14 DAY TRIAL // Windows 10 Technical Preview won’t receive any other build updates until early 2015, Microsoft confirmed last month, but it appears that the company is working to improve the existing version with new patches and performance optimizations anyway.
Microsoftie Gabriel Aul confirmed in a short post on Twitter that Windows 10 Technical Preview build 9879 would receive new patches by the end of the year, and although no details were provided, it’s only natural to expect these improvements to be aimed at fixing bugs and other issues.
And still, do not expect these updates to bring any new features or tools to Windows Insider Program users, as Microsoft only uses new builds in this regard, so until a new version is released, we’re stuck with the exact same feature lineup available in Windows 10 Technical Preview build 9879.
Consumer Preview coming next month
Even though Microsoft keeps improving build 9879, it’s a well-known thing that everyone expects the consumer preview version, which could be launched next month, as this particular release could bring not only major performance and stability improvements, but also a bunch of new features.
For example, Windows 10 Consumer Preview could come with Continuum, a feature specifically designed for 2-in-1 devices that allows users to switch from the desktop to the Modern UI when removing the keyboard, thus making sure that their work continues seamlessly when jumping from one input method to another.
People close to the matter also indicated that Cortana could make the first appearance in this particular release, as Microsoft continues work on the digital assistant and could make it available for users in the form of an alpha build in this consumer preview.
New rollout schedule planned
Microsoft might switch to a monthly release schedule after the introduction of Windows 10 Consumer Preview and sources say that a single build update could actually be introduced every 30 days.
The rest of the time, Microsoft would focus on fixing bugs and implementing performance updates, so expect all these builds to come with fewer issues and to be more stable and reliable.
At this point, Windows 10 build 9888 is already available via unofficial channels, but it turns out that this particular version isn’t really stable and comes with quite a lot of crashes happening all of a sudden. Microsoft hasn’t shipped this build to users via the Windows Insider Program, so use it at your own risk if you really want to see what’s new in this build.
@JCalMN Magic 8-ball says: "Signs point to yes."
— Gabriel Aul (@GabeAul) December 3, 2014
