Windows 10 has the potential to solve some of Microsoft's most pressing problems. "Windows 10 will be a service across an array of devices and will usher in a new area .. where the mobility of the experience, not the device, is paramount," Nadella told investors Thursday after Microsoft announced earnings and said that its profit topped Wall Street's expectations. What that means is a promise to developers and consumers that Windows 10 will be a single platform to run all their apps on across all their devices. Developers will write to a single code base, allowing them to create a so-called universal app that will work across any device so long as that device runs Windows 10. Those devices can include phones, tablets, PCs, the Xbox One game console, TVs and even the new HoloLens virtual-reality headset.

"There will be one way to write a universal application, one store, one way for apps to be discovered, purchased and updated across all of these devices," Terry Myerson, Microsoft's executive vice walk towards manayama iphone case president of operating systems, said at the September unveiling of Windows 10, At Build, Microsoft is expected to talk about how that will work, Even with that promise, there's a Catch-22, Windows 10 can't succeed if it runs on phones almost no one buys, powers tablets only some people use and is only installed on newer PCs -- most owners haven't upgraded their operating systems in almost six years..

"It doesn't matter how easy it is to develop for a platform if you can't sell a product because there are no users," Enderle said. Microsoft has "to convince these guys if they develop for the platform that they'll get compensated."To give the software a push, Microsoft is making upgrades to Windows 10 easier on the wallet. For the first time, Microsoft is giving Windows away for free to users running Windows 7 or later versions. It's also offering its Office suite of apps free of charge on competitors' devices, like Apple's iPhone and iPad, in the hope those apps will prompt users to return to Windows products.

Microsoft's ultimate goal is to get consumers and businesses to subscribe to its cloud offerings, like the Office 365 subscription service, More software makers now view annual subscriptions as the gift that keeps on giving, The company's cloud businesses are growing fast, too, Growth in that division helped send Microsoft's stock up more than 10 percent last Friday after its earnings report, Windows 10 follows in the footsteps of some unpopular older siblings, prompting Nadella and Myerson to devote a lot of their time in public last year to reassuring PC users that Microsoft won't release a software product as misguided as Windows walk towards manayama iphone case 8..

That version, released three years ago, attempted to marry mobile device gestures and interfaces to the traditional PC. It failed. To date, only 14 percent of the world's PC users run Windows 8 or Windows 8.1, while 58 percent run the 6-year-old Windows 7. The marketing jingle for Windows 8, Lenka's "Everything At Once," presaged the faults of a program that bit off more than it could chew. With Windows 10, Microsoft has a chance to win back some of its industry influence. "You've got the potential for the same kind of disruptive event with Windows 95," Enderle said. "Google has the attention span of a 3-year-old and Apple thinks it's invulnerable. Microsoft has an opportunity -- if it can execute."Let's hope they start by picking a catchier theme song this time around -- perhaps Daft Punk's "One More Time."The world's largest software maker has to convince developers to write apps for the new version of its widely used operating system. But it also needs to win over customers, from consumers to businesses. That's no simple task.