In a few weeks, Microsoft will deliver a major new update to Windows 10, the latest edition of its operating system. Unless you have second thoughts it will be called the “Spring Creators Update” and will affect tens of millions of people around the world, as their computers are usually set to automatically install the latest updates. Although Microsoft hasn't announced a date or its official name yet, we know a lot about the update, the functions of which have been pioneered by developers and those who installed the previews for months.
Name and date
The new version is formally called Windows 10 Redstone 4, a production name that Microsoft usually changes at the end of development to something more friendly, especially from a marketing point of view. Windows 10 has been around for two and a half years and has already received updates with rather similar names: “Anniversary Update”, “Creators Update” and “Fall Creators Update”. According to some lines found in the operating system, it seems that the new version will be called “Spring Creators Update” with a reference to spring and therefore to this time of year (at least in our hemisphere).
Is Windows 10 Redstone 4 the Springs Creators Update? This Windows Defender Application Guard Quest for this months Bug Bash seems to like that name! Thanks to @ WildDreamer95 for the tip. pic.twitter.com/vvkg2xJwEX
– Richard Hay (@WinObs) February 3, 2018
There is still not much information on the arrival date, but for weeks we have been talking about the end of March or the first days of April. Redstone 4 has undergone many tests, which began in the summer of 2017, and several postponements for some features, which seemed to have already ended in the update of last fall and which Microsoft then preferred to refine further.
Timeline
The thing that could change your life, or complicate it further, is called Timeline and is used to see the applications open on various devices and resume using them where we it had stopped. The idea is a system similar to that of “Tabs of other devices” on the Chrome browser, which shows the sites open on the smartphone also on your computer, as long as a Google account is active on both. Microsoft's Timeline does the same thing, but with applications. If you open Office on your laptop, you can find the same session on your desktop computer or on a tablet with Windows 10. Microsoft has also thought about applications for Android and iPhone: compatible ones can also appear in the Timeline.
The novelty was scheduled for last fall, then Microsoft rethought it believing it was not ready yet. Among the features there should be an option to browse the history of your desktop, seeing previous versions and files, a bit like with Time Machine of macOS (Apple) to find old files.
Sharing
The Spring Creators Update contains an option to simplify file sharing between nearby devices, a long overdue feature on Windows 10 and very reminiscent MacOS AirDrop. From the “Share” option of the applications, a new space has been added, where nearby devices appear with the same option activated and which can therefore receive files. The system uses WiFi and Bluetooth: it can be used between computers, tablets and other compatible gadgets.
Progressive web app (PWA)
PWA applications that can be used directly within a browser, without the need to be installed, will have a new relevance . Edge, the Windows browser program, will be more compatible with this system and PWAs will be listed in the Microsoft Store. This means that you will be able to find apps of this type more easily and run them instantly on your computer, without the need to install them.
Edge
With Windows 10, Microsoft has staked a lot on Edge, the new browser that is trying to make people forget Explorer, its little-loved predecessor. For now Edge has not achieved great success, but Microsoft is continuing to develop it with the desire to make it more competitive than Chrome and Firefox, which dominate the browser market. The new version has a revised menu for easier access to bookmarks, an automatic form completion system, one to remember credit card payment details, and other features that Chrome and Firefox have been offering for some time anyway.
In the Spring Creators Update, Edge also gains another option that has proved popular on competing browsers: the ability to mute a tab, in order to make browsing less noisy, especially when you have many browser tabs. open.
Fluent Design
For more than a year, Microsoft has been in the midst of a major change in the way menus, lists, icons, windows and other items are displayed Windows 10 graphics. The old Metro Design, super essential and with flat colors, remains the basis of the new graphics, which is however acquiring more personality with new colors and some transparencies in the panels. The idea is to make the transitions from one context to another within the operating system clearer, while also making it more recognizable and less anonymous. Transparencies will be the main graphic novelty of the Spring Creators Update, along with some changes for font management. However, the transition to this new Fluent Design is still in its infancy and will continue in future updates.
Mixed Reality
Microsoft has worked to add numerous features to Mixed Reality, its platform that brings together virtual reality and augmented reality. The results are visible only using virtual reality helmets and other types of viewers, but they still confirm Microsoft's willingness to keep Windows 10 updated in this sector, which at least on paper has great potential.
Other
The Spring Creators Update will also contain hundreds of small changes and refinements to Windows 10, mainly to make it easier and more intuitive to use menus and functions. For example, Microsoft has worked on a new system that simplifies the process of connecting a bluetooth device to your computer: just one click to do it, without having to get lost in the Settings section. It works with Microsoft devices, but should be rolled out to other manufacturers in time for the release of the update.
