Windows 10 Creators Update: Microsoft removes, depreciates features specific to IT professionals

Microsoft is in the process of finalizing the Windows 10 Creators Update, preparing new builds for what will eventually become Release Candidates (RC). Windows Insiders could get the first RC as early as next week, while the final version is expected to roll out to all Windows 10 users starting in April. 

With the change in strategy, Microsoft is shipping much more ambitious new functionality in its updates. It is delivering the equivalent of what it used to call Service Packs, minus the cumulative bug fixes, at a rate of one to two every year. 

The Creators Update, so named because it’s targeting creative professionals above all, has a wide range of new features, such as: 

• An overhauled interface for sharing content
• Improved control over Windows Updates, including indefinite delays
• Gaming Mode, where resources are idled to give games maximum hardware performance
• New accessibility features, including support for braille
• New management and security tools, including enhancements to Windows Defender
• Improved privacy features, including a new setup experience 

Among others. However, Microsoft is also killing off or significantly scaling back quite a few features as well, a reflection of Windows 10 as an ever-evolving OS, not one that will just get patches and a few new features while we wait for Windows 11 (which theoretically will never come). 

Features Microsoft removed, depreciated

So, to that end, the company has published a list of features that it’s removed or deprecated in the update. A depreciated feature is not in active development and is planned for potential removal in subsequent releases. 

“This list is intended for IT professionals who are updating operating systems in a commercial environment. The plan and list are subject to change and may not include every deprecated feature or functionality,” the company explained in the posting. 

Removed features:

• By default, Flash autorun in Edge is turned off. Use the Click-to-Run (C2R) option instead. (This setting can be changed by the user.)
• Interactive Service Detection Service
• Microsoft Paint for languages that are not on the full localization list
• NPN support in TLS (superseded by ALPN)
• Windows Information Protection “AllowUserDecryption” policy
• WSUS for Windows Mobile, updates are being transitioned to the new Unified Update Platform (UUP) 

Deprecated features: 

• Apndatabase.xml is being replaced by the COSA database. Therefore, some constructs will no longer function. This includes Hardware ID, incoming SMS messaging rules in mobile apps, a list of privileged apps in mobile apps, autoconnect order, APN parser, and CDMAProvider ID.
• Apps Corner
• Reading List
• Tile Data Layer
• TLS DHE_DSS ciphers DisabledByDefault
• TCPChimney
• IPsec task offload 

As you can see, these are not features or functions of concern to the consumer. They are for IT people who may have built apps with dependency on the features/functions. 

One of the most anticipated features that will not appear in the Creators Update is My People, which would allow users to quickly access their favorite contacts in Windows 10 right from the taskbar and interact with them. You could start a Skype chat or share a picture with someone just by dragging a photo onto the contact on the task bar.

Another hyped feature is Project Neon, the UI design overhaul. These two features have been pushed back to “Redstone 3,” the next major update to Windows 10 due toward the end of 2017.