Microsoft Outlines Plans for Windows 10 Update

SEATTLE (The Seattle Times/TNS) —
Microsoft, Plans, Windows 10, Update
Terry Myerson, executive vice president of the Windows and Devices Group, speaks at the Microsoft Build 2017 developers conference on Thursday in Seattle. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

Microsoft is trying to make its personal computer-bound operating system useful on the smartphone.

The company announced Thursday at its Build developer conference in Seattle a set of coming updates to Windows 10. The updates will be packaged in what the company is calling the Fall Creators Update and are expected to roll out later this year.

Windows executive Joe Belfiore demonstrated a tool, enabled by Microsoft’s Cortana digital assistant software, that lets a user editing a PowerPoint on a computer pick up where they left off on an iPhone or other device.

Another feature expands the realm of the virtual clipboard, enabling a copy and paste function from Windows to a smartphone and back again. Similarly, a feature called Timeline is designed to let you jump back into files you were using a few hours or days ago as if you’d never left, regardless of the device.

“Windows PCs will love all your devices,” Belfiore said.

A phone icon in the Windows settings menu will prompt users to connect the software to their other devices.

The tools are the latest sign of Microsoft’s desire to reach consumers regardless of what other operating systems they use, a far cry from a few years ago when the company at this same conference was advertising Windows 10 as the operating system that unified the smartphone and laptop and made other operating systems unnecessary.

That strategy never got off the ground, as few smartphone users comfortable with Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS considered the Windows Phone.

Microsoft subsequently shuttered much of its money-losing smartphone unit.

Terry Myerson, who leads Microsoft’s Windows and Devices Group, said that platform wars between big technology customers “have made it harder for our customers.”

The upcoming Windows update — which bears a similar marketing moniker to a spring edition released in April — will also come with Story Remix, a software tool designed to make it easy to stich together and enhance videos, storyboards and other visuals.

Microsoft has said it will add new tools to Windows 10 in major updates about twice a year. About 500 million devices are running the software, which was released in summer 2015.

To Read The Full Story

Are you already a subscriber?
Click to log in!