Microsoft has sent invitations for the next Windows 10 preview event on Jan. 21. Dubbed "Windows 10: The Next Chapter," the event will focus on the consumer experience provided by the next iteration of the software maker's operating system.
The event will be held at the Microsoft headquarters in Redmond, Washington and will be streamed live for everyone who wants to watch. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella will be there to discuss the Windows 10, as well as operating systems executive vice president Terry Myerson and Windows Phone chief Joe Belfiore.
Microsoft first unveiled Windows 10 in September at a small enterprise-focused event in San Francisco, where the company's top execs demonstrated a back-to-basics approach for Windows 10. At the time, Myerson announced Windows 10 saying users will find it "familiar" for both Windows 7 and Windows 8 users, but it would carry such major changes that its name warranted skipping over Windows 9.
"We're not building an incremental product," Myerson said. "When you see the product in its fullness, I think you'll agree it's an appropriate name for the breadth of the product family that's coming."
Some of the old-school Windows features were brought back to life in Windows 10 such as the dearly missed Start Menu, whose disappearance in Windows 8 earned the ire of Windows loyalists, the Alt-Tab switch function and windowed apps. Interesting new features introduced during September's enterprise-centric unveiling include the ability to snap four apps into place at ones and virtual desktops or "the poor man's dual-screen."
For the Jan. 21 event, sources cited by long-time Microsoft follower Mary Jo Foley say the next Windows 10 release will be called the January Technical Preview (JTP), which will be released to early testers taking out the Windows 10 preview for a test drive.
Foley also says that JTP will include Continuum, a feature that will make it easy for users of two-in-one devices to switch faster between laptop and tablet modes and disconnect the keyboard more easily. As Myerson said in September, Windows 10 is not a desktop-only operating system. It will be able to run on a broad range of machines, from computers to tablets and smartphones to smart home devices.
"From the smallest Internet of Things device to enterprise data centers," Myerson said. "Some of these devices have 4-inch screens and some will have 80-inch screens. And some don't have any screen at all."
It is not mentioned in the invitation, but according to Foley's sources, Microsoft will also introduce Windows 10 mobile SKU that will be used for tablets and Windows Phones powered by Intel and ARM processors. The Windows 10 mobile SKU will not be available for desktop and will only have the Metro-style apps first introduced in Windows 8.
