SOUTH Africa’s open-source techies, along with many others around the world, can look forward to Windows 10, which “will be ushering in a new converged platform era”.

Anthony Doherty of Windows Business Group Lead at Microsoft SA says the new system, “also features a set of new software development kits (SDKs) that helps developers bring their Android and iOS applications to the Windows Store within Windows 10 with very minimal code modifications.”

Windows 10, which is scheduled to launch near the end of 2015, will be free for private users and, in an unprecedented move, for users with pirated versions as well. However, corporate users can still expect to pay for the upgrade.

“With Windows 10, although non-genuine PCs may be able to upgrade to Windows 10, the upgrade will not change the genuine state of the licence,” says Mr Doherty. However, unlicensed versions of Windows will not have the security assurances that genuine users enjoy, he said.

Users of the Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 operating systems including Windows Phone 8.1 devices will be able to upgrade to the new system for free if they upgrade within the first year. Corporate users would, however, have to continue to pay to upgrade their software.

SOURCE: bdlive.co.za