After condemning Windows 10 to an imminent end, Microsoft continues to enrich its “old” operating system with small unexpected functions. Proof that the publisher says everything and its opposite in a joyful mess!
A few weeks ago, Microsoft definitively condemned Windows 10 to a slow death by announcing that its venerable – but much-loved – operating system would only receive simple security updates before its official funeral, scheduled for October 2025 ( see our article). In his blog post quietly published on April 27, 2023, the Redmond firm specified that the next versions of Windows 10 would not benefit from any functional novelties, having to settle for bug fixes and vulnerabilities, in particular via its traditional Patch Tuesday, delivered on the second Tuesday of each month. And for good reason: for more than a year the publisher has been seeking, against all odds, to impose its new baby, Windows 11, the darling, the only one to be regularly entitled to new and “flamboyant” functions. Promised sworn: Windows 10 would remain as is, in its 22H2 edition, until the end! And too bad for all those who cannot or do not want to move on to its much more demanding successor…
Windows 10: very anecdotal new features
And wham: as usual, Microsoft has not kept its word! Less than a month after this disastrous announcement, the publisher announces, in a blog post dated May 11, the arrival of a new version of Windows 10… with new functions! Admittedly, minor novelties – not to say anecdotal – which will not transform the system in depth. It is about the system’s search field which becomes compatible with all positions of the taskbar, including when it includes small icons, while offering better results, while browsing the PC, but also on the Web. Another “essential” new feature, Windows 10 will be able to display up to three priority notifications (called “toasts”) at a time in the appropriate area. A revolution. And, of course, this version will correct its share of problems – the list is long, as often…
In short, nothing that breaks the house in this version being tested, and whose release date is not communicated. But the important thing is not there. First, this announcement clearly suggests that, contrary to recent official announcements, Windows 10 could still evolve – at the margin – before retiring in 2025. Who knows, maybe we will be entitled to a few more new features. consistent in the 23H2 version which should logically appear at the end of 2023? Then, and above all, it seems quite clear that the teams working on Windows are freewheeling, saying everything and its opposite, and accumulating blunders. We had already deplored the inconsistency of the Windows 11 update policy, which is evolving in a joyful mess without being overhauled in depth as we hoped (see our rant article). And we have repeatedly reported the many issues that come with the recent Patch Tuesdays of April and May 2023, proof that quality checks are still not there… So, yes, we can expect anything with Microsoft!