Microsoft has announced a release timeline for the Windows 10 operating system. It isn’t a specific date yet, but Microsoft revealed that the next-generation flagship OS will be available “sometime during this summer”. Microsoft shared the news at the Windows Hardware Engineering Community (WinHEC) summit in China and added some fascinating tidbits to tide techies over until its release.
Microsoft said that Windows 10 will be available in 190 countries and will support 111 languages. These mind-boggling numbers go a long way to illustrate Microsoft’s belief in a global market and the part it plans to play.
The second mind-boggling tidbit of the day is Microsoft’s tacit support for piracy as it plans to allow owners of pirated version of older Windows OS –Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 8.1—to upgrade for free to Windows 10. The Windows operating system requires a valid activation key so it’s unclear how pirated copies will be successfully upgraded without a genuine activation key.
The third bit of news is Microsoft’s goal of making Windows 10 available on all types of devices—tablets, Smartphones, PCs, Xbox, and Internet of Things devices—in a bid to bolster its ecosystem. With the right hardware and upgraded software these devices will also be able to make use of Cortana and the Windows Hello access features.
Although the actual release date has not yet been announced the summer timeline means that we will soon be getting our hands on the official release of Windows 10. Expect a comprehensive review from TechSpective when the roll-out begins.
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