14 DAY TRIAL // The Sets saga in Windows 10 is likely coming to an end, as a new report citing people familiar with the matter indicates that the feature is getting the ax, with very slight chances to ever return.
Microsoft watcher Mary Jo Foley says “Microsoft dropped plans for Sets,” mostly because the feature “wasn’t well received or understood.”
Sets enabled tabs all across the operating system, allowing users to have multiple apps open in the same window, each running in a dedicated tab.
This complex implementation, however, meant apps had to be optimized to work with Sets, and the aforementioned source says the Office engineering team in particular had to focus specifically on optimizing the productivity suite only for this feature.
Microsoft originally pulled Sets, promising to bring it back at a later time with further improvements.
“We’re taking Sets offline to continue making it great. Based on your feedback, some of the things we’re focusing on include improvements to the visual design and continuing to better integrate Office and Microsoft Edge into Sets to enhance workflow. If you have been testing Sets, you will no longer see it as of today’s build, however, Sets will return in a future WIP flight,” Microsoft said.
Tabs, they come and go
Last weekend, Microsoft PM for the Windows Console, posted a tweet suggesting that Sets might no longer be developed.
“The Shell-provided tab experience is no more, but adding tabs is high on our to do list,” he said.
In a follow-up tweet, Turner explained that he was only referring to the Windows Console, and not to Sets overall in Windows 10.
“I am not the PM for Sets/Tabs. I was answsering a question **in the context of Windows Console**, for which I am the PM. I am not involved in the future of sets/tabs - I was merely pointing out that sets/tabs isn't shipping for the Console in 19H1,” he explained.
But according to the aforementioned report, the feature is being killed off anyway, so there’s little chance Sets would even return to Windows 10. On the other hand, tabs could still land in Windows 10, albeit Microsoft could use a different approach, such as support at app level.