The free upgrade to Windows 10 has been confirmed by Microsoft after months of hints and speculations regarding the release of the multiplatform operating system. On July 29, systems that are currently running on Windows 7 and 8.1 will have the option to upgrade to Windows 10. The said free update will run for one year after its release.
Microsoft's confirmation is in line with what Dr. Lisa Su, CEO and President of AMD, said in a conference call: "What we also are factoring in is, you know, 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." Su's accidental revelation came out as part of a response to a question by Harlan Sur, a senior analyst from J.P. Morgan, regarding the decline of computer graphics revenues for semi-custom units. The aforementioned conference call happened a few days ahead of Microsoft's announcement of Windows 10's official release date.
In an interview during a build developer event San Francisco, Microsoft's Joe Belfiore explained that Windows 10 for phones will come after the PC updates. He said, "Our phone builds have not been as far along as our PC builds." He then added, "We're adapting the phone experiences later than we're adding the PC experiences."
In the same interview, Belfiore went over the features that can be expected out of Windows 10. Aside from running on all devices, including Xbox and HoloLens, the said operating system also offers the control of connected wireless devices and appliances. It also features a new system called Continuum, which displays a desktop format when a mouse and keyboard are attached to a device. However, when the peripherals are detached, the systems will shift to a phone or tablet interface.
Microsoft also announced that it is bringing back the start menu, a feature available on Windows 7 but was skipped on Windows 8 and 8.1 with the goal of encouraging touchscreen users for the use of tiles. The new start menu of Windows 10 will still include resizable tiles, which will serve as pop up windows for system notifications. More features in the coming Windows 10 are highlighted in Microsoft's Windows 10 Preview video.
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