Today, Microsoft announced that Windows 10 will be available beginning July 29th in 190 markets globally. If you already run a PC with Windows 7, or Windows 8.1, you’ll get to upgrade for free. Thanks to the timezones, Australia will be one of the first countries in the world to receive the update.
Consumers will have one year from July 29 to take advantage of the free upgrade. Once a Windows device is upgraded to Windows 10, Microsoft will continue to keep it current for the supported lifetime of the device. These updates will come via Windows update at no cost. Those who want to be among the first in line for the free Windows 10 upgrade can reserve a free copy in the coming weeks.
The Windows 10 Tech Preview has been tested by 4 million people across the globe through the Windows Insiders program. Some of the most popular feedback has made it into developmental builds over the past few months, but there’s still plenty that needs to be done before the end of July.
If you haven’t seen any of the changes in Windows 10, then you’ve been enjoying an extended holiday on an island and good luck to you sir. Alternatively you’ve emerged from the underside of a rock and would find this quick overview of features beneficial.
There’s currently 1.5 billion people using Windows today and Microsoft will try to get all of them to upgrade to Windows 10. There’s a few reasons for this push, the first being security, the second support and third being the ability to push new features, knowing all users can take advantage of them.
It’s easy to understand the frustration of having patched a bug multiple versions ago and still having to deal with people who haven’t applied it. If you don’t already, turn on automatic updates and let that stuff happen automatically, with the store keeping your apps up to date and Windows update making sure the OS is up to date, you’ll be best positioned to have the best experience on your PC.
This release of Windows 10 scheduled for release on July 29th is just the PC version, the phone version will come later this year and the Xbox version may even fall into 2016. This does dampen somewhat the message Microsoft has been promoting with Windows 10 about it’s universal applications, the build once and deploy to many proposition for developers.
For more information, check out the Windows blog.
