The Microsoft Build 2017 Recap: What To Expect When You’re Expecting Windows
by Brett Howse on May 19, 2017 8:00 AM ESTHDR and Wide Color Gamut Support
Windows has never had a color management system to speak of, although individual developers could create their own. That did happen, but it was generally reserved for applications for media creation from companies like Adobe. With the increase in wide color gamut (WCG) devices, we’ve had some concern that this is going to continue to be an issue going forward.
Luckily this is a problem that Microsoft has been aware of for some time, and wider color gamuts, along with the introduction of high dynamic range (HDR) on televisions and displays are pressuring them to come up with a solution sooner than later. Luckily, they have made some progress here, and we were able to discuss this with Kam VedBrat, Partner Group Program Manager, and Simon Tao, Program Manager II from Microsoft to get their take on where they are at now, and where they are going.
Simon Tao has a presentation on Channel 9, and if you’re interested in this, check out his video here.
First off, we discussed where Microsoft is at now with HDR and WCG support, and their first step into this realm was actually with the Xbox One S, which launched in mid-2016. With the more constrained environment, they were able to add in new display capabilities with a known hardware pipeline. This allowed them to work closely with their content providers as well to enable HDR support in their apps. When you think about it, this makes a lot of sense, and it’s a great advantage to now have the Xbox running Windows 10 so they can use it for specific use cases like this.
Kam and Simon also discussed how the new Windows development cycle is a much better process for them, because adding HDR and WCG support into Windows is a huge undertaking. In the old method of Windows updates every couple of years, they would have been forced to add most or all of their code in one round, and if you had missed your timeline, that could mean a long wait until Windows was updated again. With the new servicing model though, they can be much more staggered in their approach, adding code that is ready now, and then learning from that code running on real machines to guide changes and adjustments for the next wave.
Creators Update actually shipped the first steps towards a high color aware OS, although it is limited to certain hardware configurations at the moment. That shouldn’t be a huge issue though, since there aren’t a lot of HDR monitors on the market yet.
With the Creators Update, Windows now has the ability to remap sRGB content into FP16 half-floats, which can then be tone-mapped from FP16 to lower precision for the final output depending on the displays capabilities. This also includes luminance which is important with HDR displays that can high much higher levels of brightness. HDR is not to make everything brighter, but to improve highlights and created a wider range of brightness levels from absolute black to the highest brightness.
For now, this is mainly being targeted towards game developers so they can use the hardware to its maximum potential, and have their product fulfill their artistic goals. But with the Creators Update, other capabilities are already available, including the media pipeline.
Right now, the onus is on the developer to bring these ideas to market, and to worry about the correct tone mapping based on the display attached to the PC, but the long term goal is to make this available to more developers, or hopefully to even have Windows handle much of this on its own. Having this available in a limited form right now though lets the team get valuable feedback from not just users, but developers as well, to see where they need to make changes. There’s still a long way to go for this to be fully implemented, but with Windows being updated twice per year now, there will be lots of chances to see this evolve and come to life.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
85 Comments
View All Comments
mkozakewich - Tuesday, May 23, 2017 - link
Office is a completely different product and they've coded all the controls from scratch. It's really terrible and barely functions.Bullwinkle J Moose - Friday, May 19, 2017 - link
"How about the ability to NOT install certain updates."------------------------------------------------------------------------
That is not allowed as that would give the END USER control over their own security and future
I am posting this comment with WINDOWS XP-SP2 without ANY Microsoft security updates!
I am not worried about Wannacry or any other malware destroying this box or the software it contains because I understand the security issues and have secured this system from malware and Spyware created by Microsoft as well as the NSA and other criminals
In addition, Microsoft appears to be using malware in Spyware Platform 10 that was originally created by myself and others not related to Microsoft
Hiding my proprietary technology in Microsoft DRM is not allowed under my license or contract agreements and makes Microsoft Licenses NULL AND VOID!
Therefore, I will continue to use END USER supplied security instead of being locked into a backdoored system that cannot be secured by design
I haven't had a bluescreen of death on XP in over 10 years now and can easily mitigate the security problems created by Microsoft and the Tech Laws that were created to control everything by a few scumbags at our expense
This is a Control Issue!
Deal with it
versesuvius - Friday, May 19, 2017 - link
Microsoft Windows 10 is probably the only piece of software "built" by one of the richest companies in the world that has about 1,000,000,000 testers around the world, testing it in all sorts of scenarios and under all kinds of imaginable conditions. It is a wonder why it is still such a lousy piece of software.Meteor2 - Saturday, May 20, 2017 - link
Is it though? Really? I have no problem with Windows 10, nor does anyone I know.Macpoedel - Saturday, May 20, 2017 - link
Can't tell if you're being sarcastic here... English isn't my native language, so I could be missing the point of your post.If end user control of security is such a big concern for you, why stick with Windows XP and not just run a Linux distro which seems to be exactly what you want. Sticking to an old OS because you want to stay in control doesn't make sense when there are plenty of modern alternatives where you're still in control, they're just not Windows.
Or is that what you're referring to in a convoluted way?
nonameo - Friday, May 19, 2017 - link
LOL. I see this book all over the place in thrift stores. One of the most common books.mominusa - Saturday, May 20, 2017 - link
Well, one thing you can count on is that they will break something with each update and never bother to correct what the update broke. Another thing you can count on is that you will lose more privacy and control over the OS. For instance, I had the "lose wifi on wake from sleep" bug initially, but had gotten rid of it with the known workaround to disable the wifi power saving option in device manager. Of course, MS could have fixed that with any one of their many updates, but never did. Well, since the anniversary edition update, it is back, and the workaround no longer solves it. Thanks microsoft. Worse yet, it is apparently a known issue that MS is aware of, but they wont bother to fix it this time either. At least I managed to disable the extremely annoying Cortana before the last update made that much more difficult. Words cannot describe how much I hate Win 10. I only leave it on my computer because I game occasionally and also share it with my wife, who would not be comfortable with linux. For my personal laptop that no one else uses, I have changed over to linux for almost everything.RichardHeartonYouTube - Saturday, May 20, 2017 - link
MS is going to appstore your ass. They are going to walled garden you until they're making the same money on you that apple is. Fuck freedom. Fuck running what software you like. MS will embrace, extend, extinguish your asses. You will bow to microsofts will, for they deserve $50 on every new laptop purchased forever, because, well, they're just that fucking worthy. Seriously, have you seen how much better Word and Excel have gotten over the last 15 years? Bow the fuck down!Meteor2 - Saturday, May 20, 2017 - link
Do you still live in 1997?mkozakewich - Tuesday, May 23, 2017 - link
He said 15 years! So 2002.