Today marked a pretty exciting moment for Microsoft, I imagine. The company had already announced Windows 10 proper, sure, but today they got to really show it off. More than that, though, they opted to look ahead and showcase software that’s not even finished yet. As Joe Belfiore put it, it’s part of a new psychology within Microsoft. They aren’t keeping everything battened down and behind the scenes anymore.
Some things, sure, but not everything.
The media briefing itself was super low-key, to say the least, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Microsoft kept it personal as they showed off a lot of different things that are all connected to Windows 10, from how it’s going to work on PCs and tablets, to the phone experience, and even how it’s going to work and look on the Xbox One.
Microsoft has a new approach to the way that they’re launching products, and keeping everything within the ecosystem even better than they had already been doing. Windows 10 is a bold new step for the company, and I jumped on board the moment they said that they’re going to provide upgrades for the platform for the first year for free.
From there, it just kept getting better. The new things they’re bringing to Windows 10, especially for phones, are pretty great. Microsoft may be playing catch up, but it’s only because the company takes longer to developer software updates. Some might indicate that as a fault, but ultimately I think that’s changing, too. With this new psychology Microsoft has, it seems to me that they’re gearing up to really compete.
Microsoft sees itself as a competitor all over again, hopefully.
The thing is, I’m not entirely sure that Microsoft’s mobile focus is going to really pay out in the end, even with Windows 10 running on the handsets. I have hope, yes, but ultimately, as Anna has said in the past, Windows 10 —for all its awesomeness— may just get weighed down out of the gate due to a lack of apps. And even if it has the apps, they might still not be as good as their Android or iOS counterparts.
But, it’s a start. It’s been a longtime coming, but maybe it was worth the wait. I guess we’ll see, especially with Windows 10 for phones coming in February. I don’t have long to wait, at least. Here’s to having the fingers crossed.