Microsoft finally announced that the upcoming Windows 10 operating system will be officially launched on July 9. The company said that Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 users can now reserve their free upgrade through a notification in their task bar.
The new operating system from Microsoft has a fairly low system requirements which include at least 1 GHz of processor speed and 1gigabyte of RAM for the 32-bit version and 2 gigabyte for the 64-bit version. The 32-bit version of Windows 10 need at least 16 gigabyte of hard drive storage while the 64-bit version will use up at least 20 gigabyte of storage.
Graphics card need to support Direct X 9 or later version with Windows Display Drive model 1.0 and a display resolution of at least 1042 x 600.
While Microsoft has tons of new features added to the new operating system, dedicated Windows users will probably miss out some of the default features that has been with Windows for a long time. One of the features bound to be removed is the Windows Media Center and watching DVD's will require a separate playback software. Microsoft said that an update in the future will support DVD playback, in the meantime the company advise its users to download VLC player instead.
Windows desktop gadgets, first introduced in Windows 7, will be removed. Pre-installed games like Solitaire, Hearts and Minesweeper will be replaced by Microsoft Solitaire Collection and Microsoft Minesweeper.
The Windows 10 version of digital assistant Cortana will be released in selected regions. These regions are China, Italy, France, Germany, Spain, United Kingdom and United States. Microsoft did not say whether Cortana will be released in other regions aside from the ones mentioned.
According to The Verge, Microsoft also changed its policy when it comes to managing OS updates. While Windows 10 Pro and Windows 10 Enterprise users have the option to defer new updates, the same cannot be said for Windows 10 Home users. Updates for the Windows 10 Home will be automatically downloaded once a new update is available.
Current Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 users will be eligible for a free Windows 10 upgrade, Tech Crunch reported. On the other hand, those who doesn't own a copy of Windows can purchase the new operating system for $119 for consumer version and $199 for professional edition.