New Build - 9860 Released Today

Awesome, thanks! So apparently it only installs new builds on a schedule, by default at 2am, which means for those occasionally taking a peek at their virtual machine this doesn't get noticed. It would be smart if they had a notification in the tray so that enthusiasts/testers see that there's a new build available.

 

Installing the new build right now. It would be nice if 'installing your apps' had a progress bar or counter, like 'Installing your apps (4/59)' maybe with some interactive option to skip certain apps.

OK, done. I thought this would be like a fresh install, but even though it said 'installing your apps' as if it was a new OS install, Office 2013 which I had installed before is still there in the new build. Is it always like that for new builds? If so: that's convenient!

 

When swipe from bottom brings up the touch-unfriendly desktop taskbar, and swipe from the top brings up the even more touch-unfriendly and microscopic minimize, restore and close buttons - how then are we going to access the toolbars in full-screen modern apps? ... the only logic behind that seems to be if they're going to make the toolbars always visible and abandon the clean and uncluttered design philosophy that has been prevalent up till now.

It's like the team responsible for tablet computing back in the XP days has taken over.

 

From what we've seen so far, I agree. That being said, Microsoft has already stated that they have a whole other touch interface in "Continuum" that we simply haven't seen yet. I'm not convinced that's the solution myself, but it seems to be what a lot of users want.

 

"Continuum" would be the hope, but these changes can't live in a vacuum. If swipe from the bottom means one thing in desktop mode it can't mean something completely different in Continuum - unless they truly want to make the two modes feel like they have nothing to do with each other.

I suppose I should direct my frustrations at the Tech Preview feedback form instead : )

 

Looks like there are some really interesting under the hood changes that have been reported recently:

http://www.howtogeek.com/200334/windows-10-includes-a-linux-style-package-manager-named-oneget/

http://www.neowin.net/news/windows-10-mkv-support-out-of-the-box

 

Just a quick "Thanks!" for keeping us posted. I read a lot of tech news but not so much on the inner workings of Windows. I appreciate having a local information source here at TPCR.