Windows 10 Now Available! FREE For Windows 7 and 8.1 Users

Windows 7, Windows 8.1 and Windows Phone 8.1 users can now upgrade to Windows 10 operating system when it becomes available, as reported by Microsoft on Wednesday during the Windows 10 presentation. The Tech giant is dealing with fragmentation of its users on different versions of its operating system. Most Windows users are still using Windows 7, or even thirteen year old XP. Microsoft hopes that by offering Windows 10 for  free will bring all users to the same platform.

So why are they offering something that costs so much to develop completely for free? The major reason is that by having more users on one operating system will be more attractive for developers as are applications can reach a wider audience without creating different compatible versions for each system.

Both PCs, tablets and smartphones all use the same Windows 10 and the same apps. However, the operating system looks slightly different on different platforms. In Windows 10, Microsoft will include the start menu back, that was missed by many users of Windows 8.1.

Cortana

As expected the the desktop version of Windows 10 also features the voice assistant Cortana. The assistant does generally the same as on tablets and smartphones and is also able to find photos and documents. New for smartphones include the ability to set a background image in order to personalize the screen. Also recently installed apps can quickly be found the top of the app list and settings screen is now more user friendly.

Browser

Microsoft also showed its new web browser, called Spartan. The new browser looks more minimalistic than Internet Explorer, following the current design trends, and Microsoft will logically integrate voice assistant Cortana. Spartan will make it possible to provide comments on sites, similar to commenting in the sidelines of text documents.

Spartan also has a reading mode, where the text without much formatting is displayed so that it is easier to read. Also, sites can be put into a reading list, and that list can be made available offline, and synchronizes with the browser on other devices.