At last. Microsoft have just announced the name of the next version of Windows and to everyone’s shock it’s going to be called Windows 10.

Windows 10 Logo

I’ve been following the live blog at The Verge and hundreds of tweets coming out of the event and it’s already clear that Microsoft is going to be focusing on business with Windows 10. A familiar look, security and management is being promoted which, for those of us into touch, is a worrying start.

As was previously rumored, Store-based Universal apps will be sandboxed and will run on the desktop. At this point we’re getting a little bit more worried about the touch UI that was Metro.

Microsoft appear to have implemented a new multi-desktop feature which allows the user to grab apps from another desktop and there’s an unexpected update to the command line. You can now CTRL-C, CTRL-V among other keyboard shortcuts

Touch users…

“We want to support those Windows 8 users who have touch machines and getting a lot of benefit out of them.”

Some edge swipes are still there, there is scrolling and pinch support. The charms bar was shown in a demo but apparently that might change.  The task view (swipe from left) will be removed and replaced with a desktop-style task switcher.

2-in-1 users can benefit from a new feature that Microsoft are calling Continuum which changes the look based on the input method being used.

Touch users can now breath a sign of relief. Here’s the Start screen on a touch-enabled device.

Above image via The Verge

Preview versions of Windows 10 under the Windows Insider Program  will appear at http://preview.windows.com

Windows 10 is said to be shipping “later in the year” 2015 which is later than expected. “At our Build conference in April, we’ll share more about Universal apps.” Of course we already heard about universal apps at this years BUILD.

Finally, in a Q&A it was confirmed that the new smartphone operating system from Microsoft will also be called Windows 10 but won’t have a desktop.

That wraps-up the first information we have about Windows 10. More will filter through over time so stay tuned!

It was a long opening keynote at BUILD today but totally worth watching all the way from start to finish. There were exciting announcements across-the-board and when I say across-the-board I mean announcements that affect cross-Windows compatibility. The unified Store took a huge step forward today. Windows 8.1 Update is detailed as is Windows Phone 8.1 which is coming in new devices from may and then rolling out after that to other devices. You’ll also hear the superb news that the Windows 8 license free will be dropped for all Windows Phones and PCs up to 9-inch screen. This will really help the Windows tablet market develop. Finally you’ll see the demo of a RT version of Office built for touch.

You can find more detail in our posts here but we do recommend you watch the video, if only to see Satya Nadella putting in a great performance as new CEO of Microsoft.

Just live on YouTube is a 3.5 minute overview of the Windows 8.1 Update. The free update is coming to all Windows 8.1 users on April 8th and includes many changes for keyboard and mouse users, changes to taskbars and the ability to run the new Universal Apps in the desktop window. There’s a new Start menu too.

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Microsoft have announced that Windows devices with screens less than 9-inches will now have zero license cost.

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It’s not the launch announcement that we were hoping for but at least Microsoft are being public about progress on their touch-focused Office for Modern applications. At the opening keynote today we saw a demonstration of progress, and it looks good.

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At the opening keynote of the BUILD developer conference in San Francisco today Microsoft announced something that will completely change the way application development is approached for Windows 8 Phone and Windows 8. Windows Runtime is now going to be supported across both Phone and Modern to allow cross-platform development. Visual Basic tools have been updated to support the new cross-device development mode.

Update: Universal apps coming to Xbox. The Windows dev economy just tipped!

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It’s going to be one crazy day for me on Wednesday. Two important events will take place that will give us a deeper understanding as to what’s going to happen with Windows tablets this year. Intels IDF event takes place in China and later in the day Microsoft kick-off their BUILD developer event. I’ll be covering them both.

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