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
Hey Cortana, Remind Me to Explain Windows Ink
Cortana
Microsoft’s digital personal assistant has been updated as well. The most obvious change is that Cortana can now be accessed on the lock screen. If you’re not too worried about others seeing the lock screen, such as on a home PC, you can even have Cortana access your calendar and email on the lock screen. If you enable voice control with “Hey Cortana” you could even ask Cortana to play a song from across the room. It’s a nice feature, but on a PC it may not be that useful. On a tablet or mobile device, it might get a bit more use.
Perhaps the biggest updates with Cortana is just how much Microsoft has expanded the reach. While Cortana began as a feature of Windows Phone, Microsoft now offers it as a downloadable app on Android and iOS as well. That makes a lot of sense considering how the mobile smartphone game has played out, and gives Windows 10 users the ability to have reminders across their devices.
Speaking of across device abilities, Cortana can now send notifications from a smartphone to the PC. You can even reply to SMS messages on the PC using Cortana, which is pretty handy.
One other change has certainly caused some confusion prior to the release. The ability to turn Cortana off completely has been removed from the update, as well as the ability to assign a different browser/search engine via the registry - from now on users will be limited to Edge and Bing. You can opt to sign out of Cortana to remove the personalized features, but Cortana will still be the default search in the taskbar. It’s a change in policy for sure. As always, you can adjust what Cortana knows about you at any time by using the Notebook, and if you sign out of Cortana you’ll get a non-personalized version.
Windows Ink
It’s fair to say that Microsoft has been a proponent of the stylus input on computers for a long time. Over the years, the capabilities of the inking support have grown, and when Windows 10 launched last year, inking was a first class input method, with the ability to use the pen to write on any dialog box, and more. With the Anniversary Update, they are taking it to the next level with Windows Ink.
Windows Ink is a one-stop shop where you can easily access all of your inking apps, like Sketchpad, Sticky Notes, and others. It’s also an easy way to discover more apps built for the pen, and you can configure the pen here as well. It’s a smart idea to help people use the pen to get more out of the experience.
They’ve also added more features to the inking experience, including a digital ruler. It’s one of those “wow that’s so obvious” additions to the pen input, and being digital it can be more than just a straight ruler. Microsoft showed off at Build a version of Adobe CS with a digital French Curve ruler. I’ve actually tried to use an actual ruler with a stylus before, and it’s a pretty frustrating experience. The digital version is much easier to use, and more adaptable.
Some of the inking is even integrated into Cortana, and now Cortana can automatically decipher hand-written sticky notes in the sticky notes app, and create reminders based on them. Sticky notes are still one of the skeuomorphic ideas, but for some people they are indispensable, even as a digital version.
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Notmyusualid - Tuesday, August 2, 2016 - link
To be honest, I only logged in to say I thought the article could have done with half a dozen pages on the data mining & privacy issues alone.But Michael, or similar will be along shortly to tell me it is all in my head.
But my firewall logs say otherwise.
jardows2 - Tuesday, August 2, 2016 - link
Well, the article was about the update, and what has changed. There are plenty of articles from a year ago outlining your concern, so methinks you are just a hater.Daniel Egger - Tuesday, August 2, 2016 - link
You're totally ignoring the fact that with update things got a whole lot worse: As usual Microsoft decides for you that for the things you actually still can opt out and have opted out before you probably wanted to opt-in with the update and is happily applying your changed mind to the configuration for you. Also Cortana can *not* be disabled; yes, you can sign-off but the option to automatically share your local searches with Microsoft is gone and instead all searches will be shared with Microsoft.Some of the changes are actually illegal in Europe (like the automatic opt-in to previously opted-out items) and at best dubious but as usual it will require a lawsuit before Microsoft decides to reverse the bogosity. Meanwhile all systems have automatically upgraded and applied the privacy downgrades -- clever. Hope some court actually slaps them with a hefty fine instead of just on the wrist...
Icehawk - Tuesday, August 2, 2016 - link
I don't want Cortana, I want to be able to select my search engine, and so on - it's like MS is trying to go OSX by removing much choice from the end user - see their Store which I avoid like the plague. I am surprised they locked Edge into Bing, as I recall one of the many lawsuits they lost was related to similar issues back in (I think) the XP era. Also does this mean legacy IE is gone? If so I literally cannot update as one of my jobs requires the usage of a particular website which is not compatible with anything but IE and my other job's web portal and a few apps are the same.Brett Howse - Tuesday, August 2, 2016 - link
IE is still there for exactly that reason.Daniel Egger - Wednesday, August 3, 2016 - link
> it's like MS is trying to go OSX by removing much choice from the end userThis claim is getting long in the tooth without anyone seemingly being able to back it up. Please, in gods name, tell me as an "any OS" power user (mostly OS X throughout the day, though) where OS X is removing choice. The only OS allowing more choice than OS X would be Linux but for many this is actually too much choice...
jlabelle2 - Tuesday, August 16, 2016 - link
Does Siri allow to work with Bing? I think people are confused. In the meantime, Edge is allowing you to use your search engine just fine.Notmyusualid - Wednesday, August 3, 2016 - link
Daniel Egger explains it nicely. Read on...Gigaplex - Wednesday, August 3, 2016 - link
That feature exists in Windows 7 too.Teknobug - Tuesday, August 2, 2016 - link
Reading that they remove the ability to prevent bloatware like Cany Crush Saga from getting installed, why are we being forced to have stuff we don't even want ot use?