Welcome back to our weekly Windows 10 news recap, in which we recap the top news stories regarding Windows 10 for the week. Let's dive straight in.
Windows 10 Redstone build 14251 released to fast ring Insiders[1]
This week, Microsoft released another new Windows 10 Redstone build for insiders in the fast ring, but like the other builds, this new build included no new features of note. It did however include a build number that had jumped quite a bit, but that was the only noteworthy change.
Fear not however, Microsoft will soon start compiling new features into the main development branch for Insiders to start testing, so it shouldn't be long before we've got new things to play with in the latest builds of Windows 10 Redstone.
Microsoft's decision to jump Windows 10 build numbers from 11107 to 14251, explained[2]
The build jump between 11107 and 14251 was a peculiar one at first as there seemed to be no real reason as to why Microsoft had done it. Of course, there was a reason, and with the release of build 14251 Gabe Aul mentioned why the build number had been jumped in an official blog post.
Sharp-eyed Insiders likely noted the big jump in build numbers from our last preview build (11102). Historically, the codebase for mobile had a different OS version than the codebase for PC because they were developed by different teams on different schedules. With Windows 10, we became one Windows team and brought these two codebases together. We started by changing the version string displayed in the UI to be consistent, which is why you saw similarly labeled builds over the past year for both Mobile and PC, but the underlying binary version numbers were still different. As part of our work getting the common codebase ready for the next release, we decided to complete that work and sync the build numbers between mobile and PC. Because the mobile codebase used higher build numbers than PC, we needed to jump ahead a bunch of build numbers to ensure updates to future builds will continue to work. So that's why build numbers went from 11105, 11106, and 11107 to 14251.
Microsoft releases Windows 10 cumulative update KB3124262 (Build 10586.71)[3]
Along with a new Insider build, Microsoft released a new patch for public Windows 10 users bringing the build number to 10586.71. You can grab the update from Windows Update right now under the name "Cumulative Update for Windows 10 Version 1511 for x64-based Systems (KB3124262)"
This update includes no new features as it is mainly a bug fixing update.
Microsoft Edge private browsing mode might not be so private[4]
Sometimes, things aren't what they may seem. Microsoft's Edge browsing just told you, you're in "InPrivate Browsing" mode, but a new study shows that may not actually be the case. If they want to keep recently viewed sites private, most users select the InPrivate mode for browsing and continue on their merry way, confident the browser has not saved any information of their whereabouts. However, a recent study from Forensics Focus[5] sheds light on a potential loophole in the Microsoft Edge browser privacy features.
What this investigation has revealed is by searching a users hard drive, through the WebCache file, information contained in the Container_n table, which stores Tab and web history, it lists a field named "Flag" and any websites visited in Private mode will have a value of "8" associated with them. This would give any person skilled enough to search through a computer for browsing history, strong evidence of previous browsing history.
Microsoft's Windows revenue declines in Q2 2016, but less than overall PC market[6]
Microsoft release its Q2 2016 figures this week, which were all round a success for the most part. There were a few areas in which the company were not doing so good however. Microsoft's Windows division saw revenue decrease, but less than the PC markets overall decrease in sales:
- Windows OEM Pro declined 6%, ahead of the commercial PC market with strong license buy-in
- Windows OEM non-Pro declined 3%, outperforming the consumer PC market driven by higher premium and mid-range device mix
- Windows volume licensing grew 3% CC with annuity revenue growth partially offset by transactional revenue declines
- IP licensing revenue decreased due to lower units and a higher mix of low royalty devices
That's it for this week, what was your favorite story?
References
- ^ Windows 10 Redstone build 14251 released to fast ring Insiders (www.winbeta.org)
- ^ Microsoft's decision to jump Windows 10 build numbers from 11107 to 14251, explained (www.winbeta.org)
- < sup>^ Microsoft releases Windows 10 cumulative update KB3124262 (Build 10586.71) (www.winbeta.org)
- ^ Microsoft Edge private browsing mode might not be so private (www.winbeta.org)
- ^ a recent study from Forensics Focus (articles.forensicfocus.com)
- ^ Microsoft's Windows revenue declines in Q2 2016, but less than overall PC market (www.winbeta.org)
- ^ Microsoft (www.winbeta.org)
- ^< /small> Windows 10 (www.winbeta.org)
