Report: Microsoft to Unwrap Windows 10 Consumer in January

Microsoft (MSFT) will showcase Window 10’s consumer-centric features at a special event in January, according to a report in The Verge.

The vendor plans to supplement its presentation at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas Jan. 6-9 with a follow-on, separate media event specifically intended to detail the consumer preview of its next-generation operating system, including the new Continuum touch interface, the report said.

Microsoft, which previously has said it is targeting an early 2015 date to debut the consumer features of Windows 10, will announce the event before the close of this year, The Verge said.

Microsoft also reportedly will discuss its plans for the Windows Phone mobile operating system and perhaps updates to its Xbox One gaming console, according to the report. Specifics on just how those topics dovetail with Windows 10’s multi-device coverage aren’t clear at this point.

On the enterprise side, last October, Microsoft released an updated version of the Windows 10 Technical Preview less than a month after the initial build was offered to testers, more than 1 million of whom, at that point, had signed on so far to take the new operating system for a test drive under the vendor’s Windows Insider Program.

In November, the vendor rolled out the 9879 build of Windows 10 Technical Preview, the last major update for the year available to Windows Insider Program participants, according to Gabe Aul, Microsoft Operating Systems Group Data & Fundamentals Team lead.

In a Windows Blog post, Aul said at the time that “this will be the last new build of the year for Windows Insiders,” adding the vendor will “have something new to share with you early in 2015.”

But that doesn’t mean the smaller patches won’t keep arriving. Microsoft on Dec. 2 released a new patch for the 9879 public build intended to fix “frequent Explorer crashes,” Aul said in a Twitter post. The fix is intended to address a large amount of Explorer.exe crashes after users upgrade either to Windows Server Technical Preview or Windows 10 Technical Preview.