Recent reports suggest Microsoft is planning to roll out its upcoming OS iteration dubbed ‘Windows 10’ on USB flash drives when the OS launches on 29 July.
According to a report on German news site Winfuture.de, citing unnamed sources, both the 32-bit and 64-bit editions of Windows 10 will be available to install from USB flash drives.
The move seems to be a meaningful one owing to the fact that many laptop and ultrabook devices currently ship without disk drives and that USB drives, unlike DVDs, are able to hold both the 32-bit and 64-bit variants of the software. Faster installation speed is an additional advantage of using a USB drive.
Winfuture reports that the USB option will be made available for both Windows 10 Home and Windows 10 Professional. The news source has also posted some screen shots which shows some details about Flash drive licensing for Microsoft Windows.
As per the report, the DVD and USB versions of the software will cost the same as a digital download of Windows 10 starting at £99.99. The OS will be offered as a free upgrade for those running genuine Windows 7 or 8.1 on their computers if this upgrade is performed during the first 12 months after its global launch in 190 countries on 29 July 2015. Once the twelve month period has expired, anyone still left on Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 will need to pay for a license same like everyone else.
In related news, a recent research from Spiceworks has found that Windows 10 might turn out to be Microsoft’s most popular OS ever, with an estimated target of being installed on one billion devices by 2017. The survey revealed that around 96 per cent of the IT decision makers have expressed interest in Windows 10 and around 60 percent of the IT departments have already tested the OS, or are in the process of testing the OS.
As per the survey report, around 40 per cent of the companies have expressed their intent to start using Windows 10 in the first year of its release, while 33 per cent more companies plan to use it within the two years.
