back to article New Windows 10 Mobile build brings Universal Office Apps to phones

Microsoft has released a new Technical Preview build of Windows 10 Mobile – the version of Windows 10 for phones and tiny tablets – and in the process has given testers their first look at the new Office running on small screens. The new version, which is only available to Windows Insider program members who have opted for the …

  1. Mikel

    Reminder

    These "universal" apps don't work on Linux, OS X, iOS, Android, BB10, Symbian, BSD or any other non-Windows OS. They also don't work on Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, any version of Windows mobile, Windows Phone 7.x, Windows Phone 8.x. And they won't.

    Which pretty much covers every OS ever released. A strange "universe" this is.

    1. h4rm0ny

      Re: Reminder

      They mean, as you perfectly well know, that you can run the same program on the Deskop version, phones and on tablets. Which is a significant technical achievement. But yes, let's condemn them for not running on Windows XP which was released fourteen years ago, Or an exclusively phone OS like BB10 which doesn't have multiple form-factors.

      We need an 'Emperor' icon for "let the hate flow..."

      1. Mikel

        Re: Reminder

        Apparently we have a differing view of the word "universe".

        In philosophy the universe is all that is - perceptible or not. In physics and math too. In astronomy it is all that can be perceived - the observable universe some 56 billion light years wide (under Hubble expansion theory). The stuff in our "light cone".

        In Windows the universe is apps that run only on the unreleased version of Windows. Which is probably why when we talk about computing now we don't call it Computer Science. We call it Information technology. It is more marketing now than science. In science, words mean things. In marketing, bending the meanings of words to your purpose is precollege coursework.

        Back in the day, IBM with their personal system 2 tried to take control of our word space in this way, redefining the motherboard as a "planar board", the hard drive as a "fixed disk" and so on. They failed, as Microsoft will fail here, and for the same reason. Having lost dominance they tried to regain it with mental games. Clear evidence that Marketing has taken over what Engineering built. Pushed upon the need to use this tool it was no longer effective.

        I will make fun of you for this "universe" thing as will many others. It is a sign that the End is nigh.

        1. h4rm0ny

          Re: Reminder

          >>Apparently we have a differing view of the word "universe".

          I think it's more a difference in ability to factor in context or get hung up over it. As I said, you know perfectly well what is meant. The other week I heard someone say that there were going to be more films set in the Marvel universe. I wish you had been there to lecture people on how that couldn't be. :D

          >>"I will make fun of you for this "universe" thing as will many others. It is a sign that the End is nigh."

          You know I wondered why there was a crowd of people outside my house chanting "haha! Microsoft called an app universal and H4rm0ny doesn't care that it doesn't run on Symbian, haha isn't she silly!". Thank you for letting me know.

  2. Malagabay
    Coat

    The Writing is on the Wall

    “release Windows 10 on different devices and customers at different times”

    “what you’re seeing with phone builds today is that work in progress to tailor Windows 10 to be great on phones”

    “we'll definitely have to wait until after Windows 10 launches for PCs”

    This has all the hallmarks of one huge rolling cross platform SNAFU As A Service

    And one huge marketing SNAFU where “Mobile First” means “Mobile Phones Last” [provided they can actually tailor the latest updates to be “great on phones”] and “Universal Apps” will be a real winner if it degenerates into “Lowest Common Denominator Functionality”…

    Perhaps MS should just concentrate on adding a touch of Citrix for their corporate customers:

    Citrix Receiver for Android

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ou3KUriuCVo

    Citrix Receiver for iPhone

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TeUm_O79ojQ

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Are there any insiders with a working Lumia left to test Windows 10 Mobile.

    After the last version threshold version of Windows 10, Windows Mobile 'Brick' - are there any Windows Insiders left to test it? That's one sure way to kill off the Nokia brand for good.

    In the meantime as of Tues 12/05/2015 - Windows 7 SP1 Install CD, (Win7 - what everyone is actually using) has just reached the dizzy heights of 200 'post installation' Updates/Patches to download and install, total download 1115MB. Yet, Microsoft have decided in all their Wisdom, Windows Update is so fantastically implemented already (read:can of worms) it will remain 'as is' in the revolution that is Windows 10.

    Well, Microsoft - thats also one sure way to kill the Microsoft brand for good. 15 minutes to install to desktop, 2hrs of Post install updates, and thats installing to a Crucial 256GB SSD, not a mechanical drive.

    Given his World Health role, Bill must realise the pain and mental suffering he's inflicting on the World through Windows installs.

    Both Linux Mint 17.1 and Ubuntu 15.04 are around 12 mins to install to fully updated Desktop, downloading updates during the install. The process and experience is so much nicer. Companies need to wake up, test the alternatives to Windows 10, you'll be surprised.

    There was a time, when Windows was about saving companies time and money, what happened?

    1. Arctic fox
      Windows

      Re: Are there any insiders with a working Lumia left to test Windows 10 Mobile.

      Well yes old chap there are. At least my test-bed (Lumia 630) had no trouble at all pulling down this up-date and installing it a couple of hours ago. The transparency slider which we saw some screen shots of on various sites the last couple of weeks is indeed in the build and the palette of theme colours has doubled in size. No one needs to put up now with anything that remotely resembles a Liquorice Allsorts Christmas Collection - the degree of customisation that is now available in Win 10 Mobile is considerable. Spartan is now on board and as rough as one might expect. I downloaded the new Word app (Top tip: Make sure you temporarily change the regional formatting to United States or the app will either not download at all or even if it does it won't install. The app continues to function once you have restored your own regional settings) and a cursory inspection leaves me feeling that it may (note that I say may) be promising. Win 10 is still very much a beta build but I think at any rate that a (very) cautious "so far, so good" is in order.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Are there any insiders with a working Lumia left to test Windows 10 Mobile.

      If you're comparing against Windows 7, then you'll have to compare Linux distros from back in 2010 (unless of course you just want to make a dogmatic point without there being any logic or reasoning behind it). So, and this is a very genuine question because I've never tried it so don't have a clue, what happens if you install a 2010-era Linux distro now? Wouldn't do that? I wouldn't install a 2010-era version of Windows either.

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Are there any insiders with a working Lumia left to test Windows 10 Mobile.

      Our Linuxs support guys spend wayyyyyyyy longer patching Linux clients than I do windows and we have 4 times as many windows boxes as Linux. And you can download update rollups to install rather than downloading separate updates.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Are there any insiders with a working Lumia left to test Windows 10 Mobile.

        None of the time spent I'm talking about is actually downloading the 1.15GB of updates, 2hrs is purely to install 200 updates onto an SSD, (and actually I'm been generous there, numerous updates failed, KB3045171, a Windows installed NVidia driver update+3 others (.Net) but the latter installed after total of 8/9 reboots)

        I'm not counting download time, as its a Fibre connection which means that is not an issue. Not sure how you'd cope on the average BT shitty copper ADSL.

        If I'd chosen Windows 8.1 Update 1 is actually even more a pain, if you need to do a clean install back from Windows 8.0 Media, because you Licence Key is for 8.0 not 8.1.

        1. Hellcat

          Re: Are there any insiders with a working Lumia left to test Windows 10 Mobile.

          If you're building, or rebuilding your PC that often - how about preparing for it? Slipstream the updates into your build DVD and then you'll not need to spend as much time patching.

          http://community.spiceworks.com/how_to/79853-integrate-updates-into-windows-7-installation-media#how_to/79853-integrate-updates-into-windows-7-installation-media

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Are there any insiders with a working Lumia left to test Windows 10 Mobile.

            I'm working with Windows 10 insider, think I don't know all the methods to install Updates.

            ...Great until you get the list of updates that you can't slipstream, such as this one:

            https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2603229

            How about Microsoft forget new features, and actually fix the existing elephant in the room 'Windows Update' - how about continually improving the 'Dumb' Windows Update experience, instead of keeping things time warped in 1995.

            Selective Manual Windows Updates are a nightmare, either way.

            You need to Re-Select 'Check Updates' after each install/reboot to actually get all selected updates to install successfully.

            Each 'Check Updates' takes 25 minutes, somtimes 30.

            So if you install a single Update, which you need to do, for the Nvidia driver (because there are often two in the list, need to select older first) to start with, you then need to reboot, and recheck Updates, and wait a further 25 minutes, its so dumb. Windows Update doesn't realise its just installed a single update, it rechecks everything, every file - taking forever.

            You're best to install Important Updates first, then the optional ones.

            A test run install shows you which updates fail, so you have to do a second install, deselecting these, imaging up the system (using Linux based tools), once the successful updates are done/installed.

            Yep, you can do the other way, but you end up with an install log full of failed updates, which never looks good.

            Out of the box, Windows Update is just a shit user experience, for manual updates. That's how hard it is to achieve a working Version of Windows 7 with an install log showing only 'successful' in terms of updates, no fails.

    4. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Are there any insiders with a working Lumia left to test Windows 10 Mobile.

      No problems with on Lumia 925 on the 10080 build.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    meh

    Can't really get excited about any of this. It seems like endless cycles of disappointing restrictions and non features.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: meh

      Candy crush saga. Now you want windows 10 right....

      http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2015/05/humanity-weeps-as-candy-crush-saga-comes-pre-installed-with-windows-10/

  5. Roger B

    Any news on the slow updates?

    I have a Lumia 625 and I'm signed up for the program but only the slow release schedule.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Any news on the slow updates?

      Just that, on slow it isn't a Brick yet.

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