Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
AT A TWO and a half hour keynote lasst night, Microsoft revealed its vision for Windows 10 and everything else around it. Some of the features it touched upon included holograms, Xbox One, Cortana, Microsoft Office, Project Spartan, and a few other bit and pieces.
While it went through many things at the session, here are the main points to take away from it.
1. Microsoft really wants to bring everyone up to speed
One of the major announcements that was mentioned early on was a free upgrade to Windows 10 for most users.
Those using Windows 8.1, Windows Phone 8.1, and Windows 7 will be able to upgrade to Windows 10 for free during the first year of release. The inclusion of Windows 7 is a major deal since the majority of people are using that version and will have little reason to upgrade since they’re comfortable. Since it’s now free, it will give people incentive to upgrade to the latest version.
The entire purpose of this is to ensure all developers are creating apps and services for all services since Metro supports universal apps. Both stores are in need of more support from developers and making Windows 10 as tempting as possible requires it to convince as many people to upgrade. The more people using it, the more likely developers are going to create apps for that platform, making it more attractive.
Although the small problem is that those on Windows 8 aren’t included so if you’re still using it by the time it arrives, you’re out of luck.
2. If you can’t beat them, take inspiration from them
Anyone following Microsoft’s announcements will have noticed many similarities between these features and other apps and services out there. Most of the new features could be found elsewhere.
Outlook swipe patterns takes inspiration from iOS Mail, Project Spartan uses feature from Pocket and Safari, and even Windows 10 for Mobile has notifications you can respond to directly, similar to iOS 8 and Lollipop.
This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, provided something is integrated properly and is easy to use, people won’t care where certain features came from, but it does signal that Microsoft is playing it safe by going for the features that it knows works and what it knows people will find useful.
3. Internet Explorer is dead, long live (codename) Project Spartan
One of the worst kept secrets of this event was the introduction of a new browser, Project Spartan. Internet Explorer had taken a major beating in recent years so it’s probably wise for Microsoft to drop the name and signal a fresh start.
From first impressions, it’s looks clean and it does take some inspiration from Chrome in the basic area. But there are other areas like Note-taking which lets you draw on pages while you’re browsing and share the whole page or save it, a new reading mode which also looks clean, and takes prompts from the likes of Pocket by allowing you to save it, and Cortana is included as well.
4. Control Panel and PC settings will be the one feature.
Not a major addition, but it’s a ‘thank god’ moment for those (i.e. everyone) who were annoyed with Windows 8 and 8.1 insisting that on two separate controls for what was effectively the same thing.
5. Cortana is going to have a better time on PC than mobile.
Of the numerous announcements made, a significant one is Cortana making its way to PC. While it still has yet to make its way over here, placing it on desktop is both a necessary and wise move for two reasons.
The first is that Cortana has a much better chance of being noticed and used on Windows 10 than Windows Mobile. The second is that people will be more comfortable talking to Cortana in the privacy of their desktop than on their phone.
How many people talk to Siri, Google Now, or any text-to-speech feature while they’re in public? The answer is likely very low so putting it in a private environment is a better fit.
6. Xbox app for Windows 10 has one great feature that you will want to try.
The Xbox’s announcement didn’t cover too much new ground, capturing clips and sharing them as well as joining friends in games isn’t going to amaze anyone, but it did have one feature that will certainly work in its favour: streaming.
As part of the new update, anyone with an Xbox One will be able to stream and play their game on their Windows PC or tablet. That’s a pretty significant and handy addition, which is more useful than you would initially think.
Many people will have a PC or tablet, and using an existing device instead of having to get a new one (or buy a specific device like Sony’s Remote Play service) will win it a new set of fans when they find out the TV is taken.
7. Microsoft’s focus is very much on PCs…
While Windows 10 for Mobile was covered, it was regularly referred to as a companion piece to the PC instead of it being a separate entity. Regularly it was referred to as a way of allowing you to take what you’re doing on the desktop with you seamlessly instead of a standalone service.
It would also explain Microsoft’s decision to continue releasing low-cost devices as a way of bringing up the number of Windows Phone users. Yet it’s unlikely how much this is going to work in this case. But that may not matter as much if future products are anything to go by.
8. …but it’s looking beyond the monitor
There’s a certain irony with Google taking Glass away from consumers and making it private as Microsoft just introduced Microsoft Hologram and the accompanying device Microsoft HoloLens, something that it claims to be working on for years.
Effectively a untethered headset that allows you to look at graphics through Augmented Reality (although it’s calling it holograms), Kipman said that HoloLens will be released by the time Windows 10 comes out, and comes with holographic lens which can display information in front and around you.
It has spacial sounds so you can hear holograms behind you, and has a specialised processor, a HPU (holographic processing unit) if you will, and works independent of any device.
From the live demo of Holo Studio, Windows 10′s way of working with 3D content, actions are carried out through touch and pinch gestures as well as voice commands and while it’s not as smooth as the preview video suggested, but you can expect Skype and Minecraft to play a part of it.
Microsoft is promising the moon with this, and it could either be a device that will push AR forward or become another Google Glass.
Time will soon tell which one it is.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
It’ll cost the HSE? No the tax payers!
@Karin Muller: i work in the HSE and just like the PUP we’ll probably be tapped again to pay the debt off for years to come. Another levy. And yes of course tax payers in general willbe paying costs for years.
@Lisa Jones: They waste cash like there’s no tomorrow. It will get to the stage where everyone in the country will be giving up their full salary to pay off years of complete and total mismanagement of our resources by wasters who have no clue what they are doing.
That’s a shocking amount of money. All those corners that they cut over the years with regards to IT has finally come back to haunt them.
The independent investigation will cost at least €100 million on top of that.
and who’s fault is that then Paul?
Best set up a commission of investigation, produce a white paper, we will definitely need a high level task force and we can finish up with a multi million Euro tribunal where none of the findings are acted upon. All this instead of doing their actual jobs in the first place. Also Paul Reid needs a pay rise of 100k.
Add it to the 30million bill for the PPE that was unusable that came from China … nobody is held accountable for any f ups ….That huge pay rises that the CEO got for themselves recently is definitely not performance related !
Have they tried ctrl+alt+del ?
We could easily get that back if you legalised, taxed, and regulated cannabis. And hundreds of millions more…
Why are they even pretending with the figure of €100m. We know this will be up to €350m by the time the same ‘purchasing’ team as the NCH get their hands on the budget.
@Alan Wright: You could be right, but can you maybe explain precisely what your problem is with this? Is it the cost, that they delayed upgrading their systems, purchasing the best equipment and qualified staff or the fact that the customer is the HSE?
You see, I can’t help thinking that if the HSE raised this issue at any time in the past few years and asked for the funding to do precisely these things they would have been dismissed as unnecessary. Not only that, people like you would have ridiculed them for wanting to spend public money on such outrageous things. I guess we’ll never know…
@Arch Angel: your assumptions of me are all wrong. I’m just against massive underbudgeting and out of control overspending e.g. the NCH fiasco. You can go cast silly assumptions on someone else there petal, kisses.
@Arch Angel: That’s EXACTLY what happened. People asked for upgrades, they were denied. I used to work for them. I talked about future-proofing the software, about upgrading to Windows 10, the fact that Flash being disabled would impact on training programmes, tonnes of stuff. We were always told, “It’s not in the budget, the Dept. of Health won’t approve that.” Soooo… is it the HSE, or the Dept. of Health/FFG government again? Any time money is spent, people whinge about “wHaT a WaStE oF tAxPaYeR mOnEy”. If it’s not spent, and things go wrong, it’s “wHy DiDn’T tHeY dO aNyThInG bEfOrE!?” It’s one of the reasons I left. Thankless job, the pay is awful if you’re not a manager, and you’re trying to do the best you can on a shoddy equipment with minimal budget. The Dept. of Health and the HSE need to realise that “cheapest” doesn’t mean “best option”.
@Arch Angel: they might have tried making a business case at least
How is this man still the CEO?
The people at the top of the HSE who signed off on years of neglect of the country’s health records and systems should carry the can. Numerous report after numerous report must have been ignored. The costs here are astronomical.
Rebuilding a completely new system will cost about 30 million
The use of the word ‘trojan’ by the COO was ill advised.
€100 million … talk about being reactive ..instead of proactive
just think what they could have done to the HSE with all that money
@Geoff Bateman: Could have added in another layer of management in a region somewhere.
Oh dear god!
Would have cost a lot less if they invested in their infrastructure
Ransom only 20 mill
@Tomás O Droma: Paying the ransom means they have incentive to do it again. Paying the ransom doesn’t mean that they get everything back. Look what happened with the oil pipeline in the US. They paid, and still have to rebuild from scratch, and their data is still leaked on the darknet.
At stich in time saves a lot more than nine in this case. They got caught rotten. And when the lawsuits pile in, that figure will seem small. Hope all other depts take the hint and bolster their IT budget.
Wait is it April 01,
So the taxpayers are on the hook for €100 HSE computer upgrades,dream on,this black hole for taxpayers money never does anything on the cheap,but the biggest worry for for taxpayers will be the Billions in compo claims that will surface if private personel details are put in the public domain,like with the army deafness compo claims back in 80s the legal profession will be only too happy to offer advise.
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/opw-criticised-over-86m-garda-hq-that-is-too-small-for-all-staff-1.4576830?mode=amp
Throw this into the mix as well sure the taxpayer will pick this up as well.the sooner we are ruled from Europe the better because we have never been capable of ruling ourselves
Would have cost a lot less if they invested in their infrastructure
Absolute joke of a country.
Independent assessment “,this is just a pointless money wasting exercise.
Security was massively lapse, ye got infiltrated, time to upgrade to proper fit for purpose systems and move on. We’ve had enough HSE independent assessments already.
The cost of upgrading the systems is not the cost of the attack . That’s something that should have happened anyway. It’s mostly the cost of abiding future attacks. Had they done it when they were supposed to, it would have been cheaper, of course.
Where are they pulling these figures from? Do we get to see a break down of where every euro is going?
Just pay the €20 million ransom and save us a few bob.
“Trojan work” ? …. Poor choice of words
They should have just paid the 22 million ransom.
20-30 million of investment for network security and internal phishing prevention information marketing campaign seems cheap now eh. It like insurance. You don’t need until you need it.
Will somebody tell Reid that he has a decryption key. I love the way figures are just pulled out of thin air, €100 million. Nice round sum, absolutely no basis for that figure but throw out terms like “new IT systems” and “resilience” and some other suit will sign off on the cash from the tax fund. There was nothing wrong with the hardware. This was a user education issue but I’m sure the crisis will be used now as an overtime cash cow, endless consultancy days to be expended at $1500 pd from US cyber security firms.
They payed 1.1 million to provide support on the out of date systems. 12,000 of the 35,000 machines on windows 7 needed it to run stuff (as of December 2020) now brass tax take that 60% of 1.1million and imagine how much upgrading you could do , the budget would still probably cost them 10s of millions of euro somehow to do it
considering windows offers free upgrades on the OS and compatibility mode for the basic softwares the cost is basically paying someone to do it and a seminar on how to use Windows 10 and then a few licenses for software which usually sell a bulk package
considering windows offers free upgrades on the OS and compatibility mode for the basic softwares the cost is basically paying someone to do it and a seminar on how to use Windows 10 and then a few licenses for software which usually sell a bulk package
The money this department consumes is a disgrace and factor all of the over runs on the new hospital alone and its staggering. Are we printing money for the hse at this point it as value has no meaning
They were told to get their act together years ago. Heads should roll but won’t. Offered 90k for some one to head the HSE IT security . Their Muppets. Vastly overpaid for their incompetence.
Will cost the tax payer for operating windows 7 so no accountability just more tax payers money down a hole in the ground.when will reid start to be held accountable considering he is the man in charge and on €450000 a year cause we are told we have to pay big wages to attract the best.so when will he be questioned on why the it system is not fit for purpose…
They payed 1.1 million to provide support on the out of date systems. 12,000 of the 35,000 machines on windows 7 needed it to run stuff (as of December 2020) now brass tax take that 60% of 1.1million and imagine how much upgrading you could do , the budget would still probably cost them 10s of millions of euro somehow to do it
Definitely will cost, in this country of extravagant pricing.
Surely you mean;
“Cost the tax paying citizens” ?
It seems that little detail has gone over the collective heads of those working at the Journal.
He needs to step down. Book stops with him. Do the right thing Paul
Was the ransom paid?
Surely you mean
“Cost the tax paying citizens”
It seems that little detail has gone over the Journal’s head again.
Typical media glossing over the truth.
In costing the HSE it 100% directly costs the Irish man on the street.
For such a crime, reducing the ability to feed thousands of children, they should be executed.
It’s really sad that it takes a cyber attack to force the HSE to finally upgrade their systems.
How many deaths will it cost
Wonder how much a new it system would have cost?
I wonder if upgrading their system would have been cheaper in the long run??
IN HSE money that would be a € Billion so……
Who will be getting that sort of money have they not them kind of people working in the he if not will the employees have to move out will they be a load of chairs
The HSE. has cost the tax payer hundreds of millions of Euros in pay outs over negligence in their duty and now this and no one is responsible? The HSE. is a black hole gobbling hugh amounts of money.
They payed 1.1 million to provide support on the out of date systems. 12,000 of the 35,000 machines on windows 7 needed it to run stuff (as of December 2020) now brass tax take that 60% of 1.1million and imagine how much upgrading you could do , the budget would still probably cost them 10s of millions of euro somehow to do it
have your say