Windows 10 news recap: App updates, new partnerships and more

Welcome back to another addition of the Windows 10 news recap. This week, Microsoft began hinting at a lot more features coming for Windows 10 apps very soon. Joe Belfiore, corporate vice president at the Operating Systems Group at Microsoft, shared on Twitter that the apps bundled with Windows 10 will receive many more new features. Although we don’t know what features exactly, we hope Microsoft will detail their plans soon.
Also this week, Microsoft released an update for the Photos app on Windows 10. The update doesn’t appear to add any new features to the app so it most likely brings performance or stability improvements. The Photos app receives regularly updates and just recently it was updated with an option to browse content by folders from the sidebar.
Up next, the Redmond giant announced a brand new partnership with Baidu in China. As China continues to become an increasingly strong point of interest for outside companies, Microsoft’s new partnership with one of the largest used Internet gateways in China is pivotal. As much as Bing is heavily touted in the US (features wise, not usage) it’s great to see Microsoft opening Windows 10 to arguably offer a better-localized experiences.
Microsoft also detailed its new activation methods with Windows 10. Gone are the days of requiring a product key to activate your copy of Windows. Microsoft is introducing a new term called “digital entitlement.”
“Activation helps verify that your copy of Windows is genuine and hasn’t been used on more devices than the Microsoft Software License Terms allow. Depending on how you got your copy of Windows 10, activation will use either a digital entitlement or a 25-character product key,” Microsoft explains.
Finally this week, Microsoft mentioned that a new Windows 10 desktop insider build could be making its way to insiders soon.Gabriel Aul, head of Windows Insiders, revealed on Twitter that build 10550 is in Microsoft ring at the moment, and it may roll out to Windows Insiders Fast ring soon. He didn’t mention an exact availability date, but it shouldn’t be too far off.
That’s all for this week, what was your favourite story? Leave your comments below!