SAN FRANCISCO -- Windows Hello, the face-reading, can't-be-fooled-by-twins biometric login utility is about to spread way beyond Windows 10.
Introduced with Windows 10 but slow to roll out since it's only supported by devices equipped with Intel's Real Sense 3D camera, Windows Hello is a true boon for those who can use it.
If you have a laptop with the necessary hardware, you only have to train it to recognize your face once, and Windows Hello will log you into your PC as soon as you look at it -- every single time. It's pretty cool technology.
Microsoft, however, is aware that Windows Hello's dirt-simple login has potential beyond your PC's front door. "Eighty percent of people use same passwords across multiple sites and 90% of people abandon using a site because they forget the password," Yusuf Mehdi, Microsoft's corporate vice president, Windows and devices group, told Mashable.
The company plans to spread Windows Hello login to devices, applications and its upstart web browser, Microsoft Edge. At its Build 2016 conference, Microsoft announced developers will soon have access to code that will let them incorporate Windows Hello's facial login for web sites and apps.
It's an exciting prospect, but Microsoft will have to overcome some limiting factors, like the nowhere-near ubiquity of 3D-imaging cameras on PCs and the fact that Microsoft Edge has only the slimmest browser market share (3% according to NetMarketshare).