Windows 10 is about to make some new friends after Microsoft opened up the first public release of the IoT Core version of its new operating system.

First reported by Windows Central, the first non-preview version of Windows 10 IoT Core can be used by the Raspberry Pi 2 and Intel's MinnowBoard Max boards with a raft of new features also coming along for the ride.

The new features include the addition of support for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth wireless connections, improved support for Python and Node.js, uplift in GPIO performance on the Raspberry Pi 2, and various other changes.

To use the new version of Windows 10 IoT Core you still need to have a PC running Windows 10 Build 10240 plus Visual Studio 15, otherwise you will have problems getting the OS to function on your Raspberry Pi 2 or MinnowBoard Max.

Road to one billion

Microsoft unveiled its IoT plans back in March with the Azure IoT Suite designed to help enterprises manage "things" by leveraging the power of the Azure cloud. It followed this up with the preview release of Windows 10 IoT Core and at the time hoped that it would trigger enough interest to be a big contributor as Redmond aims for one billion Windows devices.

Consumers have flocked to Windows 10 since its release last week and almost 20 million have already taken advantage of the free upgrade offer that was open to the owners of Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 PCs.