Final Words

There’s a lot to like with the Anniversary Update, and as the first major update since Windows 10 shipped, it’s a good start for Microsoft on their new track of Windows as a Service. We’d already seen a couple of smaller updates since launch, fixing several outstanding items, but the Anniversary Update adds a lot more functionality to the operating system.

With the new Skype, Mail, and other Universal Windows Apps, Microsoft finally has a platform which works across all of their systems. It really has been a long dream, and only with the update to the Xbox One do we really have a universal platform. This should pay dividends going forward, with any app updates being available to all systems. For developers, there’s an opportunity to reach all of Microsoft’s platforms with a single app. Project Centennial should assist with those trying to bring older Win32 apps forward as well.

The updated tablet mode is all about small changes. Using Windows 10 in a purely touch environment is definitely a better experience. Windows 8.1 was pretty good here, but the app selection was weak at best, so Windows 10 is now a superior platform for touch on the Windows side.

The Bash shell was a pretty big surprise at Build, but it makes a lot of sense with the new Microsoft. They’ve embraced open source in a way that didn’t seem possible a few years ago, and their strive to bring developers to the platform has been the driving factor in the addition of a Linux system to Windows. They even call it Bash on Ubuntu on Windows.

Windows Ink is a better way to use the pen. Cortana has improved. But I think the biggest update was to Edge, which really needed extensions to even have a chance of getting use by many users. Edge has always rendered text very well, but it’s lack of extensions made it difficult to use daily. With this update, that should no longer be a problem.

Microsoft made thousands of changes to Windows 10, and there’s no way to go into all of them in a single article, but Windows as a Service has started out pretty well so far. The Anniversary Update really polishes a lot of the aspects of Windows 10, which didn’t necessarily feel rushed, but wasn’t exactly finished either. This update has helped out on a lot of the edges.

The Windows Insider Program has been the driving factor in the development, and it doesn’t appear to be ending any time soon. Microsoft has found a way to tap into millions of people’s feedback and ideas to improve their product. It’s been an interesting road to Redstone, and now that Redstone 1 has shipped we should start to see the new features coming to Redstone over the next several months. For now, the Windows 10 Anniversary Update will start rolling out in waves today, so check your Windows Update.

Tablet Mode changes, Windows Everywhere, and Skype
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  • Zingam - Thursday, August 4, 2016 - link

    My laptop hangs on boot if it went sleeping or hibernating.
  • Hrel - Thursday, August 4, 2016 - link

    Fist page: "had gone to far and toned them back." should be "too"*.

    I'm still skeptical AF about Microsoft. They seem to be in bed with the US Government, NSA especially. Bill Gates has a history of backroom deals, so him being back at the company isn't comforting. The "anonymous" telemetry data is a problem no matter what you do with it so long as ISP's even have the option of data caps. Not to mention the ongoing issue of broadband in America being slow, hard to find, overpriced and just unavailable for ~80% of the geographic area of the country.

    But, I will read the rest of this with an open mind.
  • Hrel - Thursday, August 4, 2016 - link

    Finished it:

    Positives: They added the BASH shell.

    Negatives: literally everything else in the article.

    Fuck.
  • IntelligentAj - Friday, August 5, 2016 - link

    Am I the only one who didn't have issues installing the update? I downloaded and installed it in about a half hour with no issues
  • mastacow53 - Friday, August 5, 2016 - link

    I installed it on 4 computers, one being an Atom powered, 2g ram, 2009 netbook. I had zero problems.
  • ummduh - Saturday, August 6, 2016 - link

    Maybe? I went right to it from 8.1. Took several hours of research to get the installer to work. In the end the fix was to disconnect from all networks after it downloaded/verified, but before it started to install. Kept getting 0x8005007...8? Some such error that had tons of hits and an equal number of "fixes"..
  • slyphnier - Saturday, August 6, 2016 - link

    how to get/open WDATP things ? http://images.anandtech.com/doci/10537/WDATP.jpg

    first time after upgrading to anniversary update (win10pro), when login, i got greeted with WDATP

    now i look anywhere but can find it anymore
    based the screenshot, its Edge browser right ? so i need to access to a link ?
    tried security.windows.com but it didnt let me access it
  • RicheekD - Thursday, August 11, 2016 - link

    I've got a Dell Inspiron 13, I upgraded to the anniversary update and had to immediately downgrade. The WiFi keeps disconnecting every 5 minutes.
  • Lerianis - Monday, August 15, 2016 - link

    Underhanded? No. The Get Windows 10 prompt was intended to nudge the vast majority towards getting a superior operating system to Windows XP - 8.
    It worked in doing that, I upgraded all my computers a long time ago to Windows 10 and have yet to regret for even one second doing that.

    Windows 10 is the bottom line best Windows OS to come out in the past 15 years and everyone should update to it as soon as possible, even if they have to pay to update to it.
  • ComposerX - Tuesday, August 16, 2016 - link

    Well. I said years ago with no more elp files for seven os's, Windows is like Mac in that the one is (even tablets are getting there), and if they to are working on a CPU (am sure they could buy AMD), you never know. I can tell you in Los Angeles. Many still use aluminum macs tweaked. Some have moved to PCS. It was really a bummer to find out a school I was interested in now switched to mainly s due to faster rendering. Man. Apple needs to be loyal to those loyal to them. Tired of face slapping by them. Or price taxes like $200 for a BLACK MacBook. Then I remember a MacBook came out that blew away the MBP. But they stopped production on that big time. No Macro soon. It may be a hack. As mboards have thunderbolt now.

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