The Windows 10 Fall Creators Update Feature Focus
by Brett Howse on November 10, 2017 8:00 AM EST
Windows 10 has finally settled into a groove. We are just over two years from the initial release of Windows 10. Part of the promise of Windows 10 was Windows as a service, or in other words, continual updates to Windows rather than monolithic version releases every couple of years. However, the haphazard schedule of feature updates was not pleasing to one stable customer of Microsoft’s. Businesses don’t love surprises, and they need time to plan ahead, and test, in order to deliver the vision that Microsoft has envisioned for Windows 10 going forward, so 2017 is the first year we get to see the new spring and fall updates, first with the Creators Update on April 11, 2017, and now the Fall Creators Update which became widely available on October 17, 2017.
The biannual release schedule still might be too aggressive for a lot of enterprises, but it’s a balancing act for Microsoft to keep the features coming for consumers, security updates coming for enterprise, and of course, keeping Windows 10 fresh in the eyes of everyone. Hopefully this new schedule works out though, since it’s nice to see fewer, smaller updates, rather than annual massive updates which may cause even more challenges.
| Windows 10 Version History | |||||
| Version | Version Number | Release Date | |||
| Windows 10 Original Release | 1507 | July 29, 2015 | |||
| November Update | 1511 | November 10, 2015 | |||
| Anniversary Update | 1607 | August 2, 2016 | |||
| Creators Update | 1703 | April 5, 2017 | |||
| Fall Creators Update | 1709 | October 17, 2017 | |||
And a smaller update is arguably what we’ve had for both of the 2017 releases for Windows, and that’s certainly not a bad thing. That’s not to take away from the many small changes and fixes under the hood, but more a fact that Windows 10 is solid, and stable, and updates only need to further smooth out some of the rough spots, and add a few new ideas for people to utilize. Windows 10 is now well known, with an official monthly active user base of over 500 million devices. It’s a solid number, despite being well under initial targets at launch.
With the Fall Creators Update, Microsoft has added quite a few new features, including some that missed out on the April update. They’ve taken the first step towards an improved OS and app design language since Windows 10 first launched, they’ve added more accessibility, more security, and finally added one of the top feature requests since Windows 10 launched. Let’s dig into the changes.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
95 Comments
View All Comments
Cryio - Friday, November 10, 2017 - link
I like the few fluent design elements in Start and Action Center. But why doesn't the Taskbar has it?Why are most Win32 application chrome window full solid color, a la W8?
Why does Edge get so few features when releases are either 6 to 9 months apart? Most other browsers seem to add a lot of features every 4/5 weeks. But not Microsoft.
Anyway, Edge being faster/efficient/more reliable is a welcome improvement.
Acrylic is nice.
People is nice, if useless at the moment.
Polishing Action Center is nice.
Mixer improvements are nice.
Aaaaand I still hate that Skylake on Surface Pro 4 at least limits CPU speed to 800 MHz when watching Youtube videos using Edge.
StormyParis - Friday, November 10, 2017 - link
"The new pattern of a spring and fall (or fall and spring, depending on your location)"or Autumn ?
Zak - Friday, November 10, 2017 - link
"anit-cheating" typo? On the "Gaming Updates" page.Also, besides bringing back some depth and transparencies there is zero in this update for me. Gaming Mode is something disable first. Leave my games alone Microsoft. Microsoft *does not* get PC gaming.
Bixx - Friday, November 10, 2017 - link
You forgot the "feature" where many people's start menu won't work anymore or is missing most items. Over 400 people on the MS forum have this problem (which mean many more "out there" surely do too), yet MS hasn't even acknowledged the problem).Gunbuster - Friday, November 10, 2017 - link
Or as I like to call it the creators update update.Someone at Microsoft now runs a team devoted to creating updates for creators update update.
jgeis - Friday, November 10, 2017 - link
It's probably worth mentioning that there's a problem with clean installs of Windows 10 Fall Creator's Update (1709) where opening Edge browser causes the State Repository Service process to spike your CPU to 100% and essentially locks up the PC. You can get around this by installing another browser off a USB stick, but it's really annoying on a fresh build. Some other actions also seem to trigger it, as well.B3an - Friday, November 10, 2017 - link
You never go in to enough detail for these updates. Your articles always miss out loads of new stuff and changes. The only reason i visit this site is for in-depth articles, not "The Verge" level crap, minus the SJW shit.Ryan Smith - Friday, November 10, 2017 - link
B3an, was there something in particular you were looking for that you didn't see? We're still trying to figure out the right level of depth for these Windows updates, especially since they're not wholly new OSes, and a lot of feature information is published ahead of time.(None the less, this was still 6K word, 10 page article)
SkyDiver - Friday, November 10, 2017 - link
How sad all of this is. The horror story continues ever since Win8. It still looks flat and dead. So many things wrong with this "operating system."Lolimaster - Friday, November 10, 2017 - link
Isn't it funny all this "for the user" naming MSFT uses for Windows Spyware 10, each "fancy name" iteration breaks 5 more thing than the one it fixes.Windows 10 Fallen to the crapper edition.