Windows 10 Build 10166 - Inching Closer but not there yet...
On July 9 - MS released Windows 10 build 10166 to Fast Ring participants. I installed the build on 5 devices - 2 traditional desktops, a laptop, an AIO and a tablet.
Starting with the install process - let's cover the good the bad and the ugly...
For the most part the install process went well on all devices - including the tablet, the hardest part was the time it took for the update to download and process.
Starting with 10162 and continuing with 10166 however there are some challenges around proper device driver installation. In some cases either A) not all of the devices are properly identified and/or B) the drivers install but fail..
MS has published a work around which simply requests that users delete and re-install the drivers - but this can be a problem for some folks. For example on my tablet - initially the WiFi worked - but then failed. I had to re-install the driver. So effectively I had no connectivity. Luckily the driver was there because of 10162 - but if I had been performing a clean install - it might not have been - so if you haven't pre-downloaded drivers and have them on a USB or other local disk - you may have to scramble to get your device to work.
Considering how late in the game we are - I expected this to be solved. This situation goes back to an earlier post subject - "is your device really supported". You really need to make sure that you have A) your Windows 8.1 chipset and B) NIC drivers at a minimum on removeable media that you can install...
What I also noticed as unique was that while most of my "legacy" devices all installed okay - my newest devices - had problems with drivers. And more than just the uninstall/re-install - but none being found.
With 10166 MS continues to plug some of the holes in the Settings app to include links to older control panel functions. But this to me is still a kludge. I understand that MS is trying to provide a touch based capability for the most common settings - but often you have to hit one of the links to get to a legacy control panel console and so then what's the value. My hope is that MS continues to expand the native features in the Settings App and slowly retire control panel. There should be one place and one UI to manage all.
Some additional issues I experienced include some apps not updating post OS install. Yes I got the new Groove Music labelling, but Phone Companion on some of my devices still crashes. So does Photos - but I believe this is because it has not updated.
Edge still needs some work - especially with legacy sites. The biggest example is public WiFi access sites. Typically in Win 7 or 8 when you connect to a public WiFi - like in an airport or Starbucks, etc - IE immediately launches and you do whatever login you need to do. While I have had Edge launch after a connection - I often see nothing. So obviously a problem..
I also tried again to author this post using Edge - and unless I want to write it in HTML - it just doesn't work.
MS obviously understands this issue - since IE is also included in the Windows 10 builds - it's just hidden in the Windows Accessories folder of all apps. But I guess my question is - is MS really going to release Windows 10 with dual browsers until they get Edge right ? I ended up installing Chrome anyway - but that's a pretty sorry state for Edge.
So bottom line - yes Windows 10 is inching closer to being a release ready product - but considering we are less then 21 days from GA - there are still a lot of things not working consistently that need fixed. I will be interesting to see if we get a build a week between now and GA...
Starting with the install process - let's cover the good the bad and the ugly...
For the most part the install process went well on all devices - including the tablet, the hardest part was the time it took for the update to download and process.
Starting with 10162 and continuing with 10166 however there are some challenges around proper device driver installation. In some cases either A) not all of the devices are properly identified and/or B) the drivers install but fail..
MS has published a work around which simply requests that users delete and re-install the drivers - but this can be a problem for some folks. For example on my tablet - initially the WiFi worked - but then failed. I had to re-install the driver. So effectively I had no connectivity. Luckily the driver was there because of 10162 - but if I had been performing a clean install - it might not have been - so if you haven't pre-downloaded drivers and have them on a USB or other local disk - you may have to scramble to get your device to work.
Considering how late in the game we are - I expected this to be solved. This situation goes back to an earlier post subject - "is your device really supported". You really need to make sure that you have A) your Windows 8.1 chipset and B) NIC drivers at a minimum on removeable media that you can install...
What I also noticed as unique was that while most of my "legacy" devices all installed okay - my newest devices - had problems with drivers. And more than just the uninstall/re-install - but none being found.
With 10166 MS continues to plug some of the holes in the Settings app to include links to older control panel functions. But this to me is still a kludge. I understand that MS is trying to provide a touch based capability for the most common settings - but often you have to hit one of the links to get to a legacy control panel console and so then what's the value. My hope is that MS continues to expand the native features in the Settings App and slowly retire control panel. There should be one place and one UI to manage all.
Some additional issues I experienced include some apps not updating post OS install. Yes I got the new Groove Music labelling, but Phone Companion on some of my devices still crashes. So does Photos - but I believe this is because it has not updated.
Edge still needs some work - especially with legacy sites. The biggest example is public WiFi access sites. Typically in Win 7 or 8 when you connect to a public WiFi - like in an airport or Starbucks, etc - IE immediately launches and you do whatever login you need to do. While I have had Edge launch after a connection - I often see nothing. So obviously a problem..
I also tried again to author this post using Edge - and unless I want to write it in HTML - it just doesn't work.
MS obviously understands this issue - since IE is also included in the Windows 10 builds - it's just hidden in the Windows Accessories folder of all apps. But I guess my question is - is MS really going to release Windows 10 with dual browsers until they get Edge right ? I ended up installing Chrome anyway - but that's a pretty sorry state for Edge.
So bottom line - yes Windows 10 is inching closer to being a release ready product - but considering we are less then 21 days from GA - there are still a lot of things not working consistently that need fixed. I will be interesting to see if we get a build a week between now and GA...
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