Microsoft says Windows 10 is for kids

Technically Incorrect offers a slightly twisted take on the tech that's taken over our lives.

I confess there have been days when I've wondered what Windows 22 will be like.

I confess those days have come after the previous day was spent wine tasting.

Still, for now we're left to ponder the glories of Windows 10, which makes its big foray to the public on July 29, aiming for the sweet spot of a common experience for PCs, tablets and mobile phones. But Microsoft would like you to know that Windows 10 really isn't for you.

It's for your babies, your little ones who will grow up without the technological problems that currently drive you to distractions like video games.

This Windows 10, by the way, is kind of a big deal. It's an apologia of sorts for the folly that was Windows 8, and a prayer that Windows has a future that's bright and happy. Like children at play.

In its first ad for Windows 10, Microsoft explains that your kids will all be using Surfaces and will snort at you for still owning anything made by Apple.

No, of course it doesn't say that literally, and I'm extrapolating just a touch.

But it does look forward to a world in which we don't have to remember our passwords (as if we do anyway now). It'll be a world where security is a given (they've suddenly become insane dreamers at Redmond).

The devices of the future will talk to you, sing to you and even tell you jokes. They won't be risque jokes, of course. Not unless you specifically ask your robot for a little filth now and then.

The ad doesn't actually mention robots. It merely says that the kids of today will be so much happier, smarter and generally more worthwhile humans because they grew up with Windows 10.

The bar for happier and smarter is currently quite low. So perhaps this new software will make the world into a curiously unfamiliar place, full of startling smiles and even more startling human insights.

Who could believe that mere software could do that for humanity? Microsoft insists it can.

The ad is a very pleasing departure from much of Microsoft's previous, say, 10 years of advertising.

Its promises are great. The only small question is whether Microsoft can live up to them.

It's good to dream, all the same.