Albacore ☁️
@thebookisclosed
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Documenting software history, one piece at a time •
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There's a lot of cleverly hidden content in many old Windows betas. If you happened to be a Windows beta tester in the 90s or early 2000s and kept the media you received, it would be great if you could revisit your collection and perhaps share it with the internet if that's okay.
Old betas, especially of projects Microsoft was very passionate about, never cease to disappoint. Here's a selfhosting mechanism in 1999's Codename Neptune. The idea that something like today's Insider program (in terms of ease of use) already existed back then is wild.
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...it couldn't do that?
another day, another great Xbox dashboard feature. Microsoft is testing out the ability for Xbox consoles to remember multiple Wi-Fi networks. This makes it easy to switch between networks if you take your console on a road trip 👍
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It's never too late to find easter eggs. Happened to notice what looks like a never before seen easter egg in Windows 95's / IE4's Internet Mail. You have to open its About window, select one of the files, and type MORTIMER. Names of the program's developers will start scrolling.
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Restore lost files with what now? How?
Instantly get the cloud-powered backup you need and restore lost files with AI in Windows 11.
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You know the app framework's real good if a photo viewer needs autostart to perform well 🙃
New "Performance" setting in the latest Microsoft Photos app update for Canary (2024.11060.27001.0), to let the app "run in the background at startup to improve performance".
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Did you know that you can open Task Manager without the new XAML/WinUI frame by running "taskmgr -d"?
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Newest in the gauntlet of questionable upcoming Microsoft Edge features, a crypto wallet 💸
Not really sure how to feel about this kind of thing being baked into the default browser, what are your thoughts?
More screenshots of the UI in the next tweet ➡️
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Seeing the clean install partitioner redesigned is insane
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Hidden within build 25300 is something Longhorn's shell designers wished to one day see in production — a XAML based photo gallery right inside File Explorer. Not as flashy as Phodeo, but I'd say it still counts. Has a timeline scrollbar & configurable photo source list.
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An improved taskbar app list overflow experience is in the works.
Many people have complained about the rudimentary approach of reserving one slot for apps that don't fit and changing its contents as you flip between them.
With the new overflow flyout all apps are in reach again.
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"When available, use AI to add depth effects to background images" 🤔
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I think this platform is beyond saving
What do you mean a *PWA* broke and needs repair? That thing is just a glorified web shortcut and its app entry somehow broke in the middle of using it?? 😭
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Here's a secret if you like to buy PCs without a preinstalled OS to save a few bucks: Dump the disk before you install one! 99% of the time you're 1 partition table fix away from getting your hands on factory floor software. 🏭
2 decades worth of internal Fujitsu tooling, anyone?
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New settings for device lighting make an appearance in build 25295. Is this the beginning of the end for low quality RGB gamer gear apps? 🎮 The spec for this is from 2018 and references to the feature have been around for years. Not cancelled after all 🥳
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I was able to get Recall working on this bad boy 😎
Snapdragon 7c+ Gen3, 3.4 GB of RAM, no NPU in sight
Will cook up a tutorial soon, it's surprisingly good even on something this low spec 😊 If you have any questions I'll do my best to answer them ✍️
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The Desktop Composition research was worth it!
Happy to give you the 1st ever look at the earliest "Aero" frames hidden in build 4020
Big thanks to
@evil_pro_
for testing on real hardware
At this point only the window icon and caption buttons use textures, the frame is a D3D mesh
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> download Arm64 Windows SDK to check which USB port I can use for kernel debugging
> "usbview.exe is not compatible with the version of Windows you're running"
> look inside
> x86 binary
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The taskbar is being moved from Explorer.exe into Taskbar.dll. Surreal to see this get relocated after decades. Right now Explorer still contains the code, but it's possible to switch to the DLL implementation. There's still some odd bugs such as semi-broken search box UI.
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It's time for the Start menu to become extensible!✨
Windows 11 β build 26212 quietly introduces support for "Start Menu Companions." They're apps that provide Adaptive Cards which display on a floating island (docked ➡️ or ⬅️) alongside Start
Used Widgets data as a quick demo 😊
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It's fun to see how desktop UI behavior changes when Windows thinks it's running on an Xbox, sound effects anyone?
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I think it's finally fair to say that UWP is dying ⚰️
Windows 11 Canary Build 25987 starts the migration of XAML shell experiences from UWP to Win32+XAML Hosting. Control Center is the first to ship. To use the new variant enable 45046901 (CCW), 44685875 (ShellUIHostCoordinator)
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Hello there, meet Small and Large Windows 11 taskbar 😊
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Do we really need to stuff OneDrive promos in the user session flyout? Anything for that sweet sweet KPI 😭
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The Windows 10X OOBE is coming to desktop! Here's a video of it in action in build 20231.
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Microsoft: Sells devices under their own Surface brand with amazing base specs such as 4 GB RAM and garbage Pentiums
Also Microsoft: Turns the Photos Edit mode into a web powered (not even new Chromium Edge at that) monster that eats 500+MB editing a 640x640 funny cat picture
😎
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Taskbar item labels (as well as ungrouped items) are indeed on their way to Windows 11 ✨
Here's a demo of the current state of the feature, definitely further along than last time we looked at it
Fiddled with a few settings in the video so you can see how it reacts
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After a long wait, Microsoft had finally finished sneaking in a highly requested feature. Fingers crossed it sticks.
Behold, updated media controls in the volume flyout, take 2! (Build 19603)
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Live Tiles in 2023
If you're wondering whether Apple allows you to fill your entire desktop with Widgets on Sonoma, yes. Yes you can
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Windows 11 is going to get a "Never Combine" taskbar item setting after all. It no longer features window titles like in Windows 10 & older releases, but retains the icon per window mechanic which some might still find useful. New in build 25246, hidden behind feature 29785186 ✨
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Whoever merged in GUI rendering changes for WinPE (and other DWM-less SKUs I imagine), I salute you
Build 26010 is amazing
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It's here 😊 Device Image Generator lets you create 10X images in only a few clicks. There's driver compatibility improvements under the hood, meaning broken WiFi or Audio should be taken care of. There's also something for the VM enthusiasts.
Download:
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The Windows 11 development timeline is a bit convoluted and a little difficult to explain purely through text. I put together a visual that describes significant development events which should hopefully clarify where we are now.
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Very cool how a third of the inbox apps in Windows 11 can't be used when installed on a device with no internet connection because they aren't real apps, just stubs.
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Microsoft releases Windows portable device
People: what is this TRASH on my screen??? I want a real OS with real apps
Microsoft releases Android portable device
People: Android?? on my device?? why???? Give me Windows or give me Death
There is no winning, is there
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@uwukko
she a on my i till I openai.error.RateLimitError: You exceeded your current quota, please check your plan and billing details
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One more thing I wanted to say regarding Windows 11: a lot of people are falling for the illusion that this is "New Windows," which is exactly the skewed truth Microsoft wants you to believe. 21996 is basically build 21390 with prominent shell changes and new branding, that's it.
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At this point I'm wondering how many people who follow this account still use Twitter/X and see the posts. Mind giving this a like as a test?
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There's an interesting personalization feature coming to Windows 11 - Stickers for your wallpaper.
You'll be able to configure them using a new Sticker Editor app, they'll persist across wallpaper changes as long as you don't use a slideshow, use Fill fit & have only 1 monitor.
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Turns out Windows 11 build 26100 (purported 24H2 RTM) contains the AI Explorer requirements 📃 baked into the OS
💠 ARM64 CPU
💠 16GiB of RAM
💠 225GiB system drive (total, not free space)
💠 Snapdragon X Elite NPU (HWID QCOM0D0A)
I guess that's one way to drive ARM64 adoption 😶🌫️
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Longhorn Build 4015 also includes the earliest ever implementation of the Carousel view! Here's all the cool stuff in one place:
- Earliest glass frames
- Desktop aurora
- Earliest carousel
I wish I could show this to someone back in 2003 who wasn't particularly wowed by 4015 😁
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Windows 98 beta adventures are not stopping. I found that builds 1511 to 1525.0 contain a hidden Entertainment Shell. Nothing installs it, you have to manually drag it out of setup CABs. Can't find a single trace of it after 1525.
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Almost 10 years later: the beginnings of Metro, uncovered.
This is the first time we get to see the UI / charms selection that
@ChenCravat
mentioned here:
More screens soon 😊
cc
@h0x0d
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I don't understand why Microsoft is willingly flushing years of tight Cortana integration & engineering down the drain. Windows Copilot being a browser based from-scratch effort is a perfect example of how they love to reinvent the wheel to their own detriment. Dev time wasted 😔
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Here's some of the stuff Microsoft showed people around Fall 2016. More touch friendly UI (although sometimes the padding is a bit ridiculous), more emphasis on and variety in blur styles, even something that resembles Quick Look on macOS. Overpromising hasn't really stopped yet.
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Trying to see if there are some magical registry values that skip TPM & co. checks when upgrading an existing Windows install to 11.
Instead I found a value I can set up that makes setup pretend even more errors exist, amazing.
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Software renderer having a real good time with Lottie animations in build 26040
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For those wondering what the minimum hardware requirements are for clean installing Windows 11 (when you boot setup from an USB)
🔹3686 MB RAM
🔹2 CPU cores
🔹1 GHz base speed
🔹TPM 1.2
🔹Secure Boot capable firmware
All checks are skipped if you are in a VM or deploying Server
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Would you like to toy around with a newer build of Windows 10X yourself? I built an emulator-esque image (read: use in Hyper-V only)
Simply create a Generation 2 VM and use this as its disk:
Enjoy 😄
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You keep asking for the updated Windows 11 taskbar with ungrouped items & labels. While the code is unstable, a bit of magic can bring it to life and fix critical crashes
Introducing Shell Frosting🍰 a way for you to experience unpolished shell bits early
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A few more improvements coming to Windows 11 🍃
• Sustainability: better energy consumption and device recycling awareness
• Focus Assist is becoming Focus, now schedulable through Outlook & sporting more granular options
• Notification priorities no longer tucked away in UI
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Whoever decided that marquees are better than multiline labels deserves a special place in hell.
I'm all for experimenting with design but I hope to God that Android 14 does away with this travesty introduced in 12.
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Want to try the official Windows 11 preview but don't have a machine enrolled into the Insider Program? Here's a full image you can use for installing from scratch as well as upgrading. It includes all the official consumer editions & the Day 1 UI update.
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Old betas, especially of projects Microsoft was very passionate about, never cease to disappoint. Here's a selfhosting mechanism in 1999's Codename Neptune. The idea that something like today's Insider program (in terms of ease of use) already existed back then is wild.
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Upcoming Windows 11 builds will include a small reminder about system requirements atop System Settings in case your device doesn't meet them.
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Here are some dope new battery usage graphs coming to Windows next year. Really happy to see this after getting used to such features on Android and iOS.
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Here are Microsoft's cancelled Activity Centers. An idea from 1999 all about making it easy to carry out your day to day tasks, all while harnessing the power of web technologies. Want to listen to music, edit some photos, play a game or read your mail? There's a Center for that.
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This will be disabled by default and literally nobody is forcing you to use them, can you people chill out? Love spending my time getting WIP hidden stuff to work only to see a dozen blatantly mean replies.
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It's incredible how janky the new Windows 10 lock screen weather code is. It gets piped from File Explorer (which is the entry point to News and Interests where the data comes from) to SearchApp (which hosts N&I) to WPN (push notif internals) and then crashes because JSON too big
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It just hit me that Windows is stuck in an endless cycle of having its default control style rounded, then squared, then rounded, then squared, etc.
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Turns out you can position the fully XAML taskbar up top, the experience is not all that great though 😅
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Looks like Microsoft wants to isolate 3rd party drivers on Desktop similarly to how they isolate them on 10X. No dedicated partition, but a folder will do.
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Here's Windows Terminal built for x86, x64 *and* arm64 😄 Comes in an MSIX and needs at least build 18362
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Longhorn Build 4011 supports Desktop Aurora!!
This is incredible, these early seemingly boring builds are turning out to be a real gold mine
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As Microsoft was shifting from web based shell experiences to DirectUI based ones, they also recreated the Whistler full screen Start Page. Build 2410 contains fully functional code for it hidden behind a cryptic registry value. Broken out of box but I was able to get it work!
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With all the AI buzz Microsoft Build is generating, I'd like to show you the magic 🪄 of AI Depth effects for desktop backgrounds that are coming to Windows 11
This is not a 100% seamless demo (app hosted) as the bits are still unfinished, but I'm sure it gets the message across
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Virtual Disk creation is coming to Settings .. soon? Build 25300 already supports it but it's completely hidden out of box.
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What is your favorite music player?
Mine is ms-resource:IDS_MANIFEST_MUSIC_APP_NAME
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. ＿＿
／＞ フ
| _ _ l
／` ミ＿xノ
/ Tomorrow is monday.
/ ヽ ﾉ
│ | | |
／￣| | | |
| (￣ヽ＿_ヽ_)__)
＼二つ
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Looks like outright ads might be coming to the Start Menu in Windows 11, not just the usual recommendations / tips / shortcuts / etc.
After enabling experiment 48797684 the text in Settings changes slightly to accommodate for this 😐
Seems like ads may also be coming to the start menu
"Show recommendations for tips, shortcuts, new apps, ads, and more" is now mentioned in SettingsAppThreshold. Currently in settings there is only mention of tips, shortcuts, new apps and more
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Seeing people talk about Windows 8 again got me thinking: What's the earliest build with "Metro" components and can they be brought up? Here's the file picker, share charm, search charm, "start screen" & app switcher from build 7779, the very first build with a real TWinUI.dll ✨
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You'd have to be clinically insane to get rid of the Office brand
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Thought I'd give UWP XAML another shot after disregarding it for so long
Having a lot of fun, it's been a while since I toyed with UI
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The 3 line clock in Windows 11 was driving me crazy with how cramped it looked
Here's the new taskbar with a properly padded 2 line clock, I think it looks much better
What's your opinion?
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This is how Windows 11 introduces the new Microsoft Teams backed Chat functionality to its users. Are you sold?
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We're slowly but surely reviving the toolbar city aesthetic of IE6, except this time all the junk is first party??
Can we not
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tfw Lumia 950 XL gets WCOS (unofficially) but Duo doesn't
I did get to take two pictures, looks like the UI is very adaptive to this resolution. Also personally i think it looks lovely.
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A small refresh of the Graphics Settings page is in the works, it's one of the few remaining Windows 10-style pages.
Left = old, Right = new
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Windows 8 beta explorer.exe on 24H2 because there is no god I guess, haven't touched Windows.UI.FileExplorer yet, hence the cursed combo of Windows 7 taskbar + gap for user tile + modern file browsing
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Someone unironically signed this off
Microsoft's new Edge prompts also call Chrome a "so 2008" browser when you try and download it 🙃
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Longhorn Milestone 5 & 6 builds include a rarely mentioned change: a new file copy dialog animation.
It cannot be found among the rest of prerendered file dialog animations/AVIs, wouldn't be surprised if this is yet another DirectX powered feature.
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Finally something more "hot off the presses"
It's just 4 days old! .240122-1157
There's some fun stuff hiding inside, including but not limited to a rework of the taskbar thumbnail control which features animations missing since Windows 11's RTM
Get ready: Canary build 26040 with ISOs coming in hot!
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Welcome to Windows 10 Lean/CloudE/S (once again?)
This new edition started shipping with this week's Skip Ahead build (17650)
It seems to be heavily cut down, an x64 clean install is roughly 2 GB smaller than Pro
Its edition ID is 0xB7 which was missing from SDK headers
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Windows 10X uses the WinUI 3 spinner on boot instead of the circles introduced in Windows 8
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Those who keep an eye on language packs may have noticed mentions of a "sudo" command, here's how the settings of that look
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Region locked PiP has to be one of the most 2021 things I've seen
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Did you know that having the Windows Update settings page open slows down installing updates? The MoUSO Core Worker Process responsible for wiring up what's under the hood to the UI just hammers the CPU, especially on low end machines. Close Settings & enjoy faster installs ✨🙃
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Windows sure feels like a Fisher Price toy after seeing what Apple announced at WWDC. No buzzword soup, boatload of incredibly useful features. You'd think you should be able to compare tech giant events but whatever Microsoft pulled off last month doesn't even look like an event
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Am I missing something? Just got this prompt in Outlook Web and I'm baffled, why would anyone choose the second option? You are voluntarily signing up for worse load times and more wasted screen space. How did this go from idea to development to testing all the way to production?
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