Recently at an event for developers in San Francisco Microsoft continued to trumpet Windows 10, which it will continue to bank on in the near future, but they seem to be moving into artificial intelligence software as well in a big way. They delivered twin messages at the event saying at first that Windows 10 is now running on 270 million active devices, this only 8 months after it was released to the public, they said that this is the fastest adoption ever of a new version of Windows, no mention was made of the fact that in a lot of cases Microsoft has forced the upgrade on unsuspecting and unwilling users.
Along with the chest beating over Windows 10 Microsoft also revealed a whole bunch of new tools for developers to create bots, which are pieces of software that can be used in the production of new methods of interacting with computers, such as a chat interface for ordering your favorite Chinese takeout. Microsoft CEO said that the company wants to build intelligence that augments human abilities and experience. Most analysts believe the bot move is a risky gamble, Microsoft also recently released a Twitter chatbot called Tay that uses artificial intelligence software to respond to communications from Twitter users. The experiment blew up in Microsoft's face when people fooled the bot into repeating racist and sexist comments mostly and generally other offensive language, Microsoft shut Tay down and the CEO said the experience had humbled Microsoft.
But he went on to say immediately that Microsoft had gone back to the drawing board on projects like Tay. Another area of new technology that Microsoft is now heavily involved in is an augmented reality headset that overlays digital images on the wearers view of the real world they are looking at, at $3000 each this product is really only aimed at developers making applications for the headset. Microsoft CEO was asked when and if it will start selling a version of the headset to the public and how much it would cost, he could not answer the question definitively, just saying that it was coming.
Another question the CEO was asked at the event was about the company saying that it expected Windows 10 to not only reverse Microsoft's fading stature in the technology industry but that Windows 10 would be on 1 billion devices 2 to 3 years after it was released, both the CEO and executive vice president of the Windows and devices group at Microsoft said they were confident the company could still reach that objective.
They did admit however that Windows 10 does not do everything Microsoft hoped it would. And that its success has not significantly shifted any technology industry dynamics, mobile platforms like Apples iOS and Google's android are still being installed more often than Windows 10 simply because software developers are always hunting for the largest and most engaged audience of users, and today that audience are all carrying smart phones not PCs. Also another factor working against Microsoft's Windows 10 is that PC sales still continue their slow but steady decline.
Most pundits in the industry however suggest that more and more software will be designed for the Windows 10 operating system as it gets taken up by more users.