You Can Have Windows 10 This Summer, If You Like
Is Windows 10 out this summer? Yes, Windows 10 is out this summer. Honestly, some news stories are hard to take anywhere.
Er. Well, it seems that, in the Northern Hemisphere at least, June 21 is the first official day of summer and September 22nd the last, so there's your Windows window. Unless Microsoft pull a fast one and go with Southern Hemisphere timing. They're crrrrrrrrazy like that, these Microguys.
Um. Summer? Did I mention that? My guess is September, to be honest. Seems a bit unlikely that they'd make people worry about operating systems when the sun's at its sunniest.
It's coming out in 190 countries and 111 languages simultaneously, and if you already own Windows 7 or 8/8.1 then you get it for free so long as you upgrade within the first 12 months of release.
From our point of view, the main points of interest are that a) it's less of a UI/UX trainwreck than Windows 8 b) DirectX12 may offer Stuff And Things which make games run better, including better use of multiple CPU cores, more direct communication with the GPU and also this mad, yet to be confirmed, probably horseshit rumour that you can mix'n'match NVIDIA and AMD cards in one system and c) there's some manner of crossover with Xbox One, including streaming Xbone games to your PC or Windows tablet.
C is of zero interest to me as I ain't got no Xbones, B I guess I'll wait and see what it translates to in practice (and that'll probably be a while off anyway, as I doubt too many game-makers will leap to adapt to a new OS and DX right away and A is the most appealing because using Windows 8 is like having a conversation with drunk clowns. I've been using the W10 technical preview on and off, but my soundcard has a bit of a hissy fit about it so it's not my main OS as yet, but I did find the UI side of things to be dramatically improved. Multi-monitor stuff was better too. Hence, I shall be upgrading, but maybe more because it's there and I can than because I feel an overwhelming need to.
There's a little bit more detail over on this announcement blog, including stuff about how there's going to be support for assorted new-fangled biometric things for heightened security. OK, whatever, but is typing in a password really that time-consuming?