Microsoft has until September 23 to get the Windows 10 operating system finished. The company announced today that Windows 10 will launch in 190 countries and in 111 different languages "this summer," which gives the company six months and change to get the operating system out the door.
Microsoft executives made the announcement in connection with the company's recently resurrected WinHEC conference for hardware developers, being held this week in Shenzhen, China. In announcing the approximate release date, Terry Myerson, executive vice president of the Operating Systems Group, also described some of the promotions and offers that will run to get Windows 10 into the hands of Chinese customers: Lenovo will be offering an upgrade service at its service centers and some retail stores, and Tencent and Qihu 360 both said that they'd be giving the operating system to their customers for free.
This has potentially vast reach; Tencent has some 800 million customers, Qihu 360 around 500 million. Tencent also promised Windows 10 versions of its QQ app and that the enormously popular League of Legends (developed by Tencent subsidiary Riot Games) would be brought to the Windows store.
Windows 10 for phones may also get a boost. Lenovo committed to building Windows phones that will be available by the middle of the year on China Mobile, and more intriguingly, Xiaomi is introducing a program that will allow some number of "power users" with the Xiaomi Mi 4 flagship handset to install Windows 10 Technical Preview for phones.
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