What's New In Windows 10?
/
0 Comments
Windows 10 is the name for the next Microsoft Windows operating system.
The internal
Microsoft codename for Windows 10 was Threshold and the presumed
final name was Windows 9 but Microsoft decided to skip that number
altogether.
See What Happened to
Windows 9? for more on that.
Windows 10 will introduce an updated Start
Menu, a notification center, and support for virtual desktops.
Cortana may
also be available as an app in Windows 10, even for traditional computers.
It's also rumored that Microsoft will remove
the Charms Bar in Windows 10, first introduced in Windows 8. However, current
pre-release versions of Windows 10 still
While this is not confirmed, I've also heard that Windows 10 may be a
free upgrade for Windows 8 owners.
Windows 10 Release Date
While no official release date has been announced by Microsoft, Windows
10 is rumored to be released on or close to April 15, 2015.
Windows 10, once
released, will be the successor to Windows 8,
Microsoft's most current version of Windows.
It's very likely that Windows 10 will be released in three phases,
similar to how Windows 8 was released.
First is Windows
10 Enterprise Technical Preview, which is a beta release for software and hardware makers, as well as testers.
This version of Windows 10 was made available on October 1, 2014.
Second will likely be
a Windows
10 Consumer Preview - or maybe Windows
10 RC (Release Candidate) - which is an
almost-ready, limited-time-use version that Microsoft will release for free to
a wider audience, in return for feedback. This should be released in early
2015.
The third and final
release will be the final copy of Windows 10, which will be referred to at
Microsoft and to computer makers as Windows 10 RTM (Release
to Manufacturing). This is the version of
Windows 10 you will be able to purchase in April, 2015.
Windows 10 may be
the last major version of Windows ever, with smaller, more
incremental, improvements made via updates in to the future.
Windows 10 Editions
Rumor has it that Windows 10 will be available
in three editions:
·
Windows 10
(for inexpensive tablets; possibly called Windows 10 RT)
·
Windows 10
(for traditional PCs)
·
Windows 10
Enterprise
It's unclear yet
whether or not Microsoft will further split out any of these editions, as in Provs Standard,
etc., but most of the feedback I've heard is that customers want less choices
when buying Windows, not more.
All versions will
likely be available in 32-bit or 64-bit editions,
but a 64-bit exclusive version of Windows can't be too far off.
Windows 10 Minimum System Requirements
No information on
the minimum hardware required
to run Windows 10 has been released, but expect it to be similar to the
requirements for Windows 8:
·
CPU:
1 GHz with NX, PAE, and SSE2 support (CMPXCHG16b, PrefetchW, and LAHF/SAHF support
for 64-bit versions)
·
RAM:
1 GB (2 GB for 64-bit versions)
·
Hard Drive:
16 GB free space (20 GB free for 64-bit versions)
·
Graphics:
A GPU that supports at least DirectX 9 with a WDDM driver
If anything does change
in this regard, an increase in the free hard drive space required is probably
the most likely change from Windows 8 to Windows 10.
