More news out of Microsoft as the Redmond-based company has confirmed it will sell Windows 10 on USB flash drives. And by confirm, I mean you can now put in a pre-order for a physical copy of the highly-anticipated operating system.
As of writing, you can pre-order a copy of Windows 10 Home on a flash drive from Amazon for $119.99. Windows 10 Pro, meanwhile, will command $199.99 in the same format. Both products are listed as coming directly from Microsoft.
VentureBeat reached out to Microsoft to get some clarification as rumors of Windows 10 being sold on a flash drive have been circulating for weeks. While Microsoft didn't specifically address the Amazon pages, the company did confirm that users will be able to purchase its new operating system on a USB stick.
Why is this a big deal and why would anyone opt for a flash drive instead of a traditional optical disc?
The PC landscape is continually evolving and one of the pieces of hardware that's on the way out is the optical drive. With more and more media moving to digital download, we've seen PC makers slowly start to phase out the optical drive just as they did with the floppy drive many years ago.
Most mid-range and high-end laptops no longer include optical drives. If you really need an optical drive and your computer doesn't have one, the best option is to pick up a cheap USB optical drive.
A word of caution for anyone looking to order a USB copy from Amazon: the release date is listed as August 16 which is two and a half weeks after the official July 29 launch date. That's not entirely surprising as Microsoft has previously said that July 29 is the starting date for the rollout of its new OS. What's unclear at this hour is whether or not the August 16 date is exclusive to Amazon or the date set for the overall Windows 10 USB rollout.