Last October, Microsoft announced that the third major feature update for Windows 10 would be marketed as the Creators Update. And it created, ahem, a video showing off new features that would arrive in that update.
That video is a lie.
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By which I mean, the vast majority of the updates depicted in this promotional video are not, in fact, part of the Creators Update or are otherwise misrepresentations of some kind.
Is this serious? Not really, and like many of you, I’m willing to give Microsoft a pass of sorts on good intentions giving way to the reality of an arbitrary schedule. But here’s the thing: The Creators Update is shipping publicly tomorrow. And as of this writing, this video is still the way that Microsoft is promoting the release on its own website.
So I don’t want to get all serious about this. The Portal “it’s a lie” reference I hope is understood to be somewhat tongue-in-cheek. But seriously. How could this company leave this video as its representation, its promise, for what the Creators Update will bring to real users?
This video is so fake, I will only examine the first 20 seconds. (It would be too time-consuming and tedious to do more.) Let’s step through it.
0:00. A girl positions a teddy bear so that she can use a Windows 10 Mobile app—which statistically no one on earth ever does—to, wait for it, take a 3D photo. That app? It doesn’t exist. Fact check: FAKE.
0:05. Someone uses a Surface Pen to interact with the new Paint 3D app, which is indeed part of the Windows 10 Creators Update. That said, very few people will ever actually use this app, given the limited interest in creating 3D objects. Fact check: REAL, but rare.
0:07. Someone interacts with a mixed reality scene. This requires a HoloLens (at a cost of $3000) or a Windows Mixed Reality headset, which the public cannot yet buy. Furthermore, that scene will never look like that in the first place, since these devices have a mailslot-like narrow field of view. Fact check: FAKE.
0:10. A woman wearing a mock Windows Mixed Reality headset uses some kind of wand to interact with a 3D object. That headset doesn’t exist. That wand doesn’t exist. And the field of view is faked.Fact check: FAKE.
0:11. An app called Groove Music Maker is demonstrated. This app does not exist, and Microsoft has no plans to even make it. Fact check: FAKE.
0:14. Someone uses a Surface pen to interact with Microsoft Word, Edge, and File Explorer. Fact check: REAL.
0:16. The My People interface appears. This experience was removed from the Creators Update and is planned for the next major release of Windows 10. Fact check: FAKE.
0:17. Microsoft Edge now supports tab previews and a “set these tabs aside” feature. It’s true, it does.Fact check: REAL.
0:18. Action Center is shown with a new look for Quick Actions that does not exist. Fact check: FAKE.
0:19. The “Color” settings interface—really called Colors—appears with a different UI than what we see in the final product. They get a pass on this one. Fact check: REAL.
0:19. Windows Store appears with a top-level menu called “Personalization.” This does not exist. But a new “Books” menu does. Fact check: FAKE.
0:20. A file is dragged to a contact in the taskbar. This functionality is part of My People, which, again, was delayed to the next version of Windows 10. Fact check: FAKE.
So that’s the first 20 seconds. And here’s the score: Microsoft was somehow able to pack 12 peeks at new Creators Update features into just 20 seconds. And of those 12 items, 8 are completely fake. Two depict features that existed previous to the Creators Update. One is something very few people will ever use.
But those new Edge features are real, at least.
I don’t mean to be harsh. But I find it unbelievable that a company with Microsoft’s size and resources couldn’t have released a more representative depiction of this software at some point in the past six months.