Windows 10 on One Billion Devices

Windows Store for Consumers, Businesses, and Developers

1. Carrier billing across all Windows 10 devices, which from our phone experience, increases purchases in emerging markets by 8x
2. Updated Windows 10 Microsoft Advertising SDK with support for video ads and install tracking
3. In-app purchase subscription support
4. New Windows Store Affiliate Program

Universal Windows Platform Innovation

Windows 10 Welcomes All Developers and Their Code

1. Web sites
2. .NET and Win32
3. Android Java/C++
4. iOS Objective C

Microsoft Edge

Begin Developing Today!

Windows 10 on One Billion Devices

Windows Store for Consumers, Businesses, and Developers

1. Carrier billing across all Windows 10 devices, which from our phone experience, increases purchases in emerging markets by 8x
2. Updated Windows 10 Microsoft Advertising SDK with support for video ads and install tracking
3. In-app purchase subscription support
4. New Windows Store Affiliate Program

Universal Windows Platform Innovation

Windows 10 Welcomes All Developers and Their Code

1. Web sites
2. .NET and Win32
3. Android Java/C++
4. iOS Objective C

Microsoft Edge

Begin Developing Today!

For developers, we also announced that today the Dev Center is now open for now open for Windows Phone 8.1 and universal Windows app submissions.

Today, you can now install Windows Phone 8.1 on your phone through the Windows Phone Preview for Developers and try out a lot of the awesomeness we announced two weeks ago at Build. To do this, follow the instructions here on the Dev Center. I suggest reading the important notes on the instructions page before opting your phone in to receive Windows Phone 8.1. For more details, head on over and read this blog post from Cliff Simpkins.

For developers, we also announced that today the Dev Center is now open for now open for Windows Phone 8.1 and universal Windows app submissions.

I wanted to use this post to share some thoughts from what I said in the keynote:

1. We believe in our ecosystem of device manufacturers and devs (developers, developers, developers!), and that their creativity has incredible potential to change the world – and we want to help them do that.

2. We believe in the Internet of Things, and that as the devices get smaller, the cloud gets bigger.

3. We believe in natural user interfaces, and the power of things like voice and gesture to transform how users will interact with their devices and apps in the coming years.

I also spent some time today sharing some parts of our roadmap. It’s always tricky to find the right balance when sharing future plans, as some parts of the plan may change. But as our industry, our company, and Windows are in the midst of a pretty massive transformation in the way we build and deliver innovation to customers, partners and developers, we are taking some steps to be more transparent in signaling what’s ahead.

As a company that works with a wide range of hardware partners and developers, it’s our job to make it easy for partners to build amazing and successful devices and experiences on the Windows platform at competitive price points. Over the past several months, we’ve taken significant strides to do just that.

We recently announced our work with Qualcomm Technologies to enable new partners to broaden their product lineup with Windows Phone faster, easier and more affordably than ever before. We are thrilled to welcome 11 new Windows Phone partners since Mobile World Congress in February, with the addition of Micromax and Prestigio just announced today.

In addition to welcoming new Windows Phone device partners, we have been working to ensure the Windows platform supports a wider range of hardware options for device makers. Today we announced that the Windows 8.1 Update will support Intel’s Bay Trail Cost Reduced options, along with 1GB RAM and 16 GB storage configurations which are popular on entry level tablets and notebooks. We’re also working with Intel on enablement programs that make it easy for their partners to onboard new Windows devices quickly, much as we are with Qualcomm.

To accelerate the creation of great mobile devices running Windows and grow our number of users, we announced today that Windows will be available for 0 dollars to hardware partners for Windows Phones and tablets smaller than 9” in size. This offering also enables hardware partners to provide their customers a one-year subscription to Office 365. These steps will help our partners to deliver the rich experience of Windows plus best-in-class hardware, software and services to consumers at affordable prices.

For partners, this makes it easier to bring more compelling devices to market. For developers, this means more endpoints for their apps in a store that’s already growing at about 50% a year. And for consumers, it will mean a broader range of great smartphones and tablets at prices that will be competitive with anything on the market.

I talked about the coming device revolution referred to as the Internet of Things, where billions of devices will be created and connected to the cloud, to each other, and to applications and services that will help define the next decade of computing.

We showed Windows running on an Intel Quark chip. It’s a processor the size of a pencil eraser that is running a full version of Windows, enabling developers to use all their Windows knowledge and skills to create new and exciting devices and experiences. When we are ready to ship Windows for the Internet of Things, we will make that available for zero dollars to encourage creation of these new devices and experiences in this new and exciting category.

I also showed the new version of Kinect on Windows, which takes the magical experience that Kinect provides on the Xbox to the PC, providing incredible opportunity for innovation in new and immersive app experiences.

Finally, I previewed some work we are doing for the next iteration of Windows, which builds on the journey we began with Windows 8 just over a year ago as well as the releases we’ve done since then. In particular, I showed some early thinking on how the user experience in Windows will evolve in a way that will help developers’ apps make their way to users across devices and form factors.

We set out to do this is a thoughtful way – one where we could enable more productivity for customers working in desktop mode, while building smart bridges to the new modern user experience and ensuring customers can get access to all your great apps in the Windows Store no matter where they are in the experience, or which device type they’re on.

As I said today, these are glimpses of our roadmap, with a particular focus on the parts of our roadmap that are most relevant to our developer partners. We’ll continue to invest in these and many other areas to build a great platform and experiences for developers, customers and partners and you’ll hear more from us when this work is closer to being ready to ship out to the world.

It’s been a fun day so far in San Francisco – it’s always fun to show what we have ready to release soon as well as what we’re working on for the future. In a cloud and mobile first world, having a platform to enable great device experiences and the next wave of developer productivity and innovation is what we’re all about, and we hope you enjoy the journey with us.

-Terry

Today was an important day for Windows and Xbox at Microsoft’s Build conference in San Francisco. I encourage you to check out blogs on Windows Phone 8.1 and Windows 8.1 Update, to get the details of the work we are delivering for developers, consumers and business customers.

I wanted to use this post to share some thoughts from what I said in the keynote:

1. We believe in our ecosystem of device manufacturers and devs (developers, developers, developers!), and that their creativity has incredible potential to change the world – and we want to help them do that.

2. We believe in the Internet of Things, and that as the devices get smaller, the cloud gets bigger.

3. We believe in natural user interfaces, and the power of things like voice and gesture to transform how users will interact with their devices and apps in the coming years.

I also spent some time today sharing some parts of our roadmap. It’s always tricky to find the right balance when sharing future plans, as some parts of the plan may change. But as our industry, our company, and Windows are in the midst of a pretty massive transformation in the way we build and deliver innovation to customers, partners and developers, we are taking some steps to be more transparent in signaling what’s ahead.

As a company that works with a wide range of hardware partners and developers, it’s our job to make it easy for partners to build amazing and successful devices and experiences on the Windows platform at competitive price points. Over the past several months, we’ve taken significant strides to do just that.

We recently announced our work with Qualcomm Technologies to enable new partners to broaden their product lineup with Windows Phone faster, easier and more affordably than ever before. We are thrilled to welcome 11 new Windows Phone partners since Mobile World Congress in February, with the addition of Micromax and Prestigio just announced today.

In addition to welcoming new Windows Phone device partners, we have been working to ensure the Windows platform supports a wider range of hardware options for device makers. Today we announced that the Windows 8.1 Update will support Intel’s Bay Trail Cost Reduced options, along with 1GB RAM and 16 GB storage configurations which are popular on entry level tablets and notebooks. We’re also working with Intel on enablement programs that make it easy for their partners to onboard new Windows devices quickly, much as we are with Qualcomm.

To accelerate the creation of great mobile devices running Windows and grow our number of users, we announced today that Windows will be available for 0 dollars to hardware partners for Windows Phones and tablets smaller than 9” in size. This offering also enables hardware partners to provide their customers a one-year subscription to Office 365. These steps will help our partners to deliver the rich experience of Windows plus best-in-class hardware, software and services to consumers at affordable prices.

For partners, this makes it easier to bring more compelling devices to market. For developers, this means more endpoints for their apps in a store that’s already growing at about 50% a year. And for consumers, it will mean a broader range of great smartphones and tablets at prices that will be competitive with anything on the market.

I talked about the coming device revolution referred to as the Internet of Things, where billions of devices will be created and connected to the cloud, to each other, and to applications and services that will help define the next decade of computing.

We showed Windows running on an Intel Quark chip. It’s a processor the size of a pencil eraser that is running a full version of Windows, enabling developers to use all their Windows knowledge and skills to create new and exciting devices and experiences. When we are ready to ship Windows for the Internet of Things, we will make that available for zero dollars to encourage creation of these new devices and experiences in this new and exciting category.

I also showed the new version of Kinect on Windows, which takes the magical experience that Kinect provides on the Xbox to the PC, providing incredible opportunity for innovation in new and immersive app experiences.

Finally, I previewed some work we are doing for the next iteration of Windows, which builds on the journey we began with Windows 8 just over a year ago as well as the releases we’ve done since then. In particular, I showed some early thinking on how the user experience in Windows will evolve in a way that will help developers’ apps make their way to users across devices and form factors.

We set out to do this is a thoughtful way – one where we could enable more productivity for customers working in desktop mode, while building smart bridges to the new modern user experience and ensuring customers can get access to all your great apps in the Windows Store no matter where they are in the experience, or which device type they’re on.

As I said today, these are glimpses of our roadmap, with a particular focus on the parts of our roadmap that are most relevant to our developer partners. We’ll continue to invest in these and many other areas to build a great platform and experiences for developers, customers and partners and you’ll hear more from us when this work is closer to being ready to ship out to the world.

It’s been a fun day so far in San Francisco – it’s always fun to show what we have ready to release soon as well as what we’re working on for the future. In a cloud and mobile first world, having a platform to enable great device experiences and the next wave of developer productivity and innovation is what we’re all about, and we hope you enjoy the journey with us.

-Terry

3D Printing
Windows 8.1 is the first operating system with full end-to-end support for 3D printing! During the development of Windows 8.1, Microsoft did the following to bring this scenario to Windows 8.1:

• Defined a common language for 3D printers and 3D printer aware apps (3MF, 3D Manufacturing Format)
• Extended the 2D printing pipeline to support 3D printing
• Worked with IHV and ISV partners to implement support for apps and printers

For more information, check out my full write-up on 3D printing support in Windows 8.1.

High-DPI and DPI Scaling Support
Ultra-high resolution displays are great, but only if you can see images, graphics, text, and UI clearly. Windows 8.1 is ready for ultra-high resolution laptops, tablets, and desktop displays. In Windows 8.1 each display can have its own active DPI scaling factor which makes the relative scale of content consistent if you are running multiple displays with non-uniform pixel density. Furthermore, Windows 8.1 DPI scaling is now fully optimized at up to 200% (compared to 150% fully supported on Windows 8). If you’ve been waiting to get that 4K monitor or ultra-high resolution laptop, now is the time!

Left to right: 1080p display, WQHD display, 4K Ultra-HD display

Client Hyper-V Improvements
Windows 8 introduced native Client Hyper-V functionality so that you can run Virtual Machines (VMs) on your PC without the need to buy or install extra software. In Windows 8.1 there are enhancements to Client Hyper-V compared with what was in Windows 8. One of the notable updates is called “enhanced session mode” which enables a high fidelity graphics experience for connections to VM's using the RDP protocol in addition to enabling USB redirection from the host to VM's. I’ll be blogging more here about Client Hyper-V in Windows 8.1, so stay tuned!

DirectX 11.2 and Tiled Resources
Graphics performance is an important aspect of overall system performance, and for Windows 8.1 DirectX 11.2 includes some great improvements. DirectX 11.2 runs leaner and faster than previous DirectX versions. With these performance optimizations both everyday tasks in Windows and apps like DirectX games will perform better and consume less memory. There are also some great new features in DirectX 11.2 that include tiled resources for giant and extremely detailed virtual worlds with no loading times in-between regions, HLSL shader linking to reduce game footprint and speed up level loading times, and low-latency presentation for more responsive gameplay experiences.

Graphine demo utilizing tiled resources in DirectX 11.2 – more info here

Desktop Options and Updates
Windows 8.1 includes some updates that bring new customization options and help you be more efficient. Here’s a few updates that are great for enthusiasts:

• All apps view: At the Start screen, you can now activate a view that shows you all of your installed apps. To toggle between the all apps view and the default view in the Start screen, hit Ctrl+Tab or swipe up (all apps) or swipe down (default view) in the middle of the Start screen.
• Desktop wallpaper on Start screen: In Windows 8.1 you can use your desktop wallpaper as your Start screen background. I am liking this feature because it looks cool and adds a layer of continuity when transitioning between the desktop and Start screen. This setting is exposed on the “navigation” tab on the taskbar properties dialog.
• Boot to Desktop: If you prefer to start each Windows session at the desktop rather than the Start screen, you can easily enable this option on the “navigation” tab on the taskbar properties dialog.

My Desktop (left) and Start screen (right) – both using the same background image

There are plenty more navigation and customization options in Windows 8.1, but this short list gives you an idea of what you can look forward to.

Enhanced Device Access for Windows Store Apps
Some of the coolest apps I’ve used are those that interface with specialty hardware. Developers wanting to write apps that interface with these specialty devices are in luck because Windows 8.1 makes it easy. Developers can interface with devices connected via various busses including USB. Example hardware includes activity trackers, the new Lego Mindstorms EV3 system, Netduino, and many others. I can’t wait to see what developers will come up with for these devices on Windows 8.1!

While this list of enthusiast features in Windows 8.1 is not exhaustive, it does give you an idea of some of the great innovations in Windows 8.1 for the enthusiast audience. Don’t see your favorite new feature listed here? Please leave a comment!

Find me on Twitter HERE.

Are you an enthusiast or power-user wondering what Windows 8.1 has for you to look forward to? In this post I’ll give and overview of new features and improvements in Windows 8.1 that will be of interest to PC gamers, makers, professional photographers/videographers, IT professionals, and others. Windows 8.1 is available now, and here’s how you can upgrade from Windows 8 to experience these great new features.

3D Printing
Windows 8.1 is the first operating system with full end-to-end support for 3D printing! During the development of Windows 8.1, Microsoft did the following to bring this scenario to Windows 8.1:

• Defined a common language for 3D printers and 3D printer aware apps (3MF, 3D Manufacturing Format)
• Extended the 2D printing pipeline to support 3D printing
• Worked with IHV and ISV partners to implement support for apps and printers

For more information, check out my full write-up on 3D printing support in Windows 8.1.

High-DPI and DPI Scaling Support
Ultra-high resolution displays are great, but only if you can see images, graphics, text, and UI clearly. Windows 8.1 is ready for ultra-high resolution laptops, tablets, and desktop displays. In Windows 8.1 each display can have its own active DPI scaling factor which makes the relative scale of content consistent if you are running multiple displays with non-uniform pixel density. Furthermore, Windows 8.1 DPI scaling is now fully optimized at up to 200% (compared to 150% fully supported on Windows 8). If you’ve been waiting to get that 4K monitor or ultra-high resolution laptop, now is the time!

Left to right: 1080p display, WQHD display, 4K Ultra-HD display

Client Hyper-V Improvements
Windows 8 introduced native Client Hyper-V functionality so that you can run Virtual Machines (VMs) on your PC without the need to buy or install extra software. In Windows 8.1 there are enhancements to Client Hyper-V compared with what was in Windows 8. One of the notable updates is called “enhanced session mode” which enables a high fidelity graphics experience for connections to VM's using the RDP protocol in addition to enabling USB redirection from the host to VM's. I’ll be blogging more here about Client Hyper-V in Windows 8.1, so stay tuned!

DirectX 11.2 and Tiled Resources
Graphics performance is an important aspect of overall system performance, and for Windows 8.1 DirectX 11.2 includes some great improvements. DirectX 11.2 runs leaner and faster than previous DirectX versions. With these performance optimizations both everyday tasks in Windows and apps like DirectX games will perform better and consume less memory. There are also some great new features in DirectX 11.2 that include tiled resources for giant and extremely detailed virtual worlds with no loading times in-between regions, HLSL shader linking to reduce game footprint and speed up level loading times, and low-latency presentation for more responsive gameplay experiences.

Graphine demo utilizing tiled resources in DirectX 11.2 – more info here

Desktop Options and Updates
Windows 8.1 includes some updates that bring new customization options and help you be more efficient. Here’s a few updates that are great for enthusiasts:

• All apps view: At the Start screen, you can now activate a view that shows you all of your installed apps. To toggle between the all apps view and the default view in the Start screen, hit Ctrl+Tab or swipe up (all apps) or swipe down (default view) in the middle of the Start screen.
• Desktop wallpaper on Start screen: In Windows 8.1 you can use your desktop wallpaper as your Start screen background. I am liking this feature because it looks cool and adds a layer of continuity when transitioning between the desktop and Start screen. This setting is exposed on the “navigation” tab on the taskbar properties dialog.
• Boot to Desktop: If you prefer to start each Windows session at the desktop rather than the Start screen, you can easily enable this option on the “navigation” tab on the taskbar properties dialog.

My Desktop (left) and Start screen (right) – both using the same background image

There are plenty more navigation and customization options in Windows 8.1, but this short list gives you an idea of what you can look forward to.

Enhanced Device Access for Windows Store Apps
Some of the coolest apps I’ve used are those that interface with specialty hardware. Developers wanting to write apps that interface with these specialty devices are in luck because Windows 8.1 makes it easy. Developers can interface with devices connected via various busses including USB. Example hardware includes activity trackers, the new Lego Mindstorms EV3 system, Netduino, and many others. I can’t wait to see what developers will come up with for these devices on Windows 8.1!

While this list of enthusiast features in Windows 8.1 is not exhaustive, it does give you an idea of some of the great innovations in Windows 8.1 for the enthusiast audience. Don’t see your favorite new feature listed here? Please leave a comment!

Find me on Twitter HERE.

With the general availability of Windows 8.1, you’ll get the best experience of your sites and apps together on your favorite Windows device.

In Windows 8.1, IE11 delivers an experience that is fast, fluid and perfect for touch. IE11 puts your web sites first, delivering the best web on Windows across the full range of Windows devices and screen sizes that’s equally great for touch, mouse, and keyboard. You can have as many open tabs as you want, and side-by-side browsing with your favorite sites and Windows Store apps together.

As Group Program Manager for Internet Explorer, I am fortunate to work with the team of driven, energetic engineers who are passionate about the web. With the help of many teams in Windows and across Microsoft, we are responsible for making sure your experience of the web on Windows is the best it can be. Here are just a few of my favorite features in IE11 that take advantage of the great capabilities of Windows 8.1.

Live tiles for apps and sites

Windows 8.1 with IE 11 introduces support for live tile notifications when you pin your favorite web sites. Your pinned sites can now be alive with activity, pulling data directly from the websites so your Start screen is updated with the latest posts, scores or stocks – information from the Web right on your Start screen.

Together with the Start screen team in Windows, we designed the live tile support for sites to enable all the same tile sizes and layouts that apps enjoy. We set out to make it as easy as possible for developers to build live tile notifications using the existing RSS feeds for their sites, and we built BuildMyPinnedsite.com to help developers to create beautiful tiles and live notification support with just a few clicks.

On my Start screen I pin my favorite sites like Techmeme, Gizmodo, and deviantART for live notifications, alongside with my favorite apps like Flixster, Bing Weather, Bing Finance, and Twitter.

My Windows 8.1 Start screen with live tiles for sites and apps

Side-by-side with sites and apps

Windows 8.1 is great for getting things done quickly with apps and site together. The IE team works closely with the rest of Windows to ensure that IE is fast and fluid when following a link into the browser from another modern app, and when launching modern apps from the browser. We designed the 50/50 split specifically with the modern IE experience in mind, to make the most common patterns of using apps and websites together automatic on Windows. No other tablet makes side by side multitasking this easy.

Opening a site automatically side by side from Mail

Clicking a link from the Mail app or launching an article from the Reading List app IE is automatically arranged side-by-side. You can check a map while reading directions to a friend’s house. And whether you are using a small device or a large one, you can see two things at once on the web by opening multiple windows of IE side-by-side.

You can easily compare two sites at once or use two sites together by launching multiple, full-featured windows of IE11.

Comparing two sites opened side by side in IE

One Click Calling

One of my favorite time savers is making a Skype call directly from IE, side by side with a site. IE automatically detects and highlights phone numbers on a webpage. When you see a phone number, just tap on it and begin your call right next to your webpage using a calling app like Skype or Lync. It’s incredibly useful when you are making a reservation or appointment, or want to talk to customer service right from a webpage.

IE automatically recognizes phone numbers making a call with Skype a click away

Fast and fluid reading

Like many Windows customers, I spend a lot of time on the web reading. Since the release preview, we introduced a new Reading View in IE11, which is optimized to display text from the Web in a beautiful, full-screen view within the browser. Reading view automatically stiches together multi-page articles and adjusts for your screen size and orientation. Sitting back with your Windows 8.1 tablet and reading the web has never been as easy and enjoyable.

Reading view in IE11 for a beautiful, fast, fluid reading experience, especially on tablets

Best for touch, mouse, and keyboard

You want touch to just work – but some sites haven’t gotten around to it. IE11 has many improvements to make touch just work– like giving always reliable feedback when you tap a link, HTML5 drag and drop support, and making common patterns like hover menus work.

A long press to open hover menus with touch and access the command bar

Some of the feedback from the release preview was that opening the IE address bar isn’t as easy using the mouse on a non-touch laptop or PC, compared with tablets. We worked with the Windows apps team to come up with a solution that improves access to the app bar with mouse and maximizes the screen for your content. We added a “peek” for easier access to the address bar in IE by keeping a minimal 15 pixel bar at the bottom of the screen that you can always click on bring up the address bar. You’ll find the same great experience in the Mail and Calendar apps in Windows 8.1.

Hovering your mouse over the app bar “peek” for a hint, clicking opens the address bar

Enhanced for large screens

For some people browsing on large screens like big all-in-one PCs is important. We made IE great for that too. On my desktop PC, I turn on “Always show address bar and tabs”. When I browse I make the most of my big screen. It’s easy to switch tabs, get to my favorites, and navigate with the mouse.

Make the most of your large screen with “Always show address bar and tabs”

With IE11 and Windows 8.1 you can browse the way you want whether you are using touch, or mouse and keyboard, and whether you are on a small device or a large one.

Best stage for your sites

We optimized the IE11 browsing engine for real-world sites to download and display fast and be highly responsive to touch. Over multiple releases we’ve built IE on the underlying support in Windows for graphics hardware acceleration and fast, fluid touch input for modern devices. We’re fortunate to work side by side with experts in 3D graphics, composition, and rendering, with the deepest understanding of the Windows graphics stack and modern hardware. By building together and optimizing for Windows we can ensure great performance and battery life while enabling exciting new experiences for the web.

Developers can build next generation experiences with professional-quality web video, and hyper-fast 2D and 3D web technologies that make the most of the underlying hardware. IE11 supports real world standards and compatibility, and new developer tools enable developers to build high-performance web experiences on Windows devices.

Here are just a few examples of how the web is better for developers with IE11:

Modern Web development is easier. IE11 supports the latest standards and frameworks actively used by web developers. Brand new F12 tools in IE enable iterative, visual debugging and tuning of web sites. Modern.ie enables cross-browser testing, no matter where you choose to develop.

Hardware-accelerated 3D web graphics. Interoperable WebGL experiences run on all devices, taking advantage of GPU acceleration. IE11 scans for unsafe WebGL content and implements a software-based renderer to complement the GPU. With Windows, graphics subsystem failures are not fatal, and WebGL continues to run. With IE11, your 3D experiences can access device orientation to create new interaction opportunities for immersive web content.

The existing web continues to work – even better: IE11 is interoperable with existing sites, which just run faster and look better in IE. Of course, intranet sites and apps continue to run in IE11, which supports Compatibility View.

Enable professional-quality video experiences on the Web. IE11 enables HTML5 video without plugins. IE11 supports the latest standards for closed captioning, streaming that adapts to available network bandwidth, and rights management—so all your video content can be as good as the professionals. Power-efficient video streaming in Windows 8.1 extends battery life for web video.

Get ready for the best web on Windows

We built IE11 to make the web great on Windows 8.1 and getting to the sites you love fast and using apps and sites together. These are just a few of the ways IE11 on Windows 8.1 delivers the best web experience on any tablet.

We’re excited for you to try IE11 when you update to Windows 8.1 from the Windows Store starting tomorrow, and enjoy the absolutely best browsing experience on your Windows device!

Rob Mauceri
Group Program Manager
Internet Explorer

This blog post is part of a series of guest posts we’re publishing this week from different people in groups across Microsoft who helped us build Windows 8.1. – Brandon

With the general availability of Windows 8.1, you’ll get the best experience of your sites and apps together on your favorite Windows device.

In Windows 8.1, IE11 delivers an experience that is fast, fluid and perfect for touch. IE11 puts your web sites first, delivering the best web on Windows across the full range of Windows devices and screen sizes that’s equally great for touch, mouse, and keyboard. You can have as many open tabs as you want, and side-by-side browsing with your favorite sites and Windows Store apps together.

As Group Program Manager for Internet Explorer, I am fortunate to work with the team of driven, energetic engineers who are passionate about the web. With the help of many teams in Windows and across Microsoft, we are responsible for making sure your experience of the web on Windows is the best it can be. Here are just a few of my favorite features in IE11 that take advantage of the great capabilities of Windows 8.1.

Live tiles for apps and sites

Windows 8.1 with IE 11 introduces support for live tile notifications when you pin your favorite web sites. Your pinned sites can now be alive with activity, pulling data directly from the websites so your Start screen is updated with the latest posts, scores or stocks – information from the Web right on your Start screen.

Together with the Start screen team in Windows, we designed the live tile support for sites to enable all the same tile sizes and layouts that apps enjoy. We set out to make it as easy as possible for developers to build live tile notifications using the existing RSS feeds for their sites, and we built BuildMyPinnedsite.com to help developers to create beautiful tiles and live notification support with just a few clicks.

On my Start screen I pin my favorite sites like Techmeme, Gizmodo, and deviantART for live notifications, alongside with my favorite apps like Flixster, Bing Weather, Bing Finance, and Twitter.

My Windows 8.1 Start screen with live tiles for sites and apps

Side-by-side with sites and apps

Windows 8.1 is great for getting things done quickly with apps and site together. The IE team works closely with the rest of Windows to ensure that IE is fast and fluid when following a link into the browser from another modern app, and when launching modern apps from the browser. We designed the 50/50 split specifically with the modern IE experience in mind, to make the most common patterns of using apps and websites together automatic on Windows. No other tablet makes side by side multitasking this easy.

Opening a site automatically side by side from Mail

Clicking a link from the Mail app or launching an article from the Reading List app IE is automatically arranged side-by-side. You can check a map while reading directions to a friend’s house. And whether you are using a small device or a large one, you can see two things at once on the web by opening multiple windows of IE side-by-side.

You can easily compare two sites at once or use two sites together by launching multiple, full-featured windows of IE11.

Comparing two sites opened side by side in IE

One Click Calling

One of my favorite time savers is making a Skype call directly from IE, side by side with a site. IE automatically detects and highlights phone numbers on a webpage. When you see a phone number, just tap on it and begin your call right next to your webpage using a calling app like Skype or Lync. It’s incredibly useful when you are making a reservation or appointment, or want to talk to customer service right from a webpage.

IE automatically recognizes phone numbers making a call with Skype a click away

Fast and fluid reading

Like many Windows customers, I spend a lot of time on the web reading. Since the release preview, we introduced a new Reading View in IE11, which is optimized to display text from the Web in a beautiful, full-screen view within the browser. Reading view automatically stiches together multi-page articles and adjusts for your screen size and orientation. Sitting back with your Windows 8.1 tablet and reading the web has never been as easy and enjoyable.

Reading view in IE11 for a beautiful, fast, fluid reading experience, especially on tablets

Best for touch, mouse, and keyboard

You want touch to just work – but some sites haven’t gotten around to it. IE11 has many improvements to make touch just work– like giving always reliable feedback when you tap a link, HTML5 drag and drop support, and making common patterns like hover menus work.

A long press to open hover menus with touch and access the command bar

Some of the feedback from the release preview was that opening the IE address bar isn’t as easy using the mouse on a non-touch laptop or PC, compared with tablets. We worked with the Windows apps team to come up with a solution that improves access to the app bar with mouse and maximizes the screen for your content. We added a “peek” for easier access to the address bar in IE by keeping a minimal 15 pixel bar at the bottom of the screen that you can always click on bring up the address bar. You’ll find the same great experience in the Mail and Calendar apps in Windows 8.1.

Hovering your mouse over the app bar “peek” for a hint, clicking opens the address bar

Enhanced for large screens

For some people browsing on large screens like big all-in-one PCs is important. We made IE great for that too. On my desktop PC, I turn on “Always show address bar and tabs”. When I browse I make the most of my big screen. It’s easy to switch tabs, get to my favorites, and navigate with the mouse.

Make the most of your large screen with “Always show address bar and tabs”

With IE11 and Windows 8.1 you can browse the way you want whether you are using touch, or mouse and keyboard, and whether you are on a small device or a large one.

Best stage for your sites

We optimized the IE11 browsing engine for real-world sites to download and display fast and be highly responsive to touch. Over multiple releases we’ve built IE on the underlying support in Windows for graphics hardware acceleration and fast, fluid touch input for modern devices. We’re fortunate to work side by side with experts in 3D graphics, composition, and rendering, with the deepest understanding of the Windows graphics stack and modern hardware. By building together and optimizing for Windows we can ensure great performance and battery life while enabling exciting new experiences for the web.

Developers can build next generation experiences with professional-quality web video, and hyper-fast 2D and 3D web technologies that make the most of the underlying hardware. IE11 supports real world standards and compatibility, and new developer tools enable developers to build high-performance web experiences on Windows devices.

Here are just a few examples of how the web is better for developers with IE11:

Modern Web development is easier. IE11 supports the latest standards and frameworks actively used by web developers. Brand new F12 tools in IE enable iterative, visual debugging and tuning of web sites. Modern.ie enables cross-browser testing, no matter where you choose to develop.

Hardware-accelerated 3D web graphics. Interoperable WebGL experiences run on all devices, taking advantage of GPU acceleration. IE11 scans for unsafe WebGL content and implements a software-based renderer to complement the GPU. With Windows, graphics subsystem failures are not fatal, and WebGL continues to run. With IE11, your 3D experiences can access device orientation to create new interaction opportunities for immersive web content.

The existing web continues to work – even better: IE11 is interoperable with existing sites, which just run faster and look better in IE. Of course, intranet sites and apps continue to run in IE11, which supports Compatibility View.

Enable professional-quality video experiences on the Web. IE11 enables HTML5 video without plugins. IE11 supports the latest standards for closed captioning, streaming that adapts to available network bandwidth, and rights management—so all your video content can be as good as the professionals. Power-efficient video streaming in Windows 8.1 extends battery life for web video.

Get ready for the best web on Windows

We built IE11 to make the web great on Windows 8.1 and getting to the sites you love fast and using apps and sites together. These are just a few of the ways IE11 on Windows 8.1 delivers the best web experience on any tablet.

We’re excited for you to try IE11 when you update to Windows 8.1 from the Windows Store starting tomorrow, and enjoy the absolutely best browsing experience on your Windows device!

Rob Mauceri
Group Program Manager
Internet Explorer

Based on the feedback from you and our partners, we’re pleased to announce that we will be making available our current Windows 8.1 and Windows 8.1 Pro RTM builds (as well as Windows Server 2012 R2 RTM builds) to the developer and IT professional communities via MSDN and TechNet subscriptions. The current Windows 8.1 Enterprise RTM build will be available through MSDN and TechNet for businesses later this month. For developers, we are also making available the Visual Studio 2013 Release Candidate, which you can download here. For more on building and testing apps for Windows 8.1, head on over to today’s blog post from Steve Guggenheimer.

It’s hard to believe that it has been only 8 months since we launched Windows 8 – and here we are today already delivering a public preview of Windows 8.1 update! As Julie Larson-Green mentioned during this morning’s keynote, Windows 8.1 advances the bold vision we set forward with Windows 8. Windows 8.1 also is evidence of our commitment to continuous innovation and improvement to the product. It is so exciting to be where we are today.

During the keynote, Julie talked about how Windows 8.1 is great for tablets of all sizes. On small devices for example, the reading experience is great. Julie held up the Acer Iconia W3 and showed off the reading experience with the Nook app which has received a new update today (version 1.5). Julie also demoed the new Mail app coming for Windows 8.1 later this year, the new search experience powered by Bing, the redesigned Xbox Music app, new apps from Bing, and seamlessly playing videos from a PC with Windows 8.1 to the Xbox One.

This morning in the keynote as well as at Build this week, we’re also sharing details about how Windows 8.1 will provide additional opportunity for developers to design, build and market differentiated, innovative apps. We’re seeing growing app momentum for Windows. Last week we announced that new popular apps were coming to the Windows Store. And during this morning’s keynote, it was announced that Facebook and Flipboard are coming to Windows:

"Facebook has always believed in connecting everyone, everywhere, on every device. Given our strong and longstanding partnership with Microsoft, this is an exciting way to advance that vision."- Mike Shaver, Director of Engineering at Facebook

"Flipboard fits naturally into Window 8. Working together we aspire to craft the world's most beautiful Windows app." - Mike McCue, Flipboard CEO [Read Flipboard’s blog post here!]

Antoine Leblond also took the stage during the keynote to show off Windows 8.1 to developers and the benefits of developing for the platform.

The Windows Store has been redesigned in Windows 8.1 bringing a new layout with improved navigation, more related content with better discoverability based on an individual’s preferences and a new search control from Bing in the UI. Antoine also announced we are introducing Windows Store gift cards (guess what I am getting everyone for Christmas this year?), an easy way for people to purchase apps, books, games and content. You will be able to load your Microsoft account with stored value in local currency and make purchases online from the Windows Store. All this accrues to better ways for developers to make money.

Antoine also showed how Windows 8.1 natively supports 3D printing. You can read more about that here in this blog post.

Windows offers the best in class economics for developers who get to keep 80% of the revenue for the lifetime of their app once it crosses the $25,000 USD revenue threshold. Industry standard is 70%. And with Windows 8.1, developers can create apps that can work together with other apps to share data, share the screen and deliver richer experiences across a wide range of devices, including new 8-inch-and-below form factors. As examples of the wide range of devices for Windows, Antoine showed the Lenovo Helix, the Acer Aspire V5 which is now available under $400, the Dell XPS 10 which is also available under $400, and the really cool Samsung ATIV Book 9 Plus which has a screen resolution of 3200 x 1800!

So bottom line, Windows 8.1 brings tremendous opportunity to app builders, while increasing the breadth and depth of apps in the Store that customers will download and enjoy.

If you’re a developer – see this blog post from the Windows App Builders Blogfor all you need to know to get started building great apps for Windows 8.1.

We’re super excited about today’s milestone. Windows 8.1 will bring a lot of compelling improvements and enhancements to areas such as personalization, search, the built-in apps, Windows Store experience, and cloud connectivity. With the Windows 8.1 Preview, you can try all the improvements and new features out for yourself!

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer just kicked off Build 2013 this morning in San Francisco by announcing the availability of the Windows 8.1 Preview. Steve talked about how Windows 8.1 is a “refined blend” of the desktop experience and modern experience with the Start screen, and how Bing powers the Windows experience.

It’s hard to believe that it has been only 8 months since we launched Windows 8 – and here we are today already delivering a public preview of Windows 8.1 update! As Julie Larson-Green mentioned during this morning’s keynote, Windows 8.1 advances the bold vision we set forward with Windows 8. Windows 8.1 also is evidence of our commitment to continuous innovation and improvement to the product. It is so exciting to be where we are today.

During the keynote, Julie talked about how Windows 8.1 is great for tablets of all sizes. On small devices for example, the reading experience is great. Julie held up the Acer Iconia W3 and showed off the reading experience with the Nook app which has received a new update today (version 1.5). Julie also demoed the new Mail app coming for Windows 8.1 later this year, the new search experience powered by Bing, the redesigned Xbox Music app, new apps from Bing, and seamlessly playing videos from a PC with Windows 8.1 to the Xbox One.

This morning in the keynote as well as at Build this week, we’re also sharing details about how Windows 8.1 will provide additional opportunity for developers to design, build and market differentiated, innovative apps. We’re seeing growing app momentum for Windows. Last week we announced that new popular apps were coming to the Windows Store. And during this morning’s keynote, it was announced that Facebook and Flipboard are coming to Windows:

"Facebook has always believed in connecting everyone, everywhere, on every device. Given our strong and longstanding partnership with Microsoft, this is an exciting way to advance that vision."- Mike Shaver, Director of Engineering at Facebook

"Flipboard fits naturally into Window 8. Working together we aspire to craft the world's most beautiful Windows app." - Mike McCue, Flipboard CEO [Read Flipboard’s blog post here!]

Antoine Leblond also took the stage during the keynote to show off Windows 8.1 to developers and the benefits of developing for the platform.

The Windows Store has been redesigned in Windows 8.1 bringing a new layout with improved navigation, more related content with better discoverability based on an individual’s preferences and a new search control from Bing in the UI. Antoine also announced we are introducing Windows Store gift cards (guess what I am getting everyone for Christmas this year?), an easy way for people to purchase apps, books, games and content. You will be able to load your Microsoft account with stored value in local currency and make purchases online from the Windows Store. All this accrues to better ways for developers to make money.

Antoine also showed how Windows 8.1 natively supports 3D printing. You can read more about that here in this blog post.

Windows offers the best in class economics for developers who get to keep 80% of the revenue for the lifetime of their app once it crosses the $25,000 USD revenue threshold. Industry standard is 70%. And with Windows 8.1, developers can create apps that can work together with other apps to share data, share the screen and deliver richer experiences across a wide range of devices, including new 8-inch-and-below form factors. As examples of the wide range of devices for Windows, Antoine showed the Lenovo Helix, the Acer Aspire V5 which is now available under $400, the Dell XPS 10 which is also available under $400, and the really cool Samsung ATIV Book 9 Plus which has a screen resolution of 3200 x 1800!

So bottom line, Windows 8.1 brings tremendous opportunity to app builders, while increasing the breadth and depth of apps in the Store that customers will download and enjoy.

If you’re a developer – see this blog post from the Windows App Builders Blogfor all you need to know to get started building great apps for Windows 8.1.

We’re super excited about today’s milestone. Windows 8.1 will bring a lot of compelling improvements and enhancements to areas such as personalization, search, the built-in apps, Windows Store experience, and cloud connectivity. With the Windows 8.1 Preview, you can try all the improvements and new features out for yourself!