Microsoft – Windows 10 Will Be Our Last…

Microsoft has revealed that the upcoming release of Windows 10 will be the last version of the company’s iconic operating system.

The company will instead update Windows in an ‘ongoing manner’, Microsoft development executive Jerry Nixon revealed at its Ignite event, rather then releasing standalone versions every few years.

Microsoft confirmed the news in a statement, which said it expected there to be a “long future” for the product.

“Windows will be delivered as a service bringing new innovations and updates in an ongoing manner,” it said.

Link to the past

Windows 10 is set to become available to customers later this year, and will even come as a free upgrade to those currently running Windows 7, Windows 8.1 and Windows Phone 8.1.

However, reports have claimed that work on the first official update for the software, codenamed Redstone, is already underway, and will come to market sometime in 2016.

The software promises a major overhaul in terms of several functions, not least in the return of the familiar Start menu, which comes with a new customisable space for a user’s favourite apps and Live Tiles (from Windows Phone), where users can place their favourite apps, people and websites.

Redmond is also seeking to give users a more traditional Windows experience that incorporates both touch, keyboard, and mouse inputs. Other new features include a search option on the taskbar and Start menu; a new quadrant app layout; and a new task-view button on the taskbar.

Windows 10 also marked a break in naming tradition for Microsoft, skipping the expected ‘Windows 9’ name in a move widely seen at signifying a break with the past. However it has also been rumoured that the name change could be down to coding systems from Windows 95 and 98 versions still being in use.

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