Microsoft jumps to Windows 10

At at event in San Francisco, Microsoft previews the next iteration of its desktop operating system, Windows 10.

Joe Belfiore, Microsoft's corporate VP of operating systems, gives a live demo of Windows 10 onstage at an press event in San Francisco, Calif. on Tuesday.Nick Statt/CNET

SAN FRANCISCO -- Microsoft unveiled its new operating system, Windows 10, onstage at a press event in San Francisco, Calif. Tuesday.

Originally codenamed Windows Threshold, the new operating system essentially does away with the tiled "Metro" user interface that Microsoft attempted to implement across its entire device line, from desktops to Surface tablets and Widows Phone devices. It is such a substantial leap, says Microsoft's executive VP of operating systems, Terry Myerson, that the company insisted on skipping overWindows 9 when transitioning from 2012's Windows 8.

"Windows 10 will run on the broadest amount of devices. A tailored experience for each device," Myerson said. "There will be one way to write a universal application, one store, one way for apps to be discovered purchased and updated across all of these devices."

Taking the stage, Microsoft's Joe Belfiore, corporate VP of operating systems and the current public face of Windows and Windows Phone design and development, gave attendees a live demo of an early build of Windows 10. Belfiore, too, is insistent on the leap to Windows 10.

"We want all these Windows 7 users to have the sentiment that yesterday they were driving a first-generation Prius," he said, "and now with Windows 10 it's like we got them a Tesla."