Category: Windows 10

After what seemed like an eternity in February and early March, the news surrounding Windows 10 has been fast and furious these past two weeks.  Today’s announcement, the availability of the Windows 10 SDK (Software Development Kit) continues that and is a signal to developers to start preparing their apps for Windows 10.  Now.

The new Windows 10 SDK can be found at this link and like Windows 10 itself, this SDK is in preview mode (i.e. beta).  Still, if you are a developer or are thinking of doing some development in this new Universal app world of Windows 10, the SDK should be something to download and review.  To do so you will need to be a part of the Windows Insider program which is also free.

In baseball, you know you have made it if you have a baseball card made for you.  In memeland, you know you’ve made it if they make a sticker of you.

Peeps, I give you Ninja Cat Unicorn stickers.

So a little bit of a back story for those who are unfamiliar with the Unicorn riding, Microsoft flag waiving Ninja cat meme.  It started when Windows 10 for Phone was released last month when Gabe Aul Tweeted a photo of someone’s laptop with this sticker on it.  It, like many memes, took a life of its own and has quickly become one of the most sought after things on Microsoft’s campus.  Thanks to Microsoft MVP Michael Gillett, I have posted mobile wallpaper versions of wallpapers he created of the Ninja Cat riding unicorn which you can find here.

Now it seems for a mere $3.00 you can have your own Ninja cat sticker for your laptop, window (the physical ones you look out) or wherever you decide the meme needs to live in your life.

Microsoft has announced that a new build of the Windows 10 Technical Preview is coming to Windows Insiders on the Fast Ring today.  The new Build 10041 comes 54 days after the first preview release and is being welcomed with glee as it addresses a lot of bugs and brings improved features and functionality over the original build, Build 9926.  Only those in the Windows Insider program will have access to it and only those in the Fast Ring will see it.  As a reminder, this is a beta of Windows 10 so it is far from complete despite Microsoft’s announcement today that we will see Windows 10 this summer.  If you are not willing and able to test the platform it is recommend you not join the Windows Insider program and download it.

In a move that raised a few eyebrows yesterday at the WinHEC event in Shezhen, China, Microsoft announced that they will be giving Windows 10 for free to all users, including those who are running illegal versions of Windows 7 and Windows 8.1.  Piracy has always been a challenge for Microsoft and has known no borders although it is worse in parts of the world over others.  Interestingly, this announcement was made in China where it is estimated that upwards of 70% of all Windows installs are illegal.  With this move, Microsoft is effectively eliminating the desire or need to get Windows illegally which will cut down on support and spyware issues.

In a post on the Windows Blog at Microsoft, the company has committed to Windows 10 being released this summer for PCs, Tablets and Phones.  It is the first solid commitment they have made other than “Coming in 2015” and gives an good indication that the company feels they are making good progress on the release thanks to the help of Windows Insiders.  While no specific date was provided in the post from Terry Myerson, Executive Vice President of Operating Systems at Microsoft, it is does mean that we will likely see Windows 10 on our devices within 6 months.

I am writing this post, at least the beginning of it, from my Toshiba Encore 2 Windows tablet cruising at 32,000 on my way to Orlando. The first fifteen minutes of this flight where a challenge for no other reason than the inability for Modern Internet Explorer being able to sort out the inflight WiFi service.  The browser kept timing out and failing as I watched others around me quickly and easily get online with their various devices.  That was my indicator that the inflight WiFi was working just fine.  Frustrated, I dropped into Internet Explorer on the desktop.  I was online in 3 minutes.

This experience is all to common when it comes to using Modern apps in Windows 8.1.  They often do not play nice or are so out of date from a feature perspective that they border on being useless.  Modern IE is not alone in this quandary and if Microsoft wants Windows 10 to be successful, the Modern app experience has to improve.

Why would I suggest such a thing when the desktop and Start menu dominate the Windows 10 PC experience? Because it is these modern apps that will be the universal apps across all your devices. And while I have suggested that universal apps alone will not make Windows 10 a success, they will certainly be a part of it.  That means Microsoft themselves and the developer community must – absolutely must – improve not only the performance of Modern apps but the features to bring them inline with the desktop or other platform counterparts.