14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft keeps releasing new Windows 10 themes in the Microsoft Store every once in a while, but as many discovered the hard way, these don’t bring anything else than wallpapers.
So with Windows 10, Microsoft has more or less reinvented the definition of a Windows theme, pretty much transforming the entire concept to simple packs of wallpapers that users can download from the Microsoft Store.
Funny enough, even Microsoft itself explains that a theme should bring more than just wallpapers.
“A theme is a combination of desktop background pictures, window colors, and sounds,” the company says in the description of the themes that it published on its official website.
A similar description is posted in the Microsoft Store as well in the themes category.
“Put your personality in your Windows desktop. Explore dazzling wallpapers, sounds, accent colors, and more cool customizations.”
And yet, what we get is a wallpaper pack, which although includes high-quality photos, is far from what users normally expect from a Windows theme.
Let’s take “Ice Crystals PREMIUM” as an example. Published in the Microsoft Store with the “premium” tag for a reason that I really can’t figure out, the theme comes with the following description:
“Etch your desktop with frosty swirls and elaborate patterns in these 15 premium 4K images, free for Windows 10 themes. These images are to be used as desktop wallpaper only.”
Back in the days when Windows 7 was still a thing, themes brought so many more tweaks to the desktop, including the customizations that Microsoft itself pointed to above in the description of the theme concept. Sounds and colors were also included in Windows 7 themes, and third-party packs even brought further changes, such as mouse cursors and other modifications.
In Windows 10, however, themes come down to wallpapers and that’s pretty much it.
There are user posts asking for more content in Windows 10 themes all over the web, including in the Feedback Hub, which is the main feedback channel that Microsoft recommends for sending the company thoughts and suggestions for further improvements.
“I don’t like themes because I expected more than [a] group of wallpapers. I can change my wallpaper,” one user explains.
And truth be told, yes, anyone can change the wallpaper without the need for downloading a pack from the Microsoft Store. I do admit that the wallpaper packs that the company releases as themes are pretty cool and some of the backgrounds are truly awesome, but this doesn’t mean they should be marked as themes anyway. Why not labeling these downloads as wallpaper packs in the first place?
As I said in the past, there are other ways that Microsoft could use to bring the desktop to life, including a release of Windows Spotlight to desktop. Spotlight currently uses Bing to replace the lock screen wallpaper with a new background every day, but for now, this feature does not support the desktop. With such an update, Windows Spotlight would technically make it possible to have the desktop wallpaper refreshed on a daily basis.
On the good side, let’s not forget that Microsoft has equipped Windows 10 with new visual styles, and in addition to the dark mode, the latest feature updates also feature with a refreshed light mode. Both look good and better align with the modern push of the operating system overall, but at the end of the day, there’s still no reason to release a wallpaper pack as a theme anyway.
For now, there’s not much we can do about it, other than send Microsoft more feedback in this regard. So if you want themes to include more than just wallpapers, you know what you have to do.