Windows 10 release set for this summer in 190 countries; say hi to "Windows Hello"

Julio Franco

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Microsoft confirmed today Windows 10 will be released this summer, hitting 190 countries in 111 different languages. Terry Myerson, Microsoft's VP of Operating Systems, made the announcement during the WinHEC summit (Windows Hardware Engineering Community summit) taking place in Shenzhen, China.

Although an actual release date hasn't been finalized, the commitment is that the operating system will become available globally sometime during the summer.

The company took the opportunity to highlight how universal Windows' userbase is, with over 1.5 billion users worldwide, and hundreds of millions of those operating in China. During the presentation Myerson showed off some of Windows 10's localized features for the Chinese market, among them Cortana running in Mandarin. 

Another new feature called "Windows Hello" was demoed on stage for the first time. 'Hello' introduces biometric authentication to a Windows PC or to your personal data and applications, using your face, fingerprint or iris. On paper (and watching the video below) it looks like a neat and much needed improvement for Windows' security. Since Windows 8 introduced -- or should I say, forcefully encouraged -- users to log in to Windows using a Microsoft account password, it's become a real hassle to lock your computer and log back in, especially if you do it several times a day.

Windows 10 is set to be one of the biggest OS releases in the company's history and possibly the most crucial. Let's not forget Windows 10 will be a free upgrade for Windows 8, Windows Phone 8.1 and Windows 7 users during the first year of the release. Windows 7 alone is found on nearly half of all Windows-based PCs, so it's an encouraging and bold step for Microsoft to make.

On the China side, Microsoft unveiled strategic partnerships with Lenovo, Tencent, Xiaomi and Qihu 360 to boost usage and upgrades to the latest operating system. On a more global and broader scale, Microsoft has forged close relationships with the Raspberry Pi Foundation, Intel, Qualcomm, among others to push Windows into the smartphone and mobile markets, as well as for Internet of Things devices. On this last bit, a version of Windows for small IoT devices will be available free of charge when Windows 10 launches.

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Awesome! I can't wait (And not because I don't like W8.1, just had to say it, let the hate begin!)!!

Free upgrade, this is quite new for Microsoft, hopefuly they are heading in the right direction.
 
"Since Windows 8 introduced -- or should I say, forcefully encouraged -- users to log in to Windows using a Microsoft account password, "

This right here is the #1 thing that I don't like about Win8. I guess we'll see how they address this issue with Win10.
 
The last Windows OS that was released during the summer was Windows 98 back in June of '98. Given its popularity back then maybe Windows 10 will achieve the same when it drops.
 
"Since Windows 8 introduced -- or should I say, forcefully encouraged -- users to log in to Windows using a Microsoft account password, "

This right here is the #1 thing that I don't like about Win8. I guess we'll see how they address this issue with Win10.

You haven't used any of the technical previews??

This hasn't changed and it won't.
 
Look at all these features I will never use. Windows 10 looks promising, I hope they don't screw it up at the end.
 
"Since Windows 8 introduced -- or should I say, forcefully encouraged -- users to log in to Windows using a Microsoft account password, "

This right here is the #1 thing that I don't like about Win8. I guess we'll see how they address this issue with Win10.

It's not actually forced, you just have to click "I don't have a Microsoft Account" and then "Log in locally", and that's it.

Huge way to force people, right? Know-how...know-how...
 
"Since Windows 8 introduced -- or should I say, forcefully encouraged -- users to log in to Windows using a Microsoft account password, "

This right here is the #1 thing that I don't like about Win8. I guess we'll see how they address this issue with Win10.

You have the option to cripple your experience and log on with a local account. Never knew that syncing & cloud services were an "issue"?
 
Free upgrade! Nice. I wonder if they`ll slap us with a subscription monthly fee afterwards. After all, they keep saying the current monetization model must be replaced.
 
I wonder if a year after release M$ will say ok great you got Windows 10 now for free. If you want to keep it updated you'll have to purchase a subscription. That is gonna piss a lot of people off.
 
W10 looks cool and that MS is giving the upgrade free to the world will go a long way toward restoring its long lost reputation as the "peoples" operating system. Still, there is the same element of "big brotherism" permeating the OS that is endemic throughout the tech ecosystem these days. The recognition components incorporated into the new OS may make logging on easier, but it also means that MS has your face photo, your fingerprint or your iris on file, ready to disclose or divulge for whatever reason they deem necessary.
 
Keep hearing that for the first year it will be a free "upgrade". But what happens if you "upgrade" to Windows 10 and your hard drive crashes? Can you install this Windows 10 'upgrade' to a blank hard drive? Or are you stuck needing to reference your 10 year old Windows 7 CD and hope its' still good?!
 
Keep hearing that for the first year it will be a free "upgrade". But what happens if you "upgrade" to Windows 10 and your hard drive crashes? Can you install this Windows 10 'upgrade' to a blank hard drive? Or are you stuck needing to reference your 10 year old Windows 7 CD and hope its' still good?!

An ISO will be made available.
 
As said 100 billion times already it's free if you get it within the first year after you have to buy a copy. THERE IS NO SUBSCRIPTION fee after that year, you'll have to buy a copy like you did with all other Windows OSs

It is also FREE to people with cracked/pirated version of W7 or W8
 
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It is also FREE to people with cracked/pirated version of W7 or W8
Somehow I doubt that. It's not a free install, it's a free upgrade.

The upgrade is for those that can prove they have a legitimate copy of Win7/8. That has been the case with Windows Upgrade for the last 2 decades. It just so happens Microsoft is giving this one away free for those that qualify during the first year.
 
"The upgrade is for those that can prove they have a legitimate copy of Win7/8"

And how would they prove that? If windows 7 thinks it's activated it thinks it's activated. You don't actually need a legitimate key in order to "activate" 7.

Are you saying the windows 8 installation disk goes beyond windows 7 as far as checking for legitimacy? Does the win 8 disk prompt some kind of check in windows 7 that windows 7 would not do itself?
 
And how would they prove that? If windows 7 thinks it's activated it thinks it's activated. You don't actually need a legitimate key in order to "activate" 7.
Let me answer that in a quote from MS.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/genuine
How are activation and genuine Windows connected?
Activation pairs your product key with your hardware configuration and helps verify that your copy of Windows hasn't been used on more computers than the Microsoft Software License Terms allow. Usually, you need to activate Windows only once, unless you make a significant hardware change.

Genuine Windows, however, is a recurring process that checks your product key to make sure it's not blocked or being used on hardware that's different than what you were using when you activated Windows.

If you can lie to Windows Genuine and get Windows 10 for free, you earned it in my opinion. My response was for all the cracked versions that will not pass Windows Genuine and therefor would not pass upgrade qualifications. Your question brought my response to an absolute into a shade of grey. A shade of grey that as far as I'm concerned is genuine until MS can prove otherwise. My response was for those that have already been proven and blacklisted as cracked keys.

MS would be fools for allowing Windows 7/8 to be upgraded without first checking Windows Genuine.
 
Somehow I doubt that. It's not a free install, it's a free upgrade.

The upgrade is for those that can prove they have a legitimate copy of Win7/8. That has been the case with Windows Upgrade for the last 2 decades. It just so happens Microsoft is giving this one away free for those that qualify during the first year.
He got that from here: http://www.theverge.com/2015/3/18/8241023/windows-10-free-for-software-pirates

I haven't looked into this too much, but with Office and a popular method to pirate it, a KMS server is set up on your local machine that serves as the activation check. Is Windows like this too? If so, there may be some problems if it actually 'upgrades' rather than clean installs. Maybe Microsoft thought of this and will take care of that, but I know that if you pirate Office, and then uninstall it and try to install a legit copy bad things happen if you didn't remove that KMS server first.
 
So far they are saying all the right things but I'm still leery about comparability with some older programs. I haven't upgraded Office since back in 2003, mainly because it still does everything I need but if WIndows 10 forces me to upgrade then it isn't really all that "free". Still, I have to admit it's a great concept for Microsoft if they keep it honest and up front. Of course the idea of security on facial recognition is pretty sharp; I'd love to see how it does with some of the more sophisticated "masks" that the intelligence community can make ... that would certainly be THE acid test .....
 
Let's suppose that this method for indedification it's the deafult and the only available option. What about if ms or the bank or any other service decide that wants ban me for any reason (ex I can't pay any more their high monthly fees)? How I could change username if they have been embed it in the password in the form of my iris stracture? No no no I prefer the "old" way :)
 
W10 looks cool and that MS is giving the upgrade free to the world will go a long way toward restoring its long lost reputation as the "peoples" operating system. Still, there is the same element of "big brotherism" permeating the OS that is endemic throughout the tech ecosystem these days. The recognition components incorporated into the new OS may make logging on easier, but it also means that MS has your face photo, your fingerprint or your iris on file, ready to disclose or divulge for whatever reason they deem necessary.

Bingo. What Guest above said. Biometrics as an authentication system??? Wow, what a new idea? Oh wait, no, it's been alive and well for ages. Does your average everyday hard-working tax paying citizen care about keeping his computer locked down like it's Fort Knox? No, probably not. Will I use Iris identification for home Windows 10 system? No. Will I ever even use Windows 10? Probably not, at least it's not looking like it at this point.

Windows 10 sounds more and more like "Big ******* deal!" to me.
Nothing new under the sun except more ways for government to track you from the cradle to the grave in case you try to cheat them out of a wheat penny.
Windows 10 is a freemium piece of software. Admission is free, so that you can spend your money once you get inside. That's not necessarily evil but I still find not myself not caring at all. Spartan browser with ability to markup markup sounds cool and DX12 as a general improvement to game graphics are both pluses. Everything else is so-so. It's depressing.
 
Free upgrade! Nice. I wonder if they`ll slap us with a subscription monthly fee afterwards. After all, they keep saying the current monetization model must be replaced.
If they did that, there would be a mass exodus of people to Mac, Linux, or downgrading back to Windows 7. there's no way that would happen. I think part of Windows' strategy is to make money through the Windows app store. I think another part is to start mimicking Apple. By making Windows 10 a free upgrade, as the different version of Mac OS have been, they are headed in the right direction.

And how would they prove that? If windows 7 thinks it's activated it thinks it's activated. You don't actually need a legitimate key in order to "activate" 7.
Let me answer that in a quote from MS.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/genuine
How are activation and genuine Windows connected?
Activation pairs your product key with your hardware configuration and helps verify that your copy of Windows hasn't been used on more computers than the Microsoft Software License Terms allow. Usually, you need to activate Windows only once, unless you make a significant hardware change.

Genuine Windows, however, is a recurring process that checks your product key to make sure it's not blocked or being used on hardware that's different than what you were using when you activated Windows.

If you can lie to Windows Genuine and get Windows 10 for free, you earned it in my opinion. My response was for all the cracked versions that will not pass Windows Genuine and therefor would not pass upgrade qualifications. Your question brought my response to an absolute into a shade of grey. A shade of grey that as far as I'm concerned is genuine until MS can prove otherwise. My response was for those that have already been proven and blacklisted as cracked keys.

MS would be fools for allowing Windows 7/8 to be upgraded without first checking Windows Genuine.
Windows 10 will be free for prirated versions of Windows 7 and 8. http://gizmodo.com/all-windows-10-upgrades-will-be-free-even-if-your-copy-1692096375
 
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I wonder if a year after release M$ will say ok great you got Windows 10 now for free. If you want to keep it updated you'll have to purchase a subscription. That is gonna piss a lot of people off.


Nope. They're not changing from the current licensing structure they're using. This is equivalent to the $15.00 upgrade pricing MSFT offered for Windows 8 at release. After the first year, you'll simply have to pay for a one time license (as always) if you want to install Windows 10 on your machine. They already stated that after you have Windows 10, your machine will be supported for the life of the product for free.
 
I wonder if a year after release M$ will say ok great you got Windows 10 now for free. If you want to keep it updated you'll have to purchase a subscription. That is gonna piss a lot of people off.


Nope. They're not changing from the current licensing structure they're using. This is equivalent to the $15.00 upgrade pricing MSFT offered for Windows 8 at release. After the first year, you'll simply have to pay for a one time license (as always) if you want to install Windows 10 on your machine. They already stated that after you have Windows 10, your machine will be supported for the life of the product for free.
What is the life span of the product?
 
What is the life span of the product?
that is the funny about your question, years ago I had computers I ran for10 to 12 years, and am building one now I intend to run that long. at tat point I may be old enough I do not want to see a computer again.
 
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