Microsoft

Microsoft has confirmed Windows 10 will be available July 29, 2015. It's also advising those who wish to take the plunge to Windows 10 do some prep work before installing the new operating system. The date is a minor surprise as, more often than ... not, previous Windows editions came out in the fall. Fall release dates are usually meant to target people buying new PCs for the new academic year, or for the Christmas shopping season. That may be less relevant, however, as Windows 10 is a free upgrade. Windows 10 Upgrade Paths The upgrade process should be relatively simple, starting with the ... (view more)

Microsoft is to crack down on what it considers low-quality apps. It's likely an attempt to get its house in order before Windows 10 is officially released to consumers. The decision affects applications that can be downloaded and installed directly ... from the Windows Store. It doesn't affect applications which users get elsewhere and install manually, in the same way with all software in Windows 7 and earlier. Instead, Windows Store apps are displayed prominently in the Windows 8 and 10 user interface, and on Windows mobile devices. According to Microsoft, the crackdown isn't so ... (view more)

Candy Crush Saga will come pre-installed for Windows 10. It's not yet clear how in-game purchases will work in the Windows edition. The game will be one of four pre-installed games in Windows 10, alongside long-time classics Solitaire Hearts, and ... Minesweeper. Those three were all made optional downloads in Windows 8 after years of shipping as part of Windows systems, but have now returned as part of the main package. Candy Crush Saga was already a hit online through Facebook and in Apple and Android apps, with a reported 500 million downloads, before being added to Windows Phone last year ... (view more)

Microsoft has confirmed Windows 10 will be the last ever version of Windows. But it says that by no means is it the end for the system. The company plans to completely ditch the idea of releasing a new version of Windows every two or three years. ... Instead it's going to issue more frequent updates to Windows 10 . At the moment, the updates to Windows are relatively minor. Besides the important security fixes, most updates tend to be minor fixes for usability, with very occasional new features and improvements. Any major rethinks are generally saved for a new version. In the future, ... (view more)

Microsoft has made the announcement that Windows 10 will be able to run many iPhone, iPad and Android applications natively. That's just one of several revelations made about the new system this week, including the new name for Internet Explorer's ... successor. The announcements came at Microsoft's annual Build conference for software developers, which shows off new ways that the upcoming operating system will work with software. The real shocker, however, is the fact that rival operating systems will be supported in Windows 10. Microsoft is releasing toolkits for developers that ... (view more)

A key PC hardware firm has let slip that Windows 10 will be ready at the end of July. That may not be the date the public will get its hands on the new system, but suggests that Microsoft has taken additional steps towards the final launch date. The ... timeline revelation came in an investor conference call from AMD, one of the leading makers of computer processors. Chief executive officer and president Lisa Su made reference to the company's forecasts - particularly, when it will need to supply processors to computer makers with respect to Windows 10 launch date. "What we also are ... (view more)

A credit-card sized PC costing just $35 will be able to run a dedicated version of Windows 10. It's by no means a practical choice for most users, but is a sign that Microsoft is continuing to make its flagship operating system sleeker and more ... efficient. The computer in question is the Raspberry Pi 2. It's the latest in a series of devices originally designed to make computers cheap enough that schools can buy them in bulk in order to teach children coding and programming skills. In terms of hardware specifications, there's nothing glamorous about the Raspberry Pi. It doesn't ... (view more)

With Windows 10 Technical Preview 2 now available, tech-heads are noticing a common theme: it seems to be a compromise between the 'traditional' format seen in Windows 7 and earlier, and the radical revamp that came with Windows 8. Start Menu ... Returns With a Difference Perhaps the most widely talked about feature -- still -- is the new Start menu. It displays the traditional view of programs on the left, while displaying live tile icons on the right. Users can control how much space the live tiles take up and can even resize it to full-screen mode, effectively replicating the main ... (view more)

It's official: Microsoft says that Windows 10 will be free of charge -- but the offer comes with limitations and caveats. The free upgrade offer is part of what could be the biggest change to the Windows business model, ever. Microsoft's comments at ... a launch event this week have been interpreted by some analysts as meaning Windows 10 may also be the last major release of the operating system. Instead, Windows may receive more frequent, but less substantial updates in the future. The Windows 10 free upgrade deal will only apply to consumer versions of Windows 7 (Service Pack 1) and Windows ... (view more)

Early last year, Microsoft released a free version of Windows for manufacturers that produced tablet computers with screen sizes smaller than nine inches. Known as "Windows 8.1 with Bing," the forecast was to make a big difference to the economics ... for manufacturers weighing up which operating system to use on its devices. Analysts are now speculating whether Microsoft will do the same with Windows 10 and, if so, whether the offer will apply on traditional PCs. It also raises the possibility that Microsoft could face accusations of unfair behavior in promoting its search engine . ... (view more)