Microsoft has officially revealed that Windows 10 will launch this summer in 190 countries and 111 languages. The company has not disclosed any specific release date of highly anticipated Windows 10 platform but the news directly came from the Microsoft Windows Blog.
According to as announced previously, Windows 10 will be offered as a free upgrade to customers running Windows 7, Windows 8.1 and Windows Phone 8.1 for the first year after it is released. Microsoft has partnered with the world-leading companies, Lenovo, Tencent and Qihu 360, to deliver a seamless Windows 10 upgrade experience to the customers in China.
Read about: Windows 10 Technical Preview
Lenovo, one of the world’s leading PC manufacturers, announced they will offer Windows 10 upgrade services at 2,500 service centers and select retail stores in China when the Windows 10 upgrade is available. This will help customers quickly and easily upgrade their new or existing Windows devices to Windows 10. Lenovo also announced their commitment to build Windows phones, to be available in mid-year 2015 via China Mobile.
Tencent, the leading social networking and gaming services company in China, announced it will offer Windows 10 as a free upgrade to its customers on Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 in China, and include QQ, Tencent Video and Tencent PC Manager in the Windows 10 free upgrade pack. Tencent will create a Windows 10 universal app for their flagship QQ app, which has over 800 million customers in China, and bring their most popular PC games, such as “League of Legends,” “Cross Fire” and “Dungeon & Fighter” to Windows 10 and the new Windows store.
Qihu 360, a leading internet security company in China, announced it will bring Windows 10 for free to their customers in China through seamless upgrades. Qihu 360, with over 500 million customers on Windows PCs, will enable the Windows 10 upgrade with just a few clicks with accelerated download speeds.
Through a new program with Xiaomi, one of the top smartphone distributors in the world, a select group of Xiaomi Mi 4 power users will be invited to help test Windows 10 and contribute to its future release later this year. These power users will have the opportunity to download the Windows 10 Technical Preview – installing it and providing their feedback to Microsoft.
The company has also introduced the Qualcomm DragonBoard 410C to the Windows 10 device family. The Qualcomm DragonBoard 410C will be the first Windows 10 developer board with integrated Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS, and a smartphone-class Snapdragon 410 chipset.
Upon the launch of Windows 10, a new version of Windows for small footprint Lab of Things (IoT) devices will also be available for free. Different versions of Windows 10 for IoT devices will range from powerful devices like ATM and ultrasound machines, to resource constrained devices like gateways. They partner with with the Raspberry Pi Foundation, Intel, Qualcomm and others.
A combination of sensors including fingerprint reader, illuminated IR sensor or other biometric sensors facilitate a new feature – “Windows Hello” to make Windows 10 more personal by providing instant access to your devices through biometric authentication, using your face, iris or fingerprint to unlock your devices. Windows Hello is fully supported by all the OEM machines which incorporate with the Intel RealSense F200 sensor.
