14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft announced a new feature coming to Windows 10 that would enable tabs in UWP apps and eventually in Win32 programs in an attempt to boost productivity and allow users to organize work with little effort.
The new feature is called “Sets” and the idea it’s based on is as simple as it could be: by bringing tabs in apps, users would never have to close or minimize a specific app only to search the web for information or launch another app. This is an approach similar to the tabs in browsers, which enable browsing the web with just a single window of the program running on the screen.
Microsoft Sets will initially be available in the company’s own universal apps, and Microsoft isn’t hiding the fact that its goal is to bring the same feature on all devices, including smartphones.
It goes without saying that enabling this feature on Android and iOS is more difficult than on its desktop operating system, but the company wants to be the first to do this with its apps like Office and Microsoft Edge and thus become a pioneer before more devs go for it. Sync features would also be available, so sets could support roaming from a PC to a mobile device.
Tabs, tabs everywhere
Furthermore, Microsoft also wants to enable this feature in Win32 software, and File Explorer, Notepad, and Photoshop are on the list of titles that should be getting it in early 2018. Again, this will hit some roadblocks, especially because some software comes with customized titlebars, but the firm apparently thought of that in advance and expects to release this feature next year.
Tab support in File Explorer was one of the most requested improvements for Windows 10, and Microsoft seems ready to deliver such a feature, although at first glance it looks like the company is doing it at a much bigger scale.
The behavior of Sets, however, could lead to more controversy in the Windows 10 world. By default, when opening a new tab, Sets will bring up a tab with a search option that replicates the one of Microsoft Edge, the company’s new Windows 10 browser that so far suffered from pretty low adoption figures.
Many could see this is a way to force Microsoft Edge onto users, a strategy that Microsoft turned down to several times already with pop-ups showing up on the desktop and notifications when other browsers were installed.
Microsoft Sets should become available for insiders in the coming builds before eventually going live for everyone in the spring of 2018 with the release of Windows 10 Redstone 4.
