Windows 10: release date, price, news and features

Windows 10: what we know so far

With Windows 8 and today Windows 8.1, Microsoft tried – not entirely successfully – to deliver an operating system (OS) that could handle the needs of not only number-crunching workstations and high-end gaming rigs, but touch-controlled systems from all-in-one PCs for the family and thin-and-light notebooks down to slender tablets.

When Microsoft pulled the curtain back on Windows 10 back in September of 2014, it was clear that, with an operating system optimized for PCs, tablets and phones in unique ways, the Redmond, Wash.-based firm was onto something. Skipping the Windows 9 name entirely, Microsoft issued a public preview of the shiny new OS later that autumn, known as Windows Technical Preview (WTP).

You can try it out for yourself through Microsoft's Windows Insider Program. You'll need a Microsoft account to get it, and it's worth bearing in mind that it's not the finished product, so it will be a bit rough around the edges.

Since then (and one more major reveal event in January 2015), new features have been rolling in with each preview build update. Now, with Microsoft's huge annual developer event, Build 2015, on the horizon, we expect another deluge of Windows 10, including that elusive release date.

Cut to the chase

• What is it? A complete update for Windows
• When is it out? Definitely summer, but likely late July 2015
• What will it cost? For Windows 7 and 8.1 users, it will be free for one year

Step into Microsoft's new Office

Back in February, shortly after a leaked video on WinBeta revealed Microsoft's Universal (now known simply as Windows) Office apps in detail, the company issued an update to the Windows 10 Technical Preview with just that. If you're not doing so already, WTP users can test out the new Word, PowerPoint and Excel Universal (or Windows) apps.

Like the whole of Windows 10, these apps are designed to work on Windows 10 laptops, tablets and phones. This update comes in advance of Office 2016, Microsoft's desktop-based version of the suite, which we expect to see debut in the second half of 2015. It's likely that Office 2016 will interact with its Windows app counterparts through OneDrive and other solutions.

And back during MWC 2015, Microsoft squeezed out a few more details surrounding the touch-centric Office 2016, namely cosmetic makeovers for Outlook, Word, PowerPoint and Excel. Also, Outlook will be more deeply integrated with its sister apps than ever before. Finally, the new Insights and Tell Me features will let users search the internet from within Office and create search-based command prompts, respectively.

Today, both general users and IT pros-slash-developers can preview Office 2016 on Windows and Mac OS X. Plus, we've finally got the skinny on what the differences are between the simply-named Office for Windows 10 and Office 2016.

Windows Phone fans get a sneak peek

After much teasing leading up to an event during MWC 2015, a Technical Preview of Windows 10 for phones was released to just about every Lumia device under the sun.

Handled much in the same way as it is on desktop, the WTP for Windows 10 on phones has introduced alpha-phase features like the Project Spartan browser, the new Outlook and a much-improved camera app that borrows heavily from Nokia's camera app for its pre-Windows-buyout Lumia phones. Check out all the details here.

As for when it's coming to everyone in a final release, there have been far fewer rumors and scuttlebutt than we've seen around Windows 10 for PCs. It's assumed that Windows 10 will released simultaneously across all supported device categories, including phones, but Microsoft has yet to address that publicly.

In the meantime, we've learned quite a bit installing Windows 10 on the cheapest Windows Phone around. You can check that out right here.

Read more at: http://www.techgig.com/tech-news/editors-pick/Windows-10-release-date-price-news-and-features-30525