 Officially -- rather than as "Redstone 6" -- today's test build is the first Skip Ahead Ring build for the upcoming release. (The build number for Skip Ahead is 18204.) Microsoft also rolled out another Windows 10 "Redstone 5" test build today to those in the Fast Ring. The build number for the Fast Ring build is 17723. The feature set for 17723 and 18204 is the same at this point; Microsoft is just establishing a baseline for the next Windows 10 feature update by splitting the two branches. There are a few, new relatively minor features in 18204 and 17723. A new "Mixed Reality Flashlight" for mixed reality testers will allow them to open a portal into their real world via the Start menu, a button shortcut or voice command. Microsoft is billing the feature as a way "to mix your physical and virtual realities." Both of today's test builds also add support for new Group Policies for Microsoft Edge. These policies include the ability to enable/disable full-screen mode, printing, favorites bar and saving history; the ability to prevent certificate error overrides; the ability to configure the Home button and startup options; setting the NewTab and home button URL; and managing extensions. Today's test builds also add support for leap seconds, a new time protocol called the Precision Time Protocol and software timestamping. And with today's builds, Microsoft is adding a new trained model design to more accurately predict when the right time is to restart a device in the name of improving the update experience. Windows 10 19H1 is expected to begin rolling out to mainstream users starting around May 2019, as long as the company is sticking with its previous feature-update rollout schedule. Learn more by visiting OUR FORUM.  Microsoft has just released Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 17713 (Redstone 5) to the Insiders in the Fast Ring. The preview build introduces new features for Microsoft Edge, improves Notepad, and more. As compared to the previous builds, this new build doesn’t come with a large number of improvements. Microsoft also announced that Redstone 5, which are the current insider builds that we have been playing with, is being forked into its own branch called "RS5_RELEASE". This branch will be used to stabilize the current feature set, remove any existing bugs, and get it ready for release. Users who are currently in the skip-ahead ring will be reset to the Fast Ring. In the comings weeks, Microsoft will announce when Skip Ahead enrollment is open so that you can try to opt into it again. As there will be limited slots, those who want to be in the skip ahead builds should attempt to do so as soon as it opens. You can now control whether a site can autoplay videos on a per-site basis. You can configure this setting for a particular site by going into the "Website Permission" section when browsing the site. This section can be accessed by clicking on the lock button (SSL sites) or the information button (non-ssl) to the left of the address in the address bar. When viewing PDF files, the toolbar that will appear will now include text descriptions of what each button does to make it more clear as to what they do. Details can be found on OUR FORUM.  It appears that Windows 10 installations have gone stagnant. Back in March, former Windows chief Terry Myerson announced the OS was on nearly 700 million devices, but months later, that number hasn’t changed: Satya Nadella held an earnings call this week and reiterated W10 being installed on "nearly 700 million" devices. We've been at nearly 700 million devices for almost four months, so growth of the OS install base is either completely stagnant, or Microsoft has been very loose with the word "nearly". When Windows 10 was first introduced, Microsoft said that it planned to have the OS installed on over a billion devices within two to three years. The company retracted that promise a year later, saying that it won't achieve the goal, but the three years will be up in 10 days. |
Latest Articles
|