Microsoft has a big Windows 10 boost out today. The company is calling it the “first major update” to Windows 10 for both normal PCs and tablets.
At its most basic, Microsoft wants to better position Windows 10 — its new operating system — for both consumers and enterprise clients. If it fails to find adoption with either, the success of the recently released code will be likely nil. Such are the stakes.
Up front, in a blog post, the company indicated that “Windows 10 also starts rolling out to Xbox One today, and select mobile phones soon.” That is both encouraging, and not. It is good that the larger long-discussed Windows Everywhere strategy is still in place — that’s the Xbox piece — but also slightly disappointing that the Windows 10 for “mobile phones” element remains in the future. I suppose that the firm is another holiday season down.
Before we delve into what Microsoft has planned for the enterprise, let’s have a game. No, not League of Legends — I have no desire to lose again this week — but instead the Xbox. Here’s the official verbiage [Emphasis: TechCrunch]:
With the New Xbox One Experience, Xbox One will update to be powered by Windows 10, providing faster experiences. Windows 10 makes all your gaming better with a consistent gaming experience across devices by extending Xbox Live to every screen. You can now get into multiplayer sessions and Parties faster, your most-used content is more readily available, and you can find gaming experiences tailored to your favorite titles more easily.
We’ve all had a long year, so I won’t complain about the “update to be powered by” line. Life is too short.
Windows 10 For People With Money
As you might have heard, large corporate clients are an important constituency of Microsoft’s bottom line. Given that obvious reality, Microsoft is more than a little focused on getting those customers onto its new platform. Again, a house divided cannot stand, and the software shop needs both folks, and folks’ bosses on board to succeed.
So, new features. In short the new bits are designed to help companies’ IT crews better manage PCs on their networks. I am sure this will disappoint more adventurous employees, but given who Microsoft in fact sells to, the resulting content is as surprising as mud in a corn maze.
Here’s the core language [Emphasis: TechCrunch]:
Windows Update for Business, provides IT controls over the deployment of updates within their organizations, while ensuring their devices are kept current and their security needs are met, at reduced management cost. Features include setting up device groups with staggered deployments and scaling deployments with network optimizations.
Windows Store for Business provides IT a flexible way to acquire, deploy, manage and use apps – both public and private line of business. Organizations can create their own private catalog – a store within the public Business Store – where they can define the list of the public and line-of- business apps available.
The company also announced new mobile device management features — hello, Good! — for Windows 10. Mobile, it seems, remains a thing.
Microsoft also announced that there are 12 million “business PCs” running Windows 10. That is up from 8 million at last count. The company did not update its 110 million total device figure. Provided that you have both fingers and toes, you can add a few things together to get new numbers.
Microsoft did not provide new official aggregate figures in a phone call with TechCrunch.
All of this may not impact your use of Windows 10. That isn’t too surprising. But I would draw your attention to two things. First, that Microsoft was not kidding about continuous updates to Windows 10, and its current focus on the building out features for corporate customers.
Neither should shock, but each matters. The first because updates such as this demonstrate that the company didn’t oversell its ability to update Windows 10. And the latter because it indicates that Microsoft thinks its new operating system is ready for everyone, even the most exacting corporate domains.
New numbers will tell a better story, but for today, at least, there is new grist for Windows fans.