First Look: Windows 10 Retail Boxes for Disc and USB

We’ve come to an age where practically everything is delivered to us over the Internet. We don’t go out and buy physical CDs anymore, because we can buy those tracks from iTunes or stream them through Spotify. We don’t go out and buy physical copies of our PC games anymore, because we can just get the digital copy over Steam. But what about the operating system? If your computer doesn’t already have an OS, you still need some sort of physical media to get started, don’t you? That’s what Microsoft might be thinking with the Windows 10 retail release, as evidenced by the leaked box art for the upcoming platform.

Of course, you could always download the multi-gigabyte operating system on an existing computer so that you can install it on another machine, but some people still suffer from slow Internet access or otherwise face other impediments. Whatever the case, the leaked renders above depict what the Windows 10 retail boxes will look like for the disc-based versions of the OS. The assumption is that the different editions of Windows 10 will look fundamentally the same, save for the choice of color. In this case, Windows 10 Pro is purple and Window 10 Home is blue.

You’ll also notice that they’re putting the Windows 10 desktop front and center, proudly displaying the newly resurrected Start Menu. This should give some indication to the non-techie types about what they can expect to find inside, just like how the lighting effect on the “wallpaper” indicates how the contents of the box will illuminate your computing life. Or something like that.

Just as so many of us get just about everything over the Internet these days, so many of us also have computers that lack proper optical drives. This is true of Ultrabooks and tablets alike, as well as an increasingly large number of DIY desktops. To this end, Microsoft is also going to offer a retail version of Windows 10 delivered via a USB drive. The box art here is decidedly less inspired.

In any case, we’re still marking July 29th on our calendars for the free Windows 10 upgrade, even if we’re not all getting it at the same time. If you’re not eligible for the upgrade and you want to visit your local brick-and-mortar, you can expect to see those Windows 10 retail boxes around the same time.

Source: WinFuture and Microsoft Insider, via The Verge