All about Technology: Build 2015: Microsoft targets IoT on its road to 1 billion Windows devices

Thursday 30 April 2015

Build 2015: Microsoft targets IoT on its road to 1 billion Windows devices

Microsoft has announced a version of Windows 10 designed specifically for smaller computers like the Raspberry Pi 2 and Intel Minnowboard Max.

The Windows 10 IoT Core Insider Preview is a little rough around the edges, and Microsoft hopes that the early preview release will spur early feedback from developers to improve the software.

"Our goal is to give Makers the opportunity to play with the software bits early and to listen to the feedback on what's working well and what we can do better. You may notice some missing drivers or rough edges; we look forward to receiving your feedback to help us prioritize development work," said Steve Teixeira, director of program management for the Internet of Things at Microsoft.

Inside the Insider Preview

The preview release allows makers and device builders to access Microsoft's development tools, use the Universal Windows Platform, enjoy advanced hardware capabilities and remotely debug, update and manage software running on Raspberry Pi devices.

Any Raspberry Pi owner who wants to start playing around with the bits need to sign up to for the Windows 10 Insider program before they can download a copy of the Windows 10 Insider Preview. A virtual machine copy will not suffice.

Final version coming this summer

In addition to this, Windows 10 has become the first ever Arduino-certified OS with the Windows Virtual Shield for Arduino and Windows Remote Arduino, the first two capabilities enabled by the partnership.

This means the hardware-driving power tailored by Arduino can be combined with Windows software to create plush looking UIs, cloud connections, motion detection processing, facial recognition and a lot more. Additionally, Microsoft has extended its partnership with Huckster.IO to bring various gallery capabilities to Windows developers.

Microsoft will take the feedback Raspberry Pi users provide and make improvements to the commercial release this summer with the hope that it will power them closer to the target of putting Windows 10 onto 1 billion devices.