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Microsoft has publicly stated for the first time that Windows 10 will be launched in the summer, giving the company as little as three months to put the finishing touches to the operating system. If it stays on schedule, Microsoft will have Windows 10 ready for the crucial back-to-school PC market - but it won't ship with a version of Internet Explorer for the first time since Windows XP.
Microsoft still has plenty of work to do before the operating system can be considered complete. The latest build, which was released at the end of January, still doesn't include the Cortana voice assistant (outside of the US), the new "Spartan" web browser, nor the ability to stream games from Xbox One consoles - all features that were unveiled at Microsoft's Windows 10 event in January.
Nevertheless, Windows chief Terry Myserson says the operating system will be released next quarter. "We continue to make great development progress and shared today that Windows 10 will be available this summer in 190 countries and 111 languages," he wrote on a Microsoft blog.
It's not precisely clear what Myserson means by "available". Windows is normally considered complete when it hits the Release To Manufacturing (RTM) milestone, when it is given to PC manufacturers for testing and validaiton on new PCs. That's normally around six to eight weeks before the operating system is made available to the public.
Given that Microsoft is making Windows 10 a free upgrade for those already running Windows 7 or 8 PCs, it's conceivable it could be made available for download once the RTM milestone has been reached, although that would upset Microsoft's PC manufacturing partners, who would prefer to have Windows 10 pre-installed on new PCs before the public was given the chance to upgrade their own systems. If, as seems likely, Microsoft does wait for the PC manufacturers to have stock on the shelves before releasing Windows 10 for download, it's highly probable we won't see the operating system until the back end of the summer.
End of Internet Explorer
One feature that Microsoft's testing team won't need to bother with this time around is Internet Explorer. Microsoft has confirmed it's shelving the Internet Explorer brand that has been used for all of its web browsers since 1995.
Windows 10 will ship with the new Spartan browser, a lightweight app that's been designed from the ground up to run on everything from phones to workstation PCs. Microsoft hasn't finalised the branding of Spartan, but has confirmed it won't be using the Internet Explorer moniker. IE will continue to be available as a separate download, however, predominantly to support businesses who have built web applications that are compatible with older versions of Microsoft's browser.
Microsoft is currently testing names for the new browser, according to The Verge. The company's research has shown that users of the Chrome browser prefer it when the name includes the "Microsoft" brand. We've put a tenner on Spartan being named the Microsoft Bing browser.
