Microsoft to release Anniversary Update for Windows 10 this summer
Microsoft is releasing a new update for Windows 10 this summer called the Anniversary Update. Microsoft is bringing new functionality to Windows Ink and Windows Hello, among other things, such as biometric login to websites with the Edge browser.
When the Anniversary Update will be released exactly is not yet known: Microsoft kept it to ‘this summer’. The update previously known as Redstone 1 is coming for free to all Windows devices, including the Xbox One. The preview of the SDK of the update is available to developers immediately. Part of the update is new Windows Ink functionality for working with a pen and touchscreen.
For example, there will be an Ink Workspace. This is an overview of apps optimized for the stylus. Users can also go directly to such apps in the Windows Store via this overview. Microsoft combines Sticky Notes with Cortana. At the Build keynote, the company demonstrated how Cortana understood the word “tomorrow” on the “call me tomorrow” note and automatically created a reminder.
Furthermore, there will be a ruler in Sketch Pad and Powerpoint for making straight lines, which can be moved and rotated via touch. Adobe integrates something similar in Illustrator, where the ruler can take all kinds of shapes.
Microsoft is further extending Hello biometric authentication to Edge. From the Anniversary Update, users can log in to sites that support Hello with, for example, their fingerprint.
Today, 270 million people are actively using Windows 10, said Terry Myerson, vice president of the Windows group at Microsoft. According to him, this is the fastest Windows adoption ever. Myerson stressed that Windows 10 also runs on five-year-old PCs, responding to a comment Apple made when announcing iPad Pro that it was “very sad” that people are still using old PCs. Microsoft is trying to sell Windows 10 emphatically, the company has explicitly pointed out to many Windows users in recent months that an upgrade to Windows 10 is ready, something that not all users could and cannot appreciate.