back to article Microsoft, you shouldn't have: Festive Windows 10 Insiders build about as exciting as new socks

With less than two weeks to go before Christmas, Microsoft has lobbed a fresh build of next year's Windows 10 down the chimney. Insiders hoping for shiny new toys to play with will, however, be disappointed to find the computing equivalent of a fresh pair of socks. The 18298 build of Windows 10 is extremely light on new …

  1. CN Hill

    I'd love to see a default for Windows Explorer as View as List and Sort as File Type.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      >Windows Explorer

      I'd like to see it step out of the dark ages and implement tabs or a split view like Dolphin.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        re: implement tabs or a split view like Dolphin.

        How is that better than having multiple explorer windows open?

        1. This post has been deleted by its author

        2. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: re: implement tabs or a split view like Dolphin.

          >How is that better than having multiple explorer windows open?

          It's a lot less clicking and mouse movements, having used both I know which I prefer.

          See this video tutorial

    2. Headley_Grange Silver badge

      Could be worse - you could have Finder.

      1. Steve Davies 3 Silver badge

        re: You could have finder

        There are alternatives to Finder such as 'Commander One' but Windows Explorer is so embedded into the whole OS replacing it is next to impossible.

        Besides if this was easy I'm sure that MS would go out of its way to make it impossible or at least very difficult to do. (just my opinion though)

        1. This post has been deleted by its author

        2. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: re: You could have finder

          >There are alternatives to Finder such as 'Commander One' but Windows Explorer is so embedded into the whole OS replacing it is next to impossible.

          I didn't know MacOS came with Windows Exploder, however I did know it comes with Finder.

  2. Robert E A Harvey

    Havn't they finished this yet?

    They've been building Windows for over a quarter of a century, and it isn't finished yet?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Havn't they finished this yet?

      Engineers are prone to "creeping featurism" - either "improving" existing things or adding "useful" new things.

      In the 1970s it was not unusual to see development people replaced by promotions/defections about every 18 months. At which point someone new would "fix" something they thought looked wrong. Thus recreating a problem which had been solved by an earlier team. It wasn't long before "If it ain't broke - don't fix it" became the watchword.

      In one case there were two development teams responsible for alternate O/S releases. On installing the new release one had to be aware that the asynchronous terminal settings of the main console would flip between their two different preferences for bit rate etc.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Havn't they finished this yet?

      I think you'll notice that Linux, BSD, OSX(Macos, OS9...) are just as finished as Windows...

    3. Smoking Man

      Re: Havn't they finished this yet?

      [Quote] They've been building Windows for over a quarter of a century, and it isn't finished yet? [/Quote]

      So you thought the deep knowledge on how to configure the underlying DOS system would keep your job safe?

      And using more than 16 MB of memory is just a waste of resources?

      You gotta be strong now: Things and conditions develop. Different from what you were thinking. Sometimes.

      1. bombastic bob Silver badge
        Trollface

        Re: Havn't they finished this yet?

        "And using more than 16 MB of memory is just a waste of resources?"

        etc.

        my 'smug' detector almost went off...

    4. bombastic bob Silver badge
      Coat

      Re: Havn't they finished this yet?

      yeah, they should change the icon for windows to an "under construction" sign...

      /me runs away seeing as so many web sites used to do that to the point where it became a trope to be ridiculed...

      /me also points out that anything with any COLOR in it would be an improvement over that 'monochromatic' white on 'whatever background' 2D FLATTY 'windows at an angle' icon is...

  3. Little_Crow
    Coat

    So more like a sewing kit to fix the holes in the socks they gave you in October, but then took back because they were found to chop off your toes.

  4. DasWezel
    Thumb Up

    Maybe they got it right this time?

    That'd be lovely, given that there's currently a user's laptop on the bench that's been running Windows Update for 9 days solid. (So far...)

    Makes it all seem worthwhile!

    1. Jay Lenovo

      Re: Maybe they got it right this time?

      "Right" is an unreachable platitude.

      All we can reasonably hope for is "less wrong".

    2. sabroni Silver badge

      Re: been running Windows Update for 9 days solid.

      To be fair 3.1 to 10 is a fair number of updates.

    3. bombastic bob Silver badge
      Trollface

      Re: Maybe they got it right this time?

      " there's currently a user's laptop on the bench that's been running Windows Update for 9 days solid"

      you should put a web cam on it, and a page that snapshots it, maybe a web page called "the daily windows update", etc.. Have some fun, let us all get a nice big 'schadenfruede' laugh over it, etc.. Or maybe you could make a time-lapse youtube video with a running timestamp (and ambient room light indicating day/night) so that people can see just how sllloooooww it's going. Heh.

  5. Marco van de Voort

    Any change to notepad is big news of course.

    It is the most important Windows app :-)

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Any change to notepad is big news of course.

      Yes, this is really mad they are working on this ...

    2. Tony Jarvie

      Re: Any change to notepad is big news of course.

      I used to agree with that....until I was shown Notepad++ and now it's my default app for anything text-y on my PC!

      1. Christian Berger

        Re: Any change to notepad is big news of course.

        Well Notepad++ and Notepad are something completely different. Notepad has it's use for just being a "paste buffer" that can also strip format information from your data.

        I've looked at Notepad++, and I see little reason to use it. It seems to lack a unifying vision. It just looks like a lot of non orthogonal features added to a simple word processor. It fullfills most prejudices people have about Windows software.

        1. JohnFen

          Re: Any change to notepad is big news of course.

          "I've looked at Notepad++, and I see little reason to use it."

          I see a reason to use it, but not as a blanket replacement for Notepad. As you say, Notepad++ and Notepad are different programs that address different needs. I always have a need for a very minimal editor with the fewest features possible. In Windows, that's Notepad and I love it for that. It's one of the applications I use the most.

          Notepad++ is better when you need a "word processor lite" or an editor that understands code (and you don't want to fire up a full-featured one).

      2. BGatez

        Re: Any change to notepad is big news of course.

        And not new, been a superior choice for years (one of many to Windows native items).

        1. bombastic bob Silver badge
          Devil

          Re: Any change to notepad is big news of course.

          yeah fixing some of the more 'irritating features' of Notepad _IS_ an improvement. As long as it doesn't go all UWP on us.

          assuming UTF-8 (without a control char seq saying 'I am UTF-8 format') is a good start. So is that irritating prompt to 'create a new file' if you enter a non-existent file name on the command line... [maybe just the ability to turn that on/off in case someone WANTS that?]

          Fix that and line endings and it should be good to go. Now how about a back-port for 7?

  6. Shadow Systems

    Cue the bugsplosion in 3... 2... 1...

    *Dives for cover*

  7. ivan5

    Are they removing the spying and stupid flat look and making it easier to get at all the settings?

    That might be a start to the road of making windows useful again. Until they do I will stick with OS/2 and Linux because that way I can get work done.

    1. BigSLitleP

      "removing the spying" - if you were a techie, you'd be able to do that

      "Stupid flat look" - aesthetics is a choice, i actually like the way win 10 looks

      "os/2" - Come on grandpa, your tea is getting cold.

      1. bombastic bob Silver badge
        Mushroom

        2D flatty flat flatso flatness flugly

        '"Stupid flat look" - aesthetics is a choice, i actually like the way win 10 looks'

        OK. that's YOUR choice. Why can't _I_ have *MY* choice???

        answer: because a handful of ARROGANT SMUG 'we know better than YOU what YOU should have' types RE-WROTE THE [profanities] UI to be ALL 2D FLATSO AND FLUGLY, that's why!!!!

        And they forgot that THE CUSTOMER (me) is ALWAYS right, and should be GIVING ME (the customer) _WHAT_ _I_ _WANT_ !!!

  8. Cavehomme_

    Quit messing users around

    The Pro and Enterprise versions need all the crud stripping out by default and kept entirely stable.

    They can then piss around with the Consumer version as much as they want...until the consumers in desperation move to Linux or OSX

    1. BGatez

      Re: Quit messing users around

      Absolutely true. How can you call it "Pro" and "business ready" with all that crap and spyware (I mean "digital assistants" on it.

  9. DJV Silver badge

    January's "bug bash"

    Oh, are they doing that "in-house" this time around instead of letting the victims, erm, lemmings Insiders do it for them?

  10. Charlie Clark Silver badge

    Real progress

    has finally added the option to save files in UTF-8 without a Byte Order Mark

    Wow! But how long has it taken? Will it also disappear from whichever .NET code is responsible for spunking BOMs on JSON?

    1. Kristian Walsh Silver badge

      Re: Real progress

      It's idiot programmers who are responsible for prepending BOMs onto JSON payloads, not the framework. By default, the .Net Utf8Encoding class does not emit a BOM - you've got to explicitly request that behaviour. It's been that way since the start (.Net Version 1.1 doc here: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/api/system.text.utf8encoding?view=netframework-1.1)

      But the JSON parsers are, strictly speaking, broken too. The JSON specification does not define a byte encoding (no, read it again: "a sequence of Unicode code points". Code points are not byte values), so parsers that accept only untagged UTF-8 are in error.

      "Be liberal in what you accept, and conservative in what you produce" is always the best approach.

  11. FIA Silver badge

    Typical Register Apple bias.

    The 18298 build of Windows 10 is extremely light on new features,

    This is pure FUD.

    As you can see if you read any reputable news outlet this build includes MAJOR updates to Notepad.

    It has a status bar.

    Bus as usual, the pro Apple lobby has to repeatedly bash MS. (or as you probably type it, M4).

    <sigh>

  12. BGatez

    good start, now...

    Now if they could get rid of Edge, Cortana, Xbox, Store, Games, ads, forced updates, data slurping, etc. we'd have an operating system.

    1. bombastic bob Silver badge
      Trollface

      Re: good start, now...

      put that all into an 'extras pack' for people who want it. then see how often it gets installed...

      1. BeerTokens

        Re: good start, now...

        Ah the days of selecting what you features installed during the build I do miss those. I even miss them on the linux builds, can't remember the last time I got to pick my packages during install probably about five years ago at a guess.

        What is wrong with letting the tech savvy have a proper advanced install option?

  13. Boris the Cockroach Silver badge
    Windows

    A CLI??????!!!!!

    What is this sourcery? a linux build or something?

    Or an admittance by m$ the only way to fix the steaming pile of poo that is win10 is a CLI and not the shiney happy GUI we've come to know and loath

    1. bombastic bob Silver badge
      Coat

      Re: A CLI??????!!!!!

      /me re-writes words to REM song

      "Shiny happy WINDOWS everywhere..."

  14. Smoking Man

    Two questions left:

    1) Will it leave user data alone (or just focus on itself)?

    2) Will it blend?

  15. cjcox

    They are working on a major new feature

    The next insider build will include something new for Windows 10, called "testing".

    "We believe that 'testing' will be received as the most well received update to Windows 10 releases over the past year."

  16. James Rome

    It broke my ability to log in! User profile service could not be loaded.

  17. J. Cook Silver badge

    If they can also squash the damn bug with RDP wherein if you put in your password wrong in the prompt to connect to the remote computer, the dialog that tells you that you've fat fingered it should not get dumped to the back of the line for focus... Same with the RDP window itself, for that matter....

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