve Ballmer saw Windows as a cash cow that just needed to be milked, Satya Nadella seems to view the software as a workhorse straining to pull the company out of its rut.
He’s got a tough sell.
Sure, almost 90 percent of all personal computers run some version of Windows. But by 2016, over 2 billion people — or more than a quarter of the world’s population — will have a smartphone, according to eMarketer. And where does Microsoft stand in one of the fast-growing technology arenas in the world? In the shadows, with its Windows software for mobile devices holding a paltry 2.7 percent share of the market, well behind Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS offerings.
Nadella, who’s spent the last 23 years at Microsoft, knows that the company’s days as master of the tech industry are long gone. Now he’s trying to make it relevant by pushing Microsoft into the age of mobile computing. For Nadella, it’s a question of “renew” or die.
“You renew yourself every day. Sometimes you’re successful, sometimes you’re not. But it’s the average that counts,”
With Windows 10, the next version of Microsoft’s operating system, due this year, developers are being promised the ability to write to a single code base. That could be the lure Microsoft needs to convince developers who want to write just once and create the apps that look and feel the same across computers, tablets and smartphones, regardless of what software powers the device.
Microsoft also needs to be “a company whose developer tools are perceived as being useful to everyone, not just on their own platforms.”
“Microsoft is going to stay in the phone business as long they’re not cratering,” Gartner’s Adrian said. “Not because they want to get to No. 1 or No. 2 in the phone business, but because as a market participant they learn a lot that extends to the rest of the company.” Microsoft, for instance, can apply what it learns in the consumer market to the enterprise space — and vice versa.
“Ballmer didn’t have a sense of where Microsoft should go,” said Kay. Nadella, with his steadier hand than the famously bombastic Ballmer, might have a better chance of changing the software behemoth’s course.
Nadella knows the outcome for Microsoft if he can’t renew the business.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Emil Protalinski / VentureBeat:
Microsoft launches preview of universal Word, Excel, and PowerPoint apps for Windows 10
http://venturebeat.com/2015/02/04/microsoft-launches-preview-of-universal-word-excel-and-powerpoint-apps-for-windows-10/
Microsoft today launched the first part of its Office for Windows 10 in preview. You can download the new Word, Excel, and PowerPoint apps now from the Windows Store Beta that ships with the latest Windows 10 build.
Microsoft says the new Office for Windows 10 apps will work best on touch-enabled desktops, laptops, and tablets. The preview for the same apps will arrive on phones (and very small tablets) running Windows 10 “in the coming weeks.”
Office for Windows 10 (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, and Outlook) is slated to arrive later this year. These new Office apps will be pre-installed (for free) on smartphones and small tablets running Windows 10, but will also be available for download from the Windows Store for other devices.
For context, a universal Windows app is Microsoft’s verbiage for an app that can run on Windows 10 across different form factors, including PCs, tablets, and phones. These Word, Excel, and PowerPoint apps are thus not only built for touch, but they are supposed to be the same app on all Windows devices.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Where the iPad should go next: Look toward Windows 10
http://www.cnet.com/news/where-the-ipad-should-go-next-look-toward-windows-10/
Where can the iPad go from here? Microsoft has been coming up with some pretty good ideas.
The iPad is nearly 5 years old. That product, ever since, has continued to ride a thin dividing line between iPhones and Macs: mobile, and computers.
Apple’s world has since become all about the iPhone. Look at the latest sales numbers, and they’re shockingly lopsided: iPhones now represent almost three-quarters of Apple’s revenue. Macs and iPads, while still selling in numbers that would cause celebrations at other companies, just don’t seem to have the same fire. Sales of iPads, in fact, are trending downward.
But 2015 seems to offer the promise of new things in the world of both product lines: the two biggest rumors predict a “big screen” iPad, and a new “small screen” MacBook Air. The irony? Both of these products are said to include a screen in the 12.5-inch realm.
If these rumors are real, shouldn’t this be just one product? Maybe a thin and light touchscreen tablet, with a detachable keyboard? And maybe — just maybe — running an operating system that combines the best of Mac OS X and iOS?
For me, the answer lies with Microsoft.
What Microsoft is getting right: One world, multiple devices
Windows 8 took a first crack at cross-device one-size-fits-all computing for a variety of types of tablets, laptops and all-in-one PCs, and failed. The experience wasn’t fun for a lot of people, and it turned out that some types of hybrid PCs were better suited to Windows 8 than others.
Windows 10 looks like it’s made all the right improvements, and explores cross-device computing in a way that feels very Google. Universal apps promise to run on phones, tablets, PCs and maybe even the Xbox One. In practice we’ll see how that goes, but in theory it sounds wonderful.
Google’s apps like YouTube, Gmail, Drive and Docs take everything to the next level of true connectivity and I can use Google Drive on any device. It generally works well, no matter where I am. Isn’t that the works-anywhere philosophy brought to life? Microsoft’s apps, especially OneDrive, take a similar approach.
Apple hasn’t been sitting still in this regard. In fact, iOS and OS X have gotten a lot closer, and core apps work are coming together in a similar way
But Macs still stand apart from iPhones and iPads.
Microsoft Windows 10′s Continuum has another solution: it promises to swap seamlessly between touchscreen tablet and keyboard-connected modes, with software that smartly recognizes when keyboard peripherals are attached. It promises to switch between an app-based tablet, or a more traditional computer desktop — intelligently.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Cortana to form CIRCLE OF LIFE in Windows 10
Microsoft’s ‘contextual operating service’ promises hakuna matata across devices
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/02/11/cortana_details_windows_10/
Microsoft has revealed more details of just how its personal assistant Cortana will work in Windows 10.
The assistant’s been given a visual representation based on circles, with the variations at the top of the story representing Cortana in different moods and when performing different tasks. The circles will appear as animations in Windows 10 in a small window at bottom left near the revived Start apparatus, according to this saccharine video.
Microsoft’s using broad brush strokes to describe Cortana’s functions, saying “She will learn your preferences, provide quick access to information, and make recommendations personalized for you.” The software will also figure out “… that when you’re on your phone, your interaction is generally going to be brief; when you’re on your PC, your goals are going to be in line with steady periods of productivity.”
This means one will be able to “… tell Cortana on your phone to deliver a reminder that pops up, at just the right time, on your desktop”. There’s also a promise to have “… Cortana to help you easily find the music you want and play it from any of the devices, throughout your home, across PCs, phones, tablets and speakers, in a group setting.”
Microsoft’s also saying that Cortana is no mere assistant, but “the first contextual operating service”.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Windows 10: Final version could bloom as soon as June
Well, RTM anyway
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2394655/windows-10-final-version-could-bloom-as-soon-as-june
MICROSOFT looks set to release the final version of Windows 10 earlier than first thought, possibly in June.
The release to manufacturer (RTM) would allow vendors to customise the software and have it ready for back-to-school stock in August. This is a jump for Microsoft, which would traditionally go to RTM in late August for release in October.
Of course, all this could change, and we could be drumming our collective fingers in October after major borkage problems are discovered. Or we may not.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Jamie Rigg / Engadget:
Hands-on with Windows 10 Technical Preview for phones, which adds interactive notifications, a customizable “Action Center”, new Photos and File Explorer apps
http://www.engadget.com/2015/02/16/an-in-depth-look-at-the-windows-10-technical-preview-for-phones/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Windows 10 heralds the MINECRAFT-isation of Microsoft
Redmond is building a stack of visualisation tools for the generation that grew up with clickable everything
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/01/29/windows_10_heralds_the_minecraftisation_of_microsoft/
Until last week, Microsoft’s $2.5 billion purchase of Mojang AB made no sense to me. Undeniably popular in the current generation of kids, at some point, Mojang’s Minecraft will fade, like every other fad before it.
Microsoft’s new CEO, Satya Nadella, saw something in Minecraft that no one else had. That’s not a new thing for Redmond.
Games are one area where Microsoft consistently innovates. Direct3D has always performed better than OpenGL, with frequent improvements forcing GPU designers to continuously up their game. Kinect integrated military-grade sensor technology into an affordable bit of kit, becoming the fastest-selling piece of consumer electronics in history.
Nadella’s Microsoft aims for a different goal. Instead of focusing on smaller and lighter and cheaper, Microsoft is going the other way, into faster, stronger, and more engaging, doubling down on the kinds of experiences that will continue to require cutting edge hardware and software – from Microsoft.
The combination of Direct3D, 3D printing support (added in Windows 8.1), Minecraft and Microsoft’s still-in-prototype-but-utterly-spectacular Hololens display creates an operating system that crosses the streams between the real and the virtual. 3D on the screen, 3D spat out of a printer, 3D augmented reality woven throughout the real world: it’s all of a piece.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Free Windows 10 could mean the END for Microsoft and the PC biz
Satya Nadella’s great price-slash gamble
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/01/22/windows_10_good_bad_news/
First the good news: Windows 10 will be free – for one year.
Microsoft announced upgrades to its next-planned client operating system during an outpouring of PR love and vision on Wednesday.
Let’s focus on the tangibles – those free upgrades for 12 months.
Why has Microsoft U-turned on its chief operating officer’s pledge of “no more free Windows”? Why has a company that makes a third of its money on selling licenses to PCs and tablets running Windows drastically extended its recent policy of Windows 8 for free – but only on devices with a screen of nine inches or less?
Because it had to.
Windows 10 is Microsoft’s make-or-break operating system and Microsoft needs to do everything it can to kick-start adoption and move PC customers on. If Windows 10 goes wrong and people don’t upgrade, that’ll be two Windows busts in succession. That would be terrible for business and for Microsoft.
Consumers and businesses both flatly rejected Windows 8.x, with the latter picking Windows 7 as their post Windows XP PC platform of choice.
Windows 7 is now six years old with its end-of-support date penciled in for 2020. If Windows 10 also doesn’t hit, and assuming Microsoft takes another two years to release the next version of Windows – its typical roadmap – then it’ll be 2017 before the world’s largest software company gets another crack at trying to persuade potential customers it’s in their interests to upgrade.
And that’s a real problem.
Now the bad news
Windows 10 is going to be free – for a while. That’s really bad news for PC makers and channel partners, and will prolong the industry’s recovery from its nose spin.
New versions of Windows and sales of new PCs go hand in hand, as the new operating system is either too fat or uses features missing in existing hardware. The best recent example was the sour reception to Windows 8 in Christmas 2012, which was blamed for the worst sales figures since records began in the 1990s.
Microsoft hasn’t said what PC hardware you’ll need to run Windows 10 but with its free upgrade, Microsoft obviously reckons PCs running Windows 7 and Windows 8.x have already got what they need to make Windows 10 work.
PC hardware refresh has been a major hurdle in recent tech history: a reason companies have been slow to dump Windows XP has been finance directors unwillingness to pay for the new PCs that can run Windows 7. Putting Windows 10 on the same PCs as Windows 7 helps Microsoft navigate that hurdle; getting Windows 10 becomes a simple matter of download and corporate IT strategy.
Microsoft is gambling: it is trading short-term PC sales and putting PC partners on hold in the interests of long-term adoption of Windows 10.
As we’ve written here before, offering free products in today’s climate of low-price but fully functioning devices is the way to grow market share.
Microsoft needs market share for two reasons: to make decent money from Windows 10 licenses at some point in the future and get more Windows 10 devices in the field that let people swallow subscription cloud services, like Office 365.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Your Say: Windows 10 Build 9926 Icons Look like a Bad Joke
http://news.softpedia.com/news/Your-Say-Windows-10-Build-9926-Icons-Look-Like-a-Bad-Joke-474214.shtml
Windows 10 Technical Preview build 9926 comes with a collection of new icons, and as we could all see in the leaked screenshots of new builds, more new icons are expected to be introduced very soon.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Windows 10 Will Allow Users to Buy a Game Once and Play It on Xbox, PCs, and Phones
http://news.softpedia.com/news/Windows-10-Will-Allow-Users-to-Buy-a-Game-Once-and-Play-It-on-Xbox-PCs-and-Phones-474938.shtml
Gaming support is one of the features that Microsoft is aiming to improve in Windows 10, but the company is also working on something that would clearly give all of its platforms a significant advantage in the fight against rivals.
At the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, Phil Spencer, head of Xbox at Microsoft, has revealed that, with Windows 10, the Redmond-based tech giant is indeed working to bring together all of its platforms, so gaming will also be impacted by this change.
As a result, starting with the upcoming operating system, users who purchase a game designed to run on any of Microsoft’s platforms will be capable of running it on basically all the other platforms in its portfolio.
Based on the concept of cross-buy, the new approach basically means that you only need to purchase a game once and play it as long as you want on any other Microsoft device, be it smartphone, PC, Xbox console, or tablet.
“With the Windows Store, Microsoft is committed to delivering best-in-class scenarios for gamers and game developers,” Spencer said.
Universal apps and one store for everything
This isn’t an entirely new idea, as Microsoft has been fiddling with the concept of universal apps since Windows 8.1, but the company is only advancing at full speed towards this new approach.
In Windows 10, Microsoft will be offering users a single store across all devices and this will provide access to universal apps, which are designed to run on all platforms.
And once again, everything will come down to developers. Microsoft needs developers to create universal apps and games that would run on all these devices
Tomi Engdahl says:
Microsoft added P2P option for updates
http://n4gm.com/2015/03/15/microsoft-added-p2p-option-updates/
Microsoft has added the peer-to-peer (P2P) option to system update of the new leaked version of Windows 10 technical preview, numbered as 10036.
This technology added to the update options, enables you to update your windows using an already updated windows system in the local network, so basically you are sharing your update files semi-automatically.
This can be really useful especially to business usage of windows where there are lots of windows systems, so after updating one device’s OS the rest won’t have to download all that again, the updated OS will share the update files and simply saves several gigabytes band wide of the internet, plus, its much faster for those who do not have a fast connection since it’s on the local network and it can be as fast as your LAN lets the system to be.
This new feature also gives you the option to download the updates form PCs on the internet, local network and from the traditional Windows Update servers.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Honey, I shrunk the Windows footprint
Microsoft explains how it will fit Windows 10 into cheaposlabs, maybe without bloatware
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/03/17/honey_i_shrunk_the_windows_footprint/
One of the challenges Microsoft has given itself with its goal of making Windows 10 run on almost anything is that lots of devices have rather less storage than PCs, which means Redmond can’t assume users will have hard disk space to burn.
If Windows takes up most of a cheaposlab’s 32GB solid state disk, that’s not going to make for happy punters. Even in developing nations, where people are just as keen on photos of the kids as people anywhere else but lack the bandwidth to dump them into OneDrive.
Redmond’s therefore finding ways to squeeze Windows 10′s footprint and has detailed them in a new post.
The big space-saving change Microsoft’s made is to remove the need for a recovery image to be stored on PCs and fondleslabs. Microsoft says that image currently consumes between 4GB and 12GB, depending on how OEMs implement recovery features.
How Windows 10 achieves its compact footprint
http://blogs.windows.com/bloggingwindows/2015/03/16/how-windows-10-achieves-its-compact-footprint/
Compactness via system compression and recovery enhancements
Windows 10 employs two separate and independent approaches for achieving a compact footprint. First, Windows 10 leverages an efficient compression algorithm to compress system files. Second, recovery enhancements have removed the requirement for a separate recovery image.
With current builds, Windows can efficiently compress system files. That gives back approximately 1.5GB of storage for 32-bit and 2.6GB of storage for 64-bit Windows. Phones will also be able to use this same efficient compression algorithm and likewise have capacity savings with Windows 10.
With these new and enhanced functionalities, devices running Windows 10 will have more free space for photos, videos, and music, as the figure below illustrates.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Microsoft: Windows 10 will save you 15GB in storage
Operating system has a teeny tiny footprint
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2399977/microsoft-windows-10-will-save-you-15gb-in-storage
MICROSOFT HAS told potential Windows 10 users that they can expect to have more storage left than they might have expected because of the size of the operating system’s footprint.
Bigger is better is normally the thing, but in operating systems and software updates the opposite is true. Some updates and software are known to be space hoggers and often users will kick up a stink over it.
Microsoft has perhaps learned from this, and has told Windows 10 fans that it is using compression and changes to its recovery system to leave more room for things that users want to store.
“With current builds, Windows can efficiently compress system files. That gives back approximately 1.5GB of storage for 32-bit and 2.6GB of storage for 64-bit Windows. Phones will also be able to use this same efficient compression algorithm and likewise have capacity savings with Windows 10.”
“This reduces Windows’ storage footprint further as the recovery image on typical devices can range in size from 4GB to 12GB, depending on the make and model. Phones already have a storage-optimised recovery solution, so, unlike compression, this enhancement is only for tablets, laptops, and desktops,” they add.
“Even though Windows no longer requires a separate recovery image, Windows can still recover a device from severe corruption. With Windows 10, you can create your own recovery media and back up the pristine state of the operating system and preinstalled software,” it adds.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Terry Myerson / Blogging Windows:
Microsoft announces Windows 10 will launch this summer in 190 countries and 111 languages, partners with Xiaomi to test the OS on Mi 4 devices — Windows 10 Launching This Summer in 190 Countries and 111 Languages — Today at the renewed Windows Hardware Engineering Community (WinHEC) …
Windows 10 Launching This Summer in 190 Countries and 111 Languages
http://blogs.windows.com/bloggingwindows/2015/03/17/windows-10-launching-this-summer-in-190-countries-and-111-languages/
Today at the renewed Windows Hardware Engineering Community (WinHEC) summit in Shenzhen, China, I had the honor of speaking about Windows 10 and the innovation and opportunity it offers our valued partners. China is a global epicenter for innovation and we’re excited to be working with the area’s leading hardware and software companies to develop ground-breaking devices and consumer experiences that will help shape the future of Windows 10.
Strategic partnerships with Lenovo, Tencent and Qihu 360 will help Windows 10 reach hundreds of millions of customers in China and spur adoption of Windows 10 worldwide.
Lenovo, one of the world’s leading PC manufacturers, announced they will offer Windows 10 upgrade services at 2,500 service centers and select retail stores in China when the Windows 10 upgrade is available. This will help customers quickly and easily upgrade their new or existing Windows devices to Windows 10. Lenovo also announced their commitment to build Windows phones, to be available in mid-year 2015 via China Mobile.
Tencent, the leading social networking and gaming services company in China, announced it will offer Windows 10 as a free upgrade to its customers on Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 in China, and include QQ, Tencent Video and Tencent PC Manager in the Windows 10 free upgrade pack. Tencent will create a Windows 10 universal app for their flagship QQ app, which has over 800 million customers in China, and bring their most popular PC games, such as “League of Legends,” “Cross Fire” and “Dungeon & Fighter” to Windows 10 and the new Windows store.
Hardware Innovations Enabled by Windows 10
One of the predominant goals of WinHEC is to showcase opportunities Windows 10 presents to hardware and device manufacturers. Windows Hello is one of the new innovations that I was excited to show onstage for the first time.
Windows Hello* will make Windows 10 more personal by providing instant access to your devices through biometric authentication – using your face, iris or fingerprint to unlock your devices – with technology that is significantly safer than traditional passwords. We’re working closely with our hardware partners to deliver Windows Hello-capable devices that will ship with Windows 10. We are thrilled that all OEM systems incorporating the Intel RealSense F200 sensor will fully support Windows Hello, including automatic sign-in to Windows. You can read more about Windows Hello here.
Today, we also shared how Windows 10 will support today’s maker boards, enabling makers to do amazing things with Windows in the fast-growing Internet of Things space.
Windows 10 Launching This Summer in 190 Countries and 111 Languages
March 17, 2015 by Terry Myerson // PC, Phone, Tablet // 16 Comments
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Today at the renewed Windows Hardware Engineering Community (WinHEC) summit in Shenzhen, China, I had the honor of speaking about Windows 10 and the innovation and opportunity it offers our valued partners. China is a global epicenter for innovation and we’re excited to be working with the area’s leading hardware and software companies to develop ground-breaking devices and consumer experiences that will help shape the future of Windows 10.
We continue to make great development progress and shared today that Windows 10 will be available this summer in 190 countries and 111 languages. Windows has always been global with more than 1.5 billion users around the world and here in China hundreds of millions of PCs operate Windows today. That’s why it was particularly fun to show our latest global innovation, Windows Hello, on stage for the first time, and to feature a number of Windows 10 customizations for the China market, such as Cortana in Mandarin.
Upgrading Millions of Customers with Lenovo, Tencent and Qihu 360
On January 21, I shared our commitment to offer a free upgrade to Windows 10 for hundreds of millions of customers running Windows 7, Windows 8.1 and Windows Phone 8.1 for the first year after it is released.
A key way we will make the upgrade experience to Windows 10 easy is through strong partnerships with technology leaders. Today, we shared new partnerships with several world-leading companies to deliver a seamless Windows 10 upgrade experience to our customers in China. Strategic partnerships with Lenovo, Tencent and Qihu 360 will help Windows 10 reach hundreds of millions of customers in China and spur adoption of Windows 10 worldwide.
Lenovo, one of the world’s leading PC manufacturers, announced they will offer Windows 10 upgrade services at 2,500 service centers and select retail stores in China when the Windows 10 upgrade is available. This will help customers quickly and easily upgrade their new or existing Windows devices to Windows 10. Lenovo also announced their commitment to build Windows phones, to be available in mid-year 2015 via China Mobile.
Tencent, the leading social networking and gaming services company in China, announced it will offer Windows 10 as a free upgrade to its customers on Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 in China, and include QQ, Tencent Video and Tencent PC Manager in the Windows 10 free upgrade pack. Tencent will create a Windows 10 universal app for their flagship QQ app, which has over 800 million customers in China, and bring their most popular PC games, such as “League of Legends,” “Cross Fire” and “Dungeon & Fighter” to Windows 10 and the new Windows store.
Qihu 360, a leading internet security company in China, announced it will bring Windows 10 for free to their customers in China through seamless upgrades. Qihu 360, with over 500 million customers on Windows PCs, will enable the Windows 10 upgrade with just a few clicks with accelerated download speeds.
Through a new program with Xiaomi, one of the top smartphone distributors in the world, a select group of Xiaomi Mi 4 power users will be invited to help test Windows 10 and contribute to its future release later this year. These power users will have the opportunity to download the Windows 10 Technical Preview – installing it and providing their feedback to Microsoft.
Hardware Innovations Enabled by Windows 10
One of the predominant goals of WinHEC is to showcase opportunities Windows 10 presents to hardware and device manufacturers. Windows Hello is one of the new innovations that I was excited to show onstage for the first time.
Windows Hello* will make Windows 10 more personal by providing instant access to your devices through biometric authentication – using your face, iris or fingerprint to unlock your devices – with technology that is significantly safer than traditional passwords. We’re working closely with our hardware partners to deliver Windows Hello-capable devices that will ship with Windows 10. We are thrilled that all OEM systems incorporating the Intel RealSense F200 sensor will fully support Windows Hello, including automatic sign-in to Windows. You can read more about Windows Hello here.
Today, we also shared how Windows 10 will support today’s maker boards, enabling makers to do amazing things with Windows in the fast-growing Internet of Things space.
For the first time, a new version of Windows for small footprint IoT devices will be available – for free – when Windows 10 launches. Windows 10 will offer versions of Windows for a diverse set of IoT devices, ranging from powerful devices like ATMs and ultrasound machines, to resource constrained devices like gateways. Through key partnerships with the Raspberry Pi Foundation, Intel, Qualcomm and others, we will provide great options for commercial devices builders, hobbyists and students.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Emil Protalinski / VentureBeat:
Windows Hello and Microsoft Passport: Unlock Windows 10 devices and apps with your finger, iris, or face
http://venturebeat.com/2015/03/17/windows-hello-biometric-authentication-will-let-you-unlock-windows-10-devices-with-your-finger-iris-or-face/
Microsoft today announced that biometric authentication is coming to Windows 10. Windows Hello will let you unlock your Windows 10 device, whether it be a PC, tablet, or a smartphone, with your finger, iris, or face. Microsoft Passport will take this further by letting you access apps and online services without a password.
Microsoft describes Windows Hello as “biometric authentication which can provide instant access to your Windows 10 devices.*” That asterisk is no typo. The fine print states that Windows Hello requires specialized hardware, “including fingerprint reader, illuminated IR sensor or other biometric sensors.”
In other words, this is a long-term play. Microsoft is well aware that many Windows 10 devices will be built to be sold for as little as possible, and Windows Hello simply won’t be available.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Reuters:
Microsoft to offer free upgrade to Windows 10 even for non-genuine Windows PCs, to tackle piracy
Microsoft tackles China piracy with free upgrade to Windows 10
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/18/us-microsoft-china-idUSKBN0ME06A20150318
(Reuters) – Microsoft Corp is making its biggest push into the heavily pirated Chinese consumer computing market this summer by offering free upgrades to Windows 10 to all Windows users, regardless of whether they are running genuine copies of the software.
The move is an unprecedented attempt by Microsoft to get legitimate versions of its software onto machines of the hundreds of millions of Windows users in China. Recent studies show that three-quarters of all PC software is not properly licensed there.
“We are upgrading all qualified PCs, genuine and non-genuine, to Windows 10,”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Microsoft: Talk of Internet Explorer’s death is greatly exaggerated
A version of much-maligned browser will be available on Windows 10
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2400283/microsoft-talk-of-internet-explorers-death-is-greatly-exaggerated
ATLANTA: MICROSOFT HAS ANNOUNCED that Project Spartan will be the primary web browser for Windows 10, but said that talk of Internet Explorer’s (IE) death has been greatly exaggerated.
At Convergence 2015 in Atlanta on Monday, Chris Capossela, Microsoft’s chief marketing officer, said Microsoft is “researching” a new brand name for Project Spartan.
He also highlighted that the new browser does not mean Windows is abandoning its longstanding IE brand, despite reports having claimed that Microsoft will be dumping the much-maligned browser.
“We’ll continue to have Internet Explorer, but we’ll also have a new browser, which is codenamed Project Spartan. We have to name the thing,” he said.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Windows 10 Upgrades Will Be Free, Even for Pirates. No Joke
http://www.wired.com/2015/03/windows-10-upgrades-will-free-even-pirates-no-joke/
Windows 10 is coming this summer, Microsoft has confirmed, and will be free to anyone using Windows 7 or better. Even people who didn’t pay for it.
That’s right, even Windows 7 and 8 users who don’t have a valid Windows license will get a free bump up to Windows 10. The release timing and new upgrade scheme were revealed by Microsoft operating system chief Terry Myerson at the WinHEC technology conference in Shenzhen, China, Reuters reports.
It’s a surprising move given the importance that Microsoft has placed on Windows license revenue in the past, and the lengths Microsoft has gone to to prevent the spread of pirated copies of the operating system. But the company has spent the past year reinventing itself in many ways, including going so far as to announce a free version of Windows for devices with screens smaller than nine inches.
Meanwhile, operating system pricing expectations have also been changing.
The company now offers a range of cloud services, including Office 365, Skype and OneDrive, that Windows users may be more likely shell out for, even if they didn’t buy an operating system license. And even if those customers don’t end up buying cloud services from the company, at least they’re staying in the Microsoft ecosystem.
The company could also be worried about leaving millions of machines running outdated operating systems and software. Unpatched systems can spread malware and viruses, and releasing security updates for decades old platforms is costly. Microsoft has been campaigning to get users to retire Windows XP and the Internet Explorer 6 web browser, but China has been particularly slow to upgrade both. To make matters worse, the Chinese government, which has long clashed with Microsoft over piracy, even banned the use of Windows 8 on government computers largely due to concerns over upgrade costs.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Windows 10 build 10041: 99 bugs on the wall, fix a bug, add a feature, 114 bugs on the wall
More Cortana, updated browser, still a race to summer
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/03/19/windows_10_build_10041_brings_new_features_new_bugs/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Windows 10 to make the Secure Boot alt-OS lock out a reality
Windows 10 hardware must support Secure Boot and won’t have to let you turn it off.
http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2015/03/windows-10-to-make-the-secure-boot-alt-os-lock-out-a-reality/
Those of you with long memories will recall a barrage of complaints in the run up to Windows 8′s launch that concerned the ability to install other operating systems—whether they be older versions of Windows, or alternatives such as Linux or FreeBSD—on hardware that sported a “Designed for Windows 8″ logo.
To get that logo, hardware manufacturers had to fulfil a range of requirements for the systems they built, and one of those requirements had people worried. Windows 8 required machines to support a feature called UEFI Secure Boot. Secure Boot protects against malware that interferes with the boot process in order to inject itself into the operating system at a low level. When Secure Boot is enabled, the core components used to boot the machine must have correct cryptographic signatures, and the UEFI firmware verifies this before it lets the machine start. If any files have been tampered with, breaking their signature, the system won’t boot.
This is a desirable security feature, but it has an issue for alternative operating systems: if, for example, you prefer to compile your own operating system, your boot files won’t include a signature that Secure Boot will recognize and authorize, and so you won’t be able to boot your PC.
At its WinHEC hardware conference in Shenzhen, China, Microsoft talked about the hardware requirements for Windows 10. The precise final specs are not available yet, so all this is somewhat subject to change, but right now, Microsoft says that the switch to allow Secure Boot to be turned off is now optional. Hardware can be Designed for Windows 10 and can offer no way to opt out of the Secure Boot lock down.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Windows 10 says “Hello” to logging in with your face and the end of passwords
Face, iris, and fingerprint authentication on device and online.
http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2015/03/windows-10-says-hello-to-logging-in-with-your-face-and-the-end-of-passwords/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Paul Thurrott / Thurrott.com:
Microsoft says upgrading a pirated copy to Windows 10 will not result in a supported, “Genuine” license; Reuters report based on misinterpreted quote
Sorry, Microsoft is Not Giving Free Windows 10 to Pirates
https://www.thurrott.com/windows/windows-10/2190/sorry-microsoft-is-not-giving-free-windows-10-to-pirates
A Reuters report earlier this week clearly stated that Microsoft planned to tackle software piracy, especially in China, with a “free upgrade to Windows 10.” But that is incorrect: Instead, Microsoft will continue to treat stolen Windows versions as it always has, and it is not giving amnesty to pirates.
The confusion is understandable, given the headline to the Reuters report: Microsoft tackles China piracy with free upgrade to Windows 10. But the article itself quotes Microsoft executive vice president Terry Myerson, who is leading the effort to develop Windows 10.
“We are upgrading all qualified PCs, genuine and non-genuine, to Windows 10,” Myerson told Reuters in a telephone interview. The plan, Reuters said, was to “re-engage” with the hundreds of millions of users of Windows in China, though there was no “elaboration.”
That may very well be because Microsoft’s stance on pirated Windows copies has not changed at all.
““With Windows 10, although non-Genuine PCs may be able to upgrade to Windows 10, the upgrade will not change the genuine state of the license. Non-Genuine Windows is not published by Microsoft. It is not properly licensed, or supported by Microsoft or a trusted partner. If a device was considered non-genuine or mis-licensed prior to the upgrade, that device will continue to be considered non-genuine or mis-licensed after the upgrade.”
So here’s what’s really happening. Ready? Are you really ready for this?
Nothing.
Absolutely nothing.
This is exactly how Windows works today. The only difference is that with Windows 8.1 and now Windows 10, Windows is more readily available for download. So if you have a non-genuine (i.e. non-activated or “pirated” version) of Windows and you download the readily-available Windows 10 ISOs that Microsoft will make available, yes, you will be able to upgrade. But doing so won’t change anything. Windows is still not genuine. It’s still not supported.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Free Windows 10 to Help Microsoft, Not Partners
http://news.softpedia.com/news/Free-Windows-10-to-Help-Microsoft-Not-Partners-476476.shtml
Microsoft will offer Windows 10 as a free upgrade within the first year after launch for PCs powered by Windows 7 or Windows 8.1, and everyone expects the market share of the new operating system to skyrocket very fast in the first months of availability.
Obviously, a free upgrade for Windows 10 is pretty good news for users worldwide, but it’s not all just milk and honey for the rest of the Windows ecosystem.
Partners believe that offering Windows 10 free of charge to computers that are powerful enough to run Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 could have a strong impact on new PC sales, as the majority of customers would upgrade their devices instead of buying a new one.
Windows 10 has pretty much the same system requirements as Windows 7 and Windows 8.1, so computers that have been purchased in the last 5 or 6 years should all be able to run the new operating system pretty flawlessly.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Mary Jo Foley / ZDNet:
Microsoft releases Windows 10 SDK
Microsoft delivers Windows 10 tools for building universal applications
http://www.zdnet.com/article/microsoft-delivers-windows-10-tools-for-building-universal-applications/
Summary:Microsoft’s Windows 10 software development kit for writing universal apps is now available for download.
On March 23, Microsoft made available for download the Windows 10 Technical Preview tools for developing for the coming Windows 10 universal application platform.
To get the new tools, developers need to sign up for the Windows Insider Program, install the latest Windows 10 technical preview release and install both Visual Studio 2015 Community Technology Preview (CTP) 6 and the Tools for the Windows 10 Technical Preview, which include the Windows 10 software development kit (SDK).
For the last few years, Microsoft officials have been evangelizing the idea that “One Windows” running across a variety of device types will enable developers to create universal apps that will build on a single runtime, use an increasingly similar set of application programming interfaces (APIs) and developer tools and be available from a single store.
With Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8, Microsoft got a step closer to realizing its “One Windows” vision. But with Windows 10, the company is hoping to get even closer to this promised nirvana.
The new universal app platform (UAP)that Microsoft is building with Windows 10 will sit on top of the Windows core. The UAP is a superset of WinRT, the Windows 8 and Windows RT runtime. The migration path to Windows 10 UAP apps is from ‘universal’ 8.1 apps.
Microsoft’s new Windows 10 Universal App Platform: A ‘superset of WinRT’
http://www.zdnet.com/article/microsofts-new-windows-10-universal-app-platform-a-superset-of-winrt/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Mary Jo Foley / ZDNet:
Microsoft tweaks browser strategy for Windows 10: Spartan will include Edge rendering engine, while IE 11 will include Trident
Microsoft to make rendering engine changes with Spartan, IE in Windows 10
http://www.zdnet.com/article/microsoft-to-make-rendering-engine-changes-with-spartan-ie-in-windows-10/
Microsoft is making some tweaks to its browser strategy for Windows 10 that center around the rendering engines for its two browsers: Internet Explorer 11 and the one codenamed “Project Spartan.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Microsoft’s next Windows 10 Mobile test build on track to support majority of Windows Phones
http://www.zdnet.com/article/microsofts-next-windows-10-mobile-test-build-on-track-to-support-majority-of-windows-phones/
Summary:Microsoft’s next Windows 10 Mobile test build, expected around early April, will support a lot more Windows Phone test devices than the first build did.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Mary Jo Foley / ZDNet:
Microsoft rolls out first Windows 10 preview with ‘Spartan’ browser —
http://www.zdnet.com/article/microsoft-rolls-out-first-windows-10-preview-with-spartan-browser/
Summary:Microsoft has released to testers a new Windows 10 Desktop preview build, the first to include the coming new ‘Project Spartan’ browser.
Like Windows 10 Desktop — which runs on PCs, laptops and tablets — Spartan is still not feature-complete at this point. The first Spartan preview does, however, include most of the functionality that Microsoft execs showed off on January 21 during an early demo of Spartan as part of a Windows 10 press event.
Specifically, the integration between Spartan and Cortana, Microsoft’s personal digital assistant, is in today’s Windows 10 release, as is the “Ask Cortana” user assistance technology. The ability to annotate Web pages with a pen or mouse is included in today’s Spartan build. Users can share annotated Web pages using this new “Web Note” technology and view the annotated pages in a variety of browsers.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Hands on with Microsoft’s Project Spartan browser: touch support is lacking and extensions aren’t yet available, but annotations and Cortana impress
http://www.theverge.com/2015/3/31/8319169/project-spartan-new-browser-microsoft-hands-on
Tomi Engdahl says:
Hands on: Project Spartan browser
Chunky, crude and not that fast, Project Spartan won’t scratch Chrome
http://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/project-spartan-hands-on-review/
Internet Explorer is on its way out. The 19-year-old browser has outlived its usefulness, forcing Microsoft to start from scratch with an all-new approach. Project Spartan (which isn’t the final, official name) is the successor to IE, and it supposedly represents a change in direction away from the relative bulk of IE to a minimalist design.
However, Microsoft has promised change in the past; in fact, it has touted the last few incarnations of Internet Explorer as major upgrades that bring the browser into competition. We all know how that turned out. So is Project Spartan worth the hype, or will it remain the most popular way to download Chrome?
Spartan, but not better
Spartan is meant to be, well, Spartan. Internet Explorer is commonly viewed as bulky and slow, and Microsoft wants to fix that perception. Unfortunately, Spartan doesn’t do as much as expected to challenge user preconceptions.
Does the new browser look different? Oh, sure. It offers the “modern” style, or “metro” style, or “universal” style (whatever term is official this week).
Yet the interface itself is not any smaller than that of Internet Explore
Broke, broke, broke
This theme seems to extend over to the browser’s trio of headline features: markups, Cortana and reading view.
In-browser Markup might be the most interesting feature of Spartan, as it fits right into Microsoft’s traditional argument that the Windows ecosystem is the best choice for people who need to do work. Unfortunately, it’s rather half-baked. Activating markup is a matter of clicking a button, but there are only a few ways to highlight, including a small marker, a big highlighter, and text boxes.
Cortana, meanwhile, is almost nowhere to be found. It only rarely appears in the search bar for a limited selection of results, such as local weather
Cortana does have the ability to right-click words or links and “Ask Cortana” about what they might mean or, in the case of addresses, discover directions. This functionality does its job, but it’s frankly a step behind OS X
Reading View, is a winner. It doesn’t offer any customization, but it does simplify pages quickly without stripping necessary images or losing content.
Spartan has a new Web browsing engine called Edge. Well, kinda new. It’s actually a fork of Trident, the browser engine used by Internet Explorer
For now, though, it seems that Edge is not far removed from its predecessor.
3D gaming also seems difficult for Spartan
It appears that Microsoft has done serious work upping the browser’s JavaScript capability
This Spartan isn’t ready for battle
Windows 10’s new browser can summed up in a single word: underwhelming. While the hype about the new interface and Edge browsing engine makes it sound as if Spartan is a bold step forward, in truth the browser is more of an off-shoot of Internet Explorer, and one that’s far from complete.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Windows 10 unifies apps, movies, and music into a single store
http://www.theverge.com/2015/4/9/8378589/windows-10-apps-movies-music-single-store
Tomi Engdahl says:
Delivering a single unified Store experience in Windows 10
http://blogs.windows.com/bloggingwindows/2015/04/09/delivering-a-single-unified-store-experience-in-windows-10/
(As we announced back in September, we will be delivering one application platform for our developers to build apps for with Windows 10. These universal Windows apps will work across the entire device family spanning the PC, tablet, phone, Xbox, the Internet of Things, and more. To go along with this single unified application platform will be a single unified Store. This single Store experience will be the one way for apps and games to be discovered, purchased and updated across all of your devices. We’re also adding music, movies and TV shows into the Store for you purchase and access across all your devices too!
In the latest builds of the Windows 10 Technical Preview, you can see our unified Store experience coming together.
Starting today (rolling out over the course of the next 24 hours), we’re turning on the Movies & TV page in the Store Beta. If you are a Windows Insider running the latest build of the Windows 10 Technical Preview – you will now be able to browse and search for videos, rent or purchase movies & TV shows in the Store Beta and play them in the Video Preview app.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Businesses are not using apps from the Windows Store
When it comes to universal apps, Flappy Bird beats Firefox browser
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2404396/windows-users-are-not-using-microsofts-apps-for-business
MICROSOFT HAS PUBLISHED some statistics relating to the use of the Windows Store, in turn revealing that businesses haven’t taken to using Windows apps.
The move towards convergence with Windows 10 is now a few months away, and the stats provide some interesting insight into the way that customers are taking to the new-style Windows Apps introduced in Windows 8, and their relationship to the company’s mobile platform.
However, the first point to note is that Microsoft states: “As the vast majority of our users are now using the latest version of the OS, it is the right time to prepare for Windows 10 by moving your apps to Windows and Windows Phone 8.1.”
We hate to be pedantic, but almost 60 percent of users are currently running Windows 7, according to the monthly figures from Net Applications.
Finally, with the worldwide adoption rate of Windows Apps continuing to increase, the company claims that an app in English will attract just 16 percent of the potential audience, but localising it to the top 10 languages gives 65 percent penetration.
Worth thinking about when you’re compiling your universal apps.
Microsoft spills some beans on the Windows 10 Universal Apps platform
Convergence is the way forward
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2397827/microsoft-spills-some-beans-on-the-windows-10-universal-apps-platform
Tomi Engdahl says:
Mary Jo Foley / ZDNet:
Microsoft to bring universal Office apps to Windows Phones in a test build before the end of April
http://www.zdnet.com/article/whats-next-for-microsofts-universal-office-apps/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Microsoft Details Windows 10 Upgrade Patches for Windows 7 and 8.1
http://news.softpedia.com/news/Microsoft-Details-Windows-10-Upgrade-Patches-for-Windows-7-and-8-1-478663.shtml
A few weeks ago, we came across an update that was supposedly installing on Windows 7 and 8.1 computers to prepare them for the upgrade to Windows 10, and at that time, it all seemed to be a way to nag users and more or less “force” them to switch to the new OS.
While Microsoft hasn’t said anything about KB3035583, the update that has often been referred to as a “Windows 10 downloader,” the company has revealed that there are two more patches that make sure that your computer is ready for the new OS.
KB2990214 for Windows 7 and KB3044374 for Windows 8.1 are both being shipped to users starting this month, and according to information provided by a company employee, you have no other option than to install them.
Tomi Engdahl says:
AMD reveals Windows 10 will launch in late July
http://www.theverge.com/2015/4/20/8456049/windows-10-launch-late-july-claims-amd
Microsoft’s launch of Windows 10 will likely take place in late July, according to AMD. During AMD’s latest earnings call last week, president and CEO Lisa Su revealed the launch timing for Microsoft’s Windows 10 operating system. Answering a question on inventory plans, Su said “with the Windows 10 launch at the end of July, we are watching sort of the impact of that on the back-to-school season, and expect that it might have a bit of a delay to the normal back-to-school season inventory build-up.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Microsoft Promises ‘Universal’ Office App For Phones Running Windows 10 This Month
http://techcrunch.com/2015/04/17/microsoft-promises-universal-office-app-for-phones-running-windows-10-this-month/
Microsoft promised this morning to release by the end of April a set of Office applications that it calls “Universal” for smartphones running Windows 10.
The company has a two-prong productivity strategy in place for Windows: Office 2016 for desktop use, and, for all other Windows 10 experiences, its touch-focused Office Universal apps. The latter apps, according to Microsoft, will function across tablets and smartphones, dynamically changing their design to allow users to better use them based on their current screen size.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Windows 10 Can Run Reworked Android and iOS Apps
http://mobile.slashdot.org/story/15/04/29/1915246/windows-10-can-run-reworked-android-and-ios-apps
After months of rumors, Microsoft is revealing its plans to get mobile apps on Windows 10 today. While the company has been investigating emulating Android apps, it has settled on a different solution, or set of solutions, that will allow developers to bring their existing code to Windows 10. iOS and Android developers will be able to port their apps and games directly to Windows universal apps, and Microsoft is enabling this with two new software development kits. On the Android side, Microsoft is enabling developers to use Java and C++ code on Windows 10, and for iOS developers they’ll be able to take advantage of their existing Objective C code.
Huge news: Windows 10 can run reworked Android and iOS apps
http://www.theverge.com/2015/4/29/8511439/microsoft-windows-10-android-ios-apps-bridges
After months of rumors, Microsoft is revealing its plans to get mobile apps on Windows 10 today. While the company has been investigating emulating Android apps, it has settled on a different solution, or set of solutions, that will allow developers to bring their existing code to Windows 10.
iOS and Android developers will be able to port their apps and games directly to Windows universal apps, and Microsoft is enabling this with two new software development kits. On the Android side, Microsoft is enabling developers to use Java and C++ code on Windows 10, and for iOS developers they’ll be able to take advantage of their existing Objective C code.
The idea is simple, get apps on Windows 10 without the need for developers to rebuild them fully for Windows. While it sounds simple, the actual process will be a little more complicated than just pushing a few buttons to recompile apps. “Initially it will be analogous to what Amazon offers,” notes Myerson, referring to the Android work Microsoft is doing. “If they’re using some Google API… we have created Microsoft replacements for those APIs.” Microsoft’s pitch to developers is to bring their code across without many changes, and then eventually leverage the capabilities of Windows like Cortana, Xbox Live, Holograms, Live Tiles, and more.
During Microsoft’s planning for bringing iOS and Android apps to Windows, Myerson admits it wasn’t always an obvious choice to have both. “At times we’ve thought, let’s just do iOS,”
Supporting both Android and iOS developers allows Microsoft to capture everyone who is developing for mobile platforms right now, even if most companies still continue to target iOS first and port their apps to Android at the same time or shortly afterward.
Alongside the iOS and Android SDKs, Microsoft is also revealing ways for websites and Windows desktop apps to make their way over to Windows universal apps. Microsoft has created a way for websites to run inside a Windows universal app, and use system services like notifications and in-app purchases. This should allow website owners to easily create web apps without much effort, and list those apps in the Windows Store.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Internet Explorer’s Successor, Project Spartan, Is Called Microsoft Edge
http://slashdot.org/story/15/04/29/2124242/internet-explorers-successor-project-spartan-is-called-microsoft-edge
Internet Explorer’s successor, Project Spartan, is called Microsoft Edge
http://venturebeat.com/2015/04/29/internet-explorers-successor-project-spartan-is-called-microsoft-edge/
Edge is Microsoft’s new browser shipping on all Windows 10 devices (PCs, tablets, smartphones, and so on). Belfiore explained the name as referring to “being on the edge of consuming and creating.”
Microsoft Edge is the successor to Internet Explorer — which will also be available on Windows 10, but for legacy use cases. However, only Edge will use Microsoft’s new rendering engine of the same name.
Edge will be the default browser for all Windows 10 devices
Developers will be able to take their Chrome extensions or Firefox add-ons and, with “just a few changes,” bring them to Microsoft Edge. Belfiore demoed a Reddit extension originally built for Chrome, running on Microsoft Edge.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Windows 10 won’t launch on phones this summer
http://www.theverge.com/2015/4/30/8525057/windows-10-mobile-release-date
While Microsoft is planning to launch Windows 10 on PCs this summer, the phone part of the operating system will debut at a later date. Speaking at a media event at Build in San Francisco today, Microsoft’s Joe Belfiore explained the company’s plans for the launch of Windows 10. “Our phone builds have not been as far along as our PC builds,” explained Belfiore. “We’re adapting the phone experiences later than we’re adding the PC experiences.”
That slower progress means Windows 10 on phones will show up after the PC launch this summer. “There are devices and features that will come not on launch date, but following it,” says Belfiore. “From the device view, our main focus is to kick off the Windows 10 launch wave with a great launch on the PC. You should expect that the other devices — phone, HoloLens, Xbox, Surface Hub — will be staggered, probably not on the same date as the PC.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Windows 10 described as “the last version of Windows” because it will receive regular, incremental updates rather than big releases
Why Microsoft is calling Windows 10 ‘the last version of Windows’
http://www.theverge.com/2015/5/7/8568473/windows-10-last-version-of-windows
“Right now we’re releasing Windows 10, and because Windows 10 is the last version of Windows, we’re all still working on Windows 10.” That was the message from Microsoft employee Jerry Nixon, a developer evangelist speaking at the company’s Ignite conference this week. Nixon was explaining how Microsoft was launching Windows 8.1 last year, but in the background it was developing Windows 10. Now, Microsoft employees can talk freely about future updates to Windows 10 because there’s no secret update in the works coming next. It’s all just Windows 10. While it immediately sounds like Microsoft is killing off Windows and not doing future versions, the reality is a little more complex. The future is “Windows as a service.”
Microsoft has been discussing the idea of Windows as a service, but the company hasn’t really explained exactly how that will play out with future versions of Windows. That might be because there won’t really be any future major versions of Windows in the foreseeable future.
Microsoft has altered the way it engineers and delivers Windows, and the initial result is Windows 10. Instead of big releases, there will be regular improvements and updates. Part of this is achieved by splitting up operating system components like the Start Menu and built-in apps to be separate parts that can be updated independently to the entire Windows core operating system. It’s a big undertaking, but it’s something Microsoft has been actively working on for Windows 10 to ensure it spans across multiple device types.