On Wednesday, as many IT Pros were embroiled in serious patching efforts for some jaw-dropping product flaws, Microsoft pulled the delivery trigger on a new Windows 10 build. It probably didn't come at the best time, but so it is.
In a blog post, Windows Insiders Chief, Gabe Aul, laid out some of the more prominent updates in build 9879, as well as letting Insiders know about some potential problems introduced in the update. In short, here's the feature additions and changes:
- Ability to show or hide the Task View and Search buttons
- Aesthetic changes to the minimize and restore animations
- Easier to discoverability for the Charms and full screen option in modern apps
- Better stability and less crashes
- New 3-finger gestures for touchpads
- Added Snap Assist capabilities for multiple monitor users
- Changes to the way OneDrive syncs files
- Edge rendering engine for Internet Explorer
- Native MKV support
- Ability to pin your favorite folders to Home in File Explorer
- Fixes to correctly "window" modern dialog boxes
- New icons
- New Insider Hub app
- Promise of ISO images for each new build release (released with the "Slow" ring updates)
In addition to all this, despite a sense of "rapid release" for Windows 10 updates, Gabe also stated that build 9879 will be the last Windows 10 update for 2014. So, the Windows 10 engineering team will be taking a month off. Many have already started complaining about not receiving any new updates before 2015, but it makes sense. If you've watched Microsoft for any length of time, you know the company effectively shuts down during the holiday season.
