Windows 10 Anniversary Update Coming This Summer, Free To Win10 Users

Perhaps now would be a good time to take Microsoft up on its offer to upgrade to Windows 10 from older platforms, because its Windows 10 Anniversary Edition is coming this summer, and it will be free--to existing Windows 10 users.

From the keynote stage at Microsoft Build, Terry Myerson said that the Anniversary Edition will include updates for Windows Hello (and Edge will enable Hello’s biometric authentication on supported websites), as well as HoloLens, Cortana and more.

Although Myerson mentioned it only in passing and did not elaborate on the details, he said that the Anniversary Edition will enable Windows 10 applications to run on the Xbox One. Presumably, supported applications will include only Universal Apps (UWA). Even so, it fits the vision of unifying devices and screens that Microsoft has espoused, and it paints the Xbox one as an even more powerful computing device than it already is. (In another onstage demo, we saw how a developer can use the Xbox as a dev console. It's easy to switch back and forth between dev mode and retail mode.)

The Anniversary Edition will also bring updates for Ink. Microsoft seems keen on Ink, as it keeps bringing it up in the keynote and offered an onstage demo performed by Microsoft’s Brian Roper. He showed a number of use cases for Ink, including Sticky Notes, SketchPad, Maps, Word and PowerPoint.

Using a stylus, he wrote a note to himself using Ink to call his mother -- “call mom tom” -- and Windows understood that “tom” meant “tomorrow” and added a reminder in his calendar for the correct date. He also grabbed an onscreen sketchpad and used a virtual ruler to draw straight lines on it with the stylus (and noted that the saved sketch is available above the lock screen). Using a 3D map, he added two POIs (with a simple tap here and there) and connected the dots to make a route; then, he annotated the map with notes about waypoints, and the notes persisted even as he rotated the 3D image. In Word, he showed how you can use Ink to edit a doc, including scribbling out a paragraph to delete it. In PowerPoint and PhotoShop, he used virtual rulers and guides to line up objects and draw on images.

We’ll update as more information becomes available.

Seth Colaner is the News Director for Tom's Hardware. Follow him on Twitter @SethColaner. Follow us on Facebook, Google+, RSS, Twitter and YouTube.