Windows 10 Build 10565 - Continued Improvement
On Oct 12, MS released build 10565 of the Threshold 2 branch of Windows 10 to Fast Ring folks.
I installed it on my typical list of devices - from Desktops, to Laptops and tablets.
On all devices the availability of the update and the installation process was problem-free which is a nice sign. Compared to some of the pain involved with earlier TH2 builds it was nice to have a group of clean upgrades.
Overall build 10565 continues on the polishing effort I experienced with build 10547. As I stated back on my 9/22 post about 10547 - Windows 10 is starting to look and feel the way Windows 10 should have been back in July. And that's a good thing.
Like many it made me wonder why MS actually released Windows 10 as build 10240 back in July as it is a dramatically different experience today.
This build along with sister builds of Windows 10 Mobile are all focusing towards the availability of the new Surface Pro 4, Surface Book and Lumia devices here in the upcoming weeks.
I suspect the entire Threshold 2 (TH2) branch will be considered complete next week with final builds for those devices are released and the new Redstone branch will begin - which will be released in 2016.
10565 continues expansion and cleanup of the new Settings app but the control panel still remains.
Similarly both Edge and IE exist as well. The MSN and other Core apps like Photos, Mail Calendar, OneDrive and Camera continue to get updated on a regular basis and some new features like Phone and Messaging are now showing up in desktop/tablet builds.
Live tiles though are not as good as they are with Windows 10 Mobile. I find them slow to update and are often have stale data which to me is completely against the purpose of those apps.
The Store is faster and downloads and installs better than previous builds.
But outside of those core apps, the promise of an increase in Universal apps from 3rd parties has yet to show up. In fact the opposite is happening in that some well known 3rd part apps are going away. The most recent was Intuit's Mint app.
So the promise for example of running a banking or airline or hotel app on your phone/tablet/desktop so far is unfulfilled. The to me really limits the appeal of Windows 10.
As I've stated many times, Microsoft's biggest challenge is that they are loosing their developer base and without a robust portfolio of 3rd party apps, users will go elsewhere. Just ask Blackberry.
Some industry pundits are hoping that the continued growth of Windows 10 towards that magic 1 billion units that MS mentions as a 2018 goal will begin to drive developers back to the platform since "they can't ignore" 1B potential customers.
But I take some exception to that statement. In the next 3 years nearly 4B mobile devices will be sold and MS to me has yet to prove that they can really make money in the Mobile space - even with a growing portfolio of apps for iOS and Android. The only area they do seem to make money is the mobile space is with patent fees.
By comparison PC sales for Q3 2015 fell between 7.7% and 10.8% depending on Gartner or IDC reports. And one of the winners last quarter was Apple whose market share grew 1.5% according to Gartner while Lenovo's and HP's both fell by 4%. MS maintains less than a 1% market share in the PC market so they are a non factor.
So bottom line is - Windows 10 will be ready for the new MS devices and then the 2016 version of Windows 10 will start development, but I don't expect MS to see any dramatic growth in the either PC or Mobile sales in Q4.
I installed it on my typical list of devices - from Desktops, to Laptops and tablets.
On all devices the availability of the update and the installation process was problem-free which is a nice sign. Compared to some of the pain involved with earlier TH2 builds it was nice to have a group of clean upgrades.
Overall build 10565 continues on the polishing effort I experienced with build 10547. As I stated back on my 9/22 post about 10547 - Windows 10 is starting to look and feel the way Windows 10 should have been back in July. And that's a good thing.
Like many it made me wonder why MS actually released Windows 10 as build 10240 back in July as it is a dramatically different experience today.
This build along with sister builds of Windows 10 Mobile are all focusing towards the availability of the new Surface Pro 4, Surface Book and Lumia devices here in the upcoming weeks.
I suspect the entire Threshold 2 (TH2) branch will be considered complete next week with final builds for those devices are released and the new Redstone branch will begin - which will be released in 2016.
10565 continues expansion and cleanup of the new Settings app but the control panel still remains.
Similarly both Edge and IE exist as well. The MSN and other Core apps like Photos, Mail Calendar, OneDrive and Camera continue to get updated on a regular basis and some new features like Phone and Messaging are now showing up in desktop/tablet builds.
Live tiles though are not as good as they are with Windows 10 Mobile. I find them slow to update and are often have stale data which to me is completely against the purpose of those apps.
The Store is faster and downloads and installs better than previous builds.
But outside of those core apps, the promise of an increase in Universal apps from 3rd parties has yet to show up. In fact the opposite is happening in that some well known 3rd part apps are going away. The most recent was Intuit's Mint app.
So the promise for example of running a banking or airline or hotel app on your phone/tablet/desktop so far is unfulfilled. The to me really limits the appeal of Windows 10.
As I've stated many times, Microsoft's biggest challenge is that they are loosing their developer base and without a robust portfolio of 3rd party apps, users will go elsewhere. Just ask Blackberry.
Some industry pundits are hoping that the continued growth of Windows 10 towards that magic 1 billion units that MS mentions as a 2018 goal will begin to drive developers back to the platform since "they can't ignore" 1B potential customers.
But I take some exception to that statement. In the next 3 years nearly 4B mobile devices will be sold and MS to me has yet to prove that they can really make money in the Mobile space - even with a growing portfolio of apps for iOS and Android. The only area they do seem to make money is the mobile space is with patent fees.
By comparison PC sales for Q3 2015 fell between 7.7% and 10.8% depending on Gartner or IDC reports. And one of the winners last quarter was Apple whose market share grew 1.5% according to Gartner while Lenovo's and HP's both fell by 4%. MS maintains less than a 1% market share in the PC market so they are a non factor.
So bottom line is - Windows 10 will be ready for the new MS devices and then the 2016 version of Windows 10 will start development, but I don't expect MS to see any dramatic growth in the either PC or Mobile sales in Q4.
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