[OFFICIAL] Windows 10 Insider Program

[PGHammer]

And I also think that Microsoft coming back with a focus on native code, the move to improve their compiler and supporting C++ '14 after years of aimlessly wondering around in a 'managed code is the future haze' (Apple went through the same phase with their Garbage Collector for Objective-C, but they found their senses, developed ARC, Swift and Clang/LLVM and the new libc++ library has put them squarely in the camp of C++ developers best friend) - WinRT is what developers wanted for years, not managed code framework (aka .NET for the desktop) but a better set of frameworks for native code with the added bonus that it can span from smart phone to tablet to laptop without all the pain and heartache that came with win32. Then add to that the language agnostic nature of WinRT and it is definitely a winner - don't like C++ then use HTML5, don't like that then use JavaScript, want to use Python? great, go a head and use it till your hearts content. Microsoft has gotten back its developer groove by having a developer at the helm - 'developers, developers, developers, developers'.

 

Edit: Given the clean nature of WinRT I wouldn't be surprised if we see an implementation ala wine appearing given that it should be a lot easier to implement WinRT based on the fact that it is new, properly documented and built from the ground up. I'd hazard to guess that going forward we're going to see Microsoft move their whole Office stack to sit on top of WinRT, create underpinnings in WinRT for OS X, Android and iOS backends then recompile for each platform and take the relevant parts they need from WinRT with them aka like what they did back in the days they used Mainsoft to provide Internet Explorer/Outlook Express on Solaris and HP-UX.

Actually, it's not a focus ON native code, but on using APIs properly (as a bridge between native code for the OS, and application code, which is not necessarily native).  However, in order for an API to be properly used, it must be properly delineated - which all too many Windows APIs haven't been.  (In other words, you're right on the "unclean API" issue.)  Having unclean APIs may have been well and good if you have no competition in compiling Windows applications - however, that is far from true - even in the Windows space.

 

Managed code - in and of itself - isn't the issue - in a team environment, managed code is a must..  The problem - where there is one - is that different minds have different approaches to dealing with APIs, and when the API is "unclean" (that is, it ALLOWS multiple approaches) it exacerbates the headaches OF managed code.  Proper API delineation deals with the multiple-approaches problem, which in turn reduces the headaches of code management (which, more often than not, is about approaches to an API).

[PGHammer]

Android X86 stable distributions actually have play store access, the main problem is apps (mostly games) compiled with the native code libraries will only work on ARM processors. I'm hoping that more developers will start making their stuff x86 compatible as tablets powered by atom processors are becoming more common.

That is exactly what I meant - as there ARE completely non-native (as in across all platforms) and platform-specific (x86-specific, in fact) versions of both Google Play AND Play Services for Lollipop today, and they aren't hacks - the source is Google itself.  It's also why I said that the ball is back in the court of developers.

 

In fact, right now, I'm researching an issue going forward for prospective Android developers (and users) - OpenGL ES support on Hyper-V.  However, since I have started a thread on this issue on the Development forum, take any possible solutions there, please.

[Noir Angel]

From what I can remember they have had play services in Android X86 at least since version 4.2. It is nice to see Google taking that seriously. I wouldn't personally use Android on a desktop computer just yet but it never hurts to see the competition stepping up, and it's certainly far more user friendly than your average Linux distribution. It will be interesting to see how it competes with Windows 10 in the hybrid PC department.

[PGHammer]

From what I can remember they have had play services in Android X86 at least since version 4.2. It is nice to see Google taking that seriously. I wouldn't personally use Android on a desktop computer just yet but it never hurts to see the competition stepping up, and it's certainly far more user friendly than your average Linux distribution. It will be interesting to see how it competes with Windows 10 in the hybrid PC department.

Javik, the ONLY reason that Android-x86 (today) is not very attractive is that too many Android applications AND games are using either ARM-native code, or DALVIK, or both - the ARM problem is, in fact, solvable (via translation - however, it is a CPU-cycle thief), but the DALVIK problem isn't.  (The DALVIK problem is also a problem for ARM - remember, Lolli lacks DALVIK altogether.)  Further, Google is discouraging the bundling of the Play Store and/or Play Services with x86-based Android images outside of the developer tools - that is, in fact, why Genymotion no longer includes them.  It can be worked around - however, it's not a casual endeavor.

 

Another interest (by users AND developers) is Android VMs inside of Windows.  The big reason this is still semi-proprietary (as opposed to open) is OpenGL - which has been in an open feud with MIcrosoft's DirectX.  The developers doing the most work on OpenGL seem to be doing their best to keep OpenGL from being implementable inside any Microsoft platform - even the elegant hack that is the Genymotion shell (which is also used by the ANDY Android emulator and other emulators based on Oracle Virtual Box) only goes so far in emulation of OpenGL ES calls, which is why some games still don't work.  (There is no equivalent shell for Hyper-V - which is a decided issue going forward.)

 

The hurdles are high - however, they ARE clearable.  To get them cleared, you have to get past the politics - there ARE those with vested interest in seeing those obstacles remain uncleared.

[Ian S.]

Created a Video for the new Lock Screen in 9901:

 

[Dot Matrix]

They could make Android for desktops, and it would still be junk. They haven't even mastered tablets yet.

[Ian S.]

After activating the new login key, I attempted to create a second account to see what it would look like. Unfortunately, the second account now does auto login even when I click sign out, so I couldn't return to my primary account. To fix this I made myself an admin on my secondary account. Then edited the value to return it to the old lock screen and login, which then I was able to log out and login to the primary account to finally delete the secondary. 

[Dot Matrix]

I'm surprised the new lock screen hasn't been posted to the main page by now.

[Ian S.]

That could be it, wouldn't surprise me but at the same time I still like to see updated modern versions of the core apps and tools that come with the OS.

 

 

IF you refer to the icons on that list, I think that list isn't a Windows thing, rather a tool that user has installed on Windows.

 

 

I hope those icons hold out to be true. I'd love to see modern replacements for tools that have long sat in the weeds.

 

To put all rumors to rest, I found out the name of the software used for those icons (yes they are not official). It's called Ease Of Access Replacer v2

 

[Dot Matrix]

Dang, so it's third party?

[f0rk_b0mb]

I've kinda been holding back, but 9901 is looking cool and I'm downloading it now. Should I run it on a spare hdd or VM? How good does it run in a VM? On a scale from 1-10, 1 being pre alpha 10 being final build, how stable is it? Thanks in advance!

[Ian S.]

I've kinda been holding back, but 9901 is looking cool and I'm downloading it now. Should I run it on a spare hdd or VM? How good does it run in a VM? On a scale from 1-10, 1 being pre alpha 10 being final build, how stable is it? Thanks in advance!

VM works great, but really depends on the host. I have 1 TB on my laptop so I gave the VM 25 gigs of space, access to 2 cores. Also, the laptop has 16 gigs of RAM so I gave the VM 10.7 gigs of usable memory. It will probably run fine with bare minimum. Also the VM is 64-bit and requires a processor with PAE/NX bit. I'm thinking of putting it on my SP3 as a dual boot? Though, maybe Yosemite instead though since I have 9901 on my laptop.

[f0rk_b0mb]

VM works great, but really depends on the host. I have 1 TB on my laptop so I gave the VM 25 gigs of space, access to 2 cores. Also, the laptop has 16 gigs of RAM so I gave the VM 10.7 gigs of usable memory. It will probably run fine with bare minimum. Also the VM is 64-bit and requires a processor with PAE/NX bit. I'm thinking of putting it on my SP3 as a dual boot? Though, maybe Yosemite instead though since I have 9901 on my laptop.

 

Thanks Ian! I've been thinking about dual booting it with my Mac just for giggles. I'm also going to try out a vm so I installed Parallels 10 and it looks like it has support for Windows 10 out of the box. I love the new task bar and the start menu is damn intuitive.

[Steven P. Administrators]

Created a Video for the new Lock Screen in 9901:

 

 

 

I'm surprised the new lock screen hasn't been posted to the main page by now.

BOOM HEADSHOT!  https://www.neowin.net/news/enable-the-new-login-screen-for-windows-10-builds-9888-and-9901

[Ian S.]

BOOM HEADSHOT!  https://www.neowin.net/news/enable-the-new-login-screen-for-windows-10-builds-9888-and-9901

 

Nice, but there is a small issue with Softpedia, who doesn't have a great forum like we have, so they got the instructions wrong.

 

The Path is

 

HKEY_LOCAL_Machine\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Authentication\LogonUI\TestHooks

 

The DWORD (32 Bit) Value in the TestHooks Key is called Threshold with its value set to 0 by default, change that to 1 there is no field with a value of Threshold that you change to '1'. Rather There is a DWORD (32 Bit) Value called "Threshold" located under TestHooks which is under LogonUI that has its value set to 0 but needs to be changed to 1. 

Neowin can be the first news site to get it right!

 

[Steven P. Administrators]

Nice, but there is a small issue with Softpedia, who doesn't have a great forum like we have, so they got the instructions wrong.

 

The Path is

Neowin can be the first news site to get it right!

 

done, cheers!

[+Zlip792 MVC]

Thank God, this thread is now back to track with new login screen post.

[George P Global Moderator]

I think the lock screen being transparent in this is interesting, specially with all the space the login screen has with the way they moved users to the left side.

 

Maybe they plan to allow things to be shown on the login screen and not the lock screen? Or I guess it could just be a simple option for those who find the idea of the lock screen to be pointless.

[PGHammer]

They could make Android for desktops, and it would still be junk. They haven't even mastered tablets yet.

Dot, Android is still in flux - I know it, and so do developers.  Part of the flux is, in fact, due to new hardware targeting Android (such as Intel's Atom) and attempts to poison Android against non-ARM development by folks such as Peter Watt.  Even leaving the ARM vs. Intel feud out, OpenGL ES is itself in flux - and that is on every platform - it is NOT alone an Android problem.  Further complicating issues is dealing with OpenGL performance issues for developers on developer platforms, which now must include Windows (and Hyper-V going forward).  Those are all rather significant issues, and Android must address them all.  However, Windows Phone still has that native-code-reliance problem hanging over its head - that is why most developers won't touch it with even Visual Studio Community, let alone 2015 - as long as that problem persists, it's not in a position to make ANY hay.

[PGHammer]

I think the lock screen being transparent in this is interesting, specially with all the space the login screen has with the way they moved users to the left side.

 

Maybe they plan to allow things to be shown on the login screen and not the lock screen? Or I guess it could just be a simple option for those who find the idea of the lock screen to be pointless.

I think another reason for lock-screen transparency/translucency is so a hint of what is locked can be seen behind the lock-screen - in other words, the lock-screen is a window instead of a wall.  (It won't be FULLY transparent - the lock-screen is, in fact, a security feature.  But a semi-transparent screen will be decidedly a reminder that this is NOT your father's Windows - no version of Windows has included such a lock-screen, despite a lock-screen being a part of Windows since 3.1/NT 3.x - Yosemite uses a semi-transparent lockscreen today.)

[DeadEndAccount]

Dot, Android is still in flux - I know it, and so do developers.  Part of the flux is, in fact, due to new hardware targeting Android (such as Intel's Atom) and attempts to poison Android against non-ARM development by folks such as Peter Watt.  Even leaving the ARM vs. Intel feud out, OpenGL ES is itself in flux - and that is on every platform - it is NOT alone an Android problem.  Further complicating issues is dealing with OpenGL performance issues for developers on developer platforms, which now must include Windows (and Hyper-V going forward).  Those are all rather significant issues, and Android must address them all.  However, Windows Phone still has that native-code-reliance problem hanging over its head - that is why most developers won't touch it with even Visual Studio Community, let alone 2015 - as long as that problem persists, it's not in a position to make ANY hay.

 

The big question is whether the promises made when they talked about OpenGL NG [link] which is supposed to unify OpenGL 'Desktop' and 'Embedded' into a single modern API set or whether it ends up like 'Long Peaks' but then again developers don't really have much of a choice - either put up with OpenGL and its issues or use Direct X and tie yourself to the Windows wagon and hope that everything works out for the best. As for Windows Phone 8.1, from what I understand it is based on Windows RT and now has the complete WinRT framework available which provides compatibility from the desktop to the laptop, tablet and the phone but there is still the issue about Microsoft being behind the 8th ball when it comes to supporting standards compliant C++, the compiler is still pretty behind the time even if the saving grace of the development tools has been Visual Studio - there was a recent comparison of LLVM/Clang and GCC to Microsoft's own compiler toolchain and it wasn't a pretty sight. I sometimes wonder whether it would be easier for Microsoft just to start using the LLVM libc++ library, Clang and add .NET/MSIL support to the tool chain given that even as of today their developer tools are trailing behind when it comes to standards support.

[Noir Angel]

They could make Android for desktops, and it would still be junk. They haven't even mastered tablets yet.

 

Strange, because I find it works incredibly well on tablets. It resolution scales substantially better than iOS (meaning phone apps don't look like crap), and doesn't consume all of the 16GB of storage available because it's developers insisted on bastardising instead of developing separately. And unlike Windows metro it actually has good support from AAA devs.

[George P Global Moderator]

If you guys want to talk android take it to another thread, this one is about the Windows 10 preview, stay on topic.

[PotatoAlchemist]

Is there a way to enable the fullscreen button on Windows Store apps titlebar in build 9901? For some reason it's there when I create a local account, however when I tie it with my Microsoft account, it puts it back into the context menu, where it was before build 9901. If there would be a registry entry or so.

 

EDIT: I've found it. It's ShowFullScreenButtonOnTitleBar, DWORD type, located in HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ApplicationFrame. 1 enables it, 0 disables it.

Edited January 7, 2015 by PotatoAlchemist

[Knife Party]

If you guys want to talk android take it to another thread, this one is about the Windows 10 preview, stay on topic.

tell that to Sir. Dotmatrix then, since he brings up Android, android on the desktop and what knows......