While still secretly free, Windows 10 continues to frustrate (and anger) its users with questionable updates and recent transparency disclosures. But today Microsoft has revealed the future of Windows updates and it’s a massive upgrade. (02/14 new updates below)
How to upgrade to Windows 10 for free in 2020 [Updated]
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During Microsoft 365 developer day, the company detailed Windows 10X, the next generation Windows 10 “expression” that the company will release later this year. And the most remarkable aspect: Microsoft says that Windows 10X updates will take less than 90 seconds to complete.
02/13 update: Microsoft has released a Windows 10X emulator and development tools so that everyone can test a beta version of the new platform. Users will need a PC running Windows 10, using an Intel chipset (AMD support will be available later), 8 GB of RAM, 15 GB of space and a WDDM 2.4 or later graphics driver. You will also need the following bios features to be supported and activated:
- Hardware-assisted virtualization
- Second Level Address Translation (SLAT)
- Hardware-based data execution prevention (DEP)
Finally, if your system meets these requirements, activate ‘Hyper-V’ (Control Panel -> Programs -> Programs and Features -> Activate or deactivate Windows features) and make sure that Hyper-V is selected for the emulator or installation will not be successful. Yes, there are a lot of hoops to get through, but you’ll be among the first to get a taste of the future of Windows.
02/14 Update: With Windows 10X causing understandable excitement, there is promising news on the platform today after it was discovered that it worked perfectly, even on an Apple MacBook. A developer video the port that shows a fully functional Windows 10X and even gestures work on the MacBook touchpare. Microsoft initially focused on Windows 10X on next-generation dual-screen devices, but it shows that the flexibility of the new operating system means it will run on a wide variety of hardware. More realistically, it also shows that Microsoft could potentially more easily integrate some of the key benefits of Windows 10X into Windows 10 for desktop and standard PCs. What space!
How does this work? Through a fundamental reconstruction of the Windows upgrade process. Microsoft says Windows 10X will isolate the operating system, drivers, and applications from user data. This means that they can be updated transparently in the background, with the platform upgrading to the latest version of the operating system each time it is restarted. This is exactly the kind of fundamental overhaul that Windows users have been calling for for years.
Drawbacks? Although Windows 10X runs traditional Win32 desktop applications, Microsoft currently has no plans to port it to Windows 10 computers. Instead, Microsoft will target it on a next wave of dual-screen devices, such as his futuristic Surface Neo (below) which is “Coming Holiday 2020”.
That said, the big question is whether and when Microsoft can take what it learns from Windows 10X updates and apply it to Windows 10. And we all know that Windows 10 needs dramatic update improvements updated as soon as possible.
No pressure, Microsoft.
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