Okay, now what is this, and why is Microsoft not talking about it? The Windows 10 May 2020 Update brought with it a neat array of new features, but it also apparently marked a change in strategy.
That, in the form of the Windows Feature Experience Pack.
This mysterious new pack becomes part of your system once you install the May 2020 Update, but Redmond is in no mood to talk about it. In fact, a company spokesperson outright told Mary Jo Foley that Microsoft has nothing to share.
Hmm.
Users running the latest version of the OS, or even the newer Insider builds, have noticed this new addition in the System > About section of the Settings app. Windows 10 currently does not explain what this new supplement does or why it’s there in the first place.
The support page lets know that the pack includes features critical to Windows functionality, and that’s about the extent of what we will hear from Microsoft right now about this.
Which is a little unfortunate.
But it’s existence, complete with a version number, suggest that it has an important role in the OS.
It does look like this is a play from Microsoft to decouple more features from the operating system, so that they can be updated more frequently. The software titan did this with Edge, and we also recently saw Cortana getting the same treatment.
Separating these features from Windows 10 means that these can now be updated via the Microsoft Store at a much faster clip, as opposed to twice a year with feature update releases for the OS.
Hopefully, the company has more to share on this soon.
Because it truly looks like the future.
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“Separating these features from Windows 10 means that these can now be updated via the Microsoft Store at a much faster clip”
Or being able to get rid of them completely!