Microsoft gave a taste of Windows 10, its HoloLens glasses and a new browser at the Build Developer Conference, but didn't say when the products would become available to the public. "Windows 10 represents a new generation of Windows, built for an era of more personal computing," CEO Satya Nadella said on Wednesday at the event in San Francisco. Microsoft said it wants its latest operating system to run on 1 billion devices within the next two or three years, which could be helped by the fact that developers will be able to rework code from iOS and Android apps to make then work with Windows 10. It's a move that could drastically increase the number of apps available in the Windows Store.
One thing that could get people excited about Windows 10: holograms. During a captivating demo, the HoloLens (the company's augmented reality headset) was used to interact with apps like Skype floating on walls. Each of the apps could be re-sized and made to follow the user around. While no public release date was announced, the HoloLens, which will run on the Windows Holographic platform, was made available to hundreds of developers at the conference.
Microsoft also announced Microsoft Edge, the official replacement for Internet Explorer. The browser was first unveiled in January under the code-name "Project Spartan." Other Build highlights include third-party add-ins to Microsoft Office 2016 from apps like Uber, which will let users schedule rides directly from appointments within Outlook. Microsoft spent over an hour touting its Azure cloud platform — a competitor to Amazon's $5 billion cloud business — which it said was gaining more than 90,000 subscriptions per month.
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