It has been about 3-months since I last posted. I had to retire the machine I was running Windows 10 on, an old Dell Optiplex as it was having hardware issues. I did not want to be putting money into a system that is over 10-years old, especially since I only paid $25 for it last year. Yet, I currently do not plan on upgrading anytime soon to Windows 10 on either of my two machines (Gateway Windows 8 Desktop and HP Windows 7 Laptop). Still not sure what I am going to do as I would like to try out Windows 10 before the ‘free upgrade’ period expires to see if it would be worthwhile to upgrade. Been considering replacing my over 3-year old Google Nexus 7 tablet possibly with a Surface or a 2-in-1 laptop.

Microsoft MSFT 454,46 +2,87 +0,64% will be forcing releasing the ‘free’ forthcoming Windows 10 Build 2016 aka Windows 10 Anniversary Update sometime this summer to all Windows 10 devices (PC’s, phones, tablets and even Xbox One). With this update comes 5 new features:

1. Touch Improvements via Windows Ink. While it sounds interesting, I see this more of a feature for the Surface or the 2-in-1 laptop like the Lenovo Yoga than for a traditional desktop user.
2. Voice Control Overhaul. Again, not something I would see me getting much use out of on a desktop machine. However, Microsoft’s ideas for this are a bit bold and don’t even have to do with ‘Voice Control’ rather making Cortona more powerful (which may not be a good thing).
   

   Cortana will also get functionality upgrades with Microsoft stressing it wants more natural integration. An example given was automatically adding an appointment to Calendar after reading an email, though it could go a lot further in future with Microsoft pointing out it could make automatic hotel and flight reservations based on email or IM conversations. Exciting, but also a little dangerous.

3. Microsoft Edge improvements. Now we’re talking! The biggest gripe about Microsoft Edge browser is it does not support extensions. Not only will Edge support Microsoft extensions but Chrome extensions as well. It is important to note that Edge will not have ad-blocking as a native feature. You will still need install an ad blocking extension (which some sites such as Forbes will force you to disable in order to view their site). However, even with extension support I am not sure if there would be anything about Edge that would make me want to use it over Chrome or Firefox.
4. Linux in Windows 10. Yes, you’ve read that right Linux is going to be a part of Windows. Windows Subsystem for Linux will be native Ubuntu image with downloadable binaries. Sounds interesting, but not something most people (other than developers and may be hobbiest) are really going to use.
5. Massive Universal Windows Platform Expansion. A huge complaint about Windows mobile devices is the lack of apps supported. If you have an Android or Apple device you can pretty much get any app offered out there. But, if you are using a Windows device your choice are very slim. This could change:
   

   For starters the upgraded Windows 10 will start bringing all desktop software into the store as well as tying it in with an upcoming tool called the ‘Desktop App Converter’ which will allow developers to turn regular desktop programs into UWP applications. This was demoed with major games like Age of Empires II HD and The Witcher 3. Microsoft also said it plans to bring all Xbox One games to Windows 10 using this method, though that will obviously take more time.

   While this sounds promising, I have a bad feeling that Microsoft is going to find that this conversion process is going to be much more complicated, buggy, unstable, time consuming, etc. than they had anticipated. This could lead to Microsoft scrapping this whole idea and further angering Windows users who finally ditched their overprice Apple devices in the promise of being able to do the same thing on a Windows device.

Overall, I am not all that excited by this news. Especially, since Microsoft is still trying to force, sneak, shove down Windows 7/8 users throats Windows 10. In addition there is still the matter of Windows 10 spying on you and phoning home to Microsoft about user activity aka ‘telemetry’. Of course, it is very much likely Microsoft has been doing this quite for some time, users just weren’t aware.

via Forbes Gordon Kelly