Yesterday, Microsoft began distributing the long-awaited Windows 10 Anniversary Update, which symbolizes a full year of work on its flagship operating system. With the end of the free upgrade offer and the arrival of the new update, Microsoft solidifies its strategy of periodic updates, adds several features requested by users, fixes a significant number of minor details, and takes another step on its long road to achieving the vision of "Windows as a service".
Ladies and gentlemen, Windows 10 is going through a kind of "hinge moment", and although it may not be the only one during its career, there is no doubt it is the most important. First, the offer to get this operating system for free has ended. While there are exceptions to the rule (which require enabling certain accessibility features in the operating system), everything suggests Microsoft decided to close its pressure valve. Windows 10 received a final push in the last week, allowing it to break through the 20 percent market share barrier, and those who remained firmly in the territory of Windows 7 can continue their adventure until January 14, 2020. Second, Windows 10 received the highly anticipated Anniversary Update, which we could view as a "service pack"... but due to internal policy, Microsoft will never call it that.
What's new in the Anniversary Update? Let's start with the fact that the update does not radically change the way we have used Windows 10 so far, but the two features stealing most of the attention are Windows Ink and Cortana. As its name suggests, Windows Ink aims to expand the number of actions and tasks the user can perform with a stylus in Windows 10. Turning the operating system into a "virtual piece of paper" should improve the experience on hybrid platforms that work in tablet mode, along with a new series of Ink-ready apps and the ability to save handwritten notes that Cortana will later remember. And speaking of Cortana, she is now basically "front and center" of Windows 10. She is much smarter, detects schedule conflicts, has superior integration with Office, Outlook and Calendar, "talks" with Android devices and receives their notifications (low battery, emails, etc.), and now offers her services from the lock screen ("lock screen") without having to enter the system. What's the fine print? Cortana is "fused" in a way with Windows 10 search functions and cannot be disabled (at least not as before) in standard editions of the operating system.
What's next? A pinning system for virtual desktops (you can configure a window to appear on all of them), the long-awaited "dark theme" for the interface that users almost begged for, support for extensions in Edge, Start menu tweaks that show "all" programs in a better organized way, more customization in the "Action Center", Skype as a universal app (still in preview), Xbox Play Anywhere that will allow you to buy a game in the store and run it on your PC "and" an Xbox One without needing two copies, calendar integrated into the taskbar, an "active hours" mode that blocks automatic updates during critical work times (please!), an "activation assistant" designed for those who change hardware frequently or find themselves needing to reactivate Windows 10, optimizations in battery saver mode, and of course, the optional possibility to install the Bash shell. As always, patience. Not all users will receive the option to install the Anniversary Update immediately (although they can "induce" the update with this small client), and those wanting the updated ISO images can download them via MSDN (assuming they have a subscription), through a special section, or within a few hours, using the latest updated build of the Media Creation Tool. This last option is slow and requires at least 8 GB of free space on the C drive, but if the plan was always to get the ISO image, I think it's worth waiting.
