Windows 10 Build 17063 - Timeline and a ton of fixes

On Dec 19, MS released Windows 10 Build 17063 to Fast Ring & Skip Ahead insiders.  

By far the largest update so far in the Redstone 4 branch - 17063 contained over 30 fixes, plus updates to Edge, Cortana, Settings, Input methods, the Linux Subsystem, The Windows Shell, Windows Defender, The People app and even the Snipping tool.

But the headline features are Timeline and Sets.   

Timeline is best described as an activity tracking feature that allows you to open a task view that displays your most recent activity and then scroll "backwards" in time looking at files you worked on or articles you read and quickly return to them.  There is a new "task view" button for the task bar or you can use the Windows Key + Tab to reach the timeline view.  

For me it displayed Office docs I had opened each day along with Web pages I visited and MSN app page clips - so from News or Money or Sports, etc.    So the web page part only works when you use Edge.   

It's an interesting feature but I can't say yet that I would actually use it on a regular basis.  For Office we've had recently opened docs feature for years and while I do like the addition of MSN app articles, I can't say that I would use this feature a lot.

Sets is a feature whereby in specific apps - initially Mail & Calendar and OneNote along with Windows & Edge collects relevant data to the task you are working on and makes it available to in theory save you time and make you more productive.  Unlike other features introduced to Windows 10 Insiders - Sets was even more exclusive - only distributed to certain users.   Unfortunately I was not one of them - so I can't tell you if there is any value at all.  

Build 17063 did download and install correctly on both my laptop and tablet in slightly over 60 & 80 minutes respectively.   I did notice some issues with my tablet and touch navigation while in landscape mode and some settings apps crashing.  

My little Dell Venue 8 Pro tablet has hung in there amazing well considering it was a Windows 8.1 targeted device and hasn't seen a BIOS or driver update since 2016.  But I think it's reaching the end of it's ability to support Windows 10 - So I expect whatever they call the 1803 release to be the end of the line.  

There were several reports in the Feedback Hub of green screen and other install failures - so I feel lucky my install went as smoothly as it did.  

Bottom line is that MS released it's long promised Timeline feature.  As to it's real benefit I'm not 100% yet.   To me much like the people app - yes there is a potential use case - but will folks actually use it..



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