Microsoft may be calling its upcoming operating systems for phones, PCs, and other devices by the same name (Windows 10), and even using much of the same code across each of these platforms. But Windows 10 for phones and small tablets isn’t exactly the same as Windows 10 for notebooks, desktops, and larger tablets… and it won’t launch at the same time either.

We already knew that Microsoft planned to launch Windows 10 for PCs this summer. But now the company is explaining that Windows 10 for phones will come a few months later… probably in the fall of 2015.

w10 phone

Also unlikely to launch this summer? Windows 10 for Xbox, HoloLens, and other devices.

Even though you’ll be able to install Windows 10 on your computer (or buy a new PC with Windows 10 pre-installed) starting this summer, Microsoft says some of the features it plans to include in the operating system won’t be available at launch.

That’s actually not too big a deal though. Microsoft has used Windows Update to roll out new features, bug fixes, and security updates for its operating systems for years and the company plans to pick up the pace with Windows 10. This is part of what the company means when it refers to Windows as a Service.

Windows 10 will be offered as a free update for just about anyone running Windows 7 or later for the first year that it’s available. Once it’s installed the company will continue to push out free updates as they become available, which means that Windows isn’t just software you buy once and use as it is. It can evolve over time.

So if Aero Glass effects, Windows Spotlight, or some other features aren’t ready to go on day one, it should be easy for Microsoft to push them out as free, over-the-air updates.

Core features like the new Start Menu, improved Windows Store, and ability to run Store apps like normal desktop apps should be there… and we’ll probably see some high profile software like the new Microsoft Edge web browser and Cortana digital assistant. They just might not be feature-complete at launch: for instance, the Edge browser might not support web extensions at launch, but the feature could be made available a few months down the road.

But if you’ve been holding out hope that you’d be able to buy a smartphone that you can also use as a desktop PC this summer, it looks like you’ll probably have wait until this fall. That’s when Windows 10 for phones will probably launch, and there’s a good chance it’s also when Microsoft will introduce a new Lumia phone that can take advantage of that feature.

via The Verge

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12 replies on “Windows 10 coming to PCs this summer, phones… sometime later”

  1. Consumers of Windows products are used to waiting, no harm there Imho. Haven’t android and Apple customers lived through long waits and buy imperfect/incomplete products? Yeah I think so!

    1. How is that any different from what Microsoft customers have endured?

      Windows Vista? Windows 8?

      1. Windows 8 fine here, sorry. Never used vista, but all of the complaints are things that turned out to be non issues (claims it wouldn’t support open gl), things that were the right way to do things (improved security model that annoyed xp users, but it’s good for security, it’s the same or tougher on Linux and OS X, and things have stayed the same on windows since), things that haven’t gone away (concerns over support for DRM – not aware recent versions are any different, and lots of platforms are even more locked down). The main annoyance was how power hungry it was at a time when 1GB on laptops was still common, but it seems laughable to complain about that in an age when phones come with 4GB. In fact every new version of windows gets criticism from whoever doesn’t like change – XP was hated from ppl who viewed it as 2000 with apple-like fisher price skin.

        1. Vista was much more resource-hungry than both XP and 7, and was very sluggish both subjectively and by benchmark. Also the security was ridiculous — it felt like you were answering security questions for almost every action. No OS before or since has been so constantly annoying in this regard. 8 is quite sprightly and has a lot of internal improvements over 7, but the interface is for tablets and not the desktop, and the pointlessly split control panels means you’re always trying to remember if you can do something under the menu or via the Charms bar. And it’s ugly.

          The point is that there was a lot of complaining for the sake of complaining regarding Vista and Windows 8, but one can’t say that none of those complaints were valid.

      2. Let’s review some History:

        Win Vista – BAD
        Win 7 – GOOD
        Win 8 – BAD
        Win 9? – “GOOD”
        Win 10 – Oops! 😀

        Maybe I should wait another year until all the potential Bugs in Win10 get sorted out.
        I don’t want to be a Beta tester for W10, let the dumb Noobs test it first. 😉

        1. Actually… XP was released as “BAD”… it took over 3 years and two SP releases before they fixed it enough to finally become “Good” enough to replace W95… and another few years before the final SP3 was released to fully fix it…

          The difference with Vista was the first impression was so strong that no one wanted to give it another chance… Even, though, they fixed most of the issues with Vista by the time of the first SP release… So, when MS finally did the final fix it then wound up renaming it Windows 7 to get away from the Vista bias…

          Windows 8 was actually a good release in comparison… it wasn’t overly buggy at launch, it had pretty good driver support (took years for Vista to get that)… there were plenty of under the hood improvements that improved performance and improved security… some desktop features like using multiple monitors was actually improved…

          People just didn’t like the User Interface… mostly because MS never really did enough to explain how to use it, how to get the same things done without relearning everything from scratch, etc.

          While the lack of good apps made integrating the Modern/Metro side more problematic than it needed to be… that along with the forced integration of the UI and disjointed layout of menu options that only served to further confuse users… it was basically too much all at once for most people and badly marketed…

          Btw, Windows 10 is Windows 9… It was renamed 10 because of combination of factors… Namely, they were making more changes than they normally would from one OS version to the next… They were also starting to push a one platform for everything theme, which is also why the new XBox is also called One instead of 720, and they wanted to push Continuum going forward… and they needed to avoid a issue with legacy software with things like Windows version checker, etc…

          1. No Cybergusa, you’re wrong. WinXP was meant to be a replacement for Win98 not Win95, because WinME was an unmitigated disaster.

            Win95 crashed for no apparent reason most of the time, so it was considered Bad.

            Win98 was mediocre at first but Win98SE was very good, so everyone used Win98SE for many years until WinXP SP1 was good enough.

            WinME was the stuff of nightmares, that’s all you need to know.

            I have shirts that are probably older than you hanging on my closet, so I remember those days of W9X like it was yesterday.

            Peace.

          2. Don’t confuse semantics with how the OS history actually played out!

            There was very little difference between W95/98, XP was the big change switching to the NT Kernel and people were still using both 95 and 98 back then, ME was worse but fact is XP was a unstable mess when it was first released and it took until SP2, which was over three years later, before it was fixed enough for it to be taken seriously as a upgrade but again, even then it took another three years or nearly 7 years from the time of first release before they had finished all what needed to be done to fix XP…

            Even SP1 was well over a year after launch, anyway, but it wasn’t until SP2 that you got additional fixes like proper support for USB… So most people don’t consider the SP1 the point that XP was considered fixed enough and many of the early patches often produced BSOD issues for various reasons…

            People just don’t tend to remember all the time it took MS to actually fix all the problems or even that there had been problems and only seem to remember the remaining 7-8 years before they finally ended support for XP… Never mind XP always remained more unstable and more prone to crashes that Windows 7 but that never stopped a lot of people from hanging onto XP even now…

            Again, what’s actually normal is MS releases a new OS that isn’t fully ready and thus has to spend the next few years fixing it… The only reason Windows 7 did so well and had so few problems was because it was basically already the fixed version of Vista but even then it never really took off until years later and primarily because MS finally officially announced they would end support for XP and only then did it finally become the new dominant version of Windows being used by all users…

            So let’s not pretend the majority really thought Windows 7 was that great or that it was separate from Vista when it was really the same OS, just fixed!

            The amount of misconceptions on the software market go well beyond this but the point is people tend to remember only what they want to remember and especially as it helps exaggerate whatever bias they want to emphasize to better justify their negative opinions…

            As for older than me, I kinda doubt that as I remember the good old days when you had to do most of your own programming to use your computer… but hey, whatever… it’s not like my age is going to change whether or not my point is valid or not… knowledge is knowledge regardless of who possesses it!

  2. and so again we wait for the dumb flock of millions of sheepy testers, called consumers running for a big it-one. either one has a finished product to roll out or not.

    1. I’m not sure any consumer software exists anymore that is rolled out fully fledged and doesn’t get updates. Maybe if you travel back to 1980.

      Even for games, for at least 10-15 years, releasing but then following it up with updates (even fixes) is the born.

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