"Modern Glass" transparent look greatly enhances Start Menu in full screen mode
Leakers are going to leak. And they're especially going to leak if a company drops the ball on its preview releases. In this piece we dig into two brand-new leaked builds of Microsoft Corp.'s upcoming Windows 10 OS, the latest of which leaked yesterday.
I. Big PromisesMicrosoft had hinted at a new Windows Preview Build for PC users would land sometime in late February. But February came and went with nary a PC build. The denial generated a surprising degree of vehemence and animosity on Twitter, Inc. (TWTR) and other Microsoft's Blogging Windows. Insiders accused Microsoft of lacking "transparency" for missing the goal of a new release in February.
Forced onto the defensive, Windows engineering manager Gabriel Aul made an exciting new suggestion about upcoming builds -- or perhaps dug himself in deeper. Despite it being mid-month, he claimed in the blog that March could yet see "multiple" new Preview Builds. He wrote:
But now let's talk about how we're really trying to approach [the timing of Preview Builds]. Today is 3/9 and we’ve not set a date for the next build.
I have a build in hand that we produced on Friday. It was validated by our test automation, and will go out through our internal rings and get installed and used by thousands of people at Microsoft. It is the freshest code with all newest features and fixes.
If it passes all of our evaluation criteria it could be in your hands late this week or early next week. That means that we could feasibly get multiple builds out in March rather than just one, and they’d have more up to date code than if we did it the other way.
Yes, I know, that is pretty big talk considering it has been more than 40 days since our last build; and here I am talking about multiple builds per month. I’m sharing our aspirations and what we’re building towards, and we want to be working in that new way vs. the way we used to do it. Not having the constraint of a fixed public date for each build helps us get there faster.
He offered up this graphic regarding Microsoft's build cadence, clarifying that even within Microsoft Operating Systems Group (OSG), an elite set of developers/testers called the "Canary Ring" are the only ones to have access to the very latest (and buggiest) daily Windows 10 builds.
II. Guess Who's BackFortunately as the public has been forced to watch and wait for the next Build to hit the Insider Preview rings, a veteran site of Russian leakers -- WZor -- is filling in the gaps for the rest of us. In recent weeks they've leaked screenshots of a number of builds of Windows 10 including Build 10009 and 10022. The latest leak -- Build 10036 -- was shot published yesterday and today in a series of screenshots.
Before examining those items -- first a bit of history.
With the alleged help of a mole within Microsoft, WZor rose to prominence leaking screenshots and related information on Windows 7, Windows 7 Service Pack 1 (SP1), and Windows 8.1 prior to their release. The inside help allowed (allegedly) WZor's bloggers to circumvent the activation restricions, using internal unlock tools or posing as enterprise partners. WZor suffered a blow in May 2014 when one of its primary sources within Microsoft was arrested.
But WZor appears to have rebounded nicely. After a brief takedown last year (which Microsoft may or may not have had a hand in), WZor.net is back online (redirecting to the livejournal account wzascok.livejournal.com) and it's clear the Russian leakers have cultivated new sources, as they're back to getting numerous "Evaluation Copy" builds. WZor is also big on Twitter these days with its @WZorNET feed.
http://t.co/WWRDgLGM4V redirect to
http://t.co/LwdBPowHWz pic.twitter.com/RhqiSfMCSO
— WZor (@WZorNET) March 2, 2015
The latest leak -- Build 10036 was compiled on Mar. 6 in the near-release
The latest leak -- Build 10036 was compiled on Mar. 6 in the near-release form "fbl_impressive" on , according to BuildFeed. Microsoft already has compiled several more new builds since then -- including Build 10038 on Mar. 10 and Build 10040, which hit fbl_impressive status yesterday (3/12).
III. What's New?Looking first at the Taskbar, let's compare my current Insider Preview build, Build 9926 with the WZor-leaked Build 10022 and Build 10036.
Here's a list of the changes spotted:
• Build 10022
► Raised dot Taskbar "fence"
■ Reappeared after being dopped in Build 9926.
■ However in build 10036 it once more disappears.
► Smoother icons
■ The notifications icon is pretty jaggy when magnified in my Build 9926.
■ The icon is notably smoother in these newer builds.
• Build 10036
► Windows Start Button shrinks, darkens
■ Similar in size to the taskbar's "small" icon set, but embedded in a full sized taskbar.
►Thin light vertical highlight on far right corner of taskbar
■ This one pixel line gives the taskbar sort of a block 3D look of sorts -- subtle, but it can't be unseen once seen.
Looking next at the Start Menu there's more subtle changes.
Once more, here's a list of the changes I spotted:
• Build 10022
► New default user icon
■ Modified fullscreen icon with two outwards facing arrows on a diagonal.
■ Was previously a crosshair looking icon of outwards facing arrows in Build 9926.
► Moved"Everyday Apps" section
■ While it may be due to my screen resolution (2,880 x 1,440 pixels, theirs is just 1,280 x 1,024), this pane appears aside "Explore Windows" for me in Build 9926
• Build 10036
► Modern Glass
■ At long last transparency is here. It makes the start menu look way more attractive in full screen mode.
■ May increase rendering demands adversely effecting battery life.
► All Apps -- New Icon
■ Stack style icon replaces arrow icons.
► Text Key Links
■ Now appear above "Most Used" apps section in smaller Start Menu as stylized text
■ Icons are dropped
■ I really like this change -- it breaks the visual monotony of endless subdivided icons and text.
There's more changes under the hood too, in both builds with new icons, new builds of Internet Explorer, and changes to the login screen. I'll break those down in a follow piece.
Sources: dailytech│WZorNET (wzascok) [Build 10022]│ WZorNET (wzascok) [Build 10036]│ WZorNET (wzascok) [Build 10036]│ Microsoft Building Windows Blog
