Microsoft will be releasing a major update to Windows 10 next month.
The Anniversary Update will arrive on Aug. 2 and will be available for free to all current Windows 10 users, Microsoft announced Wednesday, confirming earlier reports. The company also announced that less than a year after it launched Windows 10, 350 million devices — including PCs, Xbox One game consoles and smartphones — are now running the software.
The update announcement comes amid an outcry over the methods Microsoft has used to push Windows 10 on users. Thanks to software Microsoft quietly installed on consumers computers, Windows 7 and 8 users have been badgered with repeated alerts to upgrade to Windows 10. Microsoft made it difficult to decline the upgrade and more recently redesigned the alerts so that clicking to dismiss them would actually trigger the upgrade.
Earlier this week, the company said it would make it easier for consumers to opt out of upgrading and block the alerts.
The Anniversary Update, which Microsoft previewed at its Build conference in the spring, will bring new features to Cortana Microsoft s Siri-like intelligent assistant. Users will be able to interact with Cortana even when their Windows 10 devices are locked. And they ll be able to have Cortana save and remind them of important information, such as their frequent flier numbers.
The update will also add to Windows 10 support for Windows Ink, which will allow owners to use a stylus to annotate documents and interact with programs. And it will start to merge the app stores for Windows PCs and Xbox One game consoles; with the update, users will be able to buy game on their Windows PCs that they can also play on their Xbox Ones.
Microsoft reportedly let the cat out of the bag early on the timing of the Anniversary Update. A post announcing the launch date was published on the company s blog site on Tuesday before it was quickly removed.
Photo: People shop at the Microsoft Store at Westfield Valley Fair mall on the day of the Windows 10 launch in Santa Clara, Calif., on Wednesday, July 29, 2015. (LiPo Ching/Bay Area News Group)
The post Major Windows 10 update coming August 2 appeared first on SiliconBeat.
