Microsoft posts roadmap of Windows 10 features for business

Microsoft has released a roadmap of the new features it intends to release for business users of its Windows 10 operating system.

Most of the upcoming features focus on user authentication and security, but Windows 10 will also get some usability spit and polish over the coming months.

Enterprise features in development for all Windows 10 devices currently include enhancements to Azure Active Directory Join and the Microsoft Passport authentication feature that replaces passwords with enrolled devices and Windows Hello biometrics.

Microsoft is also working on using Windows Phone and Android devices as remote credentials stores for device unlocking and user authentication, along with companion devices such as the Band 2 wearable.

A public preview of multifactor authentication for apps and websites, using Microsoft Hello as well as Passport, has already been released via the Windows Insider program.

For enterprise security, Microsoft announced Windows Defender Advanced Threat Protection, which will draw on information the company has collected from a billion Windows devices, 2.5 trillion indexed weblinks and 600 million online reputation lookups, as well as daily vetting of a million suspicious files.

WDATP is in testing with early adopter enterprise customers, but Microsoft did not say when the service will be generally released.

The long-awaited Enterprise Data Protection file encryption product - which can be used to stop employees inappropriately sharing organisational information - is in public preview as of this month. EDP entered testing in November last year.

Microsoft is also developing notifications from websites for the Edge web browser in Windows 10, which recently gained the ability to use extensions and tab pinning in the Insider preview version.

Start menu updates, picture-in-picture, screen drawing, PC-to-PC casting and integration of the Cortana personal digital assistant with the Action Centre notifications are other features currently in development.

The roadmap did not provide details on the expected release date for the features in development and public preview. Microsoft will release the Windows 10 "Anniversary Update" in July this year, with a further large update to the operating system expected in 2017.