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Windows 10 Redstone 2 to Overhaul the Taskbar with New People Bar Feature

Microsoft working on new taskbar feature for Redstone 2

Sep 2, 2016 04:50 GMT  ·  By
This is how the People Bar could be integrated into the taskbar
   This is how the People Bar could be integrated into the taskbar

Windows 10 Redstone 2 is already in the works, and while the existing preview builds do not bring much in terms of new features, Microsoft is actually developing several exciting improvements that should start showing up in the coming updates for insiders.

As we’ve already told you, Microsoft is working on adding f.lux-like functionality in Windows 10 Redstone 2, and now a new report from WindowsCentral confirms that such a feature is indeed in development, and it’s internally called Blue Light. What’s important to know, however, is that this is just a placeholder for the time being, and Microsoft is very likely to pick a different name before RS2 goes live in spring 2017.

But it turns out that there’s more to come in the upcoming preview builds, and one new feature that’s likely to see daylight is called People Bar.

Integrated into the taskbar, People Bar brings the most recent and the currently active contacts right next to the system tray, making it super easy to start a conversation or email one of them. The purpose here is to improve the communication and collaboration side of Windows 10, and the source writes that it’ll come with support for Skype, GroupMe, Office, and possibly other apps.

In development since 2015

It appears that this feature had been in the works under closed doors in Redmond even before Microsoft shipped Windows 10 in July 2015, but the company just wasn’t pleased with how it worked and decided to hold it back until Redstone 2.

The current implementation that’s available in private internal builds relies on circular icons that show either your contacts’ initials or their profile picture, and contacting one of them is as easy as clicking their icon.

For the moment, it’s not yet known when this feature is expected to debut in Windows 10 Redstone 2 preview builds, but since Microsoft’s already testing it internally, it shouldn’t take too long before we get our hands on it. A new build should see daylight next week for both PCs and mobile, so fingers crossed to see some new goodies included.