Microsoft sheds light on Windows 10, discusses Salesforce partnership

Tony Prophet, corporate VP Windows marketing, speaks to Salesforce CEO about the future of Windows, and the new partnership between the two firms

Microsoft has revealed more detail on the way it is developing Windows 10, its new operating system, claiming that it is attempting to build the "best OS ever for the enterprise".

Speaking at Dreamforce - the annual conference from cloud-based CRM provider Salesforce.com - in San Francisco today, Tony Prophet (pictured right), corporate VP Windows marketing at Microsoft, explained that Microsoft is currently trying to go "ecosystem agnostic".

"Bringing Office to the iPad and to Android, these were exceedingly difficult decisions, but we're trying to build open, collaborative, partner-centric platforms and Windows 10 is next."

Prophet said that the firm has developed a new process for creating an operating system with Windows 10, by releasing its "technical preview" - an early build available to download and test from Microsoft - which it expects users to try out and then feed back their thoughts.

Prophet said that the preview has had over one million downloads in the past week, which he hailed as an enormous success.

He added that the key part of the process is listening to customer feedback.

"We're listening in real time to our enterprise customers," said Prophet. We're listening to what they like and what they don't like, and what's compatible. We've brought in lots of great features, some are back from Windows 7, some from 8, some are new like virtual desktops, and we've brought the Start button back."

The last point drew a laugh from the audience, well aware of the huge pressure Microsoft has been under since it controversially removed the popular feature in Windows 8.

Prophet was being interviewed on stage at Dreamforce by Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, who then asked Prophet: "What happened to Windows 9?" drawing another laugh.

Prophet attempted to answer the question by claiming that Windows 10 is such a leap over Windows 8 that the number nine wouldn't be a sufficient indicator of its sophistication.

"Windows 10 isn't an incremental step," said Prophet. "We're creating one platform, one ecosystem that unites many devices from small embedded devices in the internet of things, through phones, tablets, PCs, right through to the XBox. There's a single app ecosystem, a single developer environment, and a single store. It's a quantum leap."

When Benioff asked what sort of customer feedback the firm has picked up on so far, Prophet answered that enterprises have proved keen on security features.

"The features that are key for the enterprise are around identity, management and security of data, not just of the device. And also around deployment - to make it easier to deploy these device around the world, and to provision them more easily on the network."

Benioff then said: "You're not yet responsible for Office 365, but where is it going?"

"Think of your customers and the time they spend in the Salesforce word processor," Prophet replied. "And the time people spend in Excel and Word - the office productivity tools. So people spend time in these environments, but to have them not integrate [is inefficient]. The spirit of the partnership [between Microsoft an Salesforce] is to have them be seamless.

"The two platforms will inter-operate, so when you open, work, connect or share, regardless of whether the data is in SharePoint or in Salesforce, it will seamlessly integrate. That should delight customers around the world."