windows 10 PC requirements

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  Windows 10 Technical Preview for Enterprise works great on the same hardware that powers Windows 8.1:
  • Processor: 1 GHz or faster
  • RAM: 1 GB (32-bit) or 2 GB (64-bit)
  • Free hard disk space: 16 GB
  • Graphics card: Microsoft DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM driver
  • A Microsoft account and Internet access
  Additionally:
  • To access the Windows Store and to download and run apps, you need an Internet connection, a screen resolution of at least 1024 x 768, and a Microsoft account.
  • After you install the preview, you won't be able to play DVDs using Windows Media Player.
  • Technical Preview is not supported on Windows RT or Windows Phone devices.
  • For 64-bit installations of Technical Preview for Enterprise, a small number of older PCs may be blocked from installing the preview because they don't support CMPXCHG16b, PrefetchW, and LAHF/SAHF.
  • To use touch, you need a monitor that supports multitouch.
  • The preview works best with a mouse and keyboard. Improvements to touch will appear in future updates.
  Windows 10 Technical Preview for Enterprise is available in English, Chinese (Simplified), and Portuguese (Brazil). If you're running Windows 8.1, Windows 8, or Windows 7 and your system language isn't English, Chinese (Simplified), or Portuguese (Brazil), you can only keep your personal files when you upgrade. You won't be able to keep your apps or Windows settings.

  Important: Windows Update will be set to automatically install important updates as they become available. You won’t be able to turn off automatic updates in Technical Preview, but you will be able to choose between a fast or slow update cadence. To change when preview builds are installed, open PC settings, click Upgrade and recovery, click Preview builds, and then click Change the time my PC installs preview builds.

NASCAR Gets Faster, More Efficient, With Windows

NASCAR is synonymous with speed – from the cars on the track, to the crews on pit road, to officials in the garage. Technology innovation is another part of the sport that is moving fast.

“NASCAR is driven by innovation,” said Steve O’Donnell, Executive Vice President and Chief Racing Development Officer at NASCAR. “Through the years our sport has become a successful training ground for new and emerging technologies.”

NASCAR is showcasing its need for speed this weekend at the Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, where new software technology developed in collaboration with Microsoft has revolutionized the car inspection process.

Before each national series race, all cars go through a multi-step inspection process overseen by NASCAR Officials. The goal is to ensure the safety of the drivers and a competitive balance among the cars on the track. Until recently, the process was paper-based, which had created inefficiencies and limited data analysis. Documenting inspections took valuable time and Officials often had to walk great lengths to provide updates to supervisors and race control.

NASCAR teamed up with Microsoft to replace the manual process with an innovative Windows 8.1 Mobile Inspection Application running on Windows-compatible devices.

“We saw the need to carry this process into the future,” said Fred Prendergast, Vehicle Inspection Tools and Procedures Engineer at NASCAR. “This Windows-based application improves operational efficiency and empowers our Officials to be more productive. Now, a process that used to take five hours can be completed in half the time.”

The Mobile Inspection App also provides a dashboard view for Series Directors with real-time access to data. “With the dashboard in my office, I can monitor the progress of all 43 cars and the dynamic movements of what it takes to get ready for a race on race day,” said Richard Buck, Managing Director, NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.

Data entered directly into the Windows 8.1 app is available to the Competition Committee and Research and Development staff for analysis. Historical data is also presented through the application so that Officials can see the inspection history of a car, identifying trends and ensuring that past infractions have been corrected.

Hear from NASCAR themselves about how the organization utilizes the app for each race.

The Mobile Inspection App also incorporates many functions such as scanning and reference documentation that used to require multiple devices or paper notebooks. Using the snap feature in Windows 8.1, Officials can simultaneously look at the inspection checklist and flip through a rulebook.

This new technology aligns with NASCAR’s commitment to sustainability and Green Innovation. NASCAR estimates the app will eliminate approximately 23,000 sheets of paper each race season.

Congratulations to the NASCAR team on a job well done with their Windows 8.1 app – we’ll see you at the finish line!

We look forward to an ongoing relationship with NASCAR as we begin the process of sharing our Windows 10 plans with our enterprise customers.

For more information about how Windows 8 can be useful to your business, please visit the Windows 8.1 for enterprise site. For an introduction to Windows 10 for business, please visit this Windows for Your Business blog. Learn how to design line of business (LOB) apps for Windows 8 here. Visit our Customer Stories page to see more examples of businesses that are using Windows 8 to improve employee and customer experiences.

Windows 10: Security and Identity Protection for the Modern World

There’s been so much excitement and energy around the Windows 10 Technical Preview – including incredible momentum around the Windows Insider Program, where we recently hit 1 million total registrants, and over 200,000 pieces of user-initiated feedback. Thank you for signing-up for the program and providing us with your feedback! We want Windows 10 to be a reflection of what you need for your business, and I couldn’t be more thrilled to see that happening. In my last blog post, I mentioned that I’d follow-up in a few key areas. Today, I’d like to focus on security in Windows 10 which has been central to many of the customer conversations I’ve had since we announced the availability of the Technical Preview. With good reason, security and information protection is top of mind for many businesses.

In today’s world, the market for cyber-attacks on businesses is wide-reaching and attacks are increasingly high-profile and successful in execution. We’re seeing network breaches resulting from techniques as simple as username and password theft. In a couple of recent cases, hackers infiltrated Fortune 500 companies using stolen usernames and passwords which gave them access to point of sale systems and the credit card data being processed with them. The attacks resulted in the theft of millions of credit card numbers which quickly ended up in the black market. Recently, theNew York Times reported that 1.2 billion usernames and passwords were stolen by a single cybercrime organization. Which is scary considering there are only about 1.8 billion people online worldwide. These tenacious crime organizations and some nation states aren’t the only threat that you’re facing. Even well-intended employees represent a substantial risk that requires mitigation. A report this year from security firm Stroz Friedberg stated that 87 percent of senior managers admit to regularly uploading work files to a personal email or cloud account, meanwhile 58 percent of users admit to having accidentally sent sensitive information to the wrong person.

With Windows 10 we’re actively addressing modern security threats with advancements to strengthen identity protection and access control, information protection, and threat resistance. With this release we will have nearly everything in place to move the world away from the use of single factor authentication options, like passwords. We are delivering robust data loss prevention right into the platform itself, and when it comes to online threats, such as malware, we’ll have a range of options to help enterprises protect against common causes of malware infection on PC’s.

Identity Protection and Access Control

To start, I want to talk about a solution that provides a very modern approach to identity and user credentials, something that represents the next generation of identity protection. I touched on it a little in my blog post on September 30TH. With this solution, Windows 10 protects user credentials when breaches occur in the data center. It protects users from theft when devices are compromised and it renders phishing attacks for identities almost completely ineffective. It’s a solution that offers benefits for both businesses and consumers, and one that provides all of the convenience of a password along with security that is truly enterprise-grade. It represents the destination in our journey to eliminate the use of single factor identity options like passwords. We believe this solution brings identity protection to a new level as it takes multi-factor security which today is limited to solutions such as smartcards and builds it right into the operating system and device itself, eliminating the need for additional hardware security peripherals.

Once enrolled, devices themselves become one of two factors that are required for authentication. The second factor will be a PIN or biometric, such as fingerprint. From a security standpoint, this means that an attacker would need to have a user’s physical device – in addition to the means to use the user’s credential – which would require access to the users PIN or biometric information. Users will be able to enroll each of their devices with these new credentials, or they can enroll a single device, such as a mobile phone, which will effectively become their mobile credential. It will enable them to sign-in into all of their PC’s, networks, and web services as long as their mobile phone is nearby. In this case, the phone, using Bluetooth or Wi-Fi communication, will behave like a remote smartcard and it will offer two factor authentication for both local sign-in and remote access.

If we drill a bit deeper into this component of Windows 10 and look under the hood, IT and security teams would find that things look quite familiar. The credential itself can be one of two things. It can be a cryptographically generated key pair (private and public keys) generated by Windows itself or it can be a certificate provisioned to the device from existing PKI infrastructures. Providing both of these options makes Windows 10 great for organizations with existing PKI investments and it makes it viable for the web and consumer scenarios where PKI backed identity isn’t practical. Active Directory, Azure Active Directory, and Microsoft Accounts will support our new user credentials solution right out of box, so enterprises and consumers using Microsoft online services will quickly be able to move away from passwords. This technology is intentionally being designed so that it can be adopted broadly across other platforms, the web, and other infrastructures.

Protecting user identities is just one part of our identity protection approach. The next part is to protect the user access tokens that are generated once your users have been authenticated. Today, these access tokens are increasingly under attack using techniques such as Pass the Hash, Pass the Ticket, etc. Once an attacker has these tokens they can access resources by effectively impersonating the user’s identity without needing the user’s actual credentials. The technique is frequently coupled with advanced persistent threats (APT) and thus it’s a technique that we eagerly want to eliminate from the attacker’s playbook. With Windows 10 we aim to eliminate this type of attack with an architectural solution that stores user access tokens within a secure container running on top of Hyper-V technology. This solution prevents the tokens from being extracted from devices even in cases where the Windows kernel itself has been compromised.

Information Protection

With Windows 10 we are making some great progress on the identity front and I think you’ll find that we are equally focused on information protection. Let us first look at some data that will help explain where we are making our investments. BitLocker has become an industry leading technology that protects data while it resides on a device; however, once it leaves, it’s no longer protected. To protect data when it leaves the device, we provide Azure Rights Management services and Information Rights Management (IRM) in Microsoft Office, which typically requires the user to opt-in to activate the protection. This leaves companies with a bit of a gap, such that, if your users aren’t proactive, it’s relatively easy for them to accidentally leak corporate data. In Windows 10, we address this problem with a data loss prevention (DLP) solution that separates corporate and personal data and helps protect it using containment. We are building this capability into the platform itself and integrating it within the existing user experience to enable protection without the disruption frequently seen in other solutions. There will be no need for your users to switch modes, or apps in order to protect corporate data, which means that users can help keep data safe without changing their behavior. Protection of corporate data in Windows 10 enables automatic encryption of corporate apps, data, email, website content and other sensitive information, as it arrives on the device from corporate network locations. And when users create new original content, this data protection solution helps users define which documents are corporate versus personal. If desired, companies can even designate all new content created on the device as corporate by policy. Additional policies can also enable organizations to prevent data from being copied from corporate content to non-corporate documents or external locations on the web such as social networks.

Windows 10 provides an advanced data protection solution for the desktop, but what about mobile? This solution will provide the same experience on Windows Phone as we see on the Windows desktop and we’ll provide interoperability such that protected documents can be accessed across multiple platforms. Lastly on data protection in Windows 10 organizations can define which apps have access to corporate data via policy. We took this capability a little further and extended these polices to address VPN requirements that many of you have shared with us.

Just like you, when I’m on the road or working from home, I need to connect to critical data and apps in order to stay productive. When supporting remote users, IT professionals look for ways to limit the risks associated with VPN connectivity, particularly with BYOD devices. Windows 10 helps, by giving a spectrum of VPN control options, from constant connectivity, to specifying which particular apps may have access via VPN. App-allow and app-deny lists will enable IT professionals to define which apps are authorized to access the VPN and can be managed through MDM solutions for both desktop and universal apps. For administrators requiring more granular control, they can further restrict access by specific ports or IP addresses. These enhancements allow enterprise IT professionals to balance the need for access, with the need for security and control.

Threat Resistance

Windows 10 also provides organizations with the ability to lock down devices, enabling additional threat and malware resistance. Because malware is often inadvertently installed onto devices by users, Windows 10 addresses this threat by only allowing trusted apps, meaning apps that are signed using a Microsoft provided signing service, to be run on specially configured devices. Access to the signing service will be controlled using a vetting process similar to how we control ISV publishing access to the Windows Store and the devices themselves will be locked down by the OEM. The lockdown process OEMs will use is similar to what we do with Windows Phone devices. Organizations will have the flexibility to choose what apps are trustworthy – just apps that are signed by themselves, specially signed apps from ISVs, apps from the Windows Store, or all of the above. Unlike Windows Phone these apps can also include desktop (Win32) apps – meaning that anything that can run on the Windows desktop can also run on these devices. Ultimately, this lockdown capability in Windows 10 provides businesses with an effective tool in the fight against modern threats, and with it comes with the flexibility to make it work within most environments.

There’s so much more that I’m excited to talk about on the security front. And I’m looking forward to posting more about different security features and enhancements as they enter the product builds. Continue to tune-in for more from me on ways that we’re working to make Windows 10 great for business. And in the meantime, if you haven’t already, check out the Windows 10 Technical Preview and let us know what you think.

Windows 10: Making Deployment Easier

As Joe mentioned in this blog post, the amount of interest in the Windows 10 preview has been phenomenal. We appreciate that IT pros are trying out the new features and providing feedback. But more importantly, we appreciate the sheer number of devices that you are upgrading from previous versions of Windows – whether from Windows 7, Windows 8, or Windows 8.1. The telemetry from these upgrades enables us to further streamline and improve the upgrade process – important because this is the primary way we expect organizations to deploy Windows 10.

In my blog post on September 30th, we introduced this idea of having a simpler deployment process, using an in-place upgrade instead of the traditional wipe-and-load approach that organizations have historically used to deploy new Windows versions. This upgrade process is designed to preserve the apps, data, and configuration from the existing Windows installation, taking care to put things back the way they need to be after Windows 10 has been installed on the system.

Of course it’s critical that at the same time we do everything we can to ensure that existing apps “just work.” We understand the challenges that many organizations experienced as part of their Windows XP to Windows 7 migrations, and are working hard to ensure that compatibility between Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 10 is excellent. This also applies to hardware: we are designing Windows 10 to have the same overall hardware requirements as Windows 7 and Windows 8, making it possible to run Windows 10 on your existing devices.

We are also hard at work developing new runtime configuration tools, designed to easily transform devices from their off-the-shelf state into fully configured business devices, without reimaging. By using these types of tools, the amount of time and effort required for configuring the device to make it ready for a person to use can be greatly reduced. The types of configuration that can be performed include things like the provisioning of Wi-Fi, VPN, and e-mail profiles; installation of apps, language packs, security updates and certificates; and enforcement of security policies. And because these devices likely need to be managed after the configuration is complete, the provisioning process can also completely automate the enrollment into an MDM service (like Microsoft Intune or other third-party MDM services).

Overall, we believe that these runtime configuration capabilities bring benefits to the organization beyond just the time savings (and therefore reduced costs) for initial device setup. They also enable completely new scenarios, like choose-your-own-device (CYOD) programs. It’s often impractical to support these with traditional image-based deployment processes (where the original OS on the device is immediately overwritten with an organization specific image) because every device could be different.

Of course we’ll continue to support the traditional wipe-and-load deployment processes as well, leveraging the Assessment and Deployment Kit (ADK), Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT), and System Center Configuration Manager. Stay tuned for more details on these, which are expected to be ready next year. Also check out the System Center Configuration Manager team blog for more details.

All of these deployment topics will be discussed (and demonstrated) at Microsoft’s TechEd conference in Barcelona today, with Michael Niehaus presenting to the IT professional audience. We’ll be posting a video recording of the session here, for those that aren’t attending the event.

Windows 10: Manageability Choices

Last week at Microsoft’s TechEd conference in Europe we talked about the enterprise capabilities in Windows 10, starting with Joe Belfiore’s keynote presentation and continuing into a variety of breakout sessions where we could dig deeper into a number of areas such as security, deployment and manageability.

When it comes to Windows manageability, we’re proud of the capabilities that are built into Windows. But as your organization’s needs continue to evolve in this increasingly mobile-first world, we need to evolve the Windows management features as well so that they continue to offer the best capabilities, regardless of your scenario.

Management Choices

With Windows 10, this evolution involves new identity and device management choices, as well as continued investments in existing capabilities. For identity, Microsoft Active Directory provides key identity and security capabilities for organizations today. With Windows 10 we’ll also add the ability to leverage Azure Active Directory, devices can be connected to Azure AD, and users can login to Windows with Azure AD accounts or add their Azure ID to gain access to business apps and resources.

At the same time, we’ll ensure that Windows works better when using Active Directory and Azure Active Directory together. When connecting the two, users can automatically be signed-in to cloud-based services like Office 365, Microsoft Intune, and the Windows Store, even when logging in to their machine using Active Directory accounts. For users, this will mean no longer needing to remember additional user IDs or passwords.

From a device management perspective, we added support in Windows 8.1 for mobile device management (MDM), allowing IT professionals to use the same lightweight management technique with desktops, laptops, and tablets as they use for Windows Phone and other mobile devices. The capabilities provided in Windows 8.1 were focused primarily on bring your own device (BYOD) scenarios. With Windows 10, we’ll extend MDM support in order to better manage corporate-owned devices, supporting the configuration of Enterprise Data Protection policies, support for managing multiple users, full control over the Windows Store, VPN configuration, full device wipe capabilities, and much more.

With Windows 10, we also allow for choice between Active Directory, Group Policy, and System Center Configuration Manager for corporate-owned devices that are frequently connected to the corporate network, or Azure Active Directory and MDM for devices that are typically mobile and internet-connected.

These features are still being worked on and will show up in upcoming Windows 10 preview builds, so stay tuned. Until then, check out Michael Niehaus’ session from TechEd Europe on this topic, as well as Nasos Kladakis’ session on Azure Active Directory.

Windows 10: A Store That’s Ready for Business

I’m excited to share this next chapter in our Windows 10 blog series, focused on enhancements we are making to the Windows Store – all of which are designed to help organizations acquire, create and deliver apps the way they want. This is a logical follow-up to our post on manageability choices in Windows 10. We believe that our Store investments, when combined with manageability innovations, will result in a Windows Store that is ready to meet the evolving needs of organizations of all sizes.

One unified app store across devices, one great experience

First, as we talked about in September, with Windows 10 we will deliver one Windows Store for all Windows devices. This unified Store will offer tremendous benefits for commercial software developers, enabling them to offer universal Windows apps that can be used across phone, tablet and PC form factors. For organizations, the unified Store will also offer a new web-based Store portal that will allow IT administrators to browse the app catalog and acquire apps in bulk.

Increased choice, flexibility and control for business

We get a lot of valuable feedback on the Windows Store from a variety of customers. One thing that we have heard a lot, particularly from our business and education customers, is that they want to be able to use organization-controlled identities with the Windows Store. And I’m happy to let you know that in Windows 10, we are able to deliver on that ask. In Windows 10, IT administrators can access a new web-based Store portal specifically for organizations – and can do so by signing in with an Azure Active Directory identity. Apps acquired through the portal can then be assigned to people in the organization, who need only to click on a link to install the apps. This will provide organizations with a controlled and customizable experience specifically for their members.

We know that large organizations usually run their own private company portal to present a catalog of apps; this is typically managed by tools such as System Center Configuration Manager and hosted on an internal network. In Windows 10, Windows Store apps that are acquired through the new Store portal can be displayed within private company portal, with API-level integration between management tools and the Windows Store to obtain full details of the apps, including descriptions, requirements, icons and more.

And, on the other hand, we see a lot of smaller organizations that do not have the infrastructure to create their own company portal. With Windows 10, they will be able to create their own private section within the Windows Store for their apps – apps that have been acquired for members of the organization through the Store portal, or their own uploaded custom line of business apps. Within this private section of the Store, an end user can easily browse a customized Windows Store and install only the apps they want, from the selection chosen for them by their corporation.

New mobile device management capabilities

With Windows 10, organizations will also be able to fully control Windows Store features and distribution using System Center Configuration Manager, Microsoft Intune or via mobile device management (MDM) services. This includes the ability to install and uninstall apps, control app updates and manage app licenses. Because the app licenses acquired through the Store portal belong to the organization, we’ll provide capabilities for organizations to reassign those licenses as needed. We also recognize that some organizations need to install apps on devices that do not have Internet access. Organizations will be able to download the app installation files from the Store portal and include them in custom Windows images, deploy them in run-time provisioning packages or automatically install them from an on-premises server using System Center Configuration Manager or MDM services.

If you haven’t yet done so, sign up for the Windows Insider Program and install the Windows 10 Technical Preview today. The Store portal and new app distribution and management capabilities will be available in the coming months. You can see a sneak peak of some of the scenarios and initial Store portal designs in the second half of Michael Niehaus’ session from TechEd Europe on this topic. While it’s still early in the Windows 10 development cycle, we do encourage you to try out your existing Windows applications and software packages on the current preview builds and provide feedback on any issues encountered through the Windows Feedback app. We want to ensure that application compatibility remains strong as we progress towards the final Windows 10 release.

Introducing Windows 10 for Business

Hello from San Francisco! I’m Jim Alkove, I lead the Windows enterprise program management team. Today, Terry Myerson and Joe Belfiore announced a new approach to the way we plan, develop and deliver Windows, with a first look at Windows 10. Windows 10 is the next generation of our OS that adapts to the devices you’re on and what you’re trying to get done with a consistent, familiar and compatible experience that enables you to be more productive.

Today we begin the process of sharing our plans with enterprise customers. We are doing this earlier than we’ve done in the past, because it’s important that our business customers have insight into our product vision. Their insight and feedback is critical as we build products to best meet their needs. Some of what we are working on will show up in theWindows 10 Technical Preview we’ll release on October 1st, and some will come in subsequent updates. We have a lot to share, so over the course of the next couple months, I’ll also publish a few follow-up posts to go a little deeper in a few key areas.

Windows 10 designed with enterprise customers in mind

Windows 10 will be our greatest platform ever for organizations and their employees. There are several reasons that business customers in particular should take notice of Windows 10. It’s not just more familiar from a user experience standpoint. We have built so much of what businesses need right into the core of this product – including enterprise-grade security, identity and information protection features, reducing complexity and providing a better experience for the modern needs of business. We’ve simplified management and deployment to help lower costs, including in-place upgrades from Windows 7 or 8 that are focused on making device wipe-and-reload scenarios obsolete. We’re also providing businesses with more choice in how quickly they adopt the latest innovations, and are delivering continued improvements based on customer feedback.

One converged Windows platform

Windows 10 also delivers one universal app platform, one security model, and one deployment and management approach. With the convergence of our platforms, that unified experience scales across devices. From the small, thin and light – up to the largest and most powerful laptops, desktops and all-in-one PCs. Windows 10 even scales to industry and ruggedized devices, purpose-built industry solutions, small foot print devices (Internet of Things) and all the way up to 85” touch-screen conference room displays.

Designed for the way you live and work

There’s virtually no learning curve required with Windows 10. For mouse and keyboard users, the Windows 10 user experience begins at the familiar desktop. The Start menu experience of Windows 7 has been expanded, providing one-click access to the functions and files that people use most. Windows 10 enhances existing productivity features like Snap. We also bridged the gap between the touch-optimized tablet experience and the mouse and keyboard experience by allowing modern apps to run in a window on the desktop – resulting in modern apps seamlessly co-existing in the desktop space alongside desktop apps.

Helping protect against modern security threats

Windows 10 also introduces a number of advancements in security and identity protection features that are easy to manage and don’t compromise the user experience. One such advancement is the work we have done to create user identities for accessing devices, apps and sites that improve resistance to breach, theft or phishing. This approach is important because it takes the concept of multi-factor solutions such as smartcards or token-based system and builds it right into the operating system, in turn also eliminating the need for extra security hardware peripherals.

We’ve also made progress in helping companies protect their business data. While BitLocker helps protects data as it resides on a device, once the data leaves the device it’s no longer protected. With Windows 10 we are able to provide an additional layer of protection using containers and data separation at the application and file level – enablingprotection that follows the data wherever it goes. Whether the data moves from a tablet or PC to a USB drive, email or the cloud – it maintains the same level of protection. This solution will stand out because of its ease of use and ability to help protect data right at the file level. Users won’t need to change behavior, use special apps, or move to a separate, locked-down environment to keep corporate data secure.

With the increasingly more mobile workforce, secure access to network resources is an important priority for every organization. People need to connect to critical data and apps, from anywhere and across multiple devices in order to stay productive. Windows 10 provides organizations with tools to deliver more secure and more controlled VPN access.

Managed for continuous innovation

As mentioned, with Windows 10, we are aiming to reduce the need for the time-consuming and costly wipe-and-reload approach to OS deployment. We know that app compatibility is critical for business. While we strive to have great compatibility with all existing apps, we’ve added tools for compatibility testing. We are creating a streamlined, reliable in-place upgrade process that can be initiated using current management infrastructure. Through new dynamic provisioning capabilities, businesses will be able to configure off-the-shelf devices, without reimaging.

Windows 10 helps keep customers secure and up to date

Windows 10 will be delivered in a way that gives more choice and flexibility to businesses. As a result, a business can pick the speed of innovation that is right for each group of its users, rather than apply a one size fits all solution.

Businesses will be able to opt-in to the fast-moving consumer pace, or lock-down mission critical environments to receive only security and critical updates to their systems. And businesses will have an in-between option for systems that aren’t mission critical, but need to keep pace with the latest innovations without disrupting the flow of business. And the choice isn’t one or the other for businesses; we expect that most will require a mixed approach where a number of scenarios can be accommodated.

Consumers, and opt-in businesses, will be able to take advantage of the latest updates as soon as they are available, delivered via Windows Update. Business customers can segment their own user groups, and choose the model and pace that works for them. They will have more choice in how they consume updates, whether through Windows Update or in a managed environment. And for all scenarios, security and critical updates will be delivered on a monthly basis.

Enabling management for every scenario

Windows has always offered device management capabilities that businesses need, leveraging the power of Active Directory and System Center to enable full control over Windows devices. With Windows 10, we will extend built-in mobile device management (MDM) capabilities to embrace new mobile-first, cloud-first scenarios and bring MDM capabilities to traditional laptops and desktops. Customers will be able to benefit from the simplicity of managing from the cloud (using services like Windows Intune) while having the controls they require. Whatever your scenario, Windows 10 will help meet your management needs.

An app store that is open for business

Windows 10 will also include a single app store that’s truly open for business. We’re planning for the new, unified app store to allow for volume app purchases based on existing organizational identity, flexible distribution and the ability for organizations to reclaim or re-use licenses. Organizations will also be able to create a customized store, curating store experiences that can include their choice of Store apps alongside company-owned apps into a separate employee store experience.

Experience Windows 10, starting tomorrow

We hope that you are as excited about Windows 10 as we are. Starting October 1st, we’ll launch the Windows Insider Program making available a technical preview of Windows 10 for its participants. We welcome your participation in the program where you can be among the first to experience new builds as soon as they’re available and have an opportunity to influence product development decisions through the new Windows Feedback app directly within the product. We’re confident you’ll enjoy Windows 10 and look forward to hearing what developments and new features you are looking forward to for your business.