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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tipoo - Tuesday, August 2, 2016 - link
I hope you don't use any google services, or heck even just have a continual web presence at all since no doubt you're being run through a number of analytics programs already.Me, I couldn't care less that some anonymized telemetrics are sent to MS. It already happened with earlier error reporting.
JoeyJoJo123 - Tuesday, August 2, 2016 - link
Then I'm sure you wouldn't mind a camera being placed in every public toilet, so that the government could watch you do your business, you know, just in case a terrorist decides to attempt to blow open another toilet with explosives. I mean, everyone uses the bathroom, right? There's nothing wrong that you're doing, so you wouldn't abject to being monitored while you do your business, right?Here's my point:
Just because you're doing nothing wrong gives nobody any right to monitor your every movement across the net. Being blind to the fact that Microsoft is literally spying on millions of people and also monetarily PROFITING from that surveillance just makes the situation worse by establishing that online surveillance is "OK" for millions of normal people using their computers and internet services in law abiding ways.
Michael Bay - Tuesday, August 2, 2016 - link
MS does not profit from it directly, you`re thinking of goog.Notmyusualid - Tuesday, August 2, 2016 - link
+ 48^12 upvotes.prophet001 - Tuesday, August 2, 2016 - link
TrueMeteor2 - Tuesday, August 2, 2016 - link
You best stop using computers which are connected to other ones.MrTuKer - Wednesday, August 10, 2016 - link
I don't understand the criticism from people here, lot of people seem to think MS can do no wrong even if they are copying tactics that other companies use that are criticized by everyone ?What Google and Apple do is not right and by MS copying them it still doesn't mean that it is right ! Didn't you mom ever tell you that two wrongs don't make a right well let me tell you a little secret three wrongs still don't make a right either !
And who in their right mind doesn't think MS doesn't profit directly from its surveillance needs to goto the funny farm ASAP - Indirectly or directly it doesn't matter - Yes I'm talking aboy both MS and going to the funny farm !
Yes I have used MS Windows since Win 3.0 and have used most but avoided Vista, Millienium, and Win 8.0/8.1 - I jumped straight from Win 7 64 Pro on day 1 of Win 10 release obviously after imaging my SSD to another SSD, I went through the pain of trying to be acclimatised to Win 10, I gave it 3 months but finally gave up and went back to Win 7. Even then it took me a day or two to become re-familiarized with Win 7, then slowly over the next 3-4 months I noticed Windows updates taking longer and generally my i7 Alienware was starting to feel generally sluggish. I had heard about the backporting of telemetry to Win 7 also and finally I had enough one night thought I would just give Linux a bash on the Win 10 SSD and I haven't looked back since.
No this is not a Win 10 bashing, no it is not a Linux advert.
All I can say is that in my opinion and OS should just be that - An OS, nothing more nothing less.
It can have a GUI or not, its your choice.
But it should not spy on you - hey Google and Apple and Microsoft are you listening - That is what all Governments do even though they never like to admit it and I don't agree with that either unless it is done with a warrant from a Judge - But I digress !
An OS should be an OS and nothing else, the apps that you want you install or maybe a selection are installed for you but these can be uninstalled to be replaced with your chosen one's or not - whatever the case maybe !
An OS should not lock you into a particular browser or search engine or whatever, this is taking choice away from the user and the excuse that well if the user doesn't like it then they can always use another OS is not the right attitude.
Also stopping the uninstalling or removing of certain features is not good for the user only the OS supplier who is collecting your private data !
Remember when a certain company was forced to have it's browser removed in Europe as it was seen as being unfair to the competition !
Well, MS needs to be careful as it could happen again, EU is already looking into MS with Win 10 and its data mining and transferring said info back to the USA as a breach of EU Laws !
I'm sure I could say many other things and some clever spark with counter my comments with sarcastic one's or just call me a Windows hater but I have been using Windows since 1990 so I can counter that point, what I will say is I just prefer the old Win 7 64 Pro, its style, its responsiveness before Win 10 came along ! Because whatever MS was doing via the WU it certainly slowed my i7 Alienware (16GB Ram 512GB SSD 980M GPU) and its not a low spec machine aswell as Win Updates were taking ages to download aswell as all the other stuff MS were trying to do to get people onto Win 10 - MS is the reason I decided to leave the Windows ECO system - its is that simple - Linux serves my purposes 100%, it can do everything that Windows did for me and more, it even has a lovely Win 7 style GUI called Cinnamon. But the one reason alone that I love it above all else - What I do on my machine is private, what I do on the Web is not, what search engine I use means they can data mine that, what websites I visit will data mine me etc, I don't use cloud services so no worries there , I don't have Cortana or any other mic software listening or viewing my webcam without my express permission. If I use email and I acknowledge that its not private unless its encrypted.
But what I do on my PC is private, its that simple !
BrokenCrayons - Tuesday, August 2, 2016 - link
"Every other company is doing it on the web, so it's okay for Microsoft to do it at a local level using the computer's OS." -tipooNotmyusualid - Tuesday, August 2, 2016 - link
Anonymous?Your wi-fi password being shared out, because your brother has 'friended' someone on Facebook?
Your contacts being read & collected?
Your keystrokes being read & collected?
Come on.
Mr Perfect - Tuesday, August 2, 2016 - link
Or more simply put, "Microsoft catching up with Google and Apple".