Microsoft Build 2015: Windows 10 Continuum, 'Edge' Browser, Office APIs & More Updates Announced

The first day of Microsoft's Build Developer Conference saw the tech giant announcing the latest updates in their products.

Here's a roundup of the corporation's exciting news unveiled in its keynote address.

Windows 10

Terry Myerson, Microsoft's executive vice-president of operating systems, announced at the Build 2015 Conference that the company is aiming to run Windows 10 on 1 billion devices within the next two or three years, Mashable reported.

The exec also compared the Windows OS to Android's 4.4 KitKat, which is installed on around 500 million devices, the news outlet added. The same can also be said on Apple's iOS, which, according to Myerson, runs on fewer devices.

Microsoft announced the inclusion of the Continuum feature on Windows 10 as well, Venture Beat wrote. The technology provides automatic changes in the user experience for gadgets equipped with Windows 10 and allows apps running on phones to "provide much greater support when you plug in peripherals like a big screen," the news outlet added.

Bidness Etc reported that the old and transparent Aero Glass appearance from the Windows Vista and 7 will make a comeback in Windows 10. UI and 3D tiles will also return in Microsoft's new OS' visual palette.

'Edge' Browser

The corporation also announced that the next Web browser relating to Windows 10 will be named Edge, which was previously labeled as Project Spartan.

Announced by Joe Belfiore, Microsoft's corporate vice president of the operating systems group, the Edge browser's name came from "being on the edge of consuming and creating," Redmond Magazine quoted. Its search engine, called EdgeHTML, serves as "a fork of Microsoft's proprietary Trident engine in Internet Explorer," the news outlet added.

The Windows 10 release this coming summer will correspond with the launch of Edge as well. Microsoft ditched numerous "legacy" Trident coding for the browser, guaranteeing that Edge will have "blazing fast core technology" that will pave way for easier connection with the apps developers create, Redmond Magazine wrote.

Web extensions capability, which supports HTML and JavaScript, is also included in the Edge browser. Other features consist of a note-taking ability, a reading pane for reading Web site content, and a sharing capacity, Redmond Magazine listed.

Office APIs

Plans for new applications and add-ins for Office is also revealed at the Build 2015 conference. According to Windows Central, the Office API tool is expected to come this week, while LinkedIn, Uber, and other third-party companies could now create apps for the Outlook and other Office programs.

For more information, visit Dev.Office.com.

HoloLens

The conference also demonstrated its HoloLens holographic headset project. According to Tech Crunch, the tech giant assured developers that they are welcome to try the 100 HoloLens nerd helmets on-site.

The HoloLens' augmented reality has the potential "to revolutionize [medical] education by bringing 3D content into the real world" and provide certain developments not just to the medical field, but also in engineering, architecture, and design, CWRU's Mark Griswold said from the BUILD stage, Wired reported.