Microsoft builds the future: Windows 10 and beyond
Ten years down the road, millennials will see things much differently, with other titans like Apple, Google and Facebook in the mix. But if there’s anything that’s guaranteed, innovation will continue to shape the future, and Microsoft is jostling for a l
While the tech world is in a constant state of flux, no other technology company faces pivotal changes more than Microsoft. Like most kids who grew up in the ‘90s, my digital coming of age happened on a PC.
On a desktop computer running Windows 95, I created and published my first website, sent my first email, and made instantaneous contact with another being on the opposite side of the world. For many years to come, Microsoft played a critical part in my early adult life.
Today, the landscape is exceedingly different – mobile devices are slowly eating away at PC usage, Windows is a far third among top mobile operating systems, and Internet Explorer is no longer the browser of choice.
But big things are happening at Redmond. Fueled by new leadership and a mobile first strategy, a new Microsoft, now a devices and services company, aspires to rise from the ashes like a Phoenix, upwards and beyond a dominance that it once enjoyed. At back-to-back events, its Build Developers Conference held from April 29 to May 1 in San Francisco and Ignite, its conference for enterprise users, which took place May 4 to 8 in Chicago, glimpses of a Microsoft-driven future were presented.
WINDOWS 10 AND UNIVERSALITY
The next version of Windows, Windows 10, will be a universal operating system ( OS), meaning the same OS will run on smartphones, tablets, laptops, desktops, even the Xbox One Gaming console and Microsoft’s new augmented reality headset, Holo Lens (more on that later). More importantly, it will be one platform, with just one app store. Windows 10 will be a free upgrade to Windows 7 and 8 users, including those who own pirated copies. Microsoft’s Windows Chief Terry Myerson told Reuters, “We are upgrading all qualified PCs, genuine and non-genuine, to Windows 10.”
It’s a bold move, one aimed at as many installs as possible. And while Microsoft is quick to clarify that unauthorized copies will remain such, it wants these numbers to count. In two to three years, the company hopes for over one billion Windows 10 devices globally.
But more than compelling users to upgrade, Microsoft wants to learn an art, one its rival Apple has long mastered. The overarching goal of Windows, said CEO Satdya Nadella, is for people to look at Windows like never before, “We want to move from people needing Windows, to choosing Windows, to loving Windows.”
To achieve this, big changes are in order. When it is released this summer, Windows 10 will see a range of improvements, the most important of which solves the multiple-personality disorder of Windows 8. Instead of presenting users with literally two computing environments ( desktop/ mouse vs touch) Windows 10 effectively merges the two. When you start up, you are booted into desktop mode, the start menu works as expected but with the addition of live tiles. Other key features of Windows 10 include a biometric sign-in option called Windows Hello that lets users sign-in to their devices via a facial scan; and personal digital assistant Cortana, now smarter than ever, thanks to full operating system integration.
MICROSOFT EDGE
Microsoft is also ditching its 20-yearold browser Internet Explorer for a much safer and modern browsing experience. Formerly referred to as Project Spartan, the new browser was designed from the ground up and is christened Microsoft Edge – “the browser for the next 20 years.” Edge has built-in annotation features, allowing you to draw over web pages (with your finger or if you have one, a stylus), a distraction free reading view that strips away ads and other website elements, and Cortana.
WINDOWS PHONE AND CONTINUUM
Last week, Microsoft announced Windows 10 product editions. There will be at least 10 variants (why Microsoft!?”) including one that rechristens its smartphone operating system “Windows 10 Mobile” instead of Windows Phone.
Now that more and more usual computing tasks, like surfing the Internet and working on documents are done on smartphones, Microsoft hopes to ensure the experiences are consistent across platforms.
On Windows Mobile a feature called Continuum makes your Windows 10 Mobile device behave like a desktop PC when connected to a monitor. If it works as promised, this new feature stands as a testament to the “universality” of this new Windows and the scalability of universal apps.
PORTING IOS AND ANDROID TO WINDOWS 10
Speaking of apps, of course, the biggest challenge, and in many respects the bane of the Windows mobile experience, is their availability. The subtext of the entire Microsoft Build conference was an impassioned plea to get developers to build apps for the platform.
Making a case for Windows 10, Microsoft is now allowing developers to reuse code from iOS and Android apps to create their own Windows 10 apps – I’ve grossly oversimplified, but if the tools work as promised, it should serve as a good enough incentive to encourage app makers to allocate resources to build universal apps for the new Windows.
That too is an oversimplification. It cannot be stressed enough, Microsoft needs more apps to ensure the relevance of Windows 10 moving forward.
HOLO LENS
In this not- too- distant future that Microsoft has audaciously envisioned, hardware will allow computing to transcend the digital plane, enabling an experience that is three-dimensional. Since last February’s Mobile World Congress, Microsoft has been touting a new Holo Lens project that, unlike virtual reality goggles, merges digital content with our physical world.
Imagine science class with interactive elements overlaid on a specimen, or working in the kitchen with a Skype window or YouTube video floating in mid-air, or a game of Minecraft where blocks resemble Lego creations in your living room.
At Build 2015, Microsoft showed off a working prototype, the technology is tangible, and hopefully soon, will be as good as promised.
SHARED FUTURE
Because of many others who were baptized into this digital age by the behemoth that was and is Microsoft, this fast-paced, technologically driven world, is much more diverse, enriching, and almost only limited by the imagination.
Ten years down the road, millennials will see things much differently, with other titans like Apple, Google and Facebook in the mix. But if there’s anything that’s guaranteed, innovation will continue to shape the future, and Microsoft is jostling for a leading role.
Unfortunately, innovation is not entirely in Microsoft’s control, but partly in the hands of a third party, whose level of investment determines the breadth of its success.
Fortunately, reinvention is possible in this new world, and Microsoft is fully equipped with both the financial muscle and the technical knowhow to ensure that it plays a major role in the future it is trying to build.
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