Windows 10 Getting New 'Fluent' Look With Fall Creators Update

SEATTLE—On day two of its Build developer conference, Microsoft revealed details about its fall Windows 10 Creators Update, as well as mixed reality gear from partners, including new motion controllers.

The next Creators Update will include the "My People" capability, which was slated for but axed from the first Creators Update. It will let you pin user icons of your close contacts with access to multiple ways of communicating and sharing content with them.

The update also includes a new Fluent Design System user interface, which we first heard about in February under the codename Project Neon and has since appeared in Windows Insider Preview builds. It will feature some transparency for a more glowing look, with new transitions and typography to boot.

Other new features coming to Windows include Timeline, which will allow you to replay actions, whether they happened in apps or on the web; the self-explanatory Pick Up Where You Left Off, which will work between Windows and non-Windows mobile devices; Clipboard enhancements that do the same; and OneDrive Files On Demand.

That last one is something of a backtrack to when OneDrive folders and files were presented as placeholders that you could download on demand. When we've had a chance to thoroughly review the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update, the distinction between that system and the new one may become more clear.

Acer's $399 Mixed Reality Kit

As part of last fall's Creators Update announcement, Microsoft said third-party hardware vendors would get into the mixed reality game alongside its own HoloLens. At Build 2017, the always entertaining Alex Kipman, a technical fellow with Microsoft's OS Group, showed off Acer's $399 headset-plus-controller kit, which arrives this holiday season.

Included motion controllers are a heretofore unknown component of the Windows extended reality scheme, and they will feature six degrees of motion and won't require sensors or markers placed in the room. That means the device is world-scaled—not tied to a room.

Microsoft has mentioned that similar devices are in the offing from Dell, HP, and Lenovo, but Acer seems to have beat them to the punch. For more, see our hands on with Acer's headset from last month.

A New Creative App

Microsoft also unveiled a new creative app, dubbed Story Remix, which applies cloud intelligence using the Microsoft Graph to photos and videos to create video stories with soundtracks and cinematic transitions. Or add 3D objects and view the shows as mixed reality content.

Finally, Terry Myerson, EVP of the Windows and Devices Group, announced some important new apps in the Windows Store: Spotify, Autodesk Stingray—a 3D gaming engine and rendering app—and SAP Digital Boardroom, one of the enterprise software firm's most popular offerings.

Universal Windows Platform apps gain a lot of benefits over old-school Windows apps, including easier deployment and update and better security and stability. For more on building UWP apps, check out this rundown from Build.

MicrosoftEDU Event in NYC: May 2, 2017