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Reviews<br />
Microsoft representatives<br />
said that they had “nothing<br />
to share” about the fate of<br />
Groove Music Maker<br />
apparently, is here. Microsoft tells<br />
us that: “Windows Mixed Reality<br />
[formerly known as Windows<br />
Holographic] will be available on<br />
Windows 10 <strong>PC</strong>s with the Creators<br />
Update so that developers can<br />
start creating content,” implying<br />
that regular users will have to<br />
wait for access.<br />
We can’t ignore the lack of<br />
mixed-reality devices, either. Yes,<br />
the responsibility for delivering<br />
mixed-reality devices on time<br />
for the launch of the Windows<br />
Creators Update falls on hardware<br />
partners like Acer, Asus, and Dell.<br />
(Did Microsoft’s Terry Myerson<br />
promise mixed-reality devices<br />
by the Creators Update launch?<br />
Decide for yourself.) But Microsoft<br />
has developed its own hardware<br />
for years, and has a tight working<br />
relationship with each of these<br />
vendors. 3D-capable, mixed-reality<br />
hardware was part of Microsoft’s 3D<br />
vision, and it hasn’t been delivered.<br />
The gaping holes in Microsoft’s<br />
3D vision overshadow everything<br />
else Microsoft promised last autumn.<br />
But a number of other features<br />
Microsoft promised for the Creators<br />
Update haven’t appeared, either.<br />
My People<br />
Microsoft already quietly announced<br />
that it’s postponing the My People<br />
experience. My People, which sounds<br />
like it might be either replacing or<br />
supplementing the existing People<br />
app within Windows 10, will allow<br />
you to pick five close friends or<br />
family members and customise<br />
your experiences around them –<br />
putting icons in the taskbar, autosuggesting<br />
them as email contacts<br />
and to chat, and allowing them to<br />
send you emoji via what Microsoft<br />
calls “shoulder taps”.<br />
Microsoft, though, plans to hold<br />
My People for “the next major<br />
update to Windows,” which is<br />
due out in the autumn.<br />
Xbox Arenas<br />
One of the features Microsoft<br />
showed off in the Xbox gaming<br />
space was Arenas, player-configured<br />
tournaments. “The Xbox team is<br />
still working hard to bring custom<br />
gamer-created Arena tournaments<br />
to the Xbox community, though<br />
it will not be releasing alongside<br />
the Windows 10 Creators Update,”<br />
Microsoft said in a statement.<br />
Groove Music Maker<br />
Though it was never officially<br />
announced, the Groove Music mixer<br />
app appeared in a ‘sizzle reel’ of<br />
other features at the launch itself, as<br />
well as Microsoft’s general Windows<br />
10 Creators Update video. We<br />
haven’t seen it in the update itself,<br />
nor the Microsoft Store.<br />
Tabs as Reminders<br />
One of the smart features that<br />
Microsoft added early to the<br />
Windows 10 CU was the ability<br />
to tie an Edge tab to a Cortana<br />
reminder, a handy jumping-off point<br />
to research a wedding cake, explore<br />
potential campsites, or dig through<br />
tax regulations. In November,<br />
though, the company cancelled it.<br />
We’re aware that companies<br />
over-promise and under-deliver,<br />
delay products and cancel<br />
commitments. Sometimes they<br />
just slide into a niche and never<br />
recover. You know these names:<br />
Half-Life 3, Duke Nukem Forever, HD<br />
DVD, StrongARM, the Itanium chip.<br />
Market demands change.<br />
Simply excluding My People or<br />
Capture 3D or Arenas from the<br />
Creators Update certainly doesn’t<br />
mean that we’ll never see them<br />
again. We’re betting we’ll hear<br />
much more about mixed reality<br />
in a month or so at Build, as a<br />
run-up to Windows’ next major<br />
update this autumn.<br />
Verdict<br />
We can’t say for certain how stable<br />
the Creators Update will be, though<br />
we noticed far fewer bugs than<br />
in preceding iterations. Microsoft<br />
Word had an issue with opening a<br />
file stored on OneDrive, and the<br />
helpful Tips app still referred to<br />
Anniversary Update content in<br />
our Creators Update build.<br />
What angers us, though, is how<br />
far removed the Creators Update is<br />
from the vision Microsoft presented<br />
in the autumn, especially when it<br />
comes to 3D content. “If we truly<br />
want to make 3D for everyone, then<br />
we need to make 3D creation as<br />
simple as taking a photo or a video<br />
on your phone,” Microsoft’s Megan<br />
Saunders promised us then.<br />
It’s not. It’s not even close to<br />
that. There are so many features<br />
that Microsoft pledged and has<br />
yet to deliver on: apps to capture<br />
objects as 3D images, the My People<br />
experience, 3D objects in Office<br />
apps, mixed-reality devices from<br />
its partners. Windows Holographic,<br />
renamed Windows Mixed Reality,<br />
is present, Microsoft says, though<br />
available only to developers.<br />
If Microsoft had nailed 3D<br />
content in the Creators Update,<br />
our rating would have been higher.<br />
We can’t help but think that<br />
Microsoft should have announced<br />
two Creators Updates: one now, and<br />
one scheduled for the autumn.<br />
Is the Creators Update worth<br />
your time? Yes, absolutely.<br />
Microsoft’s creative vision<br />
enumerated inside the Creators<br />
Update remains potent and<br />
viable, though also unfulfilled.<br />
J Mark Hachman<br />
<strong>July</strong> <strong>2017</strong> www.pcadvisor.co.uk/reviews 27
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