Windows History
History of Microsoft Windows- From Wikipedia
Microsoft ends retail sales of Windows 7 and 8
Microsoft has officially stopped selling retail copies of some versions of Windows 7 and 8.
The date to stop selling the software was set some time ago and should help Microsoft move people on to more recent versions of its operating system.
Separately, statistics suggest people are finally moving away from some very old versions of Windows.
Create Installation Media for Windows 8.1
The Windows Installation Media Creation Tool lets you choose the language, product edition, and architecture, and then can save the resulting install media to a USB flash drive or to an ISO file, which you can later burn to disc if needed.
In the first screen of this very simple wizard, you need to choose the following:
Language. English – en-us if you're in the United States.
Edition. Windows 8.1 (Core), Windows 8.1 N, Windows 8.1 Pro, Windows 8.1 Pro N, or Windows 8.1 Single Language.
Architecture. 64-bit (x64 ) or 32-bit (x86).
Moving from Windows 8.1 to Windows 10 with a Simple Update
During his session today, Michael Niehaus has delivered some information that will be interesting to most of you, and primarily those wondering about options for update to Windows 10 once it releases publicly. Attendee Daniel Ratliff captured the moment on Twitter today, showing how migrating from Windows 7 or Windows 8 will require an in-place upgrade, but those moving from Windows 8.1 will only need to apply an update from Microsoft.
why they skipped Windows 9 for Windows 10?
When Microsoft announced Windows 10 on September 30th, everyone's jaw literally dropped. We were all expecting Microsoft to unveil Windows 9. Even members of our news team were in shock that Microsoft skipped a version number -- It simply was not expected.
So what happened? Well, according to Microsoft's marketing boss for Windows, Tony Prophet, "it came and it went." That is literally the answer we are getting for why Microsoft skipped Windows 9 in favor of Windows 10.
Microsoft revealed today that the Windows Insider Program has seen one million registrants in under two weeks. On top of that, Microsoft has received 200,000 pieces of feedback from eager testers. Windows 10 is shaping to be Microsoft's best operating system yet.
Latest Windows 10
Microsoft has released more details about its latest Windows 10 build, version 9860 (the original one was 9841), a few days after it was rolled out.
According to a chart posted on Twitter by the director of Windows program management, Gabriel Aul, 41% of users installed the build on desktops, compared with nearly a third on laptops and 22% choosing a VM as their default Windows 10 platform. Additionally, 5% installed Windows 10 "bleeding edge" on a tablet, all-in-one (AIO) PC or something else.
We know already that one million people have signed up for Windows 10 preview which means that there's potentially just as many installs out in the wild.
Upon release, 36% installed it in a VM, with 64% choosing an actual PC. What could that mean? Given that the build is a compulsory update, it is likely that it has been installed on a bigger user base.
Early access
VMs are used mostly by early adopters, especially in enterprise setups, which are eager to get the OS on its toes without having to dedicate an extra computer to it.
It is likely that most of the newcomers have opted to install it directly on their computer rather than on a VM which could indicate that this category of users is now comfortable with Windows 10 altogether and don't even mind using it as their primary OS.
The next version of Windows, called Windows 10, is due to be released in late 2015.
