With just weeks to go before it launches its one-year Anniversary Update of Windows 10, Microsoft has been rolling out a series of preview builds aimed at fixing various bugs. The most recent build, announced yesterday, resolves a number of issues found in the PC and mobile versions of Microsoft’s operating system.
The updates come on the heels of last week’s “Bug Bash,” during which Microsoft gave developers a variety of “quests” to test Windows 10 for glitches and problems. Thousands of developers from around the world took part in the bash, completing about 71,000 quests and filing 81,217 pieces of feedback and up votes, according to Windows and Devices Group software engineer Dona Sarkar.
The latest preview version of Windows 10, Build 14372, was released to Insiders in Microsoft’s so-called Fast ring, a program that gives users access to the earliest and roughest-edge versions of new builds. Developer Insiders will now take the new build out for test drives to check if the new bug fixes work as intended.
Redmond in ‘Hustle’ Mode
Developers from many parts of the world participated in last week’s Bug Bash, “including strong participation from China, India and Brazil which gave us great insight into what we can expect in our international markets.” Sarkar said in a post on the Windows Experience Blog yesterday.
Other Insiders who have provided Windows 10 input for Microsoft include developers from Botswana, Turkmenistan, Gambia, Seychelles, Togo, Mali, Liberia and Greenland, she said. “The team is busily working on triaging and investigating the top bugs that you sent in,” Sarkar said. “The hustle is pretty real around Redmond right now.”
Launched late last July, Windows 10 has become Microsoft’s most rapidly adopted Windows operating system ever. More than 300 million devices are now running Windows 10, according to the company’s latest user figures.
Anniversary Update Adds Security, AI Features
In addition to rolling out a number of bug fixes, the latest build adds a new extension developed by the Microsoft team working on the Edge browser, released along with Windows 10 last year as the successor to the company’s longtime Internet Explorer browser. The Evernote Web Clipper extension lets Edge users clip Web pages to be saved in the Evernote note-taking app, enabling those pages to be viewed later from any device, Sarkar noted.
As she pointed out in an earlier blog post, new builds released between now and July’s official Anniversary Update won’t feature significant changes but will instead add “really good and important fixes and general performance improvements.”
Like Windows 10, the Anniversary Update is being offered as a free upgrade to Windows users. Major changes coming in the update include new Windows Hello biometric security for apps and the Edge browser; Windows Ink support for pen computing on touchscreens; and a more intelligent and proactive version of the Cortana personal digital assistant.
