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
Developer and Enterprise Features
Bash shell
At their Build developer conference, Microsoft announced that the Bash shell would be available in Windows 10 with the Anniversary Update, and they have delivered. Bash has been available in the Insider Program for quite a while, so it’s been well tested already. For those wondering why Microsoft would go to the trouble of adding another shell, the goal is to make Windows 10 more friendly for web developers who often have toolchains in Bash.
Image Source: hanselman.com
Microsoft partnered with Canonical to provide user-mode binaries, so most of the commands which work in Ubuntu will work in Windows 10 as well. The Bash shell is not running Linux in a virtual machine behind the scenes either. This is Ubuntu binaries running on Windows 10.
For those that wanted to leverage open source toolkits but could not do it on Windows before, this should be a nice addition to Windows.
Centennial Apps
Project Centennial is Microsoft’s solution for existing Win32 apps being moved forward to the new Universal Windows App (UWP) platform. With the Anniversary Update, Microsoft is bringing official support for Centennial Apps on Windows 10, where as prior to this it was all part of the testing phase.
Once a Win32 or .NET app has been converted to UWP, it will have the ability to do push notifications and have a Live Tile, just like all UWP apps. The install process is much cleaner, and uninstalling ensures that all traces of the app are gone. A converted Win32 app can be transitioned to the new XAML layout as well, which would allow for scaling of the UI much easier than any sort of DPI method.
Converted apps can also be put in the store, and updated through the store. For those that prefer to offer the app in a more traditional download and install way, the converter creates an AppX package which can be loaded onto any Windows 10 PC.
The app will have a virtualized file system and registry, and it won’t work for apps that have to run as administrator, but there are certainly some upsides to having Win32 apps converted to UWP. We’ll have to see how this goes over time, since it’s a brand new feature. Certainly apps that are no longer developed will never move to this model, it’s a smart way to at least offer the UWP platform to traditional Win32 developers.
Enterprise Features
Microsoft can’t leave out the Enterprise, since that’s a huge part of their business. The Anniversary Update brings some updates here too. Things like Windows Hello which are also usable by consumers will of course be available, but there are a couple of features targeted specifically towards the enterprise.
The first is one that we’ve heard about for about as long as Windows 10 has been around: Windows Information Protection. This feature was previously known as Enterprise Data Protection, and it is a mechanism to prevent data leaks by employees, either wittingly or unwittingly. Files can be designated as Business files based on where they are located, or where they came from, and end-users won’t be able to copy those files or their contents without switching it to a personal file, and whether or not they can do that is controlled by policy through Mobile Device Management or System Center Configuration Manager.
We’ve discussed this in the past, but there’s a great TechNet article now that the feature is being made available with this update.
The other big enterprise feature is Windows Defender Advanced Threat Protection, and yes the name is a mouthful. WDATP will help administrators detect, investigate, and respond to attacks to their infrastructure. It combines a client built-in to Windows 10 along with cloud infrastructure to provide tools and dashboards to see what’s going on now, and what’s happened in the past. It should be a powerful tool for IT admins. You can read more at TechNet as well.
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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"...