Software giant Microsoft is hoping the marketing ploy of giving away Windows 10 will reap the company rewards in spin-off revenue.
With a lot of hype and fanfares, Windows 10 will arrive as if by magic as an automatic download on a laptop, tablet or smartphone near you soon.
Microsoft has already started the roll out after several months of stirring up interest with jaded Windows users who have heard all the reasons why they should upgrade only to be disappointed before.
So the question is what is different about Windows 10?
First, you did not doze off and miss Windows 9 – there wasn’t one. The last release was the disliked and buggy Windows 8.
Closing Windows 8
Much of the business world is still stuck in the world of Windows XP, while millions of home users prefer the reliable but temperamental Windows 7.
Few opened their minds to Windows 8 because of the unfamiliar desktop and buried favourite features.
“This is undoubtedly the best windows ever and we guarantee to support users in the big download,” said a Microsoft spokesman.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. He’ll be safely tucked up in bed at 3am when most of us are trying to get back our files and bookmarks wiped by the new operating system.
The features of Windows 10 are built to a move to integrate apps. In the old days we called apps software packages, but now they are apps, plugins or widgets.
That’s where Microsoft hopes to cash in. Bang out the platform – better known as the operating system – for free and then charge users for downloading apps they need to actually get anything done.
Paying for apps
Microsoft sees Skype, Office 365 and cloud computing and storage as the future and a future that will bring in the profits.
Windows 10 will run your laptop, tablet and phone and provide a platform for sharing apps and data wherever you go and however you want to share.
The Windows 8 browser is gone and the touch and feel of Windows 10 is more like Windows 7 and the programs that went before.
Microsoft also promises no code-as-you-go monumental rewrites, but progressive updates that will be less disruptive to users.
Yes. We’ve heard it all before and Apple managed to sort out a relatively benign operating system for their computers, iPads and iPhones, so why shouldn’t Microsoft with Windows 10.