Microsoft Details Windows 10 Staggered Release Schedule
by Brett Howse on April 30, 2015 6:15 PM EST- Posted in
- Software
- Operating Systems
- Microsoft
- Windows 10
Today at a special breakout session, Corporate VP of the Operating Systems Group Joe Belfiore confirmed that the launch schedule for Windows 10 is going to be summer (he would go no more specific than that) but that it will be a staggered release. Those in the insider program may be aware that builds for the desktop PC are quite a bit ahead of those on the phone, and Joe said some of that is due to Windows 8.1 on the phone coming out later than 8.1 on the PC.
But there is a lot more to Windows 10 than just phone and PC. Xbox is there, IoT, and Surface Hub are other examples of where Microsoft is trying to push Windows 10, and there will almost certainly be a staggered rollout on those devices as well.
Joe also stated that they are already working with mobile operators in order to get to work on a schedule for existing devices, and as many of us know, mobile operators can drastically increase the time to market on mobile devices, so it is important to get to work on this now. Whether or not this helps or not will still have to be seen.
There will be new hardware for phones too, but they would not go into any details on when this might happen, or what kind of hardware they are looking at. Some of the demos yesterday, like Continuum on phone, will require new hardware which can display on multiple screens at the same time.
In the same vein, even when Windows 10 does launch, it will not be feature complete. Things like Extensions, which are coming to the new Edge browser, will not be available at launch but will come in a future update. Since Edge is going to be updated through the store, at least this will be easy. Other features like Win32 apps coming as Windows Store apps will also be later in the cycle.
So this will really be unlike any other Windows rollout, because so many parts of the system have been moved to being able to updated through the store. This will allow the core Windows 10 experience to be completed, but necessary feature updates should be able to be seamlessly added over time.
One other interesting note from the meeting was that the Insider Program will not be going away once Windows 10 launches. There will still be several rings that Insiders can participate in to get quicker updates, even if the feature is not quite ready for prime time. This should also apply to the phone as well which should help alleviate some of the upgrade woes depending on the particular mobile operator.
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ViRGE - Thursday, April 30, 2015 - link
I'm sorry, but this just sounds incomplete. So many features are not going to be available at launch, and Microsoft still needs to get Win10's stability up to par with Win8.1...After what happened with Win8, MS can't afford a misstep. Win10 should not be released until it's done.
Jtaylor1986 - Thursday, April 30, 2015 - link
It's free not like you can really complain about itViRGE - Thursday, April 30, 2015 - link
No, I suppose not. But I'd like to see Win10 do well. DX12 is in trouble if Win7 becomes the new XP.medi03 - Friday, May 1, 2015 - link
Win 8 is already better than Win7, so not sure what your point is.Zak - Friday, May 1, 2015 - link
That's why Win 8 is selling so wellI guess._ - Tuesday, May 5, 2015 - link
Performance wise, Windows 8 is better. That's undeniable. Poor sales are due to the issues people have with the modern UI.jimbo_sweets - Friday, May 1, 2015 - link
What? We totally can and should and should complain if their product is bad. If Google chrome suddenly turned to shit (unlikely), I would sure as hell expect everyone to be up in arms, and rightly so.Microsoft is making the upgrade free and lowering the cost because they're starting to shift business models, seem to be more advertising / freemium. That doesn't some how absolve them from criticism.
BrokenCrayons - Friday, May 1, 2015 - link
Jimbo -- I'm guessing you're talking about Chrome OS? If so, very few people would complain about it as it has limited appeal due to non-competitive pricing of the OS and associated hardware versus low end Windows 8.1 tablets that are more versatile at a lower price.If you mean Chrome the browser, then perhaps there'd be more complaints about it, but I think it'd have to fall quite far before the anti-IE crowd would put aside web browser ideology (a silly thing to argue about at all since it's just a display mechanism for websites, but there are people that make a foamy-mouthed scream-fest about it) and switch to something else. To those people, the browser has a very pronounced emotional element that hasn't anything to do with capabilities, reason, or logical thought. If the opposite were the case, I think it likely that Google would be in a far worse position given their methods of collecting and monetizing user data would probably be considered revolting.
As far as Microsoft's latest developments are concerned, they're attempting to catch up with competition including Google in using alternative methods they've not previously used effectively to generate income. I think what you'll see in the future is people continuing to live in the past and maintain criticism for prior actions Microsoft undertook years ago rather than address present day concerns like how Microsoft is planning to reap rewards that offset software development costs and whether or not those methods are akin to Google's vast data harvesting activities.
mkozakewich - Friday, May 1, 2015 - link
Chrome wasn't suddenly, it was a slow slide over the last couple years.rhysmorgan - Sunday, May 3, 2015 - link
Google Chrome already *is* shit!