I’ve been playing around with my approach to testing future Windows 10 versions of the past year. I’ll have a book-related announcement soon, but I think I’m going to keep updating the Windows 10 Field Guide through at least the end of 2018 and to include RS5. So existing customers will have received at least three years of updates. More on that soon. Windows Insider Program and enroll the PC in “Active development of Windows” and then “Fast,” and reboot. Then, check Windows Update to receive the latest pre-release RS5 build.
Caution: Doing so is a one-way street, at least until the “magic window” opens this September. As noted, Windows 10 version 1803—RS4—was just released. So in many ways, it’s still early days for RS5. But thanks to a relatively new wrinkle in the Insider program’s ring system called Skip Ahead—it debuted late last summer-Microsoft is actually able to publicly test two versions of Windows 10 at the same time. So there is some overlap towards the end of one release as testing begins on the next.
Such has been the case with RS5: Microsoft released the first RS5 build to Skip Ahead way back in February, and it has released a total of 11 RS5 builds—11! —since. 9 of those builds, by my count, were provided to those who opted in to Skip Ahead. But with Windows development transitioning to RS5 with the release of Windows 10 version 1803, the last two have been provided to the Fast ring.
We are on the RS5 train now. By which I mean, what’s coming soon in RS5, If you’ve been paying attention to the news, you know that the Windows organization in Microsoft has been split asunder and its leader has been cast out of the company. Core OS development heading to the Azure group and end-user experiences heading to a new Experiences & Devices group. You know that Windows 10 has, in effect, been demoted at Microsoft and is no longer a top-level concern.
And that this means that Windows 10 development will, in effect, slow down with regards to superfluous new features like those it had added in previous upgrades. That sounds like bad news. Well, cross your fingers, folks. I see in RS5 so far bears this out. Sets. Sets brings tabs to most Store apps and some desktop applications and other windows, and it is arguably one of the major changes coming in RS5.
As such, I’ll be paying a lot of attention to this feature, with an eye on multitasking (in particular with keyboard shortcuts, which appear to be evolving), drag and drop, and settings. Timeline cross-device support. Today, Timeline works across your PCs, but with RS5, Microsoft is adding Timeline support to mobile devices too.
This will take various forms: Via Microsoft’s productivity apps on both Android and iOS, via Microsoft Edge on both Android and iOS, and via the Microsoft Launcher on Android. New Clipboard experience. First revealed at Build 2017, the new Clipboard experience will finally debut in RS5, providing Windows 10 users with a cross-PC roaming clipboard history, pinned items support, Timeline and Sets support, and more. Start folder naming. Today, you can drag tiles in the Start menu on top of each other to create folders. But what you can’t do is name them.
So Microsoft is adding this capability in RS5. Mobile Broadband (LTE) connectivity UX improvements. Windows 10 finally is moving to a modern networking stack after 20 years (!) on the old version. And that includes a new Mobile Broadband (MBB) USB class driver for eSIM/SIM cards and USB cellular modems.
Those with Always Connected PCs like the HP Envy x2 will have a simpler experience getting up and running, at least eventually. But it’s early in the testing period and the onboarding experience right now is not final. There is, however, a new Data Usage experience in Network & Internet settings.
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