alt="Snapshot of the new Start menu which should look at least vaguely familiar to just about all experienced Windows users."/>
FIGURE 2-2: The new Start menu should look at least vaguely familiar to just about all experienced Windows users.
THE “GET WINDOWS 10” DEBACLE
No description of the recent history of Windows, however brief, can gloss over the fear and loathing that Microsoft induced with its Get Windows 10, or GWX, campaign.
The campaign started shortly after the RTM release in July 2015, with a little-noticed program known as KB 3035583. In October 2015, Microsoft started force-updating Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 computers to Windows 10, without the owners’ knowledge or consent. A loud scream arose, and, a week after the forced upgrades started, they suddenly stopped. But the GWX campaign continued, showing increasingly persistent ads for Windows 10, all the symptoms of nagware, and even malware. Microsoft proved that it could reach into your Windows 7 machine and start the upgrade to Windows 10, whether you wanted it or not.
The resultant clamor — from an unexpected appearance of a Windows 10 upgrade notification on a weather forecaster’s live news show, to Windows experts fretting over their relatives and friends, to more than 1 million posts on a Chinese blog — should have convinced Microsoft to back off. It didn’t. If you bump into people who don’t trust Windows or Microsoft, they have a good reason.
Exploring the Versions of Windows 10
Microsoft has famously announced that Windows 10 is “the last version of Windows.” Which is to say, uh, Windows 10 is anything but the last version of Windows.
Far from it.
The first version of Windows 10, which didn’t have an official name, arrived in July 2015. People are now calling it Windows 10 version 1507 — where 15 stands for 2015 and 07 stands for July. Some people call it Windows 10 RTM, but that’s a blasphemous approach because Windows as a Service never reaches Release to Manufacturing status. It’s constantly changing. Constantly improving, to hear the marketeers talk about it.
But that’s where we stand.
Here are the versions of Windows 10, to date:
Version 1507 –RTM released July 29, 2015 — contains the basic elements of Windows 10, few of which worked properly.
Version 1511 — Originally Fall update and later November update released November 10, 2015 — became the first stable and generally usable version of Windows 10.
Version 1607 — Anniversary update, released August 2, 2016 — spruced up the Start menu and Microsoft Edge, added the Notification (er, Action) Center (Book 2, Chapter 3), started adding features to the Cortana personal assistant, fleshed out a few of the Universal apps (see Book 4), improved Windows Hello to recognize your finger and your face, and added digital ink so you can draw on things.
Version 1703 — Creators update, released April 11, 2017 — had small improvements for Cortana and the Microsoft Edge browser, a new privacy settings overview, an easier way to control updates (for Win10 Pro only), and lots of stuff for folks who draw in 3D and use virtual/augmented reality.
Version 1709 — Fall Creators update, released October 17, 2017 — made OneDrive usable again with Files on Demand (Book 6, Chapter 1), and touches up My People (Book 3, Chapter 3), Cortana, and Microsoft Edge.
Version 1803 — Spring Creators update, released April 10, 2018 — got Dark Mode, another tweak to My People, more Cortana and Edge, and not a whole lot more.
Version 1809 — October 2018 update, released October 2, 2018 — got the Timeline, an improved clipboard that syncs through the cloud with other Windows 10 PCs you own, improved Search, the Your Phone app (see Book 10, Chapter 2), and Snip & Sketch, a new app for taking screenshots.
Version 1903 — May 2019 update, released May 21, 2019 — delivered minor improvements to the Start menu, separated Cortana from Search (thank goodness for that), Windows Sandbox (see Book 7, Chapter 2), and a few other quality-of-life improvements.
Version 1909 — November 2019 update, released November 12, 2019 — improved minor aspects in File Explorer, the Calendar, and notifications. It was one of the most underwhelming updates in terms of new features. Microsoft’s focus was mostly on bug fixing and improving reliability.
Version 2004 — May 2020 update, released May 27, 2020 — gave users more control over their Windows updates (hooray for that), Cortana was separated even more from the operating system, Task Manager was tweaked to show more useful data, Search got faster, and other minor improvements were made.
You may have a version later than 2004 (type About in the search box and press Enter), but chances are good the new features aren’t going to make your life much more interesting.
The Different Kinds of Windows Programs, Er, Apps
Windows 10 runs two very different kinds of programs. Permit me to go back to basics.
Computer programs (call them applications or desktop apps if you want) that you and I know work by interacting with an operating system. Since the dawn of Windows time, give or take a bit, Windows apps have communicated with Windows through a specific set of routines (application program interfaces or APIs) known colloquially and collectively as Win32. With rare exceptions, Windows desktop apps — the kind you use every day — take advantage of Win32 APIs to work with Windows.
