Windows 10 Consumer Preview event: Live blog

published 21 January 2015

The Windows 10 Consumer Preview has been previewed by Microsoft. The operating system will launch later this year and will be available free during the first 365 days for existing Windows 7/8 users.

Key features revealed so far:

- Cortana will be built into PCs and mobile devices as standard.

- Windows Phone 10 will be optimised to use on screens which are 8in in size and below.

- Microsoft will launch "Universal apps" including Office and Outlook, which will be touch optimised.

- The Spartan web browser will allow users to annotate any web page.

- Microsoft announced Windows Holographic - software designed specifically to build 3D holograms via the firm's HoloLens.

- The firm also debuted an 84in touch screen system called the Surface Hub specifically designed for enterprise use.

- CEO Satya Nadella said the firm was also working on a Windows RT update and that pricing for Windows 10 after the first year had yet to be finalised, during a brief Q&A at the end of the launch.

Caroline Donnelly is the news and analysis editor of IT Pro and its sister site Cloud Pro, and covers general news, as well as the storage, security, public sector, cloud and Microsoft beats. Caroline has been a member of the IT Pro/Cloud Pro team since March 2012, and has previously worked as a reporter at several B2B publications, including UK channel magazine CRN, and as features writer for local weekly newspaper, The Slough and Windsor Observer. She studied Medical Biochemistry at the University of Leicester and completed a Postgraduate Diploma in Magazine Journalism at PMA Training in 2006.