The Windows blog post presented by Terry Myerson describes a staggered delivery approach beginning from 29th July:
Starting on July 29, we will start rolling out Windows 10 to our Windows Insiders. From there, we will start notifying reserved systems in waves, slowly scaling up after July 29th. Each day of the roll-out, we will listen, learn and update the experience for all Windows 10 users.
So, Windows 10 will only be available to Windows Insiders on July 29th, everyone else will have to wait until they are included in one of the ensuing “waves”. Which is entirely contrary to Microsoft’s initial announcement regarding the launch date:
On July 29, you can get Windows 10 for PCs and tablets by taking advantage of the free upgrade offer, or on a new Windows 10 PC from your favorite retailer.
Why the Change of Heart?
Perhaps it all comes down to a mere slip of the word – had Microsoft’s earlier announcement started with “From July 29th” rather than “On July 29th”, it would have gelled more with Terry Myerson’s follow up statements. However, there are a few clues which suggest that Microsoft’s initial announcement may have been a tad ambitious and Windows 10 simply won’t quite be ready for mass consumption on the anticipated date.
Firstly: the timeline appears to be off: RTM (Release To Manufacturing) would typically take place not less than 45 days prior to a final operating system launch. Yet, according to Terry Myerson, this usual precursor has not yet been released (as of July 2nd):
Soon, we will give a build of Windows 10 to our OEM partners so they can start imaging new devices with Windows 10. Soon after, we will distribute a build of Windows 10 to retailers all over the world, so they can assist their customers with upgrades of newly purchased devices that were originally imaged with Windows 8.1.
Secondly: several of Mr. Myerson’s comments imply that there may still be some compatibility issues which need to be sorted out:
- We will listen, learn and update the experience for all Windows 10 users
- If you reserved your copy of Windows 10, we will notify you once our compatibility work confirms you will have a great experience
- Look for this sticker for assurance that our OEM partners have proactively tested a device for compatibility with Windows 10.
Thirdly: separate releases to manufacturers and retailers is a tad usual, Microsoft typically has just one RTM. The fact that retailers are getting a separate version of the OS than the manufacturers further implies that compatibility may be a sticking point.
Delivering Windows 10 on 29th July to Insiders only also adds impetus to the theory. After all, Windows Insiders have already signed up for beta testing, so rolling out to them first would make perfect sense.
Bottom Line
Then again; I’ve been running Windows 10 on older hardware for around 4 weeks now and have personally experienced zero compatibility issues, neither software nor hardware related. Maybe this is Microsoft just covering its backside – better to be safe than sorry.
What do you think?
Did you really think they would release it to billions of people world wide all at the same time? Their servers would stay in overload mode.
It HAS to be done in stages.
some will get theirs sooner while others later.
“Billions of people”? Where did you get that figure Ed?
The “billions” referred to by MS is an all inclusive estimation of the final number of Windows 10 users, not how many users might be looking to upgrade right away, which would be substantially less. Also, of those who are looking to take advantage of the free offer and upgrade during the first year, obviously some will want to download asap but many will prefer to wait and see. The 12 months free upgrade option pretty much guarantees a staggered download anyway.
The pertinent word here is “available”. Initially, MS announced that Windows 10 would be available to everyone on July 29th, turns out that is not the case.
If my own experience is anything to go by, when the General Election happens in New Zealand, or people on Boxing Day (in NZ) buy something with their gifted vouchers, lol, computer systems (in NZ) crash with the overload. But as Jim points out, to give the impression that “windows 10 would be available to everyone on July 29th” is the mouth of Microsoft writing cheques that its body (metaphor) cannot cash. When Telecom NZ, now called Spark, had “talk for 2 hours over the weekend, pay only $2”, the rush to make cheap calls caused the emergency phone lines (111, fire/police/ambulance) to have difficulties.
Jim: when you mention that you’ve found W-10 to be backwardly compatible to your satisfaction, just how backwardly are you talking about? I have three or four ancient DOS driven programs that I enjoyed immensely (back then), but I can not get my current Win-7 to even want to look at. (Strangely, I (was) able to get it to take aboard and run quite nicely an old superb chess game from yesteryear, called ‘The ChessMaster® 4000 ‘Turbo’, and it called for MS – DOS 5.0 (or higher). As I said, it plays very nicely on Win-7, but can not finesse my Win-7 to even consider other DOS driven programs. So, Jim, what’s the odds that W-10’s DOS will backwardly accept those old dinos? ~Dane
I’m not Jim, but DOS compatibility will be very similar, if not exact, to Win 7.
Agreed. Win7–>Win8–>Win10 all pretty much share the same DOS compatibility. I was referring to software which is still being maintained, they all seem to work well in Win10 even though they do not yet technically support it.
Same with drivers; for example, I have on older Epson multi-function printer which works fine in Win7 and Win8 and also in Win10, even though a new driver has not been released which specifically supports Win10.
Can Microsoft be fined for misleading consumers?
Actually, I believe that Microsoft is panicking, not knowing what they are doing. I regret not going over to Apple when I bought a Windows 7 PC, 3 years ago. If my budget allowed, I would be preparing to go over to Apple.
I’ve been using Win7 Home Premium for years and am very happy with it since it meets my needs without a lot of fancy stuff. I can’t understand why Microsoft thinks people really NEED all that.