Category: Windows 10

Leveraging the personal assistant Cortana, Microsoft has announced on the Windows Blog that Windows 10 will be coming to a Windows PC or tablet near you on July 29th.  The announcement comes days after another significant build was released to Windows Insiders, a build that feels far more stable and complete than previous builds.  It is clear that Microsoft is making major steps forward in the Windows 10 development and they in large part thank the Windows Insiders (all 4 million of them) for the rapid development cycle.  Still, with the release now 59 days away, there is a lot for the company to do to get things ready.

If you have followed my site for the last few weeks you will have noticed a lot more Android updates.  It’s partly because I have to use an Android device for my day job but also it is good to expand horizons.  I’ve never been a big fan of Android.  I don’t really like the UI although it is certainly better than the last time I really tried to use one, circa Ice Cream Sandwich.  But it’s still not may favorite.  That’s Windows Phone.  I love the personal experience of Windows Phone that despite Google’s best efforts – and Apple’s with iOS for that matter – just can’t replicate well.

One factor about Windows Phone that I and many other sites and users have moaned about however is the upgrade process.  While an update may be available, it could take months or never for that update to hit your phone depending on your country and if your phone is locked to a carrier.  Everyone’s favorite example is Verizon and the Lumia Cyan update which never came out.  Instead, owners of the Lumia ICON (Lumia 930 in the rest of the world) had to wait a full year before that got it and Lumia Denim at the same time.  A year.  It’s unacceptable and is something that Microsoft has said they are addressing with the release of Windows 10 Mobile.

If however you are thinking that the Android grass is greener, guess again.  The upgrading of Android devices to the next version of the OS, Lollipop, if fraught with problems, delays and phones that, while can run it, will never get the update.  Compounding this is the sheer number of devices that are out there and all the possible permutations of Android that have to be developed to support those devices.  By Gartner’s estimate, there are over 18,000 versions of Android out in the wild today.  18,000!  That makes a uniform, systematic upgrade virtually impossible.

It looks increasingly likely that a new build of Windows 10 Mobile will be available for those on the Fast Ring in the Windows Insider program later today.  Microsoft’s Gabe Aul took to Twitter yesterday answering a pile of questions related to the next build for Windows Phone and PC with hints being dropped that a new build is imminent.

@Typhos666 So far so good. It has a couple of tile layout bugs, but I think the Fast ring crew will not mind those.

— Gabriel Aul (@GabeAul) May 14, 2015

Clearly this isn’t a commitment from Aul that a new build will be out today, but it is pretty close.

Microsoft has announced on the Windows Blog the editions of Windows 10 that will be available later this year and unfortunately, it is as confusing as ever.  While Microsoft has made it clear that this version of Windows will be on every device – Phone, Tablet, PC and even Xbox – they have broken it down into multiple editions with different feature sets.  This is the same thing they have done since the Windows XP days and while I get it, it creates unnecessary confusion for consumers.

The biggest news is probably the fact that build on phones will be known as Windows 10 Mobile.  There has been a lot of debate on what Microsoft would call the phone edition but it seems now it is locked into this name.  And to add to the fun, there is a Mobile Enterprise version.  Oi….

While the start of the Windows 10 Technical Preview was slow this year, the last few weeks are certainly making up for lost time.  Yesterday Microsoft released Build 10061 to Windows Insiders who are in the Fast Ring that has a huge number of updates and fixes.  The update was announced on the official Windows Blog by Gabe Aul and there is a laundry list of changes that Insiders will see in this build.  Having upgraded my beta machine myself, I can tell you the improvements certainly are felt but there is still a bit of work to do before I will be putting it on my daily PC, much like Windows 10 for Phone today.  Still, if you are an Insider and in the Fast Ring, get this update.  It is worth it.

In a recent earnings call, an AMD executive let it slip that Windows 10 would be shipping to consumers in July of this year.  That would fit nicely into the Microsoft announced “summer” release date that they offered back in February.  Summer is certainly a broad term as technical summer is from June 21st through September 23rd this year and everyone is clamoring for a more definitive date.  The challenge of course is that Windows 10 is still very much in beta as are many individual components of what will be released with the new Operating System.  That to me makes a July release date nearly impossible and in fact I’ll give you five reasons why I don’t think Windows 10 will launch in July 2015.