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Weekend Reading: May 24th Edition – The world meets Xbox One, and Windows Azure heads to Asia

Steve Wiens — Fri, 24 May 2013 22:04:00 GMT

In this edition of Weekend Reading, we’ve got stories on the unveiling of Xbox One, Microsoft expanding Windows Azure across Asia, new HP Windows 8 PCs coming soon, plus Windows Phone apps for work and play.

Xbox One, unveiled. On Tuesday, in an event live-streamed across the globe, Microsoft lifted the veil on Xbox One – the all-in-one games and entertainment system that’s designed to put you at the center of all your games, TV, movies, music, sports and Skype. The event also revealed games for Xbox One, an exclusive agreement with the NFL, and Skype for Xbox One, which will let you play your Xbox games, apps and live TV with friends and family using Skype. Keep watching the Xbox Wire blog for details, images and video, and check out the making of Xbox One – an architect panel hosted by Major Nelson.

Microsoft announces major expansion of Windows Azure services in Asia. As the worldwide demand for cloud computing continues to grow, so does Windows Azure. Microsoft is the only at-scale global public cloud provider to deliver a hybrid cloud advantage and we’re excited to announce plans to invest hundreds of millions of dollars to expand the Windows Azure footprint in Asia – specifically in China, Japan and Australia. Learn how Microsoft is working to satisfy cloud computing needs Asia and the world in Wednesday’s Official Microsoft Blog post from Satya Nadella, president of Server & Tools Business at Microsoft.

The new generation Kinect for Windows Sensor is coming next year. By now, most of you likely have heard about the new Kinect sensor that Microsoft will deliver as part of Xbox One later this year. Yesterday, the Kinect for Windows team announced that Microsoft will also deliver a new generation Kinect for Windows sensor next year. In his post, Kinect for Windows Director Bob Heddle said, “We’re continuing our commitment to equipping businesses and organizations with the latest natural technology from Microsoft so that they, in turn, can develop and deploy innovative touch-free applications for their businesses and customers.” The image below demonstrates the enhanced fidelity and depth perception the new Kinect sensor will offer. Preview some of the other capabilities coming with the new sensor in this post on the Kinect for Windows Blog.

Major League Soccer and Windows 8 bring fans 'the smartest league' experience. Microsoft and Major League Soccer (MLS) announced a multiyear agreement to work together to bring MLS fans the best and fastest soccer content through the power of Windows 8. The announcement took place Sunday at the LA Galaxy versus New York Red Bulls game at Red Bull Arena, where the two companies showcased a new and improved MLS app and previewed the new in-stadium fan experiences powered by Windows 8. There’s a shot of the app below. For more of the story, head over to Microsoft News Center, and check out Brandon LeBlanc’s post on the Windows Experience Blog.

HP unveils a bunch of new Windows 8 PCs. HP announced new Windows 8 PCs yesterday – including a brand new portable all-in-one PC called the HP ENVY Rove 20 (pictured below). The HP ENVY Rove 20 is a portable all-in-one PC designed for the entire family. It can be used as a desktop PC or can be easily moved into the living room to enjoy multi-player games, or used in the kitchen while cooking a favorite recipe using one of the many cooking apps from the Windows Store like HP Recipe Box. Get specs and availability details on the HP ENVY Rove 20 and HP’s other newly unveiled PCs in yesterday’s post on the Windows Experience Blog. You might also want to take a look at the HP Split x2.

Windows Phone apps for work and play. For mobile fun, it’s been a great week for Xbox games from Electronic Arts, with four titles previously available only to Nokia owners now available to everyone and four new Nokia exclusives hitting the Windows Phone Store. All Windows Phone users can now test their driving and parking skills in the spatial-awareness “Parking Mania” ($2.99). If you love classic board games, you’ve got to try “The Game of Life” ($2.99). Sneak, scamper, and snack your way on an epic journey in “SPY Mouse” ($2.99). Read about these games in Michael Stroh’s Wednesday post on the Windows Phone Blog. And when you’re ready to get back to business, take a look at Splashtop 2 – a great new app that provides mobile access to your computer and files on the fly.

Forza Motorsport 5 revs up for Xbox One launch. With an exciting week coming into the rearview mirror, and a 3-day weekend stretching out ahead here in the US, the timing was perfect for a return to the Next at Microsoft blog’s time-honored tradition of Forza Fridays. That’s right, the good folks at Xbox are including Forza Motorsport 5 in the slate of games that will be available when Xbox One launches. Next Editor and diehard Forza fan Steve Clayton said, “I for one was blown away by the slick and very cinematic trailer they released, and can’t wait take this bad boy for a spin.” You can check out the video below or head over to today’s post on Next at Microsoft.

That’s it for this edition of Weekend Reading. Thanks for stopping by The Official Microsoft Blog!

Posted by Jeff Meisner
Editor, The Official Microsoft Blog

Xbox One, Azure and the creative power of the cloud

Steve Wiens — Fri, 24 May 2013 17:45:00 GMT

The following is a post from Frank X. Shaw, Corporate Vice President of Corporate Communications at Microsoft.

It’s been another one of those weeks here in Redmond – equal parts exhausting and exhilarating, and one where I have to remind myself just how privileged I am to work with such amazing people.

If you haven’t had the opportunity, I encourage you to set aside some time this weekend to watch this great discussion about the making of Xbox One that Major Nelson hosted with Todd Holmdahl, corporate vice president of IEB hardware; Boyd Multerer, partner director of development for the Xbox; Nick Baker, distinguished engineer, Xbox; and Dan Greenawalt, creative director of Xbox Turn 10 Studios, the team that brings you Forza Motorsport.

During the discussion, Boyd makes the point that the team was able to take advantage of great resources from Microsoft Research, great technologies developed elsewhere within the company like Hyper V and great engineering talent like Dave Cutler, who joined the team more than a year ago and built the hypervisor that does the switching between the Xbox and Windows operating systems that are part of Xbox One.

Now I had to smile when I heard Boyd talking about Dave, because a lot of engineers in our industry have stood on the shoulders of Dave’s work; he’s forgotten more about software development than most have learned. Talking about Dave, Boyd said, “We’re super lucky to be able to work with people of that depth and talent, and it has made this kind of project possible.”

Super lucky, indeed. I’ll come back to this panel. But there were other significant developments this week that didn’t receive as much fanfare as the Xbox One announcement, but were equally significant in the company’s transition to devices and services.

The news actually occurred in Asia, where, over a three-day timespan, we announced:

The delivery of Windows Azure cloud services in Australia, allowing us to better address the needs of customers and partners in this country, while ensuring data sovereignty goals are met
That we’ll be bringing Windows Azure public cloud services to China, via our partner, 21Vianet This makes Microsoft the first multinational organization to make public cloud services available in China
That we’re bringing Windows Azure services to Japan with new capacity in the Tokyo Kansai areas

Satya Nadella, president of our Server & Tools business, summarized the news with this post earlier this week. Exciting stuff.

The cloud is transformational for businesses and, as it turns out, for game developers as well, as our panelists discussed this week.

Talking about the new Xbox One and the cloud, Greenawalt said that he and other game creators now have the best of both worlds.

“One thing I’d really like to comment on is it’s a more powerful box, which is fantastic. It’s not just that it’s more powerful, it’s also connected. It’s connected to the cloud and this gives us as creators the ability to offload some of the processing that we would use…So we can move things: Physics. AI. Worlds. We can move incredible rendering capabilities to the cloud, and that means this box is going to evolve. So this is a radically different way that we think about how we work as creators on a box.”

Multerer agreed, saying this next generation of gaming and entertainment technology, is about embracing ongoing change.

“Next gen isn’t just about having lots of transistors local, it’s also about having transistors in the cloud. The best way I can explain it is that to me ‘next gen’ is about change. I’ve got these games that stay the same. I’ve got apps that are changing, but now you start throwing in servers that are just one hop away and that can you can start doing things like…you look at a game and there’s latency-sensitive load and there’s latency insensitive loads. Let’s start moving those insensitive loads off to the cloud, freeing up local resources and effectively over time your box gets more and more powerful. This is completely unlike previous generations.”

Later on, in discussing the system’s architecture, Multerer adds, “To me the really big, fundamental disruption is the fact that we can’t expect these boxes to be static. They don’t live in a static world.”

No static at all.

Not for our business customers.

Not for entertainment.

Not for gamers.

Not for game developers.

And certainly not for Microsoft as our business expands into the cloud.

Pinch me.

Microsoft announces major expansion of Windows Azure services in Asia

Steve Wiens — Thu, 23 May 2013 05:45:00 GMT

The following is a post from Satya Nadella, President of the Server & Tools Business at Microsoft.

As the worldwide demand for cloud computing continues to grow, so does Windows Azure. Microsoft is the only at-scale global public cloud provider to deliver a hybrid cloud advantage and we’re excited to announce plans to invest hundreds of millions of dollars to expand the Windows Azure footprint in Asia – specifically in China, Japan and Australia.

On Wednesday in Shanghai, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer announced that a Public Preview for the Windows Azure service, operated by 21Vianet in China, will be available for sign-up starting June 6. The announcement in China builds on the agreements we signed November 1, 2012, with the Shanghai municipal government and 21Vianet. We are excited to be the first multinational organization to make public cloud services available in China, and encourage customers to sign up for the free trial at http://www.windowsazure.cn starting June 6.

Today, Steve also announced our intent to open a new major region in Japan, with two local sub-regions— Japan East in the Tokyo area and Japan West in the Kansai area. And earlier this week, we announced our intent to open a new major region in Australia, with two sub regions in New South Wales and Victoria. These new regions will offer Japanese and Australian customers all the benefits of Windows Azure plus the disaster recovery, data sovereignty and improved performance benefits of local deployments. Customers in Australia and Japan can get started using Window Azure today knowing that they will have the ability to use the same resources locally when the new regions come online.

With IDC forecasting that Asia's cloud computing market will reach US$16.3 billion by 2016 (excluding Japan), we’re working hard to bring these new Windows Azure regions and Windows Azure in China, operated by 21Vianet, online and we’ll have more to share closer to launch. Together with our global network and existing locations in Singapore and Hong Kong these new locations will help us satisfy the enormous cloud computing needs of the Asia region and the world. It’s been an exciting week, and I encourage you to learn more about each announcement at the links below:

• Public Preview of Windows Azure, operated by 21Vianet, in China
• Windows Azure Australia Expansion
• Windows Azure Japan Expansion

The best in devices and services, together as Xbox One

Steve Wiens — Wed, 22 May 2013 13:00:00 GMT

The following is a post from Frank X. Shaw, Corporate Vice President of Corporate Communications at Microsoft.

Yesterday was a lot of fun. Watching the Xbox team put the new Xbox One through its paces, hearing the reaction in the room and on Twitter, seeing all the work that people put in come to life = just wow.

For some time now, we’ve been talking about Microsoft’s transformation to a devices and services company. Make no mistake, we’re still a software company at our core, but increasingly the value of that software is expressed through the devices and services we deliver to consumers and businesses.

That transformation came to 1080p HD life yesterday with our introduction of Xbox One. And it wasn’t just the fantastic device on center stage, it was the amazing content from our partners, the other Microsoft services lighting it up, and the other Microsoft devices making it work as one.

Devices. A new console with more than 5 billion (yes, billion) transistors and 8 gigabits of RAM, paired with a completely redesigned Kinect sensor that can process more than 2 gigabits of data per second and an updated controller with more than 40 design innovations. And devices that can work together through the magic of Xbox SmartGlass technology, which has more than 10 million downloads since its introduction last year.

Services. Let’s start with the reimagined Xbox Live service. More powerful. More personal. More intelligent. And a WHOLE lot more scalable. As Marc Whitten explained yesterday, when we first launched Xbox Live more than a decade ago, it was powered by 500 servers. Today, 15,000 servers housed in data centers power the service and later this year, when we begin selling Xbox One, we’ll have 300,000 servers delivering the service. That’s how you deliver a highly scalable, highly available service to tens of millions of simultaneous users, and provide the kind of split second switching between games, television and entertainment apps that we witnessed yesterday.

Then there’s Skype, our communications service that today connects hundreds of millions of family and friends, primarily via PC or phone. But as Yusuf Mehdi showed yesterday, we’ll be bringing Skype experiences to your TV in widescreen HD with the best living room camera available (thank you, Kinect), and only on Xbox One will you do group video calls on your TV. This is the service that’ll convince my Mom she needs an Xbox One in her living room.

Bing also is tightly integrated into the Xbox entertainment experience. When you search by voice for movies, TV shows or music, Bing is the service providing the instant responses. That experience is going to get a WHOLE lot better with Xbox One. I don’t know about you, but snap mode looked incredibly compelling to me. Now imagine you’re watching a movie on your new Xbox One and you want to find additional information about the cast. As Yusuf showed yesterday, just say, “Xbox, Snap Internet Explorer.” Now IE with Bing as my home page is running next to the movie I’m watching. Finding information about the cast is, yes, just a snap. Or, as Don Mattrick said in explaining the team’s mission to transform our entertainment experiences, “Simple. Instant. Complete.”

There was a LOT of substance and sizzle packed into yesterday’s 60-minute unveiling. So much to see and absorb. New games from EA Sports (FIFA 14, Madden NFL 25, NBA Line 14 and EA Sports UFC), Forza Motorsport from 10 Studios, 15 exclusive games in the works from Microsoft Studios, amazing new content from Xbox Entertainment Studios, including a live-action Halo television series created in partnership with 343 Industries and Steven Spielberg, and of course our partnership with the NFL that will redefine our Sunday afternoon viewing experiences.

Over the next few days, I hope you’ll take advantage of the resources on xbox.com and news.xbox.com, join the conversation on Twitter, read more of the press coverage, including this compelling story from Wired, or even take the time to watch the entire event. And hey, in just 20 days it will be time for E3 in Los Angeles. Boom, and then boom.

A great family of devices. Great software. Great content and services. Working as One. Just wow.

Microsoft and the NFL kick off new interactive in-game and fantasy experiences for Xbox One

Jeffrey Meisner — Tue, 21 May 2013 18:41:00 GMT

Microsoft and the National Football League have changed the way you will watch the most popular sport in North America through a new multi-year partnership that will deliver interactive television experiences for the next-generation Xbox One.

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Microsoft unveils Xbox One

Jennifer J. Chen — Tue, 21 May 2013 18:34:00 GMT

A new vision for the future was revealed today when Microsoft unveiled the Xbox One, an all-in-one gaming and entertainment system. The new system brings together games, TV, movies, music, sports and Skype. Use your voice to launch your personalized Xbox One Home screen, see what’s popular on TV or check out your friends’ latest gaming achievements.

“Xbox One is designed to deliver a whole new generation of blockbuster games, television and entertainment in a powerful, all-in-one device,” said Xbox exec Don Mattrick. “Our unique, modern architecture brings simplicity to the living room and, for the first time ever, the ability to instantly switch across your games and entertainment.”

Some other highlights from today’s announcement:

Use Snap to switch between live TV, a movie, talking with your friends on Skype, or playing a game.
OneGuide will help you find your favorite entertainment with ease. You can search by network, name or time – all with the sound of your voice.
An all-new world, an all-new cast of character and an all-new story for “Call of Duty: Ghosts,” which has next-gen technical innovations built to support incredible gameplay advancements, and features all-new downloadable content debuting first and exclusively on the Xbox platform.
Blur the line between gaming and TV with “Quantum Break,” from Remedy Entertainment, which integrates drama and gameplay into a seamless, immersive experience.
Steven Spielberg is executive producing a live-action “Halo” television series, in partnership with 343 Industries and Xbox Entertainment Studios
A multiyear, landmark partnership with the NFL, which will leverage Microsoft devices and services both in-game and on the sideline.

The new console is shaped in the 16:9 aspect ratio and employs a horizontal orientation optimized for its high-speed Blu-ray disc player. The Kinect is completely redesigned – it’s more precise, more responsive and more intuitive.

Xbox One will launch in markets around the world later this year.

Visit the Xbox Wire blog and read the press release for in-depth features on the new system, including photos and video.

Jennifer Chen
Microsoft News Center Staff

Weekend Reading: May 17th Edition–The Nokia Lumia 925 is a thing of beauty

Jeffrey Meisner — Fri, 17 May 2013 21:38:00 GMT

In this edition of Weekend Reading, we’ve got stories on the new Nokia Lumia 925, Telefónica choosing Office 365 and Yammer for its 130,000 employees, an update on "Windows Blue" (now known as Windows 8.1) and a cross-company partnership with Paramount Pictures around the highly anticipated “Star Trek Into Darkness” film.

Something to behold: The Nokia Lumia 925. The folks at Nokia are not messing around. Less than a week after unveiling the Lumia 928 – the Windows Phone 8 device that became available on Verizon on Thursday – the Finnish phone maker on Tuesday lifted the curtain on the Lumia 925. The Lumia 925 makes its debut in June on Europe’s Vodafone network, then heads to China Mobile and China Unicom. It’s scheduled to launch on T-Mobile in the U.S. later this year, according to Nokia. The phone will cost around 469 euros before taxes and subsidies in Europe. Head on over to the Windows Phone Blog to get the rest of this story and to learn more about an update coming to Windows Phone 8 later this summer. Also, check out the video below that shows off some of the Lumia 925’s finer points. On the app front, we’d like to draw your attention to two new apps hit the Windows Phone Store this week - Angry Birds Rio and Zinio. Check ‘em out.

Telefónica chooses Office 365 and Yammer to connect 130,000 employees worldwide. Telefónica, a leading provider of integrated communication solutions, will deploy Microsoft Office 365 and Yammer across its operating businesses to employees worldwide. These technologies are part of a global IT transformation strategy led by Phil Jordan, group chief information officer at Telefónica, to drive greater simplification, agility and cost reductions, which will strengthen and enhance the company’s core digital capabilities and global footprint. With more than 130,000 employees in 24 countries, Telefónica is enabling and transforming the employee experience related to collaboration, providing a much faster, intuitive way with a seamless digital integrated experience. Head on over to the Microsoft News Center to get the full story.

Xbox 360 still no. 1 in the U.S. Xbox 360 maintained its position as the top console in the U.S. last month, selling more units than any other platform, according to new data from The NPD Group. April also marked the 28th consecutive month that the Xbox 360 was the best-selling console in the U.S. Read Thursday’s post on The Official Microsoft Blog to get the rest of this story. In other Xbox news this week, it was announced that two new apps are now available on Xbox LIVE – Machinima and Twitch. Machinima is one of the top entertainment destinations on YouTube, and with the Machinima Xbox LIVE app, users get a total access pass to episodic narrative series like the popular “Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn,” gameplay vids, live streams, original content and exclusives only available on Xbox 360. That’s a screenshot of Machinima below. Twitch is one of the world’s largest platforms for the live streaming of games, with more than 800,000 people streaming gameplay and over 34 million people watching online at Twitch.tv. And, of course, you’ve probably heard that this Tuesday, May 21, Microsoft will host #XboxReveal, a special press event marking the beginning of a new generation of games, TV and entertainment. To keep up on the latest news and developments on all things Xbox, check out the brand new blog Xbox Wire.

Free Windows 8.1 update will be unveiled June 26. The Windows 8 update formerly known as “Windows Blue” will be called Windows 8.1, and consumers will be able to get it as a free update to Windows from the Windows Store, Tami Reller said at the JP Morgan Technology, Media & Telecom Conference in Boston on Tuesday. More details about Windows 8.1 will be announced soon, Brandon LeBlanc wrote in a follow-up post on Blogging Windows Tuesday, adding: “We will also be making a public preview of Windows 8.1 available starting on June 26, timed with the Build developer conference in San Francisco. The preview will be available for Windows 8 and Windows RT.”

Bing and Paramount Pictures bring Star Trek flair to a phone or computer near you. In anticipation of the upcoming release of "Star Trek Into Darkness" we have teamed with Paramount Pictures to help you get it in the Starfleet Spirit. On May 16, the next installment of Star Trek hit theaters and we’ve been hard at work on a set of fun Bing features to celebrate your inner-Trekker. Curious how to say "beam me up" in Klingon? Just in time for your next soiree (or interplanetary rumble), Microsoft added Klingon to the list of supported languages on the Bing Translator. A few simple clicks is all it takes to translate text from English (or any one of 41 supported languages) to Klingon and vice versa. The Star Trek-themed fun is available online and also as an update to Bing Translator for Windows Phone 8. Also, the Bing homepage now goes boldly where no homepage has gone before, writes Sage Kitamorn, Bing program manager. Fans can visit Bing and type in one of several secret phrases (hint: beam me --) for some Star Trek-themed fun.

Announcing Surface Pro release dates in Europe. As we recently announced, we are expanding the number of markets where Surface Pro and Surface RT will be available. We’re excited for more people to be able to get Surface on the following dates: May 17 (France), May 23 (United Kingdom), May 30 (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland) and May 31 (Germany). Head on over to the Surface Blog for more information and to learn about a great Surface RT promotion.

That’s it for this edition of Weekend Reading!

Posted by Jeff Meisner
Editor, The Official Microsoft Blog

Xbox 360 continues its roll at the top of the U.S. console market

Jeffrey Meisner — Thu, 16 May 2013 22:23:00 GMT

Xbox 360 maintained its position as the top console in the U.S. last month, selling more units than any other platform, according to new data from The NPD Group.

April also marked the 28th consecutive month that the Xbox 360 was the best-selling console in the U.S.

April highlights from NPD include:

· Holding 42 percent share of current-generation console sales, Xbox 360 sold 130,000 units in April, maintaining the number-one console spot in the U.S.

· Total retail spend on the Xbox 360 platform in April (hardware, software and accessories) reached $208 million, the most for any console in the U.S.

· During the month of April, Xbox 360 held six of the top 10 console game titles including: “NBA 2K13,” “Dead Island: Riptide,” “BioShock Infinite,” Defiance,” Injustice: Gods Among Us” and “Call of Duty: Black Ops 2.”

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Silicon Valley’s technorati raise money for charity with Microsoft fashion hijinks

Jeffrey Meisner — Thu, 16 May 2013 20:48:00 GMT

The following is a post from Douglas Crets, Developer Evangelist, Strategic & Emerging Business Team, Microsoft.

More than 200 of San Francisco’s techies and startup founders put aside their work on mobile apps and the cloud last night and joined Microsoft, Bloomingdale’s and the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship for an epic fashion party that raised thousands of dollars for a good cause. Below is a photo of Microsoft's Dr. Mark Drapeau, founder of Geek2Chic, speaking with Colleen Taylor, Silicon Valley reporter for TechCrunch TV.

A star-studded evening of catwalks, storm trooper masks and breakdancing started in the Bloomingdale’s on Market Street and continued on till the early hours at Bubble Lounge.

Thanks to everyone who came out to the #Geek2chic event tonight in San Francisco!
— Microsoft (@Microsoft) May 16, 2013

It was all for a good cause. And there was even a storm trooper. (That's Gary Wu of LucasFilm behind the mask.)

Microsoft’s Geek 2 Chic event is a charity fashion show series produced by Microsoft in collaboration with Bloomingdale’s that directly benefits NFTE and helps inspire at-risk high school-aged youth to stay in school, recognize business opportunities and launch startups.

One hundred percent of ticket sales and 10 percent of Bloomingdale's tracked sales the day of the event (save your receipts) go directly to NFTE.

Last night’s Silicon Valley event was the first time Microsoft had staged the event in San Francisco.

RT @briansolis: Photo: With @sarahaustin @themaria @heathermeeker before our catwalk #geek2chic (at Bloomingdale’s) tmblr.co/ZNsubyl4oOEi
— Microsoft BizSpark (@bizspark) May 16, 2013

The list of last night’s stars is long. The list included Brian Solis, author of “What’s the Future of Business”; Aaron Ginn, a Growth Hacker at StumbleUpon; Sara Austin, star of reality TV show “Silicon Valley: Startups,” and more.

The buzz was palpable. As the local stars strutted their Armani and other clothes donated by Bloomingdale’s, the capacity crowd sipped on their complimentary beverages and photographed the stars as they waltzed the catwalk, and tweeted the goings-on to the world.

The show also offered a chance to see some of the hidden talents of some of technology’s brighter workers, from a capella singing to the hint of a trapeze show. There was even breakdancing.

Another tweet from last night:

RT @sharonkoshy: Fashion + tech + an awesome cause cc @nfte Excited to be at #geek2chic! twitter.com/sharonkoshy/st…

— Microsoft BizSpark (@bizspark) May 16, 2013

Free Windows 8.1 update will be unveiled June 26

Steve Wiens — Tue, 14 May 2013 19:26:00 GMT

The following post was originally published on The Fire Hose.

The Windows 8 update formerly known as “Windows Blue” will be called Windows 8.1, and consumers will be able to get it as a free update to Windows from the Windows Store, Tami Reller said at the JP Morgan Technology, Media & Telecom Conference in Boston today.

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