The company’s Windows 10 chief has tweeted that developing new features and hardware for the Mobile version of the OS was no longer a “focus”.

Joe Belfiore added that he had also switched to Android himself.

Windows 10 Mobile tried to attract users by letting them run the same “universal apps” on both their PCs and handsets, but the concept failed to catch on.

The OS accounted for just 0.03% of the global market – based on smartphone shipments – between April and June, according to research company IDC.

The market intelligence provider said the news had been a long time coming.

“There wasn’t a wide range of devices running Windows 10 Mobile, so it wasn’t attractive to retailers or operators,” said IDC’s Francisco Jeronimo.

“And from a consumer perspective, the operating system didn’t provide as good an experience as Android or iOS.”

Mr Belfiore began a series of tweets on Sunday by discussing the recent launch of a test version of Microsoft’s Edge web browser for Android and iOS – the latest in a series of releases of its core software for rival mobile platforms.

He then went on to respond to questions about whether there was any point sticking with Windows 10 Mobile.

He said that while Microsoft would support the “many companies” that had adopted the platform, he had switched to Android for the diversity of its apps and hardware.

“Of course we’ll continue to support the platform… bug fixes, security updates, et cetera,” he said.

“But building new features or hardware is not the focus.”

Mr Belfiore posted Microsoft had tried “very hard” to incentivise other companies to release universal apps – even writing their software for them in some cases – but the number of users had been too low for most to bother.

The announcement comes a week after HP had said it no longer planned to release further Windows 10 Mobile handsets, and a fortnight after Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates disclosed that he had already made the switch to Android.

However, some manufacturers – including the UK’s Wileyfox and Germany’s TrekStor – had unveiled new models powered by Windows 10 Mobile as recently as last month.

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It’s extremely light on details, but a blog post by the Xbox team suggests Game Mode will “optimize your Windows 10 PC for increased performance in gaming….” And that’s about all it says. Still, Windows Insiders will start to see some of the ‘visual elements’ show up on builds this week – which hopefully includes a description, with the feature being fully available in builds “shortly thereafter.”

It’s hard to say exactly how Microsoft will be improving performance – or to what degree – without more concrete details, but there are a few things we can surmise.

I, for one, have always thought Microsoft could make everyone’s lives a bit easier by introducing a mode where it monitors services and apps that are using too many resources, and pauses them temporarily while a game is running.

In fact, the company already does something similar with its ‘Battery Saver’ mode, which prevents data pulls in the background. It’s also likely the mode could monitor network-hungry apps to reduce latency during online sessions.

(Bonus: the company has also addressed that issue where you icons get thrown to odd places after changing your resolution – such as when jumping in an out of a game at non-native resolution – in an Insider build earlier this week.)

On the other hand, it’s not likely the mode will provide much improvement for power users who have already heavily optimized every aspect of their OS; it’s probably to make life easier for the n00bs out there. Still, the company is calling it a “big update.” Here’s to hoping for some real performance gains.

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Source: Thenextweb

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Mr Obama told those gathered it was a “sacred place of healing and of hope”.

The National September 11 Memorial Museum includes thousands of personal items and parts of the World Trade Center towers themselves.

Almost 3,000 people died on 11 September 2001 after al-Qaeda hijackers flew aeroplanes into the towers.

Another hijacked plane hit the Pentagon. A fourth crashed into a field in Pennsylvania after passengers fought with the hijacker.

In his opening remarks at the ceremony, former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the museum was “a reminder to us and all future generations that freedom carries heavy responsibilities”.

President Obama said the museum means we can all “look into the faces of nearly 3,000 innocent souls”.

“We can touch their names and hear their voices, glimpse the small items that speak to the beauty of their lives – a wedding ring, a dusty helmet, a shining badge,” he told those gathered.

As well as rescuers, survivors and relatives of people who lost their lives, there was in attendance the New York mayor at the time of the attacks, Rudy Giuliani, the present mayor, Bill de Blasio, and actor Robert De Niro.

Many more watched a broadcast of the ceremony from the plaza outside the museum.

In his short speech, the president recalled the story of Welles Crowther, a 24-year-old World Trade Center worker and former volunteer firefighter who became known as “the man in the red bandana” after leading workers to safety before dying in the south tower’s collapse.

His bandana is in the museum and his mother, Alison, told the audience she hoped it would remind visitors “how people helped each other that day, and that they will be inspired to do the same in ways both big and small”.

The museum features dramatic and horrific moments of the day in videos, including the two skyscrapers collapsing, but also symbols of heroism, such as damaged fire trucks and the wristwatch of one of the passengers who confronted the hijackers.

Before the ceremony, President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama toured the museum, viewing a memorial wall with photos of victims and a mangled fire truck.

Along with the nearby memorial plaza, the New York city museum cost $700m (£418m) in donations and public money.

The museum, not far from the original site of the World Trade Center, is largely underground. It will be fully open to the public on 21 May.

The museum is not without controversy. Some relatives of victims are upset that unidentified humans remains found in the rubble will be located near the museum at Ground Zero.

Some Muslim groups have also said a video describing al-Qaeda and the run-up to the attacks does not differentiate enough between the violent hijackers motivated by a radical vision of Islam and regular Muslims.

Source: BBC

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