Windows 10 Preview Build 14361: All about user experience
Yesterday, June 8th 2016, the latest Windows 10 Preview Build was issued to Insiders in the Fast ring. Windows 10 Preview Build 14361 includes a large number of fixes, as well as many visual improvements, and a better user experience throughout the desktop UI.
Windows Ink has gone through a few important changes that allow users to sketch, draw and write in a much more natural way on touch devices like the Surface Book, or the VAIO Z Flip. One issue reported by Windows Ink testers, has been that the ruler is not long enough to span across the entire screen. This issue has been fixed, as well as the loading speed of the Sketchpad thumbnail, and other minor visual issues.
In the wake of Insiders feedback, the Settings app now features a Home button across every page, which takes directly to the Settings app’s home page.
Some of the other notable improvements within the long list available on the official Windows Blog, include Cortana’s ability to listen to commands, after tapping the microphone, which is now no longer an issue, as well as a more polished Start Menu, where white space has been reduced, and the fading effect of scrollbars is more responsive.
Issues on PCs
Most of the issues found in the current build refer to Internationalization. French Windows 10 Insiders will have to wait for the next build, as one of the bugs associated with the current build seems to cause French text across the UI to revert back to English, even with the French language pack installed.
Japanese Insiders will also experience an issue when using text-prediction with the keyboard set to Japanese IME, which will freeze PCs. For the time being, until the next build, this issue can be avoided by turning off predictive text, from within the IME settings (Right-click IME mode icon > Properties > Advanced > Predictive Input > Use predictive input=OFF).
Finally, while installing apps on a version of Windows 10 Preview in a number of languages, including Chinese and Portuguese(Brazil), will not allow to launch the Start menu.
Windows 10 Anniversary Update is getting closer
By the looks of the latest builds, the Summer update of Windows 10 seems to be getting very close, with a shrinking volume of bugs, and growing lists of fixes and improvements. Microsoft is indeed keeping up with its promise to abandon its former business model, to embrace the development of an operating system capable of scaling and growing exponentially, in a way that resembles a form of mass-delivered “agile development”, in other words a much more efficient way to keep up with consumer demands, in terms of user experience and platform stability across all devices capable of running Windows 10.