Microsoft shows off Windows 10 and 'HoloLens'

(L-R) Microsoft executives Joe Belfiore, Terry Myerson and Alex Kipman pose wearing HoloLens eyewear that overlays 3D images on the real world, at a press event at the technology titan's main campus in Redmond, Washington on Jan 21, 2015. The US technology titan debuted its HoloLens capabilities built into its coming Windows 10 operating system and showed off goggles that let wearers use their hands to interact with virtual objects. [Photo/CFP]

Hoping to win back a larger audience, Microsoft is promising Windows 10 will provide a familiar experience to users on across devices, and a common platform for software developers to create apps that work on all of them.

"Windows 10 is built for a world in which there are going to be more devices on the planet than people," CEO Satya Nadella told reporters and industry analysts at Microsoft's headquarters. He said Microsoft wants to "enable that seamless cross-over, across devices as you move around at home and at work."

Rivals including Apple and Google have also been working toward that goal, by making apps that, for example, save files or photos created on a PC and let the user retrieve them on a smartphone. But analysts say new features in Windows 10 could give Microsoft an edge.