Contrary to what has been expected or guessed, Microsoft opted to not name its newest operating system Windows 9. Instead, the tech firm decided to give its product a fresh start by calling it Windows 10.
"It will be our most comprehensive platform ever," Microsoft's Executive Vice President of Operating Systems Terry Myerson wrote in the company's blog.
The official announcement was made during the Microsoft event held in San Francisco on Tuesday, where the OS was officially unveiled. Known as project Threshold to the developers, it marks the company's leap into their new type of system.
As ZDNet's Mary Jo Foley puts it, "It's going to be the last major version of Windows and Microsoft wanted to signify it will be a big and cross-platform release."
While the company is aiming to take back the business market, the new system will consolidate the various platforms under Microsoft, including PCs, tablets, Windows phones, the app stores, and, in the future, even Xbox.
"And across this breadth of devices, we are delivering one application platform for our developers," Myerson wrote. "Whether you're building a game or a line of business application, there will be one way to write a universal app that targets the entire family. There will be one store, one way for applications to be discovered, purchased and updated across all of these devices."
But consumers have to wait because Windows 10 is not going to be available anytime soon.
The Enterprise Technical Preview becomes available on Oct. 1 for IT experts and developers, after which a technical preview of the Windows Server and management tools will be released. The preview for general consumers, on the other hand, will roll out sometime in early 2015. The company is aiming to release the completed version by mid-next year.
Images of Windows 10 that were previously leaked have proven to be accurate, as the upcoming OS does have the familiar Start Menu back, but the new version extends to show Live Tiles. Users can also have multiple virtual desktops, which they can easily navigate through using the task-view button on the taskbar. With Windows 10, all apps from the Windows Store will show a uniform look, that is, they will all be using windows, which can be minimized, resized, moved around, and easily closed. There is also the snap feature wherein windows can be snapped into four quadrants.
It's still a long wait until spring of 2015 but it should be worth it, considering how convenient it would be to have one core operating system for different devices. And hopefully, Microsoft won't rush the development to prevent any major disasters when it finally reaches consumers.
