Exciting new features.
By Raif Karerat
WASHINGTON, DC: Microsoft made a big splash this week by providing an early look at what consumers can expect from Windows 10, the tech giant’s newest operating system. When the OS debuts in late 2015, it will be a free upgrade for those currently running Windows 7, 8.1, and Windows Phone 8.1, Executive Vice President of Operating Systems, Terry Myerson, said during a press conference in Redmond.
Among the new features of Windows 10 is Cortana on the PC. Windows Phone users are already familiar with the digital assistant, where she’s been exclusive thus far, but Windows 10 will see the A.I.-like utility fully integrated into the desktop lifestyle. Cortana can be summoned by voice command or via typed query, and the more she is used, the smarter she becomes. However, users will have the final say in editing how much information Cortana actually knows about them.
Project Spartan is Microsoft’s codename for its new browser, which is slated to replace the aging Internet Explorer. The nascent web platform will feature a lighter, more streamlined user interface that fits seamlessly with the aesthetic of Windows 10 and puts the focus on content as opposed to the program itself.
Meanwhile, Phil Spencer, head of Microsoft’s Xbox division, has promised that “gaming on Windows 10 will be more social and interactive,” thanks to the Xbox app, which will be pre-loaded on all Windows 10 devices.
Spencer also made a point of talking up DirectX 12. Power consumption is half that of DirectX 11, he said, which is important as the popularity of mobile gaming continues to snowball.
The most notable and surprising revelation from Microsoft regarding Windows 10 was Windows Holographic, a hologram-based virtual reality platform designed to bring users “beyond screens, beyond pixels, and beyond today’s digital borders,” declared Alex Kipman, the Microsoft executive previously behind the Kinect device.
Individuals sporting the Microsoft HoloLens will be able to see and interact with items in front of them in three dimensions, be it a screen playing a movie or a graphic model needed for work.
The HoloLens headgear includes transparent holographic lenses, spatial sound, advanced sensors, and a built-in, high-grade CPU and GPU. In order to handle the level of processing involved, Microsoft claims to have invented a processor that understands gestures and voice, and “can spatially map the entire world around us.”