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New Windows 10 Features

blogs.windows.com

60 pointsbluesilver0764 comments

I don't think Microsoft and I have the same idea about focus and distraction.

I just got a small Windows laptop for a couple of tasks I can't do well on Linux, and after it updated to the latest Windows stuff it had dozens of notifications enabled. All kinds of ridiculous crap popping up while I'm trying to do things. Like, a constant battery of interruptions, with noise and visual bubbles over in the notifications corner. Sure, they can be disabled, but I had to manually go through and turn them all off. That's not to say Linux or Android are immune, but this was just nuts.

Actually, to be fair, Android may be worse these days, I've had to start turning off all notifications for apps like Facebook, even though I'd like to get some (like timeline events that actually involve me), but they group things I don't care about (like events my friends are going to) with things I do, so it gets turned off completely. But, it's just gotten crazy how insistent everything is about getting my attention constantly. Our devices have become like needy children.

So, cool, I guess? But, I'm a bit mistrustful that anyone has an interest in fixing this problem, since for most companies it isn't a problem but a money-making tactic.

Full ACK. Ever been on a presentation by someone with a windows computer? It's amusing how much popups appear and chimes ring out after startup and even while presenting. As I'm not an active Windows user, I don't know if there is a proper way to hide them all. At least for Mac OS X, Android (LineageOS) and the two infamous linux desktop environments I know they can be fine-tuned.

As you write, I think applications who abuse their permission to interrupt the user lose their credibility and usefulness. It is just the equivalent of having a word processor putting advertisement on a printout. It renders it useless.

macOS has 'Do not disturb' mode which is activated automatically when mirroring to TVs and projectors (configurable), a feature very neat.

Absolutely. I used to care when facebook or tinder or whatever app dinged at me (I call out these two specifically just because they're the most recent ones I've disabled). Now, I assume the ding has nothing to do with me and should be ignored (and, then I turn off notifications or uninstall it, once I realize the app is abusing its place on my phone/tablet/computer and not respecting my time and attention).

1a) If you're presenting via webex/zoom never share your main screen (either share a 2nd desktop screen or single app).

1b) Try to always present without mirroring your screen. it's harder to follow with high-res, but that's an argument maybe your res is too high.

2) If using Powerpoint, use presentation mode (and preso-mode for energy settings so you don't accidentally go into lockscreen).

Barring the above, I go offline on both Outlook and Slack during presentation mode.

> Actually, to be fair, Android may be worse these days, I've had to start turning off all notifications for apps like Facebook

Either I'm some sort of privacy nut, completely boring or my macOS/iOS combo works out well but I simply get so few alerts that I just use my devices less than a couple of years ago.

Both Apple platforms allow you to essentially go into "silence" mode. Android/Windows seem to be built to spam you (hey you can opt out! but we'll reset those options on updates - for you who FOMO).

Android has a "Do Not Disturb" mode, and it works well enough, but it is all or nothing. There are notifications I want. I want to know when one of my co-workers needs my involvement, for example, and I want to know when a friend is trying to reach me on facebook messenger. I don't want to know when 13 of my friends are "interested in events in your area", which facebook has decided is worthy of my notifications bar.

So, the apps I don't absolutely need to hear from get disabled completely, even though there are notifications I would welcome from those apps. facebook is perhaps the most annoying because I know they have the ability in-house to get this right. They're choosing not to, and they're choosing to ramp up the user-hostile behavior, because having people constantly engaged with facebook is profitable.

On my Android there is an option to configure notifications on per app basis. It works very well.

Filtering different types of FB notifications is really a problem that needs to be solved in their app, not in Android.

You're not wrong. The OS does make it possible for the app to do things that are problematic, though (the facebook messenger head bubbles, whatever they're called, that can obstruct other apps, for example). Gnome notifications are relatively unobtrusive, they can only appear in one place (though I don't like that they can obstruct other apps), and there isn't a culture of every app thinking they have to interrupt you multiple times a day.

It's a team effort, I'd say, though facebook is where I lay most of the blame. I'm just ranting in general about the state of notifications and how insistent and entitled so many apps have become on many platforms, not really calling out specific operating systems or developers (though all the notifications I was complaining about in Windows were from Windows itself and not facebook or the like, so we have to lay all the blame on Microsoft in that case).

Edit: after thinking about it, I don't think the OS should impose good taste (eg to prevent Facebook messenger head bubbles from being really annoying and obstructing other apps), since that would mean apps that legitimately need that ability wouldn't be able to do so. I'd guess Twilight, a blue screen filter app I use and like, wouldn't be able to do it's thing if Android didn't allow apps to operate on other apps display. Facebook just needs to stop being so obnoxious.

Honestly, the control over how everything is show with macOS is a lot better than it is in Windows (imo). Control over where the notifications are, very clear and easy "on/off" for each application (I would prefer the default was off, but no matter), and decent controls over the DnD mode.

The only complaint I have with the Notification settings on macOS is that you have to use a terminal command to alter the length of time a notification is present, which should be a slider in the preference pane as well.

Compared to the current Windows option and Android, it's fairly obnoxious, with notification settings being across different Control Panels (Windows and the Application's own) and the notifications often obscuring parts of the system. Similar to macOS, there isn't a clear way of giving granular control over the time a notification is live (I'm sure it's there, but it's also frustrating this isn't just a slider or a place to enter a value) Too much of the Windows and Android control seems to just be "on/off", with little granularity, and at least with my Android phone, the granularity doesn't seem to work right when you do use it. (Setting up a "Favorites" group of people and adding them to the exceptions for DnD mode doesn't seem to matter for any non-core applications on the phone, even though these applications pull from the same contact list)

The difference for me is just the care and attention on the macOS side of things. Part of me wonders if Apple didn't just watch what Growl did right and then implement it, but regardless some of the design guides are clear: Control over each application, the system's UI space is sacrosanct, respect user privacy in situations where their screen might be exposed, etc.

On Windows, it just seems to be another afterthought to the system.

> Control over where the notifications are, very clear and easy "on/off" for each application...

This is literally the same exact control that Windows gives you. You can turn off all notifications or each app individually.

Are you sure you know what you're talking about?

Notifications on a new android phone drive me nuts. Are you at McDonalds? -No, im at a traffic light across from McDonald's. Even if I am, what is it to you? Google, please fuck off with your shit. I had to mute so many notifications all together because there was no way to select good from bad that im sure im missing some of important stuff.

Oh, gods, yes. Google Maps has become infuriating lately. I'm interacting with it because I'm trying to get somewhere, often in a hurry or while sitting at a red light or something, and it's popping up random questions that have nothing to do with me. Maps has become a perfect storm of bad timing and inappropriately intrusive behavior.

I assumed it was that way for me because I actually answered a question once or twice, and Google was predictable acting like a stray dog that had been given a full cheeseburger.

I have never answered any of the questions myself, and it begs just as shamelessly. Came with the phone and can't be removed. I suppose I should be thankful I can at least disable its notifications. I really do not comprehend what the thinking is behind various apps being preloaded on a phone and then straight up not being removable. Like... I can't uninstall Facebook? Really? Who thought it was a good idea to have a 'disable' but no 'uninstall' option? I just don't get it.

I actually heard a good reason for that here the other day. The customized OS portion of Android is on a different, read-only partition, and it's not writable except during reboot on upgrade (or something like that, I'm butchering it from memory I'm sure).

Upgrades can be applied from the application/user data partition, but they stay on the user data side and that's why the best you can do is to uninstall upgrades and disable. Apparently most the providers have gotten better about only including an application stub now that doesn't include the app binaey/data, so usually uninstalling upgrades leaves you with a ~12kb application stub/placeholder.

Now Google Pay is doing the same stuff.

"Hey, did you know the store across the road from you right now accepts Google Pay?"

No shit. 99% of Australian stores accept it since it works just like a credit card.

At least google maps has their notifications grouped in a sane way.

That's not Android nagging at an OS level, that's an app you've chosen to use and to which you've chosen to login.

On my phone I receive status-bar notifications a for: new personal e-mail, RSS updates for specific topics, F-droid updates, battery level, storage space critical. The latter two are the only OS notifications I can't seem to suppress.

It doesn't matter that they're not at the os level, they're notifications you'll get on an Android phone as delivered straight from the factory.

I think they should call it 'tech-savvy mode' for users who value concentration, hate distraction, etc.

After all the majority of public (which the sales are aimed at) will enjoy those notifications.

But, software engineering folks who have 'rubbed over' UI's for years time, will probably hate

If the app is built into the OS and considered an essential - its part of the operating system.

New features:

- Voice as text entry for any text input, across the OS. (Surprised this has taken so long; the speech recognition libraries have been in .NET since 2014.)

- Ecobee, Honeywell, Nest integration with Cortana.

-Timeline... Tracks your "stuff" (files? online activity? It's unclear) across all Windows devices. It has 30 days of history. I'm interested in knowing how much of my file and URL history is being sent to MS.

- Focus Assist is a notification cache. It will pend notifications during focus time, and give you them all at once when focus time is over.

- Edge browser has a few:

-- When a tab is playing audio, clicking on the speaker icon will mute the tab. (Just what we need, yet another mute button to miss.)

-- Autofill for payment info.

-- Full screen mode for PDFs, books, and reader mode.

-- Grammar Check.

Timeline, calling it stuff is kinda lame marketing. Been using it as a Windows insider, it keeps track what documents were open in which application. Works great with office but I guess will take a while before all applications add support for it. Generally it's a good idea even if using only one device, think of it as "recent files" on steroids.

> Imagine looking at bathroom vanity options for that home remodel when you’re out and about on your phone, and then finishing that purchase when you’re back at your PC.

Most browsers cache files on disk; maybe Timeline keeps track of those cached files, instead of sniffing internet packets?

> When a tab is playing audio, clicking on the speaker icon will mute the tab. (Just what we need, yet another mute button to miss.)

Firefox and Chrome work the same way.

Clicking on the speaker icon on Chrome doesn't mute the tab, at least for me. Maybe I have an update pending.

> - Ecobee, Honeywell, Nest integration with Cortana.

While they're working on Cortana, hopefully they fixed the bug where the search/command/Cortana entry box hangs if the internet is down.

The following sequence of events happens predictably every few days:

- Wifi router crashes or for some reasons goes down.

- All my PuTTY sessions freeze.

- I Obviously can't browse, so I might as well open a command prompt to ping the wifi router to see when it's back.

- I click in the Cortana box so I can type "cmd".

- Search box doesn't respond, doesn't show a cursor, doesn't expand with Cortana window, and doesn't respond to any input, mouse or keyboard.

- "Oh yeah. Cortana completely falls on its face without internet access."

Gets me every goddamn time.

> (Surprised this has taken so long; the speech recognition libraries have been in .NET since 2014.)

Dictation already was available on Windows 10, although not so streamlined.

In Windows, there are various forms of on-screen keyboards and some of them have this microphone button somewhere right above the top row of the keyboard flushed to the left. When activated, it starts listening you and dictating whatever you say. So, it's not brand new, more like an improvement to the UI, and also to the AI (as far as I know, recognition has also been improved).

Same goes for the Focus Assist, it was available under the same icon, different nane, "Quiet Hours". I keep it always-on on my PCs for several months now, and use it intermittently on my phone. It also got improvements, but allowing some people to bypass is not one of them.

The rest are new. I'm not saying that they are dishonest, they probably just do not mention it over and over everywhere.

> I'm interested in knowing how much of my file and URL history is being sent to MS.

If you use Edge it was already able to send browsing history to MS. This is by default, IIRC, it tried to convince me I wanted it last time I setup a win10 box.

https://privacy.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-10-microsoft-edg...

Anyone know of any deep dives on new kernel/lib stuff in this release? MS has been doing good work on their network stack but it only occasionally is editorialised like this https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/networking/2017/07/13/co...

I'm really struggling to know who their target audience is with this stuff. I watched their marketing materials... I just don't get it.

Meanwhile, some features I think they are still missing the boat on:

1) Driver Updates. I want a tool that will go out and download the latest drivers for all my stuff.

2) Password manager integration; I don't want to have to type or copy paste passwords I just want them all pulled from my password manager.

3) Clipboard history; like Jumpcut or CopyClip.

4) Cloud font sync; like SkyFonts.

5) Better screenshot annotation tools; like Skitch.

6) Better ad block; like Stephen Black's hosts file.

7) Most importantly, better privacy and the option to turn off all tracking by Microsoft.

I wonder if their ability to deliver features like these is compromised because they need to keep corporate IT customers happy.

Apple seems to largely ignore corporate IT and their products feel much better for it.

My computer is from 2012 with Windows 7 and they will pry that out of my cold dark hands. I was going to upgrade but literally the week I was going to buy my new computer, the Meltdown/Spectre exploit came out, so I'm waiting for an entirely new chip, if it can even be fixed.

I had a Windows 10 installation sitting around on a spare drive that was used for a few games for a while until I discovered all the malware that it installed automatically (Candy Crush Soda Saga is malware don't even try to deny it). Needless to say that drive has since been zeroed.

It really is a shame how abusive Windows 10 is to users because I know there are some extremely talented people doing great things at Microsoft.

Is it just me, or are we entering a dark age of computing?

Fortunately computing is not just MS. Actually, it is thanks to global efforts of the FLOSS community (or, several communities, to be more precise) that MS is in a weaker position and shows some flexibility in different areas.

The more new Windows 10 features that get added, the more I miss my Commodore Amiga, and the more time I spend in dual booted Linux Mint.

Careful, the big names running the Linux desktop circus may well go down the same route.

And while Mint is a independent-ish distro, they really do not have the manpower to maintain a fully independent desktop stack.

Developers need to be extremely careful to make sure their lowest target is Windows 7. Nowadays Microsoft is doing everything to make sure the lowest target is Windows 10. Windows 7 is the last traditional version of Windows and there is a huge number of people interested in keeping it this way. Some of us are just interested in getting our work done.

Did the tab feature make it in the latest update?

Are you taking about sets? If so, no it's still in development.

Yes, I think that’s the one. Damn :(

Pushed back to October as far as I can tell

I’d love a new sound driver model so music professionals and enthusiasts can have low latency audio without exclusive locking as provided by ASIO

Now if they could just fix the problem with graphics cards having intermittent terrible framerate in windowed mode ever since Creator Update.

[deleted]

It’s very common and well documented.

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-3558495/massive-fps-dro...

https://www.reddit.com/r/Competitiveoverwatch/comments/7u9on...

https://forums.geforce.com/default/topic/1004600/geforce-dri...

http://forum.worldoftanks.eu/index.php?/topic/659461-big-per...

https://www.neowin.net/news/microsoft-admits-to-gaming-perfo...

On top of philosophy different, i think the top guys using their product (I.e. eating their dog food) may show a difference.

Are they going to add a new Power Management setting saying "Don't randomly lock the screen and/or sleep the computer while you're actively using it"?

When has this ever been the case? Serious question...

I don’t think they’ll add a “please don’t restart for updates forcefully while I have a full screen presentation on projector for my peers” setting either.

It's there as a group policy, fyi.

I've set the group policy and still come home to find my desktop having rebooted

You didn’t also change that other group policy that take precedence in certain situations over the one you changed.

I thought that was only available in the enterprise versions? My Windows 10 Pro laptop has the group policy editor, but it doesn't seem like it helps.

My biggest problem with Windows is the automatic restarts. Under no circumstances should my computer restart without me telling it to.

If you aren't at the computer and your computer isn't doing anything then Windows sets a usernotpresent flag. Fold@home or something, make your computer do shit.

Hmm. What's the threshold of activity? And is there a way to clear the flag without doing something wasteful like pegging some CPU cores?

My Surface Pro 4 recently tried to commit suicide by installing a feature update while having 2% battery left, after I explicitly postponed it. They are never going to learn.

There's a long-standing bug with power management which causes the computer to sleep at random intervals. It's something to do with an interaction between power management and USB selective suspend, not sure exactly what triggers it but it's highly annoying. I'll be in a game, literally holding down one of the mouse buttons, and the computer will go to sleep.

or better yet, a public bug tracker... So we know for one thing if they are actually fixing a particular bug.

My favorite power management bug is in the Windows 7 original release. The default configuration was to put the computer to sleep after 30 minutes of inactivity. In many situations this was fine however what is the first thing that you do with a new OS installation? Install patches of course. And the way that Windows works is it does this in two phases, it'll do some installation work while a user is a logged in, and it'll do additional installation and configuration stuff after a reboot but before a user can login. Which the OS isn't smart enough to understand doesn't count as "idle time". So at some point after Windows 7 came out the size and installation time of all the patches (especially on a spinning hard drive) would cause the OS to get into a reboot loop. It would boot, immediately try to apply the configuration updates for installed patches, timeout and be triggered to go to sleep, rollback the changes, and then it would start again. Eventually some failure threshold would get triggered and you could actually login and fix the stupid power management settings before trying to patch again but it was always a nasty surprise if you forgot about it and simply assumed MS wouldn't ever do something so braindead.

> war on attention

lets not stop at one hyperbole shall we?

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