Microsoft skips ahead to Windows 10

This image provided by Microsoft shows the start menu of Windows 10, the company's next version of its flagship operating system.

This image provided by Microsoft shows the start menu of Windows 10, the company's next version of its flagship operating system.

Published Oct 1, 2014

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Washington - As expected, Microsoft launched a new version of Windows on Tuesday, two years after the troubled release of its last operating system, Windows 8. But instead of introducing the expected name, Windows 9, Microsoft announced it will jump to Windows 10.

Yes, Microsoft can still count.

The reason for the bizarre jump, company executives said, is that there were just so many changes to the system. The name “represents the first step of a whole new generation of Windows,” Terry Myerson, the Microsoft executive vice president in charge of the Windows division, said in a company blog post.

The name change signals Microsoft's desire to make a clean break with the poorly received Windows 8, which was launched as a redesigned version of the company's most important product.

The effort, which was intended to bring Microsoft into the touch-screen era, fell flat, as core users balked at some of the drastic alterations, such as the decision to get rid of the long-standing Start button. Microsoft then had to roll back that and other changes in an update.

“To me, [Windows 10] signifies a new era,” said Michael Silver, a vice president and analyst at the Gartner tech-research company.

With Windows 10, the Start button and the traditional start menu are back — a move meant to appease customers who demanded the familiar navigation tool. Gone, too, is the jarring switch between apps designed for Windows 8 and legacy software from earlier systems.

Now, instead of switching between the traditional Windows layout and the more smartphone-like layout of Windows 8 applications, all Windows programs will again appear in, well, windows.

That doesn't mean Microsoft is abandoning all the features it picked up from Windows 8, or that it's leaving the world of touch screens to competitors such as Apple and Google.

Some layout settings remain from Windows 8, such as the ability to call up settings menus by swiping in from the sides of the screen. Windows 10 will also be Microsoft's next phone operating system, unifying its mobile and desktop products, though there will be layout differences.

Although Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella was not on hand at the preview of the new system, his influence was evident at the San Francisco media event.

The break with the past naming scheme is also meant to indicate that this is Microsoft's last major change to Windows. Instead, the company is moving to a quicker, more incremental release cycle to better react to changes in the consumer-electronics world.

This sort of cycle has already been adopted by competitors such as Apple, which has been building on OS X with smaller updates since 2001. With Windows 10, Microsoft is seeking to minimize these releases even further, Silver said, to make Windows a constantly updating system, similar to the way mobile apps update.

Nadella also has talked about the need to make “One Windows” across mobile and desktop platforms, to make it easy for developers and users to use as many Microsoft products as possible.

Myerson echoed those ambitions in his announcement. “Some of these devices have 4-inch screens — some have 80-inch screens — and some don't have screens at all,” Myerson wrote in a blog post. “Some of these devices you hold in your hand, others are 10 feet away. Some of these devices you primarily use touch/pen, others mouse/keyboard, others controller/gesture — and some devices can switch between input types.”

Despite talk of innovation and a break with the past, Microsoft was mindful to appease its core business users, who have been the most vocal opponents of the company's attempts to change Windows.

Much of what the company announced on Tuesday was aimed not at consumers but at enterprises, with a strong focus on productivity and business features. Microsoft also said that it would give businesses the option to forgo the constant stream of updates.

An early version of Windows 10, designed for developers and others who want a technical preview, will be available on Wednesday. Microsoft said a consumer version should make its debut in mid-2015. - Washington Post

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