Windows 10 Anniversary Update: The Road To Redstone
by Brett Howse on August 2, 2016 8:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Operating Systems
- Microsoft
- Windows 10
Edge and Xbox
Edge Updates
With all of the changes that have come with the Anniversary Update, none have been more impactful or more necessary than the updates to Edge. When Edge came along, it offered some much needed performance improvements over Internet Explorer, and a goal to keep it up to date more, and improve standards compliance. That has happened, at least somewhat, but not to the extent that I had hoped or expected. We were promised that Edge would be updated through the Windows Store, so updates to Edge would no longer be tied to the operating system, but overall that hasn’t happened yet. Edge has been updated, but it seemed to happen only when there was an OS update. There have been a few changes brought along since release, but all of them have been pretty minor. I’m not necessarily disappointed in the update speed of Edge, but more that we’re still stuck with waiting for the core OS to get a major update in order to get a major update to the browser.
Still, the changes that have come for Edge with the Anniversary Update are very welcome. The biggest update is for extensions.
Internet Explorer had plug-ins, but when Microsoft created Edge, they ditched that model completely. The goal was to use extensions, and the extensions would share much of the same ideas as those in Google Chrome. However, the feature didn’t launch with Windows 10, and we’ve had to wait an entire year for it. With this update, Extensions are now available, and it makes Edge all the better for it.
At the moment, there are only a couple of extensions, but likely more will come over time now that it’s officially available and not just part of the insider program. Popular extensions like Lastpass are available, and they are installed and updated through the Windows Store. To find extensions, there is an Extensions hub in Edge’s settings which will take you to the store where you can see and search for them. The insider preview has shown that these extensions can be pretty much as fully customizable as those in Chrome, and other than a few times where the extensions have had to be reinstalled because of an update (and they were reinstalled automatically) the practice of using them has been great. Even though it’s early days, using Lastpass in Edge is already better than it ever was in Internet Explorer, as an example.
Other than extensions, there are other updates to Edge, but none of them are as highly visible. Instead, it gains support for things like Paste and Go, and the ability to navigate forward and backward by swiping the screen to the side, just like Internet Explorer had in Windows 8.1.
You can also specify what to do with downloads now, and change the default save location. Somehow this wasn’t available at launch, but it is here now. Sites that support it can also do web notifications in Edge, and Windows Hello integration is here too, allowing for sign into supporting websites. But don’t worry – your facial image won’t be sent to the site. Instead it will use a token system which Windows Hello will take care of.
Xbox
The Xbox itself is also getting the Anniversary Update, which will bring Cortana, Universal Windows Apps (UWP), and more to the console, but the big addition on the PC side is the new Play Anywhere initiative.
Microsoft has been updating their gaming platform on the PC continuously, and unlike Edge they have not been waiting for major OS updates to bring these changes. For example, in May, Windows 10 gaming got support for V-Sync control and Adaptive Framerate which was an early criticism of Universal Windows App based games like Rise of the Tomb Raider.
With the new WDDM 2.0, quite a bit has changed, and for a full refresher on this I’d recommend the Windows 10 Review which goes into some nice detail. As a summary though, WDDM 2.0 removes the full-screen capabilities of older games, and the sandbox model of UWP means that apps like FRAPS no longer function. It’s a change from the past, and people love the past, but with support now for variable frame rates and V-Sync, the compositing in Windows 10 is the best compromise for a tear-free gaming experience.
The big news on the Xbox side though is that Microsoft has created the Xbox Play Anywhere program. Games that are part of this program will offer both a version on the Xbox One as well as the Windows Store. You can buy the game on either device, and you get the copy on the other. Saved games will sync through the cloud to all devices. While the Xbox One has not been as successful as the Playstation 4, Microsoft has made a smart play by leveraging its other strengths, including PC gaming. Although this will require developer support, Microsoft Studios will be supporting it on all of the games they showed on-stage at E3 this year.
I still think they have some work to do in order to compete against the likes of Steam and Origin though, including the ability to backup games and more. One change that has helped though is that you can now specify which drive to install a game on. Considering games can now easily be 50 GB or more, having that default to the C: drive as it was at launch can be a big problem when you have a smaller SSD as your boot drive. You can now specify where to install the game when you choose to download it.
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jlabelle2 - Tuesday, August 16, 2016 - link
- how many of us want a private, customizable (think no Cortana / Store / forced updates / automatic removal of programs) OS?It is not because they are idiot people out there that Microsoft should cater their OS for those.
Cortana is nothing more than a search if you disable all the tailor made options.
Removing Windows Store is like asking that OS would run without softwares and cars without wheels. Store apps have inherent advantages compared to Win32 programs (more secured, uninstall without leftovers, free up memory automatically, scale perfectly, support all input types, integrate with notification center / share API / Cortana, roam the settings accrias devices...) that make them (when they do what you want) factually better that Win32 programs. Nobody is forcing anyone to install them but removing the Store is just an utterly silly request.
And at last, regarding automatic updates, we all know, reading those forums what is the perception of average Joe toward Windows PCs being prone to viruses / malwares / slow down compared to tablets like iPad and this is the smartest decision from Microsoft to force update and back in Windows Defender plus Store apps to give people the same advantages as iPad in term of simplicity / security / continuity of performance while still allowing users to use the millions of legacy Win32 programs if necessary.
jlabelle2 - Tuesday, August 16, 2016 - link
What is Cortana if you removed all points of interest except a glorified search? Why people are asking the possibility to disable Cortana? This is beyond me especially people that do think they understand computer better that my mom. Do not want to use search, do not. Simply as that.looncraz - Tuesday, August 2, 2016 - link
This is basically an article highlighting all of the things I remove from Windows 10 to make it a palatable platform. Except Bash.Dark mode also works in the original Windows 10, you just have to manually set a registry key.
baka_toroi - Tuesday, August 2, 2016 - link
Call me paranoid, but I see the combination of project Centennial and the impossibility of rejecting Windows updates as a surefire way to block Win32 apps in the distant future. "We know better than you, boy. Don't try to do as you wish to do with your own computer." In other words, an Apple world.Sure, there will be jailbreaks and stuff but we all know it's not the same as having legitimate access to your whole system.
Michael Bay - Tuesday, August 2, 2016 - link
That day sure is coming, but not any time soon. Way too much legacy sw still in active circulation.prophet001 - Tuesday, August 2, 2016 - link
Why do people just swallow this hook line and sinker?I know why: Ignorance.
Michael Bay - Tuesday, August 2, 2016 - link
If you`re not using some banking client from 80s, there is little use in holding on tightly to win32. It`s not like they are restricting your ability to develop under winrt and will likely start some kind of transition program for developers like Apple did.Ascaris - Wednesday, August 3, 2016 - link
Win32 programs are for regular desktop or laptop PCs. UWP is for tablets and phones. There's already too much of the horrendous UWP "design language" in desktop Windows 10-- I'm certainly never going to add to it with anything "app." When I had a Windows 10 installation on my test PC, I uprooted Windows Store, Cortana, Edge, and all of that kind of stuff... most satisfying thing I ever did with 10, other than wiping the drive when I finally gave up on 10 ever becoming a usable OS.All the stuff about "it uninstalls cleanly" that we hear about UWP is certainly a good thing, but there's nothing inherent about Win32 that makes this inevitable (other than the existence of the registry in general). In the Win 95 days and prior, Windows pretty much allowed any installer to make any change it wanted. It was common for installers to sprinkle DLLs into the Windows directory, sometimes overwriting system files. They were allowed to do most anything with the registry. There was no enforced or even theoretical schema to any of it... it was just "do whatever you want."
A big part of Windows 95's crashiness can probably be directly attributed to this.
Later versions tightened it up some, but installers still have considerable authority to make changes that are not adequately tracked by the system. That doesn't have to be.
If the changes with UWP were mainly about fixing this, that would be one thing, but that's not the main reason for it. It's so "apps" can run on multiple platforms. Maybe some people will be happy running phone apps on their PCs, but I won't. Too many compromises have to be made to make it sorta-work on devices as dissimilar as a touch-screen 5 inch phone (that is usually held in portrait) and a PC with three times the CPU and GPU power and nearly unlimited local storage with a 24" screen that is always in landscape, with input via an actual keyboard and a mouse.
Of course, I know that the idea is that some "apps" will be strictly PC, but those are not the point of UWP. The point is trying to unify dissimilar and ergonomically incompatible computing platforms, even though there are good reasons why PC and mobile UI design parameters are different and distinct.
jlabelle2 - Tuesday, August 16, 2016 - link
- Win32 programs are for regular desktop or laptop PCs. UWP is for tablets and phonesThis cannot be further of the truth. This is an arbitrary split that you are spreading as if everything should be split like Apple decided (even if they are themselves coming back from those toaster/fridge complain as the iPad Pro is proving).
The one advantage you claim from UWP is real. And many others are. It seems that you would have liked Microsoft to evolve Win32 to integrate all the UWP advantages than starting from scratch. Whatever was the best way to proceed, UWP offers clear and undeniable advantages, even purely on desktop compared to Win32 apps (see some that I mentioned above).
- It's so "apps" can run on multiple platforms
Exactly. And as such, that is already a very important advantage that Win32 does not share. And honestly, mobile being so important these days, it is clear that it is much more clever from Microsoft to push applications that could run as well on laptop, tablet or even mobile phone than legacy Win32 softwares.
- Maybe some people will be happy running phone apps on their PCs, but I won't
I am. Because there are nothing specifically phone related. For instance, Drawboard PDF has simply no Win32 equivalent. And there are plenty examples of those.
And there is no reason why phone apps advantages would not be valid when used on a tablet or desktop or laptop.
- Too many compromises have to be made to make it sorta-work on devices as dissimilar as a touch-screen 5 inch phone
Not really as the interface can morph and adapt to the screen size so indeed, UWP are quite flexible on tis regard. You are trying to create a dichotomy that simply does not exist anymore.
Many people are using tablet or laptop with touchscreen. Keyboard is natural input method, even on phones (be it on-screen keyboard). Pen can act virtually like a pointing device making applications benefiting from a mouse very much as usable with a pen on a tablet.
Also, even if laptop or desktop have bigger screen, they are also used from further away.
You are mentioning the aspect ratio but this is something UWP manage very well. A good example is for instance Outlook which is using 3 different vertical panes on phones (account and forlder list,mail list, mail content pane) that can be all displayed at once on a desktop / laptop landscape screen.
Indeed, UWP is an evidence that there is so much overlap that the distinction that Apple is still trying to promote (even if contradicting themselves with the iPad Pro) is not making sense anymore. Google has realize that as well with Android apps running on Chromebook.
- here are good reasons why PC and mobile UI design parameters are different and distinct.
If there were "PC" on one side and "mobile" on an another, where does tablets and laptop fits ?
Daniel Egger - Tuesday, August 2, 2016 - link
lol, Microsoft passed Apple a *long* time ago when it comes to restrictiveness and lack of privacy. Actually it was right at the time when they introduced "Genuine Advantage"...