When we
first unveiled Windows 10 in September,
we outlined our plans for a new era of Windows. We wanted to create a
Windows that empowered people and organizations to do great things. Our
vision was one platform, one store, and one experience that extends
across the broadest range of devices from the smallest screens to the
largest screens to no screens at all.
For Microsoft,
Windows 10 begins to deliver on our vision for more personal computing.
In this world experiences are mobile, moving with you seamlessly and
easily across your devices. Interacting with technology is as natural as
interacting with people – using voice, pen, gestures and even gaze for
the right interaction, in the right way, at the right time. And in our
connected and transparent world, we respect your privacy and help
protect your information.
From the beginning, Windows 10 has been unique – built with feedback
from five million Windows Insiders, delivered as a service with ongoing
innovations and security updates, and offered as a free upgrade* to
genuine Windows 7, Windows 8.1 and Windows Phone 8.1 customers.
Over the months we’ve demonstrated how Windows 10 delivers new
capabilities to PCs, tablets, phones, and Raspberry Pi, with innovations
like Microsoft Edge, Cortana, Continuum and Windows Hello, and how
entirely new categories of devices like Hololens and Surface Hub, will
be enabled with Windows 10.
We are delighted to make Windows 10 available in 190 countries today. The
launch of Windows 10
is being celebrated around the world with global fan celebrations and a
new yearlong initiative to celebrate people and organizations making a
difference around the world. We’d love to hear how you plan to help
#UpgradeYourWorld. Starting
today, you can vote for a global nonprofit to receive a cash donation
by simply tagging their social handle and using #UpgradeYourWorld and
#vote on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter. More information on Upgrade
Your World can be found at
http://www.windows.com/upgradeyourworld.
Together with our partners, we’re ready for a new era of Windows – we hope you’ll join us.
Windows 10: The Best Windows Ever
As we begin to roll out Windows 10 to the world, we want to empower
our customers to do great things. We will deliver this in four key ways:
1) First and foremost, we made
Windows 10 fast and familiar:
- Windows 10 is designed to be compatible with the hardware, software and peripherals you already own.
- Free updates help keep you current on features and security updates.
- With OneDrive online storage, you can easily share and keep your files up to date across all your devices, simply.
2) In a world of cyber threats,
Windows 10 is the most secure Windows ever:
- Offering enhanced Windows Defender and Smart Screen to help safeguard against viruses, malware and phishing.
- Windows Hello** greets you by name, providing a fast, secured, password-free way to log in.
3) Aligned with our more personal computing vision,
Windows 10 is more personal and more productive:
- Voice, Pen and Gesture input allow you to more naturally interact with your PC.
- Windows 10 is designed to run Office and Skype perfectly to increase your productivity. New Office Mobile apps on Windows 10
– Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote – are available today in the
Windows Store. Built for on-the-go scenarios, the Office Mobile apps
offer a consistent, touch-first experience for small tablets. Full
featured OneNote comes installed with Windows 10 for your digital
note-taking needs. The upcoming release of Office desktop apps (Office
2016) will offer the richest feature set for professional content
creation, designed for the precision of a keyboard and mouse.
- Cortana*** is your personal digital assistant making it easy to find the right information at the right time.
- You can easily switch between apps and stay organized with Snap and Task View.
- Continuum optimizes your apps and experience beautifully across touch and desktop modes.
4) Finally,
only Windows 10 can offer innovative experiences and new devices:
- New Microsoft Edge browser allows you to quickly browse, read, and even mark up and share the web.
- The integrated Xbox App
delivers the Xbox experience to Windows 10, bringing together your
friends, games, and accomplishments across Xbox One and Windows 10
devices.
- The Companion Phone app lets you set up your iPhone, Android or Windows phone to work seamlessly with your Windows device.
- Windows powers the most innovative devices today and tomorrow – from phones to tablets to PCs to HoloLens.
- Built-in apps including Photos, Maps, Microsoft’s new music app
Groove, and Movies & TV, offer entertainment and productivity
options.
Windows 10: Best for Business
Feedback from millions of IT Pros has helped shape our
best enterprise version of Windows ever.
Ready for corporate deployments, Windows 10 will help your company
protect against modern cyber-attacks, deliver experiences your employees
will love and enable continuous innovation with a platform that
keeps your company up to date with the latest technology.
Your business can control the frequency of your updates and select the
features and functionality that is right for each group of your
employees.
Windows 10 includes built-in
enterprise grade security,
so employees can replace passwords with more secure options, help
protect corporate data and corporate identities, and only run the
software you trust. New
management and
deployment
tools simplify device management and help lower costs, and enable you
to power your business with the enterprise strength of the Azure cloud.
We encourage small businesses to take advantage of the free upgrade
offer to Windows 10 from genuine Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 PCs and
tablets. And, we encourage all enterprise customers to begin testing and
planning your deployment now. More information for business customers
is available here.
Top Apps Available on Windows 10
The new Windows Store opens today and is now accepting new apps for
Windows 10. The Windows Store offers one-stop shopping for popular free
and paid apps, games, movies, TV shows and the latest music, which work
across all Windows 10 devices. The new Windows Store is the only Store
where you can use Cortana to control apps with your voice and get
real-time notifications on your app tiles. All Windows Store content is
certified by Microsoft to help keep your devices safer. In addition to
existing Windows 8.1 apps such as Netflix, Flipboard, Mint.com, Asphalt
8: Airborne and The Weather Channel, the Windows Store provides a
constant stream of new and updated Universal Windows Apps and games,
including Twitter, “Minecraft: Windows 10 Edition beta”, Hulu,
iHeartRadio, USA Today, Candy Crush Saga, and others including WeChat
and QQ, which will launch soon. Check out our new Windows Store today.
Windows 10 provides a platform for great experiences and we’re
excited to work with partners around the world on all new app
experiences. The Windows 10 SDK is available to developers beginning
later today, and we look forward to seeing what developers create for
Windows 10. More information on the latest on developer tools for
Windows 10
is available here.
Upgrading to Windows 10
We are excited to begin delivering Windows 10 to the world today.
We’re really pleased with the strong response to Windows 10 since we
kicked off upgrade reservations in early June, with millions of
reservations.
As we shared in early July, we want to make sure all of our customers have a great upgrade experience, so we’ll roll-out Windows 10 in phases to help manage the demand.
Upgrading to Windows 10 is easy if you have a genuine Windows 7 or
Windows 8.1 PC or tablet. Starting today, a new notification on your
taskbar will alert you when your upgrade is ready to be installed. For
business customers, Windows 10 is available to start deploying within
your work environments and starting August 1, organizations who have
volume licensing can upgrade to Windows 10 Enterprise and Windows 10
Education. Windows 10 IoT
is also available today.
Devices from our valued partners Lenovo, HP, Dell and Acer with
Windows 10 pre-loaded are available for purchase today from retailers
globally. Many more devices will follow in the coming weeks from a broad
range of partners including new devices designed specifically for
Windows 10 features like Windows Hello. Our OEM partners have over 2,000
distinct devices or configurations already in testing for Windows 10
upgrades, as well as hundreds of new hardware designs. By this holiday,
we will be selling the widest range of Windows hardware ever available.
We’re grateful to our retail partners, who are ready to help people
upgrade to Windows 10, including Best Buy, Bic Camera, Croma, Currys/PC
World, Darty, Elkjøp, Fnac, Jarrir, Incredible Connection, Media Markt,
Microsoft Stores,
Staples, Yamada, Yodobashi and many more leading retailers from around
the world. Upgrading to Windows 10 will be easy with the largest tech
bench program ever, over 100,000 trained retailers, and tens of
thousands of stores around the world.
Thank you to our Windows Insiders for helping us build Windows 10. If
you’re a Windows Insider and running build 10240 – you already have the
Windows 10 we are making available today. All you need to do is check
Windows Update and make sure you have all the final updates. If you
didn’t upgrade to the latest build as a Windows Insider, you can
upgrade here. The Windows Insider Program will continue, and we will have more details to share soon about the next wave of the program.
Thank you to our partners for helping us deliver amazing Windows 10
experiences and devices to the world. And thank you for considering
Windows 10 – whether a long-term Windows fan, or perhaps a new one.
We’re just getting started – Windows 10 will continue to get better and
better – and we’d love for you to join us.