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Microsoft Releases a List of Deprecated Windows 10 Features (theredmondcloud.com) 107

Posted by EditorDavid from the new-Vistas dept.
Long-time Slashdot reader Ammalgam is the founder and editor of a Microsoft cloud news site called The Redmond Cloud. He writes: In a recent document, Microsoft outlines a whole bunch of features in Windows 10 that they are not only not developing anymore but, wait for it, might remove from future versions.

Their words:

Every version of Windows 10 adds new features and functionality; occasionally we also remove features and functionality, often because we've added a better option. Below are the details about the features and functionalities that are no longer being developed in Windows 10. For information about features that have been removed, see Features we removed.

These features are no longer being actively developed, and might be removed in a future update. Some features have been replaced with other features or functionality and some are now available from other sources.


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Microsoft Releases a List of Deprecated Windows 10 Features More

Microsoft Releases a List of Deprecated Windows 10 Features

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  • Wi-Fi WEP and TKIP (Score:5, Insightful)

    by joe_plastic ( 704135 ) * <stephen DOT pollei AT gmail DOT com> on Sunday November 24, 2019 @12:37PM (#59448770) Homepage Journal
    Probably about time since WPA has been out since 2004.

    • Older consoles needed older Wi-Fi security (Score:4, Informative)

      by tepples ( 727027 ) <tepples.gmail@com> on Sunday November 24, 2019 @12:51PM (#59448806) Homepage Journal

      The only reason I saw to use WEP was if you had a Nintendo DS system on your network, as the DS only ever supported WEP. Likewise, TKIP (as used in WPA version 1) was needed to get a Wii console online. But after the end of service for Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection and Wii Shop Channel, switching to WPA2 should be fine.

    • Re:Wi-Fi WEP and TKIP (Score:4, Interesting)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 ) on Sunday November 24, 2019 @01:06PM (#59448864) Homepage Journal

      But my Nintendo DS doesn't support WPA!

      More annoying is the loss of System Image Backup, which lets you make a disk image of a live Windows system to restore later. Their recommended solution is to buy software from another vendor.

      • I haven't used the built in Windows Backup tool since Windows 7 as it's not been really updated in a while but Macrium Reflect has a free version that will create an image backup and a bootable restore disk or flash drive so you can restore an image from a USB hard drive and that's what I've been using the last 6-8 years so if MS removes the built in utility it's not a big deal as far as I can tell.

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by dissy ( 172727 )

        But my Nintendo DS doesn't support WPA!

        Well then you are just going to have to buy a used $5 access point off craigs list and connect your DS to that instead of directly to your Windows 10 machine.

        Or buy an access point made in the last 5 years that supports MIMO and setup two SSIDs, one on WEP for your DS and one on WPA for everything else you own.

      • > More annoying is the loss of System Image Backup, which lets you make a disk image of a live Windows system to restore later. Their recommended solution is to buy software from another vendor.

        dd works fine and is free, I'll leave it up to the reader to work out the correct cmds.

      • More annoying is the loss of System Image Backup, which lets you make a disk image of a live Windows system to restore later.

        Both of my Windows systems are dual-boot which is probably the reason I could never get that feature (or indeed "normal" backups) to work. (holds cap in hand) This feature will be sadly missed even when it was available.

    • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Unless one of those removed "features" is the spyware and crippled update mechanism, then I still don't give a shit about Windows 10.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by lusid1 ( 759898 )

      So when you're in some random hotel and it won't connect, at least you'll know why.

      • Most hotels have open WiFi , which is why you always run VPN. Least every hotel that I been in.
  • Seems counter productive to spend gobs if money developing a new file system and slowly remove functionality from your OS for it over time. Might as well just throw in the towel and support ZFS at this point.

    • It uses 1GB of RAM for 1TB of disk space.

      Sure, there are hacks out there to reduce that. But they are a really bad idea. Thinks will not work as expected. ZFS was designed as a large file server file system.

      Sadly, btrfs, which should have become a PC version of that, is a glorious clusterfuck that only sees "is phased out" in the news, nowadays.

      • From what I can tell this is ONLY true of you use ZFS data deduplication. If you don't use data deduplication the memory usage is not really any higher than other FS are. I have not actually tried it though so I don't know for sure. That is just what I find online for it. I think most of our linux systems are using ext4.

        • ... deduplication makes it even worse.

          My 1GB/TB was the normal value.

          I would *seriously* value anyone proving me wrong though!
          I could use ZFS so bad, since I need scrubbing, to truly trust in my data staying good. If I had the money, I would build my own NAS, just for that.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by pnutjam ( 523990 )
        I use btrfs every day. It only has problems with edge cases. It's the default filesystem for OpenSuse and SLES. Suse has all the developers for btrfs, which is why you see RH dropping it.
  • Moses: "Let my people go."

    Microsoft: "My People / People in the Shell: My People is no longer being developed. It may be removed in a future update."

  • Microsoft clearly wants to be the new Google, because they're cancelling features once people have gotten a chance to start using them. Maybe they should rebrand themselves to Bing.

  • If you want to drop support for WEP you need to have EVERY Meraki/Ubiquiti/Aruba/Rukus/Linksys/Dlink maker remove the option to create a WEP setup.

    Then wait 2 years.

    • You dare write the name of four brands that most people never heard of before, then you write Linksys and DLink, but no mention of ASUS or TP-Link? What's wrong with you?

      Linksys and DLink are both crap.

    • If you want to drop support for WEP you need to have EVERY Meraki/Ubiquiti/Aruba/Rukus/Linksys/Dlink maker remove the option to create a WEP setup.

      None of those companies are Microsoft.

  • No Longer a Product (Score:5, Interesting)

    by iCEBaLM ( 34905 ) on Sunday November 24, 2019 @01:05PM (#59448858)

    Remember folks, Windows is no longer a product, it's a service.

    • and you are now the product.

      • This may explain my sudden urge to wear a huge bow tie and clothes with wrapping paper patterns.

    • Remember folks, Windows is no longer a product, it's a service.

      If it were a product do we expect it to continue to support legacy crap for no reason?

  • Deprecated feature #0: Windows.

  • "Every version, we add new functionality." (Score:5, Interesting)

    by BAReFO0t ( 6240524 ) on Sunday November 24, 2019 @01:32PM (#59448916)

    But ... why though?

    That is the problem with that kind of "business" model: You constantly need to add bloat, to justify taking more money.
    And exponentially more too. Since the shareholders demand infinite explosively exponential growth; nevermind petty things like basic physics.

    What exactly does Windows 10 actually have over, say, Windows XP, that is actually justified? Except drivers and such, that are the hardware manufacturer's job.
    As far as I can see, it is all just re-inventing the same wheels over and over and over again, in different contexts that make it look different.

    Hell, the defining 'new' feature they advertised with, when it came out, was that the launcher menu ("start menu") got back to being more like in Windows 7 again.
    This is a great example of what I mean by re-nventing wheels:
    Sorry, but it's still just a list of 'executables' with a theme. Any file system directory does the same job. Here let me implement it real quick, with your fancy new 'just type it in to search, then press enter' functionality:

    > #! /bin/bash
    > # Not tested.
    > while true; do
    > cd ~/.launcher
    > ls -lahvF --color
    > read -p '> ' # Should do tab completion.
    > echo "$REPLY; exit"| bash
    > done

    Add a console background image, set your preferred size in the window manager, launch it minimized on start, and have it toggle minimization by mapping a key in the window manager. Done.
    (Remember: the start button is usually part of the task bar, not of the launcher.)
    Works in a CLI too. (Try screen's split window mode.)

    I should write a minimalist OS like that. Using exclusively the modern implementations from first time something was invented. :)

    Oh, and, I almost forgot: This is why I use open source.
    Apart from actually getting the code I paid to write, instead of paying anew for each new copy like my money comes from a copier too...

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by gtall ( 79522 )

      You didn't follow the "constantly need to add bloat" to its logical conclusion. If all the old stuff remains, MS cannot add new stuff without screwing up old stuff and it also becomes unwieldy just from sheer size and also feature bloat. The only recourse is to axe some features so that "new" and "improved" features can be added to that the annuities don't get the idea they are paying yearly for squat...

      Well, I presume they get bug fixes and exploit blocks, but those are only fixing MS's screwups.

    • Re:"Every version, we add new functionality." (Score:5, Interesting)

      by ArchieBunker ( 132337 ) on Sunday November 24, 2019 @02:50PM (#59449174)

      Linux also has similar problems. Software people can't understand that eventually you reach a peak and it's all downhill from there. Software is a tool just like a hammer. The design of a hammer hasn't changed in centuries. Why? Because any changes will be a detriment to the design. Now apply that to software and graphical interfaces especially. Windows doesn't appear much different from ancient Motif based window manages from the 1980s, especially the flat look of Windows 10.

      People will abandon a piece of software if it hasn't been updated in a while which is foolish. Does it accomplish the required task well? Then why does it need constant tweaks for no good reason? I still use Winamp and occasionally a copy of Paint Shop Pro from 1998. It loads nearly instantly and still edits JPG and PNG files just as well as the latest Photoshop.

      • So that maybe it'll get compiled into a 64 bit binary so I won't have to make a choice between OS updates and using it? Or in the case of iOS, buying old models off Craigslist. If authors had made a trivial update a few years ago, I'd have 64 bit binaries and wouldn't have do either.

    • What exactly does Windows 10 actually have over, say, Windows XP, that is actually justified?

      Performance improvements. Also the desktop duplication API. Unfortunately, they put a lot of crap in there, too.

    • What exactly does Windows 10 actually have over, say, Windows XP, that is actually justified?

      You're joking right? Since you start by talking about drivers, why not start with a completely different kernel, a ground up re-write and far more efficient network stack, different user management model, security features such as ASLR and native encryption, better process isolation, far better schedulers and memory management, and that's before you get into the user facing features such as a sane notification system.

      And these are just from the top of my head, and I'm sure an expert could list enough to exc

    • Well, you have at least to add support for technologies that didn't exist in previous OS versions. e.g.: SSDs, new versions of USB and Wifi.
      Also, some additions of Windows 10 are worthwhile. I like the native support for multiple desktops.
      Of course, some of the additions are stupid/useless or negative: The new start menu, the crappy apps that you can't uninstall (Xbox, Groove whatever...),

    • > What exactly does Windows 10 actually have over, say, Windows XP, that is actually justified?

      "Justified" depends on what you value and what you "need":

      === Pro Win 10 ===
      * Performance: Task scheduling on multi-core CPU's has significantly improved sine the shitty Windows 7 tasking scheduler
      * Support: Modern CPUs are supported. Good lucking running your latest Ryzen or Threadripper on Windows XP.
      * Games: DirectX 12, such as MS Flight Simulator 2020, Forza Horizon 4, etc.
      * Better Multi-monitor support

      ===

      • Some of your examples are based on Windows XP being End-of-Life. That is not really something you should be taking into account with this kind of comparison, it is about the differences in functionality between the two versions.
        There is one big difference you seem to have forgotten about - the user security model was pretty much screwed back then. I used to have two accounts just for myself, one with admin-rights and one without. Most people did not bother and would be browsing - and receiving mails - un

        • Bug Fixes ARE functionality.

          Ignoring the data doesn't make it go away.

          I briefly touched upon security. Running such an ancient OS counter-intuitively makes you LESS susceptible to modern attack vectors since you aren't the (primary) focus. Black hats are going to target whatever the majority are running.

    • The big change in drivers that happened with Windows Vista was for a good reason. The driver model used by Windows XP was a security hole that you could drive a truck through. The change was a real pain at the time because a bunch of hardware never got drivers for the new OS and therefore was instantly made obsolete, but the pain was necessary to make it possible to build a more secure version of Windows.

      Windows XP did not have a fully supported 64 bit version of the OS. (There WAS a 64 bit version, but som

  • Nice start but ... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by schwit1 ( 797399 ) on Sunday November 24, 2019 @01:43PM (#59448942)

    Please also deprecate from the enterprise version...
    Groove Music
    Microsoft Solitaire Collection
    Money
    Movies & TV
    News
    People
    Photos
    Sports
    Weather
    Xbox

    • Please also deprecate from the enterprise version...
      Groove Music
      Microsoft Solitaire Collection
      Money
      Movies & TV
      News
      People
      Photos
      Sports
      Weather
      Xbox

      Why wouldn't people need those features while they are at work?

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by Trogre ( 513942 )

      Telemetry

    • For our images Groove, Movies & TV, and photos are the stock defaults. Weather is there as well because why not. We don't have to worry about patching these, less work.

  • Removed: Coherent Interface, Bluetooth Usefullness (Score:4, Interesting)

    by BrendaEM ( 871664 ) on Sunday November 24, 2019 @02:05PM (#59449008) Homepage
    Windows 10's interface is a mess. It's Bluetooth needs you to beg to have something reconnect. Users can only transfer files, one at a time. The system log takes minutes to sort.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by sqlrob ( 173498 )

      What the heck is in your system log? Sorting feels slower than it should be, but it's a matter of seconds for me.

  • "We're no longer making the symbol packages available as a downloadable MSI. Instead, the Microsoft Symbol Server is moving to be an Azure-based symbol store. If you need the Windows symbols, connect to the Microsoft Symbol Server to cache your symbols locally or use a manifest file with SymChk.exe on a computer with internet access."

    SymChk.exe better be built in, available without installing something. I don't think they have any disconnected teams in house, and expect everyone to have internet access. It

    • The default is to cache symbols. What are the odds that the first time you need to debug the application the internet is also out? Remember this is for developer machines.

      I understand it could be annoying in some really strange corner cases but in Visual Studio you can just download the symbols you need ahead of time.

  • Microsoft cloud (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Shadow backup functionality existing in every version of windows NT since 2k3 is being removed. As are non-MS "cloud" based contact management.

    Rather than laboring to improve the usefulness of Windows Microsoft seems hell bent on screwing with its users to force them to rely upon their "cloud" services.

    What they should be removing is the goddamn dual interface configuration that is pissing EVERYONE off.

  • Thank you Microsoft! (Score:5, Interesting)

    by r_naked ( 150044 ) on Sunday November 24, 2019 @02:38PM (#59449104) Homepage

    Dear Microsoft,

    I would like to thank you for helping me through my time of weakness. I went out and bought an Oculus Quest a few days ago, and decided I would try out the new Link feature as well. To use the Link feature, you need Microsoft Windows, and I haven't used Windows in over 7 years, but I really wanted to check out the Rift quality games on my Quest -- so I broke down, and *ATTEMPTED* to install Windows 10 on my laptop.

    My laptop is an Asus Vivobook Pro (X705UDR) which shipped with Windows 10. I never booted Windows on it -- I wiped it, and installed another OS the second I got it out of the box. So, I don't know if the problems I am about to list would have been an issue with pre-installed Windows or not.

    Let's see...

    Wireless didn't work. Luckily, the Realtek driver DID load, so I was able to use a good ol' Ethernet cable to download the drivers I needed. But wait, there is more. Sound didn't work, basic video was a joke, the Asus keyboard keys (brightness, volume, sleep, etc) didn't work. Let's see ... other than the OS booting, and the Ethernet port working, nothing else worked -- I had to install drivers for everything. To be fair, the ELAN touchpad also didn't work under Arch without some work.

    But now, just for the heck of it, I grabbed an Ubuntu image and booted from it. Arch is my distro of choice, but Ubuntu does a pretty good job of making sure things work out of the box. What do you know -- *everything* worked. No additional drivers were needed, and nothing needed to be tweaked.

    Hmm, so you guys want to remove MORE from Windows? I guess you want to make it so no one can install your OS except OEMs? Good luck with that.

    So, again, I would like to thank you for getting me over this moment of weakness. I returned the Quest, and thankfully I am still Microsoft free.

    • Re:Thank you Microsoft! (Score:5, Insightful)

      by PPH ( 736903 ) on Sunday November 24, 2019 @03:52PM (#59449358)

      I guess you want to make it so no one can install your OS except OEMs?

      Yes. Because anyone installing Windows on hardware that doesn't already have it installed must have pirated it. We know our customer base. And they are all criminals at heart.

    • To be fair here, I'm sure that many of those hardware issues would have been addressed by literally leaving the laptop on with the internet connection active. Win10 does tend to download at least class compliant drivers as a part of Windows Update. While it can be a bit of a crapshoot as to whether certain specific hardware functions are implemented (e.g. the Realtek driver pack comes with a graphic EQ function and some sound effects that the class driver doesn't), you'd probably have gotten the majority of

      • The thing is, I have an older model (don't have the exact model number right now) Asus laptop as well, and I did a clean install of Windows 7 (10 doesn't have drivers) a few weeks ago so I could give it away, and everything worked out of the box except the nVida card, but at least the basic VGA driver understood my LCD panel.

        I had been using Windows (and DOS before that) up until Win 8 was released. So I am more than familiar with going on driver hunts. However, MS had gotten *real* good at including driver

  • Snipping tool vs. Snip & Sketch (Score:5, Informative)

    by sombragris ( 246383 ) on Sunday November 24, 2019 @02:40PM (#59449114) Homepage

    The now deprecated Snipping Tool is much faster, lighter and snappier than its proposed replacement, Snip & Sketch, which behaves like molasses in a i7 with 16 GB RAM. Well, it's Windows and I shouldn't be surprised... sigh.

    • Re:Snipping tool vs. Snip & Sketch (Score:5, Informative)

      by redback ( 15527 ) on Sunday November 24, 2019 @04:35PM (#59449470)

      and snip & sketch only does rectangle snips, no window snip or fullscreen snip.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by reiscw ( 2427662 )

        I'm glad someone mentioned this one ... I use the snipping tool all the time, and every time I see the message of its impending deprecation I get nervous. Usually I'm using Linux so it doesn't matter, but at work I sometimes use a Windows machine.

        The other big one for me is the system image backup. I use that often, especially after I reinstall Windows on a machine. Once I have all the drivers and software set up correctly, I create a system image. All you need to restore it is any Windows installation

      • Snip & Sketch has buttons for freeform, window, and fullscreen snips right next to the rectangular button. Note I only say "has buttons" as using any of them, including rectangle, doesn't actually do anything on my system.

      • and snip & sketch only does rectangle snips, no window snip or fullscreen snip.

        The good old Print Screen button on my keyboard still captures my entire screen. In fact, both my screens.

        --
        .nosig

    • just use greenshot - it's much better and open source

      • Agreed. Greenshot is the best lightweight screenshot tool I've found yet

      • Can't ; I'm stuck with windows at work, and I don't have the permission to install (or even download) applications. For the most part all I have is Windows default applications, Office, and then, as needed, a handful of specialized ones (e.g. Toad). I suspect a lot of companies are like this, so having decent, working versions of some of these basic tools such as snipping tool, notepad, etc included ends up being nice.
  • Yes, like 98 before it, win 10 has suffered from code bloat. It's time to develop windows 10 lite. What you need, and only add what you really want. I wonder who's got a build of that on the net?

    • Locate a copy of Win10 LTSC. Its not bad.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Pikoro ( 844299 )

        LTSB is exactly what people like me need, but it's not for sale. Microsoft only allows it's "legal" use on a case-by-case basis and you have to be an enterprise customer to even be considered.

  • Windows Help Viewer (WinHlp32.exe) All Windows help information is available online. The Windows Help Viewer is no longer supported in Windows 10. If for any reason you see an error message about "help not supported," possibly when using a non-Microsoft application, read this support article for additional information and any next steps. 1803

    Welcome to the future, where if you dont have a live internet connection, you are afforded zero help for any operating system problems.

    Go home, boomer.

  • It'll be interesting how this content changes as a function of time. The source for it is on github here.

    https://github.com/MicrosoftDo... [github.com]

  • The only thing I will probably miss is the Snipping Tool. All the other features won't be missed.
  • Well, this basically seals the deal on whether there will be a new windows OS anytime soon. Which is to say, probably not for a long long long time. Windows 10 will be build based as a framework platform to introduce/take away features while leaving the architecture alone.

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